Въпроси към Ерик Берт, автор на "Герои"

Пускам тази тема за въпрос към автора. Ако ви е възможно ги поставяйте на английски. Ако не, ще помагаме с превода.

Никса ще превеждаш на френски
Книгата Герои е замислена като подарък за 10 годишнината на конкурса Yaztromo, като всички герои и теми са взаимствани от разкази участвали в конкурса. Ако не е проблем. Може ли да се кажат няколко думи за тези произведения...
Понеже така го написах, че и аз не си разбрах въпроса.
Примерно: Вещицата е от .... произведението е героичен фентъзи сетинг, в която се случва ..., там тя е отрицателен герой. От същото произведение е и .... (накратко разбира се)
Идеята ми е да получим малко повече бекграунд за героите, защото не сме чели произведенията и в момента ми стоят малко "сухи".

Та след толкова словоблудстване - Може ли малко повече информация за героите?
Благодаря предварително

Google Translate managed to get your question more or less right, and that's a complicated one right from the start. Thankfully, I already wrote a few words about this back then , when this was still fresh in my mind, so I should manage.

There is a trap there: If all characters in the first version of the book are indeed based on existing characters from other gamebooks (even if most are composite characters, taking a little from one, a piece from another...), I replaced several of them for the second version, the one which was translated.

So, there is no particular story behind the Crusader or the Witch. They were just put in to fill a void after I kicked out The Fury (yet another brawling woman) and the AFGNCAAP hero.

The first was a reference to one of my old book and to the female star of Sur les Routes du Yavanis, a short coming of age/heroic fantasy adventure, who takes a liking to an ax at the middle of the story and keep it as her favorite weapon thereafter. She was removed because I had too much "standard" warriors.

The second was a parody of all old Fighting Fantasy books where the main character is as featureless as possible... But he was simply too weak compared to other heroes, and too void of interest for a good story.

So, now let's talk about characters actually in this story. Be warn that the relation between the original model and the final character may be quite thin.

I will start with the three losers, characters I actually didn't like much as concepts, and who probably suffer from discrimination in "screen time" and good scenes because of that.

"Steel Hand" is a mix between several futuristic cyberpunk soldiers, the ones with a lot of ameliorations, adapted to a more medieval setting. I admit I don't remember much of these books as I'm not a fan of militaristic stuff.

"Thief" is the fusion of several thieving heroes (a spy, a pirate and a gangster to be precise), but I've taken such liberties the comparison stops there. Shame, because the original characters were certainly more interesting than this average guy.

"Hunter" is based on the hunter hero of Quand souffle la Tempête, a mystery story with a culprit each randomly generated at each new playthrough. He also shares a resemblance to Van Richten, a character from Howl of the Werewolf, by far the best Fighting Fantasy (this one is even actually playable!)... who himself is a clear reference to the Van Helsing from the so bad it's good movie of the same name.

Now the (lengthy) part can finally begin:

"Memory Man" has an obvious Lovecraftian origin, and is directly related to Transomnie, a book which was translated to Bulgarian... But I don't know under which title. He is also inspired by the heroine of my favorite gamebook of all times, Labyrinthe, a psychological and oneiric story about a young woman fighting her own madness, memories and (dis)illusions.

I think the character has potential, but is sadly underexploited in the story.

"Sweet Talk" is one of the most straightforward port, coming directly from Faery, a lighthearted high fantasy story about a standard "fantasy adventurer" (that's a job I guess) lost in magical woods full of faeries, a little in the style of A Midsummer Night's Dream. The hero is also a heavy drinker and a musician, and I just completely plagiarize the scene where he plays music to the Fairy Queen. There is also a bit of other charismatic heroes in him, like from the one of Les Sabres d'Eshnar, who can take "smooth talk" as his starting skill.

In short, despite my best attempt at nerfing him, the character is broken because he is the fusion of several broken characters.

"Beast" is one of my biggest disappointments, as she is inspired by a character I like a lot and I didn't manage to do much with her. She takes her origin from a character in Au Cœur d'un Cercle de Sable et d'Eau... And I can't say more without spoiling the whole book. She also has some traits from the shaman protagonist of Le Voyage Initiatique, a story about a shaman undergoing the last of his initiation (as you could have guess).

"Princess" is physically the heroine of La Venue du Froid sans Fin, a high fantasy series about a chosen one (well, more or less) archer princess. Mentally, she is closer to the hero of Les noyés, a leader trying to save as much people as possible from a offshore platform under attack (very interesting gameplay).

The mystical part was added later on, at a time I was reading far too much things around the theme of Greek mythology for another project, which may explain why it doesn't fit well. Also, after many nerfs and power-ups, I still can't tell if the character is fine as she is or if she is still a damn invincible Mary Sue.

"Wizard" is a watered-down version of the sorcerer from Le Château du Sorcier (literally: Sorcerer's Castle). A character not exactly evil, but with no idea of what morale is, or no objection with improving his lifespan through necromancy. You get to play as him as his castle is under attack by the people of the land, whose technology has evolved quite a lot since the last time he got out (for example, they got muskets now). A fun adventure, tight on the clock, with dark magic and treacherous allies.

My second most forward port. I like the character, but I refrained from using too much as he is just too powerful.

"Metamorph" is difficult to explain. Originally, he was a joke about some inconsistencies in Retour au Marais aux Scorpions, a big group project to which about fifteen writers contributed. It's an exploration game in a swamp, in which the heroine can move freely between clearings (places where events happen). With that many contributors, a few mistakes are bound to always escape proofreading. The character was reflecting that, slightly changing with every scene.

However, at some point, I decided this was not enough and I linked their story to Norse mythology, completely discarding the original idea at this moment. The new version turned more interesting, but also extremely confusing for everyone, including me.

"Legend" used to be the heroine of Le Retour des Xhâ Niâs, a god-like character from fantasy/SF series of over-the-top (in a good way) gamebooks. I really like the series, but the character just didn't fit with the mood. It was like having an invincible Japanese magical girl in a pink tutu suddenly plunged in a Gothic horror setting. So I overrode her with a more rustic and vulnerable god (Heracles to not name him).

And that should be it. I hope that answers your question.

Thank you very much! The answer was comprehensive and interesting. I am very glad that I had the pleasure to read ГЕРОИ and now I know a little more about the HEROES.
I wish future success and thanks again!