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San Francisco, 5:06 AM
Tue Dec 8
26 posts in the last 24 hours

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  • posts about #walterjonwilliams more →

    Learn The Craft Of Novel-Writing From Walter Jon Williams And Nancy Kress

    Virtual Resurrection: The Dead Who Went To Cyber-Heaven

    If Nothing's A Game, Then Everything Is

    A.I.s Are Still Trapped In The Summer Of Love

    Future Dystopias Where Conservatives Have Won

    Your Face Cream Will One Day Eat The World
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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of redqueen redqueen
    12/02/09

    In reply to Learn The Craft Of Novel-Writing From Walter Jon Williams And Nancy Kress
    Pretty sure that guy in the illustration likes adverbs. He's clearly smoldering intensely.
     Reply
    redqueen was starred redqueen was unstarred
    Image of PostMarque PostMarque
    12/02/09

    In reply to Learn The Craft Of Novel-Writing From Walter Jon Williams And Nancy Kress
    every freakin workshop in the world is scheduled at the worst possible time for my day job.

    please someone put a high quality workshop on during the second week of the months of spring.
     Reply
    PostMarque was starred PostMarque was unstarred
    Image of LittleDragon LittleDragon
    12/02/09

    In reply to Learn The Craft Of Novel-Writing From Walter Jon Williams And Nancy Kress
    This really depresses me. I wish that I could have been an author.

    (she said sadly)
     Reply
    LittleDragon was starred LittleDragon was unstarred
    Image of TotalFanGirl TotalFanGirl
    12/02/09

    In reply to Learn The Craft Of Novel-Writing From Walter Jon Williams And Nancy Kress
    I am happily sitting her, watching the trees blow furiously outside my window while my child plays noisily behind me and wonder why adverbs are treated so harshly?
     Reply
    TotalFanGirl was starred TotalFanGirl was unstarred
    Image of Starwatcher Starwatcher
    12/02/09

    @TotalFanGirl: Yeah, stop sitting on your child. The poor thing.
     Reply
    Starwatcher was starred Starwatcher was unstarred
    Image of TotalFanGirl TotalFanGirl
    12/02/09

    @Starwatcher: How else am I supposed to get her to sit still?!
     Reply
    TotalFanGirl was starred TotalFanGirl was unstarred
    Image of Slatz_Grobnik Slatz_Grobnik
    12/03/09

    @TotalFanGirl: Xanax cookies?
     Reply
    Slatz_Grobnik was starred Slatz_Grobnik was unstarred
    Image of TotalFanGirl TotalFanGirl
    12/03/09

    @Slatz_Grobnik: They make those? Excellent!
     Reply
    TotalFanGirl was starred TotalFanGirl was unstarred
    Image of Starwatcher Starwatcher
    12/03/09

    @TotalFanGirl: It's all relative. If you move faster than she does, it'll look like she's sitting still.
     Reply
    Starwatcher was starred Starwatcher was unstarred
    Image of TotalFanGirl TotalFanGirl
    12/03/09

    @Starwatcher: Just like that Star Trek episode where they move so fast they're just a little buzzzzz...
     Reply
    TotalFanGirl was starred TotalFanGirl was unstarred
    Image of braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.
    12/02/09

    In reply to Learn The Craft Of Novel-Writing From Walter Jon Williams And Nancy Kress
    Those guys can go to hell. I'm never giving up my adverbs.
     Reply
    braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. was starred braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. was unstarred
    Image of k386 k386
    12/02/09

    @braak: he said angrily
     Reply
    Roklimber promoted this comment k386 was starred k386 was unstarred
    Image of braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.
    12/02/09

    @k386: ::Shakes fist. Furiously.::
     Reply
    Edited by braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. at 12/02/09 8:49 AM braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. was starred braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. was unstarred
    Image of Magicant Magicant
    12/02/09

    @braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.:

    How else would we write Tom Swifties?

