INTRODUCTION (Tales from the Empire)
A Galaxy Filled with Stories by Peter Schweighofer Behind every book there is a story-one contained not in the words on the pages but in the events that occurred as an imaginative spark grew to become a published work of fiction.
The cast of characters include writers, editors, original ideas, and a lot of work. This anthology is no exception, but the real story has much deeper origins.
Not so long ago, a blockbuster film brought a new generation back to the silver screen. George Lucas combined cutting-edge special effects with exciting characters and themes, capturing the collective mythic consciousness of movie-goers. Once again viewers were treated to the Saturday-matinee experience: swashbuckling chapters, edge-of-your-seat cliffhangers, spaceship dogfights, the forces of good battling the minions of evil. The film was Star Wars: A New Hope, and nobody had seen anything quite like it before.
In homes across America, the Star Wars universe became real.
Children of every age returned from movie theaters with dreams of becoming Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, or Princess Leia. They bought action figures that allowed them to invent their own stories, continuing the war against the evil Empire. Kids dreamed of what they would find in Mos Eisley and wondered what the spice mines of Kessel were like, or what creatures lurked in the Massassi temples on Yavin 4.
They pretended to be brave Rebel pilots flying X-wing starfighters or dashing smugglers blasting through Imperial blockades in the Millennium Falcon.
The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi continued to fuel America's imagination. Novels and comic books explored events that occurred before and between the films.
In their imaginations, kids turned their basements into the Death Star, where they battled with lightsabers like Ben Kenobi and Darth Vader.
They built fortresses in the snow and refought the Battle of Hoth with snowballs.
Children romped through the park with toy blasters, pretending they were fighting scout troopers on Endor.
Nobody was sure whether Star Wars was just another fad or something truly original. Despite their popularity, the films drifted off into the haze of American society's collective memory in the mid to late 1980s. The Kenner action figures of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader were stored away in closets, basements, and attics. Sound tracks, scratched from numerous hours of play, were packed away with other old records. Novelizations were shelved with other science-fiction paperbacks and forgotten.
Other pursuits soon took the place of playing with action figures, reading comic books, and visiting the imaginary Star Wars galaxy. Fans grew up, went off to college, and entered the "real world" of career and family. The kids inside them were still there, but they were hidden in the deep closets, basements, and attics of the spirit. Sure, fans were glued to their television sets when the Star Wars films were broadcast on cable or the networks; for the most part, though, the wonder and excitement that had been Star Wars passed into little more than a fond recollection.
Then something amazing began.
New Star Wars stories appeared.
Timothy Zahn led the charge with Heir to the Empire. He enthralled fans in a tale packed with powerful villains, new worlds, mysterious aliens, massive starship battles, and, of course, everyone's favorite heroes from the movies.
He brought back the magic that was Star Wars.
Timothy Zahn's popular books were followed by Dark Horse Comics series and more novels. Suddenly Star Wars was again on everyone's lips.
Fans stormed book and comic stores looking for the latest releases.
There were rumors of new action figures. Star Wars trading cards returned with vivid original artwork. People realized there was even a role-playing game that would allow them to return to the days when they pretended to be Rebels battling stormtroopers and bounty hunters.
This new vision of Star Wars attracted new fans and reawakened that old Star Wars spirit-that kid who played with the action figures and wanted to become a Jedi Knight reemerged. Suddenly all the memorabilia was pulled out of storage, resurrecting the fond memories and dreams of a galaxy far, far away. Adults gazed longingly at the Magic Marker sketches of the Death Star battle they had drawn when they were children. They proudly displayed their collection of action figures.
People reminisced about the first time they saw Star Wars and speculated about the fascinating territory a new trilogy would explore.
For twenty years, the fans kept the dream alive in their hearts-without a new trilogy or numerous reruns of television episodes. Star Wars is larger than the movies, greater than the fans.
Star Wars is proof that spirited individuals can make a difference against seemingly insurmountable odds.
We are all part of this phenomenon.
The example of West End Games illustrates the nature of the Star Wars phenomenon. During the lull in Star Wars interest, this small game company decided that the ultimate space fantasy offered the perfect subject for a role-playing game. At the time West End Games-then based in New York City-had produced a fair share of war games and role-playing games. The company had only tested the waters of licensed properties with Star Trek: The Adventure Game and a Ghostbusters role-playing game. West End contacted Lucasfilm Ltd. and a licensing agreement was arranged.
