Jason Waltz > Recent Status Updates

J. Thomas Howard's "The Lies of Mars" brings to life a brutal world and a surviving warrior. Evocative and terse, it is an edgy tale that yet appeals.

"Griff's End" from Luke E. Dodd is... disconcerting. After so much effort invested in our hero (who is worthy of note) and his journey to fulfill an obligation (which is compelling), either there is page(s) missing or the story blunders to a most unfulfilling end. Close, rather, as it is not much of an ending.

Scott Schmidt's "Shades of Ruin" is suh-weet! Great setting and super-fun premise that kept me enthralled and vastly curious as to its outcome. Well-told!

"The Tower in the Earth" Chuck E. Clark
This one seems like an interlude, a connection piece in a longer story, so not that satisfying in solitude.

Jace Phelps' "The Rite" is spectacularly sensory sublime S&Sish. As predicted, brings the feeling of CAS both in descriptors , senses, horror, and futility.

"The Spirit of the Hill" by Michael Burke

Exciting, horrific, dark-of-night dangerous S&S storytelling!

"The Steel of the Timurid" by N.A.Chaudhry
The power & passion screams off the pages of this story, making its storytelling a pleasure. Its delivery however, as an obvious ESL/EFL, is not so very pleasurable, making its reading somewhat painful. And surprising, as I thought Whetstone edited these stories.

Thought I'd started this issue already, but just read Jason's Editor's Note and I have not. Nice intro, I like the comparison of the critique of poetic Romanticism and that of S&S.

Good storytelling, Adrian! Nalsir-Fel is in for some long and dangerous nights, 'specially with Penkatel & Ahzlamin leaving. Learning more of their tales -- past and future -- sounds promising.

Fun sword & planet from Jon Hansen continues the strong storytelling of the second half of this anthology. Varkez makes a good hero!

Rab Foster's "The Foliage" presents a compelling narrator and terrific heroine(s) in a grisly tale of sorcerous conquest. Good stuff.

Thank you Craig Herbertson for "Wardark" and for saving this anthology. Especially after the weird shit preceding your tale. Great hero, strong action, and much blood and sorcery and quests and vengeance and the promise of further tales. I enjoyed this storytelling and would read more of the warrior Wardark.

Fun northern warrior tromp through civilization and accompanying a wizard type through adventure to regain his freedom. Lots of words on lots of pages though, and a rather ho-hum denouement after the blood-spattered climax. Seems a commonality thus far, tales that simply...end...as if letting the steam out.

Finally. Really liked Carson Ray's Knox and enjoyed the storytelling of his long-sought revenge/pursuit of justice. Some of the character's backstory story allusions would be interesting to read as stories in their own right.

Rereading in accompaniment of a new reader. Looking forward to it cuz I love this book!

Rereading in accompaniment with a friend I've introduced to the greatest novella examinations of the comedic tragedy of the human condition. Like returning to a fine vintage.

Just read a very thorough comparison of Howard and H.P.Lovecraft through their letters. While a nice summation of the letters collection and a decent way to showcase REH's beliefs, not really sure why a history of S&S needed so much of that...I nodded off 3 or 4 times in these pages.

Began this long ago, finally re-discovered it and re-started. Ty's tales of Dee are deadly, a few with a hint of pathos, all with vast fillings of sorcery and dashes of bloody swords. Good storytelling, though could have used some content and style editing help.

Just finished chapter 2. Very informative and offers much of the foundation of S&S and REH's influences. I liked the sidebar examination of which story is the truest progenitor of the S&S attitude. Lots of source material shared and numerous authors to explore for adventurous readers.

Rylin is a rather cool fellow too, one I can connect with. Of course, I like the old school warrior heroes mostly better than the younger generations, just as in life, heh. Jones keeps the mysteries piling up and intense. There was a battle handled and won easier than I anticipated, though it was deadly. There seems to be a lots of heartbreaking betrayal in this story. Made me keep reading to 1am last night.

I quite like Kyrkenall. And the mystery has been intense; the bad guys despicable.

Words matter and this bothers me: "...S&S is about red-handed barbarians overrunning the walls, a literature of decay, entropy, and violent overthrow."

'A literature of' entropy sure, overthrow certainly, barbarians of course. Decay? I neither understand nor appreciate the word choice.

And finally, I simply love de Camp's declaration quoted on page 11 that S&S heroes are NOT antiheroes, for he uses the term as intended.

Quibble 2: while the author and I agree Solomon Kane is not an S&S character, our reasons differ. He attributes this to armature; I attribute it to attitude. I observe this because thus far my reading would make me think the author also believed S&S to be an attitude, so for him solely to base his argument upon the weaponry (and a bit of setting) surprised me.

S&S reveled in forging higher with a passionate will to dominate. That's the rub: popular entertainment is the product of its environment and society. Grimdark is our reflection today. We'd rather claw our heroes down, rend the flesh from their bones to justify our degraded choices and hide our own despair rather than attempt to claw our way up to them. Grimdark is a downward-facing genre; S&S is upward facing.

...all else, believing it better and more desirable to bring down, to yank down by desperate fingernails, everyone/thing else into the muck and degradation for that self to stand upon, choosing to remain in the quagmire simply atop others rather than to pull oneself free or die in the struggle to do so as the S&S protagonist. There's our simple difference: grimdark seeks to justify or revel in remaining where one is.

...till it sticks. GRRM's famous series is no more grimdark than history and to try and leverage it otherwise is laughable.

If one insists on declaring grimdark kin to S&S, it is a devolved bastard child with only appearances in overlap. S&S actually sought and provided an elevated hope and promoted perseverance and a will of survival. Grimdark seeks only to revel in its filthy nihilism and promote the self over

I disagree that 'grimdark' is an extension or next morphing of S&S. Using such terms, one can just as easily say that it's morphed from high/epic fantasy. There are very few standalone grimdark stories after all, most of them rivaling any of the more epic multi-tome series, and don't we all declare S&S is the better the tighter and shorter it is written? Half the bluster of grimdark is throwing its name at anything

I enjoyed the author's stage-setting; personal and declarative, it informs from the onset. I've also appreciated the in-depth examination of the meat and potatoes of which S&S consists. I'm not through chapter 1 yet, and I'm eager to read more, but I wish to note my few quibbles.