Walter Jon Williams

Walter Jon Williams (born 1953) is an American writer, primarily of science fiction. Previously he wrote nautical adventure fiction under the name Jon Williams, a series of historical novels set during the age of sail, Privateers and Gentlemen (1981–1984).

As Jon Williams, he designed the game Heart of Oak (1982) and Privateers and Gentlemen (1983) for Fantasy Games Unlimited.:74 A Cyberpunk RPG sourcebook called Hardwired (1989) was licensed by R. Talsorian Games, based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Williams.:209

Several of Williams' novels have a distinct cyberpunk feel to them, notably Hardwired (also an homage to Roger Zelazny's novel Damnation Alley), Voice of the Whirlwind and Angel Station. 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), alternative history (Wall, Stone, Craft), science fantasy/arcanepunk (Metropolitan and City on Fire), disaster thriller (The Rift), a Star Wars novel (The New Jedi Order: Destiny's Way) and historical adventure (Privateers and Gentlemen series), and police procedural (Days of Atonement), usually in a science fiction context. He has also contributed to some of the Wild Cards cooperative novels.

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, which led to him becoming a contributor to their Wild Cards series) and has written both fiction and rulebooks for the games Privateers and Gentlemen from Fantasy Games Unlimited and Cyberpunk from R. Talsorian Games.

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

Novels

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

A comedy of manners sci-fi 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)

• 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

• 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)
  • 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
• "Solip:System" (1989)
• "Erogenoscape" (1991)
• "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
• "Prompt. Professional. Pop!: A Tor.Com Original" (2014)