Interview: John Noble of "Return of the King"

Australian actor John Noble has been a bit surprised by the mixed reaction to his latest film, "One Night with the King," a retelling of the story of Esther from the Bible.

"I suppose it's natural, so many people in America have so much investment in Christianity and so much investment in the Bible, they're not all going to agree with each other," he said. "That's been an interesting observation for an Australian sitting here in Los Angeles observing it for the first time."

In the film, Noble plays Prince Admatha, a powerful prince in the court of a weak king who plots to put himself on the throne, but is ultimately undone by Haman, an Amelekite who twists Admatha's trust and uses it for his own advancement.

It's a dark role, something Noble is familiar with. He's probably best known for his performance as Denethor, the mad steward of Gondor and father of Faramir and Boromir in "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."

"These sorts of powerful characters are always very interesting to play because they're complex," Noble said. "By our standards, they come out of the dark side more than the light. Like a lot of politicians, I'm afraid, they may have good intentions, but at the end of the day they manipulate what they will to get what they want."

Though some actors might shy away from taking on villainous roles, Noble thinks it offers a freedom to explore places that he would never dream of going in real life.

"The reality is that everyone's got a dark side and most of us live in denial of it," he said. "I know some people are quite scared of it and don't want to go there, but I've always felt it was in interesting challenge and a personal exploration as much as anything else."

In "One Night with the King," Noble also finds himself working beside bona fide film legends like Omar Sharif and Peter O'Toole. He relishes the chance to work with some of the best in the business, but once on the set, admiration has to be put aside, he said.

"I had the same thing to a degree when I did some scenes with Sir Ian McKellen," he said. "I knew and admired his work for a long time, and to actually get on stage with him was terrific. But you can't say 'oh, my goodness me, I'm working with a legend here.' You take the opportunity of riding with the best of them."

Noble certainly knows about being among the best with his role in the phenomenon that was "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Even though he's aware that no matter what he does, he'll be remembered for the role of Denethor, he had no second thoughts about jumping at the chance.

"All of the people involved in 'The Lord of the Rings' were very fortunate people," he said. "In a lifetime, you may get one or two defining roles as a character actor. That was certainly a defining role in arguably the greatest film of all time. It's a bit surreal actually to have been involved in that in some ways."

Though he knew the potential of the films going in, he said there was no way to be prepared for what the movies turned into.

"I knew how good it was," Noble said. "I knew by the standard of everything that was happening how good it was. I knew that there were many, many people around the world that were Tolkien fans. I was conscious, because I wasn't involved in the first film at all, but I saw the reaction around the world and the incredible amount of chatter on the Internet. It became a worldwide phenomenon before it opened. In terms of what it finished up being, 11 Academy Awards and all those things, I don't think you can predict that to be honest. I think it's beyond dreaming."

Noble also has a lot of excitement about his next project, "Risen," which tells the story of boxer Howard Winstone.

"He was a young boy from the Welsh mining valleys who had four of his fingers cut off when he was 16, but went on to box and become world champion," he said. "It's a pretty inspiring story."

Interview: Ron White

Though he came to fame through the family-friendly Blue Collar Comedy movie series, Ron White advises folks not to bring their kids to his solo shows. During those shows, he saunters across the stage sipping 25-year-old Macallan scotch, puffing on a cigar and liberally peppering his speech with expletives. This definitely ain't a Blue Collar show.

"People bring their kids and say, 'oh, you're not going to say any words he hasn't heard,'" White said with a laugh. "Yeah, well I'm going to say them in a new order, and sometimes that's all that matters when it comes to words is what order were they said in."

White is unapologetic about his language on stage. It's not profanity just for profanity's sake, he says. He only includes it if it's funny. Which is why he was upset when the distributor of his latest record, "You Can't Fix Stupid," chose to issue a bleeped version so it could be sold in Wal-Mart.

"The stupid thing is, if we had released it like we did the last one that made a gillion dollars, just don't give it to Wal-Mart because Wal-Mart will put the DVD in their store uncut," he said. "It makes no sense at all, and it will sell like hotcakes."

Ultimately, though, the records don't really matter to White. His true love is the live show, being up on stage in front of the crowd. In fact, he uses very little material from his first two records in his live show and says he may never do another recording because he wants fresh jokes for the crowd.

"The only thing I care about is the live show," he said. "I wish I hadn't put out the last album because then I could have all this stuff and people would have never heard it. I want to do shows that people have never heard."

Of course "You Can't Fix Stupid," was the No. 1 comedy album in the country for nine weeks, and he said it's still selling well. But you still won't hear many of the jokes in his live show.

"I'm not concerned about being a top-selling recording artist," he said. "I'm more concerned about having a live show that people respond to instead of clap to because they're getting beat up. I'm just now getting back to that. If you see me release a new record, you can bet I just quit touring."

White also has a new book on shelves, "I Had the Right to Remain Silent ... But I Didn't Have the Ability."

"It's a book with big, big margins, large print and lots of pictures," White said. "Perfect for any man. It's a toilet book, put it up on the back of the commode."

White admits that there are a few road stories in the book that, in hindsight, he wishes he hadn't told, but ultimately he thinks they'll help sell the book. Not that he really cares.

"I'm not an author, I'm a comedian," he said.

It's the same reason he regularly turns down movie and television offers. He said the schedule would take away from his career as a comic.

