Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 43

Appointments

Things have been mad busy in the last couple weeks, which accounts for my not posting much here. This is almost purely the result of my COVID vaccinations, which are allowing me to take care of all the business I’ve been postponing for, well, a year.

I’ve dealt with a lot of my backlist, and I’m actually kind of proud of myself for accomplishing so much once it was finally safe for me to go out into the world. But the things that got done were the things I could do on my own, and the rest ...

Splendish Review

The Best of Walter Jon Williams has received a fine appreciation in SFRevu. Your takeaway:

Some writers become superstars from their first book. Others quietly produce book after book of excellent, sometimes even superior, work without gaining the same attention. The latter is true of Walter Jon Williams . . .  as the Introduction by Daniel Abraham makes clear, Williams’ novels have a wide range, to the detriment of his branding . . .

Fans of Walter Jon Williams will want the deluxe ill...

On Infinite Repeat

A couple weekends ago I gamemastered a Wild Cards RPG at Wondercon, an event connected with a charity auction for the Stagecoach Foundation. This event was recorded and is available at LegionM’s Twitch website, so if you’ve have a hankering to watch me run a game with four other writers as players (Carrie Vaughn, Caroline Spector, Max Gladstone, and Melinda Snodgrass), here’s your chance. We had a blast, and I hope that shows.

There’s a fifteen-minute film about the Stagecoach Foundation a...

Alors

Lately I’ve been watching a lot of French television, particularly the last season of Call My Agent! (Dix Per Cent), a submarine thriller called The Wolf’s Call (Le Chant du Loup), plus episodes of Capitaine Marleau, a whodunit series featuring a kind of gender-flipped Columbo.

All this viewing and listening has encouraged a dangerous illusion, which is that I speak a foreign language.

While it’s true I took French in school (and Greek in college), any fluency has faded in the decades s...

Days of Going Wild

Since having my second COVID shot, I’ve engaged in multiple reckless behaviors!

I had a haircut for the first time since June, and as a result no longer look like someone whose primary residence is a cardboard box!

I’ve twice dined in restaurants! Indoors! (The restaurants were allowed to seat at half capacity, but I was the only customer, so it hardly mattered.)

Tomorrow we have tickets for a museum exhibit! Oh man, I am livin’ la vida loca!

New Mexico COVID numbers have bee...

Wild Cards Weekend

I’ve been unable to post here for several days due to technical issues which may or may not have been resolved. Which is really annoying, because I have something cool and fun to announce.

This weekend I’ll be attending virtual Wondercon, the mighty game convention counterpart to Comic-Con usually held around this time. Among other things, I’ll be running a Wild Cards RPG with four other Wild Cards writers as players: Carrie Vaughn, Melinda Snodgrass, Caroline Spector, and Max Gladston...

Quillifer Ink

So someone told me today that she saw someone with the word “Quillifer” tattooed on his arm.“Did you get a picture?”Alas, no.  But it’s cool regardless.Everyone should have a Quillifer tattoo.  Everyone.

Two Shots

So I am now officially Walter “Two-Shot” Williams.  I had my second Pfizer jab yesterday.I must say New Mexico is doing this right— we’re the most vaccinated state in the country.  Having a governor with a degree in Public Health is a plus.When I had my first shot, there was a long line of cars lined up to deliver their drivers to the Vaccination Station, and the cars were ushered through in pods, to be vaccinated more or less at the same time, then wait out the 15 minutes, and all without any...

Mighty Urho

It’s Saint Urho’s Day!  It is claimed by some that the serious drinking can only begin after donning the ritual green and purple.I find the opposite is equally valid.

The Process Unveiled

I am podcast again, this time at The Worldshapers.  Writer and editor Edward Willett interviews me mostly about my writing process, but we touch on other topics as well.Incidentally, Edward is running a Kickstarter for Shapers of Worlds, Volume II, an anthology featuring stories by all the author guests in the second year of The Worldshapers.  It’s a power anthology, and you should definitely check it out.