Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 236

This Just In: Solar System Tied Up With Ribbon!

For years, researchers have known that the solar system is surrounded by a vast bubble of magnetism. Called the "heliosphere," it springs from the sun and extends far beyond the orbit of Pluto, providing a first line of defense against cosmic rays and interstellar clouds that try to enter our local space. Although the heliosphere is huge and literally fills the sky, it emits no light and no one

New Trends in Fiction

Since I know you have all spent countless hours worrying about the next trend in paranormal romance, I thought I'd let author Mary Stiefvater tell you:

Re View

I revisited my teen years recently by viewing Ken Russell's Women in Love (1969) and Bernardo Bertolucci's The Conformist (1970). In my youth I saw both of these movies multiple times, which might just possibly have to do with the fact that both these films have a lot to do with sex. Both these films were clearly of their time, created in a period in which barriers were not merely falling, but

Marketing for Publishers

It's marketing for publishers in the age of cutbacks. [Thanks to Janice Gelb:]Let me introduce myself. My name is Gineen Klein, and I've been brought on as an intern to replace the promotion department here at Propensity Books. First, let me say that I absolutely love "Clancy the Doofus Beagle: A Love Story" and have some excellent ideas for promotion. . . .'I've attached a list of celebrities we

We Three

Daniel Abraham, SM Stirling, and I will be at Bookworks in Albuquerque on Tuesday, at 7pm, for a talk and a signing.Y'all come.

Space Fab

So here's the plan. NASA sends an "electron beam freeform fabrication" unit up onto the Space Station. Then, when the aging station needs a part, the fab just . . . prints it.While the EBF3 equipment tested on the ground is fairly large and heavy, a smaller version was created and successfully test flown on a NASA jet that is used to provide researchers with brief periods of weightlessness. The

Hardening of the Arteries

The National Security Agency seems to have won its turf war with the Department of Homeland Security over control of the nation's cyber security efforts. Lt. Gen. Keith B. Alexander is the director of the National Security Agency, the largest intelligence agency in the government, and with little public fanfare he has been setting up the central nervous system in the government's new campaign to

The Prize

It's probably a little late to chime in on the Nobel Prize thing, but what the hell. I had a busy weekend that kept me from posting, but at least I had time for mature consideration. I'm sure I was as surprised as anyone else. "This is, at best, premature," I thought. I voted for the guy, I have no reason to actively dislike him (yet), but I did think it was a little odd to give a Peace

TINAG UK

Here's the preliminary cover for the British mass-market edition of This Is Not a Game. There'll be some tweaking between now and the final version, but it's mainly in place. The binary code actually spells out This Is Not a Game. How cool is that?

Taos Toolbox 2010

Taos Toolbox, a master class in writing science fiction and fantasy, will take place June 6-19, 2010, in Taos Ski Valley. I will teach alongside Nancy Kress, and with special lecturer Carrie Vaughn.More details here.