David J. Williams

Here at AutumnRain HQ we’re monitoring the first reviews and mentions as we battle our way up the charts one last time.

Lincoln Cho at January Magazine writes that, “for me it all came together with the third book, The Machinery of Light . . .it’s taken me this long to really begin to understand the brute force of the genius at work here.”

Jeff Vandermeer chronicles the release for Omnivoracious, citing “Williams’ hybrid military SF/cyberpunk/espionage” as an example of “intelligent, exciting near future SF” and mentioning that futurist Jamais Cascio has cited the Autumn Rain trilogy as one of the outstanding examples of posthuman science fiction.

Tony Smith at Starship Sofa lets me hold forth about the weirdness inherent in having relationships with imaginary people (i.e., one’s characters).

D.B. Grady interviews me over at PopSyndicate, in which I reveal why I write, what’s next and how I got here in the first place.

David Durica chats with me at SciFiOverdrive on the finale of the trilogy.

David Brendon of Barnes and Noble South Africa gives his initial impression of first book MIRRORED HEAVENS.

Only the Best Scifi gives their final impression on the same, and also becomes the first reviewer yet to realize that there’s a deeper meaning as to why these books are written in present tense.

Andrew Liptak calls MIRRORED HEAVENS a “unique, high-octane vision of the future.”

Tia Nevitt lets me weigh in on what it’s like to finish a trilogy.

Jessica Strider of World’s Biggest Bookstore talks with me about advice to writers and my not-so-secret crush.

Mentatjack indulges me as I talk about the technology behind the books in general and O’Neill cylinders in particular.

Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review interviews me about space warfare and cyberpunk.

SFNovelists gets my take on saying goodbye to characters.

But you don’t have to say bye to them just yet—get THE MACHINERY OF LIGHT right here!

One day till MACHINERY OF LIGHT hits bookstores, and the Autumn Rain trilogy concludes. Feline units Ajax and Captain Zoom can barely contain their excitement. Back-cover text as follows:

September 26, 2110. 10:22 GMT. Following the assassination of the American president, the generals who have seized power initiate World War Three, launching a surprise attack against the Eurasian Coalition’s forces throughout the Earth-Moon system. Across the orbits, tens of thousands of particle beams and lasers blast away at one another. The goal: crush the other side’s weaponry, paving the way for nuclear bombardment of the cities.

As inferno becomes Armageddon, the rogue commando unit Autumn Rain embarks on one last run. Matthew Sinclair, an imprisoned spymaster, plots his escape. And his former protégé Claire Haskell, capable of hacking into both nets and minds, is realizing that all her powers may merely be playing into Sinclair’s plans. For even as Claire evades the soldiers of East and West amid carnage in the lunar tunnels, the surviving members of the Rain converge upon the Moon, one step ahead of the Eurasian fleets but one step behind the mastermind who created Autumn Rain—and his terrible final secret.

You can pre-order THE MACHINERY OF LIGHT here, but really at this point, you’re basically just ordering it.  So go for it…

…the first of those in near real-time.  I’m over at fellow SF author Alex J. Cavanaugh’s blog today, answering questions and weighing in on the comments.  Learn more about possible Autumn Rain movie deals, and the original MIRRORED HEAVENS cover you’ll probably never see.  And Alex is a great guy too, so you should stick around and check out his commentary on various cultural goings-ons.. .

And I also have returned to podcasters Dead Robots Society!  Thanks to Justin Macumber and his cohorts— you can listen to my rantings here…

Meanwhile, 5 days until MACHINERY OF LIGHT!!

The Machinery of Light

Well, Ajax turned one on Sunday, and Captain Zoom’s birthday is today, so the three of us are doing lines all day to celebrate. And what better way to kick things off than by showing the world their birthday present.. . sent to AutumnRainHQ by the awesome Jess Horsley over at Figures.com . .  a cool as #$# Buck Rogers figurine! However, as you can see, getting everybody to pose proved impossible in their coked-up state; though Zoom was eventually tempted out to see if Buck’s ear contained any more snow, Ajax became super-paranoid and decided the whole thing was a trap, so he retired behind the coffee table.

