Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 234

Cuteness

There is some kind of French Cuteness Authority that rates villages. At the top are the villages rated Plus Beau, then villages of Character, villages of Charme, and finally (I guess) the dreaded Unrated. This one is Saignon, which is Plus Beau in my book.

Alternate Alexanders

Thanks to an alert on io9, we present a startling piece of alternate history--- the failed pilot for the mid-Sixties TV series Alexander the Great, starring William Shatner as the King of Macedon and Adam West as his henchman Cleander. (Also featured are Joseph Cotton and John Cassavetes, both of whom look embarressed to be seen in this piece of crap.)Imagine how the history of our genre would

Taos Toolbox

Huge news!!!December 1st is the first day for receiving applications for Taos Toolbox, the master class in SF and fantasy taught by Nancy Kress, Carrie Vaughn, and myself. We are awaiting your submissions with great anticipation.

The Perils of Lucidity

I was interviewed for an hour at Utopiales, standing in for GoH Robert Charles Wilson, who was down with la grippe porcine. The audience was tiny at the start, but grew to a gratifying size by the end. A surprising amount of the interview was taken up with the question of why I am not, well, really really famous. They seemed to think I ought to be.Of course I am preoccupied by this question,

On the Video

Here's an interview from ActuSF, conducted at Utopiales a few weeks ago. The interviewer is Julien Morgan. If I'm a bit more articulate than is usual for me-- particularly considering that this event took place in the morning--- consider that it was the second time I've answered these questions. (The first time we did this interview, the sound got buggered.)

Graphic Plots

The brilliant XKCD provides charts showing time and movement of major characters in Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and other classics. I sometimes graphically plot the dramatic movements in my stories using differenly-colored pens, but I've never got as elaborate as this.

Got Fab?

Okay, so it's a kit. You may have to do some soldering. But it's still a 3D printer for your home. For only $750.00. Kit includes: * The lasercut parts to assemble a CupCake CNC machine.* 3 x NEMA 17 motors to drive your machine* The nuts, bolts, and various hardware to assemble it.* The belts and pulleys for it to move things around.* All the bearings to make your machine nice and smooth.* The

Fascist Digital Economy

So I watched this week with appalled fascination as Britain's government brought in its Digital Economy Bill, another giant leap forward in the Labour Party's ever-evolving "soft fascism." (And which will probably become law just in time for the Tories to step into office. What joy.) As a blinkered and baffled American, I can't hope to equal the level of anger and vitriol flooding across the

Lord of Light Trailer

Yes. Back from France. But still wrapped up in the complexities of being back from France.So while I cope with coping, check out the trailer for the upcoming film Lord of Light. Which tells the true story of how the CIA, masquerading as film producers scouting locations for a film of Zelazny's Lord of Light, succeeded in liberating six Americans held hostage in Iran.Comment, one feels, would be

South Beneath the Full Moon

Utopiales ended on Sunday, and a fine convention it was, too. Then we spent three rainy days in Bourgogne, visiting Kathy's cousine Karen, who with her S/O Jean-Bertrand owns an old stone farmhouse dated 1641. We left bloated with Jean-Bertrand's superb cooking, spent a day and a half in Avignon checking the scene, and are now on the road in Provence, which looks very like van Gogh paintings