Ian Liston as Wes Janson

 
Janson: "Your orders are simple. I punch. You suffer. Got it?"
X-Wing: Starfighters of Adumar

The authors of the X-wing series...

Here's a few words from two people responsible for unleashing Wes Janson on adventures in a galaxy far, far away and in the lives of both the new and old generations of Star Wars fans.

I've asked them to provide the details of their biography as well as a few words about Wes Janson.

Michael A Stackpole

Michael A. Stackpole is an award-winning game designer, computer game designer, editor and writer. Born in Wisconsin in 1957, he grew up in Vermont and currently resides in Arizona. He is best known for his Star Wars® X-wing novels, I, Jedi, and the Dark Tide duology in the New Jedi Order.

Of Wes Janson he says: When I was first approached to do the X-wing novels I sent Wes and Hobbie out of Rogue Squadron because I needed to limit the number of characters who could not be killed. Since Timothy Zahn had used them in his trilogy, they were inviolate. When Dark Horse Comics approached me about working on an X-wing comic series and we agreed to set it prior to the novels, I got to bring Wes back home again.

When I have written about Wes, it is usually in company of Hobbie, and the two of them strike me as being in the mold of great buddy teams. Perhaps not quite Redford and Newman, but certainly more than Martin and Lewis. I've been able to use them in many comedic situations because the depth of their friendship allows them that ease of joking with each other that is so rare. That they can goof around is good, because when they get into combat, that all falls away, and they are well deserving of the title 'ace.'

I was frankly surprised when, in Isard's Revenge, I got such a reaction out of readers when Wes appeared to die. When I was writing that scene I assumed that no one would believe he had died because they'd have all read Tim's later books and know Janson was still around. The emails I got and the posts I saw to newsgroups didn't indicate that at all. The depth of love and appreciation for Wes, and the place he'd won in reader's hearts, was made evident by the emotional reactions to his death.

And the joy at his resurrection and reunion with his squadronmates.

Wes Janson is just one more of the magical characters in Star Wars. Through him and in him we can project ourselves into that universe. We see people we can understand and like. Wes Janson exists there because we need a Janson, and his presence makes the universe just that much richer.

Mike Stackpole

www.stormwolf.com

Rogue Squadron by Michael Stackpole Wedge's Gamble by Michael Stackpole The Krytos Trap by Michael Stackpole The Bacta War by Michael Stackpole
Isard's Revenge by Michael Stackpole I, Jedi by Michael Stackpole Onslaught by Michael Stackpole Ruin by Michael Stackpole

 

Aaron Allston

I was born in 1960 in Corsicana, TX. Related to too many strange people ever to lead a normal life, I began writing at the age of 11; I perpetrated my first short story at 14 and my first novel at 16. (Mercifully, both are hidden away from the eyes of men.) I studied journalism, among other things, in high school in Denton, TX, graduating in 1979.

I moved to the nation's capital, Austin, intending to continue journalism studies at the University of Texas while writing on the side, but neither a semester at the university nor a year with the Austin American-Statesman proved agreeable. After leaving the newspaper in 1980, I was hired by game designer and publisher Steve Jackson as circulation manager for Space Gamer magazine; over the next two years, I became assistant editor and then editor of the magazine. I also began designing game supplements on a freelance basis, for Steve Jackson Games and then for Hero Games. In 1983, shortly after Space Gamer won the H.G. Wells Award for Best Role-Playing agazine of 1982, I went freelance full-time as a game designer, doing most of my work for Hero Games and Dungeons & Dragons publisher TSR.

My first novel, Web of Danger, game-based fiction supporting the Top Secret/S.I. game line, was released by TSR in 1988. In 1993, Baen Books published my second novel, the original fantasy Galatea in 2-D. Subsequently, I gradually moved from game design to full-time fiction writing.

I live in the Austin area with four roommates, several cats, and a dog. I am unmarried. I enjoy reading, movies, ping-pong, and avoiding the rays of the accursed sun.

Aaron Allston
www.AaronAllston.com

Wraith Squadron by Aaron Allston Iron Fist  by Aaron Allston Solo Command  by Aaron Allston The Starfighters Of Adumar  by Aaron Allston

 

Various fan fiction featuring Wes Janson