Traducción al español aquí.

Liam Brazier

Thanks for accepting this interview, can you tell us something about yourself?

Aged 10 I drew an excellent recreation of the Ghostbusters logo during a rain-ridden school lunchtime, an obviously enamoured (or utterly bored) girl offered to finish colouring it in so I could watch the Transformers animated movie being shown in the hall. Although I was entirely polite about it at the time she did, in fact, ruin the picture despite her best efforts.

I have never forgotten this and am still quite bitter about it. I need help.

How long have you been a Star Wars fan?

Ask anyone I know and they’ll attest to my distinctly non-existant long-term memory. My parents took me to see the entire trilogy upon the release of ‘..Jedi’ way back when. My youth was constructed of those films played endlessly on VHS, and every single toy I ever owned had to do battle with the Stormtroopers et al I had in abundance – I still have an x-wing on my desk today (although one of the 90′s ones unfortunately, all my original Star Wars toys disappeared over time).

Dark Lord by Liam Brazier

What drove you to interpret those specific characters? Was it easier because they are masks?

That was certainly an aspect of it. It’s a lot easer to use larger, broader shapes then the smaller needed to convey the subtleties of a human face for example. The Star Wars portraits were created purely for fun but I’m completely flattered by the positive reaction they have received.

Also; if you were going to draw any masks then nothing beats Star Wars.

Star Wars, Teen Wolf, Moon… do you have other favorite movies you’d like to work with?

All my favourite films are connected to me either by nostalgia or my love of art, they are ingrained in me, so work featuring them come subconsciously and naturally.

What are the influences for your artistic styles?

I first started on the deconstructed coloured shapes over ten years ago at university (back then using tiny cut out pieces of coloured paper glued down), I think somewhat and somehow informed by being exposed to cubism – though my pieces aren’t cubist, and also growing up watching computer graphics evolve perhaps.

Many seem to assume the illustrations such as the Star Wars ones are created somehow using some fancy technical rendering polygon something-or-other, but I lay one shape at a time in Photoshop, building and changing the topography of the forms, and play with the colour combinations one stage at a time until I’m happy.

Bounty Hunter by Liam Brazier

Besides science fiction, what are your favorite themes to represent in your art?

I mainly illustrate to amuse myself, so if I find something funny or interesting I’ll draw it. I have a stupid sense of humour.

Outside your artistic work, what interests do you have?

I’m a big time music lover. I love going to gigs, festivals, playing guitar and the like. I very often have background music playing while I work.

And I’m going to answer ‘my girlfriend’ here to score points.

Who would you like to make a collaboration with?

I could reel you off a gigantic list of illustrators I admire, and am in constant awe of (check who I follow on Twitter!) – anyone that would have me. I would also like to work with more people from other art forms too; musicians and film-makers – creating illustrations through interpreting something else is always interesting and exciting.

What’s the part of your work that you dislike the most?

I detest lingering on work. If something takes too long it gets stale, looses the spontaneity of the idea, becomes infinitely less interesting over time. I have really tried to speed up processes to counter this. I can knock out one of the Star Wars portraits in a single afternoon now.

Imagine a comedian revealing the punchline to a joke a week after telling the joke – not ideal.

Do you plan to try other artistic fields besides illustration and animation?

I’m game for anything creative. I love creating. I’m certainly open to suggestions!

Bear with Me by Liam Brazier

Your sense of humor and language fascination has a special place in your work but, is it hard to express those ideas visually?

Thank you so much for noticing my deep interest in language – I am completely engaged by the absurdity of it (especially English) and how we speak without really listening, and how words can mean several different things. I often use these oddities as a jumping off point for an illustration.

As to if this process is “hard” I don’t know if I can answer that. The best work comes the quickest in my opinion, I really don’t think about what I’m doing very much. I’m a constant daydreamer.

If you ask anyone with a creative eye they’ll tell you about composition, rule of thirds, framing, visual parts of the puzzle like that – once that is decided upon the rest of the time is just trying to create the blurry image in your head into something tangible.

Have you ever visited Mexico or any other Latin American country?

Unfortunately no, but my girlfriend doesn’t stop going on about how great it is. It’s on my wish list!

¿Hablas español? (Do you speak Spanish? -question submitted in Spanish)

Lo sentimos, no – yo hablo sin sentido! (Sorry no, I speak nonsense).

Thanks!!!

