84 replies to this topic

[Aegic]

Let me start of by saying, regardless of what I or anyone else says, he is a good and well known author who has written a number of Battletech books.

Whether or not something is likely does not mean it is impossible and unlikely happenings TO ME make for much more interesting reading as long as it is not every chapter.

I think his books are pretty awesome TBH and have never doubted their legitimacy in this universe.

I have seen a huge amount of people bashing pretty much everything this author has had to say and wanted to get an idea of those here who DO like him.

For the record, his books are fully canonical as his books fall within this category.

Quote

The novels published by Roc (and previously, FASA) in the United States are fully canonical, as are the IMR/CGL publications.

Source:http://www.sarna.net...ttleTech_novels

Edited by Aegic, 26 June 2012 - 08:42 AM.

[Zalikar]

Honestly, I don't think I've read any of his books. I sadly have not read a huge amount of the BattleTech novels. Pretty much just the Legend of the Jade Phoenix trilogy and a couple of the early Dark Age novels.

Yet, I do have to agree that a story that involves unlikely or abnormal events do tend to be a bit more exciting than those that don't. Kinda like how alien invasion stories about humans besting a technologically superior force are more interesting than ones about the aliens completely wiping out life on Earth.

[SinnerX]

People don't like him? I remember him as being my favorite Battletech author. He wrote the Blood of Kerensky trilogy, right?

He's also working on Wasteland 2 at the moment, and was one of the reasons I donated to their kickstarter.

[Kooky Carter]

I really enjoy his writing. I have read a couple of his BattleTech books and am currently half-way through the Warrior Trilogy and think it's a great read.

[Turigand]

"Molten rivulets of ceramic armour"
"man made lightning"

Those are the two phrases that his name brings to mind.
He was an OK author who wrote some books about very interesting stories.

I thought that Robert Charrette was a much better writer. He was responsible for Wolves on the Border and Heir to the Dragon.

[Aegic]

SinnerX, on 26 June 2012 - 08:54 AM, said:

He wrote the Blood of Kerensky trilogy, right?

Yea those are actually the very first Battletech books I read way back in middle school. Still working on reading all of the entire series however.

Turigand, on 26 June 2012 - 08:58 AM, said:

I thought that Robert Charrette was a much better writer. He was responsible for Wolves on the Border and Heir to the Dragon.

Ill have to check that one out next

[Tekkiller]

IMO he is the best writer of any of the authors having written Battletech novels. On the other hand, Robert Thurston is by far the worst. I get angry reading his books with all those parentheses, un-structured sentences, etc. Arrrghghghghghhhh...!

Edited by Tekkiller, 26 June 2012 - 09:00 AM.

[Jonneh]

I love his star wars books, I had no idea he also wrote BT books. He wrote the excellent x-wing series after being inspired by the star wars flight sim games, I guess that would follow that he's also be interested in mechwarrior. As I am!

[Romulus Stahl]

Mike was a great writer for BattleTech, we (badkarma) did an online interview with him in the late 90's. At the time things were picking up for him with Star Wars (a genre with much deeper pockets), I would have liked to have seen more BT books from him.

[Team Leader]

Is he still alive? If so, what if he was a member of this very site, reading this, RIGHT NOW? And what if he actually got a legenday pack? also Ive never read any battle tech books.

[Victor Morson]

Right around the time FASA stopped paying him and outright stiffing him on the bills, leaving him working for free (as they were taking all his royalty money and sticking it in lawsuits) - something he put up with far, far longer than the other decent writers because he actually likes the universe and had a huge hand in shaping it's major events - I have to admit my respect points for him went up. I totally understand why he left.

While his novels might not have been A list, top tier sci-fi they did provide a lot of great fluff for the universe and had a huge focus on characters and politics over non-stop battles. Some of his books were thicker than most paperbacks I've seen only had a handful of pages dedicated to actual fighting. I liked that.

As soon as he departed, the universe storyline imploded (Steiner turned super evil, Davion turned super good and the Clans turned into Klingons shouting HONOR HONOR HONOR) leading to the crapfest that was the period between CBT and Dark Ages. While the loss of other writers hurt too, I think losing his hand in the canon was the real kick in the teeth.

Team Leader, on 26 June 2012 - 09:05 AM, said:

Is he still alive? If so, what if he was a member of this very site, reading this, RIGHT NOW? And what if he actually got a legenday pack? also Ive never read any battle tech books.

This was the 80s. Yes, he's still alive.

Edited by Victor Morson, 26 June 2012 - 09:07 AM.

[Jadel Blade]

Love his work. Maybe some flowery stuff like the man made lightning but overall terrific reads. Kerensky and warrior series are great!

[Steven Dixon]

He's not my all time favorite writer, but I really enjoyed his works all the same. He had several really good BT novels. His novels have quite a bit of politics, but I actually like politics. His battle scenes are also fairly good IMHO. His Warrior trilogy and his Blood of Kerensky trilogy were among my favorite BT novels.

[Antagonist]

The one thing that really annoyed me about him was the fact he introduced fusion reactors going critical.

Other than that, he was an okay author. I have to admit, though, most of his books I read back then had been translated into German. I might re-read their English versions at some point if the mood strikes me and I can free up the time.

[FactorlanP]

Antagonist, on 26 June 2012 - 09:11 AM, said:

The one thing that really annoyed me about him was the fact he introduced fusion reactors going critical.

^This

Also, it's been a long time, isn't he the one who likes to write from a 1st person perspective?

I don't care for that, personally.

Edited by FactorlanP, 26 June 2012 - 09:14 AM.

[Rixx]

Love Stackpole. First books I read were the Warrior trilogy, followed by the Kerensky trilogy...so 6 books in a row by him. He's not a groundbreaking author, but he's good. You can connect with the characters, and the action is well detailed. He doesn't do the off the wall crazy stuff like some other BT writers (magic powers and acrobatic mechs).

I think Stackpole gets a bad name for 3 reasons.

A. Some of the writers of BT novels do some really odd stuff, and Stackpole is arguably the most famous BT writer, so he gets blamed for stuff he had no part of.

B. He's involved with the introduction of the clans. The pre-clan BT fans tended to hate the clans. They were vested in the Inner Sphere politics and saw the Clans as a really shallow attempt to revitalize the BT universe.

C. He's involved with the introduction of the Dark Age series. The Dark Age timeline, mechs, books, and game are not as good overall as the pre-dark age stuff, but they are still solid and have kept the universe alive and growing. Still though, the purists and long term fans saw the DA stuff as an abomination...and Stackpoles name was on the first novel.

[Zukov]

Enjoy stackpole and charrette(sp?).

Stackpole writes more like Tom Clancy and Charrette more like Nelson Demille. Action vs More Detailed characters. IMHO. Both great authors.

[Future Perfect]

Michael Stackpole?

Is he good at stacking poles?

/scratches head

[grimzod]

While I love his early work and even some of his non Battletech work - his Darkage books are utter ****. There.

[Antagonist]

Mh, I tried getting into the DA stuff, I really did. Wasn't meant to be, though...eventually, I just lost interest in it.