2020 - 02/2020 Meeting

Page Created: 01/13/20. Last Updated: 05/17/20.

PATRICK HICKEY JR

Author Site: http://patrickhickeyjr.com/

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/Patrickhickeyjr

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReviewFixPat?

This is from Patrick's FaceBook Page on February 9, 2020 (posted with permission):

Man. What a night. Speaking engagement at a Science Fiction Writers group in NJ. Had no idea what to expect. Brought all the books and shirts I had, but wasn’t expecting anything. Just wanted to talk about my books and hopefully connect with a few people.

I came into a wonderful environment, filled with a packed house of people and sold every single book I own and nearly all of my shirts. And best part, they listened, they laughed, they got it. They cared. Since I started this adventure, I’ve never doubted the importance of my work. I know it’s worth my time and I know it has meaning- but shit, there are times when it’s so hard. Trying to get people to care about something they think they know a lot about, in this case, video games- is rough. Getting people to get interested in something they don’t have a clue or care about is even tougher. The audience tonight was mixed but man, it was fun. I loved every second.

Afterward, I ended up going to a diner with some of the people I spoke with and had the nerdiest convo I’ve had in years. References to Soap, Spaced, Chronicles of Riddick. Heaven.

What a night. Man.

MEETING DETAIL

Meeting Date: February 8, 2020.

Meeting Site: Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Attendance: 36.

Meeting Program: Talk / Q & A by Journalist / Writer / Voice Actor.

Newsletter Account

The February 8, 2020 General Meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen county ws held at the Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. The March issue of The Starship Express did not have room for a write-up. We had planned to post it on the club website. We now have space for it as we are not listing events for April as a result of cancellations due to the corona virus.

Patrick HIckey Jr was our speaker. Mr Hickey is a journalist, a college professor, a voice actor, and the author of three nonfiction books about the creators of video games: THE MINDS BEHIND THE GAMES, THE MINDS BEHIND THE ADVENTURE GAMES, and the forthcoming THE MINDS BEHIND THE SPORTS GAMES.

Our speaker was born to a working class family. Most writers hear the call of literature at an early age, but Patrick wanted to play professional hockey. That dream died when he was hit by a car, so he decided to go to college, becoming the first member of his family to do so.

He became interested in journalism while attending Kingsborough College, transferred to Brooklyn College, edited the college magazine, and acquired a Bachelor's and a Master's in Journalism. This led to a stint at NBC where he did publicity work for 30 ROCK and SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. The entertainment business is crazy and stressful, so he switched careers and become a college professor.

The years passed. Life was good. He married his grade school crush, had a daughter, put on a lot of weight, and was on the track for tenure at Kingsborough. He proposed teaching a class about Popular Culture. The idea was shot down. Patrick was pissed. His wife pointed out that he had been checking off things from his bucket list and that maybe it was time for him to write a book.

Writing a book was indeed something he had talked about from time to time, but a book about what? He was wandering around his place, passed a closet full of video games, and paused. Who created Grand Theft Auto? Had he ever read anything about the creators of any of his video games?

Mr Hickey pulled six games from the closet and contacted the creators to ask for interviews for a proposed book. All six agreed. The resultant interviews became the first six chapters of the proposal. He compiled a list of an additional 20 creators he could interview to flesh out the rest of the volume.

MacFarland & Company was not only interested in te book, they believed it could become a series. THE MINDS BEHIND THE GAMES expanded to 36 interviews and was published in 2018. It sold out and is now in its third printing. THE MINDS BEHIND THE ADVENTURE GAMES, published in 2019, is now in its second printing. THE MINDS BEHIND THE SPORTS GAMES is due out later this year. He plans to write two more volumes, but has not decided on which areas of video games to cover.

Mr Hickey's contacts connected him with a Bulgarian game company (whose corporate headquarters is in upstate New York, don't ask) which was attempting to break into the U.S. market. He thought the game was good, but that it wouldn't sell here because the game text had been written by Bulgarians with only a passing understanding of English. A flurry of texts later (Pat said it resembled a drug deal), our speaker signed on as editor for the game. Things nearly fell apart at the last minute when the voice actor quit days before the release date. "I can do it!" said Pat. And so was born a voice actor. He later began writing stories and non fiction for the company,

The early game designers were rocket scientist level geniuses, our speaker said. They had to design and create everything from scratch. Today's game designers utilize software packages which do much of the work for them. They are good, but they are not on the same level as the trailblazers.

Tracking down American game creators was not very difficult, but contacting those from Japan was challenging. In addition to the obvious language complications, American games identified the creators. Japanese game creators often used house names or were not identified at all. Patrick also stated that the Japanese do no like fat whit guys (he has since lost a lot of weight).

People interested in free vintage video games should visit the site https://www.myabandonware.com/.

Our speaker is a full-time college professor. In addition to writing a book a year, he teaches four courses four days a week. His daughter is three years old, so he doesn't have time to sleep.

He met his future wife while he was in kindergarten. Her younger sister was in his class. He was smitten but too shy to speak to an older (by two years) woman. They went their separate ways. He later reconnected with her younger sister through FaceBook. She put him in touch with her sister, assuring her sibling that he was an okay guy. They FaceBook corresponded for three months before meeting in person.

This account does not do justice to Patrick's lively presentation. Everyone rved about how good he was including people who were not fans of video games. His movie-trailer announcer voice brought down the house. He sold out of the books he had brought and of most of the te-shirts as well.

Thanks to everyone who helped make the meeting a smashing success, especially to Jim Phillips for suggesting Patrick as a speaker and for driving him to and from the meeting.