"You can't do standup comedy and do those things, too, so I don't want to do it," he said. "I'm fortunately in a position where I don't do anything I don't want to do."

He is however working on an animated series, which only requires him to do voicework once a week. He's pleased with the way the project is coming and hopes someone will pick it up.

White and the other Blue Collar comics recently wrapped up their third movie, "One More for the Road," which White said emphatically will be the final movie in the series. Jeff Foxworthy is semi-retired, and Larry the Cable Guy and Bill Engvall, like White, are busy trying to extend the success they've received from the series.

"We had a great ride," he said. "We're all still dear friends. If Jeff wanted to get together and do another live show for the troops or for charity, if there were some reason for all of us to get together for some cause, we would do it. But you've got to find Jeff; he's out killing (stuff)." (Foxworthy is an avid hunter.)

As for White, he's completely happy with where his career is right now. He tries out new material every week at open mic night and his shows continue to be sold out. Even his wife, the butt of many of his jokes, doesn't mind the ribbing.

"She cashes the checks, so she doesn't care," he said. "Everybody in my family knows the show's off-limits. It's probably not about her anyway. It's just a joke I wrote. If I tag your title to it, you can't come tell me about it."

Most of the jokes, however, are based on events that really happened to friends or family members, but they're changed for comedic purposes. One exception may be Cousin Ray, who has been the butt of jokes about hunting and being a homophobe.

"Cousin Ray is the real deal," White said. "But he loves being in the show."

Interview: Andrew Fox

Andrew Fox's novels have been described by reviewers as a cross between Anne Rice and John Kennedy Toole's "A Confederacy of Dunces." It's an odd mix, but it suits Fox just fine.

"I've always been a big fan of vampires in pop culture - vampire comic books, vampire movies," said Fox, who works with the Louisiana Commodity Supplement Food Program. "I also really, really love `A Confederacy of Dunces' by John Kennedy Toole. I think it's probably one of the funniest books ever written in English and does comic dialogue better than just about any book I've ever come across."

Readers of Fox's debut novel "Fat White Vampire Blues" ($13.95, Ballantine) will see a lot of nods to Toole's famous novel. The book follows the story of New Orleans vampire Jules Duchon, who after feeding on the people who enjoy the New Orleans cuisine for 80 years, has ballooned up to 450 pounds and faces some serious problems in trapping his prey.

The premise was inspired by a series of articles Fox read that said New Orleans was America's fattest city.

"I started thinking, vampires live an awfully long time," he said. "What would happen to a vampire that spent 100-150 years drinking the blood of people who eat the typical New Orleans diet - all of that fried, sugar-coated, cream-covered high cholesterol food? After a few decades, they wouldn't look much like Tom Cruise."

But his weight isn't the only challenge Jules is up against. In the first novel, he runs into a younger, stronger black vampire who forbids him to feed on the black citizens of the city. In Fox's latest, "Bride of the Fat White Vampire" ($14.95, Ballantine), Jules is recruited by an aristocratic group of vampires to find out who has been kidnapping and mutilating the group's members. In these ways, he uses the books to make some social commentary, without beating readers over the head with it.

"I definitely wanted to do it in a very light, humorous kind of way," he said. "The same way John Kennedy Toole did in `A Confederacy of Dunces.' He had plenty of social commentary in there, but you hardly notice it because you're laughing so hard."

One of the biggest characters in Fox's novels is not a vampire at all. It's the city itself.

"I think one of the main characters is the city of New Orleans itself," he said. "I have a lot of fun gently satirizing the classs and race relations in the city, and I have a lot of fun with local icons and local institutions."

If you see someone you think you recognize in Fox's books, you may. He said one of the characters in "Bride of Fat White Vampire" is based heavily on Popeye's Fried Chicken founder Al Copeland. He also has characters based on Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and the city's most famous vampire writer, Rice.

"Certainly you couldn't write a book about vampires in New Orleans without having some kind of Anne Rice figure," he said.

Fox has another Jules Duchon book in the works, called "Ghost of the Fat White Vampire," should his publisher want it. In the meantime, he's currently shopping a book that pays tribute to another literary icon, Ray Bradbury.

It's called "Calorie 3501," and begins with a play on "Fahrenheit 451." Instead of firemen who burn books, Fox's novel features Good Humor men driving around in ice cream trucks and confiscating banned high calorie foods.

"From there, the book spins off in all kinds of wild directions, never foreseen by Ray Bradbury," he said. "I'm a big, big admirer of Ray Bradbury, so I start the book off with a strong nod in his direction."

Interview: Ron White

They call him Tater Salad.

But Ron White, one of the stars of "The Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie," has no problem with being confused with his most popular joke. In fact, he revels in it. His Web site is www.tatersalad.com and his concert T-shirts proudly proclaim, "I caught the Tater."

"I embrace any kind of notoriety," he said. "That's not the way I wanted it to happen. I didn't see myself being known for that particular joke, but however it happens, that's fine with me."

Like Lynyrd Skynyrd fans who begin yelling out "Freebird" as soon as the band takes the stage, many of White's fans begin to yell "Tater Salad," wanting the joke that tells the story of his being thrown out of a bar in New York and his subsequent arrest for being drunk in public. But White said fans only think they want to hear the seven-minute joke again. Still he performs it every night.

