Lit Upcoming Mike Stackpole X-Wing/I, Jedi interview - any questions?

I think the issue is that Ackbar and others thought that Wedge's intellect, moral sense and experience would be better used in a leadership and organizational role than a frontline combat role which puts him at risk constantly.

 

This question is one of the aspects of the X-Wing series that fascinated me most, I was really impressed by how much thought there was about political realities of a revolution that is turning the tide, and how some of those realities are a bit more grey. He's good with the military end and at the end of the day Stackpole keeps the focus on the starfighter pilots and people close to their spearhead operations, but he shows us broader strokes going on in the background. In some ways, Wedge's Gamble and The Krytos Trap should get more credit for being major milestone books; winning Coruscant and stabilizing the New Republic's power base are huge turning points (Dark Empire doesn't sit as well for showing Coruscant going back and forth as a military goal).

My understanding is that Mike Stackpole is a history major, and I imagine that some of that may have helped with the ideas you describe in your question above. He's written a two books about a more fantasy base version of the American Revolution, but maybe we can have a question about if there are other revolutions that informed the ideas he brought forth; what other eras of history provided inspiration and so forth.

 

Funny you say that as I thought Wedges Gamble was his weakest book, the Kyrtos Trap was good even if he did kill off his most interesting character.

You want a fantasy American Revolution all you have to do is watch Mel Gibsons The Patriot. Its both funny and offensive in equal measure and pure fantasy

 

Ahh, no, I wasn't qualifying WG in terms of being a great or good or adequate or poor book. I was referring to it's place in the overall narrative of Star Wars; RotJ wasn't quite the endgame for the Empire or the establishment of a new Republic, WG and TKT show characters who make that significant achievement of taking Coruscant and toppling the Empire's legitimacy, and establishing the New Republic as a galactic government that the galaxies citizens take seriously.

 

Agree with both of you on finding this aspect of the books awesome. I think what I like most about Timothy Zahn and Michael Stackpole's books in this era is that they managed to portray a new, postrevolutionary government that realistically had lots of problems and even some massive pricks, while still being (at least from the books' point of view) a massive improvement over the previous government. Breath of fresh air compared to the "all politicians are either evil, corrupt, or too weak/incompetent to matter" creed the EU eventually seems to've devolved into.

 

Just so you guys don't think I'm flaking again its Friday at noon eastern...

 

Maybe you could list the questions from this thread, so far, that you think are "good enough to pose to him" so the same questions don't get proposed more than once?

 

Not interview related, but GOG just released Star Trek: Judgement Rites, a game from the early 1990s that Stackpole co-wrote before he got picked up for Star Wars.

http://www.gog.com/game/star_trek_judgment_rites

 

Okay, I don't normally do this, but here's the interview topics I've compiled so far, using some of your questions... I actually think this covers most of the major areas of his four original X-wing novels, the cliffhangers in Isard's Revenge, and so on... for the really obscure questions some of you posted, I'd like to get him to answer every one, but that could take forever. Maybe I could do a follow up email based rapid fire Q & A down the line. I'm going to add more to the list, but depending on his schedule tomorrow I'll see how many I can blaze through. I promise to finally end the whole Isard alive debate....

Spoiler

Can you tell us a bit how the opportunity to write for the Star Wars franchise originally came about, and how the classic 90's flight simulators figured into the original plan?

Corran Horn, his family, and the whole CorSec culture was probably your biggest original contribution to the Star Wars canon. When you were creating Corran, how much of the worldbuilding figured into his character development? Did the character stem from the idea of his personality, or his tragic backstory?

What really made the X-wing novels special was, in addition to the exciting combat, we really got to see the realities of a post-revolutionary government... making compromises, strained resources and budget to keep the peace, and so on... I'm under the impression you are a history major, which seems to have really influenced this aspect of the X-wing saga.

I read the Krytos Trap while Ebola was making headlines last year. Probably not a great idea.

With the prequel trilogy on the horizon in those days, how much input did you receive from LucasFilm?


In Requiem for a Rogue, there's a bizarrely memorable scene where the Devaronian dark side adept blows off his own hand with a blaster, then proceeds to choke our heroes through the force with a sort of "ghost hand". In the original trilogy, the only characters we see use the force choke ability are Vader and Luke, both amputees. Was this scene sort of a primitive understanding of how that ability works, as if you needed to lose/sacrifice body parts in order to make them flow through the force?

