Walter Jon Williams
Author of City On Fire

Moderator: And I see THE MAN himself!

WalterJon: Hey, all.

dozois: And you are BLINDED by His Glory!

abraham: Hola, Walter.

dozois: Hi, Walter

Moderator: Hey! We've still got three minutes to go till the official start.

WalterJon: Hidy.

WalterJon: tick tick tick

Moderator: Walter - the one thing I didn't mention in my email is that Java is a bit...unstable might be the best way to describe it!

Moderator: So, if you find yourself fading out

Moderator: first: hit reload on your browser.

dozois: I found myself fading out twenty years ago...

Moderator: If that doesn't work, you may need to close the browser and reconnect.

WalterJon: OK. Chatlines throw me off with depressing regularity . . .

Moderator: Gardner! You are in yr pr-r-r--r-rime!

Moderator: (Scottish burrs don't work real well in ASCI.)

WalterJon: I think I hit the record-- 27 or something-- on the OMNI chatline a couple years ago.

dozois: If I'd known that all I had to do was hit reload! <g>

Moderator: Getting loaded works Every Time, Gardner.

Moderator: Or reloaded.

Moderator: What's the difference when you come right down to it?

Moderator: Okay!

Moderator: It's 9 PM.

Moderator: Time to start.

WalterJon: Do you know where your parents are?

Moderator: First, I want you all to make sure you know how to send private messages -

Moderator: Doubleclick on my name and that should do it.

dozois: Ah, I should have gotten you LOADED last time, eh, Moderator? <makes careful notes>

Moderator: Okay, we're going moderated...

dozois: Do you know who your parents are?

Moderator: Okay, Walter, Gardner - can you type?

WalterJon: test test

dozois: Why, I never could before, but suddenly now I CAN!

Moderator: That's FABULOUS, dahling.

Moderator: Intro time:

dozois: This miraculous power of yours never fails to amaze me, Moderator.

Moderator: Hi everyone - welcome to The Sci-fi Channel’s website, scifi.com or to our friends, The Dominion. Tonight we’re chatting with Hugo and Nebula-award nominated author Walter Jon Williams. His latest novel, City On Fire, is the sequel to 1995's Metropolitan

Moderator: Brief word about the drill - this is a moderated chat which means (as you’ve probably already noticed), you can’t type publicly. If you have a question for Walter Jon Williams, just shoot it to me as a private message and I’ll make sure it gets asked.

dozois: Hey, don't forget to plug the magazine! Hold up a copy!

Moderator: We have a question for you, Walter:

Moderator: FROM dr-who4: how did he start writing?

WalterJon: I don't think there was ever a time when I WASN'T writing . . .

* Moderator holds up ASIMOVS *

dozois: Hold it up CLOSER to the screen!

Moderator: Right - my Asimovs plug somehow got cut off -

WalterJon: When I was a little kid, before I learned to read, I would dictate stories to my parents, and they would write them down for me. I'd then illustrate them with my crayons. . .

WalterJon: Fortunately few of these early works have survived.

dozois: You must have had very patient parents, Walter.

dozois: I'm sure mine would have told me to go watch HOWDY DOODY, instead.

WalterJon: So in answer to the question, I've always been writing. At a certain point, I started getting paid for it.

Moderator: these chats are part of a series sponsored by Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine whose eminent editor types among us - Mister Dozois, take a bow please.

dozois: WHOSE bow?

WalterJon: My mom was a schoolteacher. Very big on the creativity and literacy thing.

dozois: How hard was the transition from wantabee to pro for you, Walter?

WalterJon: I'm sure I had the same ghastly experiences as everyone else . . .

WalterJon: I wrote full-time for about three years, supporting myself by the usual awful part-time jobs, before I made a sale . . .

dozois: Ah, everyone always likes losing-your-virginity stories, though.

dozois: Did you ever work in a stirrup-buckle factory?

WalterJon: But that sale was a three-book deal, and I've been supporting myself ever since . . .

Moderator: FROM dr-who4: so, when did he get interested in sci-fi and what was his farvat sci-fi show?

WalterJon: I have several file drawers of unsold writing. The thing I wonder is, what my career would be like if some of THOSE had sold instead.

Moderator: Did you see the question from Dr Who, Walter?

