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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Paul S. Kemp Q&A Thread (Crosscurrent spoilers)

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Rogue_Follower, Feb 4, 2010.

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  1. Zorkel567

    Zorkel567 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 20, 2010
    Mr. Kemp-

    1) Can you tell me when your Old Republic novel is supposed too be released?

    2) Is there ever a chance we may get a story on Kell Douro, his past, and his meeting with the One Sith?

    3) IN the Crosscurrent sequal, may Jaden wonder on who Kell Douro was?

    Thank you and great job on your novel.
     
  2. Tyber

    Tyber Jedi Knight

    Registered:
    Mar 12, 2009
    Since I'm currently reading the book (not that far, though) I don't have any major questions yet. I'd like to point out, that - so far - I'm very pleased with the lots of details you incorporated, Memit Nadill and Odan-Urr for example.

    Nonetheless I do have some minor questions:

    1) I always thought Jaden's lightsaber was destroyed on Vjun when he used it to cut through the ceiling to save Kyle and himself. There was an explosion on screen and he used Kyle's saber to cut a whole in the floor to let them escape the debris. So is this an inaccuracy on one or the other side? [face_thinking]

    2) Speaking of the sequel and your comment about reporting to Luke: Will there be some interaction with our Grand Master and Kyle Katarn in the follow up? I'm sure it's not just me who wants more of Kyle "on screen" than just a mentioning his teachings... (because Kyle Katarn RULEZ!) :cool:
     
  3. Darth_Lex

    Darth_Lex Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 17, 2002
    Hello, Paul! Thanks for your willingness to participate in a thread like this. :D

    I really enjoyed your novel. The banter between Khedryn and Marr was consistently hilarious. Marr is one of my favorite new characters in a while; I'm very glad you didn't kill him off. ;)

    I was curious about your inspiration for Wyyrlok's verbal tic. Perhaps he was a civil litigator before he joined up with the One Sith? :p

    I ask because excessive (and/or nonsequitur) use of "therefore" is a big pet peeve of mine in legal writing and advocacy. (Along with "said" - as in, said expression drives me bonkers!) So I wondered if you might similarly find humor in that. ;)

    Thanks again for a great book. :D
     
  4. PaulsKemp

    PaulsKemp Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 15, 2008
    1. I have presumed a subsequent recovery of the light saber, the tale of which might make a nice short story sometime.

    2. Maybe. :)
     
  5. PaulsKemp

    PaulsKemp Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 15, 2008
    I like to provide readers with some kind of "hook" for most characters that appear in my novels, even if they're onstage for only a short time. Sometimes it's a physical flaw, a vice (gambling, say), a virtue, a physical irregularity (Khedryn's eye), and so on.

    So, a verbal tic struck me as appropriate for Wyrrlock, since his "voice," as I conceived of it, was quite formal. Given that, something suggestive of a lawyerism seemed fitting (I'm a lawyer, too), and repeated (and arguably inappropriate) use of "therefore" felt right.
     
  6. PaulsKemp

    PaulsKemp Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 15, 2008
    Zorkel,

    I don't think there's a formal release date scheduled yet for the Old Republic novel.

    Sure, there's a chance, but it's not entirely in my control. We'll have to see what happens. I'd love to tell a Kell short story in a SW anthology sometime.

    Jaden would have to wonder about Kell and his purpose, I think. He knows Kell was not from the moon, so that will pique his curiosity. :)
     
  7. max-attac

    max-attac Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    May 23, 2009
    Mr Kemp,

    At the end of the novel, Idi-Shael Marr asks Jaden Korr to train him . As a Jedi?

    It's unclear. Thank you for your time.
     
  8. Sinrebirth

    Sinrebirth Mod-Emperor of the EUC, Lit, RPF and SWC star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 15, 2004
    Mr Kemp,

    Congratulations on an excellent read. I was very impressed by how your seamlessly merged new tales from 5000 BBY, loose ends from the Thrawn Trilogy, the hook we had with Jaden, and of course the consequences of the events you referenced from Legacy and Legacy of the Force. It was a continuity-treat to read.

