meet the staff

  

an introduction to who writes, edits, draws and designs what on Lightsabre

  
>>>contrary to popular belief, Lightsabre doesn't write itself.  here we give you the chance to meet some of the creative minds - and warped ones as well - behind one of the uk's longest running and most visited star wars sites...
mark newbold - writer, editor, guides, interviews

co-founder
Mark wrote Quest for Freedom, his first Star Wars story back in 1982 and had already completed a trilogy of stories by the time he and Jonathan Hicks began Newbold-Hicks Productions (NHP) in 1984.  Continuing with his main pursuit of writing while Jonathan concentrated on games mastering and building up the Setnin Sector through scenarios, Mark worked on detailed plans of Chancai and the back history of Jan Lomona (also his roleplay character) as well as other creations which include A-desando, Duze Jostenn, the Berone Sunrise and Cantarr bi-Romou, and began the early work on what has become the Lightsabre Guides section.
Mark began work on the Guide to the Setnin Sector as an aid to the roleplay games back in 1996, which swelled into what is currently on the site today.  In 1998 he wrote Jan Lomona and the Sirens of Amagad for the site (then known as Wirezone), which became the first major Lightsabre story and has been webmaster since taking over from Louis in June 2000, editor and oversees the Setnin Select programme.  Mark drew together what was then seventeen years of history and timelines taken from the NHP audio days, roleplay timelines (three in total), fiction timelines and others to make up what is now the Setnin Sector chronology.  He compiles all the Guides sections, cross-references each and every story into the various guides sections, chooses the Setnin Select images, oversees the links sections, writes articles for the Roleplay, Humour and Various sections, sets the questions for the Interviews and finds new guests, runs Richard Leparmentier's official website Admiral Motti and continues to add to the Chronology sections as well as writing for the site and was a part of the Celebration Europe Lightsabre team that raised over £1000 for Cancer Research UK.
Mark had an article published in Star Wars Insider #90 as well as four articles in Model and Collectors Mart, now known as TV Film Memorabilia Magazine.  He was also published in the online magazine the Star Wars Outsider and is a founding council member of S.W.O.R.A (Star Wars Outer Rim Alliance).
Mark lives in Lichfield, England with his wife Rebecca.
 
Internet Interviews
Fan Force Portugal
Star Wars Hungary
Lightsabre Interview
 
Published Interviews
Revenge - The Real Life Story of Star Wars Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith
jonathan hicks - writer, artist, d6 roleplay editor co-founder
Jonathan has been writing and drawing Star Wars since 1984 when he and Mark Newbold began Newbold Hicks Productions (NHP), a venture that continued until 1990.
By this time Jonathan was already an experienced games master, running regular games for Mark, Paul, Jason, Andy Curtis (the creator of Luschia Arkensaw, the Euphoria Station and other characters) Darren Houghton (creator of Colonel Cazinski, Kamira and…Coca-cola Man) Louis, Nick Gilmore, Paul Gilbert, Robin Oult, Dave Shields and Phil Thompson (AKA Peach Squadron).  This continuing experience with GM-ing became good groundwork for his later role as the editor and main contributor to the Roleplay section.
As well as this, over the years Jonathan has been Lightsabre’s main fiction contributor, coming up with many of the major stories and plot points and overseeing his numerous creations which include naming the Setnin Sector, Glann Cipple, Amagad, Carlonian Feese and most prolifically Goah Galletti.  He has also contributed images both computer assisted and hand-drawn to the galleries and the Setnin Selects and written articles for the various and humour sections.
Jonathan retired from the site in 2003 to concentrate on his own writing endeavours but still contributes occasionally to the d6 roleplay section and came up with the concept for the a long time ago photograph gallery.
Jonathan has also had his short stories `It's Not in My Job Description' and 'Jumper' published in Focus, the British Science Fiction Associations magazine for writers.  In 2007 his first short story collection 'Those Dark Places' was published by Lulu.
Jonathan lives in Lichfield, England with his wife Lisa and son Bruce.
 