WalterJon: I've always been into things Stfnal. I read comics and, as soon as I could read, I started consuming large quantities of Heinlein. I think my first SF TV show was MEN INTTO SPACE, starring William Lundigan.

WalterJon: Yes, I caught the question.

dozois: You sold several Horatio Hornblower-like Sea Adventure novels before first selling an SF novel, right? They were actually published, weren't they?

WalterJon: MEN INTO SPACE lasted a whole season, I think . . .

WalterJon: Yep, I wrote five historical sea-adventure novels. Those were my first sales, to Dell. I had ten books planned, but the series tanked. I've been wary of series ever since.

Moderator: FROM abraham: What are the latest projects, and how are they going?

WalterJon: I just finished a VERY VERY LARGE book called THE RIFT. It's an epic full-scale mega-disaster novel, based on a rupture of the New Madrid earthquake fault in the middle-United States . . .

Moderator: Is that the one in Arkansas?

WalterJon: I just mailed off the copy-edited manuscript today, in fact. Harper will be publishing it in August.

WalterJon: Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi. All the REAL EXCITING parts of the US.

dozois: So, if the sea-adventure series had taken off, you'd now be Patrick O'Brien, and nobody would have heard of you in this field? Did you ever wonder about that?

WalterJon: I wonder about it constantly, Gardner. Every time I see O'Brian on the bestseller list, I think, "There but for the grace of Dell go I."

Moderator: FROM dr-who4: Are you friends with other scf-fi writers? like Greg Bear.

WalterJon: I'm buddies with a lot of SF writers. Here in New Mexico we have about a dozen, and I see most of them all the time. Then I see folks like Gardner at SF conventions.

dozois: I wonder if you'd have ended up writing SF eventually anyway, even if you HAD become Patrick O' Brian?

WalterJon: Gardner, I think my intrinsic weirdness would have found me out sooner or later. I probably would have found historical fiction too constricting in the long run, but if the sea stories had been a hit I wouldn't have left hist fic altogether.

dozois: Walter has an unusual number of social circles, actually, only some of which overlap: Science fiction prodom and fandom, martial arts people, Regency Dance people...

Moderator: You can STILL do hist fiction as a scifi writer, you know.

Moderator: Alternate histories!

WalterJon: In fact, I just finished a huge historical novella, ARGONAUTICA, which is on the desk of a Certain Editor . . .

Moderator: Ahem!

dozois: I think you would have drifted into it eventually, although if the sea adventures had become mega-bestsellers, that would certainly be where you'd probably spent most of your energy.

Moderator: That segues into our next audience question:

dozois: Walter HAS written a number of Alternate Histories, some with scenarios weird enough to be worthy of Howard Waldrop.

Moderator: FROM Terry: Any short fiction in the near future?

WalterJon: Ooooh. High praise, Gardner. Howard is my Alternate History Hero.

dozois: Walter, speaking of short fiction, don't forget to tell them your Big News From This Morning...

WalterJon: As far as short fiction goes, there's the aforementioned ARGONAUTICA, which is the story of Jason and Medea transplanted to the Civil War, with the Argo turned into a Confederate ironclad . . .

Moderator: And Medea turned into...who? Mary Todd Lincoln?

Moderator: Kinda works, that.

WalterJon: And I've started work on another alternate history, involving Friederich Nietzsche. The current title is THE LAST RIDE OF GERMAN FREDDIE.

dozois: It's who they use for the Golden Fleece that's really amazing...<g>

WalterJon: You know, the Civil War would have been a lot easier for everybody if Mary Lincoln/Medea had just poisoned Jefferson Davis. . .

Moderator: Or if they'd gotten Nietzche involved somehow.

dozois: I find it odd, considering your very extensive knowledge of various historical periods, that you've never written any time-travel stories.

Moderator: He's UBER! He's a MENSCHE.

WalterJon: I'd like to have more time to write short fiction, but I keep tripping over these damn novels.

Moderator: 'Nother audience question:

Moderator: FROM Terry: what kind of SF would a sea-adventures best-selling auhtor write? I'm curious ...

Moderator: And...

Moderator: Station identification time - our guest this evening is the Nebula and Hugo award-nominated author Walter Jon Williams, whose latest novel, City On Fire, is the sequel to 1995's Metropolitan. You can ask Walter a question by sending it to me, Moderator, a

WalterJon: I wrote one time travel story, THE BAD TWIN, just published in my new collection, FRANKENSTEINS AND FOREIGN DEVILS.

dozois: Hell, you don't have to EAT, do you? Surely you can overcome these illusionary needs of the flesh...

