Tag Archives: Jason M. Waltz

Jason M. Waltz Launches Whet Work by Waltz

Attention, all you writers and aspiring writers out there. There’s a new writer’s service in town.

Jason M. Waltz, one of the most enlightened editors on the planet, has launched Whet Work by Waltz. The name comes from a whet stone. Jason has edited a number of anthologies over the years. Hopefully, you’ve read some. He’s even published a few of my stories. (I told you he was one of the most enlightened editors on the planet.)

Joking around aside, Jason knows what he’s doing. Here’s his announcement that he recently posted. If you’ve been having trouble getting out of the slush pile, maybe Jason can help you.

NAME: Whet Work by Waltz

TAGLINE: Sharpening your Submissions

LOGO: by sabretooth1100

$15/3,000 words up 21,000 words + all transaction fees

3k-9k 2 week turnaround

12k-15k 2-3 week turnaround

18k-21k 3 week turnaround

This is me, Jason M. Waltz, reading any heroic adventure fiction for authors preparing to submit. I will read just as if I were reading for an open submission call. If you write and read heroic adventure and have enjoyed my heroic story selections in the 20+ years of magazines and anthologies I have edited, this is a perfect service for you! While this is only my opinion and I am not making selections for any publications with these readings, my eyes have seen and evaluated a lot of words. Let me help you get your works over the hump, catch the interest of editors, and find publication and readers!

Note 1: This is not a submission package service (no long form fiction).

Note 2: I reserve the right to decline any submission that I do not consider heroic adventure I want to read.

You will receive 6 paragraphs of feedback each addressing a specific point:

1 – First Line (My hook reaction)

2 – Opening (My analysis of the appeal in your roughly 1st 3 sentences/1st paragraph)

3 – First 500 words (My decision point where I historically make my determination to request the rest of the work for full reading)°°

4 – Character (My analysis of your character appeal, concentration on the primary (one or two) protagonists, with (possible) brief commentary on their antagonist(s) and other secondary characters that catch my interest)

5 – Conflict and/or Climax & Resolution (My analysis of whether these critical aspects work and work within your story)

6 – Denouement (My thoughts on if there is one, if it is consistent, and if it hints/promises more)

Submitters will be asked 3 things only:

1 – email

2 – word count

3 – genre

Well, and for some money. But no cover letters, explanations, or biographies.

°°On pieces 9k or longer this is the point I will decide if I’m accepting your work in full. If I decline to continue, it will be a flat $15 + fees and I will provide only the first 3 paragraphs in feedback.

I am currently slow testing this as I am learning how to set up an Instagram shop, but I am adding interested names in order of contact. I already have a nice slate of interested parties, but if you’d like to be added to my growing list, please use the registration form on my linktr.ee

https://linktr.ee/jasonmwaltz

Souls in a Torrent

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“The Torrent of Souls” by H. R. Laurence
Old Mooon Quarterly Number 7

In my review of Battleborn, I mention that Jason M. Waltz had a review that started with the first line of the story. I liked the line so much I tracked down the story, something I mentioned in the review.

In the comments, Jason suggested I share my thoughts on it. They are below.

As an aside, I read the book I reviewed in the previous post on the basis of its first line. That’s acutally a good idea, reading and reviewing something based on a great opening line. I may have to do more of that. (I only steal ideas from the best, Jason.)

The story is “The Torrent of Souls”, as noted at the top of the post.

Here’s the opening line: “Heodric had won the knife fight, which was to say his foe was dying faster than he was.”

Heodric loses consciousness, but not before a man approaches him through the crowd in the tavern who are watching him die. They excahnge a few words. Heodric loses consciousness. He wakes up in a stable. The man is there along with a witch.

They have a job for him. It involves moving through a river of souls to the barrow of a powerful wiard. The witch needs access to some of the wizard’s books.

That’s all the plot I’ll tell. You can buy a copy and read the rest for yourself.

H. R. Laurence isn’t a writer I’m familiar with. I’m going to keep an eye out for his work, though. The opening scene pulled me in.The character of Heodric was well developed. I was interested in what happened to him. The action moved briskly. The dialogue was crisp and moved the plot along while developing the characters.

I’ve not had a chance to read the rest of this issue of Old Moon Quaterly, but I’m going to read the rest sometime in the next few weeks. I’m in the middle of several books at the moment.

And if Luarence has written more stories about Heodric, I’d like to read them. Let me know if the comments if you’re aware of them.

A Brief Report on Robert E. Howard Days 2026

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Yes, I am aware that Howard Days was two weeks ago. I’m a little behind on posting.

This year’s theme was the 40th Anniversary of Howard Days. The guest of Honor was Rusty Burke, who essentially founded Howard Days when he organized a trip to Cross Plains for a group of fans. Things have grown a little bit since then.

Rusty has had some health issues the last couple of years. It was good to see him back and participating, although at a more subdued level. On a sad note, regular attendee Lee Breakiron passed away a few months ago. He was missed.

