Moderator: If you have a message for Kevin, please send it to me as a private message.
KevinJAnderson: Hello all.
Moderator: Please don't send your question more than once every five minutes.
Moderator: Anyone spamming the moderator will be silenced.
Moderator: Kevin, are you with us?
KevinJAnderson: Yes
Moderator: Welcome. Can you tell everyone a bit about yourself and what you do?
KevinJAnderson: Hi, I'm Kevin J. Anderson, and I presume you know somthing that I've written, or you wouldn't be hanging out in the chat room.
KevinJAnderson: I'll answer questions about Star Wars, X-Files, comics or any of my origional fiction.
KevinJAnderson: Let's go!
Moderator: <piett> to <Moderator>: What new books edited by you, Kevin, are coming up?
KevinJAnderson: I've edited three Star Wars anthologies and one War of the World anthology, which are already published.
KevinJAnderson: But I've found that...
KevinJAnderson: editing is a whole lot more work than writing, so I'll stick to writing fiction for the time being.
KevinJAnderson: ga
Moderator: <CamBorg> to <Moderator>: Kevin, what was your favorite thing to write and why?
KevinJAnderson: I just finished a big SF book called Hopscotch.
KevinJAnderson: I've had this in my head for 18 years...
KevinJAnderson: and I was thrilled to write it.
KevinJAnderson: But I try to have fun with every project that I do. Readers can tell if the author isn't enjoying himself. ga
Moderator: <Lothy> to <Moderator>: Hello Kevin, I was wondering about the Dune Prequils you are writing with Frank Herberts son. Exactly how are they coming and when the first one should be done.
KevinJAnderson: Funny you should ask..I just spent last weekend with Brian Herbert doing our final brainstorm.
KevinJAnderson: We'll start writing this week.
KevinJAnderson: We turn in the book by October-from that point it's the publisher's best guess.
KevinJAnderson: Dune is my favorite SF book of all time.
KevinJAnderson: And this is the greatest thrill, to be working with Frank Herbert's original ntoes and ideas. ga
Moderator: <Maxtype> to <Moderator>: Will you be using any of the Dune Encylopeida information in those books?
KevinJAnderson: No.
KevinJAnderson: We are very careful to use only the book's themselves.
KevinJAnderson: Frank Herbert never accepted the Dune Encyclopedia, he just thought it was an interesting effort. ga
Moderator: <jawaswag> to <Moderator>: Kevin, Are you planning anymore books in the Star Wars universe?
KevinJAnderson: My wife Rebecca and I our finishing another Young Jedi Knights trilogoy, and I have more comics in the works.
KevinJAnderson: No new adult novels at this time. ga
Moderator: <Jeremyguy> to <Moderator>: I've heard that several authors will no longer write Star Wars novels due to a contract dispute with Bantam. Any comments on this?
KevinJAnderson: (I've done 54 projects for Lucasfilms already!)
KevinJAnderson: Bantam no longer has the contract. It went to Ballantine. ga
Moderator: <Riptide> to <Moderator>: Kevin, what do you think the future of Star Wars will hold, and what do you expect in the prequels
KevinJAnderson: Let's see. George Lucas has always managed to surprise us, so even though we already "know" how the story ends, I'm sure we'll be in for a mind-blowing, eye-popping ride along the way. ga
Moderator: <M-Andrews> to <Moderator>: What are your feelings on the Star Wars character Mara Jade? How do you feel she influenced the SW universe, served as a foil, etc.
KevinJAnderson: (When the prequels come out, it will open a whole new timeframe in which to set other stories.)
KevinJAnderson: Mara was the 1st truly strong, new character introduced in the books, and she has been used by many of the other authors, including me, but you'll have to see how Timothy Zahn finishes his story to see what happens to her.
KevinJAnderson: ga
Moderator: <GitanticSmooshieBear> to <Moderator>: In Darksaber, Kevin killed off the character of General Madine. Was this decision discussed with anyone at Lucasarts or with any of other Star Wars authors?
KevinJAnderson: Absolutely!
KevinJAnderson: We thought it was time to shake up the readers.
KevinJAnderson: At first the Lucasfilm licensing people were reluctant to let me do it, but we went straight to George Himself, showed him what I wanted to do, and he approved it enthusiastically.
KevinJAnderson: ga
Moderator: <Azina> to <Moderator>: How did you get involved with the Star Wars books?
KevinJAnderson: I had written 10 origional SF novels, and worked well with my editors. The books were critically acclaimed (which means they didn't sell all that well).
KevinJAnderson: When my editor at Bantam asked me, from out of the blue, whether or not I wanted to write 3 sequels to SW.
