::salute::
***Interview With Honorary Member, Bill Smith***
I'd like to congratulate CA:RO, Jacob Van Nowak, for getting the Emperor's Hammer an interivew with the author, Bill Smith. Nice work, Jacob!
An interview with Bill Smith, author of Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels, The Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology, and Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, Second Edition and the new Outlaw Galaxy novels.
1) Where did you first see the Star Wars Movies
My love affair with Star Wars started with the Marvel Star Wars comic adaptation and the Star Wars novelization. I grew up in a really small town in Northern New York and missed out on the Star Wars phenomenon that swept the world in the summer of 1977. Instead, I discovered the novels and comics in school the following Fall.
I saw the cover of the novel--starships, robots, laser guns, aliens. Wow! It was love at first sight.
I first saw Star Wars during the 1978 summer rerelease. Had to go to a different country, too--My parents took me to the drive-in in Cornwall, ONT, Canada.
(Oh yeah, when Phantom Menace came out, my brother, his friends and I drove 40 miles to the nearest college town for the midnight showing. It was a very cool experience.)
2) What is your Favorite thing about Star wars
Favorite moment: The twin suns setting on Tatooine in Episode IV.
My favorite thing as a whole is the compelling believability of these imaginary worlds, particularly the sophistication with which the stories were presented in the original A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. (Sorry, but Greedo did NOT fire first.)
I get the sense that if the camera was looking in another direction, we'd be treated to amazing adventure stories just as thrilling as the movies we've been shown. I tried to bring that to my roleplaying products--I really wanted to create the sense that this was a REAL place where all kinds of cool things were happening on a million worlds every single day.
I love the sense of adventure, the sense of wonder, and the anticipation of guessing what amazing things will be lurking just over the horizon. I enjoy the fact that good and evil are presented in clear-cut terms. I'm fascinated that the civilization of Star Wars spans millions of worlds and has a history going back thousands and thousands of years.
3) Was there anything besides star wars that inspired you to write?
The other things that really made me decide I wanted to write were Battlestar Galactica and the Marvel Star Wars comics, particularly the comics written by Archie Goodwin and David Micheline (basically the run from Star Wars to shortly before Jedi). The Brian Daley Han Solo novels were AMAZING and I remember reading them in 8th grade Math class and thinking to myself, "I want to do this when I grow up!" They all captured my imagination.
I was also inspired by the original Star Trek, Flash Gordon, the classic Doc Smith novels, playing Dungeons and Dragons, Marvel and DC superhero comics...but the things that really drove me were Star Wars and Battlestar.
4) Who is your Favorite Character and Why?
Luke Skywalker. As a kid growing up in a really small, isolated town--who didn't want to be there while most of my friends were perfectly content there--I spent an awful lot of time looking off to the horizon, daydreaming, writing stories in my own universe and the Star Wars galaxy, and looking forward to going to the stock car races. (Stock car racing is my other big passion.)
In Jedi, Luke's goal of redeeming his father and confronting the ultimate evil is very compelling. I love the mythic transformation of Luke from boy to noble warrior-peacemaker, and how he rights the wrongs of the past and succeeds against all odds.
When I was younger, I liked Han Solo more, but as I got older, I identified more with Luke.
And Boba Fett is just plain the coolest. It was a shame that he was so underutilized in Jedi--it would have been great if he'd shown up on Endor to put Solo in his place.
(Actually, I was the one that talked Parker Bros. into putting Boba Fett into Star Wars Monoply. Parker Bros. wanted to use C-3P0 and I politely explained, "You MUST have Boba Fett. Besides, you need more villains to balance the heroes. If you want to put in C-3P0, create a dual R2 & 3P0 figure. Boba Fett just HAS to be in this game."
I also convinced Parker Bros. to set the Boardwalk and Park Place spaces on Imperial Center. At the time--pre Special Editions--they didn't know about Coruscant.)
5) Do you Plan on writing anymore books?
I would greatly enjoy the opportunity to writer future Star Wars books. (I'm sure most people who've worked on SW would agree with me. The people at Lucasfilm and Del Rey are super to work with.)
I've been having a great time writing my own Outlaw Galaxy novels. (Check out www.BillSmithBooks.com for sample chapters.) The universe is a very fun, action-adventure space fantasy setting. Books 2 & 3 are in final editing now and set to release over the next couple of months. I'm plowing ahead with Books 4, 5 & 6 right now. (I self-published just because the climate favors that approach right now...it's much easier to make a go of it doing it myself rather than trying to go through the big New York publishers.)
6) Do you play any Star Wars Games if so what?
I sometimes play the computer/console games but I'm not dedicated enough to get really good at them. I don't have the time for traditional RPGs--I spend most of my free time working on my novels. I occassionally run SW:RPG (original D6 rules) when I visit my brother and his friends during the holidays.
7) What do you think about the Emperor's Hammer
I think it's pretty cool, actually. I mean, the Imperials aren't evil, they're just misunderstood. : )
I think the Imperials are much more compelling villains--er, antagonists; excuse me--if you take the time to examine their point of view and show why they believe what they do. They feel they are just bringing law and order to the galaxy. Yes, a few occasional injustices happen, but that's going to happen with any large government. They feel, as a whole, the Empire does much more good than harm and protects the rights of all citizens, especially humans.
Last but not least
8) What do you think about me, hehe Just kidding 8-)
Hey, you were cool enough to approach me about being on the site. Thanks!
Thank you for taking the time to contact me! I hope this helps! If you have any more questions, just bounce them my way!
Bill Smith
Bill Smith Books
www.billsmithbooks.com
bill@billsmithbooks.com
PO Box 3164
York, PA 17402
***Imperial Survey Corps Member - Rekio Corsair - Awarded Silver Star***
For service above and beyond standard members of the Imperial Survey Corps. He has conducted Search Engine readouts for the EH as well as looked into different mags, and sent messages to them as well! Congratulations!
