I just received the sad and unexpected news that Aaron Allston, extremely popular Star Wars author, game designer, and my friend for many years, passed away at a science fiction convention, VisionCon in Springfield, MO.

Aaron was a beloved part of the Star Wars track at DragonCon for many years, and I saw him each Labor Day weekend.  It was an annual event to have the “Star Wars author panel” with Aaron, Mike Stackpole, Timothy Zahn, David Farland, and me—the room was always packed, and we all interacted wonderfully. We were the “bearded, balding Star Wars authors”…but Aaron screwed up the name, because he was the only one with hair.

The 501st Legion posted this wonderful photo of Aaron:

Best known for his Star Wars: Wraith Squadron books, which followed Mike Stackpole’s popular X-Wing series, Aaron attended many conventions, including media cons, gaming cons, comic cons.  He worked on gaming magazines, designed games, worked on Dungeons & Dragons, and was always a fan favorite.

I had the opportunity to publish some of his original work at WordFire Press in our first two volumes of FIVE BY FIVE. Aaron had the chance to launch his original “Dollgangers” military SF series. He was always reliable, a workhorse, and delivered fiction that the fans and reviewers loved.  We’ll miss him.