Jal's post reminded me that I never finished! now, where was I...?
Last Flight of the Black Condor: This story remided me of OTHER stories, which at first, kinda annoyed me for a reason i couldn't put my finger on. But, as the story went on, it went away and instead, the story felt like putting on an old jacket. I can't really describe it better than that, so I'm sorry for the bad description. it just had the flow of fiction I've grown up with in the past- and I'm not saying it's PERFECT, a courgar painted up like a romulan bird of prey is cheesy in an old 1980s sci-fi way and YET, the writer made it WORK. The characters work, the playlist idea- look, we don't hear enough about music in the BattleTech universe, so anytime we get a glimpse that the arts are still going on, I dig it- i dunno. This story may not work for everyone, but by the end, I had nodding along with it. Well done. (PS: I have loved the tooth of ymir FOREVER because they have such a GREAT name. good to see them in a story!)
Cutting the competition: another fun little scenario! man, I said it before, i'll say it again, the writers of the game aids just kill it, every month, and issue 10 feels like a notch above!
This too shall pass: ooohhh, man. This is a story that needed to be told, and James Lee did a good job of it. I've always loved the 21st Centauri Lancers, and seeing them have some face time makes me smile. Just good stuff here discussing a moment that got about a paragraph in the sourcebooks but was worth so, so much more.
Wolf Howl: what an interesting idea. At first, i was a little troubled because the points seem like good or bad rolls can make it too easy or too hard. And then I realized, "hey, that's life at war, kiddo," and was okay with it. Odds are a player will have a good roll, a bad roll, and the rest should be average. keeps the game interesting!
Now, NORMALLY, i don't read a multi-part until ALL the parts are published. i didn't read mike stackpole's till it was done, didn't read Craig till it was done, and I was going to do the same. but then, since I was breaking them all down I figured what the heck, and the I REMEMBERED WHY I DON'T DO THIS!!
BECAUSE I WANT TO READ THEM ALL NOW! Not going to lie, I saw this was first person -ugh!!- AND set in Concordant -rolls eyes- AND during the Star league era -rolls eyes so hard the click in head-
Look, a lot of 1st person sci-fi doesn't work, a lot of TC stories are about either them fighting a) the FSs or B) the SLDF. I deep sighed and figured, "here we go, another 'I'm mad at the invaders grr grr grr' story, Booo-bloody-yah," and was HAPPILY surprised that this subverted my expectations. I've seen some chatter complaining that this is "too close to real" or "has politics in it" but, HELLO, nearly all of sci-fi DOES? Complaining about politics in sci-fi is like complaining that the sky is blue: it IS a staple, and like it or else, it is what it is.
And here, the author uses real-life allegories in sci-fi -literally a tradition as old as the genre- to explore both sides, to see each side in a way that people often can't when talking about the "real" world. It was done WELL, the characters were on POINT, and the 1st person narrative (like "bad and worse" earlier in the issue) NAILS it, hitting the character right and placing them IN the setting without the setting overwhelming the story.
It's a GREAT start to what I'm sure will be a great story, and again, i normally don't read them till they're done so I can read them all at once!! GAH! why did I do this to myself?
ANYWAYS,
Issue 10 is probably my favorite of them all so far. truly, every single thing in it is "above average or better," which is a helluva feat. congrats and well done to all my fellow writers!
not, get off the internet and get back to work! ;-P hahaha
