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Interview with Robbie Walters

Robbie Walters

Where are you originally from?
Newfoundland, Canada.

What made you decide to serve in the US Military?
I wanted to serve ever since I was a kid, it was my dream job.

What branch of the military did you serve in?
United States Marine Corps.

Why did you choose that branch?
Everything they stand for, the brotherhood, the drive to be the best of the best, the mentality of the USMC being ”earned, never given.”

Where were you stationed?
Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

Did you serve in OIF, OEF, or OND? If so, did you sustain any combat related injuries? If you feel comfortable, please tell me some of your experiences overseas, and any injuries you sustained.
OEF, 2012-2013, 3rd Bn 9th Marines, Combat Photographer, Southern Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Robbie with NC Warriors

You are a member of the NC Warriors hockey team — how did you find the Warriors program? What encouraged you to join?
Word of mouth from a friend. I played hockey as a kid and was planning to get back into the sport once I was out of the Marines, once I heard about the NC Warriors I signed up immediately.

Have you always been a fan of hockey?
Yes, since I was born. Hockey is huge in Canada.

What is your favorite team?
I grew up watching and following the Hartford Whalers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens — once the Whalers became the Carolina Hurricanes I continued to follow them as well and they’re my favorite team.

Who is your favorite hockey player, and why?
99, Gretzky. No debate.

Did you play hockey before the NC Warriors?
Yes. I stopped playing around 14 years old when I moved to the United States.

You sustained a life altering accident 8 months ago. If you feel comfortable, tell me a little about the accident.
A man wasn’t paying attention and failed to yield to the right of way on-coming traffic (me) and hit me. It launched me off my motorcycle approximately 40 feet. My left foot was severed on impact and not reattachable. It also shattered my left femur clean in half and I also sustained a back fracture along with numerous scrapes, cuts and bruises.

Robbie Prosthetic Skate

You recently were able to get on the ice and skate for the first time on your prosthetic skate — how was that experience? It must have been a very emotional experience, how did you feel before, during, and after that first skate? I was there, you did amazing, and I was so proud of you!
Honestly, given everything from the accident that I’ve been having to go through, it was an amazing experience. It felt great to be back out on the ice, feel the coldness of it, the smells of the rink, the sounds of the sticks on ice, it was amazing. Before the skate, I was super nervous and worried I would be terrible and end up realizing I’d end up having to hang up my skates and never play again, but once I got out there it wasn’t so bad and although difficult and felt really weird skating on a prosthetic it just fueled my drive even more to get back to playing and putting in the effort to get back to my skill level pre-accident.

Robbie on Ice with prosthetic Skate

What are some of the things the team has done for you, to support you, and keep your morale up after the accident?
This team has done more for me than can be put into words. The brotherhood, the friendships I’ve formed, the instant “I can lend a hand with that, no problem” whenever something arises that I need help with. They’re more than just teammates to me… they’re family. The outpouring of support from them after my accident helped keep me going and keep my spirits up to want to get back out on the ice.

Robbie's First Skate with Prosthetic

What are some things you hope to see in the future with the NC Warrior hockey team?
More members. We’re growing so fast and I love it. I love seeing how many veterans are taking an interest in wanting to learn how to play and grow the sport. No better sport exists.

How has being a part of this team affected you personally?
It has brought back a sense of brotherhood I thought I wouldn’t experience anymore since I left the Marines. It’s a great morale booster being able to be around people who have gone through similar experiences as you and be able to relate to it. From the stories to the jokes to the instant willingness to help one another without thinking twice, there’s nothing like it.

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Review – Money Shot by Christa Faust

Money Shot is a gritty and gripping novel and well represents a New Pulp author who continues to excel and innovate in the category, including her novelizations, comic books, and work in other media. Currently, you may have encountered Christa Faust in her recent comic book series, Bad Mother.

Money Shot evokes the origins of pulp overlaid with modern sensibilities — it is lurid, violent, and skids from one point to the next rapidly, piling up the bodies and peeling back the exploitation and crime beneath our society.

It’s the story of former porn star Angel Dare. Dare is lured to make one last porn shoot and her betrayal and abduction is part of a many-faceted mystery that explodes on the pages. The characters are believable, all with their own flaws and quirks, and the ending is a heart-shattering trainwreck. It’s highly visual, visceral, and gritty, suiting its subject matter.

Money Shot was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original and won the 2009 Crimespree Award for Best Original Paperback.

