Line #6 Creator/WalterJonWilliams


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/walterjonwilliams.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:Williams and some [[UsefulNotes/NebulaAward odd transparent block]].]]
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4	Walter Jon Williams (born 1953) is an American ScienceFiction writer, generally known for ''not'' having a signature style. He has written everything from {{Cyberpunk}} (and PostCyberpunk) to Comedy of Manners; from SpaceOpera to PoliceProcedural. All available evidence suggests that Williams does not like being pigeonholed. (His fondness for games has caused some to try to pigeonhole him as a gamer, but a survey of his work will reveal that this is an incomplete description at best.)
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6	Among his better known works are the early {{Cyberpunk}} novel, ''Literature/{{Hardwired}}'', the PostCyberpunk novel ''{{Literature/Aristoi}}'', the humorous Literature/DrakeMaijstral series (''The Crown Jewels'', ''House of Shards'' and ''Rock of Ages''), the epic ''Literature/DreadEmpiresFall'' series (''The Praxis'', ''The Sundering'', and ''The Conventions of War''), and the Dagmar Shaw thrillers (''This is Not a Game'', ''Deep State'', and ''The Fourth Wall''). He has also written a novel in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' ExpandedUniverse, ''The New Jedi Order: Destiny's Way'', and the straight-up historical ''Privateers and Gentlemen'' series. He was also a frequent contributor to Creator/GeorgeRRMartin's ''Literature/WildCards'' series.
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8	Two of his early works, ''Knight Moves'' and ''Hardwired'', were homages to Creator/RogerZelazny's works, ''This Immortal'' and ''Literature/DamnationAlley'', respectively.
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10	Not to be confused with [[Series/MrBill the other Walter Williams.]]
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12	!! Works with a page on this wiki:
13	* ''Literature/AngelStation''
14	* ''Literature/{{Aristoi}}''
15	* ''Literature/DrakeMaijstral'' (trilogy)
16	* ''Literature/DreadEmpiresFall'' (series)
17	* ''Literature/{{Hardwired}}'' (series)
18	* ''Literature/ImpliedSpaces''
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20	!! Selected other works:
21	* ''Knight Moves'' (1984)
22	* ''Facets'' (collection, 1990)
23	* ''Days of Atonement'' (1991)
24	* ''Metropolitan'' series
25	** ''Metropolitan'' (1995)
26	** ''City on Fire'' (1997)
27	* ''The Rift'' (1999)
28	* ''The New Jedi Order: Destiny's Way'' (''Franchise/StarWars'' novel, 2002)
29	* The ''Dagmar Shaw'' series
30	** ''This Is Not a Game'' (2009)
31	** ''Deep State'' (2011)
32	** ''The Fourth Wall'' (2012)
33	* ''The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories'' (collection, 2010)
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35	!! Tropes in his other works:
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37	* AlternateRealityGame: The protagonist of ''This Is Not a Game'' is a professional ARG writer; the book begins with her being trapped in Indonesia during rioting and enlisting the help of the people who play her [=ARG=]s to get her out.
38	* ArcWords: In ''This Is Not a Game'', the frequent [[TitleDrop Title Drops]] are this.
39	* ArtificialAfterlife: The protagonist of "Daddy's World" lives in one of these, but he doesn't realize it until his sister reveals it to him.
40	* BrainUploading: Played for extreme horror in the short story "Daddy's World".
41	* CoolSword: In ''Implied Spaces'', the protagonist's sword, Tecmessa, has the ability to send his enemies to a sealed pocket universe.
42	* GenderBender: In ''Hardwired'', the rich elite often transfer their consciousness to a younger body to extend their lives. The book introduces one who used to be an elderly man but got himself transferred to a young, female body to live his sexual fantasies of submission and vulnerability. S/He gets what s/he asked for and more when [[spoiler: Sarah, one of the protagonists, seduces and then murders him/her.]]
43	* HealingSpring: ''Implied Spaces'' features pools that can both heal and resurrect people. The "water" is actually a silvery, computer-linked nanotech soup.
44	* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Each chapter of ''This Is Not a Game'' is titled "This Is Not a(n) _____" or "This is not the ______".
45	* InformationWantsToBeFree: The short story, "The Green Leopard Plague" [[http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0406/greenleopards.shtml (available here)]], features this regarding hunger; [[FramingDevice the main character uncovers the history]] of how the invention of photosynthesis in humans to combat hunger was suppressed by regimes who used it as a weapon.
46	* KillerGameMaster: ''This Is Not a Game'' characterizes each of four friends by their habits when acting as [=DMs=]. The most antisocial one has every NPC betray the players, and often sets them up to betray each other. The main character eventually realizes that [[spoiler: he expects everyone to betray everyone else in real life as well, and hence betrays them first]].
47	* LeeroyJenkins: [[ShoutOut Namechecked]] in ''Implied Spaces'': when Grax the Troll's battle cry turns out to be "Grax the Troll!!!!", the protagonist's cat remarks, "Not exactly 'Leeroy Jenkins', but I suppose it will do.".
48	* NotAGame: The appropriately titled ''This Is Not a Game'', about an AlternateRealityGame producer using her forums and players to get her out of a burning Jakarta, has the forum admins constantly reminding the players that this one is Not a Game.
49	* OhCrapThereAreFanficsOfUs: ''This Is Not A Game'' (part of the Dagmar Shaw series) is an original-fiction example. The protagonist is stranded in Indonesia when its currency collapses, causing rioting. She enlists the help of a bunch of alternate reality gamers to get her out, not all of whom believe it's really happening. As a gag gift, one of her friends later presents her with a bound copy of the Fan Fiction some of these gamers wrote about her.
50	* PatchWorkMap: ''Implied Spaces'' takes place in a world where technology is advanced enough that every rich kid can design his own little world. Most of them try for patchwork maps. The main character is a scholar studying what happens on the borders between the patches when the physical realities of these constructed worlds start to act. These borders are the "implied spaces".
51	* PocketDimension: The future human civilization of ''Implied Spaces'' uses pocket dimensions maintained by vast post-human artificial intelligences as living space.
52	* PortalPool: In ''Implied Spaces'', ''Pools of Life'' are pretty much equivalent to 'save points' in games - you can enter a pool to have a snapshot of your memories stored and/or your body plan altered and/or have yourself deconstructed then reassembled at another location [[spoiler: with or without your consent]].
53	* PossessionBurnout: In ''Metropolitan'', the Iceman causes this to his hosts.
54	* RealMoneyTrade: One character of ''This Is Not a Game'' makes most of his income by gold farming and ganking -- while at his official phone support job.
55	* SelfMadeLie: ''Knight Moves'' has a rare sympathetic example. Doran Faulkner is a man thought to be responsible for mankind's greatest technological breakthroughs - {{Immortality}} and FasterThanLightTravel. The truth is that he is not the genius of legend, but got information from alien beings. He is also disillusioned by what the innovations he introduced have done to human civilization, which seems to be slowly declining.
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Context Creator / WalterJonWilliams