Chapter 63 postscript

Writing is a solitary occupation, and after decades, even the most extreme egotist may occasionally yearn for companionship.But as with any artistic endeavor, collaboration is risky: the more people involved, the less likely it is to succeed.Can you imagine Moby Dick written by Hermann Melville & Nat Hawthorne?Or was it written by Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, but the dialogue by Turgenev? Of course, until a few years ago, it never occurred to me that I would be collaborating on a novel with another writer.Unlike nonfiction, I've worked on no fewer than fourteen projects with other people (two of which were with the editors of Life magazine).But novels, no way!I am a firm believer that I will never let anyone with no certainty of success compromise the unique "brand" I have created...  

Alas, a funny thing has finally happened in my writing career. One day in early 1986, my agent, Scott Moridis, called me in a "listen to me" kind of way.It sounds like the young talent producer is going to put something, or everything, of me on screen.Although I've never heard of Peter Cooper, I happen to have seen two of his films ("Late Night Express" and "The Abyss") and were very impressed.I was even more impressed when Scott mentioned to me Peter's latest film, The Color Purple, which has been nominated for half a dozen Academy Awards. However, while I sighed inwardly, Scott kept talking.He said that Peter had a friend who had a brilliant idea to adapt a screenplay with me.I sigh, because this isn't a new sci-fi idea at all, and if it's a "brick" at all, I've thought of it a long time ago.Besides, I hate screenplays, they're incredibly dull and barely readable, and at the same time, I worry that there's no way to write them.Just like the scores of musicals, they must go through an intermediate production process, and special means and techniques need to be considered when writing, but these things themselves have no literary or artistic value at all (a musical is at least beautiful). Look).

Then, when Scott introduced me to what kind of person this friend was, I felt a bright light in my heart, and suddenly this plan was really exciting.Of course, there's not much to do with Peter Cooper, but there's a lot to do with Stanley Kubrick. The past flashed before his eyes.20 years ago, when filming "2001: A Space Odyssey" (the famous American science fiction movie, based on Clarke's novel adaptation-annotation), Stanislav and I had a dream of traveling to the moons of Jupiter, but in fact, we I never dreamed of using robots to explore this completely unknown world. In March and July of 1979, two Voyager probes revealed the mysterious worlds of the moons "Io", "Europa", "Ganimedi" and "Garisto". But we did not dare to imagine.The sight of those giant spinning moons of Jupiter made it possible, no, it forced me, to write 2010: Odyssey II.This time, those events one after another are real reality, not imagination.When Peter Highams made the book into a movie in 1984, he was able to use actual images sent back from Voyager as backgrounds, and on many occasions he did.

Of course, the result of this operation in 1979 was to inspire confidence and hope that within 10 years people would surpass this achievement. The "Voyager" spacecraft only stayed near Jupiter for a few hours, then passed the giant planet and its "moons" and hurried to Saturn.So in May 1986, NASA planned to launch "Galileo".This is an even more ambitious space probe.This is certainly not a short voyage, but an "contact". "Galileo" will spend two years, starting in 1988, on Jupiter and its major satellites to conduct detailed measurements and exploration. Before 1990, if all goes well, there will be a flood of information sent back from this alien world, and the third "Odyssey" will inevitably be produced.It's what I planned to write; my heart was on the Galileo, so I didn't care much about the thoughts and ideas of amateur science fiction writers.How to politely reject him?While Scott was still talking, I thought about it.

"Peter Cooper wants to fly to Sri Lanka in thirty-six hours and introduce you to this guy. His name is Gent Lee. Let me tell you about this guy. He works in the jet engine lab and is' Lead engineer for the Galileo project. Did you hear that?" "Yes, I hear you," I muttered. "Before that, he was the director of the 'Pirate Lander Project' (American Mars Landing Program - Annotation) that sent back those wonderful pictures from Mars." "Come on!" I cried. "I must see this man. Tell Mr. Gabor to bring him here at once." "Guber, his name is Peter Guber," Scott corrected.

Well, I've agreed to these two guys coming to see me, they're going to fly to Sri Lanka, and if I like Gent's idea, I'm going to write an outline, maybe 10 or so pages, outlining chapters, scenes, plot, and All the basics.In this way, any screenwriter worth his salt can write a screenplay based on it. They arrived in Colombo on February 12, 1986, just two weeks after the Challenger disaster.Originally, 1986 was supposed to be a big year for space exploration, but now, the entire NASA program is in chaos.In particular, "Galileo" will be delayed for several years. Before 1995, no news will be uploaded from Jupiter.I had to forget about my Odyssey III, as Gent couldn't do anything but get the Galileo back from Cape Canaveral and put mothballs on it.

Fortunately, the Cooper-Lee-Clark tripartite talks went smoothly.Over the next few weeks, I entered the disk with ideas, chapters, settings, plots—everything that seemed to work for the story we were going to call it.It has been said that to write a novel is to remove the ambiguities.This is real.At one point I thought that if I had used everything I had conceived, and every possible combination, there must have been enough material for half a billion different books. I sent Gent a final outline of about 4,000 words.He loved it and flew back to Sri Lanka so we could fill in the details together.

