Lazlo Zalezac: Blog

I've gotten a lot of emails about confusion between Amber and Amy in Chapter 25. Amber and Amy are the same woman. Amber is introduced in Chapter 3 as Amy Podgorski, who has been called Amber since fourth grade. Dropping the nickname Amber is an identity change from a slut/porn actress to a dedicated caring wife who values fidelity. She is leaving Amber behind her along with her old life.

It was late when I posted the first chapter of my latest story and I didn't see the typos in the submission. Yes, it was supposed to be A. King and His Queen. Those were powdered donuts, not powered donuts (although now that I think of it, I'd like to try some powered donuts). They're fixed now. Sorry for the confusion.

I do appreciate all of the welcome back e-mails. It's nice to know that I've been missed. I wasn't ill, but I was busy and that made sitting down and putting fingers to keyboard a little difficult.

I'll be posting a chapter a week. This story is complete (all 43 chapters). I've got a few stories in production and hope to finish one of the shortly.

I'd also like to welcome back my anti-fans. I was afraid that after my long hiatus that you'd forgotten about me. It warmed the cockles of my heart to see those votes of 1 show up within hours of posting the first chapter of a series. I missed ya!

Before writing one word of Jade Force, I created a map of the world in which the action takes place. I uploaded it to a website just so that people can refer to it when reading the story. It's available at: http://www.zalezac.com/jadeforcemap.jpg. I hope this will help clarify some of the geographic references made in the story.

I'm back and posting a new set of stories taking place in a fantasy world. It is a fantasy world with a completely different geography than our dear little world (I'm trying to figure out how to post the map). There are only human beings living in this world (no elves, dwarves, or ogres) and countries with names similar to countries in our world. It isn't our world, but it has the same problems as those that plague our world -- war, famine, disease, politics, and casual indifference to the suffering of others.

Yes, Vam is a lot like Vietnam. I had readers write to me that if I wanted to write about Vietnam, then I should have kept the name, damn it. I'm not writing about Vietnam, although I did borrow the emotions that use of such a similarity in names would provoke. Based on some of the feedback I've received, it would appear that I did tap into some very strong emotions.

The country could have been called Quani (for Iraq) or Stanistan ( for Afghanistan). It isn't the name of the war or the place in which it was fought that is significant, but that underlying indifference to shedding the blood of young men and women that politics seemed to demand for reasons which are never quite clear, although the need is voiced in quite patriotic language. When it starts to get ugly, we turn away from what little had been gained, wipe our hands as if to wash them of something dirty, all the while declaring a victory, such as it was.

Perhaps a world that approaches war with such indifference needs to be reminded what war really is. War is horrible. War is ugly. War should not be a threat used as a negotiating ploy, but as a last resort for when negotiations have completely failed, and the state's existence is truly threatened. War isn't about slaughtering as many pawns as possible, but it is about capturing kings -- yet kings don't even appear in wars today. War has become a game played according to nonsense rules.

So I thought, what if there was an army that actually fought wars knowing that you don't kill a snake by cutting its feet off, but by cutting off its head? Wouldn't that shake things up! Thus, the idea for the Jade Force of Misera was born.

I hope you enjoy the collection of stories I'm putting together. However, I know that many readers won't like the stories and may even hate them, since they touch upon a multitude of subjects that provoke strong emotions in many people. All I can say is - I feel these are stories that should be told.

Sandy is a bitch and all of the evil female characters in my story will be named that from hence forth! Yes, I know that is an unfair generalization for those who carry that name, but six days without power is a long time to suffer without the internet.

I'm not complaining though. We didn't have significant damage from the water or the wind, which was good. The fact of the matter was that we were well prepared and didn't have any problems at all. I had lamps and fuel enough to last three weeks, food for a month, and kerosene heater (with CO detectors) to keep nice and toasty through it all. I had a car full of gas and a go-bag packed in case we had to evacuate. I was a boyscout!

I've spent the past two days getting my computers and other equipment checked out in response to the possibility of damage from the electrical surges that came with the power outage. Fortunately, my experience with a lightning strike (when I lost the last chapters of Quatyl) came through with most of my stuff off the grid when the power went down. I will be returning to a regular posting schedule soon.

The past few days have given me insights into how people respond to disasters. It was not pretty. I have lost patience with the incompetent, incapable, and insufferable. I met people who bought generators, but no gasoline to run them. They figured the gas stations would be open. I ran into folks who were shocked that the corner convenience store wasn't open to sell coffee the morning after the storm hit. I heard people trying to find the nearest open burger burner because they didn't any food set aside. These people didn't have any major damage to their places, but were wailing in misery as if they had just lost their first born child.

In a lot of ways, the people here were lucky. I know that a lot of folks lost their homes and I feel for them, but it could have been even worse. The storm could have been stronger. The weather could have been a lot colder. You'd be hearing about people freezing to death or dying from carbon monoxide poisoning by now.

So, I now have material for a story about a crisis. My characters should be so realistic that they won't be credible. To quote one of my neighbors, "I figured the electricity would come back on right after the storm passed. It's been out a whole day already." I avoided that particular individual after the power had been out for more than three days. I don't want to tell her that I'm amazed we have power, telephone, cable tv, and internet just one week after getting hit with a storm that destroyed or severely damaged 85% of the homes in one of the towns less than 5 miles from where we live.


Now we have a Nor'Easter heading our way. That ought to be interesting. Well, I'm ready!