D.B. Weiss Interview

Hey everyone, we have a special interview with D.B. Weiss, author of Lucky Wander Boy. Send questions to me at: gameguru@usa.com. I will get them to him as soon as I can and send you the response as well as post them on this page.
Click here for our review of Lucky Wander Boy

Any specific reasons for writing this book?

The subject matter was of personal interest to me, and unlike lots of other things that were of interest to me, I just felt it was an empty niche. There aren't any novels about videogames, really. Why not? Seeing as 150 million or so people between the ages of 18 and 45 play them, there ought to be more than one.


Where did you get the idea for the game Lucky Wander Boy?

I wanted the character's main infatuation to be a game with no real goals or point -- the kind of game that probably wouldn't have been made, and wouldn't have done very well if it had.


Have you ever played a game like Lucky Wander Boy?

Well, now, of course, there are games like Morrowind or the Sims which don't have simple goals -- but in th 80s the hardware couldn't really support a game like that, not one that would be interesting to anyone. So I fudged the specs of the Lucky Wander Boy machine a little bit -- a lot, actually, once you start thinking about a videogame that would be capable of providing a player with a surreal experience like the one at the end of LUCKY WANDER BOY.


Would Lucky Wander Boy be your ideal game?

If it could do everything that it does in the end of the book, I think it would be almost everyone's ideal game.


It seems you are filled with nostalgia, do you play the new systems at all?

Oh, of course -- I love Xbox and PS2. Too much, probably.


What games do you like on the new systems?

I like Halo, Deus Ex, Morrowind, GTA III & Vice City, Splinter Cell... all sorts of games.


Have you ever worked the jobs Adam did?

I worked a similar copywriting job -- although I made up almost all the particulars.


Is Adam a representation of you?

Not really. I gave him some similar interests and stuck him in some places I'd been, but his psychological makeup is a lot different than mine. I hardly ever launch into obsessive, self-destructive quests with vaguely defined goals, with the possible exception of writing.


The book is scheduled to release February 25th in book stores everywhere. Look for Lucky Wander Boy in your local bookstore then.

-Rory