Joe Schreiber is the author of several horror novels, including Eat the Dark (2007) and No Doors, No Windows (2009). His first Star Wars novel, Death Troopers (2009), concerns the outbreak of a zombie plague on an Imperial prison barge. In this interview, he talks about writing, Star Wars, and the upcoming Death Troopers prequel, Red Harvest.
I've read that you were a Star Wars fan from childhood. Had you thought about writing a Star Wars horror novel before Lucasfilm approached you about Death Troopers?
Not at all. The thought never even occurred to me! But after they asked me, I realized I pretty much immediately knew how I could tackle it. I was dead wrong, of course...it took a couple drafts to figure out the best way to handle the situation...but eventually it began to feel intuitive.
There isn't much horror in the Star Wars Expanded Universe (Galaxy of Fear is all I can think of), so you were treading new ground with Death Troopers. How did you approach the concept? Were you thinking about it more as a Star Wars novel that happened to be a horror story, or as a horror story that happened to be set in the Star Wars universe?
I was just thinking of it as a story, period--characters that you can sympathize with, with the heat turned all the way up. That's the only way I can really get into the process, loosen up and actually enjoy myself. It was set in the Star Wars universe, obviously, and there was so much potential there that I was constantly discovering cool new ways to introduce suspense and horror inside that world.
Were you nervous about negative reactions, either from Lucasfilm or the fans, to the level of horror and gore?
Not at all, really. My first question to Lucasfilm was, how graphic do you want this to be? They told me that they were looking for a George Romero story in a George Lucas universe. And I said, got it, and never really looked back.
Can you tell us about the plot of Red Harvest?
It's a prequel that sort of details the origins of the Blackwing virus. It takes place in a Sith training academy, so there are some pretty rough customers...teens with issues, you might say. It's pretty gooey.
The working title for Red Harvest was Black Orchid; why the change, and what does the new title signify?
The orchid itself was part of the plot -- still is, actually -- a fairly major element upon which a lot of the action pivots. It had the misfortune of making the novel sound a bit like a romance novel. So we went shopping around for new titles and I threw that one out there, and everybody seemed to dig it.
What books or authors influenced your decision to become a horror writer or your writing style today?
There were a handful, very early on -- Stephen King, Roald Dahl, Harlan Ellison and Ray Bradbury. Then, a little later, Peter Straub, Robert Cormier, Clive Barker, and the third wave -- Jim Harrison, Elmore Leonard, Cormac McCarthy. At some point you just kind of forget about style and get on with the story.
Do you prefer creating your own characters, or working with characters who already have an established backstory and personality?
Either way I find myself creating backstory and personality. With Star Wars it was fun because I could wind my own little things into the aspects of well-known characters, but I think either way the best parts are working out of whole cloth.
Is there any other non-horror franchise you'd like to write a horror novel for?
I'd write a Mad Men novel.
What other books or projects are you working on right now?
I've got a book coming out next year called Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick, about a guy who discovers that the female foreign exchange student living with his family is actually an assassin. And I'm writing a screenplay adaptation for a high school football zombie novel called Play Dead.
Finally, who's your favorite Star Wars character and why?
Salacious Crumb. He just gets to sit up there with Jabba and laugh obnoxiously at the world.
Look for the paperback release of Death Troopers on October 25, 2010 and Red Harvest on December 28, 2010. Read more from Joe Schreiber at his blog, The Scary Parent.