Lit Kevin J. Anderson dishes on Lando's planned death, AND MORE, in this JAT 20th Anniversary interview

Terrific interview, IG, well done. KJA seems like a terrific guy to just sit and talk with, and I love hearing his "outsider" perspective on the Legends thing.

 

I'd like to point out "Hansenberg" is officially a thing now.​

 

I really wish he'd elaborated on the Lando thing. That was a big "wait, WHAT?" moment.

 

Great interview IG! I had no idea about that whole bit regarding Darksaber -- it went right over my head. I always passed that book off as another silly superweapon-of-the-week tale that just happened to star Hutts.

Also that bit about Tol Sivron... heh. I wonder how often the authors do that sort of thing. "Boss, you bug me with one more inane request today and I'll immortalize you as a bureaucratic Bib Fortuna forever."

And I really liked that part about the authors being a team. Picking up each other's plot points out of respect and because it was fun, not because the Powers That Be forced them to do it.

 

Excellent interview!

 

Done.

Slave driver....

As for Ludo Kressh's name... *sigh*, ah well.

No matter, the Sith Warrior known as RYDDIK ULASSH will one day stalk the space lanes of TOR! (If I ever get around to playing it)

 

Ludo Kressh is based on "ludicrous".

I believe the mechanism by which such things happen is called "the subconscious".

 

Great job on the interview. Tons of people will be interested in this.

Love the bit about the political correctness police wanting to turn spice into a food additive because Han would never smuggle drugs, lol.

 

Hey, the Empire was tough. You had to go to guys like Han just to get things like cinnamon and paprika.

Works for me...

 

I never really thought about Darksaber as weapon proliferation when I read it years ago. But that makes a LOT of sense actually.

Never really understood why people don't like his works. I quite enjoyed TOTJ and JAT. (other than the occasional dialogue gaffe - but this IS Star Wars afterall, you kind of have to have those).

 

I liked his plots for the most part, he has some good ideas like the proliferation of weapons leading to the Darksaber's construction, its the muddy brown prose that gets me. His books always seem better in synopses than they do in actual reading.

 

The more I think about it, the more I feel this is actually pretty okay by the standards of Sith names.

 

Great interview!

 

Even though KJA might be lacking in the writing department, he always comes off as a genuinely great guy. It seems that most every author that he worked with on Star Wars thinks very highly of him. That story by Daniel Keys Moran about how KJA really loved The Last One Standing really gave me a lot of respect for him as a world-builder and editor. I think it's very telling that KJA factors in "catching up" on all the recently published novels before considering the possibility of delving into the universe again. That just shows a lot of respect for fellow writers collaborating in the same universe and is probably why most other writers on Star Wars at that time have such a positive opinion on him.

Was that rumor about KJA dictating his books ever confirmed? As in his books were basically edited transcripts of spoken word? It also would have been interesting to hear his take on Veitch and the ending of TotJ. In the past, Veitch seemed a little irritated that KJA's characters eventually came to dominate the storyline and changed the vision that he originally had for it. Awesome interview. You know he's lying about Ludo Kressh.

 

For what it's worth, I recall it in an Insider interview in the late '90s.

 

I am so stealing this for fan-fic reasons.

 

House Ulassh is one of the most ancient and noble of Sith dynasties, stretching back to the Dark Jedi brothers Mettyk and Phantab, who were instrumental in securing early victories in the Hundred-Year Darkness. Though the younger brother looked better doing it.

 

I don't know if that's how JAT/Darksaber were written, but that's certainly how he does his newer books. It's no rumor, he talks about it in his blog all the time.

 

There's actually a moment in the book where Leia says "we can't let the Death Star proliferate."

The reason it doesn't work for me is that if the same dynamic was at work in the Star Wars universe, you'd expect to see Death Star technology, well, proliferating - and you don't. Pretty much all the superweapons are Imperial creations, with one attempt by the Hutts (did anyone else even try? Hapans, Chiss, independent planets? Certainly not New Republic) No one really seems to take them seriously after the Bantam era - even in the NJO, the worst of the New Republic never consider building superweapons, they ignore them in favor of the Alpha Red bioweapon. Clearly, superweapons aren't proliferating in the Star Wars universe like nuclear weapons in real life - probably because (as Han points out in the NJO in one of his most glorious moments in all of Star Wars) they're seen as impractical, fragile and otherwise not worth the money.

Please note, though - that part ISN'T KJA's fault. He came up with the proliferation idea in Darksaber. He can't help it if no one else was interested in following up.

 

Great interview, KJA seems like a good guy. Like others said, he seemed very respectful of other SW works.

I like that he never intended for Daala to be remotely as capable as Thrawn. And I think the JAT would've actually been the perfect moment for Mon Mothma to bite it, she never really was a factor in the books after that IIRC. I only recall a couple scenes in the Corellian trilogy, but I haven't read everything.

Also, 'it's like food flavoring!' What on earth was that guy thinking?

 

That said - plotting to use already existing superweapon isn't unheard of in the post-Bantam era - near the start of NJO, and at the start of LOTF, Corellia tries to reactivate Centerpoint Station.

 

Although the histories often ignore their cousin Querr Ulassh, because no one could stand his whining.

 

SUNY Orange and the Mount? Greetings from Wallkill!

 

Montgomery rep here.

The Galleria Mall is like my second home.