David J. Williams » Machinery of Light

Toronto, BakkaPhoenix and the Giant Squid

David Williams — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:06:26 +0000

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.

Launch event photos/upcoming Albany and Boston events!

David Williams — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:07:14 +0000

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!

Happy birthday to the Beasts!!

David Williams — Tue, 18 May 2010 15:23:35 +0000

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…