About the Author
“An artist is his own fault.” John O’Hara.
Bill Walker Kte’pi was born in the summer of 1975, the day Jaws premiered. His parents met at MIT, and he was named for his mother’s uncle, the artist Willis Birchman. He was raised in southern New Hampshire, has lived all over the eastern half of the country, and considers the South the closest thing to home.
There was never a time when he didn’t want to be a writer; as early as age 4, that was his plan, his only plan, the sum of all other plans. He went through common permutations of what exactly it means to want to be a writer, to call yourself a writer, to foresee a time when others do likewise. This included treating writing as a hobby, an art, a craft, a trade; it included being one of those people who accumulates well-polished ideas that never become manuscripts, one of those people who tinkers with manuscripts that never reach an end, one of those assholes who talks about being a writer but never actually writes. Eventually it included them less.
He went through similar permutations in terms of what, exactly, he wanted to write. In fact if you ask him now, sitting at dinner somewhere, he will probably pause too long before figuring out how to answer, “What do you write?” He’s called himself a horror writer more often than a science fiction writer, but has published little horror. While published in science fiction venues, his stories are sometimes right at the cusp of what really counts as science fiction. He likes a number of science fiction ideas, and horror moods, but apparently isn’t engaged enough by either genre to really pursue them head on.
This is probably affected by what he reads. A lot of it, lately, was written decades ago. He doesn’t keep current with anything except a few authors he reads religiously. It’s not that he has anything against new fiction, obviously, but he hasn’t run out of older things yet. Books are not bananas. They will wait.
If you are ever in southern New Hampshire, you should have pizza. This is the pizza you should have:
Pepperoni, roasted red peppers, and ricotta, from Monument Square Market in Hollis. They have Stone, Rogue, and Dogfish Head beers in the cooler, as well as Moxie and Boylan’s cola. Do not overlook these features.
Meatball from C&S in Pepperell, Massachusetts. The bacon is good too.
Meatball, pepperoni, and/or sausage from Papa Romano’s on Kinsley Street in Nashua. The steak bombs are some of the best around, but do not pass up the pizza. They’re cheap — just get both, if you’re really in a steak bomb mood. And extra napkins.