By the time you read this, G.I. JOE will have hit theaters, and I’ll have seen it, and so will some of you. This is one of the most eagerly awaited — and vilified — movies of the summer. I have no idea whether it will be good or bad, but I’m fairly confident it will be entertaining. I have written four other novels for Stephen Sommers movies, and none of the screenplays have seemed liked masterpieces to me, and yet they all made entertaining movies…and books.
My two G.I. JOE novels have been out for quite a while, but they should get a boost from the film’s release. I think the books are fun, and am particularly happy with the prequel (which Matt Clemens helped me with). Creating a novel out of an action-heavy, stuff-blows-up screenplay is harder than, say, adapting and expanding THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE or AMERICAN GANGSTER, which are more suspense and character-driven. But getting to do a prequel helped the novelization work better.
Ron Fortier, a terrific reviewer, really got what I was going for in his dual review.
One of the complaints about the film (from people who hadn’t seen it yet, though some had read my novelization, which generated web interest) is that the rebooted G.I. JOE organization is international, not American. The very American term G.I. Joe comes from World War Two and may have been coined by David Breger, who did a cartoon under that name and another called PRIVATE BREGER (which had a long post-war civilian run as MR. BREGER). The film script addressed that problem by making two American G.I.s the central characters, and my prequel novel emphasizes those characters (Duke Hauser and Ripcord Weems) even more.
While we’re on this military note, I should point out that my World War Two naval thriller, RED SKY IN MORNING, based on my father’s experiences in the Pacific, is out in paperback with a handsome new cover.
I will use the occasion to reveal that the “Patrick Culhane” penname was not my idea, and was to a degree forced upon me, and I have no plans to use it again. I regret that my real byline is not on this very personal novel, or BLACK HATS for that matter, which is one of my most commercial. And while RED SKY IN MORNING is a title I came up with, my original title — U.S.S. POWDERKEG, which I liked very much — was rejected. One of the great frustrations of the writing life is having a title that you have lived with and woven into a book spurned by an editor (or a sales force). I would be thrilled to see the book reprinted at some point with my preferred title and my real byline…but for now, you need to look for the Culhane byline on this one.
Till next week….
M.A.C.
