Blaine Lee Pardoe

BlainePardoe.jpg
Blaine Lee Pardoe
Occupation Author
BattleTech forum handle bpardoe870
Homepage Official website
Official Blog

Overview

One of FASA's earliest freelance writers, Blaine Lee Pardoe has contributed to many BattleTech sourcebooks. In addition, he has penned several BattleTech novels in the original BattleTech series, the MechWarrior series, and the newer MechWarrior: Dark Age series, as well as several novellas and short stories.

Beyond BattleTech and roleplaying/wargaming in general, he has penned books in other fields such as military history and true crime.

Personal history

Pardoe was born in Newport News, Virginia, was raised in Battle Creek, Michigan, and lives in Amissville, Virginia. He graduated with a bachelor's in business administration from Central Michigan University in 1985, after which he worked for various automobile corporations in Michigan. During this time he contributed to sourcebooks, most notably those set in Star Trek and BattleTech, for FASA and others. After he moved back to Virginia to work for Ernst & Young LLP is when he began writing novels and, later, nonfiction works.[1]

Pardoe married Cyndi while he lived in Michigan, and the couple had two children, Victoria and Alexander.[1]

BattleTech

One of BattleTech's longest-serving sourcebook authors, Pardoe wrote parts of the original 1986 Technical Readout: 3025 including the first writeups with background details for many iconic BattleMech designs. As one of FASA's go-to authors he wrote, co-wrote or otherwise contributed to many of the early sourcebooks, scenario packs and adventure modules that fleshed out the BattleTech universe.

In 1995 he joined the ranks of BattleTech novelists with the publication of his first BattleTech novel, Highlander Gambit. Several novels would follow, as well as short stories in electronic format via BattleCorps and later Shrapnel.

Notable characters and units that he contributed to the setting include Cranston Snord and Snord's Irregulars; Archer Christifori and Archer's Avengers; Trent, Paul Moon and the Fidelis; Loren Jaffray; and Raul Tinker. He was also the main author covering the mysterious story of Clan Wolverine, and through the ComStar sourcebook and other fiction he had a part in introducing and shaping the Word of Blake faction.

Controversy

Blaine Lee Pardoe is a vocal conservative.[2] He expresses these beliefs in detail through his online presence, interviewing with conservative websites, and through his fiction.

One particularly vocal person confronting him online identified as "Faith McClosky". In a July 8, 2021 blog post[3] Pardoe stated that Faith McClosky was a false identity under which a certain person stalked, threatened and bad-mouthed him in an attempt to have him "canceled". In this post Pardoe repeatedly criticized "cancel culture", and defended his novel "Blue Dawn", which is "about the violent progressive overthrow of the [United States] government" and is "a political thriller, aimed at conservative readers".

On July 30, 2022 Catalyst Game Labs released a statement saying that they had suspended publishing new works by Pardoe due primarily to his "online activities which do not align with Catalyst’s publishing vision."[4]

Pardoe subsequently claimed a connection between this severance and the "Faith McClosky" situation, complaining that he had been "canceled" and that his publisher had sided with an "activist who threatened [his] life."[5]

Works

see also: Category:Works by Blaine Lee Pardoe

BattleTech print novels

MechWarrior print novels

MechWarrior: Dark Age print novels

Short Stories

BattleCorps

Shrapnel

BattleTech sourcebooks

(writing or contribution credits)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Personal site: author's bio
  2. ↑ [1]
  3. ↑ "The truth about Faith McClosky" entry on Blaine Pardoe's blog
  4. ↑ BattleTech forums: "Statement Regarding Blaine Lee Pardoe"
  5. ↑ Pardoe's statement about his severance by CGL

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