Dear readers of The Force Unleashed,
Hey, thanks for loving my book! I was totally chuffed it did so well. The first computer game tie-in to debut at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list? Awesome. And your emails have been inspiring. Following-up a book that’s been so successful is not terrifying at all!
I signed up for an Old Republic® novel back when it was going to be the Old Republic® novel (this was long before The Force Unleashed II was on my radar, but more on that later). Things changed once we realized that anything TOR-related was going to be fundamentally different to the TFU line. In retrospect, I guess that should have been obvious. Maybe it was just me who didn’t get it straight away. Anyway, the deeper we got into it, the clearer it was that we couldn’t handle this the same way as the adventures of Starkiller and Juno.
For a start, Starkiller and Juno was all TFU was about. And by “all”, I don’t mean to be dismissive. I just mean that the novelization of TFU was tightly wrapped around the stories of two people in a neatly constrained time frame. It was based on a script that had a clearly defined beginning and end. TFU the game was, in other words, to a very large extent, already a story.
The deeper I read into the TOR documents—which, by the way, amounted to a very large pile of paper that I dragged everywhere me, annotating and scribbling until my eyes crossed—the clearer it became that TOR was a very different beast. An MMORPG has multiple arcs, long-running stories and, most importantly, no central character. The players define who they are, what they look like and what they wear, not the writers. How to moosh all this into one story? How to capture what I felt was the essence of The Old Republic® experience?
Well, there are probably several different answers to that question. The obvious one is to make the book as huge as possible in order to capture as much of this awesome new gamescape as we could. We also decided to set it just moments before the game begins so as not to provide any spoilers. The galaxy is on the brink of war; no one wants it, but everyone knows it’s coming. My story would capture that incredible tension, the feeling that at any moment a tiny spark could set the whole galaxy alight.
That was somewhat liberating, particularly compared to TFU, which had all sorts of constraints. (Don’t get me wrong: I like constraints. It’s just a different experience.) The issue then was: what story, which people?
Another difference between TFU and TOR is the existence of character classes. Obviously, they would all be represented in the book, but would they all be point-of-view characters? If not, which ones would miss out?
This is where I had to dig deepest of all. What’s an MMORPG about, really? What need will we be tapping into when we begin playing The Old Republic®? It’s adventure, the shared experience, puzzles, yes, yes, yes—but it’s also about advancement. It’s at least partly about the dream of being someone. Any player in the TOR universe can be a hero—or a villain, which is just a hero on the other side. Any player can be the star.
So when it came to choosing the main POV characters of the book that ultimately became Fatal Alliance, I angled for ones who were just starting out on their adventures, or were about to take a sudden turn in a new direction: the Padawan on the verge of becoming a Jedi Knight; the trooper who needs to regain her confidence before the war inevitably breaks; the Sith apprentice whose family history stands between her and advancement; and the spy who needs to fully break out of his shell in order to be truly alive.
That’s four POV characters. There are two more, standing a little out of the limelight—making six inspired by the game’s character classes: Jedi Knight, Sith Warrior, Trooper, Smuggler, Agent and Bounty Hunter. Through these six pairs of eyes, I hope the reader will get a thorough glimpse of what the Old Republic® is about. They can all be heroes, if they want to be.
Because of its size and scope, Fatal Alliance is a very different book to The Force Unleashed. It sprawls; it explores; it discovers; it surprises. There are moments of lightness threaded through six new adventures that are really just one, and it comes together in a way that I hope will delight all readers, whether they plan to play the game or not. That’s the business I’m in, after all, and that’s what Fatal Alliance must always be, in my mind. It’s not a manual; it’s a great read.
If you liked The Force Unleashed, I’m sure you’ll like this too. If you didn’t like The Force Unleashed and you’re reading this letter anyway, that’s cool. I’m not offended. Because it’s not really about me. Fatal Alliance is a Star Wars novel, part of a whole new saga, and that’s got to be worth a try. From the opening line, I think you’ll be hooked.
Anyway, it’s been nice chatting. If you’re going to San Diego Comic Con, drop by and say hi. I’ll be lurking about somewhere. Look for the guy with the southern hemisphere pallor and the big grin. I’m prouder of this novelization than any other I’ve written, and I’m very pleased to share it with you.
Sincerely,
Sean Williams
I actually had the chance to read Fatal Alliance a little while ago for a review and I have to say that I thought it was an awesome read. Like I said in my review it definitely made me want the game even more, so here’s hoping for more Jet Nebula stories
http://www.njoe.com/2010/07/13/spoiler-free-review-of-the-old-republic-fatal-alliance/
Where are the Ebook versions of this and the Darth Bane series. I purchased a Nook just to be able to by all the star wars books and not have to have all the paperbacks sitting around. You should really start putting them out there for us fans you would make a killing. As for now I won’t buy any more books unless they are Ebooks. Get to work Del-Ray.
