A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

© 2017 Marvel Comics and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) From what I understand, the rules for being allowed to write published and canonical  Star Wars  fiction have not changed much since Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012. First, you must be an author with an actual track record in the publishing business  and  a literary agent. If you have written a legitimately published novel ( not  a self-published effort or “fan-fic”) in the sci-fi or fantasy genre or have worked in the comic book business, Lucasfilm will invite you for an interview and listen to a story pitch. Second, you have to sign all kinds of non-disclosure agreements and play by Lucasfilm’s rules. You also need to abide with the established canon, be able to get stuff done on deadlines, and not try to reinvent the wheel. Furthermore, you will work with editors at Random House  and  have to be aware what other writers are working on so you don’t contradict  their  stories. W...

Cover art by Larry Rostant (C) 2015 Del Rey Books and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) On March 3, 2015, Del Rey Books, the science fiction/fantasy imprint of Random House, published the hardcover edition of Kevin Hearne's Star Wars: Heir to the Jedi. Set shortly after the events of the 1977 movie Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope, Hearne's story focuses on the early adventures of a young Luke Skywalker in the aftermath of the Battle of Yavin and his decision to join the Rebel Alliance. Originally planned - in 2012 - as the third and final volume in an Expanded Universe (EU) trilogy titled Empire and Rebellion , it became a standalone canonical novel (one of four such works) after The Walt Disney Company-owned Lucasfilm and its Story Group declared that the EU was being relegated to "Legends" status and that all of the post-2014 novels would be part of the Star Wars canon. This means that Heir to the Jedi (the title is a tip of the hat to Timothy Zahn's Star Wars: Heir...

(C) 1995 Bantam Spectra and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)  "Mos Eisley Spaceport," says Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker as they stand on a mesa overlooking the Tatooine metropolis in a transition scene in Episode IV. "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be careful." Of all the many eye-catching and memorable sequences in Star Wars (aka Episode IV: A New Hope ), the fateful meeting between Luke Skywalker, Ben Kenobi, and a pair of smugglers with a starship for hire is perhaps the most intriguing. It's not only important dramatically or even as far as the change in the film's pacing goes (from this point on, there will be chases, shootouts, rescues, and battles), it's also visually intriguing. The dim lighting, the tense atmosphere, all those aliens, and, of course, that funky cantina band playing Benny Goodman-like tunes. Of course, in the film, the focus was on Kenobi, Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca as they ne...