Ask the Author: Keith R.A. DeCandido
Answered Questions (48)
Keith R.A. DeCandido
Sorry for not answering this sooner, I only just saw it for some reason.....
My favorite character is FBI Special Agent Victor Hendriksen, and my favorite episode is "Jus in Bello," despite the fact that it ends with Hendriksen's death, which annoyed the crap out of me. I really liked that character a lot, and would have loved to see the show go forward with him as an ally instead of him just being the latest friend of the brothers to be killed off.
My favorite character is FBI Special Agent Victor Hendriksen, and my favorite episode is "Jus in Bello," despite the fact that it ends with Hendriksen's death, which annoyed the crap out of me. I really liked that character a lot, and would have loved to see the show go forward with him as an ally instead of him just being the latest friend of the brothers to be killed off.
Keith R.A. DeCandido
Thank you! I hope it will become a series -- my contract is for one book with an option for more. I should hear soon from Blackstone if they want to pick up that option.
FWIW, I've already got Book 2 all plotted out.... :)
FWIW, I've already got Book 2 all plotted out.... :)
Keith R.A. DeCandido
I wrote a Command & Conquer book, and it was almost 20 years ago now. (Wrote the book in 2006, it came out in spring 2007.) I honestly don't have many thoughts about the game simply because it's been almost 20 years. The game that my book tied into -- which was EA's first shot at it -- tanked like a big giant tanking thing (and so did my book), so much so that the planned next game (which I sowed the seeds for in my novel) never happened. Make of that what you will........
Keith R.A. DeCandido
The process was the same as it is for most movie novelizations: the writer is sent a script ahead of time and writes the novel based on that. But there is always material that has to be added, as a screenplay only has about a short story's worth of content. (That's also why movie adaptations of books tend to cut things, because all the content from a novel won't fit in a movie.)
I used the entirety of the screenplay, including some scenes that wound up being cut from the movie. I also made use of some material from the FIREFLY TV series, particularly the opening scenes from the end of the war as well as Simon's rescue of River. (I also added material to the latter to reconcile the inconsistencies between what Simon described in the pilot episode of the TV show and what we saw in the movie.)
Some material I added included dramatizing the massacre on Haven, the backstory on Mr. Universe, the operative torturing Fanty & Mingo, and a few other bits.
I used the entirety of the screenplay, including some scenes that wound up being cut from the movie. I also made use of some material from the FIREFLY TV series, particularly the opening scenes from the end of the war as well as Simon's rescue of River. (I also added material to the latter to reconcile the inconsistencies between what Simon described in the pilot episode of the TV show and what we saw in the movie.)
Some material I added included dramatizing the massacre on Haven, the backstory on Mr. Universe, the operative torturing Fanty & Mingo, and a few other bits.
Keith R.A. DeCandido
There are, as you probably know, six novels and one short story collection already. There will definitely be one more novel -- MANTICORE PRECINCT -- and one more collection -- MORE TALES FROM DRAGON PRECINCT. While I will be out of precincts to use as titles at that point, don't be surprised if there are more stories of Cliff's End after that......
Keith R.A. DeCandido
I studied 19th century literature in college (at Fordham University, which plays a role in the novel), and have read pretty much all of Poe's works over the course of my lifetime. It's one of the reasons why I chose to focus on Poe in the novel, besides the fact that Poe pretty much created the very horror genre that SUPERNATURAL is a part of.
Glad you enjoyed the book!
Glad you enjoyed the book!
Keith R.A. DeCandido
Probably not, but neither is anyone else. Titan's contract has ended, and with the show off the air, they're unlikely to renew it.
Tie-in books don't start with the writer, they start with the publisher. What happens is a book publisher (Titan in the case of Supernatural) buys the rights from the people who own the property (Warner Bros. in the case of Supernatural) and then they hire writers (like me, Tim Waggoner, John Passarella, Alice Henderson, Yvonne Navarro, Christa Faust, etc.) to write the books.
Having said that, while it used to be a truism that TV tie-in books didn't survive the end of the show with very rare exceptions, those exceptions are less rare all the time (viz. recent books based on things like MacGyver and Firefly), so who knows?
Tie-in books don't start with the writer, they start with the publisher. What happens is a book publisher (Titan in the case of Supernatural) buys the rights from the people who own the property (Warner Bros. in the case of Supernatural) and then they hire writers (like me, Tim Waggoner, John Passarella, Alice Henderson, Yvonne Navarro, Christa Faust, etc.) to write the books.
Having said that, while it used to be a truism that TV tie-in books didn't survive the end of the show with very rare exceptions, those exceptions are less rare all the time (viz. recent books based on things like MacGyver and Firefly), so who knows?
Keith R.A. DeCandido
"A government pandemic response team is a waste of money. Let's get rid of it."
(Yes, that's a real-world horror story, but there you go.)
(Yes, that's a real-world horror story, but there you go.)
Keith R.A. DeCandido
The Shire from Tolkien's work, because they seem to be having fun and eat a lot of food. As for what I'd do -- well, have fun and eat a lot of food!
Keith R.A. DeCandido
I'm sorry, I somehow missed this.....
I can't really narrow it down to a single panel over the literally hundreds and hundreds of panels I've done over my three decades of convention-going.
I can't really narrow it down to a single panel over the literally hundreds and hundreds of panels I've done over my three decades of convention-going.
Keith R.A. DeCandido
Probably? My original intention was to end it with MERMAID PRECINCT, but my new publisher convinced me to add two precincts, and therefore two books. But I'll probably end the series there. Seven novels and two short story collections is a lot.