    So my question was more related to the Thrawn aspects. As you picked up leftover thoughts with regards to the clones, Empire of the Hand and Outbound Flight, I was wondering if you had any general thoughs with regards to other clone loose ends we have, such as with regards to the Baron Fel clones that we saw scattered around the galaxy in preparation for fighting the Yuuzhan Vong, a plot sadly left to the wayside in the actual NJO series?

    It's a roundabout question, and I understand if you don't have any solid thoughts (or aren't allowed those solid thoughts ;)) but thought it worth a try.

    And, did you by any chance draw on Final Fantasy VII for your concept of the Kamclone and Mother? I noticed Kamclone had a longer than normal lightsaber, and moderately long hair, that was all. ;)

    Thanks in advance, Mr Kemp, and thanks again for the great read!
     
  9. PaulsKemp

    PaulsKemp Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 15, 2008
    Max,

    Yes, as a Jedi, though we'll have to see how all that shakes out.
     
  10. PaulsKemp

    PaulsKemp Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 15, 2008
    Sin,

    I haven't gotten far enough along in my thinking for the sequel such that I can answer the question. Intriguing ideas, though.

    Re the Kamclone and Mother -- I've never played (or, come to think of it, even seen) Final Fantasy, so the similarities are coincidental.

    Paul
     
  11. Sinrebirth

    Sinrebirth Mod-Emperor of the EUC, Lit, RPF and SWC star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 15, 2004
    Paul,

    That's a neat coincidence, there. The character I refer to is called Sephiroth, himself a creation that was infected with the cells of a monster in the womb by his mad father. He was cloned, or copied, so to speak, but the most distinct similarities were the said long white hair, the longer than usual sword, and a reference to "Mother" almost always.

    As such I spent the entire Kamclone duel imagining he looked like this;

    [image=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_NeMhwnN9154/STDf2SSVfAI/AAAAAAAAHF8/4JeHPi14m7M/s400/dissidia_artwork_sephiroth.png]

    [image=http://www.motifake.com/image/demotivational-poster/0804/sephiroth-sephiroth-ff-ffvii-vii-final-fantasy-demotivational-poster-1207795777.jpg]

    With regards to the clones, they were just ideas. I was so impressed by your use of canon that old plotline bubbled up in my mind. Didn't mean to get as carried away as I did.

    Thanks again for the replies,

    Sinre
     
  12. ProfessorWalsh

    ProfessorWalsh Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Aug 9, 2009
    Mr. Kemp, I liked Crosscurrent, I was a little sad to see the old Master die though. :(

    I was wondering, you had in the novel, Jaden seeming to have "issues" controlling the Force, with things like Force Lightning appearing around his hands without his behest. This is an issue that other Jedi don't usually deal with, is this supposed to be a sign that the Dark Side is trying to influence Jaden in the novel?
     
  13. PaulsKemp

    PaulsKemp Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 15, 2008
    Prof,

    It is supposed to be a sign that Jaden is (a) struggling with whether the difference between Light and Dark is a distinction without a difference; and (b) if it's not, then he's struggling with what it means for him and his relationship to the Force that he can use the Force to do something that normally typified a Dark Side user.
     
  14. Taral-DLOS

    Taral-DLOS Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Jun 29, 2009
    Mr. Kemp,

    I noticed that there were several references to Jaden's previous appearance in Fury (indeed, many of his motivations stem from the events in Fury), but almost no references to the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight games, beyond a mention of his lightsaber and possibly a reference to the Reborn (something about there being a precedent to creating a Force-sensitive army, or Force-sensitive clones, I don't have the book on me so I don't recall).

    1- Was your reference indeed to the Reborn? Or did that refer to something else I'm forgetting (e.g. was it a reference to clones in general?)

    2- Do you think the sequel will refer at all to the characters or events of Jedi Academy (e.g. Kyle Katarn, Rosh Penin, the incident in general).

    3- Will we get much of Jaden's past between Jedi Academy and Fury filled in? There's a decent gap between the two.

    4- Did you personally play through the games (and if so, how much) for research? It wasn't strictly necessary, since most of Jaden's motivations come from Fury, but I loved the games so I'm curious.

