Questions for KJA

A Thing of Eternity · Post by **A Thing of Eternity** » 19 Aug 2008 16:41

I've seen allllllooooootttt of KJA hate on the net surrounding his starwars books.

Seraphan · Post by **Seraphan** » 19 Aug 2008 17:00

Yeah i've seen it too, and they dont just hate his idiotic plots but also his writting style, if you can even call it that. Many felt that they were riped off when they bought his star wars novels. Heh, just like us with Dune!

Lisan Al-Gaib · Post by **Lisan Al-Gaib** » 19 Aug 2008 17:05

Seraphan wrote:Yeah i've seen it too, and they dont just hate his idiotic plots but also his writting style, if you can even call it that. Many felt that they were riped off when they bought his star wars novels. Heh, just like us with Dune!

I would really appreciate if you put some links to star wars fan boards that discuss the "KJA desease", Seraphan.

Ampoliros · Post by **Ampoliros** » 19 Aug 2008 17:07

I'm not Carion.

But I like what s/he has to say!

Ugh, well same dry crackly characters. I swear he modeled his Star Wars characters off of the cardboard standouts more than the actual people. He has a magic 8-ball with every Han Solo quote that he uses any time Han has to say ANYTHING. There is also his blantant one-upmanship which centers on his ludicrous superweapons or GOD-LIKE jedi. Admiral Daala is a good example, she rose through the Imperial ranks because she was an awesome uber tactician, yet she manages to lose every single fight she has in the books because she has the command foresight of a Chihuahua.

All in all, same thing we see in his Dune attempts. "TIE fighters are boring. I'll make TIE-UA's (Ultra-Awesomes) with Infinite shields and Double laser death rays that go through shields! And yet, in the end they lose when R2 transmits a computer virus that makes all the TIE pilots convert to Christianity and Become good guys. <----BTW i made this up. But it's exactly like his writing.

To use a D&D metaphor, KJA is the person who brings a character with maxed stats, Uber weapons, bu-trillions of money, and gets killed the first day when he hires 3 thieves from the same guild to do a job for him. The first is to break in and steal something, the second to kill that one so he doesn't have to pay him, and the third to kill that one so he doesn't have to pay him either, then meet him in a dark alley where KJA can ambush and kill the third thief and not have to pay anything. He shows up in the alley and gets killed by three thieves while the cleric in the party laughs and refuses to heal him for being a complete effing retard.

For anyone who knows what i'm talking about, KJA is a 4th Edition Mage.

Seraphan · Post by **Seraphan** » 19 Aug 2008 17:13

Lisan Al-Gaib wrote:
Seraphan wrote:Yeah i've seen it too, and they dont just hate his idiotic plots but also his writting style, if you can even call it that. Many felt that they were riped off when they bought his star wars novels. Heh, just like us with Dune!
I would really appreciate if you put some links to star wars fan boards that discuss the "KJA desease", Seraphan.

http://jokermage.livejournal.com/231097.html
http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/02/14/th ... ally-suck/
http://www.toplessrobot.com/2008/08/the ... _unive.php
Well i cant find much right know, maybe someone else can.

Ampoliros · Post by **Ampoliros** » 19 Aug 2008 17:37

looking for links i found this:
http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/a ... 53290.html

Its a thread discussing one of KJA's more infamous SW short stories where Droid Bounty Hunter IG-88 downloads his brain into the Death Star.
I've never bothered to read it.

But this page had this!:

Doctor Sinister
11 Jul 07, 14:30
Kevin J Anderson, sci-fi franchise parasite.
I couldn't have put that better myself.

and

Wolery
11 Jul 07, 15:01
I hate to bitch about KJA, but here goes:

His WORST contrivbution to SW was Kyp Durron. Interesting guy, but he's not EXECUTED for blowing up the Carida system, killing BILLIONS OF PEOPLE just becuase he could because he says, 'I'm sorry.' WTF? I stopped reading SW books after that.

Yeah I forgot that part about Kyp.

this from a KJA fan forum:

You're wondering why do people dislike KJA?

1. He has referred to writing SW books as "flipping-burgers-writing": easier than cooking fast food, and it pays better. Many in the fan community have referred to him as "burger boy" ever since he said that in an interview in 1995.

2. Superweapon of the week can get pretty tedious.

3. A Hutt Jedi.

4. Waru, the extradimensional creature that eats Jedi.

5. Luke falling in love with a ghost in the machine.

I don't particularly care, nothing KJA has written is as awful as NJO, but since the posters here seem confused as to why others would particularly dislike KJA's books, those are the obvious reasons that occur to me...

and another: http://www.nightly.net/cgi-bin/ultimate ... 000805;p=0

Ampoliros · Post by **Ampoliros** » 19 Aug 2008 17:39

http://server.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic_raw.php?t=79

First post says a lot. Mara Jade was trained by the Emperor. Good job Kevin!

The Maw is an area of space where 5 Black Holes are orbiting each other, the gravitational pulls are extremely hazardous and always fluctuating. The super-secret Imperial Research Center is hidden inside.

Frybread · Post by **Frybread** » 19 Aug 2008 18:31

Nekhrun wrote:
Omphalos wrote:Is the Sun Crusher a Star Wars thing...?
Yeah. The sun-crusher was one of the first times he tried to out-do the universe in which he was writing. The Death Star can blow up a planet? Yeah, well, the SUNCRUSHER can blow up a sun!

