21 replies to this topic

[Asterisk]

I just wanted to share some news that's been all the excitement in my local tabletop gaming group. One of our friends is a writer and has been working with Catalyst on several pieces of fiction and game books. She was tapped about a year ago to begin working on some fiction for BattleCorps and her book was selected to move out into the general population if it did well enough at BC. Well--the numbers are in, and it's now available on DriveThruFiction, DriveThruRPG, and Amazon as a downloadable ebook. I'm not sure if/where the physical copies are being distributed. It's a great read!

The Nellus Academy Incident tells the tale of a handful of hand-picked and mildly famous Marik military academy cadets get sent on a feel-good publicity campaign, only to end up hijacked. Cut off, far from home, and with extremely limited resources, the cadets have to pull together and use a blend of their training, their resourcefulness, and a dash of luck to survive in a hostile environment, defeat their hijcakers, and safely return home.

Edited by Asterisk, 04 February 2014 - 11:33 PM.

[Hammerhai]

Yum.

[CyclonerM]

Finally a novel about Marik guys..

And maybe i have now an idea about how my Marik cadet character might have ended up captured by Clan Wolf

[Blood Rose]

Well done to your friend... Ill be looking for the book

[Stormwolf]

Congrats to your friend to getting a novel published.

It's nice to see story about the FWL where they aren't the bad guys or manipulated by the bad guys.

[Redshift2k5]

And no link to digital retailers to actually buy the book?

[Asterisk]

Redshift2k5, on 04 February 2014 - 05:03 AM, said:

And no link to digital retailers to actually buy the book?

Sadly, no. I didn't want to risk coming under violation of the Mechwarrior Online Code of Coduct.

Advertising
Our definition of Advertising includes:
    Advertising of any non-beneficial, non-MechWarrior Online related businesses, organizations, or websites.
    Advertising personal, non-MechWarrior Online related projects including, but not limited to:
	    Custom Gaming Rigs;
	    Band Sites;
	    Online petitions;
	    Unregistered Charities.

[Mycrus]

Asterisk, on 04 February 2014 - 11:31 PM, said:

Sadly, no. I didn't want to risk coming under violation of the Mechwarrior Online Code of Coduct.

Advertising
Our definition of Advertising includes:
    Advertising of any non-beneficial, non-MechWarrior Online related businesses, organizations, or websites.
    Advertising personal, non-MechWarrior Online related projects including, but not limited to:
	    Custom Gaming Rigs;
	    Band Sites;
	    Online petitions;
	    Unregistered Charities.

Yup, because the lore got nuffin to do with mwo

[SharkaPult]

Redshift2k5, on 04 February 2014 - 05:03 AM, said:

And no link to digital retailers to actually buy the book?

Mycrus, on 05 February 2014 - 06:04 PM, said:

Yup, because the lore got nuffin to do with mwo

Wow the internet is SO hard

How EVER will you both be able to find an e-book? [/sarcasm]
Asterisk did well to be extra careful to avoid the wrath of the mods around here. Pimping for-profit projects is usually verboten and for online forums it usually pays to be careful rather than careless. That's standard online etiquette.
Thanks for the head's up Asterisk, can't wait to check out a book based on Marik.

[Alex Warden]

SharkaPult, on 06 February 2014 - 09:48 AM, said:

Pimping for-profit projects is usually verboten

sry for offtopic, but i got a serious question to you american guys, cause i REALLY wanna know: does it give the word some more weight if you write "verboten" instead of "forbidden" or "prohibited"? just curious, because i see that alot lately... that and other words taken from the german language, like Angst (fear) or what ever...

@Topic: grats to Jenny, it´s a real lucky thing to get a novel published, and a special honour if it´s a BattleTech novel good luck to her, and i´ll buy it sometime

Edited by Alex Warden, 06 February 2014 - 10:48 AM.

[James Montana]

Alex Warden, on 06 February 2014 - 10:48 AM, said:

sry for offtopic, but i got a serious question to you american guys, cause i REALLY wanna know: does it give the word some more weight if you write "verboten" instead of "forbidden" or "prohibited"? just curious, because i see that alot lately... that and other words taken from the german language, like Angst (fear) or what ever...

