I have just uploaded an interview that we conducted with Christopher Golden, author of Titan’s next Alien novel, River of Pain:
“Of the three of us, I had the least instruction and most leeway, simply because the big idea for my novel is fairly clear—tell the story of Acheron leading up to the events of ALIENS. Of course I wrote a thorough outline that was vetted by Fox. The challenge was to come up with an original story that would still have drama and surprises and mystery in it, even though every person reading it would already know at least a major element of the climax. Here’s what I can tell you: even if you’ve seen the movie a hundred times, you only know part of the story. In RIVER OF PAIN, you’ll get the full picture of what unfolded prior to ALIENS.”
Be sure to check out the complete interview in our interviews section. I’d like to thank Christopher Golden for taking the time to answer our questions. Alien – River of Pain is due out 28 November.
Nice find. I agree. You can really tell how much Christopher Golden cares about continuity while reading the novel.
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/11/christopher-golden-christopher-roberson-interview-aliens
I looked forward to reading it later!
After having just rewatched a couple of scenes, you're right. But that just goes to show they're not solely in charge, by any means. Their logo is all over Operations, but that's no different from getting investment from the EU for things here in the UK: It's money with strings attached and a stipulation you have to put up lots of European Union signs, so that they get good PR. The same as racing cars have their sponsor's logo all over the place (or how, as our space exploration advances, we're likely to see a lot of Space X logos on stations and outposts which are technically under NASA's authority). The colony, as we saw it, is also chiefly there to run the atmosphere processor, as they're still at an early stage. Many of the staff we see are probably there to run it and would be cycled in/out, trained by Weyland-Yutani in how to maintain their hardware.
Note how the Jordans, who are there to be the actual colonists and prospectors, don't have all the company logos on their vehicle and clothing. Notice, too, how on Newt's citizenship Award, there's a complete absence of any Weyland-Yutani logo:
http://www.b26354.co.nz/newt/pictures/dsc_1199.jpg
I'd imagine that "Colonial Administration" is to do with the US (or UA) government, who would ultimately be the controlling authority. Federal authorities are the ones who send the troops in to investigate. Weyland-Yutani didn't (even though, as we saw in 'Alien 3, they have the capacity to do so). So, in this case, I'd think things which impact citizenship and actual colony status, aren't under Weyland-Yutani control. Just stuff like the atmosphere processor and whatever they might have secured the rights to, such as future mining sites.
It's also worth pointing out that any colonisation effort would have to come under the authority of an existing nation's government. Otherwise, they could just do as they pleased without any legal consequences, as there'd be no legally-recognised laws to govern their day-to-day operations. All the kinds of things which end up in court, in today's world, would have to be dealt with locally and if there's no existing legislation to dictate what is and isn't allowed under particular circumstances, they could just make it up as they go along.
They're part owners.
This came up elsewhere on the forum, but as I said there, Weyland-Yutani wouldn't legally own the colony, to the best of my knowledge. The contributed a lot to it, but that's not the same thing. They'd have probably just sent out their own security forces to deal with the situation, for one thing.
Colonial Marines would be obligated to provide protection for government territory. They aren't Private Military Comtractors, like Blackwater. That's the kind of outfit a company would contract to provide security if it doesn't have any of its own (which, in Weyland-Yutani's case, I'd find difficult to believe).
Lockheed don't 'hire out' the US military to protect their facilities, for example. However, the US government can choose to hire private security firms, such as Wickenhut providing security for Area 51, famously.
Of course, I'm trying to apply realism to all of this (in the spirit of what Cameron attempted to inject in his movie). It's quite possible Golden has taken a more superficial overview of the situation and gone 'full sci-fi' with all manner of assumptions.
Also excited to hear that Tim Lebbon is working on novels set after Sea of Sorrows!
Fair enough. Don't know if I read that quote!
I thought perhaps one of Ripley's parents had perhaps re-married at some point giving her half-siblings and starting a different branch of the family that lead to Decker.
I seem to remember the same thing. Hicks asked whether Decker was descended from Ripley 8 or the original, and Moore said the original. Not to mention that Rollins mentions Amanda Ripley, which would also point in the direction of Decker descending from her.
And I thought the Auriga crash was a relatively recent thing in Sea of Sorrows.
Something that occurred to me recently - how do we know Decker isn't Ripley 8's descendant, rather than the original Ellen Ripley? I initially assumed it to be the latter, but if it was the former, that would certainly help explain his telepathic link with the Aliens.
Out of the Shadows started brilliantly. Got weak in the middle. And the ending was a bit of a head shaker.
Sea of Sorrows was pretty weak all around. So much gunfire for nothing. Mired in action movie cliches. And a main character that was like 'He's what? And he's who?' Burke might have been a corporate stooge who saw an opportunity and jumped at it, but that doesn't make him a compulsive liar.
If River of Pain gives us a good backstory without trying to do its own thing, I'll be happy.
The biggest disappointment is that the novels are titled ALIEN. I was hoping for something more Alien, and less Aliens. Mind, I got Alien: Isolation, so I can't complain.
I'm going to keep an open mind for River of Pain. I like Chris's writing. I'll enjoy it, regardless. But I hope it sticks closer to the dynamic we've seen in Fire and Stone so far.
Ordinary people in extraordinary situations.
Perhaps.
They didn't need to, no, but you would've thought a previous group of Marines being stationed there might be brought up in the briefing, or when they find no trace of them upon landing. Leave no Marine behind and all that. If they're in the same job you'd expect Gorman's Marines to at least care about their brothers in arms.
Obviously it's a retcon at the end of the day, but with this new Colonial Marshal Bureau that Isolation came up with, why not stick some of those guys in there? That would be far more logical.
I've got no problem with the notion that WY might have fingers in the USCM pie. I could find it quite likely that they're able to pull strings or manipulate key personal to get things done. It'd also be quite believable that WY might have a contract with WY/ECA to provide protection to their colonies.
However, with A:I introducing the Colonial Marshalls I'd expect to see them on every off-world site. That said, I suppose between A:I and Aliens, they could have dissolved.
I'm dubious to see how it's handled but I'll go in with an open-mind.
Thought I'd corrected that. I'll fix it when the CMS stops playing up.
Like Xenomorphine I think the issue could be the mistaken belief that the Company owns the marines.
Yeah, that quote bugged me too, because there's nothing particularly logical about it at all. If there were Marines there, why didn't Gorman's boys know about them?
Equally curious and suspicious as to what this could imply and worried this could be another example of someone wrongly assuming Weyland-Yutani owns the Colonial Marines.
But I'll definitely read it anyway.
I think this book it least likely to be free of continuity errors of the three.
But I'm looking forward to it anyway.
Ill pick up river of pain of course but knowing what the overall outcome will be takes away some of the suspense
It's cool that Golden and Roberson made sure that their stories could co-exist. I'm looking forward, in a few months' time, to reading all the new novels and comics as the gigantic story it's all meant to be.
I can't wait to see what happens on the Derelict!