Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 5

Monstre!

French pro-Axis poster from the Second World War. Churchill smiles at a starving French family while surrounded by the slogan, “Monster, you make us suffer!”

Churchill looks more like a film comedian than a statesman, let alone a monstre.

The poster is intended to encourage the French public to forget that it was the Germans, not the British, who were confiscating food, fuel, and human beings.

From the Churchill War Rooms in Westminster. I doubt this poster hung here in Chu...

Long Ago

Mid-1960s, I think. I analyze the performance envelope of the P-38 fighter for the benefit of my mom’s friend Giulia Simola.

Immigrant

A Viking grave in a Scottish churchyard. (I don’t remember the name of the village, but it was very near Loch Lomond.)

The gravestone is carved so as to resemble an overturned boat— boat burials were still a thing.

The “viking funeral,” with the ship set on fire and pushed out to sea, is a creation of Hollywood, or maybe Victorian fictioneers. What they actually did was bury the whole ship with the corpse in it.

Here the deceased didn’t rate a whole ship, but he got a boat big ...

Holy

This photo is 50 years old! And sort of looks it. I and Photoshop have done our best.

This, from 1975, looks down from Delphi toward the Gulf of Corinth. I had come to Delphi at the command of a couple of major figures— one from the Bible, the other from science fiction.

Not that I wouldn’t have gone anyway. I was in the bus station in Athens waiting for the bus to Delphi when a stranger approached me. He had long light brown hair and a beard, wore a blanket over his shoulders, a...

Spin About

A reconstruction of the turret of the USS Monitor, open to allow a view of the mechanism and one of the two 11-inch guns. The turret was designed by American inventor Theodore Timby, and the rest of the ship by the Swedish-born John Ericsson.

A problem with the turret was that there was no brake— if the mechanism was engaged the turret would keep turning, one full turn in a little more than two minutes. There was no way for the gunners to see the target except by looking out through th...

Waterfowl

Trees, pond, sandhill cranes. Sunset today.

Ghost Docks

About six years ago I was on a motor trip along the North Shore of Lake Superior, and wandered down a small road from the highway down to the lake. When I parked in the small recreational harbor, I saw this huge abandoned facility along the shoreline. (It’s much bigger than it looks in this photo, with nothing to give ir scale.) As a Duluth native, I knew ore-loading docks when I saw them, but I’d never seen or heard of the place before. It wasn’t on any map. And it was empty.

Turns ...

Ear Jive

From Britain, 1975. Heineken had a whole series of these ads, promising that Heineken would help consumers grow, ah, firmer. Apparently it also works on aliens.

20% Off

I spotted this globe in the gift shop of the Corning Museum and immediately wanted it. I wanted it so much that some Japanese visitors actually took a picture of me wanting it.

It’s about the size of a bowling ball and was created by artist Josh Simpson. While it may look as if it’s filled with water, it is in fact all glass, with formations under the surface that call coral reefs to mind. (The rows of white dots aren’t part of the sculpture, they’re reflections of the ceiling light...

Jimi’s Jacket

Found in a museum exhibit of psychedelia, this is Jimi Hendrix’ jacket. While there seem to be a number of techniques used in constructing it, much of it seems to be hand-painted silk.

The second I saw it, I was struck with jacket envy.

Judging by the size of the jacket, Jimi was a tiny little dude. I think I always pictured him as eight feet tall.