Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 226 entries, all of them here in full.
September 27, 2012 · 571 words
Magic
I’m sure some of you know that I used to be a stage magician. Not a particularly brilliant one, it must be admitted, but I did get up in front of numerous audiences and did an actual act in which things dis-apparated and re-apparated and odd shiny objects floated through the air. (In fact, I […]
Read entry →September 26, 2012 · 1,621 words
Out Of The Past: Ambassador of Progress
I thought I’d talk about Ambassador of Progress, my first science fiction novel, which (as I mentioned in an earlier post) is newly available in ebook form via Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Smashwords. (Plus iBooks and Kobo and Baker and Taylor and other places for which I have no actual links.) The most […]
Read entry →September 25, 2012 · 908 words
Three Stages. No Waiting.
This past weekend was the annual Globalquerque music festival, with sixteen bands playing on three stages over two nights. As usual, I missed a lot of music by virtue of the fact that I was at one stage and not another. Which is disappointing, but since I was generally hearing good sounds wherever I was, […]
Read entry →September 21, 2012 · 72 words
Any Rifts Today?
Does anyone happen to have a scan or electronic copy of my novel The Rift? I should like to turn this wretched, error-filled mess into a proper ebook that we all can enjoy. There is allegedly a file available on sharing sites, “33 Novels by Walter Jon Williams” or something, that supposedly has the Rift […]
Read entry →September 19, 2012 · 1,299 words
The Mittster
When Mitt Romney announced his candidacy, I figured, “Well, at least he’s a pragmatist.” He appeared not to believe in anything other than what was necessary to win elections, and if winning the nomination meant disavowing his accomplishments as Governor of Massacnhusetts, he was perfectly okay with doing that. He ran
Read entry →September 18, 2012 · 99 words
Get Yer Progress Here!
My very first SF novel, Ambassador of Progress, is now available for your e-readers at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Smashwords. It should be available via iBooks, Kobo, etc. within a week or so. Enjoy! Special thanks to cover artist Phil Booth for revising his work in jig time. This is the last of my […]
Read entry →September 14, 2012 · 46 words
Ambassador, Progressing
Behold! The “raw art,” as it were, for the ebook reissue of Ambassador of Progress. While it doesn’t literally illustrate any scenes in the book, it’s nicely atmospheric, and gets the main point of the story across. By the British artist Phil Booth, aka “Philzero.”
Read entry →September 14, 2012 · 372 words
The Late Mr. Plantagenet
So it looks as if the body of Richard III may have been found. One is tempted to write “Shakespeare’s Richard III,” because that’s our impression of the character. After Richard was killed at Bosworth, his body was supposedly stripped and displayed for a few days, then buried at Grey Friars church, some distance from [
Read entry →September 12, 2012 · 151 words
Skyline
Behold a photo of a rather small portion of the Chicago skyline, taken at night from across the bay at the planetarium. Downtown Chicago was a banquet of architectural delights. The Great Chicago Fire meant the whole city had to start all over from scratch, and over the decades the tall buildings went up in […]
Read entry →September 10, 2012 · 281 words
G Minor Fleas
I’ve had this instrumental tune going through my head for the better part of a week. I had no idea what the tune was or where I’d first heard it— because it was instrumental and full of brass, I assumed it was from the sound track of some movie I’d seen at some point in […]
Read entry →September 8, 2012 · 161 words
In Which I Am Found In Various Places, All Awesome
My Nebula-winning story “The Green Leopard Plague” can be found as the “e-book exclusive novella” in the current issue of Lightspeed Magazine. You can’t just read the story online, you have to download it. For those of you who haven’t read it, or for those who wish to read it again, this would seem to […]
Read entry →