Fans of the Star Wars Customizable Card Game (SWCCG) from Decipher, Inc. were certainly sad to see the Star Wars card game license leap over to Wizards of the Coast, but many found themselves enthralled by Decipher’s later card game with the same great SWCCG rules and mechanics – the science fiction universe known as WARS.
Today, the WARS franchise is once again heating up. After the release of two card sets (Incursion and Nowhere to Hide) from Decipher and a roleplaying game from Mongoose (in three guidebooks: the starter book; the Battlefront sourcebook; and the Incursion adventure), plus numerous free online short stories (including contributions by noted Star Wars author Michael Stackpole), the core of the WARS saga and its universe had developed into an intriguing new science fiction tale with a core dynamic that leaves “right” and “wrong” up to the player or reader. It is a universe where the Solar System is politically and conceptually torn, where one side’s heroes are another’s villains, and the ethical questions that arise rival those of our modern world.
It is a Solar System split into five factions by the era of the card and roleplaying games: the three divisions within humanity (Earthers, Gongen, and Mavericks) and two alien races new to the Solar System (Shi and Quay).
Now, as the WARS saga emerges again into development by Decipher and new creative licensee Grail Quest Books, I am pleased to be a part of this new era in WARS publishing.
This summer, Grail Quest Books will be launching two new projects in the WARS saga: a new comic book series by Sean E. Williams, and the first three graphic novellas in a nine-book line dealing with the lead-up to one of the most pivotal moments in the saga: the Battle of Phobos.
The novella series (featuring three novellas for each of the three human factions) begins with the first Gongen novella by Sean E. Williams, the first Maverick novella by my fellow Star Wars fan audio producer and podcaster Jim “Indiana Jim” Perry, and the first Earther novella by yours truly, Nathan P. Butler.
For those unfamiliar with the saga:
In the era of the Battle of Phobos, the “Rift” has not yet occurred. Given that the Rift is what brings the Shi and Quay alien races into the Solar System, that means that the era in which the novellas take place is one in which there are three, rather than five, factions at play. The Earthers (subject of my novella) are a corporate culture, led by the Central Governance Corporation with many other corporations handling various other societal functions, such as intelligence-gathering, weapons projects, shipbuilding, and more. The so-called “Gongen” are the people of Mars, largely Asian in culture, who have recently declared independence from Earth, sparking the forthcoming Battle of Phobos. The Mavericks, meanwhile, are the outlaws of the era in the Outer Rim, consisting of various gangs rather than one cohesive whole.
My novella will be focusing on the defection of an Earther scientist from the XeLabs Shroud project to the Mavericks. Given the nature of his knowledge and the cargo he carries, machinations are underway within CISyn, Earth’s primary intelligence corporation, led in the efforts by Jylan Rathe. XeLabs has its own team involved, however, led by the medical and support vessel Shadowsurfer, whose crew is led by Captain Rogan Hallard, a man torn between the violent duties of war and his calling to “do no harm” in pursuit of aiding those in need of medical attention.
My Earther novella will be the first to be released this summer, thus laying some of the groundwork for the stories to come. Moreover, these are not just “regular ol’ novellas.” Instead, these novellas are being produced in the same vein as the Dark Forces graphic novellas from Dark Horse Comics, in that our WARS novellas will feature approximately 120 story pages and ten lithograph art pages by WARS artists.
It is a great time to be getting into this saga as things are heating up, and I would encourage anyone who has enjoyed my previous work in Star Wars Tales, my original fiction (Echoes, Greater Good, or otherwise, to check out this new series.
What’s more: There is currently a major preorder push going on right now that will provide exclusive incentives to those who preorder now, rather than waiting until release this summer. (There will also be some drawings and/or contests relating to this that will be touched upon at a later date through my podcast, The Butlerniverse.
So, without further ado, I would ask that those interested check out these two links:
Press Release for Novella Series
* My novella is the Earther one currently listed on the page. The preorder price, which includes shipping and an exclusive variant cover, is currently only $20, which is $5 less than the Dark Forces graphic novellas were several years ago. It’s a heck of a deal during preorder time . . .
Thanks for checking this out. I am (and we are) really excited about this new series.
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