Is Martin J Dougherty an alien?

[Sven2300]

Hi,

I just got the great rift box and the 3 adventures and it looks so nice.
And there are so many pages.
And they are all written by Martin J Dougherty.

And he is writing most of Mongoose's published adventures.
And working on the new 'Element Class Cruisers' kickstarter.
Pretty much the main writing for all Moongose's Traveller stuff.
I followed his stuff since the T20 days and I must say that most of his writing is actually pretty good.
How can one man do all that?

Is he an alien?
Is he an AI?
Is he actually a bunch of people all using this alias for their collective work?

Somebody solve this mystery!

/Sven

 

[arcador]

I think he is also working on some other stuff, not directly related to Traveller.

You can also check his book on military topics (amazon is a good place to see the list).

Unlike some wannabe writers who publish a book and a half, Mr Dougherty writes. A lot.

His style is strangely familiar to the one of the now passed Christopher Hitchens (or perhaps it's a common trait in some English writers?). This is probably the top writing praise I've given on a non-literature text.

Some of the materials he uses are, I think (not verified), older traveller versions, so he is just improving/changing them. It's a guess on my side.

 

[phavoc]

Yes, Martin is a prolific author who branches out beyond sci-fi games. Some of his military books are very good (I have a few myself).

They aren't the same style as say Max Hastings or Norman Palomar, and there's nothing wrong with that. I have Martins' Warships: WW2 to the Present day and it's packed full of illustrations. I also have Hastings Inferno book about WW1 and Palomar's Naval Institute Guide to the Soviet Navy. Each has it's own appeal and place in your library.

 

[AndrewW]

Is he an alien?
Is he an AI?
Is he actually a bunch of people all using this alias for their collective work?

He's a Hiver so has some extra limbs. Think he may also be part Bwap and can handle all those little details to keep things running smoothly.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

We are all Negan-Martin!

 

[Epicenter]

Somebody solve this mystery!

/Sven

He's a professional writer who does this for a living, not someone who does it as a side job.

You'd be amazed how much you can get done when you that's what you do for a living so you have to actually hustle to produce output. :wink: Especially if, say, at some point he's planning to retire or he does contract work (so once what he's written is off to the printers, he doesn't make a cent off of it). It's not like writing copy for a marketing firm or something else where it's text as bundled with something else - his writing has to stand on its own.

 

[NOLATrav]

He's also hosted at least one television show. When I still lived in L.A. several years ago I asked out him for beers when he was there shooting (we had been in touch about some MgT writing I was doing at the time) but we weren't able to get together. I believe the show was military-oriented.

 

[M J Dougherty]

That was Triggers, I seem to recall. I didn't have a moment to spare on that trip unfortunately. I still do some bits and pieces for TV, though no show plans at present.

Games industry writing isn't my main job, though I seem to do a lot more of of it than I used to. That's mainly because Mongoose don't mess me around like certain other games companies have done. I've written a few things for Cubicle 7 in recent years. They're also a professional outfit.

Outside the games industry I write a lot of non-fiction titles for various publishers, which is still my main source of income although I was just remarking yesterday that I could probably just work full-time for Mongoose if fate decreed it. However, I'm currently on my second full-size non-fiction book of 2018, and I've done two short titles as well. No signs of that drying up anytime soon.

I spent some time on the lecture/conference circuit for the defence industry a few years back, but not so much recently.
I'm also President of the British Federation for Historical Swordplay and yesterday I celebrated my Silver Wedding. We had a day off and went to see Ready Player One.

So... yes, I write a lot. It's what I get paid for - actual output rather than time spent not-really-working. Like now, for example. Probably should get back to it.

 

[M J Dougherty]

FWIW, I was a professional writer before I began writing for the games industry, and games have always been one of the things I did rather than my main focus.

I know a lot of game writers started out in the games industry, but that's not the path I took.

If you're writing for fun you can do what you want when you want. If you're writing for publication you have to do what the client wants when the client wants it. A lot of gamers have great ideas about what they could or would write and will tell you how great it's gunna be (hence the nickname 'gunners' for this kind of would-be writer). But in the end you have to sit down and write the words.

Speaking of which....