in his own words...

jonathan hicks has been playing roleplaying games since early 1984 - that's a whole 23 years of gaming. in all that time he has gm'd 27 different systems, played in more than 30, been published in the short lived arcane roleplaying magazine, has written for an online roleplaying tips website (www.roleplayingtips.com), has been published twice in the british science fiction association's writer's magazine focus, designed the missions and written the dialogue for the mobile telephone game of acclaimed tv series battlestar galactica, and is the author of the short story collection those dark places.

the league of seven is the culmination of many roleplaying projects bundled together into one system and one setting.
 
Internet Interviews
Lightsabre Interview
paul squire - writer, consultant co-founder
Paul Squire wrote Frayed at the Edge, his first Star Wars story back in 1988.  Already a lifelong friend of Mark, Paul then regularly role-played with Jonathan and Mark, doing many games with Jonathan, developing the Ryath Centaur character and well and truly integrating his creations into the fabric of Setnin.  As well as playing a character, Paul was the groups second most prolific games master, running many campaigns in a style totally different to Jonathans and adding a hard, tough edge to Setnin that helped define the sector and the famed Setnin Way.
Along with more short stories, Paul continued to develop his own batch of characters which revolved around the ex-Imperial Centaur, and by 1999 and the launch of Lightsabre was a regular contributor to the fiction section, adding many flourishes to the Chronology with his great memory of roleplay games from days past.
Paul pulled back from the site in 2003 due to time restrictions but still consults on story and character content and was a part of the Celebration Europe Lightsabre team that raised over £1000 for Cancer Research UK.
Paul lives in Heathcote, England.
 
Internet Interviews
Lightsabre Interview
louis turfrey - writer, artist, technical advisor co-founder
Louis Turfrey befriended Paul, Jonathan and Mark in 1992 when he joined the roleplay group that Jonathan was running at the time.  Along with Darren Houghton and Nick Gilmore, Louis put in many hours playing a wide and varied range of characters, and from here came the birth of Tarr Ranth, Nias Derril and Daemon Garr, all now important characters in his stories.
In 1994 he and Mark launched Fanta War, a short-lived publication that saw copies distributed at the United Kingdom Comic Art Convention (UKCAC)`94.  Later ventures included a Fanta War website launched in 1996, and Wirezone, which was where Jan Lomona and the Sirens of Amagad (a title thought up by Louis) first saw the light of day.  Initially operating as webmaster, Louis named and launched Lightsabre in July 1999, setting its initial design and layout as he has ever since, and proceeded to operate the site until June 2000 when Mark took over duties.
An occasional games master, Louis is one of the sites artistic contributors and is an expert with computers as well as  a columnist in 3 publications. Louis is the sites technical adviser and after Jonathan contributed the largest amount of stories to the site, concentrating on his favoured group of characters, the Jedi, as well as occasional entries in the Various section and was a part of the Celebration Europe Lightsabre team that raised over £1000 for Cancer Research UK.
in 2008 Louis launched his own independent site Sci-Fi-Review, which will aim to cover a far wider base of sci-fi and fantasy products and releases.
Louis is a weekly contributor to Micro Mart magazine.