Thank you my pleasure. I hope I wasn’t too boring, and erm, may the force be with you, always.

Note for Spanish readers: Si buscas la versión en español, haz clic aquí.

Pablo Hidalgo

La versión en español se encuentra aquí.

Joe Schreiber is a horror writer, who has published “Chasing the dead”, “Eat the dark” and recently the excellent “No doors, no windows”. With a fluid style, easy to devour, he creates realistic worlds that begin to fall apart little by little. Another novel is due soon, “Supernatural: The Unholy Cause”, based on the popular television show. Schreiber is known to Star Wars fans for penning the first ever horror novel, “Death troopers”, which you can get from Amazon, or as an Audible audiobook.

Joe Schreiber

Hello Joe, thanks for accepting this interview.

No problem!

Could you tell us something about you? When and how did you became a Star Wars fan?

Been a fan since I was seven.  Saw the first one on the big screen and loved it.

If the horror genre is based on our fear of the unknown, what are your favorite topics of personal interest, and which ones do you think are the most interesting to explore on a novel?

Horror or not, my main interest lies in telling stories with compelling, familiar characters in dynamic conflict with one another and themselves.  Everything else — plot, atmosphere, suspense, action, emotion — should grow organically out of that.  If it doesn’t, as a writer, then I’m sunk.

Which is your favorite horror novel or movie? Which one scared you the most?

The Shining, both the book and the movie, scared me silly.  Also some of the more exploitative 70s anti-drug movies, as a kid, really freaked me out.  I remember Robby Benson in THE DEATH OF RICHIE really making me sick with fear.

Are there any plans to translate any of your novels to Spanish?

I hope so!

Are you working on a new non-franchise novel? How about one starring Old Vincent? A guy with such good taste for reading deserves a novel of his own.

You liked that, huh?  Bartenders make great characters.  My next book is about a foreign exchange student who’s really a sexy international assassin.  It’s called Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick.

How did you get the opportunity to write a Star Wars novel? Were they looking for a horror novel or did you pitched it to them?

Lucasfilm came to me, which proves, I guess, that fate can be kind.  I didn’t hesitate to say yes.

Did you receive advice or assistance of other Star Wars writers, or directly from Lucas Licensing?

I mainly worked with my editor at Del Rey Books, Shelly Shapiro, and her counterpart at Lucasfilm, a very nice woman named Sue Rostoni.

What kind of research did you do in order to write the novel?

I used the Star Wars Essential Guides — droids, ships, weapons, aliens, planets — throughout the writing process.  I also watched the movies again so I could get the sound effects right.

Why was the title changed from “Deathtroopers” to “Death Troopers”?

They thought Deathtroopers looked like Deathpoopers.  So they broke it up and moved a blood-stain from the t and the r.  Then it didn’t look like Deathpoopers anymore.

Han and Chewie have seen (and survived to) such bizarre events that it even if I was surprised upon reading “Death Troopers”, it seemed logical. Which character or characters from the prequels would seem better suited for a horror event?

I really don’t know.  The Rancor?  Salacious Crumb?  I think stormtroopers make great characters.  They’re human inside those buckets, after all.

If you are able to speak a bit about “Black Orchid”, your next Star Wars novel, can you clarify if it is a sequel, prequel or has no relation to “Death Troopers”?

It’s a prequel.  It explains the Sith origins of the Blackwing virus.

Why an orchid? Was it necessary to maintain a name that we can immediately relate to a real-world flower?

I like orchids.  I liked the movie Adaptation too.  Lots of orchids in that one.

Have you ever been in Mexico, or another Latin American country? If you’ve been in Mexico, did you try chalupas?

I’ve been to Mexico several times, and I love Mexican food.  In fact, if I had to choose one ethnicity of food to eat for the rest of my life, it would be Mexican.  No doubt about it.

And now, some questions from the fans.

Lupe, from Monterrey, and Lord Tuetanus from Durango, both ask if you consider yourself influenced by George Romero, was any scene in the novel that could relate directly to his work?

I love Romero’s work.  Especially the first Night of the Living Dead, which is so stark and cheap and industrial that it looks like a sixties documentary gone horribly wrong.  It’s beautiful.

El Webonauta, from Mexico City asks, which are your favorite Expanded Universe works? Do you have any advice for us aspiring writers?

