Notable Writers

Matthew Clements is one of the newest members of the team, a former intern, current freelancer and in-house screenwriter for Palladium Books. He has contributed to the upcoming Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook, finished one top secret Rifts® World Book and is currently hard at work on two others.

Matthew’s personal projects, mostly screenplays, include science fiction, historical fiction and zombie movies, as well as a novel and video game in development. Matthew graduated from Central Michigan University in 2009 with a degree in Creative Writing and a minor in History, specializing in the ancient Near East. Before that he was a member and President of the distinguished CAPA theater program while attending Churchill High School in Livonia, MI.

“My influences are Piers Anthony and Michael Crichton; Paul Verhoeven and James Cameron. I believe fiction should be detailed and believable, while still serving as fantasy escapism that takes the audience on a ride through a new and unique setting. It’s not easy to do both.”

In the beginning was Steven, and Steven was with the Dawes, and Steven was a Dawes. The first word he ever spoke was “Quote,” and he expects the last word he’ll speak before he dies will be “Unquote.” Excerpts from his life quotations include the following:

Like a lot of gamers, Steven cut his teeth on the Dungeons and Dragons RPG. As a fan of illustrations and comic books, he discovered the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles® RPG by Palladium Books, and fell for it right away. After playing a few sessions, he decided to purchase his own copy, making it the first role-playing game he would own. While at the hobby store he spotted a copy of the Beyond the Supernatural™ RPG, 1st Edition. As a fan of horror, he recognized Richard Corben’s artwork on the cover and was intrigued. While perusing it, the idea of a “Supernatural Horror” themed RPG sparked a wildfire in his imagination. He purchased both books that day and has been a fan since.

Steven has played and Game Mastered many other Palladium role-playing games, including Ninjas & Superspies™, Heroes Unlimited™, Nightbane®, Mechanoids®, Dead Reign™ and Rifts®. But regardless of which setting he runs, all of his games have at least a hint of supernatural horror in them somewhere. Since its release in 2005, he has run only Beyond the Supernatural™ RPG, 2nd Edition.

Steven’s freelance work includes blogging and writing reviews for various newsletters and websites as well as several Rifter® articles (one of which was canonized in a Dead Reign™ sourcebook). His future projects for Palladium include both a “victims” and “ghost hunting/ghost story” sourcebook and others for Beyond the Supernatural™, as well as material for Dead Reign™ and Nightbane®.

When not writing, he can be found in school earning a degree in web design or at home taking care of his wife, his daughter and two zany beagles. Hobbies include reading, board games, video games, soundtrack collecting, karaoke, writing reviews, blogging, ghost hunting and being a horror and paranormal enthusiast.

While this fellow may bear a passing resemblance to Palladium Books’ beloved Rifter® Editor Wayne Smith (The Wayne Clone, 2009 Open House Contest Winner), he is in fact, one of the freelance writers for Palladium Books.

By day, Greg works as a Mechanical Engineer and his career has exposed him to all kinds of projects. Some of the highlights include the development of protection and survivability equipment and features for military vehicles and stealth systems for aircraft and naval applications.

By night, he is a freelance writer for Palladium Books, an avid gamer (both computer and role-playing games) and father of three boys (all of whom are eager to get into Daddy’s gaming) and, apparently, the greatest husband in the world.

At the end of elementary school, Greg was drawn into Choose Your Own Adventure books and role-playing games. The concept of creating your own story drew him and his friends to take a crack at designing their own games (a game they made up as well as one for a school project). He eventually stumbled upon the local hobby store, Fandom II in Ottawa (the capital city of Canada) where he picked up his first Palladium Books products; a copy of Heroes Unlimited™, Revised Edition, Ninjas & Superspies™ and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles® & Other Strangeness, Revised Edition. From there, his collection has grown exponentially.

Greg’s favorite game, however, was introduced to him by his close friend and started a long line of adventures and gaming in the world of Rifts®. While many assume the biggest draw to the expansive setting of Rifts® is being able to play anything and everything (and, yes, Greg agrees that this is one of his favorite parts), it was the fantastical explanations of myths and legends as well as bringing them to the forefront of the current game time-line, offering a connection to the past and exploring the ramifications of the revealed mysteries, that set his imagination soaring.

His work has been published in several issues of The Rifter® (#10, 27, 37, 50 and 51), and he pitched in on the editing of Rifts® Dimension Book 14: Thundercloud Galaxy™. Greg continues to explore the realms of science, magic, myths and legends with his upcoming Rifts® titles: Rifts® Lemuria, Rifts® Underseas 2™, and Rifts® China 3 (all expected to be releases in 2011 and 2012). He is also toying with venturing into the realm of Palladium’s Nightbane®.

A long, time Palladium gamer with aspirations to write, Carl Gleba has become one of Palladium Books most prolific freelance writers. He has six published books, one in the pipeline, and contributions in nearly a dozen other Palladium titles.

