Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 82

Recommended

So Quillifer has made it to the Locus 2017 Recommended Reading List. Congratulations to meeeeee! And of course to the other authors who made the list.  Seriously, there’s a lot of good reading there.

Tesla Gets Heavy

I watched live this afternoon as SpaceX launched the Falcon Heavy, featuring 28 rockets strapped together, the payload of a Tesla roadster complete with a Star Man, and the words “DON’T PANIC” in large, friendly letters right on the dash.  (Really appreciated that last bit.) The videography is pretty amazing, because they just stuck cameras all over that sucker. I think the sight of the two strap-on boosters coming to a simultaneous landing at Canaveral AFB caused a synapse crash.  I had to...

The Toolbox Awaits

There are still places left in Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy.  This year’s workshop takes place June 17-30, 2018, in Angel Fire, New Mexico, and will be taught by Nancy Kress and Walter Jon Williams, with special guests Carrie Vaughn, E.M. Tippetts, and George R.R. Martin. We have a proven record of helping attendees sell their work, so if you’re serious about making professional sales, and if you feel you can thrive in a workshop environment, this...

Mezentian Bridge

So in last night’s dream, I had recruited a group of friends to re-enact the famous game of bridge played in E.R. Eddison’s classic fantasy novel The Mezentian Gate. The Zimiamvian fantasies of Eric Rücker Eddison deeply impressed me when I first read them, age thirteen or so.  I loved the stirring Jacobean prose, the fact that the characters were proper Medieval aristocrats rather than prim Edwardian moralists, and that there was a fair amount of absolutely deluxe sex going on.  I think thes...

Tenebrarum et Nebulae

Behold!  A couple photos of the Hyper-Sooper-Dooper Blueberry Fresh ‘n’ Fruity Moon Incarnadine, or whatever they called it. Apparently we can’t just say “lunar eclipse” any more. The first photo shows the crepuscular, fuliginous shadow of Terra, creeping rather like an octopus across the lunar surface.  (Also note that I just called it the “shadowy shadowy shadow,” but I did it in foreign languages so you wouldn’t notice.) The second photo is the last moment of direct sunlight on the moon....

Reckless

I’ve been reading David Yaffe’s Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell.  Which I just sort of stumbled upon, and which turns out to be pretty terrific. Joni  Mitchell was one of those people who was on the radio constantly when I was growing up, which meant I didn’t have to think about her, because she was always right there.  And then she wasn’t constantly on the radio, which meant I didn’t have to think about her either, because she wasn’t around. And then I got an Amazon Prime subs...

1929-2018

When I heard of Ursula LeGuin’s death, I realized that she was someone who, as far as I was concerned, had always been there.   I’d been reading her since Rocannon’s World, the Hainish space opera that seemed equally to resonate with the works of Tolkien and Leigh Brackett.  (“Wherever he went, his super science made him a legendary figure!”)  She was a constant in my literary universe.  (And I’m still very fond of those early Hainish books.) I occasionally found myself in the same room with...

Tonight’s Sky

Wandering with my camera about sunset, I snapped these photos, and then dashed indoors because it was freezing.

 

 

Continuing to Speak in Print

I am interviewed by Jane Lindskold, mostly about Quillifer.

Signage

My signing at the Jean Cocteau went well, and I was gratified by the number of people who turned up, the more so considering that I was in competition with Albuquerque Comic-Con. After signing books for those in attendance, I signed the remaining stock, which means that if you want some signed Walter Jon Williams books, all you have to do is click right here. I also signed a lot of Wild Cards books, for which look at this page and subsequent pages.