大象传媒 Cult - Printer Friendly Version
Christopher Golden - Interviewed at the Eclipse convention, July 2002
Return to Oz
What came first as an idea - the Oz novel or graphic novel? Was it always planned that there would be two?
Not at the beginning. Early on, I had just decided to pitch it as a comic book because it just seemed like such a natural story to do as a comic, and I thought visually it would be great.
I wanted to know what that story was, what happened in the time between [Oz] departing and returning. But then... I was talking to my editor at Pocket, and I said, "You know, it would make a great book, what do you think about it?"
Her response was essentially [that] as long as it was alright with Dark Horse, they would be happy to do it, and as long as the book didn鈥檛 beat the comic book into the marketplace, that was fine.
So, the book is completely different, and I actually think the book is a much better read than the comic. I expected the comic to feel bigger, and it doesn鈥檛. There were elements to the story that I wanted to include that it didn鈥檛 seem to make sense to use in the comic.
When I went to write the book, I wanted to try to get that classic American Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn sense of departing your home, leaving everything behind on a search for self. There鈥檚 something classic about that that I really enjoyed which wasn鈥檛 really in the comic.
Plus I really liked [werewolf hunter] Cain and I wanted to use him, so that whole element was added. And you get to see more of Oz鈥檚 life.
It was so difficult to write a novel over 300 pages where your main character, the protagonist, is one of the few characters with speaking parts in the entire book [who] doesn鈥檛 say anything.
Did you want to make it more dialogue-based?
Well, it couldn鈥檛 be, it just couldn鈥檛 be. And it鈥檚 funny, because in interviews people would always ask, "Who鈥檚 your favourite character to write, who鈥檚 the hardest character to write?" and my answer was always Oz.
[He鈥檚] the most difficult character to write, and now here I am, the masochist, writing an entire novel around this guy. And I hope that he comes off in character. That was my biggest fear, that I would have to give him so much dialogue that he wasn鈥檛 in character.
Messing about in boats
Tell us about you new Buffy novel, The Wisdom of War.
The Wisdom of War is an idea that I had a very long time ago, and it sat in my computer awaiting the next opportunity to do an original Buffy book that included the whole cast.
How can I describe this? As usual there鈥檚 a new bit of hell in the Hellmouth. This time, coming from the oceans. Bizarre things are happening, boats are sinking, people are turning into things that aren鈥檛 quite human, and California sea lions are coming up on to the beach in droves, terrified of something that鈥檚 in the water.
Everybody in town feels unreasonable dread that seems to spring from nowhere. It鈥檚 very much a Lovecraftian Buffy, and meant to be. With a grain of salt, it鈥檚 still very much Buffy, but it鈥檚 heavily Lovecraft influenced, on purpose.
This was so much fun because The Wisdom of War was about what happens when monsters appear in Sunnydale that Buffy鈥檚 not quite certain she should kill. Which isn鈥檛 to say that they鈥檙e not doing things that they shouldn鈥檛 be doing, that she doesn鈥檛 need to stop them, but, are they really something she needs to kill? Why are they here?
It鈥檚 also about, without going into it too much, a conflict between Buffy and the Council. And a conflict between the Council and another group called the Order of Sages, which is introduced here for the first time.
Tom Sniegoski and I wrote the Buffy video game, and for promotional purposes, we wrote a prologue novella of 100-odd pages that leads into the game. The Order of Sages also appears in that novella. It鈥檚 actually a Spike and Dru novella, leading into the game.
In any case, the Order of Sages are similar to the Council in a way, they鈥檙e just a little bit more... did you ever have Wild Kingdom over here?
Er, we don鈥檛 think so...
Wild Kingdom with Marlon Perkins was a show in the US about capturing [animals]. They would tag the animals and study them. The classic line from Marlon Perkins was, [whilst] he and Jim, who was his sidekick, would be observing the animal, [would be: "while Jim approaches the tiger, and drags it down to tag it, I鈥檒l remain here at safe distance."
And that鈥檚 the Order of Sages, in a way. They catalogue and study and examine, to try to understand the pre-human species. They鈥檙e not out for slaughter, necessarily. They think that there鈥檚 a better way. That doesn鈥檛 mean that they鈥檙e better than the Council, just that they have different official motivations. But what ends up happening in the story is that their philosophy about what to do with these creatures is at odds with the Council鈥檚, and the Council gets very upset with Buffy as usual.
