Author:
tarasapprentice
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Date Posted: Sat, Oct 15 2005, 9:19:01 am PDT
I owe so many individual comments and replies. I'm not ignoring you guys, everyone in my life is getting ignored collectively! What? That doesn't make you feel better?
Little Willow sent a copy of the interview she did with Amber Benson and Chris Golden. Thought I'd share:
What is the origin of GHOSTS OF ALBION?
AB: Chris was approached by the BBC, who wanted us to
create an
animated
show for the BBCi. Originally, they wanted something
more along the
lines
of Buffy meets Jane Austen or something, but neither
of us felt
comfortable
doing something so derivative. We ended up going for
a later, more
Victorian setting, and creating the Swift siblings,
who would be our
main
protagonists.
CG: Yep. The BBC pitched us an idea that they wanted
us to come in
and
develop. We weren't interested in their idea, so we
pitched them our
own.
Why the name Albion for England? The family name
Swift? The character
names
Tamara etc?
AB: Chris has a friend named Tamara Swift, and we
ended up borrowing
her
name in sort of an homage. All the other characters
were given names
based
upon our own personal whims at the time we were coming
up with the
first
outline for LEGACY. Obviously, we chose to set the
piece in England
because
it was being created specifically for the BBC. Chris
came up with
calling
the project GHOSTS OF ALBION, because Albion was an
archaic name for
England/Great Britain, mostly used in a poetic or
mythical context. I
personally think it sounds a lot more intriguing than
Ghosts of
England.
CG: I often meet people and think they have wonderful
names for
fiction.
In my novel THE GATHERING DARK there's a woman named
Keomany who is
named
after a bookstore clerk I met once while doing a
signing. In THE
MENAGERIE,
a series I do with Tom Sniegoski, there's a sorcerer
whose last name is
Sanguedolce, after a department store clerk.
Sometimes names just
catch me.
When we were creating GHOSTS OF ALBION, I had recently
been to a couple
of
different conventions in Britain and at both of them,
spent time with
several Buffy fans who were really wonderful people.
One of them was a
lovely, softspoken school teacher named Tamara Swift
(who'd been made
up as
a vampire by Todd McIntosh the last time I'd seen
her). I loved her
name,
partially because of the obvious connection to
Jonathan Swift, author
of
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS. I knew the name was perfect.
What made you pick the mythological and literary
figures that you did?
Personal favorites, or more of simply who fit the time
and style?
AB: We chose our particular ghosts because they were
interesting
historical
figures, plus they fit iin well with the time period
we had chosen.
Byron
is a particular favorite of mine as a reader, but I've
learned so muc
about
Bodicea and Horatio as the stories have progressed.
CG: Byron was Amber's pick, for sure, and ended up
benefiting the most
(aside, perhaps, from William) from her mischievous
sense of humor.
Horatio
was, I believe, my choice. Admiral Nelson is such a
formidable
character
and we needed someone to play the straight man to
several of our
characters.
Bodicea was a surprise choice. We originally had
another queen in
mind, but
when the team at the BBC suggested her, we agreed
immediately.
Bringing our
version of Bodicea to life was a real pleasure.
After the success of the first GoA project, there came
a radio/audio
special, another animated project, a short story, now
a novel that is
going
to begin a series.
Which medium is the hardest to write for? The easiest?
Which was the
most of
a departure from how or what you normally write?
AB: I'd never really written prose before, so
creating the GOA novel,
ACCURSED, has been the biggest challenge for me. I've
always written
plays
and scripts, so creating the animated scripts was much
easier for me.
I've
learned so much from working with Chris, but I still
feel a bit teetery
on
my prose legs even as we begin work on the second GOA
book.
CG: Don't let her fool you. From the moment we
started GoA: ASTRAY,
the
novella we did for the BBC (which is available in a
limited edition
hardcover as well), I knew Amber was a natural. She
had all of the
storytelling skills from her work on plays and
scripts, and is far
better
read than I am. She adapted very quickly to writing
prose. On the
other
hand, she was instrumental in helping me learns the
ropes when we wrote
our
scripts for the animated GoA adventures. I think the
collaboration on
the
scripts was easier, but working together on the novels
is more fully
satisfying.
GoA has been brewing for years now, with no end in
sight. Where do you
see
the Swifts in another year? Two years? Five years?
AB: Chris and I both hope that GOA will eventually
make it onto the
big
screen, but I think we'd also be happy moving the
project back to its
animated medium. Possibly creating an animated weekly
show for
television.
CG: That'd be nice. The truth is, there's so much
potential here,
with the
history of the Protectors of every region of the world
and every time
period, not to mention just the adventures of William
and Tamara and
their
allies, that we could do comics, animation, TV,
movies, etc., and never
tell
the same story twice.
How many books are projected? Will they all be
full-length novels? What
about the limited, signed editions from Subterranean
Press?
AB: Right now we are working on the second GOA novel
for Del Rey.
Plus,
we'll be doing some brand new stuff with Subterranean
in the future.
Where will you be signing?
AB: In the first half of November, Chris and I will
hit LA, New York,
Boston, San Diego and San Francisco. We'll just have
to see where we
go
from there.
Which GoA character is the most like you?
AB: I feel like a mix between William and Tamara.
I've tried to imbue
her
with as much spunk as possible, and him with all the
poncy dialogue I
can
muster.
CG: Probably Nigel Townsend, our resident vampire.
He's an
incorrigible
flirt.
What historical figure do you wish would haunt you?
AB: Today, Edgar Allan Poe. Tomorrow? Who knows.
CG: I'll stick with the GoA version of Bodicea, who's
naked all the
time.
What other books do you have on the horizon, Chris?
CG: In December, my novelization of Peter Jackson's
KING KONG will hit
shelves. Then, at the beginning of February, THE MYTH
HUNTERS arrives
in
stores. It's the first part of a trilogy I'm writing
for Bantam called
THE
VEIL. I'm having the time of my life on the trilogy.
I'm halfway
through
the second book now. It takes place in two worlds
simultaneously, much
like
STRANGEWOOD, with a lot of moving back and forth.
It's about a guy who
is
about to be married, who has spent his whole life
doing what his father
expected of him instead of what he really wanted, and
even though he
loves
this woman, the marriage is going to seal the deal on
who he's going to
be
for the rest of his life. And the story is about him
discovering what
kind
of man he really is, instead of what kind of person
his father wants
him to
be. It also has just about every mythological
creature I could think
of.
:)
What other films and TV projects, Amber?
AB: I have a film that I wrote and directed called,
LOVERS, LIARS and
LUNATICS, coming out soon, a comic called SHADOWPLAY
with Ben
Templesmith,
and a couple of indie films I acted in this year,
along with a Sci-Fi
Channel movie called GRYPHON.
Any other collaborative efforts other than GoA?
AB: Chris and I are also working on getting financing
for a film we've
written called THE HEIR.
CG: And we have an original, non GoA dark fantasy
novella that we're
committed to doing. We're just waiting to get a
deadline on it.
--Little Willow
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