Shhhhh....don't tell anyone!

It’s my guilty indulgence.  As I pick out the latest edition and take it to the girl at the check-out counter, I’m kind of embarrassed by what she must think of me.  I can’t defend the writing.  I don’t think I’ve mentioned it to anyone I know…because I know they just won’t understand.  It’s a new habit, beginning only a couple of months ago during summer vacation. 

I’ve started reading Star Wars novels.

Now understand this: generally speaking, I hate this kind of stuff.  I like to consider myself a little bit of a purist in most of the things I enjoy.  Having seen them over the years on the shelves of bookstores, I always thought, “Jesus.  What a stupid , soap opera type thing to do.  Lemme guess, all the main characters get married to each other and have little Jedi babies that carry on the same adventures that the originals tackled.”  I saw no allure I that.  Just perpetuation of the brand.



Count Dooku

 But here’s the thing…I love Star Wars.  For my generation, it’s part of who I am.  I’ve watched the movies countless times.  I was stuck in a book rut and needed something light and thoughtless.  Then I realized, man…I wish there were more Star Wars movies.  I want more back story.  I want more details.  Who the hell is Count Dooku, anyway?

So first I researched it.  There are countless Star Wars books out there, presumably with some being much better then others.  The nice thing is they all have to go through Lucas before publishing, so he keeps the storylines straight and doesn’t let people tread wherever they want.  So I put together a timeline of books by the more recognized writers and started at it.  As we sit today, I’m onto my sixth Star Wars novel.  Oh dear.

Worse yet, I kind of like it!

I’m getting back story:  we’ve touched on why Yoda chose the Dagobah system to hide out on and what might have happened to him while there.  The slavery of Chewbacca’s species by the Empire and their ultimate liberation.  What the Emperor was up to after the Great Jedi Purge and he tried to take over the galaxy.  I love this stuff.

But then, we get to the reasons I would think a lot of my peers (and indeed, other normal people) stay away from these books.  Leia and Han are married, of course.  In fact right now, in the book I’m currently reading, Leia has just given birth to twins, Jaina and Jacen.  Yeah, you read that right:  Jacen.  Naturally, both of these little babies are strong in the Force and will carry on the novel series with a New Generation and all rehashed adventures in the future timeline of this “Expanded Universe”.  We also encounter characters long believed dead, but have either been hiding out after faking their demise, or have been cloned, which seems quite a prolific theme so far.  That kind of stuff I can ultimately do without. 

But I’m getting pulled right into this stuff.  I love hearing about the Jedi.  Their light sabers are so much more useful and versatile than they used to be in the original movies.  These guys are getting better and better all the time! 

I started with “Outbound Flight”.  This book was set before the clone wars and included characters like Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.  The book introduced a character named Thrawn, who will be integral in the future storyline.  A bunch of Jedi died in that book.

Then, out of sequence and for a lark, I read one called “Betrayal”, which is the first in a set of books known as the Legacy series.  This will carry on with the next generation of Jedi.  This one that I read concentrates on Jacen Solo as a young Jedi Knight, having been trained by Uncle Grand Master Luke.  I’ll likely get back to that series of adventures after I’m done with my current focus.

Right now, and the reason I started with Outbound Flight, I’m reading the “Thrawn Trilogy”.  It’s pretty good!  Thrawn is an interesting character and as the last remaining Grand Admiral from the Imperials side, has taken over where Vader and the Emperor left off.  He take control of what remains from the Empire’s day and tries to put them back in power.  A very clever man, this Thrawn.  I’m in the third book of the trilogy now and after it’s completed, there’s another “Thrawn Duology” that I think I’ll tackle.  The hard part with this guilty pleasure is choosing the right path of books.

With so many to choose from such varied time periods and character focuses, I want to go through them deliberately and with some sort of chronological purpose.  The Battle of Yavin (when the first Death Star was destroyed in the original Star Wars movie) serves as the central chronological measuring meter.  In the same sense as we use “B.C.” and “A.D.” when putting things in historical time period reference, so does Star Wars with “BBY” (before the Battle of Yavin) and “ABY” (After the Battle of Yavin).  So whenever I’m perusing the timeline of novels, I start with looking at where I want to be; 15 years ABY or 20 years BBY.  Maybe even 10,00 years BBY!

Anyway, now you know my secret.  I’ll be sure to keep y’all updated with the latest happenings from the Expanded Universe!