David J. Williams

I’ll be reading from THE MACHINERY OF LIGHT at Powell’s in Portland tonight (Beaverton location) and the UBookstore in Seattle tomorrow (Thursday). Both appearances kick off at 7 p.m.; also, the good folks over at SeattleGeekly have just posted an interview I’ve done in support of my northwest tour!

Meanwhile, the contest is now over, and the winner will be announced as soon as my cats get around to finishing up more important things, like checking out those interesting birds on the balcony and consuming all the turkey they can get their paws on. Stay tuned.

A reminder that the contest to win the Autumn Rain trilogy ends tonight at midnight. . . we’ll say Pacific time, since I’m on the west coast right now.

Rumors that my cats are handling the entries /selecting the winner are of course totally unfounded.

Email djwATautumnrain2110.com to get in on the last-minute action.. ..

I’ll be reading from THE MACHINERY OF LIGHT at the one and only Borderlands Books tomorrow at 3 p.m., so looking forward to seeing you there!

I’ll be returning to the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society tonight. They’ve got me listed on their website as an “author and controversial speaker“; I can’t imagine why. It should be good fun, though; they are of course the oldest running science fiction club, and much history has gone down there.  My talk will kick off at about 8:30.

In the meantime, wow, the weather in this town is NICE.

Partially to celebrate THE MACHINERY OF LIGHT going into a second printing, partially because my cats are rejoicing over their sudden new influx of spinach n’ turkey, I have taken leave of my senses and am giving away the entire fricking trilogy! Interested parties should send an email to djwATautumnrain2110.com. You have until end of day Tuesday the 22nd to throw your proverbial hat in the ring, so go crazy!!

It was particularly surreal to be reading from Autumn Rain trilogy finale THE MACHINERY OF LIGHT in Toronto this past weekend; not only is BakkaPhoenix one hell of a bookstore (and its owner, Chris Szego rocks—thanks for helping me find my way back to my hotel Chris!), but Toronto played more than a small role in my getting published in the first place. Having worked on the Homeworld video games together (though never concurrently), Peter Watts and I made sure to have a drink or three whenever I was in Toronto for my day-job (which related to neither video games nor science fiction but did involve a great deal of air travel and more than one lamb-burger at C’est What). I still remember him telling me about this crrrrrrrrrazy idea he had for a novel involving the nature of consciousness, alien contact and space vampires….of course, that became the stunning BLINDSIGHT, which really ought to have won the Hugo back in 2006, in much the same way that his short story “The Island” ought to clean up the Hugo’s novella category this year (along with the Locus and everything else).

But not only is Peter a brilliant writer, he’s a total masochist, which is why he agreed to take a look at an early draft of MIRRORED HEAVENS some years back, and pointed out many invaluable things, not least of which was that it needed a #$# ending. Good point, I said, and set to work to write one as soon as my hangover had worn off.  To have him in attendance at Saturday’s reading was an honor that frankly rates as one of the highlights of my career thus far; to see him free and having beaten the bullshit rap that consumed so much of his 2010 means that maybe, just maybe, there’s some justice in this world.  The only bars this man should be behind are the ones that serve Toronto’s finest brews. May he be the toast of the town at Aussiecon this August.

I’ll be reading from THE MACHINERY OF LIGHT in Toronto tomorrow at the legendary BakkaPhoenix bookstore at 3 p.m. This will involve a 6 a.m. flight out of Washington National, for I have chosen the way of PAIN. Catch me in my uber-caffeinated phase tomorrow afternoon!

Just got back from readings in New England (more on that later) and while on the train got the word from my editor that two weeks to the day after release, THE MACHINERY OF LIGHT has gone into a second printing. More details to follow when I have ‘em.

So Wednesday night’s launch for Autumn Rain finale THE MACHINERY OF LIGHT was a chaotic success, and you can see photos here, courtesy of the legendary Meeshypants. Huge thanks to everybody who came out to party at the Science Club!

Meanwhile, it’s time for the final east coast tour dates:

THIS SUNDAY, June 6th, 3 p.m.: ALBANY, NY, Flights of Fantasy Bookstore

THIS MONDAY, June 7th, 7 p.m. BOSTON, MA, Pandemonium Books and Games

See you soon!

I’m about to head off to Balticon, but before I do I wanted to invite those of you in the Washington D.C., area to the launch party for THE MACHINERY OF LIGHT!

When: Wednesday, June 2nd, 7 p.m.

What: Reading at Borders Books and Music (1828 L St.) followed by afterparty at the Science Club bar (1136 19th St.)

Who’s invited:  Everybody.  So bring friends/lovers/feline companions/random strangers on the street.  Captain Zoom and Ajax will be doing shots and snorting catnip all night long.  You want to see if you can keep up with ‘em, now’s your chance.

And now I’m off to Balticon.  But first, here’s my schedule:

Saturday, 4 p.m. Reading

Saturday 8 p.m.  Balticon launch party with fellow scribes Benjamin Tate, Jeri Smith-Ready, and Laura Anne Gilman.

Sunday 4 p.m.  The Heinlein Panel

So see you there or see you Wednesday! And if you’re looking for beach reading this weekend, why not bombard your brain with the energy weapons of MACHINERY OF LIGHT.