"Anyone who knows my career well enough to buy a ticket, they know that joke inside and out," he said. "That's really one of the only things I do off the `Blue Collar' thing because it's not like a song you love; it's a joke you know. There's a big difference right there."

White's career has taken off in the past couple of years with "The Blue Collar Comedy Tour" and his specials on Comedy Central, but it's been a long haul for the comedian. He's been doing standup for more than 18 years and said he has performed more than 10,000 live shows.

"I was a prominent headliner in comedy clubs forever - the best comedy clubs in the country," he said. "But that really doesn't make you famous. It doesn't really matter what you do in Omaha, even if you kill every night, because not enough people see you for it to matter."

The movie and television specials changed that. White's new DVD, "They Call Me Tater Salad," is the No. 1 comedy DVD in the country. His album "Drunk in Public," released in November 2003, is usually No. 2, behind fellow "Blue Collar" alum Larry, the Cable Guy. ("I've never passed him, but I don't care. He's my buddy," White said.) Is the newfound notoriety gratifying for White?

"You have no idea, my friend," he said. "It's (Jeff) Foxworthy that really believed in it, and it was Foxworthy's goal a long time ago to make me a star. He's not very good at it, I'll tell you that, because it took him forever to do it."

Jokes aside, White is thankful for the help of Foxworthy and his management company Parallel Entertainment, for getting him to this point. He brags about selling out an 1,800 seat theater in Green Bay, Wis., in one day and then selling 1,000 tickets for a second performance on the next day. ("It's a little bitty town," he said. "I know they have a sports franchise, but their phone book is not an inch thick.") A Ticketmaster search on Wednesday morning showed that his Monroe date was almost sold out. Only a few scattered seats remain.

"I never thought this would happen; Foxworthy did and my management company did, but I never saw it coming," White said. "Foxworthy's generosity, and his undying belief that I'm as funny as it gets is what did it. Actually, I've been the one trying to sabotage it for all these years. I'm famous despite me."

While some of his stories are pretty wild, White said they all have a grain of truth to them. He said to be a successful comedian, you have to be true to your nature. He said he's not a very good writer, which is why he takes stories from real life.

"What I'm good at is, I can watch a car wreck and tell you about it, and you'll laugh," he said. "If I have a gift, that's what it is. Most of it's just dead-on truth, and that's why it's funny."

Aside from his touring, there's a lot going on in White's life right now. He was recently married to his girlfriend of three years, Barbara, who was also the designer of Foxworthy's home. ("Our whole thing is real incestuous," White jokes.) The comedy group, which includes Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy, also filmed a second "Blue Collar" movie last week. White expects it will be out by the end of the year. He will also be making some appearances on the WB's "Blue Collar TV."

For his part, White's sitting back and enjoying the ride.

"It's a party every night with me on stage," he said. "Right before I go on, I always pour myself a nice Scotch, pick myself a nice cigar and go out and play with the people. It's fun."

Interview: Bill Engvall

Even if you're not familiar with Bill Engvall, you may think of him every time someone asks a stupid question. If you've ever heard the phrase "Here's your sign," you've heard Engvall's most famous joke.

"That was amazing," Engvall said of the success of his "here's your sign" jokes. "It literally became the `Where's the beef?' of the '90s. It's a neat thing to think that you added a little piece to Americana."

Even Engvall himself isn't immune to the catchphrase, as he relates on his album "Dorkfish." In one of the jokes, he says he came out of the mall to see the guy parked next to him with a coat hanger in his window.

"I couldn't stop myself," Engvall says. "I said, `Did you lock your keys in your car?' He goes, `No, just washed it, gonna hang it up to dry. Here's your sign.'"

In addition to his latest album "Here's Your Sign … Reloaded," released late last year, and his new DVD "Here's Your Sign Live," released this week, Engvall is excited about a new project with fellow "Blue Collar Comedy Tour" members Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy. It's called "Blue Collar TV," and it debuted last week on the WB. The show, which airs on Thursday nights, is by the producers of "Mad TV," and Engvall thinks fans will be pleasantly surprised.

"They really tapped into who we were and who our audience was," he said. "I compare it a lot to the old `Carol Burnett Show.' There are a couple of sketches, and then at the end we come out and do some stuff together, kind of like we did on the `Blue Collar' movie."

"Blue Collar" alum Ron White will also make a few guest appearances on the show.

Engvall and Foxworthy have both done TV before, but their counterparts, White and Larry, are a little rougher around the collar. Is TV really ready for those guys?

"That's a good question," Engvall said. "Larry - I'd love to tell you that's just a character, but it ain't."

Like it or not, Engvall is now connected with the three other guys through the "Blue Collar Comedy Tour," and its sequel which was just filmed last week. Fortunately for him, he enjoys it.

"The four of us together are just a blast," he said. "You couldn't ask for anything better. It's four friends working together. How much better does it get than that?"

Engvall was once well on his way to becoming a teacher when he and a friend went to a new comedy club that had just opened in Dallas.

"A buddy of mine and I went up there to watch amateur night one night," he said. "I ended up going up there, and the next thing I knew, I was doing this for a living."

Engvall said being funny was a necessity for a kid whose family moved around a lot.

"I've always had the ability to make people laugh," he said. "We moved around quite a bit, and that was the way you made friends quick. You could either make them laugh or you end up hanging out by yourself. It helped me out a lot in life as far as being able to move into new situations and excel in those situations."