I don’t really read the expanded universe books.  My advice to aspiring writers is to read as much as you can possibly get your hands on, and not just the stuff you want to write.  Read poetry, nonfiction, literature, mystery, all of it.  And don’t stop writing.  I published my first novel at 23 and it took me almost fifteen years to sell the next one.  If you love it, and you stick with it, you’ll succeed eventually.

Anwar Vázquez from Córdoba, the book is presented as a Star Wars story but with little connection to other story arcs, why was it decided that this adventure had no repercussions to the rest of the Expanded Universe? He also mentions that some scenes read as if intended for a mature audience, was this a conscious decision? Or was it only what the plot needed?

Lucasfilm said they wanted a George Romero story in a George Lucas universe, so when I cut loose with the gore, nobody had a problem with it.  It is true that I set out to write exactly the kind of Star Wars novel that I, as a horror fan, would most want to read.  I’m not particularly attached to the Expanded Universe storylines, and I certainly don’t feel as passionately about them as I do about telling a gripping story and including what I love most about the original trilogy of SW films — the tenderness and familiarity of family, the ambivalent notion of technology as both amazing and scary, the sense of what it’s like to be young and far from home.  As far as the book itself, I put in all the scenes that I love most about horror/sf classics like Alien and The Thing, and I did everything in my power to supercharge the results.

Héctor Camacho asks, why did you decide to include Han and Chewie? Is this novel part of the Expanded Universe? And if not, why?

I don’t know if it’s part of the Expanded Universe or not.  I included Han and Chewie because it was just too tempting of an opportunity, and I’ve never been particularly good at resisting temptation.

Thanks again!!!
http://www.scaryparent.blogspot.com

Note for Spanish Readers: si buscas la versión en español, haz clic aquí.

Enrique Guerrero, book consultant for Lucasfilm, mainly during the New Jedi Order series, and co-writer (with Abel G. Peña) of “The 20 Greatest Expanded Universe Moments”, an article published in Star Wars Insider #83, was extremely kind to offer me an interview. You may congratulate him in a comment, since he’s finished his first major creation ever, of course, co-authored with his wife… a child!

-Thanks for accepting this virtual interview, Enrique. Please tell us something about yourself. Also, why and when did you became a Star Wars fan?

Thanks Mario! This is actually quite flattering for me – but it’s always great to hear from fans who are as passionate about Star Wars as I am! What can I say! I first saw Star Wars when I was 7 years old back in 1977 and I was hooked ever since – my parents and my older brothers fed my interest in Star Wars by giving me lots and lots of toys and comic books way back then. Even as a little kid, I just loved the look of the Star Wars universe, and I was deeply fascinated with the Force, the Jedi & the Sith. Best of all – Star Wars just continued to feed my imagination even to this day!

When I was in college, Dark Empire and Tim Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy had come out – and again, I was bit by the Star Wars bug. However, after I graduated law school, I just dove right back in into everything and anything in Star Wars literature. Fortunately, I was living in San Diego, CA, at the time and they had an excellent Star Wars fan base down there! Lance Worth, who had an awesome Star Wars store in Chula Vista, San Diego, set me up with tons of material to read up on! It was a great time to be a Star Wars fan!

-What was your involvement in the development of the New Jedi Order series?

I wasn’t part of the initial team to work on the NJO. I had been interviewed for an editor position prior to the development of the NJO and invited to work with LFL in a different capacity – but at that time, I had already started planning to quit my job with San Diego District Attorney’s office and relocate to a different area of California to practice law. I finally accepted an assignment with LFL months prior to the release of Vector Prime and continued to work as a free lance journalist with LFL for about 6 years.

As for the NJO, I was a member of a team that worked on the manuscripts for the entire series and the maintance of the NJO Bible, which was used to keep track of the entire storyline. The NJO Bible contained everything you could think of in terms of monitoring the entire story arc – it was kinda of a “pocket essential guide to the NJO” covering plot, characters, vehicles, droids, ships, cultures, language, government structures, maps, etc.

I was also assigned a variety of research projects to help flush out the different storytelling elements of Star Wars – across all eras – which again, could be almost anything depending on the project – i.e., approximately how many capital ships would be in the Imperial Remnant at the time of the YV invasion in year 4 of the NJO? The research project could be as open ended and broad as that Remnant naval question – or – something completely more narrow and specific.

-How did you get the opportunity to write Star Wars material?