There are a lot of words like angst and verboten that are commonly used here in Central Texas. We have a lot of towns here that are influenced by German culture because of the German settlers that immigrated to this region: Pflugerville, Fredericksburg, New Braunfels, etc. Oktoberfest is still kind of a big event for several communities throughout the region, too. So, now you know.

[Sparks Murphey]

Congrats to Jennifer Brozek!

Also, Alex, English has been using the word angst since the 19th century meaning "a deep anxiety or dread, typically about the human condition or the world in general", where it has a distinct definition to the German word "Angst". Likewise, verboten has been an English word since 1916, when the UK and US incorporated it as a means of expressing "heavily forbidden, as if by the authoritarian hand of Kaiser Wilhelm II".

[Alex Warden]

many thanks to both of you it´s interesting to see "lingual migration" happening the other way round, too , as english wordings have a huge influence on german as well well, i guess that´s true to all languages, but in this special case i wasn´t really aware of it

special funfact: the russian language seems to use "Butterbrot" (buttered bread) for a toasted sandwich, at least that´s what one of my books says xD

Edited by Alex Warden, 07 February 2014 - 10:53 AM.

[TygerLily]

Very nice! And I've been wanting to start reading some of the novels! Hurray fellow Mechfans!

[Asterisk]

Mycrus, on 05 February 2014 - 06:04 PM, said:

Yup, because the lore got nuffin to do with mwo

The lore has everything to do with Battletech, and ties in to Catalyst Games. Since their logo doesn't appear at the bottom of the page, and the code of conduct states "Mechwarrior Online," and not "Battletech," I wasn't going to risk upsetting a mod. Some may see it as semantics, sure--but intellectual property rights are intellectual property rights. I've sent a question to the forum team asking for a bit of clarification. We'll see what shakes out. Until I'm given an official word otherwise though, I think that following the letter of the law is a good way to make sure that we all get to keep enjoying the benefits of our lovely community here.

Edited by Asterisk, 07 February 2014 - 11:04 PM.

[Hammerhai]

Either way, respect to a writer who got published from me to your friend. Those of you who did not do some research into that: It is harder than ever to get picked up by a brand name or publisher and get the marketing support you really really need, just as it is easier than ever to self publish, and have a very hard living out of it

So to have a break like that as a young writer: Fantastic, make the most of it.

Note: I do believe that even R. Salvatore, creator of Drizzt do'Urden, would probably not make the grade today, and he did comment how much harder it is today to get that break himself in a recent-ish interview.

(Drizzt do'Urden is, of course, the most popular Forgotten Realms character ever created in that fiction franchise)

Edited by Hammerhai, 08 February 2014 - 05:32 AM.

[CyclonerM]

Asterisk, on 07 February 2014 - 10:44 PM, said:

The lore has everything to do with Battletech, and ties in to Catalyst Games. Since their logo doesn't appear at the bottom of the page, and the code of conduct states "Mechwarrior Online," and not "Battletech," I wasn't going to risk upsetting a mod. Some may see it as semantics, sure--but intellectual property rights are intellectual property rights. I've sent a question to the forum team asking for a bit of clarification. We'll see what shakes out. Until I'm given an official word otherwise though, I think that following the letter of the law is a good way to make sure that we all get to keep enjoying the benefits of our lovely community here.

All of these words..

Battletech --> MechWarrior --> {...MWO}

Lore should have MUCH to do with MWO.

[Asterisk]

CyclonerM, on 08 February 2014 - 06:06 AM, said:

All of these words..

Battletech --> MechWarrior --> {...MWO}

Lore should have MUCH to do with MWO.

That's how you see it, how I see it, and I wager, how most of the community sees it. That's not how intellectual property lawyers, companies owning IP, or their moderators always see things.

[Thom Frankfurt]

That's pretty awesome. It's Kindle version is already on sale on Amazon. Is there going to be a hardcopy version though?

Edited by Thom Frankfurt, 08 February 2014 - 05:51 PM.

[Chain Fire]

I won't bother trying to review the book, that always comes across as nitpicky. But I liked it, and hope there is a follow up, there is some serious payback needs to happen and I look forward to reading it.

Lite on Mech combat for those that focus on that aspect of the universe, but not light on in your face violence.

Like I said, I hope there is more to this tale. I need the closure. Fictitious people must pay for their fictitious crimes.

Edited by Chain Fire, 11 February 2014 - 07:36 PM.