Drew Karpyshyn Drew Karpyshyn is a Canadian author and game designer . After working at a credit union for some time , he eventually became a game developer . He joined BioWare towards the end of the " " series , and wrote the tie - in novel for " " . He stayed with BioWare , where he worked on " " , and became the Senior Writer on the critically acclaimed " " . This " Star Wars " connection gave him the opportunity to write " " , " " , and " " , his first hardcovers . During his time with BioWare , Karpyshyn was the lead writer for both " " and " " . He worked on " " and wrote two novels set in the same era called " " , and " " . Karpyshyn left BioWare in February , 2012 to work on other projects . Biography . Early life . Drew Karpyshyn was born in , , on July 28 , 1971 . He grew up in the Northern suburb of . As a child , he was a big fan of Star Wars . Between the ages of 8 and 12 , Karpyshyn dressed up as a Jawa for Halloween . When his friend told him Darth Vader was Luke ' s father , he was wholly unconvinced . As an adult , Karpyshyn worked in a variety of jobs , eventually finding work as a loan officer for his local . During this time , he received emotional and financial support from his wife Jennifer . On one fateful day , a car accident cost him his means of transportation . With no vehicle with which to commute , he decided to leave the financial industry and return to college , earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in fine arts . On March 7 , 2000 , he was a contestant on the popular game show " " Despite a strong early lead and a correct answer in Final Jeopardy , he lost . Career . In the Spring of 2000 , Karpyshyn joined BioWare Corp . , an - based video game developer . He was able to make minor contributions to " " , before it was released later that year . He was one of several designers for the 2001 expansion pack , " " . He also wrote the novelization of the game , published in September 2001 . Karpyshyn acknowledges that the novel did not live up to its potential ; he attributes this to problems in editing and the inherent difficulties of writing a direct adaptation of an open - ended video game . September also saw the release of " Temple Hill " , another Forgotten Realms novel that he had written earlier . Karpyshyn was a designer for the critically acclaimed " " computer game , released in June 2002 . He also worked on the expansion pack , " " , which was released the following year . Also in 2003 , Karpyshyn published his first short story in " " magazine . " Paradise Lost " is a new take on the Biblical story of . On July 15 2003 , " " was released on the Xbox . Karpyshyn was the lead writer and one of seven members of the core design team . Development of the game began around December of 2000 , and it was first unveiled at the 2001 . " Knights of the Old Republic " received a great deal of praise and awards . According to Karpyshyn , the game " let me get my foot in the door with LucasArts , " eventually leading to his career as a Star Wars novelist . In 2003 or 2004 , his short story " Feast of the Gods " was included in " Open Space : New Canadian Fantastic Fiction " , edited by Claude Lalumière . " Feast of the Gods " is a humorous tale about and the other Aztec gods . BioWare ' s next project , " Jade Empire " , was published on April 12 , 2005 , a year and a half after it was announced . Karpyshyn was one of 5 writers , but he was not one of the 3 lead writers . The year after that , he published " It ’ s a Living , " another short story . More significantly , he published his first Star Wars novel , " " . It was also his first hardcover book . In 2007 , he quickly wrote a sequel , " " , and recently published the third book in the series , " " . He also saw the release of the acclaimed " Mass Effect " game .