Howard Tayler
Encyclopedia
Howard V. Tayler is the award-winning creator of the hugely successful webcomic
Schlock Mercenary
. He worked as a volunteer missionary for the LDS Church, then graduated from Brigham Young University
. Using his degree in music composition
, he started an independent record label.
While working at Novell
, Tayler began online publication of Schlock Mercenary. He quit his job at Novell several years later in order to work on the webcomic full time. Schlock Mercenary has been nominated multiple times and won the Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards
in two different categories. The webcomic has also been nominated thrice for a Hugo Award
.
Tayler spends time regularly during the week drawing at a local comic book and gaming store, as well as producing a weekly writing tips podcast called Writing Excuses
with fellow authors Brandon Sanderson
and Dan Wells
.
(where he still resides) to attend Brigham Young University
. After studying there for two years, he volunteered to be a missionary
for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) before returning to BYU to finish a Bachelor's degree in Music Composition
.
as a project manager, where he co-authored a guide to administering GroupWise.
In 2000, he began publishing his webcomic, Schlock Mercenary
. Four years later, Tayler left his job as product line manager at Novell in order to work full time on the webcomic. By 2009, he was able to make enough from the sales of the compilation books and other merchandise to make ends meet and reduce his weekly workload from 80–100 hours down to 40-50.
He has been a guest of honor at many genre conventions, including Balticon
, CONduit
, LepreCon
, and Life, the Universe, & Everything
. His wife, Sandra, is also a published author.
s in managing Novell's GroupWise.
Tayler's most well-known work is his webcomic, Schlock Mercenary
, a comedic webcomic
which follows the tribulations of a star-travelling mercenary
company in a satiric, mildly dystopia
n 31st-century space opera
setting. Since its debut on June 12, 2000 the comic has updated daily, begun to support its author, and been nominated for two Hugo Award
s.
Tayler also produces Writing Excuses, along with best-selling fantasy author Brandon Sanderson
and horror author Dan Wells
.
Running weekly since February 10, 2008, this 15-minute writing tips podcast has featured a number of notable guests including Steve Jackson
, Phil Foglio
, Brandon Mull
, Tracy Hickman
, and Patrick Rothfuss
.
Along with best-selling fantasy author Tracy Hickman
and his son, Curtis, he illustrated and published XDM X-Treme Dungeon Mastery, a guide for gamemaster
s who want to focus more on the fun aspects of roleplaying games rather than the mechanics of counting everything.
Best Cameo Award in 2001, and was also nominated for Best Comic, Best Writing, Best Other Character, and Best Science-Fiction Comic the same year. He won WCCA Outstanding Science Fiction Comic in 2004, and was nominated for the same award in 2005 and 2007.
He was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story
for Schlock Mercenary three times: The Body Politic (2009);
The Longshoreman of the Apocalypse (2010); and Massively Parallel (2011).
Webcomic
Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books....
Schlock Mercenary
Schlock Mercenary
Schlock Mercenary is a comedic webcomic written and drawn by Howard Tayler. It follows the tribulations of a star-travelling mercenary company in a satiric, mildly dystopian 31st-century space opera setting...
. He worked as a volunteer missionary for the LDS Church, then graduated from Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
. Using his degree in music composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
, he started an independent record label.
While working at Novell
Novell
Novell, Inc. is a multinational software and services company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group. It specializes in network operating systems, such as Novell NetWare; systems management solutions, such as Novell ZENworks; and collaboration solutions, such as Novell Groupwise...
, Tayler began online publication of Schlock Mercenary. He quit his job at Novell several years later in order to work on the webcomic full time. Schlock Mercenary has been nominated multiple times and won the Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards
Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards
The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards are annual awards in which online cartoonists nominate and select outstanding webcomics. The awards have been held since 2001, were featured in a The New York Times column on webcomics in 2005, and have been mentioned as a tool for librarians.The WCCA represent a...
in two different categories. The webcomic has also been nominated thrice for a Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
.
