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Depending on the book, the author may not be making any money; Mike Stackpole was paid a flat fee in lieu of royalties on some of his titles, for example.

In the ultra-short-term, yes. In the long term, if the publisher doesn't earn the flat fee thru sales, the future opportunity goes away both for that individual and all authors as a group.

In all honesty, I think book publishing should be flat fee for all, after all, I don't get royalties every time someone clicks a "href" or shoves a packet thru my routers. There is no economic risk of "warehouses full of unsold (e)books"

Depending on the book, the author may not be making any money; Mike Stackpole was paid a flat fee in lieu of royalties on some of his titles, for example.

An excellent point, further, because of his success a smattering of other authors, such as Michael Stackpole (who languished at FASA for a while, doing some pretty damn good BattleTech novels) got some real exposure.

Love or hate Star Wars, he's had a great impact.

There is a good PCGamer interview with Michael Stackpole that covers a lot of it.

The Pulling Report (named after Patricia Pulling, founder of BADD -- "Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons" -- who claimed that playing D&D led her son to commit suicide.

Of course, what comment about the "evils" of D&D would be complete without a link to Dark Dungeons, one of those annoying pamphlets that conservative Christian whackos hand out on the streets.

Jay (=

Mike Stackpole's fantasy stuff is good.

Its a little campy, but I like Michael Stackpole's writing. His most recent series (which I believe he calls the DragonCrown War Cycle) is a series of four books (at least just four planned so far). So far three of the books are in print:

• The Dark Glory War [amazon]
• Fortress Draconis [amazon]
• When Dragons Rage [amazon]
• The Grand Crusade [most likely due out in Nov 2003]

I got turned on to Michael Stackpole when I was in my Battletech phase (if anyone plays this game you probably know Michael from the novels and the game materials). He has just started writing Mechwarrior novels once again as well.

Another of my recent favorites is Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel trilogy. Good writing, interesting story line (more of an alternate history/universe than fantasy in my mind). The trilogy:

• Kushiel's Dart [amazon]
• Kushiel's Chosen [amazon]
• Kushiel's Avatar [amazon] (due out in April 2003)

Some people would probably call them trash, but I also like the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter novels (and the other stories in the same world) by Laurell K. Hamilton. I think the best description of the world would be a R-rated Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Its a fun read. A good fan site can be found here: http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/

Check out Michael Stackpole's site. He's answered all questions I had about the universe progression.

http://www.stormwolf.com/essays/btechret.html

http://www.stormwolf.com/essays/btechret2.html

And here's a piece of fiction he's written for the new era, but it's on wizkids so I'm not sure if the link still works...

http://www.wizkidsgames.com/battletech/bt_fiction. htm

The first novel based in the new era should be available later this year, IIRC.

Check out Michael Stackpole's site. He's answered all questions I had about the universe progression.

http://www.stormwolf.com/essays/btechret.html

http://www.stormwolf.com/essays/btechret2.html

And here's a piece of fiction he's written for the new era, but it's on wizkids so I'm not sure if the link still works...

http://www.wizkidsgames.com/battletech/bt_fiction. htm

The first novel based in the new era should be available later this year, IIRC.

To: letter writer
Subject: Guild practices

I have read your letter to the Author's Guild, and I would like to point out a few items.

First and foremost, I think your moral outrage is misspent. The Authors Guild is just that. It's an entity set up to look out for the interests of the authors---not the publishers, the venders, or the readers. Amazon made a business decision for the good of their stockholders. The Authors Guild made a business decision for the good of their members.

Your library analogy is interesting, but I think you miss the core point of the guild's arguements. Their complaint revolves around selling new books and used ones side-by-side.

Regarding your assertation to avoid buying new books. I'd like to quote sf/fantasy authorMichael Stackpole. He has some interesting things to say about the business.

And concerning the greed factor, please understand that most authors make between 6-10% of the cover price of the books. In the case of books written in a series owned by someone else, the percentage can be decidedly lower. In other words, a $5 book produces 30 cents in income for the author. At that rate the author loses money on the postage for replying to a fan letter! With the average SF/Fantasy novel selling fewer than 20,000 copies, we're talking an income of $7,000 for what probably was a year's worth of work.

