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Interview by Jim Fisher
ECHO STATION alumnus Jim Fisher recently got the opportunity to chat with Aaron Allston,
the author who has assumed the helm for the next three X-Wing novels from series
veteran Michael Stackpole.
ES: How were you approached to work on the new X-Wing novels?
AA: Well... in a sense, I WASN'T approached. It's odd and complicated.
Last year, Michael A. Stackpole let Bantam Spectra know that he couldn't write the next four X-Wing novels on the schedule they wanted; owing to other time commitments, he could only write the fourth book of the set. Tom Dupree, who was then the Star Wars line editor at Bantam, had to look for a writer for those three books.
Fortunately for me, I'd met Dupree at CoastCon in 1996, and Stackpole, who was familiar with my work in both adventure gaming and fiction, recommended me to him. Dupree checked out my work and decided I was right for the job. I doubt it was as simple a process as that -- I imagine he checked out several writers. But I was the one who got lucky.
Here's where it gets complicated. Dupree couldn't approach me at that time, because of other negotiations that still weren't settled. Then, later, when he left Bantam to work for AvoNova, something happened and the new Star Wars line editor, Pat LoBrutto, wasn't informed that I'd never been approached; all he knew was that my name was pencilled in beside the three X-Wing books.
So my first inkling that they wanted me for the assignment was when Bantam called my agent and innocently asked, "How's Aaron doing on the first novel?"
Everybody was confused for a little while, but fortunately, it worked out all right.
ES: Did you find it difficult playing around in "someone else's universe"?
AA: Difficult? Not really. I'm sure I would find it difficult to work in a universe I didn't enjoy, but I don't intend to work in such a universe. (I don't think I'd do a very good job, and accepting a job you think you'll do poorly is just bad business.) When asked to write about characters I didn't create, I just try to keep their actions and responses appropriate to their previous appearances, and to explore personality traits that might have been underrepresented in those appearances.
ES: How much research was necessary before you began to write?
 Wraith Squadron: Book 1 of 3 |
AA: A lot. I wish I'd had time to do more. I read every Star Wars technical manual I could get my hands on, plus Stackpole's novels, Zahn's novels, other novels in which Wedge Antilles and Rogue Squadron make appearances, comic books, and several of West End's Star Wars game supplements. I watched the movie trilogy repeatedly. I played the X-Wing computer game. I bought eight of the Action Fleet toys and used them for measurements and estimations of their performance in atmosphere. I read books on aircraft carrier life and pilot survival.
And all that I consider a bare minimum of necessary research -- it was all the research I had time to do as my deadline came bounding toward me. I'll do an equal amount before I'm done with the second book, and even more before the third book is done.
Fortunately, I like to do research.
BUT CAN THE AUTHOR FLY?
ES: In addition to LucasArts' X-Wing, did you spend any time with Tie
Fighter or X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter before writing? Did any of those
simulations help you with writing dogfights?
AA: Did playing X-Wing help? Well, if I were writing about a character whose dominant trait was that he crashed into everything he saw, I suppose the gameplay would have counted as a help. A combination of my native lack of ability with flight simulators, a lack of a joystick, and a mouse with a sticky ball doomed most of my flights to disaster. However, the screen shots of the cockpit and the technical information included with the game documentation were quite helpful.
The computer I was using at the time (indeed, the computer I'll be using for another week or so) wasn't up to the more advanced games. I'll be getting a new computer soon and it should be up to the task of X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter
ES : How much creative control does Lucasfilm have over your novels? Were than any changes that they requested with your drafts?
AA: Ultimately, they have complete control over what goes in the books, but it's not as though they exercise that control arbitrarily. Mostly, they've asked for clarifications to my outlines -- places where they couldn't tell whether something I was doing was appropriate to the Star Wars universe.
