{"product_id":"the-best-of-walter-jon-williams-walter-jon-williams-signed","title":"The Best of Walter Jon Williams: Walter Jon Williams *SIGNED*","description":"\u003cp\u003e*SIGNED*\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e*Limited Print Run!*\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith the publication of his debut novel, \u003cem\u003eThe Privateer\u003c\/em\u003e, in 1981, Walter Jon Williams began one of the most varied and prolific careers in contemporary popular fiction. His work encompasses cyberpunk (\u003cem\u003eHardwired\u003c\/em\u003e), military SF (\u003cem\u003eThe Dread Empire's Fall\u003c\/em\u003e series), humor (\u003cem\u003eThe Crown Jewels\u003c\/em\u003e), even disaster fiction (\u003cem\u003eThe Rift\u003c\/em\u003e). But much of Williams's best work takes place in the shorter forms, as this generous volume, filled to overflowing with award-winning and award-nominated stories, clearly proves. With one exception, \u003cem\u003eThe Best of Walter Jon Williams\u003c\/em\u003e reflects its author's affection for—and mastery of—the novella form.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat exception is “The Millennium Party,” a brief, brilliant account of a virtual anniversary celebration unlike any you have ever imagined. Elsewhere in the collection, Williams offers us one brilliantly sustained creation after another. The Nebula Award-winning “Daddy's World” takes us into a young boy's private universe, a world of seeming miracles that conceals a tragic secret. “Dinosaurs” is the far future account of the incredibly destructive relationship between the star-faring human race and the less evolved inhabitants of the planet Shar. “Diamonds from Tequila” is a lovingly crafted example of SF Noir in which a former child actor attempts a comeback that proves unexpectedly dangerous. “Surfacing” is a tale of alienation featuring a research scientist more at home with the foreign and unfamiliar than with the members of his own species. Finally, the magisterial “Wall, Stone, Craft” offers a brilliantly realized alternate take on a young Mary Godwin, future creator of \u003cem\u003eFrankenstein\u003c\/em\u003e, and her relationships with the poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, culminating in the creation of a monster who would “stalk through the hearts of all the world.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese stories, together with half a dozen equally substantial tales, are the clear product of a master craftsman with a seemingly limitless imagination. \u003cem\u003eThe Best of Walter Jon Williams\u003c\/em\u003e is the capstone of a truly remarkable career. It's the rare sort of book that the reader can return to again and again, finding new and unexpected pleasures every time out.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Beastly Books","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover SIGNED","offer_id":47722229563638,"sku":"978-1645240020","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/6819\/6086\/files\/Untitleddesign-22_3bb4387e-201a-489c-add6-79340a681746.png?v=1738103467","url":"https:\/\/www.beastlybooks.live\/products\/the-best-of-walter-jon-williams-walter-jon-williams-signed","provider":"Beastly Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}