Petition to publish Staff of Kings novelization!

Lucasfilm was responsible for the book not being published. I am not at liberty to discuss. You would have to contact Rob MacGregor to see if he'd be willing to. The editor that was in charge back then is no longer at LFL (Sue Rostoni).

Stoo said:
Indyfan82, forget about writing Disney. If you're going to bother contacting anybody, it should be the publisher, Del Rey Books. They are the folks reponsible for holding it back.

See Rocket's post #119, in this thread: Staff of Kings (novel) by Rob MacGregor

His post also includes the fantastic cover artwork.;)
 

Indymag

New member
throwmetheidol said:
I am not at liberty to discuss.

Ooooh! Secrets!!

From Rob McGregor - Not sure why this would have been Lucasfilms fault even if Lucasarts put back the games schedule back a year...unless Les knows otherwise...

*Note Contract was with Bantam and Lucasfilm (DelRey is an imprint)

"Every so often I get an e-mail from someone asking if I wrote a novel called Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings. As any avid Indy fan knows, that’s the name of the sixth version of the Indiana Jones computer game. There is no novel by that name. But there was supposed to be one. I know. I wrote it.

It rests on a shelf behind me in manuscript form. Had it been published, it would’ve been my eighth Indiana Jones novel.

The novel was written under contract, it was accepted for publication, and I was paid quite well for it. I was even flown out to LucasFilm in San Francisco to talk about the novel.

Everything seemed to be going quite well until the publisher literally forgot about it. The jargon phrases used for such a mistake go like this: ‘Someone dropped the ball.’ Or, ‘It fell through the crack in the floor.’ No, it wasn’t a ball, it wasn’t a crack. It was rigid thinking by the company execs, and an overworked editor.

You see, the publisher was fixated on the novel coming out the same time as the related computer game. The problem was that LucasFilm changed their game platform and that changed their schedule. No one told the publisher about it. Well, actually I did. A couple of avid Indy bloggers informed me of the changes, which I passed on to the editor. Unfortunately, the message never got through. The editor thought I had it wrong. Certainly, she would be informed on such matters, she implied.

Then the game came out just as the bloggers had said it would, but there was no book accompanying the release. The logical thing, it seemed to me, would be to rush the book into print. Nope. Somehow, the powers-that-be felt the book would not sell well unless it was released precisely at the time the game came out.

That’s what I call rigid thinking. Do people who buy and play computer games buy a related book? Maybe some do. But I think it’s a different audience. If you’re spending money on games, you’re probably not buying books.

So Del Rey lost money on the project, namely because no one ever had an opportunity to buy the book. An Indy fan wrote Howard Roffman, president of the Lucas Licensing, and asked what happened to the book. The response was forwarded to me. ‘Rob MacGregor missed the deadline.’

Oh, yeah? I wrote to Roffman and told him that Del Rey had the completed novel for more than a year before the game came out. He checked on it, wrote me back, and apologized.

From a writer’s point of view, it’s all part of the business. If you get a contract and get paid, what happens to the book is basically none of the writer’s business. It wasn’t the first time, I’d encountered a publisher who accepted my work, paid me, then failed to follow through. Years ago, Trish and I wrote for OMNI Magazine and they did the same thing. Repeatedly.

Of course, OMNI doesn’t exist any longer, and I’m thinking that many of the major publishers will fall through that ‘crack in the floor’ themselves…because someone ‘dropped the ball.’"
 

Indymag

New member
Indymag said:
Ooooh! Secrets!!

From Rob McGregor - Not sure why this would have been Lucasfilms fault even if Lucasarts put back the games schedule back a year...unless Les knows otherwise...

*Note Contract was with Bantam and Lucasfilm (DelRey is an imprint)

"Every so often I get an e-mail from someone asking if I wrote a novel called Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings. As any avid Indy fan knows, that?s the name of the sixth version of the Indiana Jones computer game. There is no novel by that name. But there was supposed to be one. I know. I wrote it.