Though, like his "Blue Collar" counterparts, he's known as a country comedian, Engvall has actually lived in the city for a while now. Though, he said, if you walked into his Los Angeles home, you wouldn't know you were in the city.

"I've still got my country roots," he said. "That's the way I want to keep it."

Though he lives in the city, he's never bought into the Hollywood star attitude.

"Noooo," he said. "As soon as you do, you're dead. It just doesn't fit me, and I don't think it ever will."

One thing the four "Blue Collar" comedians share is that they're close with their fans - sometimes too close.

"People will walk up to you and tell you crazy things," he said. "You look at them like, why are you telling me this. I don't want to know that."

Still, Engvall said he is appreciative of the people who buy his albums and come to his shows, and he often hangs around after the show to sign autographs.

"They've supported me at this level for 10 years," he said. "I've got the best fans in the world."

Interview: Mark Simmons

Mark Simmons leads a secret life. He has quite a few skeletons (mostly of Civil War soldiers) in his closet. He hangs around with werewolves and voodoo types. He has bloodthirsty friends. Surprisingly, he wants everyone to know about it.

Simmons, who has been general manager and program director at public radio station KEDM for about 10 years, can not only be found on the airwaves, but on bookshelves as well. His latest novel, "Dead On My Feet," was released by Baen Books earlier this year and brings his half-vampire character Chris Cséjthe home to Monroe.

Simmons, tired of seeing every story set in New York or Los Angeles, wanted to offer a different view, but he admits, initially, to having second thoughts about bringing vampire clans and ghouls of all sorts to town.

"Whenever you set something in familiar territory, it helps ground the story," he said. "But there's also the external aspect of people wanting to think that you mean something or you're saying something about the real place. Whenever an author writes something, there are always friends and acquaintances who try to figure out if they're in the book."

Simmons assures local folks that none of them appear in the book, though the name of one prominent local restaurateur is mentioned. He admits to including some friends, but no one from our neck of the woods.

Then there are some of the events of the book, which include a white supremacist group - from up north, no less - in a battle against long-dead Civil War soldiers (Union and Confederate alike) who are protecting their country, and a corporation with a killer virus bent on world domination. Those were other reasons he chose not to use real places and faces.

"Sometimes people will misunderstand things you're trying to do, especially humor," Simmons said. "I was thinking, if somebody skims this, they're going to think, `well, here comes another Yankee, writing another story to make fun of us.' If I made fun of anything, I did make fun of the fact that our life here is kind of quiet."

That quiet life is part of what initially drew Simmons to Monroe. He worked at radio stations in southeastern Kansas and the Kansas City area in Missouri before turning to public radio. He had a choice between accepting a position as operations manager and program director at KEDM or one in Bridgeport, Conn.

"It was a tough decision," he said. "But it was so beautiful down here, and what impressed me was the strength of the arts."

A year after joining KEDM, Simmons also took on the duties of general manager, and he's now an adjunct instructor in mass communications at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. All of which leaves little time for writing, but he still manages to churn out books, if at a bit slower pace.

Simmons thinks one of the things that attracts readers to his books is the strange blend of genres. His "Dreamland Chronicles" trilogy layers a fantasy tale on a hard science fiction framework, while the Cséjthe books blend fantasy and horror with a touch of science fiction thrown in. But all of the books have a common element - humor.

"For balancing humor and horror, I admire Hitchcock for what he was able to do," Simmons said. "He can make you believe in some scary situations, but still make you laugh."

Simmons said he likes to think that his books achieve that same kind of balance. He wants them to be funny, but he also wants readers to take the story seriously. His publisher for the Cséjthe books thinks he's achieved that goal. Toni Weisskopf, executive editor of Baen Books, said several people had recommended Simmons' work to them before they read "One Foot in the Grave."

"Once we read it, we enjoyed Mark's storytelling and his wry, allusive sense of humor," Weisskopf said. "Mark's hero has to walk the fine line between what's wrong and right, and it's rare these days to have an author who knows where the line is drawn, let alone can deal with moral decisions with such a light touch. Simmons manages it with flair."

While the books are funny, Simmons doesn't want people to get the idea that they are for kids. They draw on legends and history, which are often bloody. He said he'd classify them PG-13 with the movie ratings system.

"There are worse things you'll see on TV on most given nights, but it's not `Bunnicula' or `The Monster Patrol,'" he said. "There is violence and there are bad things that happen to some of the people in these books. The most horrific stuff is actual history."

Simmons, though he says he's not a fan of vampire stories himself, said he does try to stick with the conventions of the genre. He began writing the stories as a way to have a little fun with "the genre that will not stay dead," but he also has respect for the conventions. So sunlight, holy symbols, garlic, all of the usual suspects play a big role in his books.

"If it's convention, it's like being on the road and staying between the lines," he said. "But it's seeing how far you can go and still stay between the lines."

That, he says, earns him some fans from the community of vampire followers. Much like his poking fun at fantasy and science fiction have earned him fans among those genres.

"I'm true to the rules, and yet, we all have a little bit of a `Mystery Science Theater 3000' attitude after a while," he said. "How many times can we go back to the coffin and tell the same story over again without it just being old?"

Interview: Kathleen O'Neal Gear

Anyone who has ever visited Poverty Point has probably wondered what life was like at the site 3,500 years ago, but archaeologists Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear took it one step further.