Tayler spends time regularly during the week drawing at a local comic book and gaming store, as well as producing a weekly writing tips podcast called Writing Excuses
Writing Excuses
Writing Excuses is a fifteen minute long podcast hosted by authors Dan Wells, Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal and web cartoonist Howard Tayler...
with fellow authors Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Sanderson is an American fantasy author. A Nebraska native, he currently resides in American Fork, Utah. He earned his Master's degree in Creative Writing in 2005 from Brigham Young University, where he was on the staff of Leading Edge, a semi-professional speculative fiction magazine...
and Dan Wells
Dan Wells (author)
Dan Wells is an American horror fiction author. A Utah native, he currently resides in Orem, Utah.-Early life:Wells wrote his first novel, Choose Your Own Adventure, when he was in second grade. He followed up with several novellas, a serial and a series of comic books when he was in high school....
.
Early life
Tayler was born in Florida. In 1985 he moved to UtahUtah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
(where he still resides) to attend Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
. After studying there for two years, he volunteered to be a missionary
Missionary (LDS Church)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...
for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) before returning to BYU to finish a Bachelor's degree in Music Composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
.
Career
Tayler co-founded an independent record label called Sanctus Records, which was aimed primarily at an LDS market. Tayler also worked for NovellNovell
Novell, Inc. is a multinational software and services company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group. It specializes in network operating systems, such as Novell NetWare; systems management solutions, such as Novell ZENworks; and collaboration solutions, such as Novell Groupwise...
as a project manager, where he co-authored a guide to administering GroupWise.
In 2000, he began publishing his webcomic, Schlock Mercenary
Schlock Mercenary
Schlock Mercenary is a comedic webcomic written and drawn by Howard Tayler. It follows the tribulations of a star-travelling mercenary company in a satiric, mildly dystopian 31st-century space opera setting...
. Four years later, Tayler left his job as product line manager at Novell in order to work full time on the webcomic. By 2009, he was able to make enough from the sales of the compilation books and other merchandise to make ends meet and reduce his weekly workload from 80–100 hours down to 40-50.
He has been a guest of honor at many genre conventions, including Balticon
Balticon
Balticon is the Maryland Regional science fiction convention, sponsored by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society . It has been held annually since 1966...
, CONduit
CONduit (convention)
CONduit is an annual general interest science fiction and fantasy convention held in May in Salt Lake City, Utah. CONduit was founded in 1989 but took two years to plan its first convention...
, LepreCon
Leprecon
LepreCon is an annual science fiction convention with an emphasis on art held in and around Phoenix, Arizona usually in May around Mother's Day weekend. It is the second oldest science fiction convention in Arizona. It is sponsored by Leprecon, Inc., an Arizona non-profit corporation...
, and Life, the Universe, & Everything
Life, the Universe, & Everything
Life, the Universe, & Everything: The Marion K. "Doc" Smith Symposium on Science Fiction and Fantasy is an academic conference held annually since 1982 at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. It is one of the largest and longest-running academic science fiction conferences...
. His wife, Sandra, is also a published author.
Works
In March 2000, Tayler coauthored with Ross Phillips and Tay Kratzer the guidebook Administering GroupWise 5.5, written to assist system administratorSystem administrator
A system administrator, IT systems administrator, systems administrator, or sysadmin is a person employed to maintain and operate a computer system and/or network...
s in managing Novell's GroupWise.
Tayler's most well-known work is his webcomic, Schlock Mercenary
Schlock Mercenary
Schlock Mercenary is a comedic webcomic written and drawn by Howard Tayler. It follows the tribulations of a star-travelling mercenary company in a satiric, mildly dystopian 31st-century space opera setting...
, a comedic webcomic
Webcomic
Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books....
which follows the tribulations of a star-travelling mercenary
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
company in a satiric, mildly dystopia
Dystopia
A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
n 31st-century space opera
Space opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities. The term has no relation to music and it is analogous to "soap...
setting. Since its debut on June 12, 2000 the comic has updated daily, begun to support its author, and been nominated for two Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
s.
Tayler also produces Writing Excuses, along with best-selling fantasy author Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Sanderson is an American fantasy author. A Nebraska native, he currently resides in American Fork, Utah. He earned his Master's degree in Creative Writing in 2005 from Brigham Young University, where he was on the staff of Leading Edge, a semi-professional speculative fiction magazine...
and horror author Dan Wells
Dan Wells (author)
Dan Wells is an American horror fiction author. A Utah native, he currently resides in Orem, Utah.-Early life:Wells wrote his first novel, Choose Your Own Adventure, when he was in second grade. He followed up with several novellas, a serial and a series of comic books when he was in high school....
