MB: You’ve spent the last quarter of a century creating works that are sources of relaxation and escape for other. What do you do to relax, to escape?
RS: I have a grandson now. He’s 18 months. That keeps me busy. My wife and I travel a lot. We’re very free to travel now that the kids are all grown. Two of my sons work at 38 studios. My daughter’s on the West Coast. So we travel a lot. We’re planning two vacations this winter. We’ve got the book tour coming up. I play softball. I work out fairly regularly. I’m trying to stay able to keep up with the kids even though I’m in my fifties now. I have a relatively normal life. I got season tickets to the Red Sox this year. I spent 35 nights at Fenway. Those are wonderful, win or lose.
MB: You’re a diehard Red Sox fan?
RS: I’ve been a Red Sox fan all my life, a New England fan all my life. I’m used to losing. Now I’m used to winning. Either way, it’s fine with me. I just want to go there and have a meal and have a night out with friends and family. We hit the ballpark and make a night of it. When there’s a Saturday afternoon game, we’ll go to Brown’s, which is one of the best seafood places in history, up in New Hampshire. We’ll have a wonderful lunch at Brown’s then go up to Boston and watch the game. It’s just a normal life, keeping busy. I’m certainly very grateful for what I’ve been able to accomplish—I’m doing something I love and making a decent living at it. It’s just a normal life.
MB: So with 38 Studios, you’re working with Todd McFarlane. You’re working with Curt Schilling. You’ve mentioned a book tour with the likes of Gaiman, Pratchett and Moorcock. Who’s someone else you’d love to meet or work with?
RS: I’d like to meet Vin Diesel because I know he’s read the books and we almost did the television series at one point. (Apparently, he was interested in doing one.) I’d really like to meet him and get to know him a little bit. He’s a pretty cool guy from everything I’ve heard. I’d like to work with Ronnie Howard. If Ronnie Howard ever called me up and said, “I want to do one of your books in a movie,” I’d die on the spot because I just love his work.
MB: When I first saw Willow, I remember thinking how its depiction of traditional fantasy elements was done in a fashion both simpler and truer than anything I’d seen before.
RS: That’s what I love about Ronnie Howard’s work: he doesn’t need to blow up a swimming pool. Apollo 13 is a perfect example of just making a movie correctly. I just love his work.
But there are so many I’d love to work with: Guillermo del Toro, Peter Jackson…there are just so many. If Steven Spielberg called, would I be happy? George Lucas, I’d love to work with him again. He’s a wonderful guy. I loved working with George Lucas.
MB: How often do you have a “recognized in the street” moment?
RS: I’m a writer. If John Grisham came walking by, would you recognize him? If Stephanie Meyer came into the store, would you know it was her?
MB: Probably not.
RS: There are moments, though. I was at a Renaissance Fair—King Richard’s Faire in Carver, Mass., about 10-15 years ago, and who showed up but Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith. You can’t miss Steven Tyler. The only person who looks remotely like him is Mick Jagger, and he’s famous, too.
So Tyler and Perry are at the Faire, and they are coolest guys in the world. They are having a blast. You’d never know they were anything but the class clowns. They were hanging out with people and they are as fun as you would think from watching their music videos. All day long, people are following Tyler and Perry around like little puppy dogs, including most of the people I had gone to the ren faire with. And at one point, I’m standing outside this kiosk where they were selling leather hats. I’m just standing there enjoying this great October day in New England. Standing like ten feet from me are Tyler and Perry, and for some reason they were alone. So this kid walks out of the kiosk, looks over and his eyes pop out of his head. He goes running up, right past them, to me. They both looked at me, so I just kinda crossed my arms and went, “Hah!”
Now, if I go to GenCon, I’m recognized.
MB: Do you go there most years?
RS: Yeah, most years. I love it there. Next year, I’m going to DragonCon [in Atlanta]. I haven’t been there in a long time. I expect I’ll be recognized at DragonCon.
MB: Any interest in writing outside the fantasy genre?
RS: I’ve wanted to write a kind of pseudo-scientific contemporary social-philosophical novel that I’ve had in mind, [one that] kind of cuts through the baloney I see around me. That’s on my to-do list. The last few years have been dedicated to building a world for 38 Studios, getting caught up with the Drizzt books and doing the Highwayman Series, which I’ve just finished. Now I’m just waiting to see what other things are going to take up the next couple years of my time and then, eventually, I’m going to stop and sit down and write this novel that I’ve been threatening to write for ten years now. It’ll be under a pseudonym so no one will know it’s me except for editors who are under very, very strict NDAs. We’ll see how it goes.
MB: Mr. Salvatore, thank you for your time!