And let鈥檚 just say that there鈥檚 a great deal more at stake than you at first realise, because Buffy quickly finds herself trapped between two species of monsters running around Sunnydale.
So it鈥檚 a great deal of fun, and I get to use Faith, which was great. There were a number of characters that I wrote in book form for the very first time in this book. I got to write Tara and Willow as a couple. I had never written Tara in a novel before before and I got to write them as a couple which was great, because they鈥檙e probably the most in love of the couples you see on the show. I got to write Dawn for the first time, which was fun. I got to write for Anya, and Faith.
And actually Chapter One is a piece that I really enjoyed writing because it鈥檚 Xander, Anya, Willow, Tara, Dawn and Buffy jammed into a car on the way to the beach. And it鈥檚 a lot of talk about how Buffy, she鈥檚 been to the beach twice in the entire time that she鈥檚 lived in this beach community. And it was just great to have the interplay of all these characters particularly because I had never written them as a group before. It was so much fun to write, really.
Angel anthology
What will be your involvement in the upcoming Angel anthology, The Longest Night?
Well, I鈥檓 not sure if I鈥檓 supposed to tell you, but I鈥檓 going to because nobody鈥檚 told me not to. The Longest Night is about the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. And each of the stories takes one hour of that night.
My story is one of the first ones in the book, it may well be the first. It鈥檚 called I Still Believe. I don鈥檛 want to give [too much] away, because it鈥檚 only a short story, but I will say that it revolves around Angel and Cordelia鈥檚 friendship (not relationship, in the sense that they may be going towards that) but how much they truly care for each other.
And it involves Angel Christmas shopping. Which was really, really, really fun.
Monster Island
What are the plans for your next collaboration with Tom Sniegoski, Monster Island?
He鈥檚 working on his chapter right now. We鈥檙e almost halfway done. And we should be finished with the first draft by early October, I think.
Will that be one of your more adult Buffy novels?
Well, it鈥檚 funny. I wrote The Lost Slayer as an adult book and they published it as a teen series. It鈥檚 pretty grim, The Lost Slayer. Monster Island isn鈥檛 quite as grim, but it鈥檚 huge. And it has one of the most grown-up themes that we鈥檝e done.
When I was doing Sins of the Father, one of the people from Fox said, "You never see the parents in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You particularly never see the fathers, because fathers haven鈥檛 affected these characters. Fathers aren鈥檛 really an influence on the characters."
And my response was, "You鈥檙e out of your mind!" In fact, I would venture to say that fathers have influenced these characters more than anything.
Because of their absence?
Well, think about it. Angel鈥檚 father, Wesley鈥檚 father, Xander鈥檚 father, Tara鈥檚 father, Buffy鈥檚 father. Cordelia鈥檚 father lost all his money and had to flee the country. The Host鈥檚 mum. There鈥檚 a couple that I鈥檓 leaving out, point being, most of these characters wouldn鈥檛 be who they are if their fathers hadn鈥檛 been a**holes.
In Monster Island, the villain is a demon by the name of Axtious. Axtious is a pure-bred demon who is working with a group to eliminate half-breeds. I won鈥檛 tell you why, or any more of the story than that. Suffice to say that he has spent years searching for a magical way to take a half-breed and drain the human out of it to make it a pure-blood demon, because he has a son who鈥檚 a half-breed and he wants to make him full-demon so he can accept him.
The only problem is that when he returns to Los Angeles looking for his son because he鈥檚 finally found this magical spell that will do it, he finds that his son, Francis Doyle, is dead. And he blames Angel.
That鈥檚 a good one, isn鈥檛 it? Well, it鈥檚 huge, and it鈥檚 great because we鈥檝e got this huge sub-plot with Gunn. Gunn has his own story running through the background with a kid named Calvin, a teenager from his neighbourhood whose parents were killed by vampires... well, it鈥檚 more complicated than that. We鈥檝e got a lot of other stuff going on, it鈥檚 the first time some of these characters have met. But also, things like, what would a conversation between Fred and Tara be like?
Buffy's double
Having scripted the Buffy video game, have you seen it working yet?
I鈥檝e seen a very early version and I must say, I can鈥檛 wait to play this game. It looks really cool. The gameplay is good, and all the voices, save Sarah鈥檚, are the actual actors. And the girl who does Sarah鈥檚 voice sounds exactly like her. They got a great voice double.
