I'm a Redshirt!

Many years ago, I played FASA's Star Trek RPG. I played the security chief on an original-series era Larson class destroyer (USS Leyte). One of the stats you roll for is a straight percentile dice roll for luck. I rolled a 99 - the highest score possible. This perhaps explains how I managed to survive going down on landing parties with the captain, XO, communications officer... I eventually did a halloween costume for my character, red shirt and all.

But this post isn't about that. Well, not any more than what's already been posted.

I am, once again, a redshirt.

See, there's an author called John Ringo who seems to like racking up high body counts in his books. He also tends to give little paragraph/page length blips about some of the people he then immediately kills. Fans understandably dubbed these redshirts, and quickly found that the author was willing to use fan's names to avoid having to come up with names on his own. A year or so ago I emailed Mr. Ringo with a question about a plot point in one of his books that had been bugging me (he generally writes internally-consistant and fairly realistic fiction, so aparent plot holes bug me more than they do in some other author's works). He responded, clearing up the point and quite successfully explaining how it wasn't a plot hole. I thanked him and offered my name for redshirting should he choose to use it.

Looks like he has!

http://jiltanith.thefifthimperium.com/Collections/LiveFreeorDieChapters/LiveFreeorDie_05.php

This is a (authorized) snippet from a book that is not yet published. It includes a brief conversation between the principle character and, drumroll please: "James Raskob, President, CEO and Chief Engineer of AMTAC".

I've been planning on getting the book since I saw the synopsis (I've bought digital or print copies of most of Ringo's books), now I'm wondering if I should try to get an autographed copy. :-)

For the record, I have no idea if I die, turn out to be a villain, turn into a recurring character, or have more than the one scene in the snippet. Regardless, I'm kind of pysched to see my name in print.