Toys that owned me, toys I owned

By now it's no secret to anybody who cares that next week's forthcoming Star Wars: Red Harvest is set in a snow-stricken Sith Academy on a backwater ice planet called Odacer-Faustin. The decision to set the novel in the middle of a planetary blizzard made everything more fun for me -- it ramped up the tension, created an instantly creepy atmosphere, and most importantly, harkened back to when I was twelve years old, playing with Kenner action figures and playsets.

Nothing's more boring than listening to some middle-aged pop culture misfit whining about all the now collectible and much coveted toys that he owned when he was young -- so here goes. I probably had twenty or thirty of the original Kenner figures, some of them from the of original film, but most from the movie I still enjoy the most -- Empire. I had the Hoth versions of all my favorite characters (in fact, I don't think I ever owned an "original" black-vested Han Solo, big or small-headed version). And although I couldn't afford one of the big AT-ATs, I did hit J.C. Penney for one of these babies --

With -- yes! -- the open belly rescue feature! Every kid's introduction into intergalactic splatter.

I spent hours in my room working out every conceivable scenario, fighting and re-fighting the battle of Hoth. And in fact, one of my original, completely gonzo ideas for Death Troopers involved a virtual scenario by Vader to overtake the rebel base that inexplicably comes to life, causing all kinds of mutations inside the ice caves while Imperial forces stages their attack. Although it never would have worked, nobody was as pleased as I was when Leigh Brackett's original screenplay to Empire leaked online earlier this year and I discovered that, at one point, Lucas had actually planned a Thing from Another World-style monster attack in the middle of the battle.

None of which has all that much bearing on Red Harvest...except that it does, sort of, in the sense that I'm incredibly grateful to Lucasbooks for giving me the opportunity to haul out all those toys again, at least in my imagination, and set the monsters loose.

End of the Year Roundup

I haven't been around for a while, both literally and bloggily, but now I'm back, and for anyone who's interested, this is what's been happening.

I spent half of November in Europe with my family. It started when Egmont Publishing bought the UK rights to Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick back in October, and I was able to have lunch with my new publishers in London before venturing on to Paris, Switzerland, Venice and Rome. The itinerary was also a research trip for the sequel to Au Revoir, which will be set in Europe, but it was also just a great time, and Venice is now my favorite city on earth. Meanwhile, foreign rights to Au Revoir have also been doing well, and as of now the novel has been sold to the UK, Germany, Russia and China.

My current project is the screenplay adaptation of Ryan Brown's novel Play Dead. I've been working hard on this one with some very good producers, and I'm pretty excited about the whole thing. There was a nice blurb in Variety last month about the deal, and they're still hoping to start shooting next year -- although these things are never certain.

Finally, Star Wars: Red Harvest is due out in a couple weeks. I'll probably do a couple book signings for it. Right now the only confirmed event is at Borders in Camp Hill, PA, in early January. I'll post the times and dates once it gets closer.

Hope you're all doing well, and have a great holiday.