Trying to create a successful game based on a ten-year-old film was a major risk. But the West End design team went to work, and soon produced a rule book and sourcebook packed with information on characters, star-ships, weapons, aliens, and droids. The Star Wars Role-playing Game was born.
At first, West End produced several game products, which the Star Wars role-playing market gobbled UP' There were plenty of obstacles to overcome. Deadlines were missed and production schedules were lengthened by authors who delivered projects late and editors who were forced to rewrite manuscripts. Working with the Lucasfilm approvals staff, West End quickly learned what subjects were off-limits: for instance, the Old Republic, Clone Wars, and how the Emperor and Vader rose to power.
Since then, West End has helped expand the Star Wars galaxy and maintain continuity through the release of more than seventy-five sourcebooks, adventures, and supplements, including twelve Galaxy Guides, fourteen Star Wars Adventure Journals, and ten sourcebooks based on best-selling novels and comics.
The company's hard work and perseverance has paid off. Thanks to Star Wars, West End established itself as a leader in the role-playing-game industry, acquiring other popular media licenses; it has since produced role-playing games based on the Indiana Jones films, Tank Girl, Tales from the Crypt, and Men in Black. Today it continues to be the most successful licensing role-playing company in the world.
But West End's work with Star Wars hasn't been confined to the role-playing-game field. The company has coordinated its efforts with Lucasfilm and other Star Wars licensees to guarantee the continuity and retain the spirit of Star Wars in its products. West End editors have offered assistance to authors, answering questions, providing game books for reference, and even reading over rough drafts of novels.
Game sourcebooks have provided technical data used in creating toys and other products based on starships and vehicles. West End staffers helped guide the creation of Decipher's Star Wars Customizable Card Game and Parker Brothers' Star Wars Monopoly. When the information contained in different products all fits together seamlessly, the Star Wars universe seems much more real.
Several West End designers have even moved into the greater Star Wars publishing universe. Bill Slavicsek updated Raymond Velasco's Guide to the Star Wars Universe, incorporating many new additions that maintain continuity with Timothy Zahn's novels, the new comic books, and West End Games sourcebooks. Bill Smith wrote the Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels. Other West End editors have contributed articles to Topps's Star Wars Galaxy Magazine and other periodicals.
Like the movie heroes, these dedicated fans rose from humble beginnings to help shape the Star Wars galaxy.
Although the role-playing game might not be as popular or well-known as other Star Wars licensed products, a dedicated team of writers still works diligently to guide the role-playing adventures of fans as they explore the galaxy. รบ Some of you might be wondering exactly what a role-playing game is, and why Star Wars is so well suited to its purposes.
Simply, a role-playing game is just a more sophisticated version of the children's game "Let's Pretend." Most fans remember when they used to create their own Star Wars adventures, using action figures, a few vehicles, and the living-room furniture. Role-playing games are based on those same creative and imaginative processes.
Role-playing games involve interactive storytelling. A group of friends assumes the various roles of characters in the story, and their choices and actions affect the tale's outcome.
One of these players, the "gamemaster," tells the others what their characters see and hear, and portrays any "supporting cast members" the heroes encounter. Sometimes maps, game pieces, props, and miniature vehicles are used, but most of the action takes place in the participants' imaginations. The outcomes of blaster fights, speeder chases, and other conflicts are decided by simple rules involving the rolling of dice: the better the player rolls, the more successfully his character completes a particular task. Whether a character succeeds or fails at these challenges can dramatically change the story's outcome.
Since the participants are creating their own Star Wars stories, they don't play the actual characters from the films-instead, they create someone like them. Players might choose to be smugglers and Wookiees like Han Solo and Chewbacca. They can be starfighter pilots like Biggs or Dutch, or they can pretend to be aliens like Admiral Ackbar and Bib Fortuna. Since they're not using the movie characters, players may visit places and do things "offscreen. " The Star Wars Roleplaying Game allows fans to explore fascinating areas only hinted at in the films: those other back alleys in Mos Eisley, the white corridors of Cloud City, the Forest Moon of Endor. It lets people create their own Star Wars adventures, complete with heroes and villains, planets, starships, and aliens.