    "I need a pencil sharpener," said Tom bluntly.
    "I only have diamonds, clubs and spades," said Tom heartlessly.
    "I manufacture tabletops for shops," said Tom counterproductively.
     Reply
    Magicant was starred Magicant was unstarred
    Image of braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.
    12/02/09

    @Magicant: Oh, man, that last one is pretty good.
     Reply
    braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. was starred braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. was unstarred
    Image of Belabras: now with Kung Fu grip! Belabras: now with Kung Fu grip!
    12/02/09

    @braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.:
    He defied them... defiantly.
     Reply
    Belabras: now with Kung Fu grip! was starred Belabras: now with Kung Fu grip! was unstarred
    Image of goldfarb goldfarb
    12/02/09

    @braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.: yeah, what's with the adverb hate?
     Reply
    goldfarb was starred goldfarb was unstarred
    Image of braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.
    12/02/09

    @goldfarb: Man, I don't know, but shit like that always makes me extremely suspicious. Agents do the same things. "Oops! We don't use that part of speech around here." It makes me feel like no one really knows what they're talking about.
     Reply
    braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. was starred braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. was unstarred
    Image of goldfarb goldfarb
    12/02/09

    @braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.: haha...especially when all you have to do is grab a copy of /insert great book here/ and flip to a random page and say "See? Adverbs!"
     Reply
    goldfarb was starred goldfarb was unstarred
    Image of queensowntalia queensowntalia
    12/02/09

    @goldfarb: I think the point is you should be able to tell how a character is feeling through his behavior or the manner of his speech, rather than the adverbs the author chooses to use. In my writing classes (alabeit poetry, but I think the rule extends some) it was often stated, "show, don't tell." If you say someone does something angrily, or hurredly, you're telling what they're doing rather than creating an image in the reader's mind.

    But maybe I'm wrong. What the heck do I know?
     Reply
    queensowntalia was starred queensowntalia was unstarred
    Image of goldfarb goldfarb
    12/02/09

    @queensowntalia: sure, that's a good point...but I think it's reasonable to say that most parts of speech, like adverbs, developed because they are useful...so to arbitrarily reject their use is a bit silly...but all things in moderation I guess...
     Reply
    goldfarb was starred goldfarb was unstarred
    Image of Moff Moff
    12/02/09

    @queensowntalia: That is exactly the point. But it's also more of an ideal one should aspire to than a hard-and-fast rule that should keep you from typing the letters l and y ever again.
     Reply
    Moff was starred Moff was unstarred
    Image of Dr Emilio Lizardo Dr Emilio Lizardo
    12/02/09

    @queensowntalia: Thank you for concisely explaining why zestfully using adverbs is bad.

    Do you have Stephanie Meyer's home phone number?
     Reply
    Dr Emilio Lizardo was starred Dr Emilio Lizardo was unstarred
    Image of braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.
    12/02/09

    @queensowntalia: Yeah, but doing something "hurriedly" does create an image in the reader's mind. It is a word that implies a set of associated conditions, the way all of the words do.

    I hate "Show, don't tell," too, because it seems basically antithetical to the nature of writing a novel.

    Whatever, I don't care, I'm just tired of all these guys and their fucking rules, man.
     Reply
    braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. was starred braak: You are, as usual, completely correct. was unstarred
    Image of queensowntalia queensowntalia
    12/02/09

    @goldfarb: I think they work better in conversation than in storytelling, in general.

    But yeah, in the excerpt above they don't say you should NEVER use them. :)
     Reply
    queensowntalia was starred queensowntalia was unstarred
    Image of Grey_Area Grey_Area
    12/02/09

    @braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.: Totally!
     Reply
    Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred
    Image of VisibleHand VisibleHand
    12/03/09

    @goldfarb: A hammer is a useful tool in general, but not so much for the specific task of cutting a wedding cake. Yeah, it can probably kind of get the job done if you use it enough, but it's messy and hardly the optimal solution. Unless, of course, you prefer sugary pulp.
     Reply
    VisibleHand was starred VisibleHand was unstarred
    Image of Grey_Area Grey_Area
    06/08/09

    In reply to Virtual Resurrection: The Dead Who Went To Cyber-Heaven
    I remember liking Terminal Cafe by Ian McDonald, but it's been a long time since I read it.
     Reply
    Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred
    Image of BrandonSweet BrandonSweet
    06/07/09

    In reply to Virtual Resurrection: The Dead Who Went To Cyber-Heaven
    In Hardwired, it's actually the character Reno, not Cowboy, who gets killed while interfaced and whose consciousness lives on in cyberspace.


    His electronic ambush at the end of the book is all kinds of awesome.

