I feel compelled to say something about this...
Writer Aaron Allston passed away last week.
Allston wasn't just probably the best writer to ever work on the Star Wars franchise, but he might be one of my favorite writers ever. Certainly, there's no author whose works I've re-read as many times as I've read Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command and Starfighters of Adumar. I took them to college with me and have probably read each one at least once a year for every year of the last fifteen. They'll likely never be called great literature or be remembered by history... but then, I'm not likely to ever take six months to read Les Miserables again.
Allston was fantastic at writing an enjoyable story that keeps the reader engrossed throughout. Allston was a master of balancing humor, drama and action. He could balance an ensemble of a dozen characters, giving each of them personality and depth and witty lines and heroic moments and an arc and--if need be--a meaningful death. His books would often make me laugh, make me tear up, make my heart race and keep me riveted to the page. I've often found myself paraphrasing his dialogue in discussions of other fictional works. Even when he wrote for a series I hated, he could still turn out a good story. He could take awful, two-dimension characters that other writers had created and reinvent them as complex and interesting. When he had the freedom to write his own story with the characters he loved, he could produce something fantastic.
It's no surprise that Allston used to write for Dungeons & Dragons, because his Wraith Squadron stories often felt like the really fun RPG campaigns I'd played in: diverse groups of interesting characters with varied skillsets working together to pull off some sort of complicated, off-the-wall plan.
More than any other writer, Aaron Allston was the writer I want to be able to write like. I want to be able to write stories that people will enjoy the way I enjoyed his.
Now I'm off to read Starfighters of Adumar again....
Allston wasn't just probably the best writer to ever work on the Star Wars franchise, but he might be one of my favorite writers ever. Certainly, there's no author whose works I've re-read as many times as I've read Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command and Starfighters of Adumar. I took them to college with me and have probably read each one at least once a year for every year of the last fifteen. They'll likely never be called great literature or be remembered by history... but then, I'm not likely to ever take six months to read Les Miserables again.
Allston was fantastic at writing an enjoyable story that keeps the reader engrossed throughout. Allston was a master of balancing humor, drama and action. He could balance an ensemble of a dozen characters, giving each of them personality and depth and witty lines and heroic moments and an arc and--if need be--a meaningful death. His books would often make me laugh, make me tear up, make my heart race and keep me riveted to the page. I've often found myself paraphrasing his dialogue in discussions of other fictional works. Even when he wrote for a series I hated, he could still turn out a good story. He could take awful, two-dimension characters that other writers had created and reinvent them as complex and interesting. When he had the freedom to write his own story with the characters he loved, he could produce something fantastic.
It's no surprise that Allston used to write for Dungeons & Dragons, because his Wraith Squadron stories often felt like the really fun RPG campaigns I'd played in: diverse groups of interesting characters with varied skillsets working together to pull off some sort of complicated, off-the-wall plan.
More than any other writer, Aaron Allston was the writer I want to be able to write like. I want to be able to write stories that people will enjoy the way I enjoyed his.
Now I'm off to read Starfighters of Adumar again....