Mata Hari Affair - Luceno novelization

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
8e3d224b9da081c15021c010.L.jpg

I'm amused it's classified with the youth novels, because it's even racier than Peril at Delphi or Dance of the Giants, in which Indy and Diedre use every moment of down time to shag. I haven't seen the YIJC episode, but I doubt it includes so much sex talk with Remy (ew) or description of the Mata Hari douching. Did Lucas wish to depict every facet of WWI history? I'd post excerpts, but then I might have to moderate myself. :eek:

And this is who they tapped to pen the KotCS junior novelization?!
 
Last edited:
No he's not kidding. This was a pretty adult version of young Indy. I read it a year or so ago and was surprised. It wasn't bad, not great, but not bad. Kind of reminded me of being that age.
 

Adamwankenobi

New member
Moedred said:
I'm amused it's classified with the youth novels, because it's even racier than Peril at Delphi or Dance of the Giants, in which Indy and Diedre use every moment of down time to shag. I haven't seen the YIJC episode, but I doubt it includes so much sex talk with Remy (ew) or description of the Mata Hari douching. Did Lucas wish to depict every facet of WWI history? I'd post excerpts, but then I might have to moderate myself. :eek:

And this is who they tapped to pen the KotCS junior novelization?!

Luceno has also written several Star Wars novels. I for one like it that he gives a more adult interpretation of things.
 

Violet

Moderator Emeritus
My God... The novelisation exists? The true Holy Grail of Young Indy Chronicles fandom.... :eek: Deirdre and Indy only shag once in "Dance of the Giants", you're thinking of "Seven Veils." That one had the most in it. "Peril at Delphi" was kind of racey, especially when I first read it, age 12.

This guy is doing the KOTCS junior novel? After hearing this, I'm getting for myself rather than my brother.
 

Little Indy

New member
Curse my luck. I leant this book out to a classmate who "said" she was an Indy fan. Turns out she never gave it back. I'm gonna hunt her down. I want to read that racey stuff again!! Did anymore books ever come out? I looked for more but never found any. The title "Book One" implied others would follow.
 

walker

New member
I believe this was the only book in this particular series (there was also an "intermediate reader" series that is pretty well known, but I think this was the only YA novel.
walker
 

Adamwankenobi

New member
I was always under the impression that The Mata Hari Affair was written as an adult novel, rather than young adult. The way way I look at it is that Mata Hari's involvement alone is always going to bring some sexuality into a story. Plus, in the episode itself there are brief Indy/Mata Hari sex scenes, along wih her suggestive dancing.
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
I finally read it, and should have earlier. I was put off by "book one" (there is no book two) and Indy's birthday listed as 1889. But it's a very detailed adaptation of Demons of Deception and deserves to be repackaged as such with suitable cover art. It refers to almost every chronicle before and several after. If Luceno got a crack at novelizing Peacock's Eye, I think he could fill in every gap between this and Peril at Delphi. It has a French vocab list of hundreds, and nowhere does it say "file under young adult." Excerpts:
"Verdun wasn't so much an overworked mine as it was a labyrinth out of Greek myths. Except that the fabled Minotaur was on the outside." Hmm, maybe Interior World was not just a long drug trip, but also a WWI flashback for Indy?
Remy's ode to Paris: "No stink of **** or **** or death in the air." He proceeds to make "an obscene gesture with his right forefinger and left fist." Tom the ambulance driver says Remy "better report for short-arm inspection when he's through" and grabs his (own) crotch. Tonight, on ABC: "all Indy wanted to do was get his ashes hauled."
Shortly into his "penetration operation," a glimpse at Indy's internal monologue: "What if he couldn't get aroused? What if he got aroused and didn't know what to do? Daniel Beard's American Boys Handy Book hadn't delved into that." Some circular motions of loins, then "it was over almost as soon as it began. Remy had been right about that. But the second time, all credit to M'Greet's instructions, Indy had held out." "Henri had the stamina of youth, rising to the occasion, as it were, time and time again." Cue Raiders March! At the sound of the whip, turn the page.
Next day, Mata Hari "douched with a spermicide solution prepared from a powder supplied to her by an English druggist on rue de la Paix." It's as if millions of Shias suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced! She compares her breasts to "fruits gone bad and squashy."
Finally, here's what I believe is the closest you'll ever get to a Lucas cameo. "What came to mind... was a fragment of a dream from the postcoital nap he and M'Greet had taken. He wondered how Sigmund Freud or Carl Jung or some other alienist might interpret its meaning."
That's all for tonight's Raven after dark steamy book club! Please stack the chairs as you exit.
 

