Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 25
November 25, 2022
November 24, 2022
My Best Thanksgiving Story
Some years ago there was a small grocery near the university in Albuquerque. To avoid being crushed by supermarket chains they’d gone upmarket, with gourmet offerings on their shelves next to the Hamburger Helper. One of the things they offered were fresh turkeys on major holidays.
I’d ordered my turkey there for several years and was quite happy with the results. One year I ordered a 12-14 pound bird, and when I came into the store to pick it up, I was told, “Sorry, but a coyote killed yo...
November 21, 2022
Our Loss
I’ve had an incredibly busy two days, action-packed, and it’s only now that I’m managing to get my head around Greg Bear’s passing. We’ve been friends for about as long as I’ve been in this field, so long that I can’t remember when or where we actually met. We’ve known each other for something like forty years.
My earliest specific memory of Greg wasn’t of our meeting, but of a post-Hugo Award bash. He’d been up for two Hugos that year, for “Hardfought” and for the novella version of ...
November 20, 2022
No Accident
Celebrating their 25th anniversary and an early Black Friday bash, Audible has the audio book of The Accidental War on sale for $5.99. It’s the first book of the latest Praxis series, and is narrated by the excellent David Drummond.
The sale continues through the 29th. Don’t miss it!
November 19, 2022
Three Cretan Ladies
Behold a 3500-year-old fresco of three Cretan ladies, found in the palace at Knossos. Except they may not be ladies, they might be goddesses. Or priestesses dressed as the goddesses they served. Or some upper-class women enjoying one another’s company. Archaeology can be complicated that way.
The principle divinity of the Cretans seems to have been female, and very likely she looked and dressed like this, with the long curling hair, the nipped-in waist, the flounced skirts, and bare ...
November 15, 2022
Beastly Me
This coming Saturday I will be signing, reading, and give an interview at Beastly Books, George R.R. Martin’s bookstore in Albuquerque. My appearance will be from noon till one.
There will be copies of Imperium Restored and Lord Quillifer, both of which came out in 2022, as well other books from my catalog.
Y’all come.
November 9, 2022
Alas, Callisto
Greek religion was weird. It was a mashup consisting of various local traditions shoe-horned together, with myths having many variations depending on who you asked, and even the nature of the gods seemed somewhat protean, with very different versions of a god being worshiped in different places. The cult state of Artemis worshiped in Ephesus doesn’t much look like the typical image of Artemis from the Greek mainland, though both feature wildlife. Artemis was both a protector of wild anim...
November 2, 2022
Last Night in Athens
It’s our final night in Greece. We left the Callisto three night ago, and now we’re back at our B&B in Athens, just hangin’ out and seeing the sights.
The Callisto experience was delightful but intense. Every day new sights to see, new ruins to meander through, new artifacts to admire, all with people whose interest in archaeology and history mirrored our own. Plus our boat followed nautical tradition in serving up three enormous meals every day, to which were added as many gallons ...
November 1, 2022
More Bouboulina
Turns out that Bouboulina has also been immortalized as a Playmobil playset. That’s how you know you’ve made it.
Bouboulina’s granddaughter was a chip off the old block. During World War II she established an organization to smuggle Allied servicemen out of occupied Greece, along with bits of intelligence. Like most Resistance heroes, she was arrested and shot by the SS, in her case just weeks before the iiberation.
October 31, 2022
Bouboulina!
Behold Bouboulina, sea-captain, freedom fighter, and the first woman ever appointed an admiral (and in two navies, Russian and Greek!).
I encountered this statue on the island of Spetses, where her house has been turned into a museum by her descendants, who still own it.
She was born in a Turkish prison, where her father had been imprisoned for participating in the Orlov revolt against the Turks– in which Catherine the Great provoked a rebellion in Greece, not because she gave a d...