In the big picture, this was a fluke. I was already working as a licensed attorney in Southern California when I met Lucy Wilson, who was then the Vice President of Publishing for LFL. Ms. Wilson already knew that I had a ridiculous amount of Star Wars knowledge and that I had a great interest in how LFL worked with their various licensees. A year after interviewing for an open editor position, Ms. Wilson thought I would be a welcome addition to working on the NJO and it was through her invitation to work for LFL that I met a lot of the great folks at LFL, Del Rey, Bantam, Dark Horse, Scholastic – including editors, writers, illustrators, etc. The opportunities to write Star Wars material came with the in house experience of working directly for LFL.

-In order to compile the 20 greatest moments of Expanded Universe you must have read a lot of novels and comics. What story arcs do you enjoy the most? And which ones you feel you had to endure as if compiling information for a boring homework?

I am an avid reader. And I have a huge Star Wars library that LFL helped build. I can’t say that I’ve read “all the Star Wars stories” published, but it would be a very small percentage of the fan base that has read more! This was a fun piece to work on if simply because it is always fun to work with Abel Pena. We actually had a working list of 40-50 moments that we narrowed down to 20 that we could agree on. It never felt like a “boring homework assignment.” If anything, it was challenging. The problem we had, was that it was a subjective list – and if we could come up with 40-50 moments, not including the LucasArts games, then we knew that there would be lots of fans that were going to disagree with our 20 moments. We were just as excited to hear from the fans who were going to disagree as we were to hear from the fans who “mostly” agreed!

The two story arcs that had the most impact on me were: (1) The Freedon Nadd Uprising/Dark Lords of the Sith/The Sith War/Redemption of Ulic Qel-Droma (Dark Horse Comics); and (2) The Thrawn Trilogy (Bantam). They were both Epic, Tragic, and loaded with engaging characters that you cared about. To this day, I just can’t get enough of those storylines!

-Do you have any particular favorite that didn’t make the 20 moments?

I have a few – but two come immediately to mind. One was scene from Kevin Anderson’s Dark Saber where Rogue Admiral Daala kills all the Deep Core Imperial Warlords for essentially putting themselves above the Empire – which I did write the entry for. The other was a silly one from Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s The New Rebellion where R2-D2 leads a droid rebellion; again, in the big picture, it is becoming more and more rare that we see either R2 or C3PO take a primary character role in a Star Wars novel and I thought Ms. Rusch did a fantastic job with R2 in her book.

-The 20 moments article was published in 2005, with the end of the New Jedi Order story arc still fresh in the mind of the readers. What about now? Which events depicted in the recent novels, such as the Legacy of the Force series, or comics, like Legacy, do you think would fit in a new list?

There are several new moments that should get consideration for being the Twenty Most Memorable Moments. And I certainly don’t want to spoil anything for readers – but among those that I would immediately consider: Luke vs. Lomi Plo in The Swarm War; Lumiya & Alema Rar vs. Tresina Lobi in Tempest; and Jacen Solo’s actions against Nelani Dinn in Betrayal. However, Darth Krayt’s past revealed in the Legacy comics threw me for a loop – and I just can’t say enough about anything Karen Traviss does with her Republic novels and/or her stories on Boba Fett! Simply outstanding work by Karen!

-Would you write more Star Wars articles or even fiction for magazines or the website?

I hope to. And I plan to. There are still lots of areas of Star Wars that fascinate me – and I figure I can’t be the only one to appreciate those particular areas, right? With luck, you’ll read more from me in the near future!

-Do you have non-Star Wars related projects?

Again, another work in progress – but I’m working on a fairy tale involving a Mexican boy in a modern day setting. It’s a young adult oriented novel.

-What’s your relationship with other authors like Abel Peña? Is there a “community” of authors? Are you part of the Latin vanguard of Star Wars writers?

There’s a group of us that have been friends since the mid-1990′s – and even more within that group that date back to the early days of AOL message boards. Abel is one of my close friends and we usually talk, even if only by e-mails, on a weekly basis. I’ve never looked at myself a part of a “Latin vanguard of Star Wars writers.” I’m a passionate fan of the Star Wars universe and through my work with LFL, it has opened to the door to meeting lots of cool people in the industry who have become close friends. Most of us are writers, actors, film-makers and/or artists so our real life experiences cross over in lots of areas which also helps build that sense of community that exists amongst us.

-In your opinion what’s the reason for the success of the Expanded Universe?