.
Running weekly since February 10, 2008, this 15-minute writing tips podcast has featured a number of notable guests including Steve Jackson
Steve Jackson
Steve Jackson may refer to:* Steve Jackson , set theorist at University of North Texas* Steve Jackson , co-founder, with Ian Livingstone, of Games Workshop...
, Phil Foglio
Phil Foglio
Philip "Phil" Foglio is an American cartoonist and comic book artist best known for his humorous science fiction and fantasy work.-Early life and career:...
, Brandon Mull
Brandon Mull
Brandon Mull is an American writer who is best known as the author of the Fablehaven fantasy series, which is a New York Times' bestseller. Mull has also written The Candy Shop War...
, Tracy Hickman
Tracy Hickman
Tracy Raye Hickman is a best-selling fantasy author, best known for his work on Dragonlance as a game designer and co-author with Margaret Weis, while he worked for TSR...
, and Patrick Rothfuss
Patrick Rothfuss
Patrick James Rothfuss is an American fantasy writer and college lecturer. He is the author of the projected three-volume series The Kingkiller Chronicle.- Biography :...
.
Along with best-selling fantasy author Tracy Hickman
Tracy Hickman
Tracy Raye Hickman is a best-selling fantasy author, best known for his work on Dragonlance as a game designer and co-author with Margaret Weis, while he worked for TSR...
and his son, Curtis, he illustrated and published XDM X-Treme Dungeon Mastery, a guide for gamemaster
Gamemaster
A gamemaster is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for questions regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer game...
s who want to focus more on the fun aspects of roleplaying games rather than the mechanics of counting everything.
List of publications
- Administering GroupWise 5.5 (with Ross Phillips and Tay Kratzer), ISBN 0-07-212329-X, March 20, 2000, McGraw-HillMcGraw-HillThe McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., is a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Rockefeller Center in New York City. Its primary areas of business are financial, education, publishing, broadcasting, and business services...
- Schlock Mercenary: Under New Management, ISBN 0-9779074-2-2, May 19, 2006, The Tayler Corporation
- Schlock Mercenary: The Blackness Between, ISBN 0-9779074-3-0, Nov. 15, 2006, The Tayler Corporation
- Schlock Mercenary: The Tub of Happiness, ISBN 0-9779074-0-6, Dec. 8, 2007, The Tayler Corporation
- Schlock Mercenary: The Teraport Wars, ISBN 0-9779074-1-4, Oct. 9, 2008, The Tayler Corporation
- Strohl Munitions Activity and Coloring Book, no ISBN, Jan. 1, 2009, The Tayler Corporation
- Schlock Mercenary: The Scrapyard of Insufferable Arrogance, ISBN 0-9779074-4-9, June 1, 2009, The Tayler Corporation
- XDM X-Treme Dungeon Mastery (illustrations, written by Tracy HickmanTracy HickmanTracy Raye Hickman is a best-selling fantasy author, best known for his work on Dragonlance as a game designer and co-author with Margaret Weis, while he worked for TSR...
and Curtis Hickman), ISBN 0-9779074-6-5, July 20, 2009, The Tayler Corporation - Schlock Mercenary: Resident Mad Scientist, ISBN 0-9779074-7-3, July 2010, Hypernode Press
Awards
Tayler won the Web Cartoonists' Choice AwardsWeb Cartoonists' Choice Awards
The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards are annual awards in which online cartoonists nominate and select outstanding webcomics. The awards have been held since 2001, were featured in a The New York Times column on webcomics in 2005, and have been mentioned as a tool for librarians.The WCCA represent a...
Best Cameo Award in 2001, and was also nominated for Best Comic, Best Writing, Best Other Character, and Best Science-Fiction Comic the same year. He won WCCA Outstanding Science Fiction Comic in 2004, and was nominated for the same award in 2005 and 2007.
He was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story
Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story
The Hugo Awards are presented every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...
for Schlock Mercenary three times: The Body Politic (2009);
The Longshoreman of the Apocalypse (2010); and Massively Parallel (2011).
External links
- Howard Tayler: Ramblings of a Happy Cartoonist (official blog)
- Writing Excuses (podcast)
- XDM X-Treme Dungeon Mastery (official site)