@@DESCRIPT+ History of SAZ +
. Readthis.SAZ .
Why am I writing this? I dunno ... I guess because I have an audience now.
Its kinda wierd. Once upon a time, there were two guys who sorta knew
each other, not even that well. One, a college dropout whos favorite class
was creative writing and who now works at Best Buy, and the other, a college
student who wants to be a teacher and whos favorite hobby involves almost
naked women and dollar bills folded in half.
We knew what we wanted to do back then, but we didnt know how. Who had
ever heard of a lit group? Not very many, back then. There were a few groups
who were putting out lits in with their ansi, but as far as we know, we didnt
know of any lit only groups. But thats what we do we write. Well, its
ONE of the things we do G.
So we took some of our newest stuff we had written, made sure none of it
rhymed, and hit the ud area with SoulZ at ZerO ... Files typed in TDRAW or
GDRAW, and saved as ansis. I think we had a wave file or two in the first
pack, and also a gif or two. We were worried that no one would ever look at
it.
The Stranger used to call all the systems he was on once a day, do a scan,
and check how many times the pack had been downloaded. I did the same for
my systems, and we would compare notes at the end of the day. We were excited
when the pack was downloaded 10 times, then 20, then more.
Then came the second pack. Then the third. More and more stuff kept rolling
out of us. I think Black Sunshine joined us for the Halloween pack, I cant
remember for sure, but I know for at least 2 months and maybe 3 it was just
me and the Stranger, working our asses off. I was working 60+ hours at
Best Buy, and with finals and work for the Stranger, we put out a couple of
small packs.
And then it began to pick up. With the release of the third pack, we had
somewhere around 75 downloads, and were thrilled. Of course, this was just
locally, before we really had any distro sites. The local distro sites were
more than we could ask for, and the generosity of such people like The Sandman
and Ozzymandias who loaned us ansi and disk space has not been forgotten.
At around 200 downloads, we quit keeping track of the files. Im sure weve
spread way over the 1000 mark at this point, with all our additions. The
Stranger added The Death Certificate, which is his version of a horror
newsletter, reviewing short stories, books, movies, video games, plus still
filling it plum full with cool quotes and great advice for starting writers.
The Death Certificate changed SoulZ at ZerO from a list of ansis to something
with a personal feeling a group a pack.
When Black Sunshine came along, the writing picked up again. Her writing
style contrasts to both mine and the Strangers, giving the pack another vantage
point from which to be enjoyed from. A womens view of horror often differs
from what a mans is, we learned, and her addition to the pack was warmly
welcomed.
It was around this time that Faethor began to coury the packs long distance,
paying anywhere from 100-300 a month to help spread SAZ ... To this day, I
think this is one of the main things that got SAZ off of the ground as fast as
it did. Faethors time can never be repaid fully with cash, since its more
than that that he gave us. Constructive criticism, time, and help were all
received from him, and I appreciate him to this day. And, to this day, he is
still spreading the packs long distance, and to this day, he has never asked
for anything more than a greet.
The spreading of the packs long distance generated HQ systems, and Distro
sites as well, as the demand for getting SAZ packs was picking up. Soon, we
had distro sites in over 10 states, besides having our Northern, Eastern,
and Western HQ BBSs as of this pack we added our NE HQ and our Southern HQ
systems -*- congrats guys!.
The addition of Deranged offered yet another twist for readers. Her poetry
which is sometimes gentle, sometimes violent, but always filled with twists and
turns, gave SAZ yet another grasp on the competition. Her lits are always great
and we are constantly having people ask us if shes single shes not. :
The SAZ WHQ, Where Shadows Wait 405-354-9857, also gave SAZ a big boost.
Now people had a sure fire place to get the packs, as well as a place to come
and hang out, talk about horror, music, warez, or whatever. The board was and
is a success, thanks to its wonderful co-sysop ahem. A little credit is
probably also due to the wonderful sys-op, The Stranger, and the great users
we have had call from all over the United States, I might add.
So now, where does the group go from here? The other day, while I was on
the Internet, I got a message from two guys in Australia who were interested
in joining. I havent got any lit from them yet, but just that fact that some-
one in Australia knows who the hell SAZ is really gets me off. Really. We
have had some really great people apply who are getting added in, like Aragorn,
Maelstom, and some others ... The group is growing, getting bigger, getting
stronger.
I guess I just wanted to write all of this down before the family is gone. I
mean, every body knows who iCE is ... but can you name all the members? Do you
think all the members of iCE know who all the other members are? I doubt it.
Thats one thing I liked about SAZ, is that it wasnt some big monster, living
for itself, but just a group of friends.
To all the new writers, welcome to a group of friends. And welcome to the
group that is now becoming one of the fastest growing lit groups in the US.
