Walter Jon Williams

{{Infobox writer

| image = Portrait photoshoot at Worldcon 75, Helsinki, before the Hugo Awards – Walter Jon Williams.jpg

| caption = Walter Jon Williams in 2017

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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1953|10|28}}

| birth_place = Duluth, Minnesota, U.S.

| occupation = Writer

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| education = University of New Mexico (BA)

| period = 1981–present

| genre = Science fiction
Nautical fiction (as Jon Williams)

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| awards = Nebula Award

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| website = {{URL|walterjonwilliams.net}}

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Walter Jon Williams (born October 28, 1953){{cite web |url=http://www.walterjonwilliams.net/2007/10/geezer-test/ |title=Geezer Test |last=Williams |first=Walter Jon |date=28 October 2007 |publisher=Walter Jon Williams |access-date=20 May 2021 |quote=Since it's now my birthday, and the whole day is entirely about me—making it not unlike other days, actually—it's only appropriate that I devise a test to discover if you guys are as wise as I am.}} is an American writer, primarily of science fiction. Previously he wrote nautical adventure fiction under the name Jon Williams, in particular, Privateers and Gentlemen (1981–1984), a series of historical novels set during the Age of Sail.

Career

Writing as Jon Williams, he designed the wargame Tradition of Victory and role-playing game Promotions and Prizes, which were republished by Fantasy Games Unlimited as Heart of Oak (1982) and Privateers and Gentlemen (1983).{{Cite book|author=Shannon Appelcline|title=Designers & Dragons|publisher=Mongoose Publishing|year=2011| isbn= 978-1-907702-58-7}}{{rp|74}} A role-playing game sourcebook for Cyberpunk called Hardwired (1989) was licensed by R. Talsorian Games, based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Williams.{{rp|209}}

Williams was born in Duluth, Minnesota and graduated from the University of New Mexico, where he received his BA degree in 1975. He currently lives in Valencia County, New Mexico, about 22 miles south of Albuquerque.

In 2006, Williams founded the Taos Toolbox, a two-week writer's workshop for fantasy and science fiction writers.

In 2017, Williams was the Guest of Honor at the 75th World Science Fiction Convention, held in Helsinki.

Publications

= Novels =

Hardwired series
Hardwired (1986)
Solip:System (1989), novelette released as a standalone book
Voice of the Whirlwind (1987)
"Wolf Time" (1987), novelette

Drake Maijstral series
An SF comedy of manners series about the aristocratic burglar Drake Maijstral. Collected as an omnibus, Ten Points for Style (1995)
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 nominee; Nebula Award nominee

Dread Empire's Fall series
A military science fiction/space opera series.
The Praxis (2002)
The Sundering (2003)
Conventions of War (2005)
Investments (2008), novella
Impersonations (2016)
The Accidental War (2018)
Fleet Elements (2020)
Imperium Restored (2022)

Privateers and Gentlemen series, as 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)

Dagmar Shaw series
A sci-fi thriller series involving crowdsourcing and alternate reality games.
This Is Not a Game (2009)
Deep State (2011)
The Fourth Wall (2012)
"Diamonds from Tequila" (2014), short story published in Rogues

Quillifer series
Quillifer (2017)
Quillifer The Knight (2019)
Lord Quillifer (2022){{Cite book|isbn = 978-1481490030|title = Lord Quillifer|last1 = Williams|first1 = Walter Jon| date=15 February 2022 | publisher=Simon and Schuster }}

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)
The Rift (1999), as by Walter J. Williams
The New Jedi Order: Destiny's Way (2002)
Implied Spaces (2008)

= Short fiction collections =

Facets (1990)
Frankensteins and Foreign Devils (1998)
The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories (Trade Hardcover: Night Shade Books, 2010, {{ISBN|978-1-59780-177-5}})

= Notable short fiction =

"Dinosaurs" (1987), Hugo Award nominee
"Witness" (1987), Nebula Award nominee
"Surfacing" (1988), Hugo Award and Nebula Award nominee
"Prayers on the Wind" (1991), Nebula Award nominee
"Wall, Stone, Craft" (1993), Hugo Award and Nebula Award nominee
"Red Elvis" (1994) (collected in Mike Resnick's alternate history anthology Alternate Outlaws)
"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 Green Leopard Plague" (2004), Nebula Award winner, Hugo Award nominee

References

{{reflist |refs=

[http://library.csum.edu/Naut-fic/Nautical%20fiction%20T-Z.htm "The Nautical Fiction List"] (T–Z). An Annotated Bibliography of Novels based in part on the work of John Kohnen (part 9). California Maritime Academy (csum.edu). Retrieved 2014-08-02.

}}

External links

{{official website }} with blog
{{isfdb name|669}}
[http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/williams_walter_jon Critical profile and bibliography] in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102053145/http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/originals/originals_archive/williams/williams1.html/ |date=November 2, 2007 |title=The Tang Dynasty Underwater Pyramid }}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070312060217/http://boards.theforce.net/Authors_%26_Artists/b10347/5816776/?903 Walter Jon Williams discussion at theforce.net Message Boards]
[http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/2008/11/interview-walter-jon-williams.html Interview on Bibliophile Stalker]
[http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/wjwilliams_interview/ Practice for Something Else: Walter Jon Williams], Interview by Jeremy L. C. Jones, Clarkesworld Magazine, January 2011
{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110430130417/http://writerunderground.com/2011/04/26/interview-with-a-writer-science-fiction-writer-walter-jon-williams/ Interview With a Writer: Science Fiction Writer Walter Jon Williams]}}, Interview by Tom Chandler, Writer Underground blog, April 2011
{{LCAuth|n86064319|Walter Jon Williams||}}
[http://lccn.loc.gov/n81113218 Jon Williams] at LC Authorities – undifferentiated name; 6 of 7 catalog records belong to this Jon Williams
[http://worldcat.org/identities/np-williams,%20jon Jon Williams]{{Dead link|date=May 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} at WorldCat (Privateers and Gentlemen, among works by other Jon Williams)