It’s a rich universe. And there are so many working elements to Star Wars that it is tough to pin down to an easy answer. Star Wars is a character driven universe. It’s easy to be passionate about one or more of the main characters in any era. The world creation aspects continue to feul the imagination. The sense of history that crosses all eras creates a comfort level and familiarity that we can all relate to. The stories often take an Epic Myth approach. Whether you’re watching, reading or playing – the feel of the Star Wars universe is cinematic. It’s a wonderful setting to revisit again and again.

-Do you speak Spanish? Have you visited Mexico or any other Latinamerican country recently?

My parents are both from Jalisco, Michoacan. The rule of their house is that you can only speak Spanish inside the house (although I’ve noticed the grandkids tend to get away with breaking this rule from time to time!). So I’ve grown up speaking Spanish and English.

My wife and I went to the Maya Riviera about two years ago and traveled for week visiting Maya Ruins. We intend to visit the Pacific Coast of Mexico within the next year – but – my sister-in-law is trying to found up “entire family” to make a huge trip to Quintana Roo soon. I’ve never been south of Mexico.

And now the fan questions.

-Andres Matesanz from Mexico City accepts that New Jedi Order tried to shed some light on new characters like Jaina and Jacen Solo, or give a new comeback to old timers like Corran Horn. But why is Luke Skywalker described as a wimp who can’t decide what to do with the Jedi Order or how to help the galaxy at large? Why does he think fighting and defending conquered worlds would be causal to the Dark Side? Instead of figthing like Clone Wars Jedi, he establishes his “refugee river”.

I didn’t see Luke portrayed as a wimp. I thought Luke was trying to be a leader of an Order that had become spread out, unused to having to answer to a central authority, and unclear on how to live by the Jedi Code. If anything, I thought Jacen was portrayed as an annoying wimp, at least until Matt Stover got his hands on him in Traitor. In NJO, we probably see Luke through the actions of Anakin Solo. Anakin, at that point in time, is the Order’s Greatest Knight and an extension of Luke Skywalker (even though in reality, nobody’s greater than Luke!) To get a better understanding of Luke in that time period, you have to dive right into Troy Denning’s Dark Nest Trilogy which is an “NJO Coda”, even though it is not officially considered NJO.

I also think that when you read Karen Traviss Republic books, especially through the eyes of her Jedi characters, you see why Luke was probably more right than wrong in how he tried to deal with the Yuuzhan Vong Invasion.

Ultimately, for the NJO, the Hero’s Journey was going to apply to Jacen Solo – and – it was Jacen’s decision making – which isn’t necessarily through acts of aggression – that was going to determine the Jedi Order’s survival and the fate of the galaxy. In that sense – we see less and less of the Luke Skywalker that I’m sure we all wanted to see.

As for the Great River, we only really see it come into play in Greg Keyes work and some random articles and role-playing game pieces. The Great River, although there, is part of Luke’s plans and actions, by dispatching Jedi Knights on various intelligence gathering missions and sorties throughout the Invasion Corridor. The problem here is those events are all “off-screen” for now, until someone can come along and tell the fans what the Jedi were specifically doing by utilizing the Great River.

-Alonso Vilches from Mexico City asks what was the easiest and hardest parts of coordinating the whole New Jedi Order project? Also, what ideas, situations or characters were last minute additions to the original plot? We know that Lucasfilm will not allow for a “Vader revival story”, or that tragic deaths for main movie characters like Chewbacca are sparse, but is there any restriction for the “retirement” of old vehicles, like the Millenium Falcon? Surely technology must have improved in order to fight new threats like the Yuuzhan Vong.

My answer is going to be somewhat generic. The easy part is that the NJO was fun! And working on outline-to-outline, manuscript-to-manuscript, was a blast!!!! The tough part is that there was multiple projects in effect at the same time and lots of elements to coordinate on a massive scale. That can be tough any writer and/or editor to coordinate. All of the major details were known from day one, particularly with the critical events of each hardcover and the highlight events of each year. All of the primary characters (and several of the secondary characters) had a characterization arc. That in mind, writers write and if they came up with great ideas they were often welcome to incorporate it into the big picture of the NJO. Keep in mind, that the overall storyline is still just a skeleton plot for the entire NJO – you have to let the creative process of the writers in particular work things out and contribute and improve as well. As for your question on “retirement restriction” of old vehicles, that would have to be fielded by Sue Rostoni, Leland Chee, or someone else at LFL.

