A fan named Payton emailed us this weekend with a link to a blog entry he’d just made asking after the whereabouts of one Mr. Rusty Miller, the 12-year-old author of 1982’s Jedi Master’s Quizbook (making him about 37 years old this year).
Truth be told, we here at starwars.com have had an open MIA file on Mr. Miller for some time, hoping to track down the fan prodigy for a chance to catch up on his adult life, career, and whether or not Star Wars still fits into it.
Like Payton, we’ve done some online digging to no avail (the name “Rusty Miller” yields over 39,000 hits on Google!). We did ultimately locate one of the friends Rusty had mentioned in his book, Chris Fortier, but gleaned little useful information since they had apparently parted ways years ago. We had also come up with the Time magazine article reprinted in Payton’s post, as well as articles in a June, 1983 People and March ’83 Seventeen magazine. Unfortunately, these revealed little more than we already knew from the short bio printed in the Quizbook, which basically listed his parents’ names (Edward and Nancy), his age (12), his dog’s name (Frodo) and place of residence (Satellite Beach, FL).
The last printed testimony of Rusty’s existence seems to be a short tout of the People article he submitted to a July ’83 fanzine called “Cosmic Landscapes”. In it, he explains that he’d been asked to come up with 20 more questions for their readers, of which 16 were ultimately printed.
Finally, we discovered Rusty had appeared on two shows in the ‘80s, That’s Incredible and PM Magazine, both of which Lucasfilm’s got on tape (we haven’t actually seen these yet, but are hopeful there’s something revealing there).
Which brings us to you, the fans, to join the hunt and help us find the elusive Mr. Miller. If anyone thinks they’ve got a good lead, go ahead and post in the comments and we’ll see if we can’t track him down. And if we can’t, well, we know a good bounty hunter or two.
Tags: Retro
I’ve often wondered what became of him, too. Also I wonder what became of my copy of Jedi Master’s Quizbook.
That would be interesting to find out what he’s doing now
…I think I have this book. If I remember right, some of the questions weren’t entirely accurate. Am I right or is my memory frayed?
There’s a couple that stick out in my mind — one about Snaggletooth and one about the number of engines on the back of the blockade runner. Yes, I remember that from childhood because of the discussion it sparked.
ph
I know where Rusty is; he is a co-worker. But I won’t give him up for anything less than a firkin of good juma. Or a wax job for my leeku.
Lee let me know that I am being hunted. Hello!
Hooray! Rusty has been found!
Good to see you here mate, that book is on many a fans bookshelf.
Hey, once you’ve been interviewed by the official site, how do you fancy an interview with http://www.lightsabre.co.uk?
Ahhh, how cool is this!
Cool!! Rusty…get my email from Lee and contact me, I have some questions for you.
What do you know, I did it!
Rusty – Hey dude – It’s Lee from PM Magazine. I’ve gotten a couple of requests for info on you. I don’t have anything current. If you want to pass this on please send me your contact information. Hope everything is going great – Wishing you & Mom a great 2008! Lee
The poor thing. Will you be able to handle the sudden craziness?
This has been a pretty surreal last few days. If anyone wishes to contact me, please do so at rustymillerjmqb@gmail.com. As far as the interview request from Mark Newbold, please contact me. I have an interview in the works with the folks at Lucasfilm and I want to give them the first shot, but I am definitely willing to do followup interviews.
Does anyone else think it’s kinda creepy that you can apparently find someone that wasn’t exactly looking to be “found” based on a few things he did as a pre-pubescent 25 years ago?
I agree with JeedaiProphet–the Internet has become a little creepy! Poor Rusty–can hide anywhere! By the way, I loved your Trivia Book!
Wow! Glad you were found Matt(Rusty) Weird too as I just came across my copy of your book yesterday when my best friend had found HIS copy and knowing I was a fan, asked if I wanted it!
A interesting book… I’d like to prefer to buy him!:)
To all my fans… Please grow up and move out of your mom’s basement… I was 12 when I wrote the book… I am an adult now and don’t hang with nerds… I have a good job, a beautiful home and wife… 3 kids, that I refuse to let watch anything Star Wars related…
Just checked in and saw the comment from 6/13. Rest assured, that was not me.
Missing in action rusty miller.. Outstanding