Secrets of The Books of Klyv
Books and movies go through a lot of changes during their development. The final product we enjoy is often times very different from what the author first imagined. Here are some details about BLACKWELL and Defying Gravity that were either changed or deleted during publication.
Aliens and English
In the original short-story, “They Came, They Saw, They Stayed for Dinner,” the Klyvians arrived already knowing how to speak English. They learned from radio and television transmissions recieved before their arrival. This worked for the short-story because we had to learn something about them in a very short amount of time. For the novel, however, I wanted them to go through the process of learning how to communicate. The length of the novel gave us the time to draw this out a bit. Although it happens very quickly in the book, it seems more realistic to me that aliens would not arrive on Earth already knowing our language.
Louie, Louie
Also in the original short-story, Aldi’s name is Louie. He chose that human name because the song “Louie, Louie” was the first Earth transmission he heard. During the writing of the novel, I tried several times to insert this detail into the story, but I could never find a believable reason for it. I suspect Aldi never liked the name Louie and simply refused to let me change it. Now I cannot imagine him by any other name. LESSON: Sometimes the author needs to listen to the characters.
The D.B. Cooper Connection
One of my favorite original scenes in BLACKWELL: The Encounter Begins reveals that Rick Blackwell’s ranch manger, Coop, is actually the notorious D.B. Cooper. In real life, Cooper disappeared in 1971 after robbing a bank and parachuting from a hijacked commercial airliner into a blizzard in the Pacific Northwest. The case was never solved and D.B. became an outlaw legend. In BLACKWELL, I imaged an aged D.B. Cooper tired of hiding and low on cash. When he learns the identity of Rick Blackwell’s strange guests, he contacts his former partner in crime with a scheme that could once again gain him financial security. Cooper intends to kidnap the female Klyvian and sell her to whoever would pay big money for proof of the existence of aliens. He nearly succeeds, but is stopped at the last minute by Ed Tyler who inadvertently stumbles into the plot. Cooper narrowly escapes the enraged Rick Blackwell only to find himself double-crossed by his ex-partner. He ultimately meets his demise in a most fitting way. While escaping the airplane that he believes will take him to the police, he discovers too late that his parachute has been sabotaged. I had to delete this section in order to cut 200 pages from my too-long manuscript. I hated to do it, but it actually helped the over-all story.
Property Rights
Another detail that was cut for length and wasn’t critical to the story was the fact that Ed Tyler owns the land upon which the Blackwell Ranch sets. In his younger days, Ed was married to the daughter of a Shoshone Chief. The land was given to them as a wedding gift. She died young, and Ed never recovered from his grief. The tribe honored the land agreement which allowed Ed Tyler to remain on the land until his death; then it would revert back to the tribe. The man who sold the ranch to Rick Blackwell knew this, but for reasons we do not know, he never told him. This explains a lot about Ed’s reclusive nature and how he came to live on land Rick Blackwell thought he owned.
The Death of Jacques Faber
Jacques Faber is first mentioned in my unpublished novel, The Prospero Project. The story, which is set in the year 2026, begins with the announcement that trillionaire entrepreneur Jacques Faber has died in a commercial space shuttle accident. His company, Saber Technologies, then becomes the subject of an inheritance dispute among some of his partners. Interestingly, there is a minor character named Louie whom his associates half-jokingly suspect might be an extraterrestrial. This is neither confirmed nor denied.
A New Ending
My original concept for the story had the Klyvians remain on earth until 2026, just after the death of Jacques Faber. Sara would have been twenty-five years old and about to receive a proposal for marriage from a man who has no idea about her true nature. That’s about all I can say at this point other than the story that is now developing in BLACKWELL 3 is much more exciting and satisfying. As much as I wanted to explore the Klyvian/human relationship through Sara, the newer story will allow me to do that in a different way. For those of you who are concerned about Sara’s future. Don’t worry, she will live exactly as the Before One intends.
