Metropolitan by Walter Williams

Metropolitan by Walter Williams

Library Journal - Books and Authors to Know: Titles to Watch 2021

Sixteenth-century Europe was a time of destabilization of age-old norms and the waging of religious wars--yet it also witnessed the remarkable flowering of a pacific culture cultivated by a cohort of extraordinary women rulers who sat on Europe's thrones, most notably Mary Tudor; Elizabeth I; Mary, Queen of Scots; and Catherine de' Medici.

Recasting the dramatic stories and complex political relationships among these four women rulers, Maureen Quilligan rewrites centuries of scholarship that sought to depict intense personal hatreds among them. Instead, showing how the queens engendered a culture of mutual respect, When Women Ruled the World focuses on the gift-giving by which they aimed to ensure female bonds of friendship and alliance. Detailing the artistic and political creativity that flourished in the pockets of peace created by these queens, Quilligan's lavishly illustrated work offers a new perspective on the glory of the Renaissance and the women who helped to create it.

Walter Jon Williams is an award-winning author who has been listed on the bestseller lists of the New York Times and the Times of London. He is the author of more than two dozen novels and collections of short fiction.

His first novel to attract serious public attention was Hardwired (1986), described by Roger Zelazny as a tough, sleek juggernaut of a story, punctuated by strobe-light movements, coursing to the wail of jets and the twang of steel guitars. In 2001 he won a Nebula Award for his novelette, Daddys World, and won again in 2005 for The Green Leopard Plague.

Walters subject matter has an unusually wide range, and include the glittering surfaces of Hardwired, the opulent tapestries of Aristoi, the bleak future police novel Days of Atonement, and the pensive young Mary Shelley of the novella Wall, Stone, Craft, which was nominated for a Hugo, Nebula, and a World Fantasy Award.

He has also written for George R. R. Martin's Wild Cards project.

His book The Fourth Wall, is a near-future thriller set in the world of alternate reality gaming.

Walter has also written for comics, the screen, and for television, and has worked in the gaming field. He was a writer for the alternate reality game Last Call Poker, and has scripted the mega-hit Spore.