03/30/12 - I wrote for gaming periodicals in the UK, and then moved to LA, and worked on GameFan magazine in the US, and a variety of other, wildly unsuccessful publications. After a couple of strategy guides (Turok! Metal Gear Solid!), I began working with Prima in 2000.

03/30/12 - Thanks for the reply. What kind of work did you do before the guide writing? You must have been in some kind of journalism, or author, or even field research?

03/30/12 - Thank you for the compliment. The guide was a real team effort (my co-author Steve Stratton worked on the Atlas, and Steve Cornett at Bethesda checked every single page, as well as the entire team at Bethesda worked very closely with myself – and I haven’t even mentioned the designers, map-makers, and other folk also responsible for this tome!). The guide comes out at the same time as the game because we receive a game build months prior to the release date. We usually saunter in just at the most stressful time for the developer; when the game is around 90 percent complete. Then we try to work with them, but not hassle them too much (after all, they have a game to finish!). We continuously receive game builds, sometimes working on-site with developers, to ensure accuracy. And everything is double-checked time and time again. I logged in 600 game hours, and 1,400 “writing” hours for this project, over five months. There are a number of changes that usually occur at the last minute. Fortunately, having written a fair number of guides, I can predict some (but not all) of them! We have a huge help from the game creators. Simply put – the guide wouldn’t be anywhere near as good without their help and support. They care for the guides just as much as the game itself. Hopefully that shows in the final product.