    Thank you!
     
  15. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Late to the game, but having just finished the book (great read, loved it) I had a question (and it's something I've mentioned in my other Crosscurrent-related posts in the other threads)-

    One of the aspects that I really liked that stood out to me was how the character perspectives portrayed the passage of time for the novel's "present" setting. Weapons from the Vong war, stations from the Thrawn-era, YT-2400's (for all intents and purposes a ship model meant to be "the new Falcon"), etc being characterized by the characters as being relatively old, out of date or almost anachronistic, despite being relatively recent events to the reader.

    I think some of that perception was due to events/objects not being seen through the eyes of "The Big 4 (and family)", since we've lived their lives with them and such events come across as more familiar from their POV than they would from someone like Jaden and co, who experienced such events much earlier in their lives, relatively speaking.

    In other words, the presentation of the passage of time was an interesting touch, given the book dealt with characters displaced in time/"time travel".

    So, my question is- was that perception intentional and, if so, did that concept form in any relation to the use of time travel/displacement in the story? Or is it just coincidence?


    And, as a side-note: I will strive to use the phrase "the entrails of science" at least once a week from now on. :D
     
  16. Eric Geller

    Eric Geller TFN Staff Emeritus star 1 VIP

    Registered:
    Mar 2, 2005
    I just read over this whole thread and I have to say, I want to see more of these author Q&As. Paul Kemp is a great guy and I definitely enjoyed and appreciated his interaction with readers.
     
  17. darthjulian777

    darthjulian777 Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2008
    What was your thinking behind the fall of the ancient Jedi, I thought it a bit out of place personally. But thanks for making me want to play Jedi Academy again with a purple lightsaber and human male haha
     
  18. PaulsKemp

    PaulsKemp Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 15, 2008
    Taral,

    1. It was a reference to clones generally.

    2. Unlikely that it will dwell heavily on events from (what are to Jaden) the distant past. Katarn would be the most likely, if any.

    3. I think so, yes.

    4. Never played them (I'm embarrassed to say). REsearch was a lot of reading. :)

    Paul
     
  19. PaulsKemp

    PaulsKemp Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 15, 2008
    The2nd,

    Very much intentional for the reasons you allude to. It's made most explicit, I think, when Khedryn considers that Fhost kind of exists a few days/weeks/months behind the Core because the information and technology trickles out to the Fhost so slowly. Nice catch.
     
  20. PaulsKemp

    PaulsKemp Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 15, 2008
    Ah well, sometimes things work for a readers, sometimes they don't. :)

    As far as what I was thinking: We meet Relin when he's already drifting downward (thought it's not clear that it's so) due to him "losing" Saes. When he loses a second Padawan, Drev, and not only loses him but loses him to Saes (essentially) of all people, his slow drift downward becomes much more precipitous.

    In the end, I saw Relin's fall as the result of something very human. Already fragile over his loss of Saes, he then loses another Padawan (who I deliberately portrayed as joyous and even younger than usual, to make him seem somewhat childlike). For him, this was like losing a son or a younger brother. He held Saes responsible for Drev's death (even as he fought his own sense of failure over losing another Padawan) and responded in a very human way to that loss -- with rage (both at himself, though that goes unacknowledged; and at Saes).

     
  21. J_K_DART

    J_K_DART Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 31, 2001
    Mr. Kemp, first off a little bit of feedback for you; for some time I've been a little disillusioned with many SW books, but this caught my eye. I was very glad that it did; you're a talented writer, and you do characterisation so very well. A few questions for you (sorry if I ask too many, feel free to pick and choose!):

    1) The most notable thing about the book was the depth of characterisation, especially to new characters. How do you design original characters like this?

    2) If you could write a book in the same style as this but focused on one character from the SW movies, which one would you choose?

    3) If you were writing the book now, with a bit of time having passed, is there anything you'd be tempted to change at all?

    4) How did you go about researching the various aspects of SW, as your book was so wonderfully 'tight' in terms of continuity with the rest of the SW galaxy?

    5) What other books have you written, outside the EU? You've got a reader who'll most likely look them up now!