Carl’s body of work started with Rifts® Dimension Book Six: Three Galaxies™, his first venture at serious writing. What started out to be a submission to The Rifter® turned into an unsolicited manuscript submission given directly to Kevin and (former wife) Maryann Siembieda when Carl first met the Siembiedas at a convention in western New York. Carl’s next book was Rifts® Dimension Book 7: Megaverse Builder™, an ambitious adventure sourcebook with rules for creating your own corner of the Megaverse®. His most ambitious project, however, is the five book Minion War™ crossover series (Hades, Dyval™, Dimensional Outbreak™, Armageddon Unlimited™ and Megaverse® in Flames).

The Minion War is an elaborate metaplot involving a war between the minions of two rival planes of Hell that spills across the Megaverse. It has plots and connections to the worlds of Palladium Fantasy®, Heroes Unlimited™, Phase World®, the Three Galaxies™ and Rifts®. Best of all, each book in the series can be used as a stand-alone sourcebook or as part of the sprawling Minion War. The final book in the series, Megaverse® in Flames, should be released Summer 2011.

Carl is currently developing a PDF Game Master Package and a Rifts® Primer to help people run games. His other projects are top secret, for the moment.

Carl’s introduction to role-playing was Advanced Dungeons and Dragons in the early 1980s. Then he discovered Palladium’s Robotech® RPG and was hooked. He’s Game Mastered and played numerous Palladium game settings with Rifts® and Palladium Fantasy® being his two all-time favorites. Carl is a role-player who continues to game on a regular basis with the same group of friends for the last 20 years. Most of the time he is the Game Master, and it is this experience and keen sense of storytelling that has made him a skilled writer of sourcebooks. When Carl is a player, he prefers to play magic users above all other classes, although he does tend to mix it up for variety.

A big science fiction fan, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Star Trek (in all its incarnations) is its among his favorite TV shows and movies, followed by shows like Sliders, Star Wars (the various movies), Doctor Who, Quantum Leap and Fringe. Carl’s other hobbies include taking care of the family dog and being a “do-it-yourselfer” when it comes to home improvements. His future ambitions include writing more Rifts® Dimension Books, assisting in the writing of Mechanoids® Space and helping Palladium Books wherever and whenever necessary. Carl and his wife Lisa live in central New York. He is employed by a major New York bank and is a manager of a technical support and development group.

Mark started out as a fan of Palladium Books back in 1996, playing Rifts® at a friend’s birthday party and later at summer camp. In the year 2000, he started a Rifts® campaign that lasted eight years and a Heroes Unlimited™ campaign for three years before going on hiatus. In that time, the most ambitious writing goal he had was to someday be published in The Rifter®. He never really considered himself a “writer,” so the road to his first book had a few curves.

The Crisis of Treachery was the catalyst that drew Mark back to a deepened involvement with Palladium Books. For him, like many others, the fight to help Palladium culminated in the 2006 Open House, where he and his future co-writer, Irvin Jackson, would each inquire about writing a book for the Nightbane® RPG line independent of the other.

Five years later, Mark has written material for Nightbane®, Heroes Unlimited™ and Rifts®, as well as Rifter® contributions in issues 39, 43, 44, 48 and 50, as well as the acclaimed short story “Casualties of War” in the Rifts® Tales of the Chi-Town Burbs™ anthology. His highest profile work to date, however, is the co-written Nightbane® Survival Guide™, the direct result of his collaboration with Irvin Jackson.

These days, Mark continues to work on projects for Nightbane® and has plans for a few more collaborations with fellow freelancers. He is also writing a personal (non-Palladium) novel, with two more waiting in the wings to be written. Meanwhile, Mark is dedicated to obtaining his Master’s Degree in clinical psychology from Missouri State University, with the ultimate goal of a Doctorate sometime in the future. Of course, he plans to continue his game-writing and looks forward to a bright future for Palladium Books.

Taylor White keeps himself busy. In 2010, his rock band, The Revenge of Ricky Williams, released an EP titled “Past the Legal Limit,” played a charity event at local hotspot, The Rudyard Kipling, and played at the popular Annual Kentuckiana Pride Festival. For 2011, he is now poised to bow with his new and exciting musical project. Aside from writing for Palladium Books, he also writes, produces, and directs short films, does graphic design work, parties all the time, and makes trouble for the squares.

Taylor’s credits for Palladium include the following works: Rifts® World Book 29: Madhaven™, Rifts® World Book 30: D-Bees of North America™, Rifts® World Book 31: Triax™ 2, Tales of the Chi-Town Burbs™, a forthcoming Chaos Earth™ book, and The Rifter® #9 1/2, 28, 31, 36, 39 and 50.

Taylor lives in Louisville, KY, but dreams of touring on the open road.