-José Arturo García from Mexico City asks how were the books assigned to authors? By chance, or the authors chose the parts of the New Jedi Order story that fit their style? Which one of the authors had the hardest part to follow Lucasfilm regulations? How were the Yuuzhan Vong developed and how was it decided that they would had biotechnology and weren’t detected by the Force? Were following series, such as Dark Nest and Legacy of the Force, included in a larger scheme, or they were imagined after the conclusion of the New Jedi Order story arc?

This is a question for Sue Rostoni at LFL and Shelly Shapiro at Del Rey – so I’m respectfully not going to answer it.

As I mentioned in a prior answer, the Dark Nest Trilogy is somewhat of an NJO Coda, wrapping up NJO issues involving the evolution of the Jedi Order and the evolution of characters like Luke Skywalker as a “Jedi Grand Master” and Leia Organa Solo as a “Jedi Knight.” Fortunately, the Dark Nest Trilogy also provided the thematic foundation for what was to come in Legacy of the Force, especially by giving readers an idea of what was to come by giving us unique insights into Jacen Solo’s thoughts and actions which you could see even then were dangerously outside the guidelines of the Jedi Code.

-12 parsecs from Monterrey asks if Jacen’s fall to the Dark Side had been discussed during the New Jedi Order series? Why were some characters left off, such as Danni Quee or Droma? What is the explanation for the Roman name “Praetorite” in the Praetorite Vong? Who decided that it was to be Chewie the main movie character that died in the series?

Jacen’s fall to the Dark Side was always an element of the NJO but more as an effect of the war on the Jedi and then heightened given the unorthodox training of Vergere. However, the danger of the Dark Side was more obvious with Jaina Solo who was handling the tragedy of the war in a more visible manner. Both of Jacen and Jaina’s destinies, within the framework of the NJO itself (and NOT Legacy of the Force) were known throughout the work on the NJO.

Had Danni Quee continued her training as a Jedi Knight, which appears to have been abandoned after Mike Stackpole’s NJO books, we might have seen more of her throughout NJO and again in Legacy of the Force. Otherwise, Danni’s character is not really necessary for Legacy. Any other usefullness of Danni Quee in those books was eliminated by Jacen’s reconciled relationship with Tenel Ka that we see in the Dark Nest Trilogy. Ultimately, I don’t think Jacen having a girl friend was a critical detail going into year 5 of the NJO.

I also don’t see a usefulness for including Droma beyond Han working out his issues over the loss of Chewie in the NJO. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the Droma character, but once Han overcame his grief and became the Roguish Han from the New Republic days, and once Leia stepped into the role of co-pilot, there really wasn’t any need to have Droma hanging around. Plus, none of the galaxy intelligence networks, whether Bothan, Smuggler’s Alliance, Mandalorian, Imperial, etc. etc. – was critical enough to have “a face” for those networks featured throughout the rest of the series.

I’m assuming “Praetorite” was a Bob Salvatore specific thing. He also uses that word in his excellent “Crimson Shadow” fantasy books, which I recommend to everyone for it’s lighthearted action fantasy and great humor. The point of the Praetorite Vong was that they were an “Expeditionary Yuuzhan Vong Task Force” that was supposed to only set up a beach head for the arrival of the next stage of the Invasion. However, in their arrogance and in their desire to rise up the Yuuzhan Vong ranks even quicker (in Overlord Shimrra’s eyes, in the Warmaster’s eyes, and in the Gods’ eyes), they stepped outside their orders and advanced on Sernpidal leaving the Yuuzhan Vong to alter their Invasion plans and to task Supreme Commander Shedao Shai with showing to the rest of the Yuuzhan Vong that the Gods were in fact “with them.” Behind the scenes, there are rivalries between the Warrior Caste Domains and sometimes, some Domains want the glory for themselves and/or to take the glory away from other Domains. We saw glimpes of these rivalries play out in Stackpole’s books dealing with Domain Shai and Domain Lian.

As for “who” made the Chewie decision/suggestion – even if I knew I wouldn’t tell you! That was a committee decision that ultimately needed the approval of George Lucas himself!

Thanks Everybody! I had a lot of fun!!!!!!

La traducción al español de esta entrevista la puedes leer aquí.

This interview was originally published on October 7, 2005.

