Michael A. Stackpole (born
November 27, 1957) is a
science
fiction and fantasy
author best known for
his
Star Wars and
Battletech books.
He was
born in Wausau,
Wisconsin
, but raised
in Vermont
.
He has a
BA in history from the University of Vermont
.
Game design career
From 1977 on, he worked as a designer of
role-playing games for various gaming
companies, and wrote dozens of magazine articles with limited
distribution within the industry. During this time, in response to
the accusations of
Patricia Pulling
(among others) who felt that the "
occult"
elements of
Dungeons &
Dragons were driving people to
Satanism,
murder and
suicide, perhaps even as part of a vast
Satanic ritual abuse conspiracy, Stackpole did a research study
on all American legal cases where injury or death had been
attributed to gaming. He found that not only were the links to
gaming very weak, but that even if all of the reports had been
valid, they showed that gamers were violent or suicidal far less
often than the general public (see
External links below).
In the 1980s, Stackpole began designing computer games for
Coleco and then
Interplay Productions. His work at
Interplay included
Bard's Tale
III,
Wasteland,
Star Trek: 25th
Anniversary and
Star Trek: Judgment Rites. He
also created the role-playing game
Mercenaries, Spies and
Private Eyes, which provided the game mechanics for
Wasteland.
Stackpole loaned his image to
Decipher for the image of Corran Horn used in
their
Star Wars
Customizable Card Game expansion "
Reflections 2".
Timothy Zahn did likewise for the character
Talon Karrde.
Stackpole teamed up with Decipher again, helping them write the
background story to their
WARS
TCG, including
e-books and other
writing tie-ins for the
expanded
universe.
Writing career
In 1986 Stackpole wrote his first novel, the fantasy story
Talion: Revenant. However, the manuscript would not be
published until 1997 by Bantam Books. His editors believed that a
175,000 word book was too long for an unknown author and that the
story wasn't particularly engaging. The story remained unpublished
for the next 11 years until reworked by Stackpole's editor,
Anne Lesley Groell. Stackpole
clarifies these issues himself in the afterword of the published
version of
Talion.
Considered by some to be a talented writer, Stackpole has found his
greatest success in serialed works that continue the characters and
plot lines developed by other authors. In 1987 he began writing
novels set in the BattleTech universe for
FASA Corporation, and became one of the
most popular authors in that genre. Some of his Battletech books
were used as the source for a
televised
animated series. He was then selected to
write several novels in the Star Wars universe for
Bantam Books. He also wrote several comics
based in the Star Wars universe for Dark Horse Comics. Initially
these covered the period just before his
X-Wing novels.
Later he also covered the marriage of
Luke Skywalker and
Mara
Jade in
Union and collaborated with
Timothy Zahn on Mara Jade's early career. Mr.
Stackpole's work has brought new respect to the field of fan
fiction.
In addition, he has written several novels and short stories with
original settings. One of his recent series is the
DragonCrown
War Cycle. These books attempt to break fantasy conventions,
including the introduction of firearms in a fantasy setting which
is not universally considered a positive advancement.
Stackpole contributed one of the four stories in
Roger Zelazny's
shared
world anthology called
Forever
After.
Baen Books published
Forever After in 1995. He was
also a contributor in the 1998 anthology
Lord of the Fantastic
commemorating Zelazny.
The Age of Discovery trilogy is his latest complete
series, with
A New World released mid-2007. The trilogy is
set in a fantasy world, with an attempt at an unconventional
approach to magic and mastery.
In the foreword to his book
Outbound Flight,
Timothy Zahn thanks Stackpole and issues a
challenge at
Star Wars Trivial
Pursuit.
The Secrets
Newsletter
Michael Stackpole also writes and publishes an
online newsletter titled
The Secrets, which offers tips, tricks, and tidbits about
writing (focusing on, but not limited to, science fiction and
fantasy). It is aimed towards the serious fan fiction writer and
some casual writers, and includes information about getting books
published..
Topics discussed in the newsletter range from how to beat
writer's block to how to
build a world, and even how to manage
writing as a career.
The Secrets newsletter requires a subscription. Issues are
released every two weeks. Several sample issues are available on
Stackpole's website.
Podcast
The Secrets Newsletter has an "audio companion" in The
Secrets
Podcast. The first ten podcasts were
based on material from the first ten issues of The Secrets
newsletter. After the first series ended, the content of the
podcast diverged from the newsletter. The podcasts average
twenty-five minutes long and are voiced and produced by
Stackpole.
The podcasts are free and require no subscription, but older
episodes have been retired and are no longer available on the
main archive.
Stackpole is also one of the main hosts on
The Dragon Page
Cover to Cover, a book review and interview show dealing
mainly with
fantasy and
sci fi publications, together with
Michael R. Mennenga.
Skepticism
Stackpole has been the executive director of the Phoenix Skeptics
since 1988 and is listed as the contact for the group in the
magazine
Skeptical
Inquirer.
Novels
Published by Bantam Books.
Age of Discovery
Published by Bantam Books.
Originally Published by FASA
Corporation. Later published by
Penguin Group/
ROC
2007.
Catalyst Game Labs in June
2008 announced Mr. Stackpole would be publishing new Core Line -
Battletech novel in 2009.
Warrior
Blood of Kerensky Trilogy
BattleTech Core Novels
Published by GDW.
Others
- 1994 Once a Hero (Bantam Books)
- 1994 Dementia (Roc/Target)
- 1997 Talion: Revenant (Bantam Books)
- 1997 A Hero Born (HarperPrism)
- 1998 An Enemy Reborn (HarperPrism)
- 1998 Wolf and Raven (Roc/FASA)
- 1998 Eyes of Silver (Bantam Books)
Other publications
References
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Misc
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