This won't be a long post, just a note to let you know that I'm starting on writing Poisoned Honor, the first of the War Of Reaving Trilogy today.
As an aside, the three of us have been bouncing around a few things that the Sourcebook didn't cover, so be on the lookout for that.
That's it!
Craig
I know it's been a whole, but I had a very good reason why I haven't blogged in the last month: I suffered a very personal loss in late March and I've been throwing myself into my writing to take my mind off my loss. It hasn't been easy, but I'm hanging in there.
But enough about that. Elements of Treason: Honor is still being edited, so it's out of my hands until I get it back for some last-minute rewrites. After that, it shouldn't be too long to be published. I was also commissioned and completed a novella in what I think will be another of the merc novellas. I won't say anything more than that for now. But once it's out, I'll talk about it more.
But the Kickstarter was the big news this past month. Over $7.5 million for the Battletech Mercenaries boxed set. That's three times the Clan box Kickstarter earned, with twice as many backers. (Clan Box: 11,277 backers, pledged $2,586,421 Mercenary Box: 23,654 backers pledged $7,549,241). It's great to see such a reaction -- the Kickstarter made the top twenty list of largest Kickstarter ever AND the top ten Kickstarter Tabletop games list. So, it was very successful for Catalyst.
At the not realized $8 million stretch goal had a perk not many people talked about: The War of Reaving trilogy. And like the Blood Asp and the Sommerset Strikers, this too will be realized as a future product.
Three well-know Battletech Authors -- Myself, Jason Hansa, and Phil Lee -- are going to tackle the massive and densely-packed War of Reaving. And make no mistake: these will not be short novels, but fully packed novels telling the story about the worse war in the Clans history. This is a daunting task, but I think we can do this event some justice. The three of us, along with John Helfers, are in constant communication with each other, looking at how we divide this event up into manageable chunks. We each will be writing a book, but there will be characters that will appear in all three books, to carry the main plot through. I won't go into much more detail on it -- we are plotting our own books and banding about which characters to use where, and what events we tell from the War and where. It's going to take a while, as we're still in the plotting stage, but the project is underway.
I have written a novella that should be out soon. It has to do with Hansen's Roughriders, and one of the least described fronts in the Jihad, but one of the bloodiest. Also, I don't think I mentioned that Icons of War is out on audio! Read by Trent Sparks, Icons has been nicely received by the Battletech for it's plot and the look at Clan society, something we haven't seen much of. It's a great book to listen to and I love some of the tones he takes with the characters, especially Kyne. You can find it here: Icons of War (Audiobook). There's a sample on the page so you can see of you like it.
That's all for now. Need to get back to plotting (the book)!
Later!
Craig
I monitored the Kickstarter from the start and watch as it was funded within the first thirty seconds. In less than two hours, It hit a million and two Million by the afternoon. After about twelve hours, it now sits at $3.4 Million, with twenty-seven days to go. It has blown past the First Battletech Kickstarter in numbers if backer and money. I am looking forward to see how far this goes.
I've noticed that the number of levels and stretch goals are not as numerous nor as varied as the first Kickstarter. Catalyst has learned from their mistakes, trying to make sure they can meet the goals this time around.
I
Alexander Davion is an important Leader in Federated Suns History. He is the one who decides to join the newly forming Star League, reforms the Federated Suns military into the AFFS, and rules the Federated Suns for most of the 26th Century. A pawn in the game between Regents, Alexander escapes the clutches of Regent David Varney, who daughter Alexander marries, in 2525, setting the stage for the Davion Civil War.
What drew me to this story was there's little detail on how Alexander escaped Varney's clutches. Alexander's seventeen, not old enough to be First Prince, so not experienced enough to escape on his own. And where is the his bodyguard? He's not sneaking out on them, if they're any good.
So,it has to be his personal protection team, Federation Protection Forces (the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns does not exist yet) soldiers who has to be the lead in getting him out. And this is where Captain Cadmon Mallory comes in. (If you're wondering, Vengeance Games's Baron Riordan Mallory is from the same family, just a different branch.). Cadmon is a professional, loyal to the soon-to-be First Prince, and knows he's in a tough situation. The rest of his command is equally skilled and loyal to Alexander.
When it becomes clear Alexander is in danger, it becomes Cadmon's job to get his charge out of it and away from the danger and David Varney, who is "escorting" the First Prince around the Capellan March. He needs help and he finds it from an unlikely source.
I had only a couple of facts to work with: where Alexander was when he made his escape, and when. From there, it's deciding how the escape happened and the background of the escape. And it wasn't that hard -- as soldiers and bodyguards, Cadmon and his soldiers are use to planning on the fly and having plans in place to handle most situations. It doesn't go smoothly -- few plans do -- but Cadmon and his soldiers win through.