Living in the hills behind the ancient capital of Kandy, despite the distraction of the gorgeous views, after three days of marathon work we managed to complete the roughly 8,000-word synopsis that eventually became the novel Foundation.In the future, we can cooperate through frequent telephone contact or thick overseas typed manuscripts. Writing takes up most of the year.Of course, we both had other things to deal with.When I discovered that Ginter's English and French skills were quite solid, I resolutely refrained from all attempts to influence him with my style.This situation has unnerved some of my regular readers, and I have clarified a few places to reassure myself when both of our names come up.I explained that the plain dialogue in the book was due to Gent's years of hanging out with the rough-handed, hard-drinking engineers and mathematicians of the "JPL" astronomy department.There, police officers in Pasadena were often called in to resolve fights over Bessel functions and nonlinear equations.

Yet to this day, as far as I can tell, no educational authority has asked for it to be taken off the shelves.I mention this because I have just discovered, with astonishment and indignation, that this actually happened in The Emperor's Land 10 years ago.What's more, the relevant education authorities also instructed to continue to ban all collections containing my works. If only I had known then, I would have been more than happy to tell these novice gentlemen that the person who supplied them with these novels in Braille had a record that there was no way this lady was promoting pornography.She happened to be the woman who married the Lord Chancellor of England.

Although it was originally created as a movie, and a deal with Warner Bros. was in the works, its chances of making it to the silver screen seemed increasingly slim.With bad luck, around the time of the book's publication, a string of underwater alien-meeting films appeared, and most of them sank without a trace. But Peter Guber, I say this with great pleasure, he's been doing his best.His latest films "The Witch of the East", "Gorilla in the Mist", and "Rain Man" have been well received.Even the titles suggest an interest in unusual and worthy subjects.Maybe when the world turns around again, he'll film it, because it's an inescapable necessity. "Thirty years in Hedong, thirty years in Hexi", why not the movie!

Although I had a great time working with Gent, I had no further plans for cooperation after we finished the iffy project, because Halley's Comet was not visible in the sky over the continent, but it became the center of my life at the time. .I know in my heart that the next time it will appear will be in 2061.This would provide an excellent opportunity for a "third space odyssey."If the much-delayed Galileo mission were to be completed in 1995, when it was expected, and return terabytes of new information from Jupiter, there might be The Last Odyssey.But I don't promise easily. In the summer of 1987, "2061: The Third Odyssey" has been doing extremely well in bookstores, thanks to its success.I started to feel guilty again, blaming me for not giving my all to a job.This is the job of a writer.Suddenly, I clearly saw the faces staring at me. Fifteen years ago, the last sentence of the book read: "The people of Rama do things in threes." Now, as I am making the final revisions, these words arouse my recollection and contemplation.At the time, I didn't have any (thank God) endings in mind; it seemed right to end the book with an open ending (of course, in real life, none of the stories have endings). Many readers, as well as critics, have jumped to conclusions that I planned a trilogy from the start.To be honest, I don't.But now I understand that it's a brilliant idea, and that Gent is just the man for the job: He has all the background knowledge on spacecraft and space to handle the Rama's reappearance. I sketched out as much plot as I could at once, just as I wrote the outline, and in a relatively short time, Rama II was born. "The Garden of Rama" and "The Secret of the Rama Spaceship" will also be completed in 1989-1991. So Gent Lee crossed the ocean again and kept in touch with me on the hillside in Sri Lanka, discussing endlessly; the postman also kept complaining that a large number of manuscripts overwhelmed his bicycle.In the meantime, however, technology has also accelerated our intercontinental operations.Fax machines now allow us to exchange ideas almost at any time.This is much more convenient than when I wrote "2001" and Peter Highams communicated by email. This long-distance collaboration is also commendable: If people get too close, co-authors can waste a lot of time on trivial matters.One person can find endless excuses for his laziness when he writes, but two people can at least be determined. However, people often have no way of knowing how much a writer puts into his work. Even if he snores loudly, he may still be working hard subconsciously.Gent and I know this very well. We have dabbled in literature, science, art, and history extensively, and the experience gained will come in handy when writing stories. For example, while writing, Ginter fell in love with Eleanor of Aquitaine, and I had to tactfully persuade him to drop the descriptions of her crazy adventures that so fascinated him. Of course, I knew a lot of French and British history from Gent that I never learned in school.It must be the funniest moment in British military history when Queen Eleanor berates her son, the gallant Richard the Lionheart, in front of the army, for not being a crowned hero scene. Alas, we can't do anything with the easy-going Conain, who is more often than not a godfather than a father... definitely unlike Gent, whose fifth son is born towards the end. However, you'll meet Gent's most beloved creation, Michael of Siena, who is just being born.I believe that one day, you will meet him again. In those books, Gent will sign alone, without my help and hindrance. When I write these words, our four-book collaboration has gone half way.Although I think we know what will happen next - but I also believe that there must be many unexpected mysteries hidden in Ramari... Arthur C Clarke