Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 24

Buffelhunde

Lawrence M. Schoen has published widely, has won both the Hugo and Campbell Awards, and speaks fluent Klingon. He’s also a veteran of Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of fantasy and science fiction.

His latest publication in 2022 is based on a singular idea. His popular “Buffalito” series about far-future stage hypnotist the Amazon Conroy and his oxygen-farting pet, Reggie, began with the story “Buffalo Dogs,” which has been translated and published around the world. Buffali...

7-Day Countdown

Applications for Taos Toolbox, the master class for science fiction and fantasy, will open in just a week’s time!

Taught by Nancy Kress and Walter Jon Williams, the workshop has been in existence since 2007, and— as should be obvious from the number of posts I’ve made in the last few weeks, featuring published authors from Taos Toolbox— we help provide new authors with the skills and information they need to make real careers in the field of fantastic fiction.

If you have ambitions to...

Alien Pledge

I continue my survey of works published in 2022 by veterans of Taos Toolbox, master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy.

Toolbox 2008 veteran Brian K. Lowe has had an interestingly various career, including the Stolen Future trilogy, the Nemesis series of pulp-inspired thrillers, the fantasy Once a Knight, and a book on how to protect yourself from securities fraud.

Brian’s latest is in a lighter mode, involving an alien invader who finds himself pledging at an American...

Just Add Fairy Dust

I’m continuing my survey of 2022 works by veterans of Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy.

Kelly Robson was at the very first Toolbox in 2006, and since then has carved a career for herself, filled with nominations for Hugos, Nebulas, Campbells, and Auroras. She writes like no one else, and is therefore irreplaceable. Her new book High Times in the Low Parliament, was described by Library Journal as “A satirical send-up of politicians and bureaucra...

Raised on Robbery

Let’s say for the sake of argument that you were a bank robber in Duluth, Minnesota. What bank would you rob, and how would you do it? Please be specific and make a list of gear.

Jim Richardson of Duluth decided to see how dark ChatGPT would go.

Answer: very dark. And very quickly.

Stock

I have noted in passing the current controversy over AI-generated art, with artists asking their fellow creatives to make sure that any art illustrating their work is created by an actual person, and that any stock art being used is not created by an AI.

I sympathize, and I wish all creatives well. I suspect the horse has long ago escaped the barn— twenty years ago probably, when Google indexed every piece of art and every photo online, and did so without crediting the author or offering co...

Hot Title!

Continuing my end-of-the-year roundup of 2022 publications by veterans of Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy.

The English-born Alan Smale is best known for his Clash of Eagles series of alternative-history novels, in which the Roman Empire takes on the Mound Builders of North America. He’s won the alternative-history Sidewise Award twice. Now he’s again tempering with the timeline to produce Hot Moon, the first book of a new series in which the Co...

Treasures From the Toolbox

I’m commencing my end-of-the-year Taos Toolbox review by bringing to your attention new works by Taos Toolbox veterans. Our writers have been published, won Hugo awards, and are maintaining careers in a changing and challenging field. And let’s not forget that books make excellent last-minute holiday presents!

Today’s example: Alien Crossings by Laura F. Sanchez, a novel about an alien who, well, crosses over.

Seventeen-year-old Goran Helin can pass for human if he keeps to himself,...

Wednesday with a Bullet

Some thoughts about recent viewing.

The water bottle ties everything together man.

Bullet Train is great fun for anyone interested in imaginative action, explicit ultraviolence, black humor, and Brad Pitt. If you don’t care for any of these things, the film is not for you.

The plot, such as it is, involves the interactions of six or seven assassins who find themselves on the same train from Tokyo to Kyoto, and are then obliged for a whole host of reasons to target one another. The ac...

Son of the Bride of the Creature of the Toolbox of Taos

Taos Toolbox, master class for science fiction and fantasy, is back for 2023! The workshop will be held June 18-July 1, 2023, and will be taught by Nancy Kress and Walter Jon Williams, and with guest speakers George RR Martin and E.M. Tippetts.

If you’re looking for a career in this business, Toolbox can help. Just check out the page on graduates’ achievements.

The application period begins on January 1, 2023. Start working on those manuscripts!