Their latest book, "People of the Owl," is set right here in our back yard and tells a fictional tale of a time of tribulation for the tribes that lived there. It's the 11th book in their series, commonly called the "People" books, that uses fiction to teach about Native American cultures.

"What we are doing in the novels is detailing 15,000 years of North American prehistory," Michael Gear said. "The important thing about doing a novel is that you can put real people there in that time. People can relate to fictional characters in a story better than they can to dry facts in an archaeological report."

Kathleen Gear agreed that fiction can make a powerful teaching tool.

"What we try to do is entertain at the same time we educate about North America's archaeology," she said. "If we have done our jobs well at the end of the book, the people who read this novel will understand Poverty Point culture because they have lived in that time, in that place, with those people."

The Gears said they began writing the series because they thought Americans' knowledge of the continent's past was woefully lacking. With 16 million copies of the books in print worldwide, the Gears may be making some headway in their battle. They're surprised by the popularity of the series, which has now been translated into 18 languages, but they say they still have a long way to go.

"More Americans can name archaeological sites in Cambodia than in their own country," Michael Gear said. "In a sense, it's the world's lost heritage. We don't think of North America as being a lost continent, but its prehistory certainly is."

During their research for "People of the Owl," the Gears went to great lengths to find out all they could about Poverty Point. They spoke with local and national experts, analyzed the archaeological reports and used an ethnographic analogy, which means they studied the social, political and religious structures of other tribes in the region and tried to fill in gaps in the archaeological record.

"Archaeological data is like a shredded black and white photograph," said Kathleen Gear. "We piece it back together as best we can, but there are huge gaps in the information. At the Poverty Point site, for example, only one-half of 1 percent of the site has actually been excavated."

With so little to go on, the Gears say it's tough to try to give an accurate portrayal of what life might have been like at the site. But they do try to back everything in the book up with facts.

"Everything that we speculate on in the book is something that we can support to our academic colleagues," Michael Gear said.

As an example, he points to the fact that there are six clans in the book. The idea is based on geography and culture. He said the layout of the city itself indicates that there were six divisions, and the cultures that are descended from Poverty Point all hold the number six sacred.

One of the things the Gears most enjoyed about the study of Poverty Point was doing research on the Poverty Point objects, which are the clay objects the natives used to regulate the temperature of their ovens.

"We did a study to find out what they were cooking in the earth ovens, and there were a couple of things in there that are still a mystery to us," Kathleen Gear said. "We found spruce cells and sage. There isn't spruce for miles, and the closest sage is in southern Missouri. They must have been importing these things, and we're still not sure what they were using them for."

The Gears say they find Poverty Point fascinating for a variety of reason, the biggest being that it could be the first city in America. Michael Gear points to the massive moundworks, the population of the Macon Bayou area in general and evidence of trade with tribes as far away as current-day Wisconsin.

"We think that we're justified in making the assertion that it's America's first city," he said. "We think that Poverty Point is where a lot of the ideas came together which would create the eastern culture which would terminate in people like the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Tunica, Caddo and Cherokee. It's the place where everything starts."

As for the Gears, they'll keep writing the "People" books, and they have plenty of cultures left to explore.

"All that we've done so far is touch - just barely touch - the most important cultures in North America," Kathleen Gear said. "There are thousands of cultures left to study. We've only surveyed about 4 percent of North America for archaeological sites, which means there is an extraordinary amount out there that we still don't know."

Interview: R.A. Salvatore

Considering his last foray into the "Star Wars" universe, R.A. Salvatore may seem like an odd choice to write the novelization of "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones."

In 1999, he was pegged to write "Vector Prime," the book that introduced the "New Jedi Order Series." In that book, he had the unenviable task of killing one of the heroes, Chewbacca.

When he found that out, Salvatore says he had to be convinced to take the job.

"When they told me to do it, I told them to take their money back," he says. "I want to be remembered for the `Dark Elf' and `Demonwars' series, not as `the guy who killed Chewbacca.' I love Chewie."

Del Rey and Lucasfilms were finally able to convince him they were doing it for the "right reasons." They needed to inject a little reality and suspense back into the "Star Wars" universe. He gave in, and the book became a best seller - despite ruffling a few feathers among fans.

Still, it was a bit of a shock to Salvatore when he got the call from Del Rey to write the novelization of the new movie.

He says his initial reaction was mixed. He was unsure about returning to the "Star Wars" universe, instead preferring to focus on his own projects.

But the author of the earlier "Phantom Menace" novelization gave him a not-so-subtle wake up call.

"I got a call from Terry Brooks, and he said: `Are you nuts?'" Salvatore says, with a laugh. "I don't think I really got it that George Lucas was asking me to write the novelization of a `Star Wars' movie. I don't think it clicked."

Surprisingly, he had the same hesitations when asked to write his first "Star Wars" book.

"When I agreed to write `Vector Prime,' I thought I was doing them a favor," he says. "Then I realized: I'm writing dialogue for Princess Leia. How cool is that?"

One of the challenges of writing a "Star Wars" novelization is dealing with rabid enthusiasts - fans who know every minute detail about the universe. Salvatore says his experiences on his own "Dark Elf" series, which has spanned 14 years and 15 novels, have helped prepare him for that.

