Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 74

Sekrit Island Bases

Friend of the blog Marcus sent this article about Russian real estate agents who purchase islands in strategic shipping lanes and then turned them into Bond-villain lairs. Airiston Helmi Oy was founded in 2007 as a non-public stock company for trading in real estate, and a number of the key persons behind the company were Russian nationals. The company has had just a handful of employees, and has consistently been showing figures in the red (as far as I know, it has never managed a single pos...

When It Goes Wrong

Dish Network decided to give me Showtime for a week, and I recorded some movies that I hadn’t seen in theaters.  Viewing them made me think about ways that creative projects can fail, and how the failure can be in the writing.  So I thought I’d share my thoughts, that being what these blog-things are supposedly for. Valkyrie.  Tom Cruise vs. Hitler.  Hardly seems fair, right? Valkyrie is a detailed, quite authentic movie version of Klaus Graf von Stauffenberg’s attempt to assassinate Hitler...

Hazards of Travel

So here’s a new one!  Observe in the photo above that suds are pouring out of my hotel toilet and covering the floor.  There was also a strong disinfectant smell. It was also happening in a neighboring room.  The hotel custodian confessed himself baffled, and helped me evacuate to a room higher in the building.  At midnight. There was a ferocious rain storm going on at the time, though I’m not quite sure what that would have to do with it.  I thought maybe someone on an upper floor had poured...

Where Am I?

Tell me where I took this photo, and you win a free, signed copy of The Accidental War. Y’all have 48 hours, and then I put up a new contest. Good luck!

I Speak!

I am interviewed by the highly informed David Barr Kirtley on The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy.   Check it out!

Encouraging Word

Reviews for The Accidental War are beginning to tumble in. B&N SFF BLOG: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/a-countdown-to-disaster-in-the-masterful-space-opera-the-accidental-war/  “ The Accidental War  eventually breaks open into genuinely exciting action, but the book’s most dramatic moments are the most unlikely ones; a critical turning point takes place over the course of a committee meeting, without a (literal) shot fired. Though the first Praxis trilogy precedes it, read...

Hella Week

So Barnes & Noble finally got around to putting the Investments paperback on sale, and here’s your link. Otherwise, it’s been a hella week.  The Accidental War dropped on Tuesday.  I sent Quillifer the Knight to the publisher at 1am Friday morning.  I opened a bottle of champagne afterwards, but discovered it had turned to sparkling vinegar.  I didn’t even know that was possible. Thursday I gave a one-hour interview to the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast (which will be broadcast later).  S...

Launch Day!

 

Launch Day! It’s no accident! Two new books drop this week! September 4 is the release date for The Accidental War, which continues the story of star-crossed lovers Martinez and Sula begun in The Praxis.  Seven years after the conclusion of the Naxid War, they find themselves caught up in a war that no one wanted, no one planned, no one expected, and no one knows how to stop. Look for The Accidental War at your local bookstore, or find it at Barnes & Nob...

Fraught. (And Schizophrenic)

My life at the moment is fraught, because I’m juggling two important tasks.  First, I’m gearing up for the launch of The Accidental War next week.  Second, I’m madly trying to finish Quillifer the Knight, which is also due next week. I’ve got three scenes to go, but the problem with my scenes is that I never know if they’re going to be 3000-word scenes or 15,000-word scenes.  Since my books tend to end in a great big rush— plus maybe a few explosions— I think the scenes will be short, but I c...

La Reina

I have been lax in not posting a tribute to Aretha Franklin, so here it is.  This is a Kennedy Center Honors tribute to Carole King, in which the Queen of Soul takes one of King’s most famous songs and shows what she can do with a piano, a mink coat, and her own astounding voice. I have a strangely precise memory of first hearing this song when I was a kid in Duluth.  I, my father, and some friends had just been to the arena to watch a hockey game, and we were heading home down Michigan Stre...