Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 33
February 28, 2022
Bravery
Recent events in Eastern Europe bring to mind a day in Finland’s archipelago back in 2017. Author Marcus Prest had arranged for me to take a boat through the archipelago to an island owned by his outgoing pal Bjorn. Other guests included philosopher Joel and Glen, a retired colonel in the Royal Artillery, now working in Ukraine as a military advisor.
Glen’s job was to try to convince Ukraine’s elites not to steal so much of the aid money given to them by the West. Money meant for the ...
February 24, 2022
Pleasing Surprise
A few weeks ago I was pleased to sell the audio rights to my sea-adventure historicals. (I never thought it would happen, frankly.)
I was even more pleased to discover that the narrator for the books is Bronson Pinchot. Color me stoked!
February 20, 2022
The Praise Runs High
Paul Di Filippo has reviewed Lord Quillifer, and the praise, to coin a phrase, is unstinting. Some choice selections:
Williams’s powers of invention have not paled. The interpersonal affairs of all the schemers exhibit the same baroque intricacies of yore. The big military setpieces show a flair for clarity of action and surprise of developments, mimicking the real ups and downs of warfare. The worldbuilding details are richly strewn and often amusing—Quillifer’s regular introduction of new...
February 14, 2022
Meet Lord Q
Weekend in Boston
I’ll be spending the weekend in Boston, attending Boskone, their annual convention. I hope you’ll all stop by and say hi.
Here’s my schedule, for any of you needing to track me down.
Fantastic Leadership Format: Panel
18 Feb 2022, Friday 19:00 – 19:50, Burroughs (Westin)
In the beginning were the gallant king, the noble scientist, and the jut-jawed space commander. Has SF/F literature progressed beyond these creaky stereotypes? What more interesting portraits of leadership have eme...
February 13, 2022
The Usual Award Whatsit
It’s that time of year when the thoughts of writers turn to awards, and they try to gently urge their readers to nominator their works.
As it happens I had no novels published last year, so I won’t be nudging you toward that award. (I’ll have two novels published in 2022, both a Praxis and a Quillifer, so next year I’ll be eligible twice over for both for the novel award and the series award, and I urge you to vote your conscience, which is to say you should vote for me.
The only work I ...
February 12, 2022
The Worst
Some days I’m in the mood for a good takedown review, at least if it’s not of one of my books. (And those are often so misguided that they’re funny. I particularly like the ones that complain that I keep interrupting what should be nonstop action scenes with scenes giving psychological complexity to my characters.)
But never mind, I’m here to point you in the direction of a hilarious takedown review by The Everywhereist of “the worst Michelin-starred restaurant, ever.”
Here’s an amuse...
February 10, 2022
Reviews Too Late: Pandemical Browsing
Like all of you, I’ve been consuming a lot of popcorn TV during the latest Covid blitz. Here’s some of what I’ve seen.
The Lone Ranger Reacher.
Reacher is so very much the Lone Ranger that the series even shows an episode of the Clayton Moore series in the background during a key scene. (Of course Jack Reacher doesn’t have the Lone Ranger’s reluctance to take human life. Taking human life seems to be Reacher’s Plan A as far as this Amazon series is concerned, and the baddies line up ...
February 4, 2022
Plowing
Our Arctic adventure continues! The technician will attempt his repairs once he can get parts for our 35-year-old boiler. In the meantime I’m keeping a fire in the fireplace.
(Update: the boiler’s now churning out heat just like it ought, but the house is big and the temperature is going up by one degree per hour. So by the time I get out of bed in the morning, we should be warm again.)
And of course we’re not alone in coping with winter. My birth state of Minnesota has acquired eight...
February 3, 2022
Cold and Colderer
After an afternoon of freezing drizzle, the snow started pouring down late Wednesday afternoon, and by Thursday morning this was the view off the back porch. Despite the sun it failed to rise above freezing. After a very mild winter, February had come in like a freezing hailstorm.
I knew the storm was coming so I prepared a fine winter repast— cioppino, the San Francisco treat— cod, prawns, scallops, oysters, and clams in a spicy tomato broth.
All was well, and we were warm an...
