BattleTech: Legacy at Gencon

Yes, I went even longer this time between blog posts, but in my defense, there was almost nothing going on in the way of Battletech writing. The Battletech line a new Lead Developer --- Brent Evens --- and it's con season, which means that everyone's focus is one getting stuff ready for the Conventions, the big one being Gencon this coming week.

What it means that everything with Battletech is on hold at the moment, and will be until con season is over. There will be face-to-face meetings at Gencon to finalize plans and put things into motion. Brent has expressed support to make the fiction in all forms a driving force for the storyline, but beyond novels, there are no solid plans (that I'm aware of) that go beyond that. I have no idea what Battlecorps status is, but I'm leaning toward believing it has run its course of action --- but I have no solid evidence to prove that. All those decisions are on a higher level, and I'll find out when they decide on a course of action.

As for me, I will not be at Gencon. It's a matter of economics --- Amount of money need to go and stay four days > amount of money I have. However, I will have have something there at Gencon for those interested in my storytelling. I am part of an original Battletech anthology that will be physically at Gencon, BattleTech: Legacy. The cover is above and the back cover blurb:

    A Draconis Combine warrior struggles with immoral orders in
the First Succession War. A House Davion MechWarrior participates
in a risky heist as part of Operation Guerrero. A history buff
battles the Word of Blake during the Liberation of Terra. What do
these MechWarriors have in common? Each one pilots the same
BattleMech, a survivor that has been repaired and rebuilt countless
times throughout its long and bloody 300-year lifespan.

    The seventy-ton GHR-5H Grasshopper can outmaneuver and
outlast some of the most fearsome enemy ’Mechs, making it an
invaluable asset to battlefield commanders. Even an incapacitated
Grasshopper will be rebuilt to fight another day, with a new pilot at its
controls, because MechWarriors can be replaced, but ’Mechs cannot.

In BattleTech: Legacy, thirteen all-new stories chronicle the fortunes
and tragedies of a single ’Mech across several tumultuous points in its
wide-ranging combat history. Veteran BattleTech authors Kevin Killiany
and Craig A. Reed, Jr. bookend this exciting collection, while other familiar
names and new blood explore important moments in this ’Mech’s history
of constant, unmitigated warfare that leaves no corner of the Inner Sphere
untouched.

My story is the last one in the anthology, called "End of the Road". It's set during the Liberation of Terra, as Stone fights for control of Humanity's home world against the Word of Blake. There's a dozen stories here, tracing the history of one 'Mech through three hundred years of battle, with both familiar names and newcomers penning stories for this collection. There are all brand new stories, commissioned just for this anthology, no Battlecorps reprints here. A shoutout to Phil Lee, who not only co-edited this anthology, he wrote the introduction, a story and the epilogue. I hope if you do attend Gencon, you pick up a copy and enjoy the stories.

So, until things are sorted out, we're in a waiting pattern, but once it's sorted out, I hope to be bring more new stories to the Battletech universe.

Later!

Craig