The biggest change they called for arose out of a miscommunication between Mike Stackpole, me, Bantam, and Lucasfilm. In the early stages of the planning for my three books, Mike and I thought I'd be writing the adventures of a training squadron commanded by Lieutenants Hobbie Klivan and Wes Janson; those adventures would be taking place at the same time as the events of X-Wing #1-4. This confused Lucasfilm, who wanted the entire book series to revolve around Wedge Antilles. When all the miscommunication was cut away, we ended up merging the two concepts. In Wraith Squadron Wedge forms a new X-wing group and temporarily commands it; in the two novels following, he commands both squadrons. All these events take place after the events of #4, The Bacta War.
THE FUTURE OF THE WRAITHS
ES: What types of new faces will we see in Wraith Squadron: Iron Fist and in
your third novel?
AA: The pilots of Wraith Squadron differ somewhat from those of Rogue Squadron; they're mostly misfits and wash-outs who are being given one last chance as starfighter pilots. They're not quite as accomplished a set of pilots as Rogue Squadron -- in an even dogfight, the Rogues would vaporize them (but would probably suffer significant losses). However, the Wraiths have additional non-pilot skills that make the squadron a unified weapon in other situations as well.
ES: What familiar faces will we see in the new books? Will Warlord Zsinj play a role?
AA: You'll see Wedge, of course -- he's in charge. Wes Janson and Hobbie Klivan appear. As for the Big Three from the movies -- I'm not telling. You'll have to read the book. Warlord Zsinj? You've already noted that my second novel is titled Iron Fist-- I'd count that as a pretty substantial clue.
ES: Were you a fan of the Star Wars films before you were asked to write your novels?
AA: Certainly, though I think I had a different perspective on them from most of my contemporaries. When Star Wars debuted, I was 16, and the first thing I thought, as the movie got through the first 15 minutes or so, was "At last! After forty years, they're doing Republic serials again! They can finally film 1930s space operas and do them right!"
I grew up on a diet of reprinted hero-pulp writers (Lester Dent, Walter B.Gibson, E.E. "Doc" Smith, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, and many others) as well as comic strips and serials similar in tone, so Star Wars came as a very pleasant shock to me.
BUSYBODY QUESTIONS WE ALWAYS ASK
ES: Do you have a favorite film from the trilogy?
AA: I'm one of those guys who likes The Empire Strikes Back especially its qualities of desperation and character growth, more than the other films.
ES: Do you listen to music while working? If so, what type of music helps you get in the "Star Wars" mood?
AA: No, but I do sometimes put on a movie in the background -- in which case the Star Wars trilogy is most helpful.
ES: What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
AA: Now you've confused me. What's a "spare time"? Is it something like a jacuzzi, or a car? I don't think I have one.
No, more seriously, I read and watch movies, run role-playing campaigns, play with our cats (my roommates and I have four) and dog (a part-Chow, part garbage disposal named Chewie), work with the Fandom Association of Central Texas ( a local SF&F fandom group)write some adventure-gaming material, attend conventions, play ping-pong, maintain my web page Allston and wash dishes.
ES: Do you recommend any other of your novels to fans wanting to get a taste of your style before the next two X-Wing books are relased?
AA: I'll happily recommend two.
My favorite of the novels I've had published to date is Doc Sidhe. It's an original fantasy set in something like the world of Celtic myth -- as it would be if its culture and technology reached the equivalent to those of the real world in the 1930s. It's partly homage to the hero-pulps and partly just a fun world to explore. (Baen Books, ISBN ISBN 0-671-87662-7.)
The novel I've written that is probably closest to my Star
Wars work in tone is Double Jeopardy It's an adventure set in the world of the Car
Wars boardgame, and has strong elements of vehicular combat and wise-guy humor that
readers will be familiar with from the Star Wars universe. (Tor Books, ISBN
0-812-53463-8.)
(When last seen in the Star Wars Timeline, Wedge was hanging out with
current main squeeze Qwi Xux, and was unavailable for comment. Jim Fisher, however, can be found brandishing
his Star Wars Trivia crown like a shileleah, and answers to "your
Worthiness" on his Wedge Antilles Home Page)
