Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 62

Carpet

Here we see a lovely carpet of lupines.  They were imported from Alaska to Iceland because they are hardy plants that stabilize the soil, and the soil of Iceland has a tendency to get blown out to sea during storms. Of course I am of the generation that, when the subject comes to lupines, promptly thinks of this:

Frozen Giants

This was once a giantess who had captured a ship, and was towing it to shore to devour the crew.  Unfortunately she lost track of time, the sun rose, and she was turned to stone. Seems kind of unfair that the ship and sailors were turned to stone as well. Also, Iceland must be hard for giants in the summer, when the sun is above the horizon 22 hours per day. I’m at Angel Fire teaching Taos Toolbox this week and next, and so my opportunity to write any long, thoughtful essays is going to be li...

Newly Arrived

Come just in time for the Glorious Fourth was a box of the uncorrected proofs of Quillifer the Knight, which will be available in bookstores the first week in November, the date having been moved, apparently, from the first week in October. All the better for the holidays! Here’s the flap copy: Rogue. Joker. Lover. Reluctant conspirator. The bumptious, ambitious young Quillifer has been knighted for services to the crown, but was then banished from court by a queen who finds him obnoxious.  N...

The Whale That Didn’t Get Away

Finally a whale lets me get close! This is the skeleton of a long-finned pilot whale, floating eerily with a number of other whale skeletons in the attic space of the Whale Museum in Húsavik.  Most if not all of the whale skeletons were from strandings, though Iceland still does catch whales, some to sell to the Japanese, and some to feed to tourists. We saw quite a number of restaurants that served whale, almost all of it bought by tourists along with smoked puffin and fermented shark.  I de...

Breach

This is the less successful of the two photos I managed of breaching humpbacks.  But then any photo you get of a breaching whale is a success, no? I shouldn’t have written “humpbacks,” because there was only one humpback jumping this day, and he kept it up for some time, as if he were indulging all the photographers on board.  (I’m guessing he was a he, and trying to impress a female with a display of his athleticism.)  He seems to have thought he was a spinner dolphin, because he spun as he...

Chris

Taos Toolbox 2014 veteran Chris Cornell died unexpectedly a few weeks ago, and his family has set up a memorial page for those who knew him. They have very kindly approached me to establish a scholarship in Chris’ name, and the page includes a link to Taos Toolbox, for those of you inclined to donate.

Hidden

This was described to me as “a church of the Hidden People.” The Hidden People are, well, people— they’re not dwarves or elves or trolls, who are supernatural beings who also hang around in Iceland.  They’re just people who are hidden. (Some people think the Hidden People are the same thing as elves, but Arni assured us this isn’t so.  Different origin stories, for one thing.  The Alfar come from other worlds, and the Hidden People are children of Eve and have always been on this planet.) The...

Pod People

Friend of the blog Pete Johannsen and his pal Connor (who seems not to have a last name) interview each other about my novel Voice of the Whirlwind.  Interesting ideas are raised, some of which I will have to think about for a while. It’s entertaining, it’s smart, and it’s about me!  What more could you ask for?

Snjóbíll!

Dig the crazy halftrack action of this 1929 Citroen snowmobile!

Debatable Ground

So here we are atop the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, on the neutral ground between the North American tectonic plate and the Eurasian plate.  Because the land here is very new, there’s not much in the way of bedrock to support it, and in places it’s sort of collapsed— though not here, where this lake can be found in newly-formed highlands.  The sources of this lake are rainwater and springs, and there’s no exit, but trout have found their way into the lake, so at least there’s fishing. You also see bl...