"There are people who read the books over and over again - and I have a hard time remembering things I wrote in 1990," he says. "It's the same way with `Star Wars.' The hardcore fans know more about the expanded universe than I did and do. So I just try to tell a good story. If you read the book and enjoy it, then I've done my job."

Salvatore says he would love to be chosen to write the novelization of "Episode III," but he's not expecting the call. He says Lucas and Del Rey want a different author for each book.

But, after many conversations with Lucas while writing "Episode II," he's excited about where the movies are going.

"I'd love to be a part of `Episode III,' as a co-screenwriter or in some other way," he says. "I know where (Lucas) is going with it, and I think he's doing it the right way."

OTHER PROJECTS

In the meantime, Salvatore has several other projects. His latest "Demonwars" novel "Transcendence" hit the shelves recently; he's an advisor for a new "Forgotten Realms" series on the drow (dark elves) from Wizards of the Coast; and his most popular character, the dark elven ranger Drizzt Do'Urden, returns in the fall in the first book of the "Hunter's Blade" trilogy.

"As a writer, I couldn't ask for anything more than I've got," Salvatore says.

He's currently working on the final book in the "Demonwars" series, which should be out around this time next year. Salvatore thinks this series features some of his best work, saying it has "challenged me on every level as a writer." Too, Salvatore is eager to finish the final volume "Immortalis," and get it on the shelves.

"I'm going to line them up on my bookshelf, one through seven, and look at them and say: `You did it right,'" he says. "I'll feel like I've completed one of the most important things I've ever done."

Even though, he's wrapping up the final book of the "Demonwars" series, he says the world of Corona is a rich one with a lot of stories left to tell. Likewise, he laughs off rumors about the demise of Drizzt that swirled after his last "Forgotten Realms" novel "Sea of Swords."

"There have been rumors that this is the last Drizzt book ever since I finished the `Dark Elf Trilogy' (in 1991)," he says. "I've never been more excited about writing Drizzt, and the rest of the characters, than I am now."

Part of that excitement is the anticipation of "Hunter's Blade," a trilogy that should shake things up for everyone's favorite dark elf.

"The `Hunter's Blade' trilogy will put Drizzt in a whole new light," he says. "It's not about bigger and badder monsters, but about new challenges. Drizzt will really stand out and shine like he did in the `Dark Elf Trilogy.'"

Salvatore has also been asked to work on an upcoming live action "Forgotten Realms" television series for Fireworks Television, which he says is going well. But fans shouldn't get their hopes up about seeing Drizzt on the small screen.

"You may see some cameos by familiar characters, but I think they're going for something more original," he says. "I don't know how deep my involvement is going to go, but I hope it's pretty deep. It's something new, and it's been fun."

Salvatore's fans will be happy to know that books about their favorite characters and worlds will continue well into the future. He has plans for at least another five years and says there are infinite possibilities after that.

"I'm going to die some day, and unless my kids decide to write, I guess it will end there," he says. "But I don't see it any time soon."

Interview: Charlaine Harris

Northern Louisiana might seem to some to be a strange setting for a vampire story, but author Charlaine Harris thinks it's perfectly natural.

Harris' latest novel "Living Dead in Dallas," published this month by Ace, begins in the fictional town of Bon Temps, La., which is located somewhere near Ruston. It's Harris' second vampire novel set in our area. The first, "Dead Until Dark," was published in 2001.

"I wanted to corner the market on northern Louisiana vampire romance mysteries, and I think I did," Harris jokes when asked about her choice of setting.

Actually, she chose the area for a couple of reasons. The first is that it's close to her Magnolia, Ark., home, which helped with research. The second is that she finds it easier to identify with Southern rural settings.

"(Southern settings) are what I know and what I feel most comfortable writing about," she says. "The characters just seem to flow more naturally in the Southern setting."

Harris grew up in the Mississippi Delta and says she's never lived far from the South. That shows in her writing. One of her mystery series is set in a suburb of Atlanta, and the other, featuring detective Lily Bard, is set in the fictional town of Shakespeare, Ark.

Her familiarity with rural America gave her an edge when she decided to write a vampire novel. She says she enjoys reading some of the modern vampire writers, but saw a way to give the genre a unique twist.

"It seemed like a good idea to take vampirism out of the urban setting," she says. "I wanted to do something of my own with it, to go in a direction that hasn't been done so much."

Thus, in "Living Dead in Dallas" there's a vampire attending the symphony in Monroe and a psychic shopping at a lingerie store in Ruston - not to mention a vampire bar in Shreveport.

Because of her style and subject, Harris is likely to be compared to one of those modern vampire writers, Laurell K. Hamilton. Harris says she knows Hamilton "very slightly," and the writer of the "Anita Blake" series did provide some inspiration for her first vampire novel.

"I had wanted to write a vampire book before I read hers, but I didn't really know if it would be accepted," Harris says. "I read two of her books, and I thought, `sure, I can do anything I want.' But it wasn't quite that easy."

She shopped "Dead Until Dark" to her normal publishers, who all felt that it wasn't quite right for their market. By the time the book found a home at Ace, Hamilton had hit the big-time. Harris acknowledges that Hamilton's success probably helped her, but doesn't think the other author's writing was a big influence.

"In a sense, she really paved the way for me," she says. "I don't know that I'd call her that much of a direct influence - more like a guiding light."

Harris' love of writing started early in life. She says that she's always been a writer, but she finally got the chance to make a career out of it 24 years ago, when she married her husband.