Moderator: And my buffer keeps cutting me off this evening so let me amend that station identification: send your questions to me for Walter as private messages.

WalterJon: Well there you are, Gardner. My new bestseller: THE SHORT FICTION DIET. Write short stories, starve, lose weight. I think it'll be a hit!

Moderator: I'm gonna repeat terry's question because I'm curious too:

Moderator: FROM Terry: what kind of SF would a sea-adventures best-selling auhtor write? I'm curious

dozois: THINNER THIGHS IN TWENTY DAYS THROUGH WRITING SHORT FICTION.

WalterJon: And with the speculation concerning what might have happened if the sea stories had hit big, we can put out a new anthology, ALTERNATE WALTERS . . .

Moderator: I like that!

dozois: WONDERWALTERS!

WalterJon: But to answer Terry's question . . .

Moderator: The Great Walters of history.

WalterJon: If I were a hugely-selling sea-adventure writer, the SF would be pure indulgence. It would be my HOBBY, in essence. So SF would be a place where I'd experiment.

dozois: Perhaps we get a hint from the fact that Walter actually DID write the only (to my knowledge) Sword & Socery Sea Adventure story ever written.

WalterJon: I have to say, though, that I prefer SF. Those sea-adventure conventions are pretty thin on the ground . . . I wouldn't have nearly as many fun people to hang with.

dozois: Once you go to a Sea Adventure Writers Party, you don't go back...

Moderator: Do the sea-adventure conventions take place on cruise ships?

WalterJon: Yeah, CONSEQUENCES was pretty self-indulgent. though the readers seemed to have fun.

Moderator: Kathie Lee Gifford crooning as you autograph books...

WalterJon: The sea-adventure conventions should take place on wooden sailing ships.

dozois: Wearing those eye patches and having to say "ARRRR, Matey!" all the time gets to be a pain, though.

dozois: Where did "Consequences" apear?

Moderator: (Don't be shy everyone! You wouldn't be here if you didn't have a question for Walter so go ahead and ask 'em.)

WalterJon: CONSEQUENCES was written for one of Shetterly&Bull's LIAVEK anthologies, though I sold second rights to another anthology, and that one appeared first.

WalterJon: (the moderator is waiting for Godot)

dozois: Well, Walter, if you get to be famous enough, you can get some publisher to RE-ISSUE all your Sea Adventure novels.

Moderator: Godot IS in the audience...

dozois: The way they did with Stephen King's Bachman books.

WalterJon: Obviously I'm not famous enough YET . . .

dozois: Godot: "Hey, guys, don't wait for me!"

WalterJon: ARGONAUTICA, by the way, is a hidden sequel to the sea stories . . . it has some charactesrs in common.

Moderator: Godot comes through!

Moderator: FROM godot: Ask Walter if he still plays poker with Melinda Snodgrass and Chris Krohn.

WalterJon: We played bridge, actually, on almost a weekly basis. But I moved to the country, and I get to play bridge maybe once every six months now.

dozois: Did you ever think of doing a quick rewrite to add some fantasy elements to your sea novels and recycling them all as genre books?

Moderator: FROM abraham: Will he tell the Benjamin Franklin story?

WalterJon: WHICH Benjamin Franklin story . . . ? . . .

dozois: If everyone claps their hands, the fairies won't die AND Walter will tell the Benjamin Franklin story...

WalterJon: My next book is going to be the Secret History of Ben Franklin . . .

WalterJon: I don't want to go into details about the book, though, because it's Still a Secret.

dozois: Let me guess. The book is narrated by this mouse that talks, and who lives in Franklin's stove...

WalterJon: Oh darn! Gardner guessed!

dozois: It's my shrewd editorial mind...

dozois: Tell us how you came to write a sequel to one of Roger Zelazny's most famous stories.

WalterJon: The short answer is: Marty Greenberg asked me to . . .

dozois: Now for the LONG answer! <g>

WalterJon: He was editing a series from Tor, whereby a sequel, from a younger writer, was to be appended to an SF classic . . .

WalterJon: Marty asked me to pick a Zelazny novella and write a sequel. I didn't want to do this without Roger's permission, but Roger was a pretty mellow guy, and didn't seem to mind. The fact that he was paid to reprint a story that hadn't been available for twenty years probably helped him make up his mind, too.

dozois: Why did you pick that one?

