Jason Waltz > Recent Status Updates

Odd book. Like the author is trying to be Anne Rice. Lestat fan fic lite. I enjoy vampires and Lord Byron is one of my favorite poets, so I was intrigued by this book. Now it's all rather droll and I should probably toss it aside but I wish still to know its close. Like its protagonist though, this is sucking the life from me.

Chapter 17 poignantly displays what a cluster war can be and what even more of a cluster idiot officers are.

Exciting! Surprisingly well-done storytelling and characterization. Many interesting and compelling moving parts.

Wow, chapter 16 'Wise Endurance' made this whole book. Just wow. I wasn't planning on keeping this book but this chapter has changed everything. This very candid eye-opening and heart-moving examination of cowardice, bravery, wisdom, and being a hero rocks. Outstanding chapter.

This is actually quite fascinating to read, the innermost feelings of a strong-willed woman alongside reminiscences of the strong-writer REH, as living legend and lively companion. A blend of sweet and sad, that famous melancholy and mirth.

Dang. Then the chuckles ended.

This 'sere and yellow leaf' bit gives a good chuckle.

3 rather enjoyable shorties. The middle of the book has been much more consistent in quality and non-insulting humor.

Pretty serious stuff here, chapter 13 being the darkest thus far. The things the soul and mind endure in the depths of war are astounding. Very good fodder for any writer here.

Margaret Manners' "Squeakie's Second Case" was enjoyable tomfoolery with an irritating character trying to steal center stage and an irritable condescending ass for a narrator. This would actually have been more fun as a black-and-white caper ala The Thin Man.

Stories have progressively gotten better. This one from Berkely Mather was enjoyable and thoroughly delivered. The body of the tale was quite fun, the denouement slightly less well as it came all sudden-like.

Melancholy and personal, this exploration of a man's soul is also an examination of ideas and concepts and character. These snippets of O'Brien's life are interesting and thought-provoking, though not quite up to his other famous collection of Vietnam.

Best story thus far - Ellery Queen's "My Queer Dean!" Clever, engaging, simple, and humorous.

Always spectacular, of course! Been savoring this one for a while.

Ah, Rald is an absolute hoot! I cannot believe I've not read his exploits before. I shall definitely read more of him and more by Clifford Ball. This was perhaps the most fun to read tale herein this terrific anthology. Adventure! Thrills! Sorcery! Chills! Swords! Thieves! Kings! Beauties! Mysteries! Ahhhh, the sheer delight :)

That was delightful! I thought I'd read a Kuttner Elak story before, but I do not recall the sidekick Lycon, so if they are a regular pair I'd guess I haven't. Regardless, I shall endeavor to read more of Elak, for both he and the writing of his exploits are grandiose. The quoted verse from Chesterton to kick things off brought beautiful imagery:
'And like a lost rain roar and weep
O'er the red heavens of hell'

Fascinating actually. I can almost hear the characters speaking, living their parts. Learned some things, and love this great writing advice: "Don't stop. Don't analyze. Don't philosophize. Act. Feel. Act." Think I might hang that above my desk.

Regrets come to all of us. One thing we need to remember: "failure is an event, not a person."

I like that wording. Simply stated and powerful.

"[y]ou are only as strong as you are honest."

Essentially this book is summed with:
"A man doesn't ruin his life all at once. He does it one step at a time."
Point well taken, and Samson illustrates it well, yet very repetitive.

Spectacular tale "Jirel meets Magic" -- the stuff grand adventures and heroics are made of! It gets off to a rocking start with our violent powerful warrior woman, then becomes a magical battle of wits and passion. Prose gets a little purple in this area but this is a great story, an exemplary worthy to be studied and emulated.

Always enjoyed Feist's tales, was glad to see a new story and new world from him. So far...interesting. Not bad, but not exciting. A few characters of interest, though 2 have not reappeared since the prologue. And something I've noticed in his last few books, his editing is sloppy: poorly and repetitively worded sentences, repeated sentences almost verbatim within paragraphs. It gets really boring sometimes.

In "Brachan the Kelt" REH allows James Allison to relay a tale of his past life as Brachan. Our hero spends most the tale debunking history, describing himself and his wondrous sword, and only briefly and far too swiftly doing any swinging of that sword -- all for the hand of the most beautiful of beauties he'd ever seen. Great-ish setup for an undelivered tale I'm afraid.

Straightforward, loving and humorous talking on loving each other thoroughly as husband and wife despite all the baggage we bring to our relationship and bed.

Motivational, candid, important. Defining being a man through calling and purpose rather than emotions such as anger, pride, entitlement, despair or fear. A thinking man's advisory.

Jumping around due to the rather clever TOC that includes the opening sentence of each story (which I'm thinking of trying in an RBE anthology), so percentage is a guess. Anyhoo...Not as fun as anticipated unfortunately. This is pretty harsh on women so far, physically and verbally, so honestly a bit taken aback. We'll see how this continues.

JOHN C. WRIGHT's "Heroes of Darkness and Light" takes a decent look at the different approach to heroism - and which chicks dig - the dark and light knights take and why. I think overall the descriptions of their differences and the sound reasons behind them are expounded upon quite well.

A very thoughtful book filled w/essays worthy of exploration. Even the lesser written or expressed at least ignite reaction. Lots of known-to-me-names authored these pieces too, and that's a decent indication of quality. I think I've found my favorite essay though, in DAN KIMMEL's "The Batman We Deserve." It's an excellent examination of the character duo Bruce/Batman in TV & film from Caped Crusader to Dark Knight.

Dudes! X-man is the baddest mo-fu EVAH! Triple X plus Jason Bourne plus Bruce Wayne/Batman plus Daniel Craig as 007 -- smoothest, smartest, suavest, savagest, stupendously insanely -est BEST. No, seriously. At everything. I can't imagine why we don't have more heroes like this.

Ha, 69% seems an appropriate number for this sex-filled down-n-dirty pirate brawl. Roles (and sizes for that matter) reversed, this is a tale of treachery, wizardry, and bodily fluids with the female characters as bosses and protagonists. Lots of fighting and scheming and cussing and a fair bit of humor and character development to boot. Not the best storytelling, but absolutely entertaining.