TVSquad Talks To "24" Producer Howard Gordon about his Novel 'Gideon's War'

[JamesG]

"24" Producer Howard Gordon on His First Novel
by Kim Potts
posted Feb 23rd 2011


While finishing the final season of the hit Kiefer Sutherland drama last year, Gordon also penned his first novel, Gideon's War, a fantastic political and military thriller that pits Gideon Davis, a pacifist negotiator (yes, the anti-Jack Bauer), against his brother, a special ops agent who's gone rogue and taken a multi-million dollar oil rig hostage.




I'm not a regular reader of this genre, but Gideon's War is a great read.
It does feel like a movie, or a great TV show.

That's sort of the little premise of the exercise for me ... to make it feel like an exciting, compelling read.
So that's great to hear.










Is it more difficult to do that with a book than it is on a show where you've got actors playing out your words?

In a way it is. I think the whole process of television is such a collaborative medium and you have a lot of help along the way. Obviously, you have actors and directors interpreting your work, and then everything is imagined for you, too. So even the music is there to help make your pulse race or make you feel sad or make you feel scared.

So you have a whole lot of things in your arsenal when you're telling a story in film and television, whereas on the page, it does require almost a more active grabbing of the audience ...



In Gideon's War, or any novel -- any thriller anyway -- you are casting these actors in your head. You're hearing the music. Whether you're actually hearing it or not, you're feeling the emotion that, say, the music would help you feel.







Were you picturing certain actors as the characters in the book while you were writing it?

I really didn't see Gideon, except for the obvious things about his eyes. It's more of a sense that conjured what he could look like ... 100 different people.

But I know he would have these intense eyes, with a streak of violence, and yet he'd have a softness. But I didn't see an actor.



It's funny, because we later engaged in some speculation about ... who might be that guy, and I sort of see someone like George Clooney, although maybe a slightly younger George Clooney.







Are there more Gideon Davis stories to come?

Yes. There's a sequel called Allegiance, which is due in a year from now.










You were finishing the book during the last season of "24", right?

(Laughing) I tell you, I am really tired ... but I've been on a high wire for a pretty long time and obviously I enjoy doing it, and I just hope I can continue to have the energy to keep doing it at this pace. But I also work with some great, great people.









You have a quote from Kiefer Sutherland on the book jacket, Dennis Haysbert does the voice-over for the book trailer and Carlos Bernard is reading the audiobook version ...

is it safe to assume that the "24" team is still close?

Absolutely. At my book party in L.A., I sent out invitations, or rather, my wife sent out invitations, for the signing at Barnes & Noble. Practically the entire cast came.

I didn't expect Dennis Haysbert, and he came out from his house, which was an hour away, and Gregory Itzin and Marisol Nichols and Carlos came. And Peter Weller.

I mean, truly, 10 or 12 cast members came. Mary Lynn Rajskub came. A lot of the crew and office people came ...



It was an amazing group of people. And talented, hardworking people, and I think I have the humility to know that's not going to happen again. It was a "once in a career" type of thing.






Gideon's War Book Trailer voiced by Dennis Haysbert ("24's" President David Palmer)





http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/02/23/ho...and-interview/