Moderator: 'nother audience question:

Moderator: FROM dr-who4: how do you do your reseach? libarary or the internet? or both.

WalterJon: It's hard to say. "The Graveyard Heart" seemed to resonate with me. And the fact that it wasn't one of his really famous stories helped my confidence-- I'd have gone blank trying to write a sequel to "A Rose for Ecclesiastes."

WalterJon: I do research everywhere. Libraries, the Internet, bookstores. I know a bunch of scientists who can correct my scientific speculations.

WalterJon: The Internet was really useful on this last book. Lots of weird little facts out there.

Moderator: And most of them WRONG.

dozois: I thought you did a good job of writing something believably Zelaznyesque without doing a slavish imitation. THe story, by the way, is "Elegy for Angels and Dogs"--which has the odd distinction of being the longest novella ever to appear in ASIMOV'S.

Moderator: Station identification time - our guest this evening is the Nebula and Hugo award-nominated author Walter Jon Williams, whose latest novel, City On Fire, is the sequel to 1995's Metropolitan.

WalterJon: Oh yeah, lots of woo woo stuff on the Net, too . . .

dozois: Mention the website! <g>

Moderator: You can ask Walter a question by sending it to me, Moderator, as a private message.

Moderator: BUT the one great and absolutely reliable website is...

Moderator: <drumroll>

WalterJon: But that was okay for this book. I had some woo-woo characters.

Moderator: http://www.asimovs.com

WalterJon: TA-DAAAA!

Moderator: Godot is tired of waiting. he's asking questions!

Moderator: FROM godot: Walter, could you comment on how being a New Mexican has influenced your work?

WalterJon: Interesting question . . .

dozois: Where you can go after the chat and subscribe, in time to receive Walter's upcoming "Argonautica" in a future issue!

WalterJon: Certainly I could never have written "Days of Atonement" without having lived in New Mexico . . .

WalterJon: And New Mexico is so chock-full of writers, that I might have had a much lonelier career had I not lived here . . .

dozois: Do you count as a New Mexican? You were born in FARGO territory, as I recall, home of "tuna hot dish."

Moderator: What's the cost of living like?

WalterJon: New Mexico is a mellow place, and the cost of living is low, so I can actually live on what a writer earns, and not have to spend 80% of my energy dealing with hassles and just surviving.

Moderator: (My sister lives in Las Vegas, New Mexico. She runs the local drive-in.)

WalterJon: Yep, I was born in Duluth. Tuna hot dish, saunas, snowdrifts, and mosquitos were my lot in life.

dozois: Las Vegas, New Mexico. A town full of people who THINK they're living in Nevada...

WalterJon: The cost of living in New Mexico depends on where you live. Santa Fe and Taos are expensive, Albuquerque is moderate, but you can live in he country for a pittance.

dozois: "Never COULD find where they put the damn casinos!"

Moderator: FROM godot: Hey, I've met Walter and played cards with him; he is definitely nuevomexicano

WalterJon: And I'm a heavy-duty chile addict.

dozois: He even likes Hot Food, like that other famous native-born New Mexican, George R.R. Martin...<g>

Moderator: Walter, I'm interested in the process of writing for you.

Moderator: Do you have regular writing "office hours?"

Moderator: Or do you go on writing binges, lock yourself in your office, go without sleep...

dozois: Keep yourself awake with chiles...

WalterJon: I don't punch a clock, but there are parts of every day I try to set aside for writing.

WalterJon: I can go on a writing binge for, maybe, a day. And then I have to stop, because my body is so wrung out that it hurts to work. Moderation in all things, that's my motto. (except for chiles)

WalterJon: I'm not a fast writer. It's one of the tragedies of my career.

dozois: Hey, Walter, before you forget, tell them all your Good News From This Morning!

WalterJon: Good news . . .

WalterJon: <drumroll>

* Moderator pants with anticipation *

dozois: <eggroll>

* Moderator taps fingers impatiently *

dozois: Hey, you're CUTE when you pant with anticiption, Moderator! <g>

WalterJon: My story "Lethe", published by Gardner in the Sept97 issue of Asimov's, has been nominated for a Nebula in the Really Terrific Novelet category . . .