     Reply
    BrandonSweet was starred BrandonSweet was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    06/07/09

    @BrandonSweet: Oh, let me fix that!
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
    Image of octaslash octaslash
    06/07/09

    In reply to Virtual Resurrection: The Dead Who Went To Cyber-Heaven
    No Dollhouse?
     Reply
    octaslash was starred octaslash was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    06/07/09

    @octalass: I've seen every episode of Dollhouse. There's nobody whose brain survives in cyberspace. There are wedges, but that's different.
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
    Image of Dominus Astra Dominus Astra
    06/07/09

    In reply to Virtual Resurrection: The Dead Who Went To Cyber-Heaven
    I read a humorous short story by Ted Chiang once, about a man whose digital afterlife was rudely interrupted during his "sexual endurance record tryout" by the managing corporation - his investments in real life had collapsed, leaving him unable to finance his further virtual life. He was given an option: Slowing down the processor speed (unacceptable, he would be out of sync with his still-living relatives); accept true death, or get a job as spam filter, the latter of which he accepted.
     Reply
    Dominus Astra was starred Dominus Astra was unstarred
    Image of nagumi nagumi
    06/07/09

    @Dominus Astra: I'd love to read that. Got a story name?
     Reply
    nagumi was starred nagumi was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    06/07/09

    @nagumi: Actually, it's not by Ted Chiang, it's by David Langford, and it's linked to in my post... :)
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
    Image of Dominus Astra Dominus Astra
    06/07/09

    @nagumi: Sorry, I only remembered that it was in a short story collection, all written by Ted Chiang (who I think is brilliant but underappreciated) I read the one story in the bookstore, so I felt a little guilty and hurried :). Can't remember the title of the book or the title of the story.


    Amazon search reveals that he's got only 1 short story collection, so I think it's this one:

    [www.amazon.com]


    But I can't be sure.


    PS: if not mistaken, that story is the first one in the collection

     Reply
    Dominus Astra was starred Dominus Astra was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    06/07/09

    @Dominus Astra: It's not by Ted Chiang. Your memories are deceiving you.
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
    Image of HalOfBorg HalOfBorg
    06/07/09

    In reply to Virtual Resurrection: The Dead Who Went To Cyber-Heaven
    Arnold Judas Rimmer --- H
     Reply
    HalOfBorg was starred HalOfBorg was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    06/07/09

    @HalOfBorg: Yeah I thought about including him... not sure why I didn't. I guess because he's not really in cyberspace, he's just stuck as a hologram.
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
    Image of cljohnston108 cljohnston108
    06/07/09

    In reply to Virtual Resurrection: The Dead Who Went To Cyber-Heaven
    Do Richard K. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs novels count? I mean, nobody really dies unless you destroy their cortical stack, otherwise they just get re-sleeved.
     Reply
    cljohnston108 was starred cljohnston108 was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    06/07/09

    @cljohnston108: Thought about including them, but it seemed like they were more like getting a new body when you die, not uploading per se. Similar to Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom & whatnot.
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
    Image of OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear
    06/07/09

    In reply to Virtual Resurrection: The Dead Who Went To Cyber-Heaven
    Am I the only one waiting for the day when the interweb looks like the one in Lawnmower man?
     Reply
    OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear was starred OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear was unstarred
    Image of Grey_Area Grey_Area
    03/31/09

    In reply to If Nothing's A Game, Then Everything Is
    That certainly sounds interesting. Might make a good "Double Feature" with Doctorow's Little Brother.
     Reply
    Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    03/31/09

    @Grey_Area: Since I'm just starting Little Brother now, I sure hope so!
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
    Image of Lassus Lassus
    03/31/09

    In reply to If Nothing's A Game, Then Everything Is
    I consider Williams "Aristoi" to be one of my favorite sci-fi novels. I've liked of a lot of his stuff since reading that one, but nothing else has come close for me.


    This books sounds very interesting, if a little depressingly lose to the real world for my tastes. It sounds from the description a little like some of Gibson's more recent hyper-real urban paranoia works. Did you get that impression, CJ, or is my reading of your review not correct there?

     Reply
    Lassus was starred Lassus was unstarred
    Image of Charlie Jane Anders Charlie Jane Anders
    03/31/09

    @Lassus: Yeah, I'd say that's a fair reading.
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders was starred Charlie Jane Anders was unstarred
    Image of lightninglouie lightninglouie
    11/05/08

    In reply to A.I.s Are Still Trapped In The Summer Of Love
    As Bruce Sterling pointed out, the problem is one of metaphors: Computers don't "think" so much as search and sort through information. A computer can no more become "self-aware" than a Rolodex can. Quoth the Bruce: "A tech world that chose to talk about ordinators instead of artificial intelligence probably would have produced Google in about 1980."
     Reply
    lightninglouie was starred lightninglouie was unstarred
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