Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 57

Gifts for Readers #5: Nosy Newfie Mysteries

I think you can fairly claim that a mystery-solving dog falls within the realm of speculative fiction, don’t you? Taos Toolbox veteran Aleksa Baxter has devoted an entire series to her detecting dog. Here’s the word on Book II, published earlier this year (there are three more): Now that the pesky matter of her grandpa’s “shotgun situation” is behind them, Maggie May Carver is ready to get on with settling down in Baker Valley, Colorado with her Newfie, Miss Fancypants.

Unfortunately, when...

Home of the Wakanda Ducks

The US Department of Agriculture has listed Wakanda on its web site as a free-trade partner. The department’s online tariff tracker hosted a detailed list of goods the two nations apparently traded, including ducks, donkeys and dairy cows. In the Marvel universe, Wakanda is the fictional East African home country of superhero Black Panther. The fictional country was removed soon from the list after US media first queried it, prompting jokes that the countries had started a trade war. Trade...

Gifts for Readers #4: Nemesis

Here’s Number Four in this year’s list of new books by veterans of Taos Toolbox, the master class in science fiction and fantasy. (And by the way, if youare a Toolbox vet, and have published something in 2019 that I don’t know about, feel free to drop me a line, okay?) Today’s works from Brian K. Lowe aren’t science fictionorfantasy, which shows that what we teach at Taos
Toolbox can apply to any kind of fiction. TheNemesis series can be described as science fiction-adjacent, though, since it...

Gifts for Readers #3: Causality Bomb

This is the third of a series of posts highlighting this year’s achievements of Taos Toolbox veterans. Today’s subject is Terry Gene’sCausality Bomb,which comes complete with its own sequel,Causality Rebound. A MIND-BENDING AND SUSPENSEFUL JOURNEY INTO EXISTENTIALISM AND THE INTER- CONNECTEDNESS OF THE HUMAN RACE. THE INDEPENDENT KIRKUS REVIEW … THIS SCI-FI TALE REMAINS THOUGHTFUL AND EMOTIONAL When a quantum energy experiment goes horribly wrong, it accidentally shatters the future allowing...

Gifts for Readers #2: Riverland

This is the second item in this year’s roundup of 2019 books by veterans of Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy. Today’s item is from Fran Wilde, who won the Andre Norton and Compton Crook Awards for her novel Updraft. She’s also receivedmultiple nominations for the Hugo, Locus, and Nebula Awards. Riverland is Fran’s first middle-grade book. Find it in all the usual places, and at your local bookstore. When things go bad at home, sisters Eleanor and Mike...

Gifts For Readers #1: Enemy Immortal

Time again to do my year-end roundup of books published by veterans of Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy. Tim Meeks-Johnson’sEnemy Immortal is a fast-moving, action-oriented space opera that starts at a full sprint and then speeds up from there. Here’s the blurbage: An alien colony vanishes without a trace. Lt. Jade Mahelona is the human redshirt on a team of aliens sent to investigate. The only other human within light-years is a celebrated professor...

Volodya Again Raises His Balding Head

It’s nearly New Year, and once again I’m in competition with Vladimir Putin for the world’s most admired wall calendar. Putin’s calendar features photos of the President of the Russian Federation meeting with statesmen and world leaders. There’s not a single photo of him with his shirt off! It’s like he’s not even trying any more! Whereas our new 2020 calendar includes gorgeous photographs of our adventures in Iceland and Ireland, plus bonus photos of our lunar explorations! IfI were given...

Ready Those Manuscripts!

December 1 was the first day for submitting applications for Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy, which will run June 7-20, 2020. Nancy Kress and I will be teaching, assisted by George R.R. Martin and indiepub guru E.M. Tippetts. Every year we have a record number of submissions, so start getting yours ready. More information can be found at the Taos Toolbox website.

Snow Day

We awoke this morning to a beautiful carpet of snow covering everything in sight. Unfortunately this meant that our Thanksgiving guests were snowed in, and couldn’t come, and so we’re faced with the prospect of dealing with a 22-pound turkey, bacon and sausage stuffing, and other trimmings all on our own. We did, however, enjoy this lovely visitor, which perched on our fence for a while, perhaps looking for mice or other mammals beneath the snow. All of our bird identification books seem to...

Thanksgiving Reading

Just a reminder that this is the last week for the $1.99 sale of theAccidental War ebook. Just when you’re looking to curl up with some reading in front of a nice winter’s fire. Find it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, and Google.