Moderator: Waaaaaaaaaaaaaay COOL!!!!!

WalterJon: This is the award given by the Science Fiction Writers of America. For some reason in Pittsburgh.

Moderator: Congrats.

dozois: Yes, Walter once again is on the fabled Final Nebula Ballot.

WalterJon: Thank you thank you.

* Moderator cracks open the virtual champagne *

* Moderator passes around the chocolate-covered strawbeerries *

WalterJon: As Gardner implies, I've been in this situation before. My advice is to drink the champagne NOW.

dozois: Those of us in the Know refer to Walter as the "Bull Goose Loser," because he has lost more major awards without winning one than any other writer.

Moderator: FROM jlorman: So does Walter think he is the Susan Lucci of the Science Fiction Soap Opera World?

dozois: Drink enough champagne, and you don't care whether you win or not. Always worked for ME. <g>

WalterJon: Oh, I've got Susan Lucci beat by a couple of nominations. As far as I'm concerned, she's just imitating me.

Moderator: Walter, you must begin picking your Nebula outfit NOW.

dozois: He's probably a larger dress size than Susan Lucci...

WalterJon: I have a little strapless number that's just STUNNING.

Moderator: 'nother audience question:

Moderator: FROM Terry: I'm impressed by the wide range of your writing, which seems unusual in SF these days. Any comments on where that comes from?

WalterJon: Sequins to die for.

WalterJon: In answer to Terry's question, I think it's that I'm easily bored. If I do the same thing time after time, I start to yawn, and I figure if I'M yawning, the audience is probably yawning, too.

Moderator: I wish more writers had that insight.

Moderator: Seriously...

WalterJon: me too

dozois: To amplify on Terry's question--you write Space Opera, noirish technothrillers, fantasy, alien contact stories, Alternate History stories...Anything you like the best?

Moderator: Station identification time - our guest this evening is the Nebula and Hugo award-nominated author Walter Jon Williams, whose latest novel, City On Fire, is the sequel to 1995's Metropolitan.

Moderator: You can ask Walter a question by sending it to me, Moderator, as a private message.

Moderator: And don't be shy!

Moderator: That's what you're here for, right???

dozois: Some of them may be here for Hot Cybersex, actually. <g>

WalterJon: I don't have a favorite subgenre. I try to do whatever interests me at the moment, on the theory that if it interests ME, it may interest someone else.

WalterJon: The number of participants went UP at the mention of hot cybersex, I notice.

Moderator: FROM godot: Walter, have you read/seen CRYPTONOMICON yet, and if so what do you think?

dozois: Seen it? I don't even know what it IS!

WalterJon: Haven't seen it , I'm afraid. I don't know what it is, either.

Moderator: FROM godot: Yoinks! It's Bruce Sterlings new book.

WalterJon: Is it about the Forbidden Tome of Codes and Cyphers.

Moderator: I thought Bruce Sterling's new book was Heavy Weather...

dozois: I thought Bruce Sterling's new book was DISTRACTION?

WalterJon: Is it a collection? I've read the new Sterling novel, DISTRACTION, and it's a dandy.

dozois: Moderator, you're a few books behind, I fear.

Moderator: Story of my life, Gardner.

dozois: The new Sterling collection is supposed to be called, someone oddly, A GOOD OLD-FASHIONED FUTURE.

Moderator: FROM abraham: I think godot means Neal Stephenson.

WalterJon: Oh. Haven't read that one, either.

dozois: Ah! Bruce Sterling, Neal Stephenson. Imagine the children they'd have!

WalterJon: Gardner, you're scaring me.

Moderator: I'd, uh, rather NOT.

Moderator: Meanwhile...

Moderator: FROM dr-who4: where do you get you ideas from?

dozois: If you haven't read Sterling's HOLY FIRE, Moderator, you should. Terrific book.

* Moderator writes down the title *

WalterJon: Dr-who, I can honestly tell you that I don't know. I've got a couple stories out of dreams, I've got some weird stuff out of just reading news articles . . . I try not to inquire too closely into the creative process, cuz it might go away.

Moderator: We're at that point in the evening when

dozois: Walter, you've already mentioned Howard Waldrop. What other big influences on your writing were there? Zelazny?

Moderator: we usually open up these chats to unmoderated chat!

dozois: And Walter will have to try to have Hot Cybersex with all of you patiently Waiting for him...