To: letter writer
Subject: Guild practices

I have read your letter to the Author's Guild, and I would like to point out a few items.

First and foremost, I think your moral outrage is misspent. The Authors Guild is just that. It's an entity set up to look out for the interests of the authors---not the publishers, the venders, or the readers. Amazon made a business decision for the good of their stockholders. The Authors Guild made a business decision for the good of their members.

Your library analogy is interesting, but I think you miss the core point of the guild's arguements. Their complaint revolves around selling new books and used ones side-by-side.

Regarding your assertation to avoid buying new books. I'd like to quote sf/fantasy authorMichael Stackpole. He has some interesting things to say about the business.

And concerning the greed factor, please understand that most authors make between 6-10% of the cover price of the books. In the case of books written in a series owned by someone else, the percentage can be decidedly lower. In other words, a $5 book produces 30 cents in income for the author. At that rate the author loses money on the postage for replying to a fan letter! With the average SF/Fantasy novel selling fewer than 20,000 copies, we're talking an income of $7,000 for what probably was a year's worth of work.

I've been reading these books since they came out and used to chat with Mike on GEnie, back in the good old days when there were some brains still at FASA. Some of those brains, also, hung out on GEnie. Somewhere I still have archives of thos messages. Good nostalgia there... I even collected overseas copies of the books so he could read the edit differences. Got a very cool autograph, too. Mike's a great guy and I hope they do pull BattleTech back together and bring Mike and some of the othe great writers back to do the fiction. The books were my intro to BattleTech.

I'm perplexed at the selling of FASA Interactive to Microsoft (guess what's going to be on the X-Box, go on, guess!) This should have infused them with significant cash, unless they did a SubLogic and cut their own throats.

I keep hoping Ralph Reed's old BattleMech will resurface. That was the best game, ever!

--

For those looking for Whiz Kids, you can find them at http://www.mageknight.com.

The WK press release can be found at: http://www.mageknight.com/company_landing.htm?sid= 89&cid=4501

While it sucks that an old friend like FASA is going the way of the dodo, it's actually a Good Thing [TM] for the BattleTech and Shadowrun product lines. Additionally, it's a good thing for Ral Partha. As WK is FAR better funded than FASA "EVER" was.

FASA is going to settle out all their debts, finish up and publish their last project or two (including the much awaited Periphery Field Manual), and that's it. The novel contracts will stay with ROC until the end of the current BTech story arc. After which time, WK will probably begin shopping the line around to other publishing houses. Especially since ROC didn't exactly treat FASA very well.

Unofficially (so far), Mike Stackpole is being brought back into the fold here. So fans of his BattleTech series of books may see him actually finish out his post Clan Invasion story arc.

As to what form BattleTech and SR might take when they re-emerge under the WK imprimature, we don't have any clue right now. From a hardcore gamefan's POV, the best thing they could do is not really change the game, and simply make the supplements for the game better.

From a businessman's POV, BT's fanbase has been gradually shrinking over the last several years (though those who remain are usually VERY hardcore). This presents a barrier of sorts to the entry of new players. WK may (or may not) convert portions (or all) of BattleTech/SR over to a MageKnight format of game play. Which would probably simplify an already simple game.

As for FASA's MechForce fanclub and their Games Workshop-esque Marauder program (sanctioned event hosting). Both programs are probably going to be allowed to quietly die away (some disgruntled members of both organizations would say they already have). Later on, something like MechForce could be resurrected by WK or by someone willing to buy a license to run MechForce in North America.

As to FASA's licenses for VOR, Crucible, and Crimson Skies projects. Crimson Skies reverts to Microsoft. VOR and Crucible revert to their own holders. They may shop the properties around, or simply re-license them to WK under similar terms.

About the only REALLY messed up thing was that most of the EMPLOYEES weren't told till right before the announcement hit the net. And some of their freelancers actually found out about it before being alerted by FASA.

So it's not technically a bankruptcy. Basically, a major, important part of the FASA corporation is being melded into the WK corporation.

Additionally, for those hoping for the Unseen (the mechs that caused the lawsuit with Harmony Gold) to return. Don't bet on it. It'll probably be WK stance that licensing the images from Harmony Gold would simply be money ill-spent.

In short, this is a black cloud with a lot of silver in the lining.


Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!