Babel Clash

First and foremost, I wanted to thank everyone involved with our Dungeons & Dragons theme over the last two weeks!  A big thanks goes out to Ed Greenwood, Bill Slavicsek, Bob Salvatore, and Jeff Mariotte!  All four of you made for a great two weeks on the blog!  I encourage the readers of Babel Clash to think D&D this holiday season as they look to fill out their shopping lists!

Before we can get to the massive holiday shopping though, there’s Thanksgiving!  A time to eat good food, watch bad football, see what happens when the combustible sides of the family get together, and rest up for the 4AM shopping blitz on Black Friday!

On this Thanksgiving week, I am thankful for our next two Babel Clash guests!  For the next two weeks, we will be graced with the presence of not one, but TWO, New York Times Bestselling Authors.

You may recognize who our first guest is from the smiley face with fangs logo her Vlad Tod series is known for.  That’s right, our first guest is Heather Brewer, whose final volume in the Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series, just came out this Fall!  It’s called Twelfth Grade Kills!

Joining Heather on the blog is an author who is also familiar with vampires…Rachel Caine!  In her series, the Morganville Vampires, we follow Claire Danvers, a student at Texas Prairie University as she copes with living in a town designed and run by vampires.  Her latest in the series, Ghost Town, came out this Fall! 

Please join me in welcoming Heather and Rachel to the blog!  (also, while I mentioned you should make sure D&D is on your holiday wish lists, I think it goes without saying that Heather and Rachel should find a spot on there as well…)

In case you want a little sample of what to expect from Heather and Rachel, here’s a quick clip of them interviewing each other at Comicon!

Sorry for the Toy Story reference, but in a sense it fits for this post.  Ed, Bill, and Jeff spoke of it last week, but I’m also curious to get your take as well.  As a NY Times Bestselling author, what does the publishing industry look like to you as you gaze into your crystal ball?  Are ebooks here to stay?  Are libraries things of the past?  Will self-publishing overtake traditional publishing?  In your next post, I’m wondering if you would touch on how you see the publishing industry evolving.  Also, on a more refined topic, how will D&D evolve and be affected as technology continues to improve?

Since we have two new guests coming up tomorrow (more on that later today), if you’d also like to take some time promoting some of your current releases and getting fans excited about what’s coming up, please feel free!

It’s been a blast having you this past week.  Thanks for closing up a great two weeks where we got to chat about the ever-branching world of D&D!

When I outlined “The Crystal Shard” and sent the sample chapter and the concept in to TSR (in an attempt to win the spot for the 2nd Forgotten Realms’ novel),  it was Wulfgar’s story.  Drizzt did not exist, not even in my mind.  He was not a character I had played in a game - we didn’t even allow drow elves as player characters in our game.

In fact, the only reason Drizzt came into existence was because of a mistake.  When TSR asked me to audition for the 2nd Realms novel, they sent me the only thing they had printed: a copy of Doug Niles “Darkwalker on Moonshae.” In that book, the maps showed only these small islands - no hint of the larger Forgotten Realms - so I, of course, thought the Moonshae Islands the whole of the land.  Because of that, I used one of Doug’s characters,a  human rogue, to introduce the hero of my book.  That was the sample chapter.

It wasn’t until TSR explained the scope of the Forgotten Realms to me and I was able to set my book thousands of miles from Doug’s work that I found myself in a scramble for a new sidekick to Wulfgar.  Under pressure, off the top of my head, came Drizzt Do’Urden, the Dark Elf ranger.  This story is much more detailed in the Foreward of the The Dark Elf Trilogy omnibus edition - it’s a pretty funny story, actually.

So did I expect that this off-the-top-of-my-head sidekick character would become so incredibly popular?  Of course not!  Hey, i was just trying to get a book published - just one book.  If I could publish just one book, I would be happy, so I told myself.  I had no idea it would evolve to this.

But I did know one thing, or learned it very quickly, I should say: when I started writing that first book, on page 2, I knew.  I had this “sidekick” running across the tundra, tackled by yetis and rescued by this very intriguing dwarf.  And I knew.  This wasn’t Wulfgar’s story at all.  It was Drizzt’s.  Something about him, the classic outcast, the lone ranger, captured my attention and drew me to him almost immediately.

I had no idea that he would become what he has, of course, but I knew that I wanted to know him a lot better.

I do have a fear now that Drizzt has, or will, outgrow me.  I don’t like sharing him (well, I find the fanfic flattering, but I don’t want other authors writing him professionally!), and no, in this case, I don’t play well with others.  As far as the Drizzt portraits go, or t-shirts, or miniatures and things of that nature, I have no real dog in the fight; I just enjoy what the various artists do and usually love their interpretations.

But with the Drizzt story, with the character, that’s my domain.  You won’t see Drizzt stories or comics or novels without my name attached, which means without me writing or co-writing them.

What can I say?  He’s my favorite character; his personal journey is part-and-parcel of my own.

