Aaron Dale Allston (December 8, 1960 – February 27, 2014) was an American game designer and author of many

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

books, notably ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' novels. His works as a game designer include game supplements for role-playing games, several of which served to establish the basis for products and subsequent development of TSR's ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

'' game setting Mystara. His later works as a novelist include those of the '' X-Wing'' series: '' Wraith Squadron'', '' Iron Fist'', '' Solo Command'', '' Starfighters of Adumar'', and '' Mercy Kill''. He wrote two entries in the '' New Jedi Order'' series: '' Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream'' and '' Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand''. Allston wrote three of the nine Legacy of the Force novels: '' Betrayal'', ''

Exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

'', and '' Fury'', and three of the nine Fate of the Jedi novels: '' Outcast'', '' Backlash'', and ''

Conviction In law, a conviction is the determination by a court of law that a defendant is Guilty (law), guilty of a crime. A conviction may follow a guilty plea that is accepted by the court, a jury trial in which a verdict of guilty is delivered, or a ...

''.

Early life and education

Allston was born December 8, 1960, in

Corsicana, Texas Corsicana is a city in and the county seat of Navarro County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 45, 50 miles southeast of Dallas, Texas, Dallas. Its population was 25,109 at the 2020 census. Corsicana is considered an important ...

, to Tom Dale Allston and Rose Binford Boehm.Roqoo Depot: "Happy Birthday, Aaron Allston"
/ref> Allston moved all over Texas in his youth and graduated from high school in Denton. An avid fan of science fiction from an early age, by high school he was the secretary and reporter for his high school science fiction club. Allston moved to Austin in 1979 and attended the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

Career

Allston was a circulation manager, assistant editor, and editor of '' Space Gamer'' magazine, and by 1983 was a full-time freelance game designer. He served as editor of ''Space Gamer'' from issues 52 (June 1982) to 65 (September/October 1983), and as editor of ''Fantasy Gamer'' for the first issue (August/September 1983) and co-editor of the second issue (December/January 1984). During Allston's tenure as editor, ''Space Gamer'' won the H.G. Wells Award for Best Professional Role-Playing Magazine in 1982. Allston authored the book '' Autoduel Champions'' in 1983, which crossed over '' Champions'' by Hero Games and '' Car Wars'' by Steve Jackson Games. Allston helped launch the ''Fantasy Gamer'' spinoff magazine. He co-wrote the computer game '' Savage Empire'', which ''Game Player'' magazine named the Best PC Fantasy RPG in 1990. He authored the '' Rules Cyclopedia'' (1991), a revision and compilation for the ''

'' game. He branched into fiction, and in the mid-1990s wrote five novels. He began writing for the ''Star Wars X-Wing'' series in 1997, when the primary sequence writer Michael Stackpole could not handle the entire workload. Allston produced a new edition of ''Champions'' for Hero Games in 2002. In 2006, he launched ''The Legacy of the Force'' series with a hardcover entitled '' Betrayal''. In 2005, Allston made his directorial debut on the independent film ''Deadbacks'', which he also wrote and produced. The film went into

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

but was never released. Allston lived in Round Rock, Texas. For a short time, he worked for the ''

Austin American-Statesman The ''Austin American-Statesman'' is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is owned by Hearst Communications. The distribution of the following ''The New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', '' ...

'' newspaper.

Health issues and death

In early April 2009 Allston had a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

and underwent an emergency quadruple bypass surgery, while on the book signing tour for ''Outcast'', the first book in the ''Fate of the Jedi'' series. On February 27, 2014, Allston collapsed during an appearance at VisionCon in Branson, Missouri, apparently from heart failure. He died later that day in

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the List of cities in Missouri, third most populous city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County, Missouri, Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 censu ...

, at the age of 53.TheForce.Net story on Allston's death
/ref>

Selected bibliography

Stand-alone titles

*''Web of Danger'' (1988) *'' Galatea in 2-D'' (1993) *''Double Jeopardy'' (1994) *''Thunder of the Captains'' (with H. Lisle) (1996) *''Wrath of the Princes'' (with H. Lisle) (1997)