The aim of the Star Wars Adventure Journal is the same: to explore the offscreen characters, planets, conflicts, and stories that fill the Star Wars universe.
When West End started publishing the Journal in 1994, the goal was to create a periodical to support the role-playing game with exciting new stories, game adventures, and Star Wars source material. Under the careful supervision of Lucy Wilson, Sue Rostoni, and Allan Kausch in Lucasfilm's licensing department, the Journal quickly grew into a forum for both established and up-and-coming authors to continue visiting the fascinating Star Wars universe.
Before the Journal, Star Wars publishing was very exclusive.
Only established authors were invited to contribute to a Bantam novel or anthology. Most had solid contacts in the publishing industry.
Writers who had never published a science-fiction novel or two were not considered.
Novels focused on the major heroes, though the anthologies developed some of the background characters from the films more fully.
Everyone wanted stories about Luke, Han, and Leia, but the concept of basing a novel on new characters without the main Star Wars heroes in the spotlight was risky. Would readers buy it?
Authors were permitted to introduce original characters to interact with the major heroes, but once their works were published, the events they narrated became a part of Star Wars continuity.
Writers who created new characters had no other opportunities to develop them unless they were specifically assigned to write future novels. Some authors longed to return to play in the fascinating Star Wars universe.
The Star Wars Adventure Journal began to change all that.
Over time, the Journal became a place where qualified writers from all backgrounds could publish original Star Wars fiction. Every author's bibliography and fiction samples were scrutinized by West End and Lucasfilm-only those whose work was approved received invitations to contribute. Not every submission was accepted. Every article had to live up to West End's and Lucasfilm's high quality standards. The Journal was never a fanzine, although some of its authors had experience writing for such publications. It was a showcase for the best new Star Wars material available.
At first the Journal didn't emphasize short stories-they shared the 288 pages with game adventures and source material. Such regular features as "GalaXywide News-Nets," "Smuggler's Log," and "Wanted by Cracken" introduced new characters, starships, planets, aliens, and conflicts in the Star Wars universe, and offered ways to use them in the role-playing game. At the time of their publication in the Journal, all fiction pieces contained game information and sidebars offering tips for integrating elements from short stories into the game.
Subsequent issues unveiled the works of more polished authors and a rising level of excellence. At Lucasfilm's encouragement-and due to the increase in the quality of short-story submissions-the number of fiction articles grew.
The Journal became a source for Star Wars short stories inhabited by characters other than those familiar to fans of the movies. It was one of the few places where authors without a novel under their belt could officially write new Star Wars fiction. A generation of new writers created their own heroes: CorSec agents, cynical smugglers, rogue Dark Jedi, Rebel commando teams. Established authors returned to their favorite characters and created new ones. Everyone had a chance to roam around the universe they knew and loved.
The Journal created a whole series of Star Wars stories that set off into unexplored territory. It gave authors a special opportunity to write for their favorite film setting and expand the scope of the Star Wars galaxy.
I spent my childhood playing with Star Wars action figures, listening to the sound tracks, collecting trading cards, and reading novels and comic books. These kept the characters and myths of the movie alive in my imagination at a time when household VCRs were still rare.
The Star Wars records-which appealed to my love for music-sparked images of the film in my mind. The trading cards brought movie scenes and characters back to life. Comic books developed plots and characters beyond the end of the film. The action figures helped me tell my own stories. My interest in Star Wars survived through the long years of waiting for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
As I grew older, though, I soon found other pursuits to occupy my time.
One of those was a strange new hobby called "role-playing games."
Several kids in my neighborhood started playing something called Dungeons and Dragons. I watched them play once and it didn't seem too hard. Instead of wondering where I could buy a copy, I created my own fantasy role-playing game for my friends.
It wasn't particularly ingenious, nor did it capture the complexities that were to appear in current role-playing games-but it was fun.
Eventually I bought Dungeons and Dragons, the first of many role-playing games in practically every genre: fantasy, science fiction, historical. These provided an outlet for my creativity. I enjoyed running games for friends and creating my own adventures.
