Howard V. Tayler (born February 29, 1968, in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

) is the creator of the

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...

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. After its debut on June 12, 2000, ...

''. He worked as a volunteer missionary for the LDS Church, then graduated from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

. Using his degree in

music composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...

, he started an independent record label. While working at

Novell Novell, Inc. () was an American software and services company headquartered in Provo, Utah, that existed from 1980 until 2014. Its most significant product was the multi-platform network operating system known as NetWare. Novell technolog ...

, 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, and the webcomic has been nominated four times for a

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

. 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 Brandon Winn Sanderson (born December19, 1975) is an American author of high fantasy, science fiction, and young adult books. He is best known for the Cosmere fictional universe, in which most of his fantasy novels, most notably the '' Mistb ...

, Dan Wells,

Mary Robinette Kowal Mary Robinette Kowal (; born February 8, 1969) is an American author, translator, art director, and puppeteer. She has worked on puppetry for shows including The Jim Henson Company, Jim Henson Productions and the children's show ''LazyTown''. As a ...

, and producer Jordan Sanderson. The podcast has been nominated for a Hugo Award in 2011, 2012 and has won in 2013.

Early life

Tayler was born in Florida. In 1985, he moved to

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

(his home as of 2020) to attend

. After studying there for two years, he volunteered to be a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

for

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church) before returning to BYU to finish a bachelor's degree in

Music Composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...

Career

Tayler co-founded an independent record label called ''Sanctus Records'' for the LDS market. Tayler also worked for

as a project manager, he co-authored a guide to administering GroupWise. In 2000, he began publishing his webcomic, ''

''. Four years later, Tayler left his job as product line manager at Novell to work full-time on the webcomic. By 2009, he was able to earn enough from the sales of the compilation books and other merchandise to make ends meet and reduce his weekly workload from 80–100 hours to 40–50. He was 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. ''Schlock Mercenary'' volume 20 finished in July 2020, and since then Tayler's career has been slowed by health challenges. In May 2024 he attributed his chronic fatigue to long COVID.

Works

In March 2000, Tayler, with co-authors Ross Phillips and Tay Kratzer, composed the guidebook ''Administering GroupWise 5.5'' to assist

system administrator An IT administrator, system administrator, sysadmin, or admin is a person who is responsible for the upkeep, configuration, and reliable operation of computer systems, especially multi-user computers, such as Server (computing), servers. The ...

s in managing Novell's GroupWise. Tayler's most well-known work is his webcomic, ''

'', a comedic

following the tribulations of a star-travelling

mercenary A mercenary is a private individual who joins an armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather t ...

company in a satiric, mildly

dystopia A dystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. It is an imagined place (possibly state) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmen ...

n 31st-century

space opera Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes Space warfare in science fiction, space warfare, with use of melodramatic, risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance. Set mainly or entirely in outer space, i ...

setting. From its debut on June 12, 2000 to its conclusion on 25 July, 2020, the comic was updated daily, began to support its author, and was nominated for three

s. Tayler also produces '' Writing Excuses'', along with novelist

, best-selling fantasy author

and horror author Dan Wells. Running weekly since February 10, 2008, this 15-minute writing tips podcast featured notable guests including Steve Jackson,

Phil Foglio Philip Peter Foglio (born May 1, 1956) is an American cartoonist and comic book artist known for his humorous science fiction and fantasy art. Early life and career Foglio was born on May 1, 1956, in Mount Vernon, New York, and moved with his fa ...

, Brandon Mull, Tracy Hickman, and Patrick Rothfuss. Along with best-selling fantasy author Tracy Hickman and his son,

Curtis Curtis or Curtiss is a common English given name and surname of Anglo-Norman origin, deriving from the Old French ''curteis'' (Modern French">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of Fren ...

, he illustrated and published '' XDM: X-Treme Dungeon Mastery''.

