Walter Jon Williams

6 Quotations from Walter Jon Williams

aerocar n. 1995 W. J. Williams Metropolitan 102 A pair of small helicopters, emergency orange, wait with blades drooping, and a pair of aerocars stand on their pads.
AI n. 1986 W. J. Williams Video Star in Asimov’s Science Fiction July 68 The AIs concluded the Ric was in no position to complain, and they were right. Computers can’t be sued for malpractice. The doctors followed their advice.
Cerean adj. 1987 W. J. Williams Wolf Time in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine Jan. 70 She glanced up as a group of people entered the bar—she recognized a famous swindler from Ceres named da Vega, his hands and face covered with expensive, glowing implant jewelry that reminded her of fluorescent slime mold. He was with an all-female group of bodyguards who were supposed to stand between him and any Cerean snatch teams sent to bring him to justice.
planetary engineering n. 1997 W. J. Williams Lethe in Asimov’s Science Fiction Sept. Planetary engineering on such an enormous scale, in such a short time, had never been attempted, not even on Mars…. Katrin and Davout had argued for a more elegant approach to Rhea’s problems, a reliance on organic systems to modify the planet’s extreme weather instead of assaulting Rhea with macro-tech and engineering. Theirs was the approach that finally won the support of the majority of the terraforming team.
scientifictional adj. 2005 W. J. Williams Thought Experiments in Asimov’s Science Fiction July 22/1 It retained…a specialized vocabulary to describe both the texts, the contents of the texts, and the special view of life that was considered particularly scientifictional.
torch n. 1989 W. J. Williams Angel Station (1991) 100 Ubu looked at the radar and transponder displays. No ships nearby, no one within range to be cooked by the particle torch. ‘Ten seconds to torch ignition. Mark.’