Interview With Author/Screenwriter Steve Alten
Jun 14, 2009 by Heath McKnightNew York Times Best-Selling author Steve Alten recently released the fourth book in his “MEG” series, “Hell’s Aquarium.” The “MEG” series follows the adventures of …
New York Times Best-Selling author Steve Alten recently released the fourth book in his “MEG” series, “Hell’s Aquarium.” The “MEG” series follows the adventures of Jonas Taylor and his family, and a giant Carcharodon Megalodon (or MEG), a 70-foot long prehistoric great white shark that escapes from the deep.
Steve has written several books, in addition to the four “MEG” books (“The Trench,” “Primal Waters,” and “Hell’s Aquarium,” arguably the best of the bunch), including two in the “Domain” series (following the Mayan prophecy of doom; “Domain” and “Resurrection” are both big sellers in the Latin world, and we could see a movie in the next year or two), “Goliath” (about a submarine with artificial intelligence), “The Loch” (probably the best book about the Loch Ness Monster yet; a film is in the planning stages, and I feel “The Loch” could end up being the best story behind Nessie); and “The Shell Game,” a political thriller.
What’s really amazing about Steve is his story leading up to the publication of the first “MEG” book and the then-Disney movie deal. Steve was married with several children and working at a miserable job. He was pounding away on “MEG” in his spare time, and unfortunately was fired from his job in September 1996. However, within days “MEG” was part of a bidding war with all the major publishers, and also the movie deal. As Steve would say, only in America could a guy be down on his luck, but his hard work and perseverance paid off.
The book has almost come to the big screen twice, first in 1997 when Disney’s Touchstone Pictures had the film option but let it expire, then again in 2004 when Guillermo del Toro and New Line were ready with Jan de Bont attached to direct. Unfortunately, New Line let the film go when the budget became a concern.
Fast-forward to today, and it looks like the “MEG” movie could be happening again. Steve talks a bit about it in the interview below.
I’ve known Steve for a few years now, and even worked as a second assistant director on a short film version of a feature-length script he wrote called Mintz Meats, which is about a very family-owned meat factory comedy, and all the “drama” associated with it. I met Steve by through an e-mail I sent him which he answered and we’ve stayed in touch ever since.
He recently sat down to answer some questions about “Hell’s Aquarium,” and what’s next.
Screen Rant (SR): Let’s talk about the fourth “MEG” book, “Hell’s Aquarium.” What happens to the Taylor family and their friends?
Steve Alten (SA): “Hell’s Aquarium” has two interwoven plot lines that merge together. The first involves the Philippine Sea Plate… the deepest, most unexplored realm on the planet. Hidden beneath its ancient crust lies the remains of the Panthalassa, an ocean that dates back 220 million years. Vast and isolated, the Panthalassa in inhabited by nightmarish species of sea creatures long believed extinct.
The second involves the Tanaka Institute in Monterey, California where Angel, the recaptured 76 foot, 100,000 pound Megalodon, has birthed a liter of pups — five females — far too numerous and aggressive to keep in one pen. One solution: A Dubai royal prince is building the largest aquarium in the world and seeks to purchase two of the “runts.” The deal hinges on hiring Jonas Taylor’s 21 year old son, David, to be their trainer. Jonas reluctantly agrees, and David is off to Dubai for the summer of his life– –not realizing he is being set-up to lead an expedition that will hunt down and capture the most dangerous creatures ever to inhabit the planet!
SR: What’s the latest news on the “MEG” movie? Do you have a new script?
SA: Yes, a great new script, and things are progressing, that’s all I can say.
SR: Ah, Steve, always playing it close to your vest! Anyway, the third “MEG” book, “Primal Waters” came out five years ago; what have you been working on since that time?
SA: I wrote and published “The Loch,” “The Shell Game,” “MEG: Hell’s Aquarium,” several scripts, and I am nearly finished writing Grim Reaper.
SR: What’s “Grim Reaper” about? Is it an original story, or a sequel?
SA: “Grim Reaper” is an original story; a modern-day horror/thriller that introduces a dark hero whose quest for justice parallels the hero’s journey in the divine comedy: Dante’s Inferno.
SR: Sounds very cool! Aside from the “MEG” books, I think “The Loch” is really one of your best works. Will we see a sequel?
SA: Nothing is planned, though I could resurrect the characters. We’ll see how well the mass market paperback does, and a future movie.
