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A lot has happened since I first launched this web site in 1999.
Following the events of September 11, 2001, I joined
the United States Army Reserve, and have since logged the better
part of twenty years
serving my country—including overseas
missions to countries like Italy and Poland, and two full deployments to the Middle-East:
Qatar/Jordan in 2015-2016, and Kuwait in 2018-2019. I
currently
hold the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 3, and am serving a
state-side ADOS tour.
In 2009 I (finally!) achieved the dream of becoming a published
science fiction author, when I placed a winning story with the
Writers of the Future Contest. Following that victory, I
quickly sold another story to
Analog Science Fiction and Fact,
and began to publish regularly in not only that magazine, but
several other outlets as well. In the ten years since breaking
in, I've won three Analog readers' choice awards, been
nominated for several other significant science fiction awards, won
the
Association of Mormon Letters award, and—most recently—won the DragonCon
Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, presented by
none other than Science Fiction Grand Master Larry Niven. If
you want to
look me up on Amazon, my work can be found there, or through
Barnes & Noble booksellers. My expanding list of credits can
be
found here, and is updated on a fairly routine basis.
And all of this has been on top of keeping a
regular day job, plus having a spouse and family, et cetera.
As a result I've not been able to devote as much time to maintaining
and enlarging this web site as I'd prefer. So, I hope people
can be patient with my slow progress. The
STSTCSOLD&A remains
a labor of love. For my memories of enjoyment stretching back
decades to a younger, more innocent time. This game—and
especially the ship schematics themselves—has a special place in my
heart. Hence the reason I've kept this web site up (in various
incarnations) for over twenty years.
I also adore Star Trek as a franchise, beginning
with the original series (TOS) and stretching up through the
Kirk-era films, then through The Next Generation (TNG) and
Deep Space Nine (DS9) and even including much of Voyager
(VOY.) Though, to be honest, it became clear by the second
season of Enterprise (ENT) that the franchise was beginning
to waver. That's fine. Really, a good story
should have an ending. I learned
this while doing my batcave job. Thus I don't need Star
Trek to stretch on forever and ever, nor am I compelled to
invest in 21st century movies and series which have STAR TREK
stamped on the box . . . but feel less and less like Star
Trek. Again, all good stories should end. And
I reserve my affection for those parts of Star Trek which
have told the best tales—in my personal as well as professional
estimation—and have thus given me the greatest satisfaction.
Because they lived up to the motto: to Boldly Go . . .
— Brad R. Torgersen (1 September 2021) |
