Some of the most popular Star Wars tales in both comics and prose fiction take place in eras or locales far removed from the stories of Episodes I-VI. The most recent example of this kind of story is Dark Horse Comics’ newest installment in the Legacy series, which takes place over 100 years after Return of the Jedi. Although a series like Legacy may not depict characters we’re immediately familiar with, it’s important that it still feel like Star Wars. But what does that mean, exactly?
9 Comments » | 
Tags: Comics, legacy, Star Wars Books, star wars writing
Books and Comics | 
Permalink
I love board games and video games, but I’ve never tried my hand at traditional roleplaying games before. The closest I’ve ever gotten to it was when I was a teenager, seeing my younger brother and his friends sit around our dining room table with books and notebooks and dice and thinking the entire enterprise looked complicated and boring. (And nerdy. I was at an age where I actually cared about that sort of thing.) I never really gave it much thought beyond that.
So when I found out that I would be serving as editor here at Lucasfilm for a comprehensive new Star Wars roleplaying game system from Fantasy Flight Games (beginning with Edge of the Empire), I was nervous. Even as a Star Wars fan, this didn’t seem like something I could relate to. But I’m always up for a challenge (plus, you know, it’s my job), so I dove in, not sure what to expect. Hundreds of pages of submitted material later, I realized that I was experiencing a real respect for those who play (and design!) RPGs.
16 Comments » | Tags: star wars roleplaying games
Books and Comics | Permalink
It’s no secret that I was a lifelong Star Wars fan before I ever took this job; after all, it’s why I took this job. And sometimes that can be a tough line to tread. I have to balance Professional Jen with Fangirl Jen. This struggle can manifest itself in silly ways, like the longing glances I aim at the product display room near my office, or the self-consciousness I sometimes feel when wearing one of my many Princess Leia t-shirts at work, or the fact that the rest of the publishing department knows I will automatically favor any proposed magazine cover with Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan on it. And to be fair, it’s easier when it comes to, say, packaging and marketing (the cover of a book, the ads for a comic), which have certain commercial criteria they need to fulfill. The most nebulous, yet arguably most critical part of my job in which I need to maintain the balance between Professional Jen and Fangirl Jen is the editing process.
7 Comments » | Tags: Books, editing, Star Wars Books, star wars novels
Books and Comics | Permalink
I first saw A New Hope when I was four years old, and although I loved it, my thought process about it admittedly didn’t go much beyond ROBOTS SPACE EXPLOSIONS COOL! By the time The Empire Strikes Back was released, I was an oh-so-sophisticated second grader who was beginning to recognize the importance of human relationships, and so I cried a little when Han got frozen in carbonite. (This was a much more reasonable reaction than that of my friend who was with me, who cried when C-3PO got blown up. So embarrassing.)
For the next three years, as a nation obsessed over whether Darth Vader really was Luke’s father, I obsessed over what was going to happen to Han. And what I really meant by that was, what was going to happen to Han and Leia? Because by then I was officially obsessed with the relationship between the princess and the smuggler.
There are a lot of things I love about Star Wars, but Han and Leia’s romance is the main thing that has kept me a passionate fan for 30 years. Why do they capture my imagination so? There are the obvious reasons: the witty banter, the contrast between royalty and rogue, epic love in the midst of war, the fact that they’re both really good-looking (I never said I wasn’t shallow). But the older I get, the more I appreciate the finer nuances of their relationship, that can often get lost in the crackle of their repartee.
10 Comments » | Tags: han and leia, Valentine's Day
Fans and Community, Lucasfilm | Permalink
This morning’s Del Rey panel was my very first Star Wars Celebration panel ever, but I wasn’t too nervous since I was up on stage with people much more talented and expressive than me: authors Aaron Allston, Troy Denning, James Luceno, Drew Karpyshyn, and Timothy Zahn; Del Rey Editor-at-Large Shelly Shapiro; and our esteemed moderator, Pablo Hidalgo. So let’s get to what was discussed!
4 Comments » | Tags: Books, Expanded Universe, star wars
Books and Comics, Events | Permalink