As I said before, this is the earliest story I've written on Battletech History, some 500 years before the the Gray Death Legion story starts. There are a few stories from before the 31st Century, and the only novels I can think of that are set before the first Battletech novels is the Founding of the Clans trilogy. Which is a pity, because there are great tales yet to be told -- the Amaris Civil war is worth a novel series similar to the Twilight of the Clan series in breath and scope, nine novels that detail the most important event in Battletech history. The first and Second Successor Wars also deserve stories to explore the events. And the Jihad is also another event that needs multiple novels to bring away from the sourcebooks and making it personal.
But I also realize that Battletech is a large universe, and Catalyst has limited resources. The IlClan is the focus of the novels, bringing a new era alive and showing the fans this new universe and this era. I hope one day we can go back and explore those stories of the past. But we have a new era waiting for us writers and others to create, so that is where we will be. But if I have my way, this will not be the last time Cadmon Mallory appears in the pages of Shrapnel. There are still stories to tell about Alexander Davion, and Cadmon will be the start of a Mallory family saying -- "Where there's a Davion making history, there'll be a Mallory guarding their back." And Cadmon has plenty of reason to guard Alexander's back.....
Later!
Craig
(PS: I hope Elements of Treason: Honor will be out in April, but no guarantees -- the KS prep is sucking all the air our of the room ATM. Hopefully after Adeptacon, things will calm down and things get back to normal.....)
Now, I tried to match the character with as close a role as I could get. I tried to take advantage of the backer's wishes as much as possible, and I hope those of the backers who I chose the name for are satisfied with my efforts. I tried to make each character more than just a name check -- every characters I used from the list has at least one speaking part and a couple have supporting roles.
Today, it's characters from Elements of Treason: Duty. I went heavy with this one, clearing as many names as I could. I also wanted to spend a few words talking about each one, and what decisions I made.
First one is Karen "Kampfhund" Zimmerli. The original role the backer wanted was as Lyran Intelligence Corps, Espionage-Loki. I couldn't find a role for her as a Loki agent, but I did have a spot of the commander of an Arcturan Guards Special Forces team leader. She fit almost perfectly and has a decent run as a supporting character. I do have to apologize for spelling "Kampfhund" as "Kampfhound" That one is completely my fault.
Next up is Blue Ryne. The backer wanted the character to be a sniper, and I found a place for him exactly as that. To whoever submitted the name, I hope your son was surprised.
Ingrid Jilani was supposed to be a noble in military intelligence. Instead, I made her Chief of Staff for the Twenty-Sixth Arcturan Guards. She also deals with intelligence, and she has a few scenes.
Killien Dunard has a role as part of the Battle of Pandora. He's only in one chapter, but he has a few lines.
Torrian Dann and Sven Wichert had a larger role in early drafts of the novel, but word count forced me to cut the chapter. Though I do have enough to construct a story around the chapter for a future Shrapnel issue.
I hope those of you who have a character in Elements of Treason: Duty enjoy their appearance in the novel. I tried to get them as much screen time as possible, and some were in position to become major supporting characters.
Enjoy!
Craig
We are very busy on the fiction side of things. John Helfers is nothing but ambitious in getting Battletech Fiction out to everyone. I will be talking in general terms, as there are things happening behind the scene that I can't talk about yet.
The logo at the top of this column is tied to the novel I wrote: Elements of Treason: Honor. And it's about a faction that rarely gets any time on-screen, so to speak: Clan Hell's Horses. Like the other two Elements of Treason novels, this one has ties to the Tamar Rising sourcebook, covering the events that happened in that book. But unlike the other two novels, the Horses refused to be corralled to a 45K word count, so this novel will be the longest of the three. How much longer, I'm keeping to myself for the moment.
The Hell's Horses have always been a blank space of sorts. We know they are more open to combined-arms warfare than any of the other clans, they and the Ghost Bears don't get along and what was left of them back in the Clan Homeworlds became Clan Stone Lion. Other than that, they are a bit of a mystery, one I had to crack and bring them into line. I had mostly some established characters, recent history, the Mongol Doctrine, and the Tamar Rising sourcebook. So, I went to work. I turned in the second draft of the novel last week, so unless there's a need for a major rewrite, it's out of my hands.
The result is a good look inside the Clan itself, one I will talk about more when the novel is published. I've seen the cover image and it's a great image.
Shrapnel #12 is due out March 15, and Another short story of mine is in it. It's a look at an event from Battletech history, one that hasn't been filled in before. I think its the earliest story set in Battletech's history that I've fully written.
I have another novel submitted I'm waiting for feedback on. I won't say much more until it's in the chute for publication.
In addition, I have a couple of pitches in for approval and waiting on them. There are also a couple of other projects that are on the back burner at the moment, but soon will move to the front burner.
I can't want for the Kickstarter and what comes out of that.....
That's all for now,
Craig
