That's great 'n all, but what I really want to know is how to make those children's party hats...

And all this time I've been pronouncing it "Ruh-kaa" like "rucksack". Man, is my face red.

Great interview! I really liked how they covered all your works, not just your books.

I have to ask - just how much self-control did it take not to answer "How does a writer get into the mind of an assassin?!" with a totally deadpan "Murdering people."? ;)

Good to know. Thanks!

Well, I'd never assumed "Rucka" never rhymed with "Hookah", but I'm enough of a nerd to make sure. *tries to remove egg from face* Shows what I get for assuming the television people would actually know how to pronounce the name of the guy they're about to interview.
Yeah, you'd think it would have come up at some point before that, wouldn't you? I certainly did.
"This author's name again is what? Rook-ah? Rucky? Ruh-roh-kay? Fuck it, let's just go on air. I need to tell the world about these birthday hats."

I'm (pleasantly) surprised that they gave the novel more time than the movie.

I still want to know what it would take to get you down into central Illinois after you hit Wisconsin in November. Would it help if I promised to bake cookies?

Oh -- and given your comments about not selling a book as a movie if you don't want it changed, what do you think about those rare instances where you get a faithful adaptation? Two ready examples are Stephen King's "The Green Mile," and "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." Do you think them better or worse than less faithful versions, like "The Bourne Identity?"

Yeah, okay. I don't know if I actually agree with you wholeheartedly, but I certainly see your point.

All things considered, do you think "Keeper" would translate well to the screen? Would you option that and other Atticus Kodiak books?

(By the way, Patriot Acts ROCKED! And I went into the local Barnes and Noble's and faced all the copies they had, made a point of talking it up to several people, and actually got one guy up to the CS station to order "Keeper!")

Hehe maybe I've read it more recently than you have.

I think Keeper would translate although it is a little dated now (payphones etc).

I do agree though that Smoker/Critical Space are where it is at from a story standpoint. If I had to do it myself I'd start off with Smoker sort of melding it with Keeper to introduce Bridget and I'd also probably have Rubin do his thing at the very end (having that be Drama's fault would only add to the future don't you think?). Then I'd throw finder in next because that story is awesome and would only need minor changes to fit in after Smoker rather than Keeper. After that I think you could do Critical Space pretty much as is.

What do you think? Any takers?

I think "Keeper" would adapt well. In fact, the one I would worry about more would be "Finder." Flashbacks = butt-pain.

And since you appreciate my guerilla marketing campaign (I prefer "guerilla" over "stealth" as there is a danger -- I could be asked to leave the store, and that would be tragic!), I guess I'll just head over to Borders and see what I can do there . . . .

Guerilla Marketing Man . . . you think a comic would . . . ?

Nah . . . !

Seconded on To Kill a Mockingbird. As flawless in my mind as Carol Reed's The Third Man.

Oh, absolutely. I remember reading a long interview with Orson Welles (I'm prone to reading anything and everything with Orson Welles in it, even if he's just mentioned in passing, and goddammit if there IS a just and benevolent Pancreator, the One Above All in the Marvelverse will turn out to be Orson Welles and Eartha Kitt, aka the Two Above All) where he talked about the making of The Third Man, and my favorite part, after he rambled on eloquently and compellingly, was when he said that he had the hotel room next to Alida Valli's during the filming, and loved her as an actress but wasn't bowled over by her physically because he was involved with someone else at the time, and then thirty years later he suddenly realized how GORGEOUS she was, and in was, in his words, "consumed with lust." HAHAHAHA! Poor Orson.

And HERE, have my very favorite cinema-related macro of all time.

Which means that I now have to make a film_macros community.

GREG RUCKA PLAGIARIZES PLOTS FROM FOREIGN AFFAIRS! NEWS AT ELEVEN!

So, Greg, I'm betting you hang out a lot on the OSINT groups?

Since I'm a Reductionist, this interview can be boiled down to the essentials thusly:

HOSTS: ASSASSINS!

GREG RUCKA: Fricatives.

HOSTS: ASSASSINS!

GREG RUCKA: Batman.

HOSTS: Assassins!

I was gonna mention Kate, because that was obviously an integral part of the meta-narrative, but then I remembered she and Scott Speedman in Underworld 2 and I got distracted. Sorry!

PS - since, after reading my comment above, I am reminded that tone is hard to convey on the great ethereal plane known as "the Internet," I'd like to add that the above was not meant to seriously accuse you in any way, shape, or form of plagiarizing plots from an article, say, by Kenneth Jowitt on the ethnoxenophobia in Dagestan. Just to be clear! :-)

The fact that I know who and what the epithet "Hyphenated Entity" means in context of Russian socio-political history should scare you.

I'm just elated someone else knows what the hell a fricative is. But that's my favorite part of his name. But I'm an abrasive guy.

Did you want to choke the hosts for jumping in in the middle of the answer as much as I did? I mean, they seemed nice, but the way they didn't seem to hear the answer drove me crazy.

Um...I followed the link to the TV station you posted in your blog. Then I typed "Rucka" in the search box.

It isn't exactly unearthing the Dead Sea Scrolls, dude.

That's okay. I'm being snarky, which means I'll get smacked around when next I see him.

PWNED indeed. :)

-E

Yes, but he's seen that I type with four fingers. That means six of them are expendable.

::shudder::

;)

-E