When Will You Write Another BattleTech Novel?

I get the question all of the time – “when will you be writing another BattleTech novel?”  I appreciate the fan zeal.  It isn’t a matter of me wanting to pen another novel.  After the novels I have written over the last few decades, I openly welcome the chance to climb into the cockpit of a ‘Mech and take her into battle.  I love writing for BattleTech and I'm glad some fans out there like my work. 

The IP (Intellectual Property) for BattleTech is owned by someone else.  It isn’t a matter of me wanting to write as much as, “do they have a slot for a novel open that is a good fit for me?”  When you are working with company’s like Catalyst , you can always offer to do some writing for them but it is a matter of them having the right product in mind for me.  Having worked with Randall Bills and Loren Coleman over the years, I trust that they will call upon me as needed.  They haven’t put out a novel in a while, so it’s not a matter of “we don’t want Blaine.”  They are waiting for the right opportunity…as am I. 

What is so appealing about BattleTech is that I am a fan of the universe too.  I like reading the stories and books about the product line just like everyone else.  I considered myself privileged to have been able to write so many BattleTech books over the years.  I have been around since the good old days (?) of FASA – starting with the first Technical Readout.  There are not a lot of writers that get a chance to work on such an IP for so many decades.   

While I wait for the chance for a book, I still am writing BattleTech – published on BattleCorps.com.  I get paid for this too, which rocks.  I am working on a series right now I call SOB (Son of Blake) which chronicles a Word of Blake MechWarrior through the course of the Jihad.  When done, it will be a short little novel in length.  I personally enjoy the project because it tells the Jihad from the Word’s perspective. 

I have three more installments in mind for the series – but I’m not in a hurry.  If you’ve read my blog you’ll see that I am always working on a book or two, usually with one under contract.  Doing stuff for BattleCorps is something that I do in my free time, when I get that urge to strap on a coolant vest and fire up the fusion reactor.   

So, another BattleTech novel?  Sure!  I will say this, if given a chance, I would squeeze it in somehow.  There is something to be said about the crackle of particle projection cannon fire and the staccato of autocannon rounds and the roar of SRM's clearing the tubes.  Saddle up!