Louis lives in Lichfield, England and has two children, Star Wars and Doctor Who-crazy Ben and Bratz mad Jessica.
rebecca newbold - contributor, photographer  
Rebecca met Mark in March of 2006 and soon they realised that apart from having a future together they shared a love of science fiction.  As well as helping Mark find news articles for Lightsabre, Rebecca is also the site's photographer, snapping images for the site and helping compile convention reports and was a part of the Celebration Europe Lightsabre team that raised over £1000 for Cancer Research UK.
Rebecca is also the webmaster of new Star Wars site Star Wars Widows, along with a number of other similarly abandoned wives, and also contributes to the Lightsabre costuming section, as well as running the Lightsabre blog.
Rebecca lives in Lichfield, England with her husband Mark and 40 teddy bears.
jason brown - artist, d20 roleplay editor  
Jason Brown has been a friend of Jonathan and Mark since the early 1980’s, when he was already a noted artist.  Many of the various designs of Lightsabre have come from Jason’s hand, including the original and revised versions of the Berone Sunrise, the layouts for Chancai and the design of the Imperial base from the 1986 What Lies Within story.  In 1986 Jason began a comic serialisation of Quest for Freedom and over the years as games master drew quick sketches that illuminated his stories (many set outside the Setnin Sector) beautifully.
Today Jason is in charge of the d20 Roleplay section, a position he shares with Jonathan Hicks who covers the d6 section.
Jason lives in Tamworth, England and has a son, Fabian.
matt turvey - site design, technical consultant  

in his own words...
Whilst Matt’s involvement with Lightsabre is a relatively new one, Matt has known Mark (and the site) since the late 90s after moving to Lichfield from his original home town of Birmingham.  Having been a rare “creative" in the IT industry since 1999, Matt has often come up with innovative ideas (generally over a pint or two) that have struck a chord with Mark.  On many occasion there have been “That would be great” moments about website developments, but with Matt having fairly rigid time constraints with work (along with technical limitations of the time) unfortunately a lot of the ideas were consigned to being little more than a pipe dream.
Flash forward to 2008, and Matt has become a “victim” (if one could call it that) of Mark’s infectious desire to make Lightsabre more successful.  With Matt diversifying his professional work to create a full blown web design firm, the stage was set for Matt to invest time to make strides in technical development of the site.  Matt was responsible for the 2008 web redesign as part of his company Firefly Red including adding the new Flash menus to the site, and more recently has implemented a new media player to host the site’s Setnin Radio files.  Matt is also getting Setnin Radio to the masses by working to get them published on iTunes.  Along with the past developments, Matt is still full of ideas and has several (currently under wraps) plans in the pipeline to push the site further.
Having been involved in the club scene as a some-time club DJ/music producer since 1997, Matt also has expertise in the audio/visual arena and will be putting this to use by developing the production and image of the current Setnin Radio/Video as he has expertise in making successful podcasts.
Whilst (shock horror) Matt unfortunately doesn’t have the ability to quote Star Wars verbatim, he hasn’t found this to be a barrier to pushing the site to be a success.  By using his skills running both his IT architecture firm, as well as a creative flair that has allowed him to make some of Mark’s site dreams a reality, Matt sees a very bright future for Lightsabre.
Matt currently lives in Lichfield, England after spells in Birmingham, Chester and Burton-upon-Trent.
liane bowen - costuming editor  

in her own words...
Born in 1972... perfect timing as far as growing up with Star Wars is concerned.
My Dad introduced me to the Star Wars universe and nurtured my knowledge and understanding through episodes IV, V and VI. I like to think of my Dad as a bit of an Indiana Jones. He bares an uncanny similarity to the character...not Harrison Ford, just Dr Jones! Random!
I enjoy spending time outdoors, chilling out watching movies and DVD's. I love going to the pictures... sitting in the premier suite of course!
I have a motorbike (CBR 600 F) and like watching the MotoGP although I don't ride as much as I could.
I enjoy murder mystery dinners and I lurve...dressing up. I was the Cheerleader from Heroes at recent charity event, but I'll pretty much dress up at the drop of a hat.
Star Wars and Star Wars memorabilia is a significant part of my life, who am I kidding, it IS my life!!!! 
I take my job very seriously and am aiming to further my career so that I can earn more and therefore play more.
I go to the gym at least once a week, even if it just means sitting in the sauna... does that count?
I'd like to think that I'd try anything at least once... it's got to be about the ride?...surely?...My ambition is to always be able to say..."I was there!"  :0)