by
Steve Lazarowitz
May 2002
A FOND FAREWELL
It is with a heavy heart that I sit today at my keyboard, typing the very last issue of Shattered Fragments. However, times change and The Wandering Troll, which has had a long and successful run for a web-based zine, will cease publication as of this month.
You are currently reading my twenty-fourth installment. For those of you who do not do math, this means I've been writing this column for two years.
During that time I have covered many topics such as Renaissance Faires, hidden themes in Science Fiction, all sorts of things about e-books and several random topics that may or may not include information about fiction writing, Science Fiction and/or fantasy.
Since the archives will remain up for the rest of this month, I encourage you to take a look at some of the back issues. If you don't have the time now, fear not, they will all eventually be archived on my webpage at http://www.sff.net/people/nagennif .
As with any collection of works, I have my personal favorites. Fantasy Faux Pas is one of them. So is Fiction Writing 101: The Masochists Handbook. Not that there are any I dislike, or I'd not have written them, but these two stand out in my mind as particularly entertaining efforts. It is not easy to write a monthly column and continually come up with something new to say. It's even harder for me, since I have two such columns. My other (which I've been writing for a year and a half) is called Sahara Ice and may be found in Blue Iris Journal. If you've enjoyed Shattered Fragments (and I sincerely hope that is the case), I invite you to sample Sahara Ice, which will surely take you places I could never go here. You see, Blue Iris Journal is not a fantasy based zine and as such, I need not limit my topics to any genre or convention. I can write about anything I damn well please, which suits me just fine. I have surely been more controversial there, than I have been here, but such is the nature of the business.
It is hard, even for me, to put into words what it means to see a zine like The Wandering Troll close. Jason Laseman, L. Joseph Shosty, Jonathan Fesmire and Elizabeth Burton (who, strangely enough, runs The Blue Iris Journal) have taken this zine to places few have gone. The work found in the Wandering Troll each month is superb. Only the fact that Jason is moving on to bigger and better things, allows me to have any joy at all in this time of parting.
I have little else to say, except to wish each of you well and hope you continue to support the many authors who call out to you from cyberspace, whether they write but a single short story, or a regular column. I hope to see some of you at Blue Iris Journal next month, reading my newest issue of Sahara Ice, for in one of my upcoming issues, I strongly suspect I will be talking about a major change in my life that will no doubt be of interest to those that have followed my online writing career. It has been an honor and privilege to see my words beside such worthy colleagues for such an extended period of time. I only hope in the future, when someone looks off into the distance and fondly remembers The Wandering Troll, they will remember my fantasy serial, Reflections of a Recovering Servant as well, or Shattered Fragments. For if one of my words has entertained or educated but a single soul, it has all been worth it.
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