Just remember that SAZ isnt just some mindless machine that you can steal the
letters from and put at the end of your name and get you some clout. This is
mine and The Strangers baby. Its ours.
I guess I just wanted the history of the group known so far so someday if I
die or something hahaha and the group goes on, I want people to know what it
stands for, what it means.
Special thanks to everyone who has ever helped SAZ in any way, shape, or form.
You know who you are, so if I leave you out, I apologize. Extra Special Super
Duper Thanks to Mr. Spock for the viewer, and Yaun-Ti, for the art for the
viewer. Without the viewer, again, we would just be a zipped up list of poems,
and not really a group, or a pack. Yaun-Ti, weve been through a lot of shit
together. Long live TBH-405 and SAZ as well. Thanks for letting us take up
your hard drive space on the Magic Rat University check the distro list.
Thanks to The Sandman, who was our first distro site, and even though I dont
get a chance to call as often as Id like ... thanks. Thanks to Ozzymandias,
who let us use his BBS as the WHQ until Ma-Bell shut it down bitch. Thanks
to ALL the elite locals in the scene you know who you are for letting us send
you packs and leaving them online for LD distribution. Thanks to Omot and
Hotrod and all the early distro sites, for believing that we were actually going
to do something besides sit on our asses.
Thanks to Black Sunshine, and Deranged, Aragorn, Maelstrom, and anyone else
who has ever sent us 1 piece of lit to make these packs just a little bit more
enjoyable ... Thank you all for your time and patience.
And of course, thanks to The Stranger, who puts up with me as I put up with
him as well, and who realized that personal arguments are second to the packs
importance. : Thanks for the WHQ that so many people call, and love.
Thanks for going to all those poetry nights with me at Medina or letting me
go with you, I should say! Thanks for letting me leech stuff off of you which
I guess is fair after you leeched all that stuff from me way back when :
and thanks for making me work on SAZ when I didnt want to.
And thanks to you. Thanks to anyone who has ever read the pack if just to
say it sucks, well then, thats fine. At least they read it. Thanks for
checking us out, giving us a chance. Thanks to all the people on the internet
who have spread the packs and who havent kicked me out of ansi yet just
because I dont know anywhere else to spread it. Thanks to whoever was helping
me the other night try and set up a bot for saz didnt work, but oh well.
Just remember that we werent always big. We started small, just like every
other group. We havent forgotten our roots, and I hope we never will. Nuf
serious shit. Lets read some lit.
- Jack Flack - SoulZ at ZerO Co-President and Senior Member -
. Readthis.SAZ .
Why am I writing this? I dunno ... I guess because I have an audience now.
Its kinda wierd. Once upon a time, there were two guys who sorta knew
each other, not even that well. One, a college dropout whos favorite class
was creative writing and who now works at Best Buy, and the other, a college
student who wants to be a teacher and whos favorite hobby involves almost
naked women and dollar bills folded in half.
We knew what we wanted to do back then, but we didnt know how. Who had
ever heard of a lit group? Not very many, back then. There were a few groups
who were putting out lits in with their ansi, but as far as we know, we didnt
know of any lit only groups. But thats what we do we write. Well, its
ONE of the things we do G.
So we took some of our newest stuff we had written, made sure none of it
rhymed, and hit the ud area with SoulZ at ZerO ... Files typed in TDRAW or
GDRAW, and saved as ansis. I think we had a wave file or two in the first
pack, and also a gif or two. We were worried that no one would ever look at
it.
The Stranger used to call all the systems he was on once a day, do a scan,
and check how many times the pack had been downloaded. I did the same for
my systems, and we would compare notes at the end of the day. We were excited
when the pack was downloaded 10 times, then 20, then more.
Then came the second pack. Then the third. More and more stuff kept rolling
out of us. I think Black Sunshine joined us for the Halloween pack, I cant
remember for sure, but I know for at least 2 months and maybe 3 it was just
me and the Stranger, working our asses off. I was working 60+ hours at
Best Buy, and with finals and work for the Stranger, we put out a couple of
small packs.
And then it began to pick up. With the release of the third pack, we had
somewhere around 75 downloads, and were thrilled. Of course, this was just
locally, before we really had any distro sites. The local distro sites were
more than we could ask for, and the generosity of such people like The Sandman
and Ozzymandias who loaned us ansi and disk space has not been forgotten.
At around 200 downloads, we quit keeping track of the files. Im sure weve
spread way over the 1000 mark at this point, with all our additions. The
Stranger added The Death Certificate, which is his version of a horror
newsletter, reviewing short stories, books, movies, video games, plus still
filling it plum full with cool quotes and great advice for starting writers.
The Death Certificate changed SoulZ at ZerO from a list of ansis to something
with a personal feeling a group a pack.
When Black Sunshine came along, the writing picked up again. Her writing
style contrasts to both mine and the Strangers, giving the pack another vantage
point from which to be enjoyed from. A womens view of horror often differs
from what a mans is, we learned, and her addition to the pack was warmly
welcomed.
