(Walter) Jon Williams was born in Minnesota in 1953, and was introduced to wargaming via Avalon Hill boardgames at age 11. He began gaming with miniatures five years later. He has made his living for many years as a freelance writer. Jon is an enthusiastic small-boat sailor, and has sailed small craft in the Mediterranean, Caribbean, and elsewhere, as well as teaching sailing courses for the American Red Cross. He is the author of the popular five-volume PRIVATEERS AND GENTLEMEN series of historical novels, available in paperback from Dell, detailing the history of a New England privateering and naval family in the years 1775-1815. He was able to make the research for his novels do double duty and produced HEART OF OAK, a series of miniatures rules for fighting sail in the period 1755-1815, as well as PROMOTIONS & PRIZES and TRADITION OF VICTORY, a roleplaying game covering the same period and supplemental to HEART OF OAK. A boxed set of the above is available from FGU as the PRIVATEERS AND GENTLEMEN game. Jon is now working on a series of computer games to appear from Baen Software on diverse topics ranging from the novels of Jame Austen (PRIDE AND PREJUDICE) to strategic weapons procurement (DETERRENCE). His novelistic talents are currently turned toward the science fiction field. AMBASSADOR OF PROGRESS appeared from Tor Books in 1984, to be followed by KNIGHT MOVES in February of 1985 and HARDWIRED the following October. He has also sold stories to OMNI, F&SF, and FAR FRONTIERS. Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. VI No. 1 Back to Courier List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1985 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com