Production Diary: ChronoRadio Interviews Kevin J. Anderson
By Nathan P. Butler
- August 31: Dragon*Con Contact
- Interviews can come from unusual places. For this interview with author Kevin J. Anderson (KJA), I found myself making contact at Dragon*Con 2003. The Jail-and-Bail trivia contest for Matters of the Force had just ended, and Kevin, who had been one of the panelists conducting the contest, was signing copies of his short story Whipping Mek: A Tale of the Butlerian Jihad to help promote his new Dune novel, The Machine Crusade. As they say, fortune favors the bold, so I figured the worst he could do is say no to an interview if I asked. I stepped up to the table, mentioned having been a fan of his series of interviews on Jedi Talk, and suggested that if he was interested in continuing that sort of fan interaction, I had a radio show that was helping carry on the literary torch left by Jedi Talk. He says to drop him an e-mail about the idea.
- September 1 - 2: E-mail Contacts
- Using the e-mail address provided on his newsletter, I reintroduce myself and ChronoRadio with more specifics. Within 24 hours, I have a reply in the affirmative with a tentative follow-up date of late October. He mentions going on a Dune tour, so I get dates from him to put in the next ChronoRadio in early October.
- October 3: A Decision on Questions
- With about a month until I expect to do the interview, I must begin formulating questions. KJA tends to be a writer with a lot of passionate pro- and anti-Anderson fans out there. How can I be balanced for both sides? I myself have been highly critical of his New Republic era work, but am a huge fan of Tales of the Jedi. Do I want to be easy-handed or tough? Larry King Live or The O’Reilly Factor? I choose the latter and begin coming up with tough, but fair, questions.
- November 10 - 30: A Question of Timing
- Through a series of E-mails, shortly before the actual interview, I work with KJA to set up an exact time and day for the interview, along with providing an idea of what I’ll be asking about. Once that’s done, and with his phone number in hand, we sit back and wait for the interview date, December 1, 2003, at 9:00 ET.
During this time, I also come up with the quick introduction clip for the interview file itself, deciding to make it have a sort of "badass" feel. I use the opening to Disturbed’s “Prayer” and my own narration. I drop that, the “swoosh” separator sound, and the “hyperspace” ending sound into a WaveLab montage file, and I’m ready to go.
- December 1: The Big Night
- Finally, we get to Monday night, December 1. At 9:00, I grab my cordless speakerphone, get my mic and WaveLab ready, and get out my Wal-Mart pre-paid calling card. A few moments later, I’m on the phone.
The oddest part of the entire experience, for any interview, is asking for the person upon hearing a “hello.” To be casually saying, “Is Kevin there?” when talking about someone with 85 novels under his belt and 50+ Star Wars projects on his resume is almost surreal.