Violet

Moderator Emeritus
Hahhahahaha! That was hilarious, actually. Thanks, Moedred! You were right though, it's a hell of a lot more er, erotic than McGregor's novels, (which were the adult novels). I can't believe that was written!
 

tupogirl

New member
"fruits gone bad and squashy"
I always felt the dancer was miscast, BWAHAH!!! And that book taught me the word 'Romanesque'. And my mother thought she had to hide her romance novels from me! HA! LOL. I have no idea what happened to my copy though. I'm surprised I have as many Indy books as I do (moved cross country 10 years ago).

And it always irritated me that there was a Book One and nothing else. Because back then, I believed they wouldn't lie to me. *sobs*
 

Crack that whip

New member
Back then, they probably believed there'd be a Book Two, too (and a Three, and a Four, and a...). I imagine they just dropped it when the first volume didn't sell well and the TV series got lackluster ratings.

:(
 

TalonCard

Member
Crack that whip said:
Back then, they probably believed there'd be a Book Two, too (and a Three, and a Four, and a...). I imagine they just dropped it when the first volume didn't sell well and the TV series got lackluster ratings.

:(

And how weird is it that they picked those particular episodes to novelize? Why not Curse of the Jackal, or something more Indy-esque to start with?

Having bought and read the book though, I have to say, it's pretty good. I loved Luceno's Star Wars writings for the many little historical details he included. There's a lot more here, presumably because he had real history to draw from. Because of this, it isn't really as erotic as it's made out be be, though. ;)

TC
 

Adamwankenobi

New member
TalonCard said:
And how weird is it that they picked those particular episodes to novelize? Why not Curse of the Jackal, or something more Indy-esque to start with?

I'd love to have seen Luceno do a novelization of the "German East Africa"/"Congo" episodes. Maybe that was gonna be one of the unpublished books. :(
 

tupogirl

New member
Crack that whip said:
Back then, they probably believed there'd be a Book Two, too (and a Three, and a Four, and a...). I imagine they just dropped it when the first volume didn't sell well and the TV series got lackluster ratings.

:(

Yeah, that's what I thought. But it's still sad.
 

Crack that whip

New member
Indeed it is. On the other hand, if they actually released more, I'd have to pay money for them, and I have no trouble being broke as it is!

Bizarrely, I have yet to actually get around to reading this one. It wasn't quite as high a priority as an original work would be (after all, I've seen the episode), but it's still odd that I let a piece of "Indy lit" go so long without my reading it. I've read all the (first three) movie novelizations, nearly all the (English-language) original novels and most of the comics, but not quite all of those, either. I should go back and reread everything, being sure to incorporate the stuff I missed before.

When I was reading the Bantam / Falcon novel series (MacGregor / Caidin / McCoy) I was pretty diligent at first; frankly, I could hardly wait for new Indy adventures, and really enjoyed the MacGregor ones back in the day, so I pretty much went through them all quite quickly. I found myself less enthusiastic about the Caidin ones, though, and took a while to finish them. By this time I was falling behind, and when I saw they'd now brought in a third writer I hadn't heard of I was losing enthusiasm, and got around to them slowly. I took so long between a couple of his books that I accidentally skipped over one of them, reading the next out of sequence, and didn't realize it until I was partway through already. It's odd that I read those that way, since I actually liked McCoy's books a bit more than Caidin's.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to going back and reading them all, movie and episode novelizations included, but I find I want to get some "reading" copies - I have just my originals of most of them, and, uh, want to keep them more or less pristine as "collectibles." :eek: Yes, I know; I really ought to have moved past this sort of thing a long time ago, but it's still there. Blame Sankara for posting his pics of his collection; I now feel like I need to compete with him in collecting, since I'm obviously a way bigger fan than that YIJC-eschewing pretender is. :p ;) Kidding, kidding... but I actually wouldn't mind reading copies of the Indy books. I did in fact have duplicates of a bunch of them once, or so I remember, but I've been able to find only two for which I have extras. I don't know what became of the others I thought I had...
 
Top