The Star Wars films fostered an interest in science fiction and fantasy literature that followed me into high school. All my spare money was used to purchase science fiction novels in the local bookstore. I read Moorcock's Ebic series, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and anything by Larry Niven. All this reading inspired me to dream up my own characters, worlds, and technologies, which eventually appeared in my own (admittedly mediocre) sci-fi stories.
I combined my role-playing-game and science-fiction hobbies by creating my own simple science-fiction board games, complete with intricate maps, counters, and cards.
My friends and I played them often, though we didn't think they'd amount to much in the long term. How often does having fun develop into a lucrative career?
When I reached college age, I was determined to hone my writing skills and put them to use penning science-fiction epics of my own.
Throughout my years at Hamilton College, I dabbled in science fiction-reading a lot of it and writing some of my own (better by now). I broadened my writing and publishing experience by reporting and typesetting for the college newspaper. My creative-writing professors encouraged me to explore other areas, such as poetry and historical fiction (which eventually became another hobby of mine). I even tested my organizational skills by coordinating the Hamilton College Writers Society.
During one summer vacation, I discovered treasure buried in the science-fiction shelves of the local bookstore: the Star Wars Role-playing Game. Two of my favorite hobbies-Star Wars and role-playing-had been merged. I bought the book on the spot.
Over the next few years, my friends and I occasionally explored the Star Wars role-playing universe during game sessions. We created our own legendary characters-he-roes like the outlaw Dirk Harkness, and villains like the mysterious bounty hunter Beylyssa. Through our imaginations, we explored strange planets, escaped carefully laid Imperial traps, and blasted stormtroopers at every turn.
For a few nights between semesters, Star Wars lived again in the minds of our gaming crew.
The Star Wars Role-playing Game was just that: a game, a pleasant pastime to fill college breaks, a hobby left over from childhood. Most childhood diversions, however, eventually crumble under the intimidating weight of the "real world," and with graduation from college, I was prepared to succumb to the inevitable nine-to-five drudgery of the workplace. No matter how much I loved Star Wars and role-playing, they could never provide me with a viable career. Not that I didn't try, mind you. I sent a few resumes out to game companies, including West End, but, as is often the case, most companies required a few years' experience in the industry. I had to start at one of the lower rungs on the publishing ladder.
As a recently graduated creative-writing major, I was well suited for a job in journalism: reporting for my hometown weekly newspaper was the only publishing job I could find. I spent two years reporting on town meetings, school events, and interesting people in the community.
While this doesn't sound glamorous, I absorbed things every writer and editor should know. I learned how to meet deadlines, how to revise my writing to make it clear and exciting, and how to choose words and organize paragraphs to express my ideas clearly.
After two years, I was promoted to editor in chief when the previous editor stepped down. This new job quickly taught me how to be a team leader. Now I was critiquing reporters' stories, working with them to produce great articles. I got a crash course in public relations as I was forced to deal with the innumerable publicity seekers who plague small newspapers with their personal agendas, political crusades, and town-government conspiracy theories.
Although I was living at home, I was close to my Star Wars gaming friends. We continued our fantastic adventures through the Outer Rim Territories, freeing aliens from despotic slavers, infiltrating secret Imperial research bases, and escorting undercover Rebel agents on luxurious starliners.
We soon discovered we were not alone in our passion for Star Wars. A new novel called Heir to the Empire seemed to herald the dawn of a new Star Wars age. New comic books also began to appear. As soon as we heard that another Timothy Zahn Star Wars novel had been published, we ran to the bookstore. Our gaming crew scanned the new comic-book releases for Star Wars material.
We were not alone in the universe-Star Wars fans everywhere were emerging from their slumber.
Change was in the air, and I began to think that if I could find the right job in the gaming industry, I'd be able to realize my dream of combining Star Wars, writing, and role-playing games.
With a year's worth of editing experience under my belt, I decided to try breaking into the gaming industry again. My first choice was West End for two reasons: the company was only three hours from my home in Connecticut, and it possessed the license for my favorite film-related role-playing game.
After I mailed my resume and made a few phone calls, I was invited to meet West End's senior staffers and managers in their nondescript brown warehouse/office in rural northeastern Pennsylvania. I walked into the interview carrying a folder with my resume and a few samples of my newspaper work. I also brought along a positive attitude and my love for Star Wars... and when I left the office, I was editor of the Star Wars Adventure Journal.
