For the next 42 days we're going to be counting down to the release of SEAL Team 666. Why 42? Because it's the answer to the universal question.
Author bio: TIM LEBBON is a New York Times-bestselling writer from South Wales. He’s had almost thirty novels published to date, as well as dozens of novellas and hundreds of short stories. His most recent releases include Coldbrook from Arrow/Hammer, London Eye (book one of the Toxic City trilogy) from Pyr in the USA, Nothing as it Seems from PS Publishing, and The Heretic Land from Orbit, as well as The Secret Journeys of Jack London series (co-authored with Christopher Golden), Echo City, and the Cabin in the Woods novelization. Future novels include Into the Void: Dawn of the Jedi (Star Wars) from Del Rey/Star Wars Books. He has won four British Fantasy Awards, a Bram Stoker Award, and a Scribe Award, and has been a finalist for International Horror Guild, Shirley Jackson, and World Fantasy Awards. 20th Century Fox acquired film rights to The Secret Journeys of Jack London series, and he and Golden wrote the first draft of the screenplay. He has a TV series in development in the USA, and he's also working on new screenplays, both solo and in collaboration with Stephen Volk. Find out more about Tim at his website www.timlebbon.net
Here are the usual questions:
1. What’s your favorite military movie, book or television show?
As a kid I used to watch loads of war movies, and I still watch them now. Some favourites include A Bridge Too Far, The Eagle Has Landed, The Longest Day, The Dam Busters ... the list goes on. But the reasons I watch them have changed drastically. As a kid I think it's all action and excitement, but now the feeling is very different ... I now appreciate the sacrifice, get caught up in the emotion and turmoil and terror, and as I have a wild imagination I also imagine myself in those situations. I find myself despairing at the waste of life. One of the most effective scenes in any war movie is the knife fight scene in Saving Private Ryan. It's two men from different sides doing whatever they can to kill each other. It's brutal. And in the final moments the guy about to get stabbed pleads to the other's humanity, perhaps suddenly realizing that they're both human: "Wait ...wait..." Just chilling.
As opposed to entertaining, I now find war movies traumatic and difficult to watch. A lot of this also stems from my family's involvement in the military.
My father, who died when i was very young, was much older than my mum, and he served in the Welsh Guards. He was captured by the Japanese when Singapore fell (he was also at Dunkirk!), and he was a prisoner of war for three years, working on the Railway of Death. There's so much I don't know about what happened to him. And my grandfather was a commando, involved on the Norway raids and also saw action in North Africa.
So there's a personal aspect for me. Picking a favourite is difficult, but I do love Ice Cold in Alex.
2. Why is it your favorite? Here’s where you can ramble a bit.
Perhaps it's an unusual choice, but there's a deep humanity to that movie that really speak to me. It's not a war movie about killing, but about surviving. It's about the normal people in war, not the commanders and those who give orders from afar. And the humanity comes from the willingness to put aside differences to face a common enemy ... in this case, the desert. And it has one of the greatest last few minutes of any movie. The look on John Mills' face as he runs his finger down that glass of beer ... the glass that represents freedom and hope as much as it does, well, a quick drink... just poetry.
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Thanks, Tim!
Look out for Tim's latest books, which include Coldbrook (a big scale apocalyptic zombie thriller), The Heretic Land (a dark fantasy novel with dead gods and the echo of an ancient war), London Eye (a YA novel set in the ruins of London) and Nothing as it Seems (a huge collection, my most accomplished to date).
And everyone please don't forget to Pre-order SEAL Team 666 from your favorite store:
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