Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 3,174 entries, all of them here in full.
March 30, 2016 · 87 words
Do Right
From a young Peggy Lee, one of many classic renditions of “Why Don’t You Do Right,” also known as “The Weed Smoker’s Dream.” While touring with the Goodman band, Miss Lee obsessively played Lil Green’s rendition of the song, which had earlier been recorded by the Harlem Hamfats (who were, by the way, from Chicago). [&h
Read entry →March 30, 2016 · 653 words
Reviews Too Late: The Heavy Water War
The Heavy Water War (UK title: The Saboteurs), streamable on Netflix, is a six-episode Norwegian television production that tells a number of parallel stories: that of the Nazi nuclear program, the British and Norwegian saboteurs who tried to stop it, and the management of Norsk Hydro, the company who owned the heavy-w
Read entry →March 28, 2016 · 437 words
The Graveyard of Conan
A 3200-year-old bronze-age battlefield has been excavated next to the Tollense River near the Baltic Sea. The result: 10,000 bones of at least 130 individuals, plus some horses. The bodies, all men, were hacked with swords, stabbed with spears, and shot with bronze arrowheads. Archaeologists have only opened 450 square
Read entry →March 25, 2016 · 199 words
Tools for Life
Here, meeting in what is perhaps the most unflattering lighting ever, is last weekend’s reunion of Taos Toolbox grads. Included in the unflattering light is Melinda Snodgrass, who is not a Toolbox vet but has twice been a special lecturer. It hardly seems fair that she must share the dismal lighting with us. This group
Read entry →March 24, 2016 · 1,205 words
Protagonists
So I was talking to an acquaintance whose family hails from Tennessee. He said, “In my family we used to be embarrassed that the Yankees came and took away our plantation. But now what’s embarrassing is that we had a plantation in the first place.” Which is enlightened self-knowledge, if you ask me. And which […
Read entry →March 17, 2016 · 132 words
Big Oops
Alert reader Bruce Perens has written to let me know that the ebooks of Aristoi have a formatting error, in that one chapter was moved to the end of the file. And by end, I mean end, after the “Other Books by Walter Jon Williams” section and everything. This mistake has now been corrected, and the revised file [&hellip
Read entry →March 15, 2016 · 92 words
St. Urho Rides Again! (on a bar stool. on skis.)
“Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, mene täältä hiiteen!” Yes, another year has gone by, so on Wednesday its time to don the green and purple and celebrate St. Urho’s Day! Just so you can get an idea of the sort of mischief you can get into on St. Urho’s day, here’s a video of the celebrations from Menahga, […]
Read entry →March 10, 2016 · 665 words
To MFA or Not to MFA
There’s always been a debate in the writing community over the usefulness of creative writing programs. My own experience with creative writing courses in college wasn’t particularly positive— I don’t think the experience benefitted me as a writer, but I didn’t hate it, either. Now with the huge increase in creat
Read entry →March 6, 2016 · 101 words
The New City
So let’s say you’ve managed to get around the barriers Amazon has placed around Metropolitan, and you’ve read it and liked it. Which means you should check out the sequel, City on Fire, which is not only available but which has a handsome new cover, built around a striking painting by the English artist Ann Marie [&hel
Read entry →March 6, 2016 · 96 words
More Joy From Amazon
So Amazon gave me my buy button back, but now they’ve sent a message to everyone who’s bought a copy of Metropolitan: An updated version of your past Kindle purchase of Metropolitan (Metropolitan Series) by Walter Jon Williams is now available. The updated version contains the following changes: Improved formatting for
Read entry →March 4, 2016 · 259 words
Amazon— May They Choke on My Vomit
So here I am running a sale on my Metropolitan ebook, as detailed a couple posts ago. And then comes a notice from Amazon Quality Control saying that they blocked my book from sale! Now what horrible quality control issue was so urgent that they had to completely block my book from sale during the […]
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