KevinJAnderson: That's how it happened -- I couldn't have planned ahead for it if I'd tried. ga
Moderator: <mr20ator> to <Moderator>: I would like to know who he framed Jaina and Jacin (not sure on spelling) after, if anyone?
KevinJAnderson: In the Young Jedi Knights series, Rebecca and I wanted to create strong and interesting young characters.
KevinJAnderson: We wanted to turn the cliche around...
KevinJAnderson: by having the boy like animals and the girl tinkering with machines.
KevinJAnderson: But we didn't base them on any people we know personally. ga
Moderator: <GreyHunte> to <Moderator>: Who is your favorite Star Wars character?
KevinJAnderson: That's always a tought quetion, because the characters change throught he course of the SW novels.
KevinJAnderson: Wide-eyed young Luck in "A New Hope" is very different from the tortured, guilt-ridden Luke in Dark Empire.
Moderator: For those who have just joined us, please /msg Moderator with your questions for Kevin J. Anderson
KevinJAnderson: Han Solo, however, manages to be fun no matter where he is :-) ga
Moderator: <Constellation> to <Moderator>: If you could write a continuation of Jedi Academy, what role do you see the Jedi taking in galactic events in years to come?
KevinJAnderson: Funny you should ask...
KevinJAnderson: I have a new comic series called "Jedi Academy" which comes out from Dark Horse this fall.
KevinJAnderson: Which tells the adventures of some of Luke's trainees, such as Kyp Durron, Streen, Dorsk 82, and others.
KevinJAnderson: We hope to make this a continuuing comic series.
KevinJAnderson: ga
Moderator: <wompa> to <Moderator>: kevin: Was there talk be a animated series based on your Star Wars Novels?
KevinJAnderson: A lot of talk among the fans :-)
KevinJAnderson: We hope sometime in the future there may be a Young Jedi Knights series.
KevinJAnderson: But Lucasfilm is concentrating entirely on the Prequel movies right now. ga
Moderator: <Gator> to <Moderator>: Has your previous sci-fi writing experience helped you with the X-Files books??
KevinJAnderson: Very much so.
KevinJAnderson: In fact, Antibodies, is an expansion of an origonal SF short story I published.
KevinJAnderson: "Ground Zero" is based a great deal on my own research into the history of nuclear weapons.
KevinJAnderson: Everything I learn or do goes into the big database in my head and there's no telling what form it may manifest itself in fiction.
KevinJAnderson: ga
Moderator: <Psistrike> to <Moderator>: Kevin, just finished Anitbodies and loved it as much as the first 2. How did you get started writing for the X-Files?
KevinJAnderson: Chris Carter had actually read and enjoyed some of my SW novels, and said, "We should get this guy to write our X-Files novels!"
KevinJAnderson: So I received another phone call from out of the blue...ga
Moderator: <JeSteR> to <Moderator>: Kevin, what do you have up your sleeves for future X-Files novels?
KevinJAnderson: No plans for future X-Files novels at this time.
KevinJAnderson: I just started work on this huge Dune project (see previous answers).
KevinJAnderson: I still have some X-Files comics coming out.
KevinJAnderson: I should make the point, though, that I was never going to write *all* of the X-Files novels. There are supposed to be many different writers and talents.
KevinJAnderson: ga
Moderator: <Starbuck> to <Moderator>: Can you tell us a little something about the Dune prequels?
KevinJAnderson: The "Prelude to Dune Trilogy (House Atreides, House Harkonnen and The Great Spice War)"
KevinJAnderson: take place in the decades before Dune.
KevinJAnderson: It's the love story of Duck Leto and Lady Jessica.
KevinJAnderson: The planetologist Liet-Kynes and his early exploration of Dune and the desert people, initial conflicts between Duke Atreides and Baron Harkonnen, as well as the emeror's political games throughout it all.
KevinJAnderson: (I can't tell you how really cool this all is!)
KevinJAnderson: (And Kevin's typist aplogies for typing "Duck" instead of "Duke")
Moderator: <sprite8> to <Moderator>: How did this Dune thing start?
KevinJAnderson: We have the greatest respect for the Dune, and we absolutely intend for these to be as abmitious as Frank Herbert's own work. ga
KevinJAnderson: I had always been a big Dune fan...
KevinJAnderson: and 10 years after Frank Herbert's death, I still wanted to know how the storyd ended -- because it was obvious at the end of the last Dune book...
KevinJAnderson: that the grand finale was yet to come.
KevinJAnderson: Armed with my own writing credentials, I blindly approached the Frank Herbert estate and asked if they had any notes, outlines, or plans to do further books.