But whatever.  They’re both ONE YEAR OLD, so cut them some slack, willya?  Now go buy yourself some MACHINERY OF LIGHT, and keep these beasts in turkey for a long time to come…

Well, over at Autumn Rain HQ we’re restringing the axes and revving up the Marshall stacks… yes, it’s almost time to hit the road in support of trilogy finale THE MACHINERY OF LIGHT. And here are the dates—if you’re in the neighborhood, then swing on by…

Fri.-Mon., May 28-31: Balticon, Baltimore, MD
Wed., June 2nd, 7:00PM: Borders, Washington, DC (reading),
followed by 8:00PM: The Science Club, Washington, DC (book launch party)
Sat., June 5th, 5:00AM: Hour of the Wolf, NYC (show will be taped)
Sun., June 6th, 3:00PM: Flights of Fantasy, Albany, NY
Mon., June 7th, Pandemonium Books and Games, Boston, MA
Sat., June 12th, 3:00PM: Bakka-Phoenix, Toronto, CA
Thu., June 17th, 8:15PM: LASFS, Los Angeles, CA
Sat., June 19th, 3:00PM: Borderlands, San Francisco, CA
Wed., June 23rd, 7:00PM: Powell’s, Portland, OR
Thu., June 24th, 7:00PM: U Bookstore, Seattle, WA

And while you’re waiting for the loudest guitar attack this side of science fiction, why not pre-order MACHINERY OF LIGHT?

The inimitable Patrick St. Denis over at Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist has posted an exclusive excerpt from THE MACHINERY OF LIGHT. Tune in as both Carson and Haskell find themselves in very deep piles of you-know-what.

And if you like what you see, then pre-order Machinery of Light and/or buy the previous books. (Or just send me dough…..)

Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review is giving away one copy of MACHINERY, and one copy of MIRRORED HEAVENS.

Have at it, people. This could be your last chance before you have to, yanno, resign yourself to buying the damn thing.

Meanwhile, I have been watching (and rewatching) PITCH BLACK. Tomorrow you’ll have my detailed analysis.

It’s up there right now.

Circling over your heads.

The X-37.

Besides the Shuttle, it’s the only operational spaceplane in existence. It was launched last month atop a USAF rocket from Vandenberg, and is scheduled to stay in orbit for….for…well, that’s classified.

Along with its mission.

And its specific capabilities.

But it’s got potential adversaries worried. And with good reason, because a spaceplane has what’s called cross-wing capability . . meaning it can reenter the atmosphere with considerable maneuverability, thereby bringing the military that much closer to its goal of global strike: being able to hit any target on Earth within hours. (That’s why the Space Shuttle made the Soviets so damn nervous back in the 1980s that they had to build their own.)

Furthermore, the X-37 has the potential to be a far more precise antisatellite weapon than the kinetic kill vehicle the Chinese launched back in January of 2007. Its fuel reserves are unknown, but the whole point of a craft like this is that it would have more orbital maneuverability than your average satellite. Nor do we know what weapons it might be able to pack into its cargo bay. All we know for sure is that, right now, Russia and China have nothing in their arsenal to touch it. Not yet anyway . . .

More on spaceplanes later this week. Meanwhile, why not pre-order the MACHINERY OF LIGHT, in which thousands of spaceplanes kick the shit out of each other.

The good folks at Scifi Surplus posted an interview I did with them last week about the Autumn Rain trilogy, and the impending release of the final volume, THE MACHINERY OF LIGHT. . . check out what I had to say here.

It’s always dangerous to try to select your own Money Quotes, but here’s my shot at it:

“We’ve had all this talk about whether the U.S. can engage in pre-emptive strike; but in the world of cyberwarfare, there’s no such thing:  you’re constantly at war, it’s always on, in the same way that your white blood cells are constantly at war with bacteria.”

“The one part of the original cyberpunk vision that never sat well with me was that the State would wither away.  I never got into the idea of faceless corporations running things; I think nation-states will get bigger and meaner and uglier.”

“At the end of the day, the best reason for getting into space anyone’s ever found is that the other guy’s doing it.  If the Chinese land a taikonaut on the Moon, I have to believe the U.S. would be getting back there pronto.”

“People think weaponization of space is abstract and in the future. . but every time an American GI in Iraq uses GPS, that’s reliance on space-based hardware right there.”

“It’s all too easy to forget the Net is grounded in physical infrastructure.  If I control your satellites and your switchboards, I control your internet, no matter what your copyright laws are and how many manifestos on the freedom of information you’ve written.”

“Let’s face it, the biggest enemy of the U.S. army is the U.S. navy . . . they’re both competing for the same funding.  So for my books, I wondered what that would look like if the military were really running the show . . . it ended up being office politics taken to a new, savage level.”

Pre-order THE MACHINERY OF LIGHT!

Captain Zoom here.  I’m pleased to announce Jason Simmons has won himself a copy of the ARC of MACHINERY OF LIGHT, for responding with the correct answers within the hour of the questions being posted.

It’s tempting to call the rest of you “losers”, but now you have yet one more chance!  Patrick St. Denis has a contest going on his awesome blog to win the entire trilogy!  Get over there now and redeem yourselves!

And lest you think that cats have no attention span, I’d like to take this time to talk further about hey is that a bird over there holy shit let’s get it