Walter Jon Williams

Walter Jon Williams (born 15 October 1953) is an American writer, primarily of science fiction.

Several of Williams' novels have a distinct cyberpunk feel to them, notably Hardwired (also an homage to Roger Zelazny's novel Damnation Alley) and Voice of the Whirlwind. However, he has explored a number of different styles and genres, including farce (e.g., the Majistral series), postcyberpunk space opera (Aristoi), military science fiction (Dread Empire's Fall series), alternate history (Wall, Stone, Craft), science fantasy (Metropolitan and City on Fire), disaster thriller (The Rift), and historical adventure (Privateers and Gentlemen series), and police procedural (Days of Atonement), usually in a science fiction context.

Williams was born in Duluth, Minnesota and attended the University of New Mexico, where he received his BA degree in 1975. He currently lives in Valencia County, south of Albuquerque in New Mexico.

Williams played roleplaying games (in a group with other sf authors including George R. R. Martin and Melinda Snodgrass) and has written both fiction and rulebooks for the games Privateers and Gentlemen from Fantasy Games Unlimited and Cyberpunk from R. Talsorian Games.

Bibliography

Novels

• Hardwired series
  • Hardwired (1986)
  • Solip:System (1989)
  • Voice of the Whirlwind (1987)

• Maijstral series
  • The Crown Jewels (1987)
  • House of Shards (1988)
  • Rock of Ages (1995)

• Metropolitan series
  • Metropolitan (1995), Nebula Award nominee
  • City on Fire (1997), Hugo Award and Nebula Award nominee

• Dread Empire's Fall series
  • The Praxis (2002)
  • The Sundering (2003)
  • Conventions of War (2005)

• Privateers and Gentlemen series, as by Jon Williams
  • To Glory Arise, originally The Privateer (1981)
  • The Tern Schooner, originally The Yankee (1981)
  • Brig of War, originally The Raider (1981)
  • The Macedonian (1981)
  • Cat Island (1981)

• Other novels
  • Ambassador of Progress (1984)
  • Knight Moves (1985), Philip K. Dick Award nominee
  • Angel Station (1989)
  • Elegy for Angels and Dogs (1990)
  • Days of Atonement (1991)
  • Aristoi (1992), on preliminary list for Hugo Award for Best Novel; cover art nominated for Hugo Award for Best Original Artwork
  • The Rift (1999), as by Walter J. Williams
  • The New Jedi Order: Destiny's Way (2002)

Short fiction collections

• Facets (1990)
• Frankensteins and Foreign Devils (1998)

Notable short fiction

• "Dinosaurs" (1987), Hugo Award nominee
• "Witness" (1987), Nebula Award nominee
• "Surfacing" (1988), Hugo Award and Nebula Award nominee
• "Solip:System" (1989)
• "Prayers on the Wind" (1991), Nebula Award nominee
• "Wall, Stone, Craft" (1993), Hugo Award and Nebula Award nominee
• "Foreign Devils" in War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches (1996), Sidewise Award for Alternate History winner
• "Lethe" (1999), Nebula Award nominee
• "Daddy's World" (2000), Nebula Award winner
• "Argonautica" (2001), Nebula Award nominee
• "The Last Ride of German Freddie", in Worlds That Weren't (2002), Sidewise Award for Alternate History nominee
• "The Tang Dynasty Underwater Pyramid"" (2004)
• "The Green Leopard Plague" (2004), Nebula Award winner, Hugo Award nominee

External links

• Walter Jon Williams Home Page
• Walter Jon Williams at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

• The Tang Dynasty Underwater Pyramid
• The Green Leopard Plague
• Walter Jon Williams discussion at theforce.net Message Boards
• Angel Station - Walter Jon Williams' personal blog.

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