Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 84

Open to Submissions

Just a reminder that Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy, is now open for submissions. The workshop runs June 17-30, 2018, and will be taught by Nancy Kress, Walter Jon Williams, George RR Martin, Carrie Vaughn, and EM Tippetts. Time is passing!  Get your submissions ready!

Back to the Mississippi

A new Wild Cards shared worlds book (the twenty-fourth) has just appeared, Mississippi Roll, edited by George R.R. Martin and Melinda Snodgrass (who seems to be uncredited, at least on the cover). I don’t have a story in this one, but you might find one or two of my characters involved in the action. This may sound strange in regard to the twenty-fourth book of a series, but this one is actually a good place for a newcomer to start. It’s self-contained, all is explained, and it’s the first in...

The First Century

Happy Hundredth Birthday, Finland!

Vladimir Does It Again

Once again, I am compelled to make a comparison between my calendar and that of Vladimir Putin, which various Russian sources insist is a huge seller in the UK, despite it being carried by few or none of Britain’s calendar distributors. With my calendar, you get lovely photography of the interesting places I’ve been in the last twelvemonth, including Mexico, Finland, Sweden, Russia, Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons, along with shots of August’s total solar eclipse. With Putin’s calendar, you...

Adventure Log

As we have so many times in the past, we’re making a calendar available for our friends and readers.  It features photos from our Baltic journey of the summer, along with views of the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, and the eclipse of August 2017.  It also features holidays and other important dates for the US, Canada, Mexico, and the UK. It’s a log of our adventures, and you can use it to log your adventures in 2018. You need a calendar, right?  And you need it in hardcopy, because online calenda...

Palace of Mystery and Message

Eltham Palace, near Greenwich, was given to Edward II in 1305, and was used as a royal residence for over three centuries.  Henry VIII and his sisters were raised there.  But the palace was wrecked during the English Civil War, and after the rebuilding of Greenwich Palace under Charles II, Eltham was used less and less. In the 1920s the crown leased the palace to Sir Stephen and Virginia Courtauld.  Wealthy philanthropists and patrons of the arts, they hired the architects John Seely and Paul...

I Speak to Hobbitses

This Wednesday, November 29, at 6:30 pm, I will be addressing the Hobbit Society at the University of New Mexico.  The event will be held at the Honors College, on the lower plaza or ground level of the Student Health Center building. I’ll be talking about Quillifer and other subjects of relevance.  It’s open to the public, so  y’all come.

Coming December 1

Just a reminder that December 1 is the first day for submissions to Taos Toolbox, the master class for writers of science fiction and fantasy. The workshop will run June 17-30, 2018, and will be taught by Nancy Kress, Walter Jon Williams, George RR Martin, Carrie Vaughn, and EM Tippetts. Assuming that you want to write (and I think you do), this is where you start.

 

Cover Art

John Scalzi sent me the cover of the Italian edition of his novel The Collapsing Empire, which may look just a little bit familiar to you.  It uses the same piece of stock art (by Innovari) that I used for my own editions, ebook and paperback, of Angel Station. Furthermore, I know of at least one other ebook that’s using that piece of art. And recently friend of the blog Etaoin Shrdlu pointed me in the direction of this cover, which might also look just a little familiar. In fact the estimab...

La Zona Tropical

Possibly because the weekend made it clear that winter is here, I’ve decided to create and live in my own tropical zone.  Let’s start with some music! Here’s the Oceanic band Te Vaka singing “Papa E.” Which should not be confused with another song called “E Papa,” by Carlos Santana.