WalterJon: Zelazny. Delany was a huge influence. A lot of the New Wave guys.

dozois: Delany seems to have influenced just about everybody, from Varley to Sterling to Swanwick.

WalterJon: Well, Delany was that good.

WalterJon: I can't say as his current work does much for me, though.

dozois: Delany's NOVA still holds up as one of SF's best books, I think.

dozois: No, I'm afraid he lost me sometime in the '80s.

Moderator: Definitely!

dozois: What about mainstream influences, Walter?

WalterJon: NOVA's great. There are hommages to NOVA all through HARDWIRED, but nobody's ever commented on them.

Moderator: Walter, will you hang out and type informally with us for a bit?

WalterJon: I'll be here as long as people are foolish enough to read my phosphors . . .

Moderator: Is that an offer or what?

Moderator: Okay, I'm going to go UNmoderated now...

Moderator: Hold on to your seats, everyone!

dozois: Besides, he has that huge line of people waiting for Cybersex...

dozois: Whoa! Like jumping into light-speed in STAR WARS!!

WalterJon: Mainstream influences are Joseph Conrad, Nabokov, Thomas Pynchon. Jane Austen via PG Wodehouse. Lotsa stuff.

Moderator: Can you all type now?????

Moderator: Faster than ever?

abraham: PIng?

Moderator: There ya GO!

abraham: That seems to be a yes.

* godot thanks moderator for releasing the chains that held him back. *

WalterJon: GODOT is HERE!!!

dozois: Even those who couldn't READ before can now TYPE! Moderator, you're amazing!

Terry: Walter, any chance in the future of a Hollywood travesty -- i mean film -- "based on a work by WJW"?

WalterJon: My Hollywood agent has big hopes for the High Concept ambience of THE RIFT . . .

Moderator: The Catholic Church is thinking of beatifying me, Gardner, for that same miraculous ability of mine.

* Moderator preens *

dozois: Knowing Hollywood, they'll bring out a movie that's suspiciously LIKE your book, except it will be called THE CRACK.

Terry: Your description of The Rift sorta sounded like a bid for best-sellerdom ...

WalterJon: And for a while there it looked as if I was going to write a screenplay, based on my story "Broadway Johnny," for the Chinese director Tsui Hark (one of my personal gods), starring Jason Scott Lee. But that project seems to have faded, alas . . .

dozois: Too bad.

godot: Walter, I had a question earlier that got lost in the ether. Are there perhaps any planes of doing another New Mexico SF writers anthology like "A Very Large Array?"

dozois: Moderator, you could personally wipe out illiteracy in our lifetimes!

WalterJon: I'm hoping to set up some meetings with Tsui Hark. I really want to work with him.

abraham: Did it just get dealy quiet, or is my Netscape failing me?

dozois: Called "Another Array Over There, Still Pretty Sizeable?"

abraham: <ahem> for dealy read deathly

dozois: Daniel, is everything going dark for you too?

WalterJon: New Mexico anthology? Not that I'm aware of. "A Very Large Array" was a special project of the University of New Mexico Press, but the guy who spearheaded it is long gone-- office politics-- and I'm not sure the idea of a New Mexico anthology would exactly attract a New York publisher.,

WalterJon: Certainly "A Very Large Array" never found a mass-market audience.

Terry: What happened to "Hardwired the online magazine"?

godot: I see it occasionally in remainder stacks.

Moderator: Maybe not but certainly a southwest anthology might.

dozois: People in New York think New Mexico is a foreign country anyway...

abraham: Ah. There. I can hear you all again...

dozois: And was it worth all that worry, Daniel?

Moderator: Reload is your FRIEND.

Terry: I thought it was cool while it lasted (2 issues?)

WalterJon: Hardwired the Online Magazine was in remission, as it were, till I finished THE RIFT. And now we're in remission till the editor frees up some time.

abraham: Dozois: Not a joke. The bastiches sent me to the international desk when I was trying to get back here from Staten Island.

WalterJon: There were three issues.

jlorman: Yes, it is a foreign country--no New Yorkers allowed!

SirMoro: WalterJon: what makes you so special? i've never really heard of you before, and i'd like to know

godot: wow, daniel abraham. long time.

WalterJon: I dunno, SirMoro. Good genes?

abraham: <blinks> Godot? Have we met?

godot: heh heh

SirMoro: hmm....

abraham: And a pure heart. Don't forget that.

