Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 47
December 7, 2020
The Sort of Thing That It Is
Fleet Elements releases on December 8, which is Wednesday! Available in both trade paperback and ebook formats, please locate Fleet Elements at your favorite local bookstore (which deserves your support), and also at the Bigs:Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Google Play, Kobo, Apple Books Two long, thoughtful reviews have recently come to my attention, the first in Locus by the always thoughtful Russell Letson. Two years ago, Walter Jon Williams returned to the setting and subgenre of...
December 4, 2020
Not Present
I havent been present here much, and for the most discouraging of reasons. About four weeks ago, Kathys younger sister Alice Emigh went into the hospital with a dreadful illness (not Covid). Kathy flew East to be with her, but New York got new lockdown rules, and Kathy wasnt allowed into the hospital to see Alice until she finally got special permission last week. Alice was horribly ill and either unconscious or semi-conscious, and Kathy had to try to coordinate tests, treatment, and...
November 18, 2020
Sage Advice
Mr Sam Jackson reads us a story we can all get behind.
November 17, 2020
New and Better Than Ever!
I’ve just released Hardwired: the Thirtieth Anniversary Edition, which is my most popular SF novel (with fewer typos) plus some essays about the novel’s origins, an essay about the bizarre first German edition, plus a spiffier cover.The subtitle is a little misleading, since it’s actually thirty-four years since the book came out, and thirty-seven since I started writing it. But the marketplace likes nice round numbers, doesn’t it?
If you already have the ebook, I believe most ebook retailers ...
November 12, 2020
Record Numbers
So New Mexico today posted another record number of Covid cases. Most days we post a new record number.
Our lowest numbers were in early September. Since then, daily reported cases have risen by a factor of 45. That’s 45 TIMES THE NUMBER WE HAD JUST TWO MONTHS AGO.
The hospitals are at full capacity. Any more cases, we just toss ’em in tents or something. There’s some talk of opening up a recently-closed hospital. There’s enough equipment there, but we’ve run out of medical personnel. The...
Our lowest numbers were in early September. Since then, daily reported cases have risen by a factor of 45. That’s 45 TIMES THE NUMBER WE HAD JUST TWO MONTHS AGO.
The hospitals are at full capacity. Any more cases, we just toss ’em in tents or something. There’s some talk of opening up a recently-closed hospital. There’s enough equipment there, but we’ve run out of medical personnel. The...
November 8, 2020
Diwali was Early
Next Saturday is the beginning of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights that symbolizes the spiritual “victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.”
I think Diwali came a week early this year.
I think Diwali came a week early this year.
November 1, 2020
Two Bulletins
Two bit of good news arrived on the same day! First, a review of Fleet Elements from Booklist.Fleet Elements.
By Walter Jon Williams
Dec. 2020. 512p. Harper Voyager, paper, $16.99 (9780062467041); e-book (9780062467065)
This follow-up to The Accidental War (2018) fulfills the promise of the first book, which seemed to be more about opera than space, by delivering two exciting fleet battles. Terrans have been declared outlaws by the Convocation of the Praxis and are gathering their battered fo...
October 30, 2020
Last Few Hours
The $2.99 sale on the ebooks of Conventions of War and The Accidental War will end when October dies, so if you haven’t got copies by now, you should hasten to wherever the ebooks are sold and download yourself a copy or two.
October 29, 2020
World Fantasy
Another weekend, another virtual convention. This weekend is the World Fantasy Convention, which would be held in Salt Lake City if there weren’t a pandemic, but which will now be held online.
Here’s my schedule:
Norse and Germanic Fantasy: The Northern Thing
Date and Time: Friday Oct 30, 6:00 p.m.
Panelists: Ann Chamberlin, Jessica Day George, Greg Bear, David Drake, Walter Jon Williams
Norse and Germanic fantasy has held British, American, and Northern European readers in thrall for centu...
Here’s my schedule:
Norse and Germanic Fantasy: The Northern Thing
Date and Time: Friday Oct 30, 6:00 p.m.
Panelists: Ann Chamberlin, Jessica Day George, Greg Bear, David Drake, Walter Jon Williams
Norse and Germanic fantasy has held British, American, and Northern European readers in thrall for centu...
October 28, 2020
Black Ice
Kathy had an appointment in Albuquerque on Monday, and I had some business in town as well, so we drove up together. We knew the weather would deteriorate over the course of the day, but Kathy’s business should have been over by 2pm, and that would have got us to our warm hearth in plenty of time.
Unfortunately Kathy’s appointment time was delayed by four hours, so we didn’t leave till six, at which point the snow was pouring down and a nasty cold wind was blowing. The highway was coated in bl...
Unfortunately Kathy’s appointment time was delayed by four hours, so we didn’t leave till six, at which point the snow was pouring down and a nasty cold wind was blowing. The highway was coated in bl...