How do you play it?
There are lots of cut-scenes. It鈥檚 why they hired us, because they knew that they needed a story, they knew that they needed to make it feel like Buffy. It鈥檚 very like putting yourself in the longest episode of Buffy ever done. So there鈥檚 plenty of fighting, I mean it is a battle game, but you really do need to understand the plot of the game, and figure it out as you go along, what they鈥檙e really up to. The hard thing was, for them, was figuring out how much of the cut-scenes they could remove, because some were very long.
Do you think this will lead to others?
There鈥檚 always talk. There is going to be another Buffy game, but I can鈥檛 really tell you any more about it. You can say there鈥檚 going to be a second one. We鈥檙e in preliminary stages of working on the story for that one.
Ferry Scary
You are a prolific writer outside the world of Buffy too. Tell us about your latest horror novel, The Ferryman.
You have to import it. It鈥檚 funny, because Prowlers just came out in a UK edition, but [for] The Ferryman and my original adult horror novels I have been unable to get a publisher for over here. I don鈥檛 know enough people or I haven鈥檛 made the right connections yet I guess.
It鈥檚 amazing to me because I have readers here. I have a lot of readers here. Prowlers pre-orders were about 75 per cent of what they do on Buffy. That鈥檚 pretty good! So, they鈥檙e happy, and I鈥檓 hoping to eventually get all of my original novels out in England. It鈥檚 frustrating. So Ferryman you have to have as an import.
I love that book, and it鈥檚 gotten great response. I鈥檝e got quotes from Clive Barker, Charles DeLint and Poppy Brite. I feel like I hit one out of the park on that book. It鈥檚 the story of a woman who foolishly enough left a man who loved her dearly for an old college flame just because she couldn鈥檛 imagine not giving it another try. He immediately got her pregnant, and as soon as he found out she was pregnant he left her. This is all the story that leads into the story of the book.
As the book begins, she鈥檚 in premature labour at eight and a half months, she nearly dies, and she loses the baby. And while she is at death鈥檚 door, she has a near-death experience in which she meets Charon, the ferryman of the river Styx. But she denies him and survives and he doesn鈥檛 like that, but he鈥檚 also fascinated by her because nobody does that, and he becomes enamoured with her, he becomes, in his own twisted way, in love with her, and he follows her back to this world to pursue her.
Meanwhile, while she鈥檚 recovering, she鈥檚 rekindling her relationship with the man she鈥檇 left, and Charon doesn鈥檛 like that very much. And that鈥檚 what it鈥檚 about. It鈥檚 really interesting because as much as it has certain elements in common with the big horror tropes, things like Nightmare on Elm Street, it鈥檚 probably the most thoughtful thing I鈥檝e ever written. It鈥檚 a 400 page contemplation on the nature of death and living.
Adoring Amber
Tell us about working with Amber Benson for the next Willow and Tara comics
You just don鈥檛 have enough time for me to say all the good things about Amber I need to say. I just adore her. We鈥檝e talked about working on a number of other projects together. She鈥檚 just a joy. She鈥檚 just the most genuine person I鈥檝e met who works in California. Or in the Los Angeles area. So anything she wants to work on, I鈥檇 definitely do.
We had a lot of fun working on a second Willow and Tara. She鈥檚 very fond of Michelle [Trachtenberg] so we wrote a story where Willow and Tara go on the road with Dawn. It鈥檚 nice, because with the first one, for foolish reasons, they wouldn鈥檛 let us write them as lovers. People complained about that because, as usually happens, by the time the comic came out, they鈥檇 already kissed on the show. She鈥檚 already told people she was gay. But at the time we were doing the comic, even though Joss knew and all the writers knew, and it had been patently obvious to most people watching the show, they wouldn鈥檛 let us say it. It was infuriating, because then people would yell at us. People gave us a hard time as if we were shying away from it.
So it was nice to be able to portray them as in love. What I find really interesting is, sometimes it feels saccharine to write romance. Sometimes when you鈥檙e writing romance between two characters, it doesn鈥檛 feel quite real. Or it鈥檚 a bit too much. And I feel almost like, you can make those two characters as dewey-eyed in love and it would never be too much. I just love their relationship. So I had a great time, and she is such a talented writer.
It has to do with Green Jack, the spirit of the wood, and it鈥檚 really fun.