    6) Have you seen an impact on sales of your other books after writing Crosscurrent?

    I'll definitely be picking up the next books, and probably anything else you write too - I hope you're with the EU for many books to come!
     
  22. Kietharr

    Kietharr Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 18, 2010
    I actually finally got time to read this (alongside Shadows of Mindor and Millennium Falcon, man I'm behind in my standalones) last week when I ended up stuck in Walla Walla visiting relatives. As someone who has actually had the privilege of smelling that uniquely horrible mix of decaying flesh, urine, and excrement in person, I'd like to really thank you for bringing that smell back to the front of my mind in the mother scene. Yeah, thanks a lot.

    It almost seems that you took game mechanics into account when writing this novel, Jaden trying to reconcile his affinity for using the dark side with his allegiance to the Jedi. Upon first playing through Jedi Academy single player it absolutely dumbfounded me that I could use choke, lightning, dark rage, and drain liberally and completely forgo any light side choices or techniques and still be a Jedi. In fact, in the entire game the ONLY thing that would get you kicked out of the order was killing Rosh.

    Ok, a few questions if you're still watching this thread:

    1) If you're going to use Jaden in the future will that emo Anakin wannabee Rosh make a return? Would be interesting to see how he and his cyborg arm are doing after two galactic wars. If he's not dead that is. Not that I'd mind him being dead, I always preferred the ending where Jaden chops his whiny arse up and hijacks a star destroyer above Korriban for giggles.

    2)If you didn't play the games what sort of reading on them did you end up doing for research? Did you just hit up the Wookieepedia pages for all of the missions? Honestly that's what I would have done. Well, Actually I'd have played the game considering it's like 5 bucks in the bargain bin by this point and the single player doesn't take all that long to blow through. But you'd probably get the same information from Wookieepedia at this point without having to kill an army of stormtroopers, bowcaster wielding Weequay, and various dark jedi in goofy outfits.
     
  23. PaulsKemp

    PaulsKemp Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 15, 2008
    J.K.

    Thanks for the kind words. Much obliged.

    1. You know, I think all professional authors bring certain strengths to the table right out of the gate, and then have to work hard at the rest. For me, characterization has always been the thing that comes easy for me (so I have to work harder at the rest). I'm not entirely sure why that is, but there you go.

    2. Now that's a tough call. Qui-gon jumps to mind.

    3. A few less pukes. :)

    4. Del Rey provided me with lots and lots of information to read. I also read message boards, Wookiepedia (though with some caution), rewatched the movies, The Clone Wars animated series, etc. Essentially, I tried to immerse myself in the setting.

    5. Oh, I've written lots of things, almost all of them sword and sorcery stories featuring my signature character, a priest and assassin named Erevis Cale. I've got a complete bibliography on my website (see the left hand sidebar): Paul's homepage. I think there's substantially stylistic overlap between my Cale stories and Crosscurrent, so if you liked the latter, I think you'd like the former.

    6. Can't say. I haven't yet seen any statements (end of next month is when I'll see them, probably).

    Paul
     
  24. PaulsKemp

    PaulsKemp Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 15, 2008
    Kietharr,

    1. No, probably not. I'm conscious of the fact that the past shapes the present, but I'm mostly interested in telling all new stories with Jaden.

    2. As I mentioned in the reply right above this one, I read a ton of material from a variety of different sources (including Wookiepedia).
     
  25. DARTHJOESITHLORD

    DARTHJOESITHLORD Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Feb 10, 2009
    Hey Mr Kemp, I would like to say that I enjoyed Crosscurrent, A friend lent me his copy and after I read it I decided to order my own.
    I would like to ask you a few question's, firstly, and please forgive me if you already answered this in the book, as I said a friend lent me his copy so I've only read it once, what lightsaber combat style's did Jaden, Saes Rrogon, and Relin Druur use?
    Secondly, Alpha was able to fight Jaden, a very skilled Jedi Knight and injure and almost kill him, so I was wondering this, did Alpha or any of the other clones have any real training or are the clones relying on raw power in order to fight there foes?
     
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