Cover of the lost Indiana Jones novel, by Christian Guldager
I’ve previously written about the lost Indiana Jones novel, a story that I wrote and that was accepted for publication…but which was never published because of miscommunication between LucasFilm and Bantam Books. Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings was somewhat related to the story of a new version of the Indy computer game by the same name. Book and game were supposed to come out simultaneously. They didn’t.
When the game came out without the novel, which had been completed months earlier, the novel was killed. So it remained on my desktop PC, which I rarely use anymore. Then, several weeks ago, a power surge fried the hard drive on that computer and did the same to the attached external hard drive. So much for the surge protector. So novel and backup copy were gone, and I figured that was the end of that.
Then, Dale Dassel, an avid Indy fan who sometimes comes to the blog, reminded me that I had sent a digital copy to a Danish artist – also a big Indy fan – who wanted to make a book cover for the unpublished novel. I contacted Christian Guldager and not only did he still have it, but he’d just recently finished reading it for a second time. (I guess I wrote it for him!) He sent the digital file and meanwhile also sent a copy to Dale, who formatted it like a novel, and then sent it to me.
Even though I’ve been approached by a couple of publishers who would love to put it on the market, it can’t be done because it’s the property of LucasFilm and they have an agreement with Bantam Books, which doesn’t think there’s enough interest in Indiana Jones novels to publish it.
So it goes back to sleep inside my computer. To that end, I was downloading the files Dale sent when Trish walked into my office and said, “What’s this?” She was holding a card, which she’d found on the floor outside my door. On the front of the card was a full-body picture of Harrison Ford, garbed as Indy, whip in hand. At the bottom of the card, it said: INDY FOREVER! On the back was a promo for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Dale had sent me the card a few years ago and I had stuck it into the corner of one of my framed Indy book covers. It apparently had fallen out on its own. Trish swears she didn’t bump up against it. The timing couldn’t have been more interesting. Definitely a synchronicity of the Indy kind.
Great story, maybe a sign that there will be a huge Indiana Jones revival.
what a fabulous IJ story! and leave it to trish to find those missing pieces!
It was a small card, too, maybe the size of a box of toothpicks.
Keep your eyes on the mailbox, Rob! The new print copy is on the way! 🙂
Considering the unwillingness of Bantam Books to publish Staff of Kings, the tag line above the title in Christian’s cover art could be prophetic.
Lost for centuries…hunted by many…destiny awaits its discovery…
lol
I’d say Indiana Jones is due for a comeback!
IJ, you listenin’?
P.S. Another synchro…..last week I sent a copy of Aliens In The BackYard to a friend in OK, and on the inside front page, I put these words: I wrote my friend’s name, and then wrote, “Kindred Spirits, Lost and Found”. The reason I wrote that was because we’ve had no conatct in decades, and found each other via the computer and have re-established a wonderful correspondence. The synchro, of course, is in the title of this post today “Lost and Found”. Love it!
Good one!
How fun! This story has taken on a life of its own. Maybe you’ll have to get the rights back, change the title, or maybe it wants a chance to show that “gamers” are also “readers.” I say this because I’ve heard others dismiss this potential crossover between games and books and I feel that’s inaccurate. In digital world the link between interactive stories via gaming and reading books is only a mouse-click away…
Great points, Terri!
All these synchronicities are making my head spin! I feel rather like Alice , falling down the rabbit hole into Wonderland, and through the looking glass, where nothing is exactly as it seems…..everything is distorted and not quite in proper shape and rather a bit too large for my mind to assimilate. Sometimes, it all just makes me feel overwhelmed. Guess I must be longing for that place of simplicity again! Very compelling about your PC and the power surge, Rob. Last week I was attempting to copy a letter I had written…an important business letter, (at least, I THOUGHT it was important!), and suddenly my printer stopped working. A window popoed up on my screen and said the printer wasn’t plugged in. Well, I checked all the plugs, and as far as I am able to tell, the printer is pugged in. However, it still reports being unplugged. My theory is that I’m not supposed to mail that particular letter! This is the only time my printer has ever had issues. I’m assuming the Trickster is letting me know HEY, ditch the letter! And so I shall! 🙂
Talking of crystal skulls,when I was looking for a picture for my “42 Below Sync”
post
https://brizdazz.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/42-below-sync.html
last night,I found my header picture for the post in an article on the top ten vodkas of the world –
https://ireadfaux.com/2012/07/top-10-vodkas-in-the-world/
42 Below was listed in 4th spot (4) and Dan Ackroyd’s Crystal Head was in 2nd spot (2),which is another 42 sync in a way.
Harrison Ford stars in the movie “42” ,”Blade Runner” ,”The Fugitive”and
“Indy Jones” of course ,which are all discussed in Jake Kotze’s new sync film
“Armed With a Dream” –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rdWJSe9ZHDY
Jake does the review in the podcast of the movie “42” and finds out through
Andras Jones (Indy ?) that the writer of the movie “42” also wrote
“Nightmare on Elm Street 4” which Andras Jones starred in as one of the main characters.The podcast was the first in Andras’ new sync show which aired the same day the lead singer of The Divinyls passed away.
She wrote the song “Back to the wall” which was used in
“Nightmare on Elm Street 4” and can be seen singing in the same clip with
Andras Jones here –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=trNiCtN9Yyk
You just can’t make this stuff up.
Great links!
I should also mention that Andras Jones was a contributor to the first sync book,so you guys are both “The SYNC Book” authors.
Which is one more connection apart from the Jones connection as well.
It’s sure is hard keeping up with the Jones.-)
The answer to the math problem is 8 on this comment as well,and Andras Jones does the “Radio 8 Ball” show.