***CA:RO Maverick's Report***
::Salute::
I apologize for the tardiness of this report, the last two days of college have been rather busy. I'm still trying to figure out a funny competition that won't detract from the XO's current competition. I should have more by next week.
-Admiral Maverick
***CA:RO Jacob Van Nowak's Report***
::Salute::
Sorry sir for the inactivity my comp. was hit by lightning, and is being worked on, I believe it should be done by SUn. or Mon. if not I will try to send another e-mail. Sorry for the inconvience.
::Salute::
-VA Jacob Van Nowak
***Imperial Survey Corps (ISC)***
*Divison One Report*
Weekly Report for the Imperial Survey Corps, First Division, 01-25-02
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-Members:
War reported in saying that he wants to step down from his ISC position due to lack of time. Sorry to hear that! :( No reports from the other members.
-Division Commander:
I have to study for some exams, and as the little free time I have must go into my job as A-CMDR in the TC, this and also next week's report won't see a gaming club report from me, I hope you'll understand that.
Tempest, ISC Div 1 CMDR
-----------------------
FL-ROA/LCM Tempest/Kappa 3-1/Wing II/SSSD Sovereign
GOE/SS/BSx2/PCx2/ISM/IS-1BR-2SW-1SR/CoL/CoB/LoA/OV
[GALL]{IWATS-CBX-GFX-M/1/2-SM/2-TM-TT}
EO/SNR Tempest/PLT Aurora Guard/Solaris Systems/CD [BoM]
Kappa Graphics Designer
*Division Two Report*
On leave until: 1.31.02...
*Division Three Report*
Nothing new...
*ISC Roster*
Imperial Survey Corps Commander (SCC): Fleet Admiral Keiran Idanian (ROKeiranIdanian@aol.com)
1st Division Commander (1DCM): Lt. Commander Tempest (EH_Tempest@gmx.net)
2nd Division Commander (2DCM): Commander Tierce (ehtierce@hotmail.com)
3rd Division Commander (3DCM): Vice Admiral Jacob Van Nowak (JacobVanNowak@aol.com)
Team 1 Members:
-Lt. Commander Boris (blackmesa2001@yahoo.com)
-Commander Jan Wemmel (jan1506@gmx.de)
-Commander Mantis (tukes48@yahoo.com)
Team 2 Members:
-Captain Rekio (chaos_rc@hotmail.com)
Team 3 Members:
-CPT Crix Madine (crix-madine@home.com)
Awaiting Assignment:
None
***Recruitment Manual***
No new updates...
***Imperial Survey Corps Manual***
Nothing new... :(
***Non-EH Site of the Week***
This site I found is very interesting, if I could completely understand what I was reading. For our Portuguese, they may find this site very interesting, because even though I can't completely understand what all the words mean, it looks like a great site!
Non-EH Site of the Week
*Have a Non-EH Site of the Week submission? E-mail: Fleet Admiral Keiran Idanian.
RECON Office Websites
RECON Office - http://www24.brinkster.com/ehro
RECON Staff,
-= Fleet Admiral Keiran Idanian, Reconnaissance Officer =-
Admiral Maverick
Vice Admiral Jacob Van Nowak
Lieutenant Colonel Aylius Khan
Lieutenant Commander Tempest
Bem-Vindo a Nova Republica
http://www.novarepublica.com.br/
-----------------------------------------
Recruitment Manual - www24.brinkster.com/ehro/Recruitment.html
Imperial Survey Corps Manual - www24.brinkster.com/ehro/ISC.html
ISC: Second Division - http://iscdivision2.cjb.net/
[- ro@emperorshammer.org | www24.brinkster.com/ehro -]
RO-MAG-XADI/FA Keiran Idanian/CS-12/SSSD Sovereign
MoH/GOE/GS/SS/BSx2/PC/ISMx3/MoI-BC/MoT-1rh-1gh/LoC-ISx10/MoC-4BoC-5SoC-3GoC-3PoC-1DoC/CoL/CoB/LoAx9/OV-2E
[CAVL] {IWATS-AIM-CBX-CHAR-GFX-IIC/1/2/3-M/1/2-RPG-SM/2-TM-TT-VBS-XAM-XTM-XTT}
SBL (Sith)/CON/Alvaak
SC-SoA/BZ/(BN)/(LSAg)/ {SA: CORE}
"For the honor of the Emperor's Hammer"
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CA:RO/AD Maverick/CA-12/SSSD Sovereign
GS/BSx2/PC/ISMx2/CoL/OV-5E
[FUSL] {IWATS}
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CA:RO2/VA Jacob Van Nowak/CA-12/SSSD Sovereign
BS/PCx2/ISMx3/MoI/IS-2BW-3BR/LoC-PSx24/CoL/CoB/LoAx2/OV-2E
[KNGT] {IWATS-AIM-CBX-ICQ-IIC/1/2/3-M/1/2-RT-SM/2-TM-TT-XTT}
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WC-ROA-PROF/LC Aylius Khan/Wing VI/SSSD Sovereign
GSx4/SS/BS/PCx2/ISMx8/MoI/IS-1PW/LoC-PSx88/DFC/CoL/CoB/OV
[LGNR] {IWATS-CBX-GFX-ICQ-IIC/1/2-M/1/2-NS-PHP/1-RPG-SM/2-TT}
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FM-ROA/LCM Tempest/Kappa 3-2/Wing II/SSSD Sovereign
GOE/BSx2/PCx2/ISM/IS-1BR-2SW-1SR/CoL/CoB/LoA/OV
[CAVL] {IWATS-CBX-GFX-M/1/2-SM/2-TM-TT}