Continue reading →

Time is Running Out for Neither Beg Nor Yield

Neither Beg Nor Yield

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Friend of the blog, publisher, editor, author, and all around great guy, Jason M. Waltz, is launching a S&S Kickstarter for a new anthology entitled Neither Beg Nor Yield. Jason has published some great anthologies over the years. I’ve been privileged to appear in a few of them.

This will be Rogue Blades Entertainment’s final publication.

You’re gonna want to grab a copy of this one. Here’s the link to the Kickstarter page where you can be notified when the project goes live on August 22. It will run through September 19.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jmw/neither-beg-nor-yield-a-sword-and-sorcery-attitude-anthology

And here are Jason’s thoughts on what led him to pursue this project:

Background on NBNY: If you’ve had the opportunity to read the foreword to Perry’s Swords & Heroes that came out in May, that is my motivation to end my publishing career with a wallop of power. Writing, rewriting, and rereading that over a few weeks pumped me up to the extreme and essentially forced me to emphatically define my interpretation of S&S.

I have long felt a growing angst about the ongoing disputes of the definition of Sword & Sorcery – a definition that to me has grown far too convoluted and frankly cumbersome. Once, decades ago, I was of the restrictive mindset that S&S had to be a particular this or that, more in the mold of Conan than not. Yet even then, I did not recognize several prominent characters as truly S&S protagonists despite popular belief to the contrary. I felt right in my convictions yet also felt it somehow inconclusive, felt that something was absent, a missing link scratching at my thoughts for years. I have also totally believed that there is a direct line from the vast majority of today’s entertainment (of any variety) to S&S and thus Howard. Then a few years ago it hit me that S&S is purely — and simply — an attitude, an attitude of its author’s storytelling for certain, but specifically the attitude of its protagonist. Once I recognized that, everything clicked for me. Of course, a story that holds all of Jones’ 4 ingredients and Murphy’s 7 parameters should be a S&S tale — but it is not a guarantee, for there are many that are not. And I don’t think that’s purely opinion; it’s demonstrable truth to me. If the protagonist does not have the requisite Attitude — I don’t care how many of those items can be checked off, it ain’t a S&S tale. And that is not a negative: It can be a perfectly spectacular heroic fantasy story I won’t argue one whit about; label it S&S and I will. On the other hand, a story that on the surface barely touches upon the ‘sacred 11’ can be one of the best ever told S&S tales of all time so long as that protagonist holds true to the spirit, the Attitude, of S&S.

This is what I want to deliver, to emphatically declare, with NEITHER BEG NOR YIELD: the truest form of powerful S&S storytelling must be more than its atmosphere and accoutrements. It must be an attitude.

Once I knew what I wanted to say, all the names of the writers of my experience who could deliver exactly what I wanted myself and the world to read came instantly to mind. Seriously. Not a struggle. I loved my list, but to be certain, I poured over all the anthologies and magazines/zines of the last 20 years that I have or have access to, replayed dozens of conversations, communications, critiques, and characters I’ve loved; searched every written thing I could recall. I found many stories and names I recalled fondly…but my choices did not change. That is simply amazing to me. 23ish years of this publishing, reading, editing, and writing life and I clearly recalled everyone who wrote what I wanted — unintentionally and unknowingly retained for striking that just-right chord of my S&S soul.

Then came the most difficult challenge of all: getting all of them to join me. And they did. And so for me, this anthology is the winning epitome of my career whether another reader sees it or not.

Neither Beg Nor Yield will have 16 contributors. Possibly more if stretch goals are reached. Jason has asked me to reveal the names of two of the contributors. They are:

Bill Ward (currently of Goodman Games & had RBE stories in RETURN OF THE SWORD, RAGE OF THE BEHEMOTH, and DEMONS)

William King, who will be returning with a Kormak tale!

Other contributors will be announced in other venues. Some have already been announced, such as in Black Gate. Still more names will be released as August 22 draws closer.

Again, here’s the link to sign up to be notified when the Kickstarter goes live.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jmw/neither-beg-nor-yield-a-sword-and-sorcery-attitude-anthology

I’d say this one is gonna be good, but it won’t. It’ll be great!

Crossbones and Crosses Debuts at Howard Days

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Crossbones and Crosses
Jason M Waltz, ed.
Rogue Blades Entertainment
trade paper $17.00
ebook $5.00

Jason M. Waltz, publisher of Rogue Blades Entertainment, has just published a new anthology, and it’s one you’re going to want to get. The hardcopy has been available for a few days now, and the electronic version has just gone live in time for Howard Days. Crossbones and Crosses harkens back to the days of Raphael Sabatini, Talbot Mundy, Robert E. Howard, and Harold Lamb. These are the adventure stories we’ve needed. When too many anthologies are full of message fiction, RBE has given us something different. Adventure, Excitement, and most importantly, fun. Make that Fun with a capital “F”. Continue reading →

Report on Robert E. Howard Days 2018

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This past weekend, Howardians made their annual pilgrimage to Cross Plains. The emphasis this year was on Howard’s fans.

I was afraid the weather was going to be horrendous. The temperatures were forecast to be around 105F. Fortunately, things didn’t get that bad, although on Saturday they got close. The thunderstorms that rolled in Thursday night helped to cool things off.