Terry: Can I chip in? READ HIS BOOKS and ye shall know the truth

dozois: I know it, Daniel. I've know people to show their drivers liscenes, trying to rent a car, who were from New Mexico, and who were told that they had to have a US liscene.

dozois: Daniel, you waited for him for a long time once, but he never showed up.

dozois: Well-tailored jeans, Walter...

WalterJon: I had a friend apply to grad school from New Mexico, who was told he had to take an English competency test to qualify . . . he decided he really didn't want to go to that school, after all.

SirMoro: WalterJon: i have to know = boxers or breifs?

dozois: Neither, of course!

SirMoro: eww!!

WalterJon: Aw, Gardner beat me to the punchline.

SirMoro: brb...dang nukers....JH~ю

dozois: Walter, what contemporary stuff do you like? Peers? Snotty new writers such as Daniel over there?

abraham: <blush>

SirMoro: back

jlorman: OK, chile-wise: RED or GREEN, and how do they each affect your writing?

WalterJon: Daniel over there is a dang good writer. I also like Sage Walker, who I wish would start writing again . . .

dozois: Tell me about it.

WalterJon: I like Pat Anthony, Bruce Sterling, Greg Egan.

dozois: Who else will you sit down and read a story by with a feeling of anticipation rather than dread?

WalterJon: My current bete blanc is Arturo Perez-Reverte, author of THE CLUB DUMAS. Which was the most fun I've had reading a novel in a dozen years, I betcha.

godot: Red chile gives the writer the literary equivalent of a bowel loosening.

Primeevil: whose walter jon

dozois: Roto-Router for the soul?

SirMoro: WalterJon: do you brush your teeth regularly?

godot: Green chile, on the other hand, promotes vigor and a restrained bowel.

Omega-Raven: suddenly I heard a tapping... as if someone gently rapping... rapping on my chamber door

Primeevil: nevermore

SirMoro: really?

WalterJon: Green chile aids the creative process, gets the blood flowing, the adrenaline crackling. Red chile is good for stamina, builds the heart and liver.

godot: It's only the wind. Nothing more.

WalterJon: Yeep

dozois: There's a limit to how restrained you want your bowels to be, I guess...

Primeevil: edgar allen poe kicks ass

SirMoro: ?

dozois: Hard to do when you're dead, but yes.

WalterJon: Yeep. I had to reload.

WalterJon: What was the question?

dozois: Are you loaded for bear now?

Primeevil: little itty bitsy foxes

WalterJon: Where is that Greg Bear? I'll let him have it!

jlorman: OK, godot, now that you have covered the bowels, how about a few consonants to balance things out?

SirMoro: i'll ask again....WalterJon: do you brush your teeth regularly?

godot: Okay -- PKD. You like those?

dozois: So, Walter, in the spirit of malicious mischief, what do you think of the REST of the Nebula Final Ballot? <g>

WalterJon: I brush regularly, but don't floss as often as i SHOULD.

SirMoro: k

dozois: If you DON'T, you'll end up like me.

Primeevil: sure

* SirMoro writes in his notebook... *

Primeevil: cute

Primeevil: what does thou write

dozois: What are your predictions for what's going to win? What SHOULD win?

WalterJon: I think everyone on the Nebula ballot is a highly intelligent professional with terrific talent and excellent social skills. Please vote for me.

SirMoro: just some note...

* godot pokes Primeevil for being nosy *

jlorman: Talk about the Sounds of Silence--this place is rocking!

JAD: who saw sightings today, have ?

Primeevil: stop poking me godot

godot: who else is on the ballot anyway? (Don't make me surf for it.)

WalterJon: I haven't seen the whole ballot, actually, so I'll have to pass on the predictions.

SirMoro: heheh

WalterJon: Thanks for stopping by, Daniel.

* godot takes a wool cap and pulls it down over Primeevil's eyes *

SirMoro: hmm....

dozois: I can tell you who YOU'RE competing with, Walter.

Primeevil: i have no eyes

abraham: Evening, all.

* godot begins to tinker with the superstrings that make up Primeevil *

Omega-Raven: who is Walter Jon Williams? no disrespect intended

dozois: Evening, Daniel.

godot: Now thats rich!

dozois: He's a World Famous Writer, Omega.

godot: Must be one of Gibson's fans.

