Paul Barnett Interview (cont')

GG: You mentioned in that interview that you'd like to regain the rights and market the Legends series to adults in the states. Does Random House still own these rights? Have you thought more about that idea now that you are moving to the States?

PAUL: Random House still has the rights in most of the Legends. The copyright situation is tricky, however, even with the others, because half of it is Joe's. He wouldn't like to see the Legends go anywhere other than Berkley, who don't want to publish them (after the 4/5 they did). There are, anyway, other novels of mine that I like a lot more that have never been published in the States, and so they're rather higher up my list of priorities. I might one day, however, rewrite The Birthplace and publish it as a non-LW novel, because I think it's one of the best novels I've written.

GG: I assume you spend a bit of time on the Internet. Do you actively keep an eye on the Lone Wolf movement that we have created? What do you think of the wealth of web sites that have sprung up over the past 18 months?

PAUL: I spend very little time on the Internet. I occasionally visit specific websites for specific purposes, but the first time I went surfing was last night, in response to reading this question. Did you know that, if you ask for `Lone Wolf', one of the sites you're directed to is called `Wild Wet Sex'? I was staggered. Purely out of scientific curiosity (you understand) I tried to download it, but my prim computer wouldn't let me.

GG: Do you still have any contact with Joe? Are you likely to ever work with him again? Are you allowed to use and develop the Lone Wolf characters without Joe's involvement?

PAUL: I hear from Joe every couple of years, and each time he's keen that we do something more together but nothing ever materializes--I guess just because we're both very busy on other things. So the answer to your second question seems to be no. As to the third, not only would I not be able to use Joe's characters for my own work (although characters like Alyss, Qinefer and Thog, all three of whom I created, appear elsewhere--Alyss centrally in my novels Albion and The World), just as Joe couldn't use mine, I'm not sure that I'd actually want to. A lot of time has passed since I was last in Magnamund and my ideas of what fantasy is for have changed a deal: going back there now would seem like a retrograde step, and I'd take it only if there were a really good reason for doing so--such as having the freedom to write any further novels at the level of The Birthplace, which freedom I'd be unlikely to be able to attain.

GG: After Legends stopped printing, did you continue to follow Joe's books and keep an eye on Lone Wolf's adventures? Would you like to write more legends, or have you moved on from that?

PAUL: No, I haven't followed Lone Wolf's adventures, I'm afraid. As you put it, I've moved on. If you know anyone who'd like to publish an illustrated Victorian fairytale novel for grownups, or a quarter-million-word novel based loosely on the Beast in Beauty and the Beast (the tale, not the tv series!), please let me know.

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