Kerk Korpil (Galactic NewsStack): Thank you so much for accepting this virtual interview, Dan. I want to congratulate you for all your recent Insider articles and everything you wrote for Vader: The Ultimate Guide, and also for the forthcoming publication of The New Essential Chronology. So, let’s start! Can you tell us something about yourself? When and how did you became a Star Wars fan?

Daniel Wallace (DW): I’ve been a SW fan since I was a kid, like many people. I saw the original movie in the theaters and was just blown away. Not too terribly unique, I’m afraid, most people have similar stories, but that attests to the impact that the movies have on impressionable young minds!

GNS: How did you get the opportunity to write Star Wars material?

DW: The first official publication I did was the Essential Guide to Planets and Moons, and it came about from knowing a couple people with connections at Lucasfilm (through the AOL Star Wars Fan Club) and writing a fan resource, the Star Wars Planets Guide. I consider myself very lucky.

GNS: Tell us about your recent work, why is it of interest to any Star Wars fan?

DW: The New Essential Chronology is the one I’m most looking forward to seeing, since I love continuity and history. It’s also beautifully illustrated, and this time around it doesn’t have any holes (i.e. all six movies are now covered).

GNS: Was it difficult researching everything about Darth Vader? Were there any requirements or special treatment demanded for the main character of the saga?

DW: For Vader: The Ultimate Guide, I was helped a great deal by the fact that I co-wrote Anakin Skywalker: The Story of Darth Vader for Chronicle books back in 1998 (it was a book that appeared in a package with an Anakin action figure). Plus my work on both Chronologies helped quite a bit. Vader’s a pretty central character, so you don’t have to go too far afield to get all the info.

GNS: On The New Essential Chronology, what’s the difficulty of assigning a specific date to Star Wars events? Will there be an explanation of Star Wars calendars?

DW: There’s not a specific explanation of the various SW calendars since I thought it would confuse people (although you can get an overview of the calendars on my blog at SW.com). All events are placed in relation to the Battle of Yavin, i.e. Star Wars Episode IV.

GNS: Of the roleplaying game books you’ve been part of (Coruscant and the Core Worlds, Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds), what was your responsibility? Do you play the game at all? And if so, what do you think of it?

DW: I didn’t really play the SW RPG, but I’d played RPGs in the past and was familiar with their rules and conventions. I looked at Coruscant and the Core Worlds and Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds (as well as the work I did for SW Gamer with Jason Fry and Craig Carey) primarily as an opportunity to flesh out the SW universe and contribute to the overall lore.

GNS: Of all the articles/books/pieces of information you have wrote so far, which is your favorite and why?

DW: Probably the New Essential Chronology right now, since I feel the Essential Guides have gotten better and better with each printing.

GNS: Do you plan to write other kind of material, like fiction?

DW: I’ve written a couple SW short stories in the past — one for the Official Star Wars Adventure Journal (“The Great Herdship Heist”) and two for SW Gamer (“Fair Prey” and “The Monster”). I’d love to write more fiction if given the opportunity!

GNS: Tell us if you have non-Star Wars related projects?

DW: Yep! Two are in the works right now, but I’m not sure if I can talk about them yet or not. I’ve also contributed to the DC Comics Encyclopedia, which came out in 2004.

GNS: What’s your relationship with other authors like Abel Peña and Jason Fry? Is there a “community” of authors?

DW: I think there is, at least among a certain strata of fanboys (and girls) who connected in the ’90s during the early days of online SW fandom. Many of us have gone on to write professionally for SW, like Jason and Abel, and some even work directly for George, like Pablo Hidalgo. There’s a tongue-in-cheek name, the Star Wars Fanboy Association, that grew up around this fraternity, and more info available at the SWFA website.

GNS: So, what’s your opinion on Episode III?

DW: Loved it.

GNS: Have you ever been in Mexico? Or any Latinamerican country?

DW: Guatemala. I actually visited the ruins at Tikal without realizing they were the Massassi ruins from ANH. Months later I was watching ANH at home, connected the dots, and just about fell out of my chair.

GNS: The news of the virtual interview spawned a great number of questions from the news bulletin readers, here they are:
Freddy Aguilar from Guadalajara has a number of questions: In Star Wars Insider 56 you speak about “unseen planets of Episode I” and refer to the mythical planet Iego, based on the mythical and sinister syrens that Odysseus faced and which brought doom to sailors. Do you think in the end Padme was the syren that led Anakin to his fall?