Omega-Raven: really?!

SirMoro: WaterJon: i have a friend here who wants to know if you're a virgin

Primeevil: good evening

godot: where did daniel go?

Primeevil: never heard of him

Omega-Raven: i would love to become a novelist one day!!!!!!!!!!

dozois: A virgin what?

WalterJon: I just got the Israeli edition of METROPOLITAN in the mail. Funny writing. Upside-down.

jlorman: Raven: Quoth Nevermore!

SirMoro: not sure...hold on...

godot: virgin daiquiri

dr: hi WalterJon. l'm dr who 4. and wonder if you ever watch Dr Who from BBC and if so. who was you farvite Dr?

Primeevil: the tell tale heart

dozois: Walter, you're competing with "The Truest Chill," Gregory Feeley, "Time Gypsy," Ellen Klages, "The Mercy Gate," Mark J. McGarry, "Lost Girls," Jane Yolen, and "Echea," Kristine Kathrine Rusch.

WalterJon: I'm afraid I've never watched Dr. Who. When it first began to run in Albuquerque, I didn't have a functioning TV, and I never got in the habit.

WalterJon: Gardner, I will fearlessly predict that I'll get more votes than Greg Feeley.

Primeevil: hello hello

Primeevil: votes for what

SirMoro: WalterJon: my friend has refraised the question....have you ever had "sexual relations"?

dozois: I would think that you or Kris Rusch are the most probable winners in that category.

WalterJon: Constantly, SirMoro.

* SirMoro turns to his friend...told ya... *

dozois: He's having them EVEN AS WE SPEAK, in fact! <g.

SirMoro: roflmao

WalterJon: Well Gardner, YOU certainly win either way.

Primeevil: hello!

dozois: Outside chance, Mark McGarry.

WalterJon: Gardner's revealing my secrets again.

jlorman: Yes, Sir Moro has made some penetrating remarks!

WalterJon: The McGarry story was good.

dr: thank you for the answer. and again for a great evening. but have to say bye. have to up early for work.

dozois: Yours and Kris's were better. <g>

Primeevil: cu dr

WalterJon: Have fun, dr.

dozois: The whole ballot is on Genie if you want it, Walter.

Cy: How far are you on your new novel, Walter?

jlorman: Walter: Your New Mexico fans will be pulling for you, Nebula-wise!

WalterJon: Thank you, all.

WalterJon: Cy, I'm DONE with my new novel. It'll be out in mid-July

SirMoro: WalterJon: what is your postion on the White House scandal?

WalterJon: THE RIFT, from HarperCollins, $25 wherever fine books are sold.

dozois: You still may have time to vote for him in the ASIMOV'S Readers Award balloting, if you move immediately.

WalterJon: SirMoro, you really don't want to feed me a straight line like that.

SirMoro: WalterJon: sorry...i have weird friends...they want to know if your feet stink

Omega-Raven: who is your fav. author there Walter

dozois: You have any short fiction coming out in 1999, Walter, besides the fabled Agronautica?

SirMoro: Was that a threat?

WalterJon: SirMoro, my feet have a sublime and heavenly odor.

dozois: One of the keys to his popularity...

* SirMoro turns to his friends...leave the nice man alone... *

WalterJon: I have a story coming out in the Constance Ash anthology, NOT OF WOMAN BORN, an anthology of "reproductive futures." the anthology is on the stands now, and it's got a lot of good stuff in it.

dozois: What's the story called?

WalterJon: The story's called "Daddy's World." I think it's one of my better efforts.

dozois: So then, how come I didn't see it? (frowning portentiously)

WalterJon: Well, he said fleeing the portentious frown, I see that the Elvis Clock says that it's time to go . . .

Cy: Publisher?

WalterJon: I believe it's Roc.

dozois: No, it's Paper. I win!

jlorman: Thanks for the Chat!

Omega-Raven: i have a Very important question for you walter..... do you know what a pronoun is? or perhapsthe square root of 27.4 is? i ask all my fellow writers this for one reason alone.....

Cy: Thanks!

WalterJon: But I really do have to check out. Thanks for all the questions, and I'll see you in hardback!

dozois: Yeah, it's probably time for me to move along as well.

WalterJon: Omega, I'll have to answer that at the next chat.

jlorman: Bye, Walter!

WalterJon: Bye, all. Thanks for hanging out.