Interview: R. A. Salvatore
MB: You’ve spent the last quarter of a century creating works that are sources of relaxation and escape for other. What do you do to relax, to escape?
RS: I have a grandson now. He’s 18 months. That keeps me busy. My wife and I travel a lot. We’re very free to travel now that the kids are all grown. Two of my sons work at 38 studios. My daughter’s on the West Coast. So we travel a lot. We’re planning two vacations this winter. We’ve got the book tour coming up. I play softball. I work out fairly regularly. I’m trying to stay able to keep up with the kids even though I’m in my fifties now. I have a relatively normal life. I got season tickets to the Red Sox this year. I spent 35 nights at Fenway. Those are wonderful, win or lose.
MB: You’re a diehard Red Sox fan?
RS: I’ve been a Red Sox fan all my life, a New England fan all my life. I’m used to losing. Now I’m used to winning. Either way, it’s fine with me. I just want to go there and have a meal and have a night out with friends and family. We hit the ballpark and make a night of it. When there’s a Saturday afternoon game, we’ll go to Brown’s, which is one of the best seafood places in history, up in New Hampshire. We’ll have a wonderful lunch at Brown’s then go up to Boston and watch the game. It’s just a normal life, keeping busy. I’m certainly very grateful for what I’ve been able to accomplish—I’m doing something I love and making a decent living at it. It’s just a normal life.
MB: So with 38 Studios, you’re working with Todd McFarlane. You’re working with Curt Schilling. You’ve mentioned a book tour with the likes of Gaiman, Pratchett and Moorcock. Who’s someone else you’d love to meet or work with?
RS: I’d like to meet Vin Diesel because I know he’s read the books and we almost did the television series at one point. (Apparently, he was interested in doing one.) I’d really like to meet him and get to know him a little bit. He’s a pretty cool guy from everything I’ve heard. I’d like to work with Ronnie Howard. If Ronnie Howard ever called me up and said, “I want to do one of your books in a movie,” I’d die on the spot because I just love his work.
MB: When I first saw Willow, I remember thinking how its depiction of traditional fantasy elements was done in a fashion both simpler and truer than anything I’d seen before.
RS: That’s what I love about Ronnie Howard’s work: he doesn’t need to blow up a swimming pool. Apollo 13 is a perfect example of just making a movie correctly. I just love his work.
But there are so many I’d love to work with: Guillermo del Toro, Peter Jackson…there are just so many. If Steven Spielberg called, would I be happy? George Lucas, I’d love to work with him again. He’s a wonderful guy. I loved working with George Lucas.
MB: How often do you have a “recognized in the street” moment?
RS: I’m a writer. If John Grisham came walking by, would you recognize him? If Stephanie Meyer came into the store, would you know it was her?
MB: Probably not.
RS: There are moments, though. I was at a Renaissance Fair—King Richard’s Faire in Carver, Mass., about 10-15 years ago, and who showed up but Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith. You can’t miss Steven Tyler. The only person who looks remotely like him is Mick Jagger, and he’s famous, too.
So Tyler and Perry are at the Faire, and they are coolest guys in the world. They are having a blast. You’d never know they were anything but the class clowns. They were hanging out with people and they are as fun as you would think from watching their music videos. All day long, people are following Tyler and Perry around like little puppy dogs, including most of the people I had gone to the ren faire with. And at one point, I’m standing outside this kiosk where they were selling leather hats. I’m just standing there enjoying this great October day in New England. Standing like ten feet from me are Tyler and Perry, and for some reason they were alone. So this kid walks out of the kiosk, looks over and his eyes pop out of his head. He goes running up, right past them, to me. They both looked at me, so I just kinda crossed my arms and went, “Hah!”
Now, if I go to GenCon, I’m recognized.
MB: Do you go there most years?
RS: Yeah, most years. I love it there. Next year, I’m going to DragonCon [in Atlanta]. I haven’t been there in a long time. I expect I’ll be recognized at DragonCon.
MB: Any interest in writing outside the fantasy genre?
RS: I’ve wanted to write a kind of pseudo-scientific contemporary social-philosophical novel that I’ve had in mind, [one that] kind of cuts through the baloney I see around me. That’s on my to-do list. The last few years have been dedicated to building a world for 38 Studios, getting caught up with the Drizzt books and doing the Highwayman Series, which I’ve just finished. Now I’m just waiting to see what other things are going to take up the next couple years of my time and then, eventually, I’m going to stop and sit down and write this novel that I’ve been threatening to write for ten years now. It’ll be under a pseudonym so no one will know it’s me except for editors who are under very, very strict NDAs. We’ll see how it goes.
MB: Mr. Salvatore, thank you for your time!