Pheaturing Alan Dean Foster

Hello, welcome to another entry of the Phile. Read carefully, because his entry is gonna be audited. Today's interview is with one of my favorite science fiction author's of all time. When I started to read his novels in my teens I did not imagine that in my 40's I would interview him one day. So, did you hear the latest on Tiger Woods? There are reports that he has entered rehab for sex addiction. It's a standard process, 28 days, one for every mistress. For those of you that don't remember Tiger Woods, he's the guy we used to make fun of in the olden times before late night TV went nuts. The latest NBC news, if you're interested is, not only will Conan O'Brien be replaced by Jay Leno of the "Tonight Show", possibly as soon as after next week is the rumor, Jay Leno also gets custody of Conan's youngest child. He had a really bad contract. It's kind of sad to see what's happened to NBC. You know, when I was a young man, just beginning to blossom, my breasts were starting to fill out, NBC was number one. They had "Cosby" and "Cheers" and great shows. Now, they're a mess. Like going on your high school reunion and the homecoming king went bald and works in a lawn mower repair shop. Meanwhile, over at the the White House issued a statement today blaming government inefficiencies on old computers. Apparently, they've all been crashing, and everyone knows the only crashing tolerated at the White House is during state dinners. They're replacing any technology that's obsolete, broken down, or causes problems. Desktops, laptops, Joe Biden...
Usually, destruction doesn't mix well with comedy, just look at the NBC late night schedule. So, did anybody see the "American Idol" episode with the old guy singing his original song, "Pants On The Ground"? Well, it seems like Larry Platt, the old guy, is already cashing in. Check out this poster, kids.

I asked a few girls on how I can get more readers on the Phile, and they told me that they love the Twilight series, so if I can post anything with Twilight, that should help. So, with a new Twilight movie coming out this summer, I thought I would show an exclusive screen shot from it, that has not been seen until now. So, girls, here is is.

Teddy Pendergrass
March 26, 1950 - January 13, 2010
Close The Door and Turn off the Lights.

From the home office in Port Jefferson, NY, here is this week's...

Top Ten Questions To Ask Yourself Before Going Through an Airport Full Body Scanner
10. Does this guy patting me down even work at the airport?
9. Is this gonna end up on YouTube?
8. Can this count as my yearly physical?
7. Can I upload this to my Facebook page?
6. Will this beam me to the Enterprise?
5. I wonder if this is in place of the movie?

4. Should I have my avatar screened instead?

3. Is this what Obama meant by free health care?

2. I wonder if the Salahis could sneak through this?

And the number one question to ask yourself before going through an airport full body scanner is...

1. Can they see Regis' new hip with this thing?

1847
A group of Mexicans and Indians enters the Taos home of New Mexican Territory Governor Charles Bent, and scalps him.
1985
Houston daredevil Karel Soucek is dropped in a barrel from the roof of the Astrodome. Though he was aiming for a water tank on the field, his barrel strikes the edge of the tank. He suffers a fatal skull fracture.
1991
Wendy O. Williams, of the Plasmatics, arrested for masturbating herself onstage with a sledgehammer.
1995
The eternally skanky Singaporan porn star Annabel Chong has sex with 80 men a total of 251 times, in a single day. She was paid $12,000 for this appearance in World's Biggest Gang Bang I.
1997
Todd Bridges, Willis on "Diff'rent Strokes", booked in Marina Del Rey on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. He repeatedly rammed the weapon, his car, into another vehicle after an argument in a video arcade.

This is very cool, today's guest is with an American author of fantasy and science fiction, who I am a huge fan of, and is one of my idols. I should be writing science fiction novels like him instead of this little blog. His latest book "Flinx Transcendent" is the fourth book to be listed pheatured in the Peverett Phile Book Club. Please welcome to the Phile... Alan Dean Foster.

Me: Hello, sir, welcome to the Phile. This is a big thrill for me, as you are an idol of mine. Thanks for letting "Flinx Transcendent" be on the Phile's Book Club. So, how are you?

Alan: Better than I have any right to be.

Me: For some reason I always thought you were English, but you were born in New York, is that right? Where do you live now?

Alan: Yes, born in NY. I currently reside in historical Prescott, Arizona

Me: I grew up on Long Island... Port Jefferson to be exact. Ever been there?

Alan: Not to Pt. Jefferson, but when we lived in New York my family used to rent a house near the beach for the summer. They had to watch me every second, as I had a habit of wandering off into the ocean, quite unaware that I was incapable of breathing underwater.

Me: Alan, you wrote so many novels, do you know how many you have written?

Alan: About 107. Plus 7 collections of short fiction.

Me: Where do you get the time to do all that writing? I barely get the time to do my little lame blog here.

Alan: I'm a fast writer, and a dedicated one. I write something every single day. If you do something every single day, you will inevitably do a lot of whatever it is.

Me: Where do you get the ideas for the novels? I would think your mind is always daydreaming.

Alan: Good ideas are everywhere. And yes, I frequently daydream. It's what you got yelled at for doing in school. Now it's a living.

Me: Of all the novels you wrote and I read, I have to say "Quozl" took the longest for me to read. Did that book take a long time to write, or do you normally writing quickly?

Alan: It generally takes me 3-4 months to do an original novel. Novelizations take less.

Me: Is there any of your novels that you wrote you wish you can re-write?

Alan: I'd like to be able to go back and, not rewrite per se, but update some of the science in the earlier novels. For example, in the "Icerigger" trilogy the stranded humans have no communications access to the rest of the planet. This was written before the advent of satellite communications and obviously no longer holds up scientifically without further explanation.

Me: I know you wrote "Dinotopia", which was made into a mini-series, Alan, but has there been any talk in having TV series' or movies based on the "Spellsinger" or "Pip and Flinx" series?

