09 May 2009 - BattleBlog - Saturday Mornings And Fiction

[Hobbit]

So working on 25 Years of Art and Fiction has been a very strange experience. At the start of the project I thought rounding up all the authors and getting fiction out of them would prove the most difficult part. Yet that was not the case at all. Sure, there were a few authors that took a while to get a story out of them. But most of them, even those that haven't written for BattleTech in well over a decade, stepped right up to be a part of this project.

As I formulated the plan on how this book might come together I decided that while of course we'd cram as much art as we could into the book, I'd select a series of "perennial" illustrations. These would span all 25 years of BattleTech history, would represent as many varied artists as possible, covering a host of different situations: I ended up with 17 pre-existing illustrations from 15 artists and then 1 all-new illustration from an all new artist. Off of these showcased illustrations, then, the authors would generate all new fiction, regardless of whether the illustration had previous fiction attached to it.

Now some illustration, either for the 'Mechs depicted or the units depicted, could only be used with a story set in a certain Era. For example, The Dragon Roars cover could only be used in the Civil War and Jihad Eras, while something like the original BattleTech Manual cover could be used in any Era (though in the Star League it would need to be at the end due to the Atlas depicted, of course).



Once those illustrations were selected and authors given the chance to nab their picks, the geek in me was loving working with so many of these authors I'd never had a chance to work with before. For example, 1986, as soon as Decision At Thunder Rift hit store shelves, I read that novel and it cemented by love of this universe. To be able to work with Bill Keith on this project was great. He selected the original BattleForce cover and wrote a great yarn set during he Succession Wars. What's more, he brought some fantastic astrophysics to the table, which required a host of continuity back and forth (more so than any other story in the book) to make his vision fit appropriate with the cover and the world and he was a trooper, constantly involved in the discussions and revising numerous times to make it all work. And of course the newest authors also brought great stories to the table as well. Simply brought home that even after 14 years working professionally on BattleTech I still love being involved.

No, unfortunately, at the end of the day the most difficult part has been the art. Trying to dig up usable files from a host of antiquated filing and software venues has had us all yelling and kicking. But despite all the problems, we're forging forward, of course and I can't wait to finally have this one see the light of day.

See ya next time.

Randall