Kevin J. Anderson answers your questions

evin J. Anderson is quickly becoming the mainstay of the written Star Wars universe. His Jedi Academy trilogy spent 22 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list and sold nearly 3 million copies worldwide. His anthology STAR WARS: Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina is already the bestselling science fiction anthology of all time, and his November 1995 novel Darksaber climbed to number three on The Wall Street Journal bestseller list.

Last week Anderson sat down with Science Fiction Weekly to answer questions submitted by our readers. Here's what he had to say:

1) At what age did you start writing science fiction, and did it take a lot of work for you or were you good right from the start?

--Sam J. Siegel, ssiegel444@aol.com

I have always wanted to be a science fiction writer -- telling stories and drawing pictures even before I could read (maybe that's why I spend so much time working in comics now). Nobody is good at anything from the start-you have to do a lot of work and a lot of practice. I have written several million words for publication. By now I know my strengths and I am also aware of my weaknesses, which helps me to concentrate on improving them.

2) How do you go about working with established characters? Do you consult other writers, creators or actors about their characters?

--Dee Gabriel, jberg@win.bright.net

First off, I try to immerse myself in the background material. For Star Wars that means I watch all the movies so many times I can mouth all the words; for X-Files I have 50 or so hours of videotaped episodes to study. To a lesser extent, I also read the other works of fiction by other authors, study whatever guides and background materials there may be. Fans are a very passionate lot and they insist on accuracy; I won't claim never to have let any glitches slip through, but I try to keep on my toes. I also consult the other authors if their work intersects with mine, and work with the people at Lucasfilm or the X-Files production offices whenever I might be doing something that pushes the limits of the characters. Sometimes they let me get away with it, sometimes they say no.

Extra:
Kevin on watching the Star Wars movies time and again: | .AIFF | .WAV | .AU |

3) Which is your favorite writing project, Star Wars, The X-Files or some other project?

--Joseph Bruno, jbruno@net2.intserv.com

Are you trying to get me in trouble here? Actually, I enjoy "switching channels" from one project to another. X-Files is so different from Star Wars, which is also quite different from my non-media writing projects (either solo or with my frequent collaborator Doug Beason), that I can maintain a high level of creative energy by working on creepy atmospheric X-Files, then action-packed "sense-of-wonder" Star Wars, then high-tech thrillers or hard science fiction on my own. The variety lets me keep fresh from one book to the next.

4) How did you become involved with The X-Files?

--Michael Johnson, m.johnson103@genie.com

I was an avid fan of the show, and had a strong track record in my work for Lucasfilm (which was important to demonstrate my willingness to write with established characters within the constraints of licensed properties). Earlier in my career, I had written a great many horror short stories and my first novel Resurrection, Inc. was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. When Chris Carter received a list of names of potential authors for the first hardcover X-Files book, he selected mine. Because I have also written many comics for Dark Horse, I will be guest-writing a few X-Files comics for Topps as well.

5) When did you first visit Skywalker Ranch, and what did it feel like that first time?

--Fletcher Bonds, fletch@oz.net

I first visited when I began to work on the McQuarrie art book, The Illustrated Star Wars Universe, which required numerous trips to the ranch to ransack their art archives. It is a wonderful place, with beautiful buildings and lovely gardens and people who seem to like working there. I've been there over a dozen times now, and it still has a magical feel to it.

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What's the coolest thing at Skywalker Ranch? | .AIFF | .WAV | .AU |

6) Do you think readers of your Star Wars books go on to read your more serious fiction?

--Simon Brown, simonb@ob1.uws.edu.au

Clearly, some of them do. The print runs on my non-media books have increased, and some bookstores shelve my other books next to my Star Wars and X-Files novels. I have received many letters from other readers who have picked up, for instance Blindfold or Climbing Olympus, who never would have done so if they hadn't liked my media fiction. Most importantly, though, I have met an amazing number of people who never liked to read before they started picking up Star Wars books. This is especially true of the Young Jedi Knights series, where young people who thought they hated books are now becoming voracious readers. That's the best compliment a writer can receive.

7) How does it feel to have your Stars Wars books become bestsellers, but at the same time constantly chastised by Star Wars diehards on the Internet?

--Steve Henry, smhenry@inmind.com

Everybody is entitled to their opinion, and I am certainly not conceited enough to think that every reader will love what I write ... but unfortunately the small "surly bunch" on the Internet has made a profession out of concocting insults for my fiction. Though they are very much in the minority, they try to make up for the fact by frequent and strident postings. Any sensible person who does not like my work would simply stop buying my books...but not these fans. They buy every new novel that comes out, tear it to shreds with great personal amusement, then buy the next book and do the same thing-that's just plain mean spirited. Criticism is perfectly fine, but many of their postings go far beyond decency. They insult me personally, insult my family, even threaten me. Apparently, they do not understand what Star Wars is all about. The majority of fans like my work, and Lucasfilm likes my work, and that's what matters the most to me.

8) Do you feel that the recent explosion of series tie-in books has had a negative impact on the market for original science fiction novels?

--Mike McCollum, MMcC1@aol.com

Yes and no. Without question, the wealth of tie-in novels takes up room on bookstore shelves-but these books also sell millions of copies. The success of Star Wars has brought a great deal of money into the publishers' coffers, thereby allowing them to expand their lines, publish more titles, some titles they wouldn't otherwise touch. The end result is that some novels are indeed cut, but these are the novels that didn't sell more than a few copies. The success of my media writing has finally allowed me to become a full-time writer (after publishing 15 novels), giving me the chance to write more of my own stuff. A good book is a good book, period. I do not think of my tie-in books as a "lesser" product from my original novels. I work as hard on X-Files or Star Wars as I do on Blindfold or Virtual Destruction.

9) Now that you've made it big, are you going to go back to writing serious science fiction?

--Paul Recchia, paulr@merle.acns.nwu.edu

Well, Paul, I've never stopped writing serious science fiction. Last year, my novel Climbing Olympus was voted the number one science fiction paperback of 1994 in a Locus magazine survey. Blindfold came out last October, and I think it is the very best novel I have written to date. A fantasy, Born of Elven Blood, was also published last summer, and this spring my new science fiction anthology, War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches, is due from Bantam in hardcover. My next major science fiction novel, Hopscotch, will also be published in hardcover by Bantam. With my collaborator Doug Beason, our global disaster novel Ill Wind sold very well in hardcover, with the paperback reprint coming out in May. Our science fiction mystery, Virtual Destruction, just came out in paperback. Doug and I are working on a new science fiction thriller, Fallout, which we'll deliver in April. We have also sold a high-tech thriller, Ignition, to Universal Studios and Tor Books. All of that is in addition to my media work. No matter how many tie-in novels you see me do, I will always make time for at least one or two original novels each year -- that's my personal reward.

10) Are you planning to write a sequel to Assemblers of Infinity?

--Jay W. Samples, tlsampl@airmail.net and Bob Hall, rehall@ix.netcom.com

Assemblers was always intended to be in two volumes, with the second half already outlined, tentatively titled Messengers of Eternity. Doug and I have several books already under contract, and our individual plates are quite full-the main catch is that we haven't found a publisher who is interested. Assemblers of Infinity was nominated for the Nebula Award, serialized in Analog, picked up by the Science Fiction Book Club, and translated into Japanese...but its original publisher let it go out of print almost immediately. We don't want to write the sequel unless a publisher is willing to reprint the first book. We'll wait and see -- we're in no hurry.

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