Having said that, never say never. There are plenty of stories to tell in Flingaria.....
Having said that, never say never. There are plenty of stories to tell in Flingaria.....
Keith R.A. DeCandido
I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. I think the police are right in their criticisms of the costumes because they are, ultimately, extra-legal if not out-and-out illegal. But they're also best suited to deal with certain things.
However, a murder investigation isn't one of those things. :)
Having said that, absolutely, they can be hypocritical. Most people are. I think it's more complicated than one-side-is-right and other-side-is-wrong.
Thanks for the thoughtful reviews, BTW.
However, a murder investigation isn't one of those things. :)
Having said that, absolutely, they can be hypocritical. Most people are. I think it's more complicated than one-side-is-right and other-side-is-wrong.
Thanks for the thoughtful reviews, BTW.
Keith R.A. DeCandido
Sometimes yes, particularly previous books in a series where I have to write the next one -- e.g., reading all the prior "Precinct" books and stories before diving into the next one. I feel fine about them, generally. I often find things I wish I'd done differently, but that will always be the case.....
Keith R.A. DeCandido
Sorry, I missed this question for some reason. :(
I can't say, unfortunately. You'd have to ask them. All I know is that I got radio silence from them after Marco Palmieri was laid off at the end of 2008. *shrug* These things happen when editors change all the time, mind you.
I can't say, unfortunately. You'd have to ask them. All I know is that I got radio silence from them after Marco Palmieri was laid off at the end of 2008. *shrug* These things happen when editors change all the time, mind you.
Keith R.A. DeCandido
Thanks so much for the kind words! Writing a LEVERAGE novel was a true labor of love. I adore that show, and it was tremendous fun to write a novel with those characters.
Your question is incredibly difficult to answer. It's like asking a parent which of their children is their favorite, you know?
Having said that, among the possible choices for my favorite novel are:
STAR TREK: ARTICLES OF THE FEDERATION
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: BLACKOUT
GRYPHON PRECINCT
Your question is incredibly difficult to answer. It's like asking a parent which of their children is their favorite, you know?
Having said that, among the possible choices for my favorite novel are:
STAR TREK: ARTICLES OF THE FEDERATION
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: BLACKOUT
GRYPHON PRECINCT
Keith R.A. DeCandido
Honestly, I mostly want to read the other stories in the five anthologies that I'm in that are out this year: BAKER STREET IRREGULARS, ALIENS: BUG HUNT, NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD, TV GODS: SUMMER PROGRAMMING, and JOE LEDGER: UNSTOPPABLE.......
Keith R.A. DeCandido
Why don't people read signs? Why don't people understand other people's point of view?
Keith R.A. DeCandido
I'd have to go with Jed and Abby Bartlet on THE WEST WING. They are Exhibit A in the defense against the bullshit proclamation that far too many writers make that married couples aren't interesting to write (often cited when making feeble excuses for dragging sexual tension beyond all possible limits or for breaking perfectly good couples up). While President and Dr. Bartlet have their issues and struggles, they are a solid, happy couple, one where they are devoted to each other, and who are genuine partners in their endeavors together. They are a joy to watch, and a textbook example of how to maintain conflict and interest and depth in a couple that is already in a devoted relationship.
Keith R.A. DeCandido
The answer to the first question is unknown -- movie companies don't always do novelizations, and for whatever reason, they never licensed out the rights to do a novel version of AFTERLIFE.
As for RETRIBUTION, that was done by a completely different publisher. The first three films were done when Simon & Schuster also had the rights to do novels based on the RE game, and so they had first shot at novelization rights. But the game license had lapsed by the time RETRIBUTION rolled around and so the novelization rights wound up, not with S&S, but with Titan. I was never at any point approached to write the novelization -- in fact, I didn't even know there was going to be one, or that John wrote it, until shortly before it came out -- so I can't speak to Titan's editors' thinking on the subject. Having said that, I can totally understand why they'd want to go with a different author than the one used by their competition. *wry grin*
I would have loved to have continued to work in the RE movie-verse, as I had a great time with the first three, especially EXTINCTION, which I'm inordinately proud of.
As for RETRIBUTION, that was done by a completely different publisher. The first three films were done when Simon & Schuster also had the rights to do novels based on the RE game, and so they had first shot at novelization rights. But the game license had lapsed by the time RETRIBUTION rolled around and so the novelization rights wound up, not with S&S, but with Titan. I was never at any point approached to write the novelization -- in fact, I didn't even know there was going to be one, or that John wrote it, until shortly before it came out -- so I can't speak to Titan's editors' thinking on the subject. Having said that, I can totally understand why they'd want to go with a different author than the one used by their competition. *wry grin*
I would have loved to have continued to work in the RE movie-verse, as I had a great time with the first three, especially EXTINCTION, which I'm inordinately proud of.
Keith R.A. DeCandido
In general, the notion that Q had a specific purpose in mind for constantly harassing Picard and the Big E had been floating around my head for a few years. So it was fun to play with that.
As for the various interludes around the galaxy, they were all fun to write, but probably my favorite was writing Klag and the Gorkon, just because I've come to really love writing those guys and relished the opportunity to do so again, even if it was only for a quick bit.
As for the various interludes around the galaxy, they were all fun to write, but probably my favorite was writing Klag and the Gorkon, just because I've come to really love writing those guys and relished the opportunity to do so again, even if it was only for a quick bit.
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