It rests on a shelf behind me in manuscript form. Had it been published, it would?ve been my eighth Indiana Jones novel.

The novel was written under contract, it was accepted for publication, and I was paid quite well for it. I was even flown out to LucasFilm in San Francisco to talk about the novel.

Everything seemed to be going quite well until the publisher literally forgot about it. The jargon phrases used for such a mistake go like this: ?Someone dropped the ball.? Or, ?It fell through the crack in the floor.? No, it wasn?t a ball, it wasn?t a crack. It was rigid thinking by the company execs, and an overworked editor.

You see, the publisher was fixated on the novel coming out the same time as the related computer game. The problem was that LucasFilm changed their game platform and that changed their schedule. No one told the publisher about it. Well, actually I did. A couple of avid Indy bloggers informed me of the changes, which I passed on to the editor. Unfortunately, the message never got through. The editor thought I had it wrong. Certainly, she would be informed on such matters, she implied.

Then the game came out just as the bloggers had said it would, but there was no book accompanying the release. The logical thing, it seemed to me, would be to rush the book into print. Nope. Somehow, the powers-that-be felt the book would not sell well unless it was released precisely at the time the game came out.

That?s what I call rigid thinking. Do people who buy and play computer games buy a related book? Maybe some do. But I think it?s a different audience. If you?re spending money on games, you?re probably not buying books.

So Del Rey lost money on the project, namely because no one ever had an opportunity to buy the book. An Indy fan wrote Howard Roffman, president of the Lucas Licensing, and asked what happened to the book. The response was forwarded to me. ?Rob MacGregor missed the deadline.?

Oh, yeah? I wrote to Roffman and told him that Del Rey had the completed novel for more than a year before the game came out. He checked on it, wrote me back, and apologized.

From a writer?s point of view, it?s all part of the business. If you get a contract and get paid, what happens to the book is basically none of the writer?s business. It wasn?t the first time, I?d encountered a publisher who accepted my work, paid me, then failed to follow through. Years ago, Trish and I wrote for OMNI Magazine and they did the same thing. Repeatedly.

Of course, OMNI doesn?t exist any longer, and I?m thinking that many of the major publishers will fall through that ?crack in the floor? themselves?because someone ?dropped the ball.?"

Alternatively, you can wait for the FULL story in issue 10 of INDYMAG! with our interview with Rob...yum, yum!!
 

Indyfan82

Member
Nice to see some movement on this thread again. Even if it's in conjunction with the fifth Indiana Jones movie in 2019, I'd still love to read this book!:whip:
 

IndyWhipCracker

New member
Indyfan82 said:
Nice to see some movement on this thread again. Even if it's in conjunction with the fifth Indiana Jones movie in 2019, I'd still love to read this book!:whip:

I very much agree! Rob Macgregor actually said that the book was different than the game and would have a different plot with some similarities. For example it would still take place in San Francisco with a fight atop of a cable car but the story wouldn't follow the game. However I did hear talk that with the new film coming out in 2019 the book would be released so I'm hoping it does get released. I'm currently reading Macgregor's Indy novels and I love them!!!!! (y)
 

Salzmank

New member
I?ve not played Staff of Kings; I tried to but couldn?t get past the second scene (with the airplane)! Video games aren?t really my cup of tea. I?d love the novelization, though, especially as the plot sounded so intriguing. No news on this, then?
 

IndyBuff

Well-known member
Salzmank said:
I?ve not played Staff of Kings; I tried to but couldn?t get past the second scene (with the airplane)! Video games aren?t really my cup of tea. I?d love the novelization, though, especially as the plot sounded so intriguing. No news on this, then?

I think it's safe to say it's officially dead at this point.
 
A shame this one could not happen. I think it would probably have been an improvement on the computer games.

I played the PS2 game and the PSP one but I could not bother to finish the PS2 game. It became rather glitchy after a while and there was this QTE which really started to get on my nerves.
 
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