As a patron of New Paltz, New York, I must say you captured the essence of artsy college towns in The Phantom Affair, along with musical elitists like Dllr.



In fleshing out the military of the New Republic, you introduced several military figures, such as General Cracken, and you had the chance to mold Admiral Ackbar into much more of a well rounded character. Did you draw from any real life military figures?

There was a very controversial moment in I, Jedi where Corran Horn really puts Luke into his place, so to speak, at the Jedi Academy that has been hotly debated among fans.

Here's a question that has really bothered Star Wars fans since 1999: was Isard killed by Iella aboard the Lusankya in Isard's Revenge, or do you think she really lived out the rest of her days in the bowels of the ship?

Other characters, like Tavira and Asyr, had fates that were sort of left completely up in the air, which were never followed up on by other Expanded Universe authors. Did you have any endgames in mind for them before you departed the franchise?

What have you learned from your experience with the franchise, and how has it affected your writing since your departure?

Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One is releasing next year, and while it is set before any of your novels, it seems like the militaristic storytelling and "morally grey" characterizations from your novels will be influencing the film.

Now here's more of a fanboyish question: if Corran Horn was to appear in a future movie under Disney, which actor do you think is capable of portraying him?

The 20th anniversary of the X wing comics is July 1st (my twenty second birthday, for the record) and my knowledge of those is probably the haziest of the whole X wing saga (i did slip in The Phantom Affair and Requiem for a Rogue questions, though)

 

Regarding the "Luke trained by Ben and Yoda as a Sith-destroying weapon" hypothesis - do the prequels affect this, much? Luke seems to have accepted it as true in the NJO - but that was before AOTC and ROTS.

 

Speaking for myself, I'd say the prequels don't do anything to refute it, since by showing the flaws of the Old Jedi Order, they support the possibility that Obi-Wan and Yoda were not perfect teachers and that Luke ultimately surpassed their intentions.

 

I think it's kind of ridiculous as Yoda and Obi-Wan clearly wanted to make a person who could carry on the Jedi legacy. Destroying the Sith was secondary.

 

IG_2000 -- I don't know if you have room for one more question, and in the event you don't, that's fine -- feel free to ignore this then! But I have a bit of a random question that was on my mind reading the original X-Wings: The focus and development of the character Kirtan Loor seemed to change as the books progressed. He became less of a cliched, carbon-cutout Imperial minion and turned into a fairly complex character (small actions like saving the Sullustan woman and waiting for someone to leave a street before he blew it up -- you don't often see this subtle moral confliction in Star Wars villains) . Did Stackpole have something different planned for his role originally?

 

EDIT: nevermind

 

Interview was 35 minutes long, asked all the questions I listed above plus Barriss_Coffee Kirtan Loor one. Once again, if anyone is interested in publishing, send me a message

 

Maybe you could transcribe it and add it to your sig, like with the other 4?

 

I just mean I need a website to publish it on.

 

Maybe, after asking mods and getting permission, you could put it here, like with the Dave Wolverton one?

http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...the-courtship-of-princess-leia-more.50024454/

 

http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...the-courtship-of-princess-leia-more.50024454/[/quote]


Well what I'm doing with these interviews is doing something differently for each one: KJA on alt nation (with french translation on Star Wars Holonet) , Dave Wolverton as a "public domain" interview, Kathy on Roqoo Depot, James Luceno as a lit exclusive.

The one thing I can tease is... Corran Pratt is official.

 

Well what I'm doing with these interviews is doing something differently for each one: KJA on alt nation (with french translation on Star Wars Holonet) , Dave Wolverton as a "public domain" interview, Kathy on Roqoo Depot, James Luceno as a lit exclusive.

The one thing I can tease is... Corran Pratt is official. [/quote]

I sent you a message regarding it but you never responded. I'd love to do it on my webpage and another one I'm affiliated on.

 

I sent you a message regarding it but you never responded. I'd love to do it on my webpage and another one I'm affiliated on.[/quote]


Somehow missed that, just sent you a message

 

What did she ever do to Stackpole that he refuses to work with her?



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transcribing now. Should be going up on TheForce.net mainpage.