(l.to r.) Ty Johnston, Jason M. Waltz, your intrepid blogger, David J. West

The highlight of the weekend for me was meeting some folks I’ve been friends with online but not met in person. I knew David J. West was going to be there, but I hadn’t know Jason M. Waltz and Ty Johnston would be attending. Jason is the editor and publisher of Rogue Blades Entertainment. He’s recently retired and plans to reinvigorate RBE. Ty is an author who has written some terrific fantasy (start here). They all had a great time and want to come back. These are some great guys who fit right in. (Jason moved to Texas earlier this year, so I expect out paths will cross again soon.)

Indy Cavalier giving his GoH speech.

Friday was the usual day for postal cancellations, hot dog lunch, and panels. The banquet Friday night was held in the gymnasium of First Baptist Church. We’d outgrown the Community Center. The Staghorn Cafe catered the chicken fried steak dinner. As usual, it was delicious. I only spent $15 dollars at the silent auction this year. For the last few years I’ve been spending less money, probably because I’ve either gotten everything I want or I can’t afford it. Bill “Indy” Cavalier was the GoH. His speech was entitled “Robert E. Howard Saved My Life”, and was about the impact REH had on his life during some rocky times.

One of the big items of interest this year was the excavation of the cellar. Jeff Shanks is an archaeologist with the National Park Service. The Howard House in on the National Register of Historic Places, which places it under National Park jurisdiction. The cellar was excavated earlier this spring.

Jeff Shanks (far center) discusses the excavation of the cellar.

Jeff gave a tour of the cellar, meaning he stood outside the tape along with everyone else and discussed the process of the excavation. The plan as I understand it is to preserve the cellar and try to figure out a way to keep it visible for future visitors. Until that happens, it will be covered back up. Volunteers filled in the cellar Sunday. You could see where the pressure from the dirt was causing the walls to begin to curve inward.

The photo on the right shows some of the items recovered from the cellar. The helmet is a baseball helmet. The jar in the front left still has its content intact. A number of jars were recovered that survived being buried. Jeff was asking us what we thought. The most popular response was pinto beans. I thought it looked more like some type of vegetable soup. There were some things in the jar that looked to me like corn. Jeff said they also had jars with peach pits, so he knew whoever had stored the jars had been canning peaches. The contents of the cellar will be discussed in a report for the Parks Service. Jeff joked that it will probably be the most read archaeological report from the Service.

Bobby Derie makes a point to Dierk Gunther during the Solomon Kane panel.

This year marked the 90th anniversary of Solomon Kane. I was eating lunch at the Stag Horn on Friday and missed the birthday cake. But I had a great time with friends old and new and wouldn’t trade it for the cake. (I didn’t need the sugar anyway.)

(l. to r.) Scott Cupp, James Reasoner, David Hardy, Jason Carney, and Mark Finn discuss what it takes to go From Fan to Pro

The panels, both the fan oriented and the academic papers were good. I missed part of the Foundation Awards. I stepped out of the room for a few minutes to return a call from my wife. Congratulations to the winners.

The barbeque on the grounds of the Howard House was excellent as always. It was followed by the poetry reading. People said goodnight and in many cases goodbye. The usual informal breakfast was Sunday and the 2018 Howard Days came to a close. From what I understand, it was a success, with a higher than usual attendance.

I’m looking forward to next year.

The Rogue Blades gang displays their invisible blades.

Rogue Blades Entertainment is Back!

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Rogue Blades Entertainment published some great anthologies but went on hiatus a few years ago. See my reviews here. Other than Writing Fantasy Heroes (reviewed here), we’ve not heard much from RBE.

Well, I’m glad to say the silence has been broken. One of the projects RBE was working on before it went on hiatus was a challenge anthology. The premise was simple writers were to write a story around both a piece of cover art and a theme. Kind of like the habit some editors had of commissioning stories based on a finished piece of cover art. Authors contributed their work, which was evaluated blind by a panel of judges. The top ten stories were selected.

The first Challenge anthology, entitled Discovery, is now available. The ebook edition is on sale for $5.00. The print edition will be available within a couple of weeks for $11.00. I had bought a bundle from RBE, sort of a preorder, but I don’t recall if there are any titles left or if I’ve gotten them all. No matter. I’ve bought the electronic version. Readers of this blog will see some familiar names on the ToC. (No, I’m not one of them.)

And a personal note to Jason M. Waltz, the publisher of RBE: It’s good to have you back, brother. You’ve been missed. I hope you’re around for a long time, and I wish you all the best.

Rogue Blades Entertainment is Back

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It’s not often I get to announce really great news, or at least it doesn’t feel like it much lately. However, I’m thrilled to let you know that the Rogue Blades Entertainment has returned. Publisher Jason M. Waltz made the announcement over at Black Gate earlier today. The small S&S publisher went on hiatus a few years ago. Fortunately RBE is back with a whole new website (just click the above link). If you aren’t familiar with them, RBE published Writing Fantasy Heroes recently (reviewed here). Now all of their previously published books are available. My review of them is available here. Stop by and check them out.

Adventures Fantastic would like to congratulate Jason and RBE on their comeback and wish them the best of success.