I purchased and read the Kindle version.
This was the first in a series of Angel Dare novels by Faust.

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Interview with Donald Urbany

Donald Urbany Closeup

Today we’re interviewing 38-year-old Donald Urbany. He lives in Mebane, North Carolina with his wife and 4 boys. Donald is an avid hockey fan and player. He currently plays with the NC Warriors and Huge Dekes Hockey team. Donald is a combat-wounded veteran who lost his right eye in Iraq as result of a car bomb attack. He overcomes the ability to only see out of one eye when he puts on his goalie helmet and steps out on the ice and stops the pucks that come flying at him from all sides of the ice.

NC Warriors

How long have you been playing hockey?
25 years.

What sparked your interest in hockey?
The Red Wings were starting to come out of the Dead Wings era of the ’70s and ’80s and all of us kids wanted to learn to play.

What was the first hockey team you played on?
My first team was a roller hockey team named the Roller Wings.

Did you play any other sport? Why did or didn’t you pursue that sport if you did?
Baseball was my first sport and I played both for a long time but the intensity of hockey kept my love for it more than baseball.

Why did you choose the position of goaltender?
As a child all of my friends loved playing street hockey and no one wanted to be the goalie as they were scared of the tennis ball we were using and since I played baseball I chose to play and I never looked back.

What types of experiences have you had through the years of playing hockey?
I have met famous hockey players like Alex Ovechkin, Olaf Kölzig, and many members of the Washington Capitals. I have played many tournaments in other states like Philadelphia and Nevada, so I have had the opportunity to travel more than I ever had before.

What was your first Warrior experience?
I started the original USA Warriors at Walter Reed in 2005. A couple of guys and I would have ice time donated to us at a local ice rink in Washington DC. We would just skate around and pass the puck. Various local teams would donate equipment to us, and eventually more people joined us, creating the team. We played against some local teams in the Washington DC area.

How long were you with that Warrior team?
I did some things with the USA Warriors through the years after I left Washington DC, but for the most part, I wasn’t officially part of the team anymore after I left. I was with them for about 3 years.

After that experience, what did you do to keep hockey an active part of your life?
I would join and play for any team that was looking for a goalie. I stayed on a local Hillsborough team for some time, we were called the Tropical Depressions.

How and when did you find the NC Warriors hockey team?
I am one of the first members of the team as Travis Harris had made a post on a local hockey page looking for veterans to start a Warriors hockey team.

What’s your jersey number, does it have any significance?
My number is now 29 — I used to be 30 after one of my favorite players, Chris Osgood. I wore that number because of Osgood and my birthday is the 30th of September, but after I had my 2nd child I changed to 29 as my first child was born on the 29th of April and the 2nd kid was born on 10-19 so I wanted to change my number to honor my children.

Number 29

Are you involved in any of the other teams?
I play for the Huge Dekes. I was just recently invited to play goalie for this team by Alex Kirchhoff, who is also on the NC Warrior team.

Is your family actively involved and supportive of you playing hockey and your hockey teams?
Yes, very. My wife and children come to every event possible. Whether just a practice or a game my wife is handling them in the stands and trying to watch me engage in my passion.

If they can’t make it my wife stays home with them even though it can be hard on her. She is a stay-at-home mom and is not only my caregiver — she cares for them almost around the clock. She hardly has time for herself and tries to be very understanding.

The Urbanys

Do you use hockey as a form of therapy?
I mainly use it as a bonding experience, until the NC Warriors were formed, I didn’t have any military peers to interact with.

Who is your all-time favorite hockey player, and why?
I don’t really have a favorite player. I love the game so much I enjoy watching anyone, as long they don’t play for the Montreal Canadians.

Anything else you would like to add?
I enjoy every moment I am with the NC Warriors on and off the ice. We have developed a great family platform and hope it never ends.

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Review: Young Dillon in The Halls of Shamballah

Young Dillon

I found Young Dillon in The Halls of Shamballah (by Derrick Ferguson) hard to follow due to the constant description of minor details of the story. Various characters and locations that have little or no significance to the story were constantly described in detail and I found myself trying to find the end of the description to continue with the story. The descriptions were wonderful and detailed but would have been better if the intricate descriptions were left only for the important locations such as the temple where the Phoenix Council meet, The Andarran Tower where the Sunn Room where the Warmasters meet, Kerenos’ home, Shamballah, and the main characters of the book, except for a few eccentric characters where you would want the imagination to really take you away, introductions and descriptions would have been better off short and sweet because of everything that is going on in the book.  With the constant descriptive words, I found my imagination going into overdrive and it was almost impossible to stay connected to the story.

