Walter Jon WilliamsNovelist

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.

  1. January 15, 2016 · 410 words

    Action Me

    Here’s another photo by Troy, this time of Action Walter in Action in the Water. And if you don’t like looking at me, you can look at the fish. Win/win! Being on a live-aboard dive boat is sort of like being in the nicest military on earth. Everything’s very regimented and works according to a […]

    Read entry →

  2. January 14, 2016 · 440 words

    Reviews in the Nick of Time: The Big Short

    First I have to say that, with all respect to The Force Awakens and JJ Abrams, this is the movie I wanted to see this holiday season. Due to various delays, including the movie not showing any closer than 65 miles away, I didn’t get to the theater till this week. Check out the star power […]

    Read entry →

  3. January 13, 2016 · 80 words

    Lion Fish

    I’ve taken a lot of photos of lion fish over the years, but none this good. This was taken by Troy, the Aggressor’s pro photographer, who had the advantage of a camera that probably cost about $10,000 more than mine, which is the underwater equivalent of a Kodak Brownie. That said, this is an invasive species […

    Read entry →

  4. January 11, 2016 · 475 words

    Things Seen

    From the boat I saw the green flash for the second time in my life. Rob, the chief engineer, told me that conditions looked about right, and so I paid special attention as the sun went down into the sea, and was rewarded by a moment of purest, brightest, emerald green. The video doesn’t do […]

    Read entry →

  5. January 10, 2016 · 380 words

    Iron Dome

    WTF? Qu’est-ce que c’est? Scattered about the ocean floor off the Northwest Point of Providenciales are found a number of these curious objects. Once upon a time, they formed an actual iron underwater dome used during the filming of a pilot episode for a French reality show, a sort of Francophone version of “Survivor.”

    Read entry →

  6. January 8, 2016 · 105 words

    Iron Diver

    I am in port but not yet ashore, and will leave the boat early tomorrow to catch my 0900 flight home. Here I am with my medal and certificate as an Iron Diver, for “completing all available dives” during my week aboard the Turks & Caicos Aggressor. (That would be 26.) They misspelled my name, […]

    Read entry →

  7. January 1, 2016 · 175 words

    Shake

    I’m off to an Undisclosed Location in the Caribbean at 0800 tomorrow morning, for seven days on a boat with (I’m hoping) NO INTERNET CONNECTION! Nothing to do but hang out with some interesting people, say hi to the fishies, and grok the natural world. I thought I’d leave you with something in the festive […]

    Read entry →

  8. December 30, 2015 · 86 words

    Knight for 99

    It’s not as if you haven’t already had plenty of chances to buy my novel Knight Moves, but here’s another: as a way to welcome in 2016, I’ve put it on sale for 99 cents. Happy New Year! You may find this Philip K. Dick Award- nominated masterpiece at Amazon, iBooks, Google, Smashwords, Barnes & […]

    Read entry →

  9. December 30, 2015 · 43 words

    In the Best Possible Way

    So over on io9, Charlie Jane Anders refers to me as “messed up in the best possible way.” If only she knew, right? [You know what else is messed up? Autocorrect, which insists with amazing persistence that io9 is actually “ion.”]

    Read entry →

  10. December 30, 2015 · 339 words

    The Year in Toolbox

    Looking back from late December 2015, it’s clear that veterans of Taos Toolbox had a great year. Lawrence Schoen’s Barsk: The Elephant’s Graveyard has only been available for a few days, but is already creating quite a buzz. One review claims it “resurrects the smart science fantasy novel,” which is a nifty trick for a

    Read entry →

  11. December 28, 2015 · 498 words

    On to Ottawa!

    The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) might be just a wee bit behind on their paperwork, because they finally got around to declassifying the U.S. Navy’s plan to invade Canada. In 1887. The U.S. and Canada were having a dispute over fisheries, so the enterprising Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Charles C. Rogers, USN, havin

    Read entry →

  12. December 27, 2015 · 181 words

    Completely Your Choice

    2016 is almost upon us, and of course you’re going to want a large, full-color, deluxe wall calendar, because they are awesome. Not to mention full of great photos that you can frame and pretend you took yourself. And of course you’ll have a choice. Here, for example, is the Vladimir Putin calendar, in which you [&hell

    Read entry →