"He gave me the opportunity to stay at home and work on a book instead of resuming my job," she says. "I took him up on it."

She got off to a fast start. Her very first novel sold - a rare occurrence.

"People always hate me when I tell them that," she says with a laugh.

Harris now has 16 novels under her belt, but the jump from mysteries to vampire stories has been good to her so far. Ace has signed her for at least two more installments in the series, and the books are also reaching into foreign markets.

While a few mystery fans have given the vampire books a cool reception, she says most have shown interest.

"Some mystery readers don't like them because of the higher `ick factor,'" she says. "But a lot of mystery readers do read cross-genre, so I really like to think of the vampire books as kind of transcending one genre and crossing over to another."

Harris says she'd like to do more fiction with a supernatural element in the future, outside of her "Southern Vampire" series, but she also plans to continue writing mysteries as well.

Her next mystery, "Last Scene Alive," is due out in August. It's about a movie company that comes to a small Georgia town to film the fictional treatment of a book written about the town. Her next vampire novel will be released this time next year by Ace. Beyond that, Harris says she'll just wait and see what happens.

Interview: Holly Lisle's Forward Motion

There's a place on the Web where dragons roam the skies, wizards cast their spells and vampires - or even stranger creatures - lurk in the darkness. It's a place where hardy adventurers meet to discuss their quest or seek advice from others who have followed the same path.

The place is the Forward Motion Writer's Community (http://www.hollylisle.com), fantasy author Holly Lisle's home on the Web.

If you had visited Lisle's site in 1995, you would have found a simple page with a few writing tips. If you visit today, you'll find a thriving community of writers, a place with a free exchange of ideas, advice and encouragement.

When she began the site, Lisle had no idea what her creation would evolve into.

"I figured I'd post a bunch of writing articles and then - as the bug hit me - a LOT of writing articles, and that would be it," she said. "But the Internet is a seductive place - and was particularly seductive in 1999-2000, when the dot-coms thought they'd created a way of minting money and everything on the Web was free."

That's when Lisle's site really began to change. The availability of free tools made it easy to experiment with message boards, chat rooms, classes and plenty of other interactive features. Now, the site has over 2,000 members, though not all are active, and gains around 20 new members a month.

"I kept thinking about all these people who wrote to me - thinking they would really like each other, and we could have a lot of fun and do cool things if I had some way to bring them all together," she said.

"The explosion of freebie Web tools made that possible. I have to pay now - the days of free on the Internet are gone. But now everything works - at least most of the time - and I know the price is worth it to me."

Lazette Gifford, who designed the original Forward Motion page almost seven years ago, is also surprised and pleased by what's happened at the site

"(Holly) has taken over and expanded in ways I never imagined," Gifford said. "I'm amazed at how much it's grown and how much time and energy Holly is willing to expend to help new writers."

Lisle says she considers that something she owes to the people who helped her, people like well-known fantasy and science fiction writers Mercedes Lackey and Stephen Leigh.

"Stephen rubbed the stupid out of my storytelling, and Misty showed me how to treat writing as a profession, not a hobby," Lisle said. "I couldn't pay either one of them back. But I could pay forward - that Robert Heinlein adage is some of the best advice he ever gave - and when I discovered the cool Web tools, I figured out how I could pay forward."

Lisle says that's how the site works - not just for her, but for everyone there. The spirit of Forward Motion is people helping each other.

"That's the coin of the site, the stated agreement," she said. "If something or someone helps you reach your dreams, then when you have the opportunity to help someone else, you take it."

And writers have found help in Lisle's community. Users like Jim Mills, Robert Sloan and Julia Pass praise the site's boards, classes and the inspiration they find there.

"The site really got me motivated to write more and actually think about what I was writing," said Pass, who now serves as a moderator. "It's also helped me to put more into my writing than just a plot, so now it actually says something."

Kay House credits Lisle's site with kicking her fiction writing into gear. House says she's wanted to write fiction since she was a child, but had never been able to get it going.

"My hard drive got littered with false starts. Despite the fact that I have finished more pieces of non-fiction than I could possibly count, I despaired of ever finishing one piece of even the shortest, most mediocre fiction," House said. "Within a month of finding the site, I had finished a short story. Not a good short story, or a long one, but a finished one - and finished was the goal."

Most users say the camaraderie keeps them coming back as much as the writing help.

"The community has a unique, stimulating atmosphere where in one sense, everyone's equal," Sloan said. "Every writer here is unique. We're all striving for the same difficult goals, and the same stresses affect popular, published successful members, as well as talented young writers who are beginning their careers in high school."

Gifford says there's no other site quite like it, and the information and help she finds there is invaluable.

"Having instant contact with a community of writers is probably one of the biggest changes in the lives of authors since the invention of the typewriter," she said. "There is almost always a person or two in chat willing to talk out plotting problems or share a triumph."

The community also continues to grow with new classes and opportunities for members. On a recent Saturday afternoon, members were given a chance to chat with a book editor from a major publishing company. Insights like those are invaluable say members.

Lisle says she feels a great deal of satisfaction and delight when a member of the community succeeds.

"My objective is to one day have an entire shelf of books by site members," she said.

But she's quick to point out that success comes primarily from the work the member puts in. The site just gives them tools that will help.