KevinJAnderson: Brian Herbert -- himself a widely published and critically acclaimed author -- had been toying with similar ideas and asked me if I would like to collaborate.
KevinJAnderson: It didn't take me long to make up my mind on that!
KevinJAnderson: But Brian was more interested in starting out with a prequel, and I immediately agreed that was the best place to begin. ga
Moderator: Here's a Dune trifecta for you:
Moderator: <Southpaw> to <Moderator>: But is Baron Harkonnen as sick in your novel as he was on the screen?
Moderator: <KROM> to <Moderator>: does the dune books tell of lady jessicas training into the witch hood?
Moderator: <Scifrk> to <Moderator>: Will you explore the Bene Gesserat (Sorry, it's been a while since I read the DUNE novels...)
KevinJAnderson: Absolutely not (re: Baron). We followed the book's iterpretation. He's a very intelligent, scheming, fat man.
KevinJAnderson: If you want disgusting running sores, you'll have to look elsewhere.
KevinJAnderson: Re: Jessica. Yes.
KevinJAnderson: Will I explore them? Yes, in as much detail as I can manage. They are very important to the entire Dune series. ga
Moderator: and a follow-up two-fer:
Moderator: <Sablestar> to <Moderator>: Will the outlawing of computer (AIs) and the rise of the Mentat be part of the books?
Moderator: <Lothy> to <Moderator>: Back to the topic of Dune, are you going to start off with the machine/computer vs human wars(if I am even making sense). If I'm not making sense then when in the Dune timeline will the prequils start?
KevinJAnderson: 1st: The Butlerian jihad took place many thousands of years before our trilogy, but there's a lot of interesting background there in case we ever want to go farther back in time for future stories.
KevinJAnderson: 2nd: We pretty much just answered that one. Prelude to Dune takes place about 30 years before Dune. The machine wars were many thousands of years before that. ga
Moderator: <Constellation> to <Moderator>: Is writing a series based on previously published works as satifying as creating a world of your own?
KevinJAnderson: (a brief pause)
KevinJAnderson: I find it very satisfying.
KevinJAnderson: In order to do a good job on SW or X-Files or even Dune, I have to live in that universe with those characters and *make* them my own for the time being.
KevinJAnderson: That's the only way I can put the passion and energy into the stories.
KevinJAnderson: I want to create as much excitement in the reader for my book as they had for the original material in the first place. ga
Moderator: <Doctor5> to <Moderator>: and how does a writer over come a writers block when writing ?
KevinJAnderson: I have too many projects in the works at any one time -- I don't have time for writer's block. ga
Moderator: <mr20ator> to <Moderator>: what is it like wrighting with your wife?
KevinJAnderson: My wife always helps me and brainstorms with me even when it's one of my own books.
KevinJAnderson: Since she had wanted to write young adult fiction, it seemed a natural extension for us to work together on the Young Jedi Knights books.
KevinJAnderson: How do we collaborate? Exquisitely of course. ga
Moderator: <KillerBunn> to <Moderator>: Any more colaberations with Ralph McQuarie?
KevinJAnderson: No, we just did our spectacular art book.
KevinJAnderson: Ralph's a wonderful and imaginative artist, but this was a one-of-a-kind project. ga
Moderator: <Starbuck> to <Moderator>: What were some of your influences in writing or literature?
KevinJAnderson: Dune, of course.
KevinJAnderson: Ray Bradbury.
KevinJAnderson: In non-SF, some of my favorite books are "Lonesome Dove," "Shogun," "The Godfather" and "Gorky Park."
KevinJAnderson: ga
Moderator: <RaineeDaz> to <Moderator>: have you written anything else besides science fiction?
KevinJAnderson: Many of my books with Doug Beason are high-tech thrillers, such as "Ignition" "Ill Wind" and "Fallout."
KevinJAnderson: (Tom Clancy style)
KevinJAnderson: Also, I've written some fantasy, some horror and some mystery.
KevinJAnderson: But somehow bookstores always throw them at the SF shelves.
KevinJAnderson: A good book is a good book, no matter what genre they put on it. ga
Moderator: <NeurOhamr> to <Moderator>: Kevin, have you ever written or are thinking of writting any books outside of the Space Opera style that you commonly use? Cyberpunk for example.
KevinJAnderson: The X-Files books are completely different from that. And all of my work wtih Doug Beason is different.
KevinJAnderson: Dune is its own kind of SF. And my origional book "Hopscotch" is very much the same flavor of book.
KevinJAnderson: In fact, Star Wars is the only space opera that I write. ga
Moderator: <Southpaw> to <Moderator>: Can you give us a few hints on what HopScotch will be about?
