The StoneKeep one is even a hard-cover book
Not here. Not in Germany. I just get the feeling that some country was favoured again ...
But there
does exist a true novel for the Stonekeep universe : "The Oath of Stonekeep", which didn't ship with the game, but was an separate thing. I've never seen it this far and it's incredibly difficult to get, it seems to me (seen it only a few times on amazon). This should habe a hard cover.
I once emailed with David Pulver I think in 2005 or 2004, and we wrote a bit about it. He said he found it a bit difficult to make it kind of an romance.
He also wrote back then that he would like to have the rights of his story back, if possible.
The story says it was written by David Pulver and Steve Jackson, but both agreed (yes, I contacted Steve Jackson as well) that David did the far most part of it, so it's essentially his story.
Okay, I've found a few bits from the e-mail "chaT", and I quote them here, just for reference :
About the main characters :
I had known the two lead characters would get together, but writing the
romance between them was challenging, as I'd never done anything like that
before. Working with SJ on it was a rewarding experience - I'm very pleased
it touched you.
About the translation into German :
I never new it had been translated into German! Actually, you're the first
person (outside those involved and close friends) who ever commented on it.
Me on the question who might have the rights of the story :
>Currently I'm pondering about the rights of the novel - and of the Stonekeep
>game in general. The novel was copyrighted by Interplay, as far as I have
>understood it, but Interplay is out of business. So I wonder who might
>have the
>rights.
His answer to that :
No idea, I'm afraid. Certainly not me or Steve, as the work was "work for
hire"
with all rights transferred to Interplay. I know Titus in France owned
Interplay,
but they went out of business as well.
And:
I have no ownership of any material in Thera Awakening.
I didn't know then that Interplay still exists - in some form.
And last a reply from Steve Jackson:
Yes, I'm that Steve Jackson. Chief credit for the story should go to
David Pulver, though!
David Pulver wrote (I don't quote this here) that I was the only one giving feedbackoutside Interplay, SJ and "one family member".
The three e-mails I took this from have April 2005 as the date.