"I don't justifiably get to be proud. That would be like a hammer manufacturer being proud of someone using his hammer to build a gorgeous Victorian mansion or a castle," Lisle said. "Forward Motion is a place where you can get a wide selection of tools, and I think they're pretty good tools. But the folks who have the drive and the passion to build castles would figure out a way to do it with their teeth if no other tools were available."

Lisle says the biggest push now is to get a more stable interface for the site, but that's going to be a challenge. She says pricier packages aren't in her budget, and she refuses to charge for membership.

"More people need to buy my books so that I can afford a more reliable back-end for the community," Lisle jokes.

Other than that, she says she'd like to see the community continue on its present course.

"I think I'd just like to see more of what we already have," she said. "More writers participating in critiquing each other's work, more people volunteering to teach classes on their specialties, more passionate discussions about writing, more people finding a place where others share their love of words, more people bouncing onto the discussion board screaming, `They just bought my story!'

"That's a wonderful thing to see when I log on in the morning."

Interview: Holly Lisle

With 21 novels published in the last decade, you'd think fantasy author Holly Lisle might be ready for a break. But actually, she's working just as hard as ever.

Lisle's latest novel "Vincalis the Agitator" was released earlier this month by Warner Aspect, and another novel "The Memory of Fire" is set for a May release from Avon Eos. She's just finished up a second novel for Eos called "The Wreck of Heaven," and she's currently hard at work pitching her next work to Warner.

Such is the life of the full-time writer - not the glamorous life that many people might envision.

Lisle says there's a common misconception that the writer's life "involves any sort of elegance or grace or adulation by the beautiful people." In fact, she says, it's work - and if you think it's a quick way to become rich and famous, think again.

"My day involves sitting by myself in a dark, cramped workspace, thinking up a story and putting that story on the page, while dressed in sweatpants and baggy T-shirts. There is no filet mignon, no butler, no maid, no champagne, no smoking jacket," she says.

"I work long, hard hours, and when I go to the bookstore, no one recognizes my name from my check and asks me to autograph the books in stock. No one comes up to me in restaurants and tells me he's read my latest. It's a very quiet, private life."

That description may sound a little grim to some, but Lisle says she has no regrets about her choices. She admits that the life of a fantasy writer is unlike any other career you'll come across.

"Your job as a fantasy writer is to think up things that not only never happened, but that never could," Lisle says. "You put them on the page, and then hope that people will pay for the privilege of reading your mind to keep you fed and under a roof. I wake up mornings and am just amazed by the utter weirdness of that."

Lisle left a stable profession to take up the uncertainty of the writing life. She was a registered nurse, but said she cared too much about the patients. Add to that an unhappy marriage, and she was becoming a wreck. She began searching for a way out.

"If you let yourself care about your patients as people, nursing will eat you alive - and it was devouring me," she said. "I needed an escape hatch, and reading wasn't working anymore. I started writing and found something that spoke to me more deeply than anything I'd ever done in my life."

So Lisle took the leap of faith. When she got an offer for a three-book deal, she was so confident of her eventual success that she quit her day job, burned the uniforms in the backyard and didn't keep up her continuing education credits.

"I burned those bridges flat, removing all chance of retreat," she says.

That's not to say she didn't have some second thoughts along the way. Especially in what she calls "nightmare spots" where money was tight and ruin was just around the corner.

"It's a good thing I didn't know when I jumped how hard it would be. If I had seen the future, I don't know that I would have had the nerve to take the plunge," Lisle says. "When it got hard, I looked back on the steady paycheck of nursing, and all I can say is it's a good thing that I did burn my bridges. I might have given up otherwise."

There were second thoughts, but never regrets, Lisle says.

"It's been a roller-coaster ride so far, and the future beckons with the promise of more to come," she says. "It's still uncertain. It's going to be uncertain until the day I die. I think that if I live to be very old, I will look back on my life happily, knowing I gave it a good run."

But Lisle has reason to be excited about the current state of her chosen field. Three of the top films of last year were "Shrek," "Harry Potter" and "The Fellowship of the Ring" - all fantasies. And "Harry Potter" is introducing a whole new generation to the genre.

"Some of the kids and adults who love `Harry Potter' will come looking for `more like that,' and will discover the vast and varied field that is fantasy - and that's a very good thing," she says.

Lisle points out the variety of the genre, which includes the epic tales of J.R.R. Tolkien, the disturbing visions of H.P. Lovecraft and Clive Barker, the erotic dark fantasies of Laurell K. Hamilton and Anne Rice, the literary works of Ursula K. LeGuin and Samuel R. Delaney and everything in between.

"Any field that can house (those authors) under the same umbrella is going to have something for anyone who dares come looking," she says. "Fantasy is an exciting field with wide-open creative opportunities.

"From a writer's point of view, fantasy gives you more chance to completely fall flat on your face and fail than anything else, but more chance to succeed on your own terms, too."

Lisle is still looking for that breakthrough book that propels her to the top of the fantasy field. But even if that never happens, she'll still be happy if someone remembers her work in years to come.

"I want to write books that still have something to say a hundred years from now," she says. "I want to touch lives, make the world a better place, leave something behind that will continue to matter long after I'm dust."

And so what if Holly Lisle never becomes a household name?

"I may fail at everything I set out to accomplish, but I know what I want," she says. "I'm fighting to make it happen, and when I die, I know I will have given it my best run. Because of that, no matter how it all turns out, I will not have wasted my life."