The eagerly awaited interview with Joe Schreiber, author of  Death Troopers and other novels such as No Doors, No Windows, has finally been posted!  In this segment, Schreiber talks about his recent addition to the Star Wars universe, Death Troopers, so be sure to check that out below the break!  Also check out the general Star Wars part (discussing the upcoming prequel to Death Troopers as well) here on Immortal Darkness and the No Doors, No Windows/general horror part here on Fight-Evil.  Thanks to Joe Schreiber for taking part in the interview (also check out his blog, The Scary Parent, here)!

Death Troopers:

1. Let’s start off with your recent addition to the Star Wars universe.  Was Death Troopers as fun to write as it was to read?

Death Troopers was awesome fun.  It was like getting invited to play with all the best, coolest toys in the Star Wars universe and basically do whatever I wanted.  Within reason.

2. The origin and mastermind of Death Troopers are left ambiguous.  Is this because it involves a character with whom fans will be familiar?

It’s because the author prefers ambiguity.

3. There are many sides to such an established character as Han Solo.  Did you have an aspect of him you focused on
capturing while writing?

I focused on the voice of Harrison Ford circa 1981.  I think that’s pretty much when he hit his stride.

4. I’d like to talk about the letters that were used as part of the online promotional campaign of Death Troopers. I enjoyed reading those and it really gave a sense of the mood of the story, plus it added to the anticipation when I actually read Death Troopers, since I was waiting for things to match up to those letters. How did the idea for those letters first come up? Was the plan always to use it as a viral campaign? When did you write those letters – was it a part of the writing of Death Troopers, or after the fact?

Initially I volunteered to write a short story to help promote the book.  But when I sat down to do it, I realized I’d already written everything I had to say about what went down on the Purge and the Star Destroyer.  Whatever I put down afterward was going to feel extraneous and tacked on.  So I didn’t do anything and hoped my editor would forget about it.  She didn’t, of course, and came back asking if I had anything.  Desperate, I started thinking about individual voices, which sometimes helps me look at a project differently, and as soon as I started doing that I breathed a big sigh of relief because I was having fun again and I knew it would be all right.

5. Along those same lines, I’m curious what you thought about the whole Death Troopers Book Trailer competition. Any stories to tell from the filming you went to with the 501st? What did you think of the submissions? Were you a part of the panel that reviewed them? Which ones did you enjoy?

I loved them all.  And because nobody had actually read the book yet, it was fun to see how everybody interpreted the elements of the story.  I had a great time shooting our little video — we spent most of a day running around the maintenance level of the Random House building on Broadway, sweating like fiends in stormtrooper armor and drinking beer afterward on the roof feeling like the last lords of creation.  If you look at the pictures from that day, you can tell these guys were having the time of their lives.

6. Was working in the Star Wars universe everything you hoped it would be?

Yes, and more.

7. Death Troopers covers a wide variety of horror sub-genres, encompassing not only zombies but cannibalism, monsters and slashers (among others).  Was this an intentional effort on your part, or did it just happen that way?

I’m a fairly twisted individual.  I guess you could say it just happened that way.

8. Did you have anybody in mind while developing your original characters in Death Troopers?

Zahara Cody, of course, is a young Sigourney Weaver…like the age she was in the first Alien movie.  I think Chris Cooper may have inspired aspects of Jareth Sartoris.

9. Were you constrained at all by content parameters when writing Death Troopers?

Just the standard Star Wars guidelines — no explicit sex, no profanity.

10. Did you make a conscious decision in Death Troopers not to have a lot of the action focused on people killing zombies, but rather various scenes with the characters running from them or into them, especially some of the strange, macabre scenes they ran into? Or did that just sort of happen?

To my mind, people killing zombies (or for that matter, zombies killing people) just isn’t as scary as the moments of tension gathering in between such sequences.  As a reader and an audience member, I’m much more engaged in the recognizable moments of human frailty and apprehension leading up to those inevitable action moments.

11. How much input have you had into what Star Wars Galaxies is planning with Death Troopers? Is there anything you can tell us about what you’ve seen in terms of preview art? Are there any game play scenarios that maybe you couldn’t do in the book, but might work well in a videogame – or vice versa?

I had no involvement in the game.  I have seen the conceptual art online, though, and it’s amazing.  Especially the wookiee zombies.

12. On a similar note, I couldn’t help but thinking that I’d love to see Death Troopers portrayed in comic book format.  Do you think there’s any chance of this in the future?

I’d love to see it happen.  I haven’t heard anything about it, but that doesn’t really mean anything — I’m usually the last to find out about such things.

13. Some fans say that Matthew Stover (Shatterpoint) and Troy Denning (Abyss) beat you to writing the first Star Wars horror novel.  What do you think of that?

I haven’t read those books, but it wouldn’t surprise me.  The elements of fear and horror have always existed in the Star Wars universe.  I just dialed them up to my own preference.

14. There seemed to be a lot of marketing push behind Death Troopers. I believe it went from a softcover MMP (mass market produce) release to a hardcover with various tie-ins. Plus Del Rey went on to contract you for a prequel before Death Troopers even went on sale. How did/do you feel about the attention paid to this story? Do you feel that the nature of it being the first ‘horror’-type Star Wars novel, as well as it being a ‘classic’ novel set in the original trilogy era, and because it is a stand alone novel added to its appeal (both to Del Rey and to the fans)?

I think it all started with that cover art hitting in the internet.  People’s reaction to it was very immediate.  “Wow, they’re not screwing around with this.  It’s an actual horror novel.”  It was exciting.

15. You’ve expressed a concern about the over-saturated market of zombie survival novels.  Is there any particular
reason you chose this as the primary sub-genre of Death Troopers?

My sense was, take this thing that’s not necessarily new, and remake it the way I’d like to see it done.  My temptation is always to focus more on the human element, and mixed with Star Wars, it became something new and strange and compelling — to me, at least.

16. Beyond The Stand, were there any other books or films that inspired you in writing Death Troopers? I felt like there were parts that were reminiscent of The Blob, for instance.

Stanley Kubrick’s vision of the Overlook Hotel in The Shining actually informed the feeling of claustrophobic space and sterile emptiness aboard the Destroyer.  And an awesome prison novel called Green River Rising, by a writer named Tim Willocks, played a big part in how I thought about the Purge and the relationship between inmates and staff.