Jason Waltz > Recent Status Updates

I looked upon my return to Malaz and Dancer and said to myself, "It is good."

Duncan's "Singing the Long Retreat" is a powerful tale filled with great melancholy and fierce pride.

Chapter 1: Fascinating study of fear and human conditioning toward it.

Reading the physical zine. Delightful introduction sets a nice opening tone, thank you.

Some great lines from Conan and the story is always moving forward.

So far this is Conan! Action and subterfuge abounds. Numerous editing snafus though.

Exciting and exasperating is this tale. Jakes keeps things hot and afoot, but Cham is quite the aggravating protagonist.

So I like our hero Cham for the most part. I have to keep reminding myself that there isn't much of a story if our hero just slays every trouble...but I've never been a fan of characters who could act but postpone until they suddenly realize they shouldn't have.

Black, Dilks, Sims are all the bomb!

Tais Teng's "Blue Achernar" was fascinating! A wonderful story.

James Enge's "Three Festivals" is one of the best Morlock tales yet, and a tale wherein the maker actually takes real action!

Mercenaries--bah! Seems Machiavelli was a bit perturbed by them. Anyway, great insult & line, "Charles, King of France, was allowed to seize Italy with chalk in hand" -- meaning simply by quartermasters tallying billets rather than soldiers with swords in hand.

Very cool to be reading about some of these characters in first person or as close to first person as possible accounts. Ah, to have been able to witness these characters and incidents would have been something.

"Maid of Steel" was cool but took a ton of time on the pre-story.
"Bard" by Teel James Glenn hits all the right notes.
"Temm the Riven" is a terrific tale told well.

Art choices mostly suck in this issue.

"For men injure either from fear or hatred."

"He who believes that new benefits will cause great personages to forget old injuries is deceived."

Lots of sound advice and reasoning here - that can't be employed readily today. Unless one already exists on the highest of social levels.

Sadness, hope, courage, tenderness, arrogance, concern, love, leadership, failure, loyalty, laughter -- it's all here. I wonder how much of the personal is found in this WWII novelization memoir...seems like a lot.

The hilarious antics involving Lt. Blevins brings to mind the hilarity of the MBOTF's Captain Kindly/Lt. Pores.

This was my grandfather's division in WWII. I have every book I have ever found covering their service, so I was excited to find this last week and quickly ordered it. While I am glad I have it, it appears there is nothing new in it, as it is just a collection of previously shared personal stories in the Blackhawk newsletter, THE BUGLE, which I have read many of. I look forward to revisiting these recollections.

"ALL YOU CAN EAT CATFISH, TROUBLE ON THE SIDE" was fun until surprisingly ending in action. A lot of build-up time spent on food and a very small amount of time spent on action ends in a delay, not a resolution.

Fun stuff inside these covers! Conan unleashed after 2 decades upon the throne!

Enjoyed the second story "As Blood Red As A West Texas Sunset" quite a bit, though not really a fan of the staccato style of sentence storytelling. Either it grew on me as this was a long story or it calmed down after the rush of the opening scene setting (which I think). Stories are strong; delivery, hmm.

Really enjoy this opening sentence to the 2nd story:
"The metal fan stirred the hot and heavy air, its metal blades whirling in their steel cage as it oscillated but did little to relieve the early afternoon heat. Occasionally it made a brief clacking sound."

Reading physical graphic novel.
Great story thus far, tolerable art. Some spectacular Conan moments. Big question❓
At the onset Conan 'had well passed his sixth decade'...yet Part II opens with him 'nearing the end of his seventh decade' !!! How long was his trip?!

Interesting that Gladwell introduces all three sections of the book with a Bible verse, something I wonder if he would do in 2023. Part 2, "Desirable Difficulty," is quite interesting, but it is much more easily exemplified with his physical examples in the business and medical world. I think his argument falters in the civil liberties and racial equality chapter.

Interestingly enough, this would be a good read for all S&S writers.

"Salty sweat hardened the shoulders of their torn and bloody jackets. Uncontrolled stains of urine and bowel movements showed on their pants legs." Damn. The writing of this personal account of the assault on Peleliu is devastating.

2 interviews were cool additions:
John Langan's (who is an unknown to me) was eloquent and quite interesting from a writer's perspective.
Dave Ritzlin's (who I do know) provided good background on he and DMR Books, who has really been rocking the S&S world. I'm quite excited by his new DIE BY THE SWORD anthology as I believe it will hue (or is it hew?) much closer to the S&S I most enjoy. I hope it becomes a series.

Matthew Castleman's "The Hoard" is almost worth the price of this zine by itself. Beautiful opening scene-setting, followed by marvelously creative monsters, culminating in a terrifically told tale of both action and purpose. Great storytelling!

"The Silence of the Rogue" is definitely a story told by a philosopher. Thought-provoking, hinting of much.

Jonathan Olfert's "The Last Line" delivers a powerful thought that is slightly distracted by odd names.

Separate note: Atrocious formatting really harms this zine.

Reading the physical print version. I love this cover...but first impression upon holding it very disappointed in the blank spine.