Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 52

Ma Solitude

I woke up with this song in my head this morning, and I decided that Ive come to the pensive part of social isolation. This is songwriter Georges Moustaki accompanied by Pink Martini, and it fits my mood exactly.

Kata in the Carport

Its over six weeks since we locked ourselves away.  Its been easier than I expected.  Im used to working alone, for one thing. Im trying to start the day with kata in the carport.  Then I have lunch and spend a couple hours playing Horizon: Zero Dawn.  Im no longer clear what day of the week it is. At least Im doing a lot of writing. I totally respect any desire you may possess to get off the planet entirely.  If you want an idea of where to go, you can check out the five recommended deep...

Sculpture

Since Im hanging out at home hiding from the virus, I have very little to do, so I thought I might as well try to fulfill one of my longtime ambitions, which is to become a chainsaw artist! Theres no place that teaches this stuff, you just have to fire up your chainsaw and go to town. This ones pretty good for a beginner, right? But no, I lie. (Which I do for a living, if you remember.)  One of my neighbors had to take an old tree down, and hired an actual chainsaw artist to do the work.  The...

I Cannot Avoid the Topic of Publishing

So the other night I dreamed that I worked on the staff of an established magazine called Huguenots Today, which was threatened by the publication of a newer, glitzier magazine called Huguenots Now!  That exclamation point was like a weapon brandished in our direction. Ad revenue fell.  There were lots of meetings, and an air of desperation.  Nobody knew what to do. It all seemed familiar, somehow.

Down Home

I dont want to cause too many cases of resentful food envy here, but Im kinda proud of this one.  What we have here is barbecue beef brisket, potato salad, and collard greens. The brisket was cooked sous vide for 72 hours at 155 degrees F, then spent two hours in the oven to give it a good crust, or bark as BBQ aficionados call it.  The result was a very tender, flavorful, quite lean, and attractive protein, of which I scoffed down more than my share. Id never actually cooked collards before,...

Consolation

Heres the Moroccan-spice-crusted leg of lamb I cooked for Passover/Easter/Bunnyday, served with a saffron rice pilaf and fresh artichokes with a saffron dipping sauce.  (The Moroccan spices on the lamb had saffron too, so thanks to the wonderful Patricia Rogers for dropping that saffron on me.) It is small consolation that in our Fortress of Solitude we get to cook this sort of thing for ourselves, but well take what consolation we can.  Kathy made chicken cacciatore the other night, and...

Everybody’s Gonna Need a Ventilator

When your spine is cracking and your hands, they shake, Heart is bursting and you butts gonna break. Your womans cussing, you can hear her scream, You feel like murder in the first degree. Aint nobody slowing down no way, Evrybodys stepping on their accelerator, Dont matter where you are, Evrybodys gonna need a ventilator. Remarkably prescient lyrics, dont you think?  Ventilator Blues, from Exile on Main Street.  The Stones shown here amid a cross-section of Seventies decadence....

Alas

Last year I wrote about the exuberant and open hospitality offered us by Lady Dunsany when she gave us a private tour of Dunsany Castle in Ireland.  This castle is the seat of the second-oldest Irish peerage, and also the home of Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, the 18th baron, who wrote stories, poetry, and plays under the name Lord Dunsany. Now word has reached me that the Brazilian-born Maria-Alice De Marsillac Plunkett, Lady Dunsany, has passed away, a victim of the COVID epidemic. She...

The New Decameron

The original Decameron,  written by Giovanni Boccaccio in the 14th Century, was a collection of 100 tales, each of which was supposedly narrated by one of ten young men and women hiding from the plague in a villa near Florence. So what are we doing now, in our contemporary self-exile, but sitting around and telling each other stories? Maya Chaabra had the idea of making a new Decameron for COVID-19, and she and Jo Walton set out to do exactly that, by asking for contributions from their...

Taos Toolbox Postponed

I regret to report that due to the danger of COVID-19, Taos Toolbox 2020 has been postponed from June to September 6-19. The mountains should be lovely at that time of year, and we hope that everyone already committed to the workshop will be able to attend.