Alan: "Dinotopia" is the work of the artist-writer James Gurney, not me. The confusion perhaps arises from the fact that I wrote two novels set in "Dinotopia". But I had nothing to do with the TV series.

Me: Growing up reading the "Pip and Flinx" books, I always wanted to play Flinx in a movie or something.

Alan: We all imagine ourselves as different favorite characters, I reckon.

Me: I have to ask you about the "Spellsinger" series. I loved your music lyric references. You never referenced Foghat lyrics though. What gives?

Alan: So few books, so much music. And of course the lyrics had to relate to the specific situation in the story.

Me: For the Phile readers that don't know what I am talking about, do you want to briefly explain what the "Spellsinger" series was about?

Alan: A university student from our world is drawn into another world where magic works and animals are intelligent. He discovers he can make magic with music. Unfortunately, while he's a pretty good guitar player, his singing sucks.

Me: Are you planning anymore in that series, sir?

Alan: Not at the moment, but it is occasionally mentioned in discussions with various publishers. I'd be delighted to do more.

Me: Let's talk about your latest novel, "Flinx Transcendent". It's kinda split up in three different parts, right? What made you write it like that?

Alan: It was just the way the story developed. I often enjoy beginning a story one way only to have it take unexpected turns.

Me: I read that this is the last book in that series. Say it isn't so. What made you end it now, or did you always plan to end it after 14 books?

Alan: It may not be the last book. It's the book that wraps up all the loose ends to date, but at the end Flinx is still around. We'll see how bored he gets in retirement.

Me: Okay, for years people thought you wrote the novel for the first Star Trek movie, but you wrote the first treatment. How different is that treatment you wrote different then the final film?

Alan: Certain details are different, but the basics are pretty much the same.

Me: You also wrote the novel adaption to the latest Star Trek film. What did you think of that movie? I was never a fan of Star Trek until I saw that film.

Me: Excellent movie. Accomplished the exceedingly difficult task of reinventing a venerable franchise while still being true to the original. No one thought they could pull it off.

Me: How did you start getting into writing film adaptions, Alan? Is that an easy thing to do?

Alan: I was asked by the editors at Del Rey to write an adaptation of a truly terrible film called Luana. It all started from that. And yes, they are easy to do... but not so easy to do well, and with care.

Me: You wrote the novel for the first Star Wars film as well! How did that happen? Did you get to meet George Lucas? When you wrote that book it was before the movie came out of course. Did you know that Star Wars was gonna end up being such a phenomenon?

Alan: I was referred to Lucas by some of his colleagues. Yes, George and I met several times, even though he was busy with finishing the film. A regular guy... just happens to make movies. No one knew SW was going to become the phenomenon it did. That's true of nearly all such phenomena.

Me: And you wrote the first non-movie Star Wars book, "Splinter In the Mind's Eye". Was that your idea, or George's?

Alan: It was a two-book contract. The ideas were mine... it is an original novel, after all, utilizing George's characters and universe.

Me: Would you write any other Star Wars book?

Alan: Have you seen "The Approaching Storm"?

Me: My all-time favorite book you wrote was "Glory Lane" which I read so many times. I don't know why I love it so much. I always dreamt of a "Glory Lane" movie, or at least a sequel. Would you ever write a sequel to it?

Alan: Not likely... that one is pretty much complete in itself. But yes, it would make a wonderful movie.

Me: Years ago I started to write "Glory Lane" as a film script myself. I wanted to play Kerwin, of course. No, I am not gay. LOL. Now, I am just too old.

Alan: Now all you need is fifty million or so.

Me: What authors do you like? And do you watch sci-fi shows on TV like "Lost", "Doctor Who" or "V"?

Alan: In SF, my favorite writers are Eric Frank Russell, Murray Leinster, and Robert Sheckley. I rarely watch SF on TV. The aliens are just people with bad cosmetic surgery, and I can see the endings coming too far ahead to enjoy. But "Futurama" is great. Episodes like "The Farnsworth Parabox" are just wonderful... you can see the writers with science backgrounds laughing themselves silly in the writing conferences. I'd love to write for that show.

Me: I read somewhere that you took karate with Chuck Norris? Is that true? What belt did you get up to? My son is an orange belt, white stripe, and has only been doing karate for a year.

Alan: Yes. I tested for black, but failed, and was preparing to retest when Chuck shut down his dojos and went into the movies... courtesy of Steve McQueen, I suspect.

Me: Finally, Alan, what books can we look forward coming out in the future? What are you working on now?

Alan: I've written the first novel sequel to the new ST film. "Star Trek: Rewfugees" will be out in June. I'm currently finishing up a new SF trilogy titled "The Tipping Point". The first novel, "The Human Blend", will be out this year. And I have a fantasy trilogy in the works titled "Oshanurth", which is set entirely underwater.

Me: Thanks again for taking part and doing this interview. I hope it was fun, Alan. You are welcome back to the Phile anytime you want, and if you ever make it to Orlando with your family, let me know, and I will get you into the Disney parks (where I work). Go ahead and mention your website and don't stop writing. You're the best!

Alan: You are most welcome. Alandeanfoster.com.

Man, that was a big thrill, and when his new book comes out I really hope he comes back onto the Phile. And if anybody has 50 million laying about, let me know and we can do that "Glory Lane" film. Well, that about does it for this entry. Thanks to Alan Dean Foster for taking time out to do the interview and also to Wikipedia. The Phile will be be back next Sunday, yes, Sunday, not Tuesday as my days off at work will be changing through the next month or so. The Phile will be posted next Sunday with hot, kick-ass singer Polly Punkneck. Check her out on iTunes. So, until then, spread the word, not the turd. Bye love you, bye.