{"id":62576,"date":"2016-08-09T16:07:17","date_gmt":"2016-08-09T05:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.booktopia.com.au\/?p=62576"},"modified":"2016-08-11T15:12:14","modified_gmt":"2016-08-11T04:12:14","slug":"eric-van-lustbader-robert-ludlum-creator-bourne-series-right-away-formed-mutual-admiration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2016\/08\/09\/eric-van-lustbader-robert-ludlum-creator-bourne-series-right-away-formed-mutual-admiration\/","title":{"rendered":"Eric Van Lustbader on Robert Ludlum, creator of the Bourne series: Right away we formed a mutual admiration society."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When I read <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/the-bourne-identity-robert-ludlum\/prod9781409117698.html\" target=\"_blank\">The Bourne Identity<\/a><\/em> I never for a moment suspected that I would meet the author Robert Ludlum in person. But in the summer of 1980, while <em>Identity<\/em> was on the New York <em>Times<\/em> best-seller list, along with my own novel, <em>The Ninja<\/em>, that is precisely what happened. It was the beginning of a long and fruitful friendship.<\/p>\n<p>Bob and I shared the same agent, and in those days he threw several parties a year \u2013 get-togethers for all his authors. At this particular one, my agent met me at the door and told me Robert Ludlum wanted to meet me. I was stunned. Bob had a reputation for being something of a curmudgeon. He wasn\u2019t a social kind of fellow. In fact, there he was sitting by himself in a back corner of the living room, nursing a scotch. According to my agent, Bob had read <em>The Ninja<\/em>, loved it, and wanted to meet me.<\/p>\n<p>He was a big, barrel-chested man with a large, weather-beaten face and a stentorian voice honed on the stages of regional playhouses. Right away we formed a mutual admiration society. We loved each other\u2019s books, saw in each other\u2019s characters traits that we ourselves shared. We spoke of how much of ourselves we put into our characters \u2013 for Bob, Jason Bourne more than his other protagonists. We spoke of character arcs, how to construct a modern-day thriller. We were the last people to leave the party.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-62576 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-medium'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"199\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Robert-L-2.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-62594\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-62594'>\n\t\t\t\tRobert Ludlum\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"194\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/New-bourne-book.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-62598\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-62598'>\n\t\t\t\tBourne Enigma\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"212\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/EricVanLustbader.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-62591\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-62591'>\n\t\t\t\tEric Van Lustbader\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>Years later, in 2003, a year after Bob died, I was asked by the executor of his estate if I would write a Jason Bourne novel. Bob had never meant Bourne to be a recurring character. By the second book, Bourne was married to Marie, had kids, and was significantly older than he was when Bob first introduced him. These are not ideal factors for a series character, proof that Bob never saw him in that light. However, the tremendous success of <em>The Bourne Identity<\/em> film, starring Matt Damon, had led, inevitably to the decision to make another one. Why not pick Bourne up, put a book out along with the film?<\/p>\n<p>It was a brilliant idea, I saw that straightaway. But I wasn\u2019t a ghost writer; I had my own highly successful career. I agreed to write the book as long as I could do it in my style and have my name on it. Agreed.<\/p>\n<p>But I was looking to the future and changes had to be made. A series character can\u2019t be tied down to a family, so it was agreed that Marie would die in a skiing accident between books one and two. The kids were shipped off to her grandparents\u2019 ranch in Canada. Without changing his innate nature, which was sacred, I reworked Bourne so he would be familiar not only to old readers but to the millions of new ones who would come to the books after having seen the films.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-2' class='gallery galleryid-62576 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-medium'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"195\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/xthe-bourne-objective.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"195\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/the-bourne-betrayal.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"195\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/xthe-bourne-deception.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/the-jason-bourne-novels-by-robert-ludlum\/series93.html\" target=\"_blank\">Explore the Jason Bourne series<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Hard to believe that I\u2019ve been writing Jason Bourne adventures for 14 years. It\u2019s always been fun, right from the beginning. I knew Bourne inside and out, I knew what was in Bob\u2019s heart, I knew what he wanted for his beloved character, and, I believe, that\u2019s precisely what I\u2019ve accomplished.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/the-bourne-enigma-eric-van-lustbader\/prod9781784979485.html\" target=\"_blank\">The Bourne Enigma<\/a><\/em>, the tenth and latest novel (in the series that I have written), was particularly interesting to write. Early on I had perceived Putin\u2019s desire to take control of Syria as a feint to keep the West from concentrating on Russia\u2019s foray into Ukraine. Sure enough, I\u2019ve been proven correct. As a result, <em>The Bourne Enigma<\/em> reads like a current history of that area of the world.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s tremendously satisfying to me when my novels so accurately reflect the world around us. Despite his heightened abilities, Jason Bourne is flawed, incomplete, one might say, and in this way he stands in for us all. His journey is, in a sense, our own journey.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Jason Bourne Official Trailer #1 (2016) - Matt Damon, Alicia Vikander Movie HD\" width=\"1250\" height=\"703\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/v71ce1Dqqns?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I read The Bourne Identity I never for a moment suspected that I would meet the author Robert Ludlum in person. But in the summer of 1980, while Identity was on the New York Times best-seller list, along with my own novel, The Ninja, that is precisely what happened. It was the beginning of a long and fruitful friendship. Bob and I shared the same agent, and in those days he threw several parties a year \u2013 get-togethers for all his authors. At this particular one, my agent met me at the door and told me Robert Ludlum wanted to meet me. I was stunned. Bob had a reputation for being something of a curmudgeon. He wasn\u2019t a social kind of fellow. In fact, there he was sitting by himself in a back corner of the living room, nursing a scotch. According to my agent, Bob had read The Ninja, loved it, and wanted to meet me. He was a big, barrel-chested man with a large, weather-beaten face and a stentorian voice honed on the stages of regional playhouses. Right away we formed a mutual admiration society. We loved each other\u2019s books, saw in each other\u2019s characters traits that&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":62579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[24,6677,53],"tags":[1858,2743,6936],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/SocialMediaImage70.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62576"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62576"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62608,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62576\/revisions\/62608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}