My 'other work' is extremely varied, ranging from computer games to magazine and website writing. The most numerous projects have been for Avenger Enterprises and the SMi Group. What follows is a miscellany of the smaller stuff.
In The Beginning...
Some of my earliest work was for fanzines and semi-professional magazines, moving to webzines and the like once I discovered the existence of the Internet. I also wrote software documentation and web copy on various subjects. Occasionally I still do, though today I spend a lot more time on full-length books than short work-for-hire jobs.
Some of this work was a very long time ago now and is lost to history. There are quite a few little corners of the Internet where you can still find stuff I wrote. Not all of it is credited to me, and there are a few bits that are probably better that way.
My very first published work was, if you care, in a fanzine aptly named Mindless Slaughter. This was the early 1980s; the golden age of the photocopied fanzine. From there I graduated an editorial post with the semi-professional postal games magazine PBM Scroll and did an article or two for its more upmarket rival, Flagship. Webzines followed (once the Internet was invented) along with the occasional foray into print magazines. That's not a market I've ever really done more than dabbled with, though.
Some of this work was a very long time ago now and is lost to history. There are quite a few little corners of the Internet where you can still find stuff I wrote. Not all of it is credited to me, and there are a few bits that are probably better that way.
My very first published work was, if you care, in a fanzine aptly named Mindless Slaughter. This was the early 1980s; the golden age of the photocopied fanzine. From there I graduated an editorial post with the semi-professional postal games magazine PBM Scroll and did an article or two for its more upmarket rival, Flagship. Webzines followed (once the Internet was invented) along with the occasional foray into print magazines. That's not a market I've ever really done more than dabbled with, though.
Iowa Shooter and Martial Arts Insider
I wrote several articles for Iowa Shooter, a startup magazine that didn’t make it. They committed the sin (in my book) of not paying me for my work, but at least they were honest about not being able to pay after the first article. It wasn’t deceit; just a business venture that didn’t work out. I’m okay with that really – honesty counts for a lot in my book.
Martial Arts Insider was a startup magazine that I did an article for. I don’t know how it turned out; contact was lost and I moved on to other things. There’s a website somewhere that says the magazine is to be relaunched, so you never know.
Martial Arts Insider was a startup magazine that I did an article for. I don’t know how it turned out; contact was lost and I moved on to other things. There’s a website somewhere that says the magazine is to be relaunched, so you never know.
Mancave Playbabes
Yes, you read that right. I wrote a couple of articles for this startup magazine. It's still around, five years later!
I've written the odd piece for time to time, mostly just for fun.
I've written the odd piece for time to time, mostly just for fun.
Terra/Sol Games
I wrote a fair amount of stuff for Terra/Sol during 2010-11, including three issues of Starfarer’s Gazette and a few in the ‘Six Guns’ series of supplements. There’s also a big adventure and some other bits and pieces. I’ve not had a commission from them for a while, but there’s no reason to suppose that they won’t have more work for me at some point. Tera/Sol are good guys - they paid me what I was owed and didn't mess me about. I like that in a client.
Mongoose Publishing
I wrote several books for the Mongoose Traveller line, including Reft Sector, Spinward Marches and some other stuff, before I parted company with the Traveller brand for a while. This was not the fault of Mongoose, and I did continue to write for Mongoose, notably on the Victory at Sea product line. I was recently tempted back to Traveller by a new venture from Mongoose, and this has led to a new product line all of my own.
I’ve written novels and game materials for the Armageddon 2089 line from Mongoose. Back in 2004 I was commissioned to work up a miniatures rules set for A2089, which I did. This, and the accompanying sourcebooks have been on my hard drive ever since. There has been some movement from time to time; every now and then the project lurches back into life. We'll get there someday.
I’ve written novels and game materials for the Armageddon 2089 line from Mongoose. Back in 2004 I was commissioned to work up a miniatures rules set for A2089, which I did. This, and the accompanying sourcebooks have been on my hard drive ever since. There has been some movement from time to time; every now and then the project lurches back into life. We'll get there someday.
The SMi Group
I did a lot of work for the SMi group in the mid 2000s. In addition to my five strategic reports, I acted as a freelance editor for a time, fixing no less than 21 major reports and turning them into salable products. That is, products that sold for £600 a copy. In some cases that required a fair amount of editing and rewriting on subjects that aren’t my specialism. Military and aviation reports were fairly easy to do, but the energy, pharmaceutical and financial ones had a pretty steep learning curve. All the same, I got the job done and learned a lot about these industries into the bargain.
SMi doesn’t seem to be publishing these days, but the conferencing business is still going. Perhaps they’ll relaunch at some point.
SMi doesn’t seem to be publishing these days, but the conferencing business is still going. Perhaps they’ll relaunch at some point.
QuikLink Interactive
Although I was working on a freelance basis, I ended up being line editor for the QLI Traveller game products as well as the main writer from 2001-2005. QLI went through some difficult times, notably due to the owner’s year-long absence, and I don’t have all the details. What I do know is that they commissioned me to write several books (about 600,000 words or so in total) and then didn’t pay for them.
Unlike certain other clients, QLI were not honest, preferring to just pretend that emails never reached them and to ignore attempts to resolve the situation. They also failed to comply with the renegotiated deal on one of the books, though they were happy enough to put it out for sale for over a year after they stopped paying royalties. QLI published exactly one product that I did not write, edit and/or project-manage, so paying me for my work might have been seen as a good investment.
However they didn’t and with no more content being written they went out of business. I have repeatedly asserted to the IP holder Marc Miller (who agreed with me) and to QLI (who I know received the relevant communication but did not comment) that my work for them was first-rights only. QLI has never challenged this assertion. This means that I am free to re-release the work I did for QLI in a non-Traveller setting, which someday I might do.
It also means that there are legal issues surrounding the ‘SF20’ product line from QLI as it reuses text I wrote in some places, which QLI has no right to do. However, the matter is no longer worth pursuing.
Unlike certain other clients, QLI were not honest, preferring to just pretend that emails never reached them and to ignore attempts to resolve the situation. They also failed to comply with the renegotiated deal on one of the books, though they were happy enough to put it out for sale for over a year after they stopped paying royalties. QLI published exactly one product that I did not write, edit and/or project-manage, so paying me for my work might have been seen as a good investment.
However they didn’t and with no more content being written they went out of business. I have repeatedly asserted to the IP holder Marc Miller (who agreed with me) and to QLI (who I know received the relevant communication but did not comment) that my work for them was first-rights only. QLI has never challenged this assertion. This means that I am free to re-release the work I did for QLI in a non-Traveller setting, which someday I might do.
It also means that there are legal issues surrounding the ‘SF20’ product line from QLI as it reuses text I wrote in some places, which QLI has no right to do. However, the matter is no longer worth pursuing.
