Howard V. Tayler (born February 29, 1968 in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

) is the creator of the

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be co ...

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 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

, then graduated from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

. 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 c ...

, 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 Novell NetWare. Under the lead ...

, 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 Full-time or Full Time may refer to: * Full-time job, employment in which a person works a minimum number of hours defined as such by their employer * Full-time mother, a woman whose work is running or managing her family's home * Full-time fat ...

. ''Schlock Mercenary'' has been nominated multiple times and won the

Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards (WCCA) were annual awards in which established webcartoonists nominated and selected outstanding webcomics. The awards were held between 2001 and 2008, were mentioned in a ''The New York Times'' column on webcom ...

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 and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier a ...

. 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 ''Writing Excuses'' is a podcast hosted by authors Dan Wells, Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, and author and web cartoonist Howard Tayler. Promoted as "fifteen minutes long, because you're in a hurry, and we're not that smart", the fou ...

'' with fellow authors

Brandon Sanderson Brandon Winn Sanderson (born December 19, 1975) is an American author of high fantasy and science fiction. He is best known for the Cosmere fictional universe, in which most of his fantasy novels, most notably the ''Mistborn'' series and ''The ...

, Dan Wells,

Mary Robinette Kowal Mary Robinette Kowal (; born February 8, 1969) is an American author and puppeteer. Originally a puppeteer by primary trade after receiving a bachelor's degree in art education, she became art director for science fiction magazines and by 2010 was ...

, 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 state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

(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 which 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.Tho ...

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 Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of 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 c ...

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 GroupWise is a messaging and collaboration platform from Micro Focus that supports email, calendaring, personal information management, instant messaging, and document management. The GroupWise platform consists of desktop client software, whi ...

. 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 Balticon is the Maryland Regional science fiction convention, sponsored by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS). It has been held annually since 1966. The name "Balticon" is trademarked by BSFS. Overview Balticon brings together over 18 ...

CONduit Conduit may refer to: Engineering systems * Conduit (fluid conveyance), a pipe suitable for carrying either open-channel or pressurized liquids * Electrical conduit, a protective cover, tube or piping system for electric cables * Conduit curre ...

LepreCon LepreCon is an annual science fiction convention with an emphasis on art held in and around Phoenix, Arizona usually in May around Mother's Day weekend. It is the second oldest science fiction convention in Arizona. It is sponsored by LepreCon ...

, and

Life, the Universe, & Everything ''Life, the Universe, & Everything: The Marion K. "Doc" Smith Symposium on Science Fiction and Fantasy'' is an academic conference held annually since 1983 in Provo, Utah. It is the longest-running science fiction and fantasy convention in Utah, ...

. His wife, Sandra, is also a published author.

Works

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

system administrator A system administrator, or 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 servers. The system administrator seeks to ensu ...

s in managing Novell's

. Tayler's most well-known work is his webcomic, ''

'', a comedic

following the tribulations of a star-travelling

mercenary A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...

company in a satiric, mildly

dystopia A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...

n 31st-century

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

setting. Since its debut on June 12, 2000, the comic is updated daily, begun to support its author, and was nominated for three

s. Tayler also produces ''

'', 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 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 family to ...

Brandon Mull Brandon Mull is an American author best known for his children's fantasy series, ''Fablehaven'', as well as ''Dragonwatch'', ''The Candy Shop War'', the '' Beyonders'' trilogy, and the ''Five Kingdoms'' series.Howard, Chris (March 7, 2008)Interv ...

Tracy Hickman Tracy Raye Hickman (born November 26, 1955) is an American fantasy author. He wrote the ''Dragonlance'' novels with Margaret Weis. He also wrote role playing game material while working for TSR, Inc., TSR and has cowritten novels with his wife, ...

, and

Patrick Rothfuss Patrick James Rothfuss (born June 6, 1973) is an American author. He is best known for his duology ''The Kingkiller Chronicle'', which has won him several awards, including the 2007 Quill Award for his debut novel, ''The Name of the Wind''. Its ...

. Along with best-selling fantasy author

and his son,

Curtis Curtis or Curtiss is a common English given name and surname of Anglo-Norman origin from the Old French ''curteis'' (Modern French ''courtois'') which derived from the Spanish Cortés (of which Cortez is a variation) and the Portuguese and Gali ...

, 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'', release date TBA # ''Schlock Mercenary: Broken Wind'', release date TBA # ''Schlock Mercenary: Delegates and Delegation'', release date TBA # ''Schlock Mercenary: Big, Dumb Objects'', March 2021, Hypernode Press # ''Schlock Mercenary: A Little Immortality'', release date TBA 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 Privateer Press is a role-playing game, miniature wargaming, miniature wargame, acrylic paint, board game and card game production and publishing studio. Privateer Press is based in Bellevue, Washington, United States, where they have their headqu ...

*"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

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 educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes referenc ...

Awards

Tayler won the

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 The Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story is given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories told in graphic form and published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. It has been awarded annually since 2009. The Hugo A ...

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 ''

'', a podcast for aspiring authors. They won in 2013.

References

External links

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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tayler, Howard 1968 births American cartoonists American Mormon missionaries in the United States American science fiction writers American technology writers American webcomic creators 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