Bob

Hello Dane and all.  Good to be here, following up some of my favorite folks.

Well into my first 4th Edition campaign now - my monk hit level 6 last night.  We killed a demon - nasty little bugger with all kinds of fiery tricks for us.  I finished him off with my Disruptive Fist Attack; felt good to finally put that stomp-down to good use, particularly since it was the only daily I had left to use.

I think I’m finally figuring out the key to 4th Edition.  I’ve always been a 1st-2nd hybrid player (with a  bunch of House Rules thrown in for good measure).  My sons, however, are in love with 4th Edition, and since it’s Bryan’s turn to DM, that’s what we’re playing.  For a while, though impressed with the mechanics, I found myself having a hard time getting into the game.  It was feeling like a card or miniature game, not an RPG, and I vastly prefer RPGs.

The key to the earlier editions was a strong DM who could create an entertaining exploration/adventure.  That’s still needed, of course, but with 4th, I now realize, the onus is also on the players.  If you’re going to flip a card and just name the power you’re using, then yes, you’re playing a card game, a strategy game.

But if the players inject their role-playing into it, if my monk describes the movements as I execute Spinning Leopard, for example, then the game moves right back into role-playing territory.

I think I’m starting to like this, a lot.

I’ve been reading the comments and finding myself nodding in agreement, or with appreciation as I came to look at something from a slightly different perspective.  Great conversations, great feedback - particularly in that last post, “Is it me?”

Off I go to finish another book…

PEace,

Bob Salvatore

Bob,

Thank you for participating in Babel Clash.  Before you go, would you like to take the opportunity to tell us about The Ghost King and the Dame?  Why are these classic Salvatore must-reads?

Morgan

As I sit here thiinking about those moments in science-fiction/fantasy movies that really caught me (”Close Encounters of the Third Kind” had about 50 of them, by the way), I notice that almost all of them are far back in time.  Most of that is probably me - you see thiings differently in your teens and twenties than you do in your forties and fifties, i expect.

But I think there’s something else going on here.  I just did an interview with Newsweek Radio where we talked about whether or not the “arts” could inspire manned space flight again, as happened the first time around.  As I thought about it, I realized…probably not.  Here’s why: with computer graphics, we’ve outstripped reality so completely that anything “real” will be boring by contrast.  In the Marshall McLuhan vernacular, we’ve numbed ourselves to all but the extremes.  I find this very evident in horror movies, other than the occasional gem, and so to with science-fiction and fantasy.

I loved “The Fellowship of the Rings,” liked “The Two Towers” and moderately enjoyed “The Return of the King.”  As Jackson got more extreme on the CG in each film, I found myself moving further from them, emotionally.

Thoughts?

Bob

I caught a few minutes of Back to the Future II yesterday.  In the future, there’s a fax machine in every home, and there’s no e-mail or internet.  We see the challenge of near-future sci-fi… predicting future technology isn’t so easy.  Anybody else have any favorite anachronisms from sci-fil films?

Did anyone else watch the pilot episode of the new “V”?  I vaguely remember the original.  The aliens ripping off their human faces to reveal their true reptilian faces freaked me out as a kid.  I seriously had nightmares about it.  This new show is shaping up for solid entertainment, but I’m not expecting any nightmares this time.  It’s flashy and fun, but I miss some of the mystery and creepiness that came with the original.

2010 presents a promising list of new science fiction and fantasy films.  Here are the ones that I’m most looking forward to:

1) Clash of the Titans - Epic mythology with plenty of heroes, gods and monsters.

2) The Wolf Man - Remake of the Universal horror classic, with a strong cast.

3) Iron Man 2 - The # 1 blockbuster of the season.

4) The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia) - based on the first fantasy novel that ever caught my eye.  There’s a big nostalgia factor here for me.

5) Alice in Wonderland - Tim Burton & Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, this will be a feast for the imagination.

Other contenders:  The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Red Sonja, the Losers, Legion, Prince of Persia, Daybreakers, Percy Jackson & the Olympians, the Book of Eli, Predators, Tron Legacy, Twilight:  Eclipse.

They’re not Sci-Fi / Fantasy per se, but they look fun:  Scott Pilgrim & Jonah Hex.

Which movies make your top 5 “most anticipated” list?

Does anyone remember the Rankin-Bass animated version of “The Hobbit”?  Orson Bean starred as Bilbo Baggins…one thing about that excellent production that has stayed with me was the sense of whimsy it captured withint he framework of a more serious topic.

The colors of the Shire night, on the bridge above the stream, for example, were really saturated and beyond the expected spectrum.  it drew me in and made me want to be there.

I would also argue that this is one reason World of Warcraft has so smashed its competitors.  Many of hte other video games go for the grays and greens and browns of the real world in their quest for a near-real look.  Blizzard threw that out the window with World of Warcraft and instead moved the color palates to the extreme ranges.

And again, it’s a world I want to visit.

Bob