Fit's in very nicely with his creations the Normacle and the super-duper Kwisatz Haderach.

leagued · Post by **leagued** » 19 Aug 2008 19:22

KJA also describes Victory-class Star Destroyers as "zipping" around larger Star Destroyers so fast that they can't be targeted and stating that if they took even a single hit, they'd be destroyed. Star Destroyers. For those that don't know about the SD classes, a Victory is larger than the Star Destroyers in Revenge of the Jedi and are maybe 2/3 to 3/4 the size of those in the original trilogy.
His ability to misunderstand and misuse the technology of another writer's universe is the first thing that was confirmed for me when I read the House books. Suddenly lasguns were as common as dirt, the Harkonnens were building no-spheres, and the Bene Tleilax were about five minutes from perfecting artificial spice.

But, and I can't believe I'm saying this, parts of his work were salvageable in the SW universe. Some far more talented writers were able to turn Kyp Durron into not just a decent character, but one of the better Jedi characters in later SW books. The HLP should follow Lucasbooks' lead and find some really good authors (*cough*Gene Wolfe*cough*) if they want to continue making Dune books. Troy Denning wouldn't be bad either, and I think I've heard someone else mention his name for the same concept.

GamePlayer · Post by **GamePlayer** » 19 Aug 2008 20:31

A Thing of Eternity wrote:I've seen allllllooooootttt of KJA hate on the net surrounding his starwars books.

Oh yeah. The first time I ever heard of KJA was at a Star Wars forum and I believe the exact wording was "Kevin J Anderson sucks!"

Lisan Al-Gaib · Post by **Lisan Al-Gaib** » 19 Aug 2008 20:45

I'm know laughing a lot with these SW links.

The best quote was:

“Han,” Leia said. “Not nice to argue in front of a guest.”

“Zekk’s not a guest. He’s the man chasing my daughter all over the galaxy.”

“Dad.” (Jaina Solo)

“I think-“ Han paused and looked around the table, finally aware of all the eyes on him. He plunged his fork into the last piece of spiceloaf on his plate and hurriedly swallowed the piece of meat. “I think I’m done. I think I’m going to wash some dishes.”

How can a writer in his own sanity write something like that???

And it wasnt KJA that wrote it.

But look at this "terrifying" monster developed by our dear KJA:

The Leviathans were bioengineered serpentine sithspawn created by fallen Dark Jedi during the Hundred-Year Darkness. Living superweapons, leviathans roamed battlefields and drew the life-energies of enemy soldiers into blister traps that dotted their wide backs. When they killed a being, they could absorb all of his knowledge. They also could travel through lava unscathed.

Shit.

Post by **Freakzilla** » 19 Aug 2008 21:29

GamePlayer wrote:
A Thing of Eternity wrote:I've seen allllllooooootttt of KJA hate on the net surrounding his starwars books.
Oh yeah. The first time I ever heard of KJA was at a Star Wars forum and I believe the exact wording was "Kevin J Anderson sucks!"

Just search for "KJA sucks" and you get tons of hits.

Frybread · Post by **Frybread** » 19 Aug 2008 21:41

Lisan Al-Gaib wrote:I'm know laughing a lot with these SW links.

The best quote was:

“Han,” Leia said. “Not nice to argue in front of a guest.”

“Zekk’s not a guest. He’s the man chasing my daughter all over the galaxy.”

“Dad.” (Jaina Solo)

“I think-“ Han paused and looked around the table, finally aware of all the eyes on him. He plunged his fork into the last piece of spiceloaf on his plate and hurriedly swallowed the piece of meat. “I think I’m done. I think I’m going to wash some dishes.”

How can a writer in his own sanity write something like that???

And it wasnt KJA that wrote it.

But look at this "terrifying" monster developed by our dear KJA:

The Leviathans were bioengineered serpentine sithspawn created by fallen Dark Jedi during the Hundred-Year Darkness. Living superweapons, leviathans roamed battlefields and drew the life-energies of enemy soldiers into blister traps that dotted their wide backs. When they killed a being, they could absorb all of his knowledge. They also could travel through lava unscathed.
Shit.

Seems like all KJA does is write about superweapons and other <i>cool</i> stuff but not about characterization or complex plots.

Hunchback Jack · Post by **Hunchback Jack** » 20 Aug 2008 00:25

I've been following some of the various Star Wars threads from those links, and I have to say ... we are way less obsessive than those guys.

That whole massive flamefest on multiple boards about the number of clones created for the Clone Wars, which included YouTube videos, accusations of sexism, and the banning of any posts which discuss whether one number or another is canon ... man oh man.

I care about the Duniverse a lot, but I hope I never care about it *that* much.

HBJ,
turning away from the abyss.

SandChigger · Post by **SandChigger** » 20 Aug 2008 00:38

Lisan Al-Gaib wrote:
The Leviathans ... also could travel through lava unscathed.
Shit.

I see a curious parallel between reality and fiction!

Kevin can expel mountains of shit and travel through them, seemingly unscathed! (Though none too fragrant for the effort. Pee-yoo!)

Ampoliros · Post by **Ampoliros** » 20 Aug 2008 14:30

"Did you enjoy the Lynch Dune more or the Mini-series? Which of those made you want to attempt writing in the Duneiverse? Did you know there is a book that they are based off of which suggests most of what you have written already is Horse shit? Do you even care?"

Frybread · Post by **Frybread** » 21 Aug 2008 11:19

Ampoliros wrote:"Did you enjoy the Lynch Dune more or the Mini-series? Which of those made you want to attempt writing in the Duneiverse? Did you know there is a book that they are based off of which suggests most of what you have written already is Horse shit? Do you even care?"

Kevin's answer would be, "I don't care as long as I get paid well for writing assembly-line Dune books."