“Hell’s Aquarium” is out now, in two special covers fans got to vote on. It was so close, the publisher decided to put out both. I’ve read it and I have to say, it’s terrifying but incredible! The covers are by Erik Hollander, who was part of the Jaws documentary, The Shark’s Still Working. Erik is a fan of Steve, and contacted him just like the rest of us.
Find out more about Steve and his non-profit work (Adopt-An-Author) and sign up for his newsletter at stevalten.com. Thanks again for the interview, Steve!
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I read Primal Waters and I thought it was excellent. I will be sure to pick up his other novels, especially “The Loch.” I’m a big fan of the Loch Ness Monster story and used to love the episode of “In Search of…” when it was about Nessie.
If anyone likes really good action book reading with some science thrown in, check out James Rollins. He has some great stuff that blows Dan Brown away. “Map of Bones” is similar to “DaVinci” without ticking off the Catholics. LOL. Would probably be a great movie, too.
@Andy S You’ll absolutely love The Loch and the other MEG books. heck, Alten is just a great writer–check out all of his work.
heath
Alot of these sound like really cool story ideas, but I’m not so sure about the MEG series.
“follows the adventures of Jonas Taylor and his family, and a giant Carcharodon Megalodon (or MEG), a 70-foot long prehistoric great white shark that escapes from the deep.”
That sounds a little to corny to me, but I’m very in to Nessy. I’m Irish so to me anything about good ole nessy is just exciting and enjoyable. The others sound like fantastic stories as well. AI stories are usually pretty good and I enjoy a good political thriller every now and again. Maybe if I heard more about MEG, but it sounds just out of my realm of interest.
That Grim Reaper story sounds intersting .
@Daniel F…
Think of them as Jurassic Park of the ocean. The one I read was very very good.
I’m a big admirer of Mr. Alten’s writing and the books mentioned above are all worth the time to escape into. Really well concieved and delivered. Just to mention…
I think followers of this site would also enjoy F. PAUL WILSON’s “Repairman Jack” series. It begins with a rather hard to find book entitled “The tomb” and follows Jack through his experiences as a “situational repairman” that gets sucked into the world of the supernatural. I can’t reccomend these books strongly enough. I believe there are 9 or 10 books to date as the story continues.
Jurassic Shark. It isn’t corny, trust me. You’ll notice a huge difference in quality between the original MEG book and the version that he re-wrote in 2005/06. I recommend the revised version. Also here’s a contest:
http://www.variancepublishing.com/meg-hells-aquarium-contest.html
Heath
I haven’t read Hell’s Aquarium yet, but I thought Primal Waters was the best Meg book yet, so I’m looking forward to this next installment. I’ve been getting into this author lately, so it’s great to see an interview with him here on the site.
@Brent E: You’ll love Hell’s Aquarium even more.
Btw, in the trailer some of the FX are from Scanline VFX, who did a demo when the MEG movie was at New Line Cinema:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTaFzeyHRgA
It’s pretty cool, so check it out!
Heath
Mr. Alten is the nicest person. I am a special ed teacher and had a resource class this spring with 5th graders who were struggling with reading so I chose something I thought they might enjoy reading. I chose Meg. Everyday, I read to them and they were so involved. We did lessons to go with the book and Mr. Alten let them ask him questions over the phone. I will forever be in his debt for that. I still email him once in awhile. I love the Meg books and I have read LOCH and it is also good. I don’t understand why they are being such weinies abouth the Meg movie. I think it would be great to see on the big screen. I am reading The Swarm right now by an author named Angsten and it is realllly good if you dig sea monsters and the sea. I go through phases every summer where I want to read sea themed novesl. I have heard Kronos is good too by Jeremey Robinson.
the loch should be made into a film no doubt about it.
Please make a distinction between this book and Jurassic Park: the latter was a great book, the former not so much. The film, supposedly in development, really needs to be different from the book, or it will not work. Seriously, a lot could be done with such a movie that could be truly scary, but the liklihood of taking advantage of all that could be utilized is unlikely.
About the fourth book, all I can say is it is not as good as the third book, which is not saying much. Sorry, fans, but the best book was the first one, which could have used a few more edits. And the fourth book also really should have been proofread by a competent proofreader: the text is a mess.
I love the Meg series. I kinda feel sorry for the megs. Humans belong on land, just another example of sticking their noses where they dont belong. It’s all about money!!! You and James Patterson are my favorite authors-you keep writing and I’ll keep buying!! I’m retired and waiting for your next book. Good luck to you….