Schlock Mercenary

Main series: # ''Schlock Mercenary: Under New Management'', , May 2006, The Tayler Corporation # ''Schlock Mercenary: The Blackness Between'', , November 2006, The Tayler Corporation # ''Schlock Mercenary: The Tub of Happiness'', , December 2007, The Tayler Corporation # ''Schlock Mercenary: The Teraport Wars'', , October 2008, The Tayler Corporation # ''Schlock Mercenary: The Scrapyard of Insufferable Arrogance'', , June 2009, The Tayler Corporation # ''Schlock Mercenary: Resident Mad Scientist'', , July 2010, Hypernode Press # ''Schlock Mercenary: Emperor Pius Dei'', , July 2011, Hypernode Press # ''Schlock Mercenary: The Sharp End of the Stick'', , June 2012, Hypernode Press # ''Schlock Mercenary: The Body Politic'', , August 2013, Hypernode Press # ''Schlock Mercenary: Longshoreman of the Apocalypse'', , June 2014, Hypernode Press # ''Schlock Mercenary: Massively Parallel'', , December 2014, Hypernode Press # ''Schlock Mercenary: Force Multiplication'', , August 2016, Hypernode Press # ''Schlock Mercenary: Random Access Memorabilia'', # ''Schlock Mercenary: Broken Wind'', # ''Schlock Mercenary: Delegates and Delegation'', # ''Schlock Mercenary: Big, Dumb Objects'', March 2021, Hypernode Press # ''Schlock Mercenary: A Little Immortality'', Related works: * ''Strohl Munitions Activity and Coloring Book'', no ISBN, Jan. 1, 2009, The Tayler Corporation

Short fiction

*"Flight of the Runewright" (novelette), December 2012 in ''Space Eldritch'', , Cold Fusion Media *"Extraordinary Zoology" (novella), July 2013, , Privateer Press *"Heartfire" (novelette), September 2013 in ''Called to Battle, Volume One'', Privateer Press *"Fall of the Runewrought" (novelette), November 2013 in ''Space Eldritch II: The Haunted Stars'', , Cold Fusion Media *"Scrap Ante", March 2014 in ''Iron Kingdoms Excursions, Season One Volume Two'', , Privateer Press *"Mouths to Feed", April 2014 in ''Iron Kingdoms Excursions, Season One Volume Three'', , Privateer Press *"Call of the Caber", June 2014 in ''Iron Kingdoms Excursions, Season One Volume Five'', , Privateer Press *"An Honest Death", July 2014 in '' Shadows Beneath'', , Dragonsteel Entertainment *"Mind Over Matter" (novelette), December 2014 in ''Called to Battle, Volume Two'', , Privateer Press

Games

* ''XDM X-Treme Dungeon Mastery'' (illustrations, written by Tracy Hickman and Curtis Hickman), , July 20, 2009, The Tayler Corporation * ''Planet Mercenary'' (with Alan Bahr and Sandra Tayler), , June 5, 2017, Hypernode Media

Non-fiction

* ''Administering GroupWise 5.5'' (with Ross Phillips and Tay Kratzer), , March 20, 2000,

McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American education science company that provides educational content, software, and services for students and educators across various levels—from K-12 to higher education and professional settings. They produce textbooks, ...

Awards

Tayler won the Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards 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'' four times: ''The Body Politic'' (2009); ''The Longshoreman of the Apocalypse'' (2010); ''Massively Parallel'' (2011), and ''Force Multiplication'' (2012). Tayler, Dan Wells,

, producer Jordan Sanderson, and

(2011) were nominated for the

Hugo Award for Best Related Work The Hugo Award for Best Related Work is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for primarily non-fiction works related to science fiction or fantasy, published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The Hugo Awards have bee ...

in 2011, 2012 and 2013 for the fourth, sixth and seventh seasons of '' Writing Excuses'', a podcast for aspiring authors. They won in 2013.

References

External links

Howard Tayler: Ramblings of a Happy Cartoonist
(official blog)
Writing Excuses
(podcast)
Howard Tayler audio recordings and manuscripts, MSS 7974
a
L. Tom Perry Special Collections

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tayler, Howard American Latter Day Saint artists 1968 births American webcomic creators American Mormon missionaries in the United States American science fiction writers American science fiction artists American technology writers American comics writers American comics artists Brigham Young University alumni Living people Technical writers 20th-century Mormon missionaries American male novelists Novelists from Utah Latter Day Saints from Utah Latter Day Saints from Florida American male non-fiction writers