2016 Didn't Suck. Here's Why.
I've seen a lot of negative posts this week, lamenting how terrible 2016 was. This morning, however, I read a post by my friend Terence Blum-Marciano talking about all the great things 2016 brought him. Got me thinking... Maybe we all need to post what happened GOOD in 2016 and shut down the negativity of the American news machine and political pundits. So here goes...
2016 has been a great year. Flying Pig Games has released four issues of Yaah!, the boxed games Night of Man and Old School Tactical, and run three successful Kickstarters. We completed ’65 and have both that game and the reprint of Old School Tactical inbound from overseas. I finished the second novel in the Dark War series, Retribution, although finding a Kickstarter slot for it is proving to be a challenge. Tiny Battle Publishing continues to thrive. In fact, it thrives so much that the company has a backlog of games waiting to be published. None of that would have happened without the help of a lot of friends.
I’ve seen my wife’s amazing photos displayed at Serendipity, listened to my oldest daughter, Denver Marie Walker rock the house with her amazing graduate guitar recital, watched Jessica lead and teach a horde of amazing kids at Seven Hills, Ayron kill it at her amazing college, App State, and written "amazing" way too many times.
Even more importantly, I’ve spent a LOT of time with friends, including our annual Walktoberfest, watched an edge-of-the-seat road race at VIR, drove the Mini at both Martinsville and VIR, rafted with Ayron Elizabeth Walker, drank a lot of beer and screamed myself horse at Garbage, Pat Benetar, and John Waite concerts. Watched my favorite local band, The Floorboards, several times and found a new one, Eternal Summers, and semi-mastered Million Miles Away on guitar (not that bullshit country song, but the good one, by the Plimsouls). Of course, that isn’t all, that’s just what I can remember right now. The point is that I bet each of you has done at least as much. Let’s celebrate the good stuff and stop focusing on the bad.
Here's to a great 2017 and a reminder of a time when we didn't worry so much. Cheers to southern California, long hair and cigarettes!
Mark H. Walker served 23 years in the United States Navy, most of them as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal diver. He is the owner of Flying Pig Games as well as Tiny Battle Publishing the designer of the aliens-invade-Earth game Night of Man, the Communists invade South Vietnam game, '65, publisher of Old School Tactical, and the author of Desert Moon, an exciting mecha, military science fiction novel with a twist, with plenty of damn science fiction in it despite what any reviewer says, as well as World at War-Dark War: Revelation, a creepy, military action, with a love story, alternate history, World War Three novel thing, Everyone Dies in the End, and numerous short stories. All the books and stories are available from Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing right here. Give them a try. I mean, what the hell? Dark War: Retribution will release as soon as Mark figures out how/when to run a Kickstarter for it.
2016 has been a great year. Flying Pig Games has released four issues of Yaah!, the boxed games Night of Man and Old School Tactical, and run three successful Kickstarters. We completed ’65 and have both that game and the reprint of Old School Tactical inbound from overseas. I finished the second novel in the Dark War series, Retribution, although finding a Kickstarter slot for it is proving to be a challenge. Tiny Battle Publishing continues to thrive. In fact, it thrives so much that the company has a backlog of games waiting to be published. None of that would have happened without the help of a lot of friends.
I’ve seen my wife’s amazing photos displayed at Serendipity, listened to my oldest daughter, Denver Marie Walker rock the house with her amazing graduate guitar recital, watched Jessica lead and teach a horde of amazing kids at Seven Hills, Ayron kill it at her amazing college, App State, and written "amazing" way too many times.
Even more importantly, I’ve spent a LOT of time with friends, including our annual Walktoberfest, watched an edge-of-the-seat road race at VIR, drove the Mini at both Martinsville and VIR, rafted with Ayron Elizabeth Walker, drank a lot of beer and screamed myself horse at Garbage, Pat Benetar, and John Waite concerts. Watched my favorite local band, The Floorboards, several times and found a new one, Eternal Summers, and semi-mastered Million Miles Away on guitar (not that bullshit country song, but the good one, by the Plimsouls). Of course, that isn’t all, that’s just what I can remember right now. The point is that I bet each of you has done at least as much. Let’s celebrate the good stuff and stop focusing on the bad.
Here's to a great 2017 and a reminder of a time when we didn't worry so much. Cheers to southern California, long hair and cigarettes!
Mark H. Walker served 23 years in the United States Navy, most of them as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal diver. He is the owner of Flying Pig Games as well as Tiny Battle Publishing the designer of the aliens-invade-Earth game Night of Man, the Communists invade South Vietnam game, '65, publisher of Old School Tactical, and the author of Desert Moon, an exciting mecha, military science fiction novel with a twist, with plenty of damn science fiction in it despite what any reviewer says, as well as World at War-Dark War: Revelation, a creepy, military action, with a love story, alternate history, World War Three novel thing, Everyone Dies in the End, and numerous short stories. All the books and stories are available from Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing right here. Give them a try. I mean, what the hell? Dark War: Retribution will release as soon as Mark figures out how/when to run a Kickstarter for it.
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