DW: Good catch! That was one of the things I was kind of trying to play off, when he asked her if she was an angel. Following up on that SW Insider article, I wrote about the planet Iego in great detail in Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds. I actually got really wacky with the entry, perhaps pushing the boundaries of what does and doesn’t fit in SW, in my attempts to make Iego a surreal combination of “Lost” and the afterlife. (Written before “Lost”, of course, but you know what I mean.)

GNS: What do you think is the reason for the success of the Expanded Universe?

DW: Imagination first and foremost, but I put great stock in the fact that everything has been maintained very consistently, giving fans a sense that these stories all could actually fit together in a real timeline.

GNS: Do you know if short stories like those presented in Star Wars Tales will continue to exist as to fill the small gaps in the universe?

DW: I hope so! Tales is gone, but I’m a big fan of short stories, both in comics form and in books like Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina.

GNS: In the comic “Heart of Darkness” shown in Star Wars Tales #16, we see a Jedi of the same species as Yoda. I checked in the Yoda’s Star Wars.com Databank entry and they mention this fact. But in the comic the Jedi is called Minch. Is that another name for Yoda?

DW: Well, “Minch” was one of the suggested names for Yoda back when ESB was in the script-writing stage. As to why the “Yoda-like” guy in that story was named Minch, I’m actually not sure. Perhaps it was intended to be Yoda and LFL didn’t like the way he was portrayed…?

GNS: Following this question, in Heir to the Empire Leia mentions the Bpfassh Dark Jedi insurrection, which took place 35 years before the battle of Yavin. But the “Heart of Darkness” comic shows these events as taking place 700 years before the battle of Yavin. Is this an error or was it another insurrection?

DW: I sidestepped “Heart of Darkness” in the New Essential Chronology, because it has so many odd elements (Minch/Yoda, the timeline oddity you mention above), that I thought it safe to consider it one of the Infinities tales.

GNS: When you create a new character’s profile, can you invent everything as you want or is there any Lucasfilm guideline? And if inspiration is all yours, where does it come from? Everyday people? Politicians, historic figures?

DW: LFL is actually pretty open to creating new info, but they need to approve it all before it becomes official. In a book like the New Essential Guide to Characters, at least 90% of the entry focuses on existing events from other novels and comics, and if I created something new it was probably just continuity glue to explain an apparent discrepancy in somebody’s bio.

GNS: Alfredo Lomelí from San Luis Potosí shares a recurrent question with Freddy Aguilar: Why do discrepancies exist between the events shown in the Clone Wars cartoons, the Republic comics and the events described in the Labyrinth of Evil novel? Some issues are the summoning of Anakin and Obi-Wan to Coruscant, the book describes them being in Tythe, while the cartoon shows them in Nelvaan. Another example would be the introduction of the new Jedi Starfighters in the cartoon’s chapter 21, while in the comics they are developed much later. And the comics never mention the cartoon duels between Anakin and Assajj or between Obi-Wan and Durge.

DW: I don’t know the reason why, exactly, but I understand where you’re coming from. I think Labyrinth and Republic mesh together pretty well. The cartoon causes some problems in its depiction of Grievous’ rescue vs. Labyrinth, but I’m a huge fan of the cartoon and have a hard time faulting it for this. Fortunately I was able to sidestep most of this in the New Essential Chronology, but the jury’s still out on how to make an official day-by-day breakout of those events.

GNS: Eduardo López from Mexico City asks: Where in time will the new Star Wars television series be located? Which known characters do you think will be featured?

DW: All I know is that it will be set between Episode III and IV. And I don’t know which characters will be featured. I’d be shocked if it didn’t feature Vader, and maybe Boba Fett in some capacity. Other characters who could probably pop up from time to time would be Tarkin, Jabba, Palpatine, Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, or the droids.

GNS: He also asks where was first mentioned the Anakin/Obi-Wan duel in the lava?

DW: The first place I read about it was in the Return of the Jedi novelization by James Kahn in 1983. Great to see it finally on film!

GNS: Alberto Luna from Hermosillo wonders why Leia took Organa as her last name, but Luke kept Skywalker as his? And myself, I would add, then why didn’t Leia took the Skywalker last name after knowing her true identity?

DW: I can’t come up with a good reason for this…by all accounts, Luke should at least have changed his name to Lars. Leia probably kept the name Organa out of loyalty to her adoptive father, and because she always had mixed feelings at best toward Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader.
Best,
Dan