KevinJAnderson: In SF we've seen stories where one person will swap minds with another person.
KevinJAnderson: In Hopscotch, everybody can do that at any time, with anybody else.
KevinJAnderson: This means people can swap into a different body for the evening. Rich men hire other people to exercise their bodies for them.
KevinJAnderson: Busy coporate heads can even hire someone to swap and go to the bathroom for them.
KevinJAnderson: The story follows three friends: An artist who wants to experience all facets of being human.
KevinJAnderson: A spiritual young woman who has lost track of her original body long ago and wants to "find herself".
KevinJAnderson: And a man who commits a terrible crime and is on the run from the authorities, swapping from body, to body, to body. ga
Moderator: <Ood> to <Moderator>: Each of the YJK books mentions Jonathan Cowan, your stepson, as test reader. Does he recommend changes?
KevinJAnderson: Yes, and he has even named some of our characters.
Moderator: <Andy> to <Moderator>: Have you thought about writing any Star Trek Books?
Moderator: oops
KevinJAnderson: For years now our WJK book inprogress has been his bed time reading.
KevinJAnderson: I like Star Trek very much, but having written in Star Wars and the X-Files, I'm reluctant to spread out and write for any other movies or TV shows.
KevinJAnderson: There is a long research period to understand the ins and outs of any show, and for now I'll stick with the ones I've already learned. ga
Moderator: <Lobotomy> to <Moderator>: Do you spend time on the web? If so, do you ever visit fanfic/parody sites for The X-Files and/or Star Wars?
Moderator: (might also be a good time to plug the Kevin/Rebecca site)
KevinJAnderson: Because of my working relationship with SW and The X-Files, I'm not allowed to read fan fiction for legal reasons.
KevinJAnderson: I'm on the Internet sometimes, but I usually have too many writing deadlines to spend much time there.
KevinJAnderson: We have our own extensive Web site: www.wordfire.com
KevinJAnderson: Check it out for news, sneak previews on cover art and ongoing projects. ga
Moderator: <jawaswag> to <Moderator>: How did you get your start in publishing books? Im currently writing my first novel, and was wondering how to go about getting it at least read by the publishers.
KevinJAnderson: Let's see...
KevinJAnderson: I got rejected a great deal when I was starting out. Along the way I've collected close to 800 rejection slips.
KevinJAnderson: In fact, I had 80 rejections, before I even had a short story accepted.
KevinJAnderson: Persistance is the most important thing. Most new writers give up before they've put in their dues.
KevinJAnderson: ga
Moderator: <Teal> to <Moderator>: Do you ever base your characters on people out of your own life?
KevinJAnderson: If I answer that, somebody will sue me <g>.
KevinJAnderson: No, I try to learn how people work from observing my own acquaintances.
KevinJAnderson: But I've never taken anyone wholesale from my own friends. ga
Moderator: <skulker> to <Moderator>: Will you ever write a tv episode of X-Files like Stephen King and William Gibson?
KevinJAnderson: No.
KevinJAnderson: Probabaly not.
Moderator: <Sablestar> to <Moderator>: Will Mr. Anderson be participating in any of the upcoming compilations of short SW stories (example 'Tales from the Empire)
KevinJAnderson: I don't have any screenwriting credits, just plenty of books.
KevinJAnderson: Those compilations are reprint stories from the West End Games adventure journal.
KevinJAnderson: I do have a story that was printed in the most recent issue of the journal.
KevinJAnderson: It all depends if the editor picks that one or not.
KevinJAnderson: (These were not new stories written for the anthologies.) ga
Moderator: <null> to <Moderator>: Kevin, we all know how many spin-off Roleplaying games your Star Wars novels have created, and my question is, do you ever play them?
KevinJAnderson: This will have to be the last question for tonight...
KevinJAnderson: With what time?
KevinJAnderson: I had 14 books out last calendar year, and when I'm not writing, I like to be hiking or seeing movies.
KevinJAnderson: I have played RPGs, but they take up so much time I can't do that anymore.
KevinJAnderson: These were some very interesting and diverse questions. I'm glad people are noticing much of my original work beyond just Star Wars and X-Files.
Moderator: Kevin, thanks for taking the time to chat with us tonight.
KevinJAnderson: Keep reading and I'll keep writing.
Moderator: We had plenty more questions - perhaps we'll be able to do this again sometime down the road.
KevinJAnderson: Thank you. I'll do it again some time.
Moderator: We'll make the room unmoderated now.
KevinJAnderson: (Typist says: Kevin left, but he had a great time, and he says to thank you all.)