It was around this time that Faethor began to coury the packs long distance,
paying anywhere from 100-300 a month to help spread SAZ ... To this day, I
think this is one of the main things that got SAZ off of the ground as fast as
it did. Faethors time can never be repaid fully with cash, since its more
than that that he gave us. Constructive criticism, time, and help were all
received from him, and I appreciate him to this day. And, to this day, he is
still spreading the packs long distance, and to this day, he has never asked
for anything more than a greet.
The spreading of the packs long distance generated HQ systems, and Distro
sites as well, as the demand for getting SAZ packs was picking up. Soon, we
had distro sites in over 10 states, besides having our Northern, Eastern,
and Western HQ BBSs as of this pack we added our NE HQ and our Southern HQ
systems -*- congrats guys!.
The addition of Deranged offered yet another twist for readers. Her poetry
which is sometimes gentle, sometimes violent, but always filled with twists and
turns, gave SAZ yet another grasp on the competition. Her lits are always great
and we are constantly having people ask us if shes single shes not. :
The SAZ WHQ, Where Shadows Wait 405-354-9857, also gave SAZ a big boost.
Now people had a sure fire place to get the packs, as well as a place to come
and hang out, talk about horror, music, warez, or whatever. The board was and
is a success, thanks to its wonderful co-sysop ahem. A little credit is
probably also due to the wonderful sys-op, The Stranger, and the great users
we have had call from all over the United States, I might add.
So now, where does the group go from here? The other day, while I was on
the Internet, I got a message from two guys in Australia who were interested
in joining. I havent got any lit from them yet, but just that fact that some-
one in Australia knows who the hell SAZ is really gets me off. Really. We
have had some really great people apply who are getting added in, like Aragorn,
Maelstom, and some others ... The group is growing, getting bigger, getting
stronger.
I guess I just wanted to write all of this down before the family is gone. I
mean, every body knows who iCE is ... but can you name all the members? Do you
think all the members of iCE know who all the other members are? I doubt it.
Thats one thing I liked about SAZ, is that it wasnt some big monster, living
for itself, but just a group of friends.
To all the new writers, welcome to a group of friends. And welcome to the
group that is now becoming one of the fastest growing lit groups in the US.
Just remember that SAZ isnt just some mindless machine that you can steal the
letters from and put at the end of your name and get you some clout. This is
mine and The Strangers baby. Its ours.
I guess I just wanted the history of the group known so far so someday if I
die or something hahaha and the group goes on, I want people to know what it
stands for, what it means.
Special thanks to everyone who has ever helped SAZ in any way, shape, or form.
You know who you are, so if I leave you out, I apologize. Extra Special Super
Duper Thanks to Mr. Spock for the viewer, and Yaun-Ti, for the art for the
viewer. Without the viewer, again, we would just be a zipped up list of poems,
and not really a group, or a pack. Yaun-Ti, weve been through a lot of shit
together. Long live TBH-405 and SAZ as well. Thanks for letting us take up
your hard drive space on the Magic Rat University check the distro list.
Thanks to The Sandman, who was our first distro site, and even though I dont
get a chance to call as often as Id like ... thanks. Thanks to Ozzymandias,
who let us use his BBS as the WHQ until Ma-Bell shut it down bitch. Thanks
to ALL the elite locals in the scene you know who you are for letting us send
you packs and leaving them online for LD distribution. Thanks to Omot and
Hotrod and all the early distro sites, for believing that we were actually going
to do something besides sit on our asses.
Thanks to Black Sunshine, and Deranged, Aragorn, Maelstrom, and anyone else
who has ever sent us 1 piece of lit to make these packs just a little bit more
enjoyable ... Thank you all for your time and patience.
And of course, thanks to The Stranger, who puts up with me as I put up with
him as well, and who realized that personal arguments are second to the packs
importance. : Thanks for the WHQ that so many people call, and love.
Thanks for going to all those poetry nights with me at Medina or letting me
go with you, I should say! Thanks for letting me leech stuff off of you which
I guess is fair after you leeched all that stuff from me way back when :
and thanks for making me work on SAZ when I didnt want to.
And thanks to you. Thanks to anyone who has ever read the pack if just to
say it sucks, well then, thats fine. At least they read it. Thanks for
checking us out, giving us a chance. Thanks to all the people on the internet
who have spread the packs and who havent kicked me out of ansi yet just
because I dont know anywhere else to spread it. Thanks to whoever was helping
me the other night try and set up a bot for saz didnt work, but oh well.
Just remember that we werent always big. We started small, just like every
other group. We havent forgotten our roots, and I hope we never will. Nuf
serious shit. Lets read some lit.
- Jack Flack - SoulZ at ZerO Co-President and Senior Member -
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