Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 38

The Praxis Eternal

I’ve delivered the next Praxis book to my editor at Harper, so yay. It doesn’t have an official title yet because that’s still under discussion. (Right now I’m calling it “The Nameless.”) Nor does it have a publication date, though I’m guessing it might appear around this time next year.

It will start right where Fleet Elements ended and continue from there.

You are at liberty to start salivating now.

The Eternal Praxis

I’ve delivered the next Praxis book to my editor at Harper, so yay. It doesn’t have an official title yet because that’s still under discussion. (Right now I’m calling it “The Nameless.”) Nor does it have a publication date, though I’m guessing it might appear around this time next year.

It will start right where Fleet Elements ended and continue from there.

You are at liberty to start salivating now.

Canyonlands

After Sevilla we were more than a week into our action-packed trip, so we planned three nights at a beach resort for some Rest & Recreation. Not that we got a lot of Rest once we arrived, mostly on account of all our Recreation.

Our way to the Costa del Sol took us through the spectacular scenery of the Sierra Blanca and to the small city of Ronda, built on a tall escarpment and therefore suitable for defense. Settlements in the area date to the Neolithic, though the town proper was ...

Pre-Order is Your Friend

Lord Quillifer, the third in my fantasy series, is scheduled for release in February. If you want hardcopy, I’d advise preordering now.

American publishes are worried that various economic factors will cause shortages at the printer, and many books are already being delayed. And I am sure that however benign my publisher’s attitude is toward my career, if faced with a choice of making sure my book appears on time in the stores, or that of massive bestseller Phineas T. Charttopper, they...

NO8DO

Plaza de España

Up early in the morning for the long drive to Andalucia and the city of Sevilla, followed by a check-in to a hotel so trendy, overdesigned, stylish, and chic that practically nothing worked. It was next to impossible to login to the wifi, we couldn’t get the AC to function (and in Sevilla, where the temp got to 130 degrees F several times this last summer, AC is necessary not just for comfort, but for life), and the shower floor was so slippery that it took maximum effort to...

Fate

photo by alvesgaspar

So we skipped across the border to spend a couple nights in Lisbon (because why wouldn’t you?). I hadn’t met anyone who spent time in Portugal who hadn’t loved it, and though we only spend a couple night there, I quite took their point. Beauty, history, kindness, and Fate. Plus great food and night life. What’s not to love?

Above we see the Monument of the Discoveries (Padrão dos Descobrimentos), a monument on the Tagus waterfront commemorating the Portuguese Age...

Monastic

We spent one night in the Hacienda Zorita outside Salamanca, a former monastery now converted to a hotel, vineyard, and farm. The hospitality included a tasting of Zorita’s own wines, followed by a supper of chicken and veg grown on the property. The breakfast the next morning was phenomenal: organic eggs, bacon and ham from the farm’s own stock, cream from the cows, bread from grain grown locally.

Back in the 15th Century, the monastery was where Christopher Columbus hung out waiting ...

Happy to be Seen

I don’t think I’ve ever been in a foreign country where so many people were so happy to see me. Not just happy either, but ecstatic.

I don’t think it’s because my charisma has vastly increased in the last few years, it’s because 20% of Spain’s economy is dependent on foreign visitors and their money, and for the last 18 months those visitors have been staying at home hoping that Covid doesn’t visit them. It seems that we’re in the very first wave to return to this country, and our no...

Landmarks of Dubious Purpose

We are zooming about Spain with our friends Terry and Jim, who I’ve known since we were in college. Here we see Terry, in a typical pose, offering a salute to Generalissimo Francisco Franco at the Valley of the Fallen.

This colossal basilica, longer than St. Peter’s in Rome, topped by a 500-foot granite cross, and taking nearly 20 years to build, is a monument to the dead of the Spanish Civil War. Allegedly a monument to both sides (as long as they were Catholic), the mausoleum was c...

Taking the Bull by the Tail

First night, I decided to dive right into local cuisine. This is a dish of bull’s tail, braised to perfection. Moist, tender, flavourful, and just a bit gelatinous. When I stuck my fork into one of these cuts, the meat just unrolled from the vertebra without any further encouragement from me.

Of course the evening started with Spanish omelette (mostly potato), homemade chorizo, olives, bread, tossed salad, and lots of fine wine, then ended with coffee and a flaky pastry called, if m...