Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 89

Forty Years of Voyager

The Voyager spacecraft have been traveling through space for forty years, longer than most people on Earth have been alive. Here’s a brief appreciation of their achievement.

Les Tetons

Here we have the Grand Tetons, named (I imagine) by a very lonely and somewhat nearsighted French voyageur. Some decades ago I was visiting France, and fell into a conversation with a young French woman.  It went something like that. SHE: Is it true that in America you have mountains called ‘les grandes tétons?'” ME: Oui.  C’est vrai.  [Note my immaculate French] SHE: But how is that?  Is it not that America is a Puritan country? ME: American puritans don’t read French. Whatever the Puritans...

From the Earth to the Moon

You can’t say the week was without its variety. First the solar eclipse, and then four days in Grand Teton and Yellowstone parks.  So here I’ve documented the morning rainbow at the feet of the Lower Yellowstone Falls (it vanished a few minutes later as the sun rose), and below is the diamond ring as the sun emerged from behind the moon. I’ve stood on the bring of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, been pelted by the cold drizzle of geysers, and been stuck in traffic jams caused by a bison,...

Solar Dragon

So we had a three-day turnaround between returning from Helsinki and starting our drive to Wyoming to see the eclipse.  It was a two-day drive to our guest ranch near Dubois (rhymes with Royce).  A two-day drive to watch a two-minute event seemed a little out of balance, so we’re staying for the rest of the week in order to enjoy nearby Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. It is somewhat of a contrast with Finland. We watched the eclipse from the front porch of our rented cabin, which makes it a...

MP

So here I am at Worldcon, signing a book for Finnish MP Jyrki Kasvi, who reads SF, can speak Klingon, wears a cowboy hat, and presented the Best Novel Hugo. Honestly, why can’t we get legislators like this? The photo is by my hard-working minder, Pekka Rantasaari.

Stand By for Greatness

So while I was in Finland, Orbit reverted the rights to all three of the Dagmar Shaw books. I’ll try to make those available as soon as I can.  I can hardly do a worse job of promoting them than the original publisher.

Native Speaker

I am interviewed in Aamulehti, the second-largest newspaper in Finland. You will be amazed at how well I speak Finnish.

 

At the Worldcon

 

I am at the 75th Worldcon, and it is perfectly glorious. Also, the headline says I’m a “sci-fi great.”  I won’t disagree.

Founder

Walking around Stockholm, I saw this statue, which I believe is that of Jean-Charles Bernadotte, the Gascon sergeant who rose to the rank of general during the French Revolution, and who then married Napoleon’s old girlfriend Desiree and went on to become King Karl XIV Johan of Sweden, founder of the present line of Swedish kings. He is the only monarch known to have borne a “Death to Kings” tattoo. I also noticed the statue is being crated up, as if it’s being shuttled out of sight somewhere...

Me, On Finnish Radio

I am interviewed on a Swedish-language station on Finnish state radio!  The analysis is in Swedish, but I’m speaking English.  (No surprise there.) Just hit the Avsnitt for 5.8.2017.  I think. And here’s a transcript of the interview, entirely in Swedish for those of you who want to puzzle it out.