However, I did enjoy how the characters were connected and loyal to each other and their society. Even though some of the characters in the book were skeptical of Dillon, others had faith in him because of who his mother was and the respect they had for his mother. As I read on, I found it heartwarming that so many people wanted to keep Dillon in Shamballah, even though he was an outsider because his mother left Shamballah, he was not born in Shamballah, and his father was not from Shamballah, they wanted to keep him close because his mother meant something to the Warmasters and people of Shamballah.  Kerenos’ blind faith and the faith of others in Dillon ultimately paid off as Dillon followed in his mother’s footsteps and became a part of Shamballah.

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Review: Domain by Mike Baron

About halfway into DOMAIN by Mike Baron, I was wondering if maybe Mr. Baron hadn’t gotten two versions of the same novel mashed-up together and mistakenly published them as one. Give me a minute and I’ll explain.

In the first version, we have Kendall Coffin, a moderately successful comic book artist who due to an unexpected financial windfall is able to purchase an extraordinarily lavish and baroque Los Angeles mansion that looks like a cross between 1930’s Art Deco and a Mayan temple. It’s a mansion that was built by an eccentric architect and owned by an even more eccentric Hollywood producer. As in any good haunted house story, the mansion is rumored to have been the location of depraved sexual acts, rampant drug and alcohol abuse, Satanic rituals, pedophilia, necrophilia, and Great Cthulhu himself only knows what all else went on in that joint. That’s why Kendall is able to buy it cheap.

He settles down to his new life, meeting new neighbors, engages in romantic and business relationships and even gets himself a dog. But as he explores his new house and finds new rooms full of Hollywood memorabilia and remnants of the former owner’s depravities it begins working on his conscious and subconscious mind. Are there spirits of the dead infesting the house and subtly influencing Kendall? Maybe even to the point where he is committing murder without being aware of it?

In the second version Kendall Coffin goes to work for a thinly disguised Disney knock-off as a storyboarder. The studio is moving in a new direction and their latest production is an erotic thriller. While the job pays extraordinarily well, the subject matter is distasteful. And it’s in this version that Coffin wryly and cynically observes and muses on pop culture, comic book culture, Hollywood, TV, The Cult of Celebrity that has infected this country, video gaming, religion, the pros and cons of drug use, mortality and The Meaning of Life.

Don’t get me wrong, the two versions co-exist side-by-side and at times I actually found myself wanting to see more of the version with Kendall navigating his way through Hollyweird, wondering if this is truly the life he wants. There are chapters that are nothing more than Kendall going through his day and rather than being boring they do indeed enhance the story, providing characterization and doing something that a lot of horror stories don’t do; remind us that even though horrible things are happening around us, life does indeed go on. We still have to feed the dog, put out the garbage and make a living. We still have to deal with loss and we still want to find love and have sex.

This is the fourth novel of Baron’s I’ve read and as always, I enjoy his freewheeling, don’t-give-a-damn prose. Baron writes as if he’s out to entertain himself first and foremost and it’s a tactic I wish more writers would adapt because if the writer is enjoying himself then it can’t help but translate into an enjoyable reading experience. I also like how he’s not afraid to use brand names, the names of real and made-up rock groups, movie and TV actors, song titles, movie titles. There’s a name for this, y’know. It’s called “The Fleming Effect” named after Ian Fleming, the creator James Bond. A good case could be made for him inventing Product Placement since he name dropped left and right in his James Bond novels. I like it myself. It gives a novel an added layer when I’m reading about characters eating in the same restaurants I do, reading the same books and watching the same TV shows I do.

If you’ve read Mike Baron’s other books then you know what you’re getting and I don’t have to twist your arm. If you haven’t, then I’d recommend you sample “Helmet Head” (which reads like the best John Carpenter movie John Carpenter never made) and “Skorpio” before diving into DOMAIN. But no matter which of his books you decide to start with, you’ll be entertained, trust me. Mike Baron writes in a highly cinematic style that puts me in mind of the best of 1980s grindhouse movies. True, his books have a lot of build-up but it’s there for a reason and the payoff is always worth the wait. Highly Recommended.

{This review was previously posted by the author on another site.)