Ben
Completely agree on the eBook comment — I love reading Star Wars novels, but only the ‘current’ series du jour is available via eBook (currently, Fate of the Jedi). None of the clone wars novels, Old Republic, etc. are available… Why? I’m dying to get them on my Kindle!
I am also with you on the ebook versions. I have a Kindle for ease of reading while out and about as well as at home and to conserve space. Very dissapopinted that these are not available in ebook format, even though other Star Wars novels are. I have gotten to where I no longer buy books that are not ebooks. It has caused me to not be able to read many books that I was interested in but in the same time has made read many that I probably would not have.
So if this book is any good I will only find out when it is finally released in an ebook format.
I am also looking for the ebook form of many Star Wars books for my Nook. I am a bit disappointed that they are not available anywhere.
+100 on the eBook formats. Ironic that a publisher of sci-fi isn’t more technology-convenient.
I won’t buy any more books, especially hardbacks. . .
I, too, have the same problem. There are so many SW books yet to read but not available digitally. The first thing I did when I got my Kindle over a year ago was to look into buying the books I had been holding off to buy for it. I was sadly disappointed. All I can find are the books in series that I already have in paperback. On a good note. I have found many other non-SW books to read instead on my Kindle. I’d rather my money go to SW books but if they don’t want my money, I guess I’ll have to read other things.
Upvoting for ebooks
I hate to keep harping on what everyone else is saying, but one of the deciding factors in me buying a nook was that the Fate of the Jedi books were available on ebook. I kind of figured that the format would be available for all new star wars books. Like many of those above, I won’t buy printed books anymore. I can find this book used for $11 but that’s not the point, I love the convinience of my nook and don’t want to give that up.
Now that this is the ebook forum, I’ll throw my vote in for Kindle. I have a great desire to read this book, but I won’t get it until I can read it on my Kindle.
Almost the end of 2010, and guess what, STILL NO EBOOK VERSIONS OF NEW STARWARS BOOKS. A lot of people had an ereader of some kind for xmas and I bet a lot of them are disappointed that 1 – a lot of books out there are only available in print format 2- those that are available are insanely expensive, sometimes more expensive than the print version! I have been reading ebooks for 9+ years and have always bought the print versions of books too, especially star wars books, but I won’t be buying any more print the minute all books are available in digital format. If I think this way other people surely do too, so could this be a factor in the slow uptake on making digital copies available? Hopefully it will just be a matter of time, with the millions of kindles, nooks and iPads being used to download ebooks without having to have a decent knowledge of computing, these devices have brought ebooks to the public, it’s about time the Literature and Publishing industry caught up with technology and make print and digital copies of books available side by side. Sorry about the rant, I’m just annoyed I cant find digital copies of some of the latest Starwars books such as Fatal Alliance, when the books are written in digital format 99.9% of the time.
It takes time to convert previously written books to an ebook format, believe it or not. And since the Star Wars catalog is so vast, releasing them all at once will take time. I’m sure Del Rey will get there. As editor in chief Betsy Mitchell said a few weeks ago, they are working on the conversions so it is merely a matter of time. That means patience is required by you all. Cheers.
@Shawn thanks for the reply, I understand that books from the back catalogue would take time to convert, but as long as they will appear eventually I’m happy. I was talking with 2 friends last night who are Starwars lit fans and they were both saying they have both bought e-readers (iPad and Sony eReader) thinking they could just buy the majority of Starwars books in eBook format but were disappointed they were not available. They both ended up downloading pirated versions of Starwars eBooks, something I don’t believe in doing, I wouldn’t dream of stealing books from my local bookshop which is essentially what they have done, they said it was the only way they could get digital copies of some books, I told them that doesn’t justify stealing, they think I’m crazy. If I can’t get it in digital then I’ll make do with print until they are. I said I wouldn’t buy another printed book I’ll wait for a Digital copy, but I gave in and bought Fatal Alliance, Force Unleashed 2 and Vortex today as I have nothing left to read (I just finished Brandon Sandersons Towers of Midnight from The Wheel of Time series and felt that some Starwars was needed!). I read that Fatal Alliance was available in Digital Copy but I can’t find it anywhere, I’ve googled checked amazon, fictionwise, kobo on iPad, iBooks and others but can’t find it anywhere.
I don’t believe Fatal Alliance is out in digital form yet either. And sadly for your friend, Random House titles haven’t hit iBooks/iPad yet, for whatever reason. I have an iPad so it sucks for me too. haha Yet it will happen eventually.
In the meantime all we can do is read the books we do have at hand. Hope you find something worthy! I’m wrapping up The Name of the Wind right now and am really happy with it. Then I might even read Tim Zahn’s first books. That will be fun!