Featured Character: Beowulf Shaffer

Beowulf Shaffer is one of the wellsprings of imagination and inspiration at Pan Historia -- the highly successful Beyond the Stars, in conjunction with other creative spirits, is moving forward into space at a frenzied pace. His Electronic Dreams, a "cyberpunk" novel, is taking off more carefully, as the futuristic cyber oriented Earth may take a bit more getting used to by roleplayers as it gets established. If science fiction whets your interest, check out either of these two fine novels.

As Beowulf indicates below, his interests range beyond science fiction and into horror and into early Scottish history. His characters are believable, strongly developed, and motivated by sound, if not always ethical, concerns.

Q: Why did you join Pan Historia? Were you writing before you came here?

A: I joined a long time ago, but couldn't find anything that made me sit up and take notice. That particular avie (Martin Theodore; I don't hide my avatars' identities) is still here, and has become active in the last ten months...in the horror and science fiction novels chiefly.

The name of that avie was my pseudonym for many years...I have published in small-market sf and horror mags and fanzines, and once each in Asimov's and F&SF, under different names, and have been writing for almost thirty years. Posting things on various writers' sites, such as Themestream, WrittenByMe, and the Vines was almost a hobby of mine, a small promotional tool that led me to meeting the writer of the character Saiorse Ui Niall, who is to blame for me starting to write here.
Derdriu Urchurdan at Scotia had an npc character, a Pictish priest (Fintan), that needed someone to write him. Saiorse talked me into it, because it would be such a challenge for me (I confess that I'm no priest *s*). I so enjoyed that work that I began looking for other outlets. Was a Viking for a while...but I had to kill him to make characters for the novel Electronic Dreams, which came about after meeting Saber...I was on the board of Tales of the Seven Seas for a bit, but quickly got lost, and we decided to have a go at science fiction. Killed that character too, and set up ED based on the backgrounds from one of my own novels...the relative success of that book and the excellent working relationship with Saber led to my joining Beyond the Stars and creating *this* character.

Q: Tell us something about your character, Beowulf Shaffer? I know his name is taken from a character in a Larry Niven science fiction novel; what elements of the original have you kept, and how have you expanded upon him here at Pan Historia?

A: I kept his name, his appearance, and his trip through a black hole. I've given him a background as first a military pilot and then a miner/smuggler in the solar system's a steroid belt. From there he answered an ad at a cafe on Mons Olympus that led to a berth on the Independence as a navigator.

Q: You're very active in Beyond The Stars, providing the science and science fiction background, largely drawing upon the work of Larry Niven and no doubt a few other writers from the field. What techniques do you use to introduce this backdrop to the story?

A: I drop the things we need in and cut out the rest *chuckles* Beyond the Stars is a classic space opera with a hard science overlay, going through a universe based on Niven's Known Space with a whole lot of the structure of the Marvel Comics Universe thrown in.

I use my characters' posts to reveal little bits about the universe we inhabit, and encourage the rest of the writers to chip in with the creation of new worlds and species on the planning boards.

Q: Who are other authors whom you especially enjoy and/or receive motivation from?

A: Wowzer! There are many. HP Lovecraft would be first. Jack Kirby, though he's an artist really. Loved his work though, especially the Fantastic Four. Philip K Dick and Roger Zelazny for different points of view, Alfred Bester for style, William Marshall, Carl Hiassen and Hunter Thompson for warped humor, Harlan Ellison for emotional honesty, and John Brunner for the example of how to extrapolate societal trends. There's a lot more, but that'll do. I'm a voracious and omnivorous reader...

Q: In some random hypothetical roleplay, what sort of character would be your greatest "stretch", but that you might consider tackling sometime? If you wish to reveal, what other things do you already participate in here at Pan?

A: Somebody with simple motivations and clear actions. My characters tend to be very complex...I have a hard time simplifying.

Oh my...let's see. I play a Pictish Priest in 6th Century Scotia, a serving wench (Blathnat) who is also on the board of the An Isle In Time novel but chiefly posts at Scotia, an artificial intelligence who is in both Beyond the Stars and Electronic Dreams (SAVANT), a man who becomes a cyborg later in life in both of the aformentioned (Roger Petronel), a nurse in Electronic Dreams, a horror/sf writer with necromancer tendencies in 666 West End and Dark Epitaph who also plays a writer in Electronic Dreams and is becoming a lobbyist for the peanut growing industry in The Common Plea (Martin Theodore). I've also played a drummer, a Viking, a pirate, and was a hobbit for a while.

Q: What are your greatest accomplishments, either in real life or Pan Historia?

A: My greatest accomplishments in life are surviving...and remaining sane, though that is open to speculation.

At Pan, I'd have to say my best work is at BTS, though I am proud of all of my other work, especially the continuing story of Fintan at Scotia. Maybe being able to write in all of those different voices and still carry on real-life writing and have a life is the best of all!

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