Ask Bob Greenberger

Started by Corporal Hicks, Dec 17, 2006, 09:09:04 PM

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Ask Bob Greenberger (Read 52,500 times)

Mr. Weyland

Mr. Weyland

#15
cool, good to see you Rob, cant wait to read your Predator book, all I have to do is buy it, I am going shoping soon so I hope i can find it  ;D

Corporal Hicks

Corporal Hicks

#16
Flesh and Blood wont be out until March next year.

Sara

Sara

#17
Oh yay.  That means I can ask for it for my birthday. ;P

Sealink

Sealink

#18
Let's not get into who is insulting whom here. We're not talking about simply ignoring the Perry's version of the Predators, although that by itself is reason enough not to purchase the novels they've put out after the fact.

We're talking about taking a "f*cking alien" and making it complicit in the shady dealings of humans. We're talking about taking an eight-foot tall killing machine with a stringent social structure and respect for their equals and turning them into hired assassins for the human underground.

I KNOW. WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE.   ::)

Not to mention the fact that Mr. Greenberger seems to contradict himself in the interview, on the one hand calling P2 unsuccessful because of how close it got to the creature, but in his own novel, he's going to have them dealing with humans, at least enough for a human to specify a target and the Predators to say, "Yeah, okay, sure." and go try to kill it. Sweet, sweet irony.

Fanboys always jump on fangirls for characterizing Predators, for giving them thoughts and motivations outside of killing, even though that's exactly what Predator 2 and AVP showed us could happen. Yet, the company who owns them continues to pay people to muddy their image as an honorable race; they're nothing more than hired thugs, regardless of whether you "get into their heads" or not.

I'm sorry you think of my comments as derogatory. People are obviously more interested in toeing the line than making sure our fandom isn't something to be embarassed about.  I'm sorry that our fandom is so whipped that we can no longer hold the creators of canon responsible for gross missteps in the creation of that canon.

Sara

Sara

#19
Thank you for clarifying Sealink.  What I am trying to get at is that I am very open to new interpretations of the Predators, even if that means leaving the "Yautja" concept behind.  But these new "incarnations" need to be true to the source material, including P2 and AVP.  I have not seen that with Forever Midnight, and now it seems the same with this new novel coming out.

Mr. Weyland

Mr. Weyland

#20
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Dec 19, 2006, 04:53:25 PM
Flesh and Blood wont be out until March next year.
oh well. i look for another book or something whilst i wait  :P

bobgreenberger

bobgreenberger

#21
Hi All,

I appreciate the spirited discussion and I love to see the passion exhibited for what has been done with the Predators since the first film.  Let's see if I can address everyone's points.

Corporal Hicks, I said I wasn't going deep into the heads of the Hish, and allow me to clarify.  Mike had a very specific idea for how he wanted them handled, hence his decision not to give them dialogue.  I'm essentially leaving the deep thinking and POV work to Mike, giving him something to work with.  The Hish culture is a fascinating one given that they've essentially allowed themselves to put the Hunt above all else, letting them become scavengers to improve on weapons and technology.  This single-mindedness has pitfalls that would make for interesting stories down the road.

Ultimate Predator, given that I have a day job and other commitments, I try and allow myself two to three months to completely write a novel once the outline is approved.  In this case, as explored in the interview, it was written under tighter circumstances but it's nice to know I can actually write an entire novel in a month.

Sealink, you raise some very valid issues from a fan's perspective.  However, what we need to keep in mind is that the Predator is owned by Twentieth Century-Fox and they direct how their franchise is to be handled by licensees.  If current licensing management wants a fresh approach to the novels, then that is what DH Books will instruct its writers.  If the fans love the previous version so much they boycott the new novels, then 20th learns a lesson.  On the other hand, if the DH version sells as well or better, then that means the material may be appealing to an even broader audience.

As for ignoring the decades of canon, it wasn't my choice.  Had I been told to follow the "canon" (a word that is given extreme reverence by Star Trek fans), then I would have done my homework and satisfied that request.

Also, allow me to clarify my other point.  I found P2 unsuccessful because the atmosphere that worked so well in the first was gone.  It was too brightly lit, the Predators and humans interacted with no sense of mystery and I just didn't like it.  Also, you will see some extreme hunting between humans and predators in our novel, but they won't be going out for beers afterwards.

Sara, again, we're following DH and 20th's editorial direction so we're sharing the universe with FM but not necessarily going out of our way to link them.  Our book stands fairly well on its own.  And remember, for those who feel FM  or anything else is "crap", there are others who love it.  We have a wide range of readers and opinions and rarely is the opinion universal for or against.

We didn't tale an entirely new approach because we didn't need to.  The elements incorporated from FM  are really minor with the exception of continuing to refer to the Predators as Hish.  I'd like to think fans of the first film will find our book satisfying.  When it comes out, read it and we can continue this discussion.

Corporal Hicks

Corporal Hicks

#22
You mentioned you'd already finished the intial draft. When do you expect to get around to doing the second draft?

bobgreenberger

bobgreenberger

#23
Funny you should ask.  I'm turning the draft over to Mike today and let him get to work on his part.

BrokenTusk

BrokenTusk

#24
This has been bothering me since Forever Midnight, but will you include John Shirley's Hish gender change ? Pardon me for being blunt, but the fact that Forever Midnight included that one individual predator could be both genders, kinda felt weird and lame. also if you don't does that mean that they're different types of Hish, like clans ?

Corporal Hicks

Corporal Hicks

#25
Hey Bob! Your novel is due out next month, any ideas when the previews'll go online?

BrokenTusk

BrokenTusk

#26
is Bob around here anymore ? if so what do you think of Mr. Shirley incorporating both Yautja and Hish in his "probable" next book ?

bobgreenberger

bobgreenberger

#27
Interesting question.  If he can make it work, then more power to him.

steveperry

steveperry

#28
Quote from: Sealink on Dec 19, 2006, 07:07:15 PM
Let's not get into who is insulting whom here. We're not talking about simply ignoring the Perry's version of the Predators, although that by itself is reason enough not to purchase the novels they've put out after the fact.

People are obviously more interested in toeing the line than making sure our fandom isn't something to be embarassed about.  I'm sorry that our fandom is so whipped that we can no longer hold the creators of canon responsible for gross missteps in the creation of that canon.

Pardon me for butting into your thread, Bob, but this came up in mine and I thought I'd pass it along.

As writers, we have great respect for our fans. But as writers, we also know that there are die-hard fans who will argue at great length with each other over the smallest details; what is canon and what is not, and there is simply no way to please them all.

Make the guys who think the Predators are tougher than the Aliens happy, you irritate the guys on the other side of the aisle.

Even two dyed-in-the-wool Predator fans who agree about 90% of the time will argue endlessly over minutiae that most people a) don't see and b) could not care less about.

The fan base is as diverse as any group of readers, and what you want to do is to interest and please as many of them as you can -- not the handful of guys who are sure they are the only folks who truly understand the universe, and that everybody else is a dolt.

That's not for whom you write. You can't. They can't buy enough books to keep the series viable.

People who would rather the Predators stay mysterious have a valid point. As writers, however, we need to know something about our characters, and the reason I got inside their heads was because I was curious and able to do something about it.


bobgreenberger

bobgreenberger

#29
Hey all,

Now that Flesh and Blood is out, I'll be checking here regularly in case you want to talk about the book.


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