Since that day four years ago, I've worked with many authors.
Some proved to be up-and-coming writers, others were New York Times best-selling Star Wars authors. Most suffered through my long, meticulous critique letters and rambling phone conversations. I hope some have learned to become better writers through our work.
Many of the new authors could have been viewed as risks. A beginning writer's work often needs more polishing than a story by an experienced author, but the end result is often well worth the effort.
The Journal is proof that these risks have paid off. Those who made it through the months of writing, waiting, and revision have added their names to the growing list of published Star Wars authors.
In this anthology, you'll meet some of them.
My first mission in establishing the Journal was to find a New York Times best-selling author to create a story for the premiere issue.
West End had developed a good rapport with Timothy Zahn, whose novels were already the inspiration for two game sourcebooks. I contacted Tim, who turned out to be extremely friendly and willing to help.
At the time, he was not scheduled to write any more Star Wars novels-this story assignment would be a chance for him to return to some of his favorite characters.
Though he wanted to develop his archvillain, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Tim decided to write a background story for Talon Karrde. (Tim would investigate bits of Thrawn's past in subsequent Journal stories-"Mist Encounter" in Journal 7 and "Command Decision" in Journal 11.) "First Contact" revealed some of Talon Karrde's activities before the time covered by Heir to the Empire, confirming the smuggler's penchant for cleverly naming his starships along the way. The story is a brilliant display of Tim's ability to lead readers through a complex and devious tale packed with surprises.
After "First Contact," Tim contributed to other West End Games Star Wars products, including the DarkStryder campaign. Although he'd never worked on role-playing games before, Tim participated in several charity games where he has portrayed Talon Karrde and Grand Admiral Thrawn. He proved to be just as devious and scheming in role-playing games as he is in his fiction.
Convincing Timothy Zahn to write for the Journal was the first challenge. The next was to encourage other mainstream authors to contribute. Kathy Tyers was an obvious choice. After The Truce at Bakura, she had stayed active in Star Wars publishing through the various anthologies, just finishing a short story for the then-unpublished Star Wars: Tales of the Bounty Hunters anthology.
She wanted to do more with a character she created for that story: Tinian I'att.
While "Tinian on Trial" was characteristic Star Wars fare, with its aliens and stormtroopers, Kathy's fiction treated many deeper emotional themes involving sacrifice, love, and freedom. Readers were also treated to a sneak peek at the story to come in Tales of the Bounty Hunters, which wasn't published until all three Tinian stories appeared in the Journal.
Michael A. Stackpole also offered the Journal a preview of his upcoming Star Wars fiction-' 'Missed Chance" appeared six months before Rogue Squadron went on sale.
Mike's X-Wing books showed that characters other than the main heroes could support an entire novel. Mike has been combining game worlds and fiction for many years working in the role-playing-game industry since it began in the 1970s. Besides writing numerous game adventures, he's authored several novels based in role-playing settings for the Dark Conspiracy and BattleTech games. He's a good example of an author with promise making it in the major leagues of publishing.
While working with mainstream science-fiction writers was exciting, discovering talented new authors was truly rewarding. They were struggling to balance career and writing, hammering out short stories in their spare time.
These people were the Star Wars fans who could be the notable science-fiction writers of the future.
I first met one of these, Patricia A. Jackson, at Sci-Con, a science-fiction convention in Virginia Beach, where she was rather outspoken during a panel discussion on freelance writing, and she later turned up when I ran a Star Wars role-playing-game adventure. Two weeks later, a manuscript turned up on my desk: a Star Wars story patched together from the characters and events of our game. I quickly learned that role-playing-game adven tures-though they're fun while you're playing them-do not automatically make good short stories.
But Patty would not be discouraged. Her next story had a solid first draft, and was revised until it was fit for publication.
It was the first of many fiction submissions. She was particularly proud of "The Final Exit," a story whose foreboding atmosphere closely matches the personality of Dark Jedi Adalric Brandi.
Patty has become one of the Journal's regular contributors. We still see each other at gaming and science-fiction conventions, and the two of us run a small writers workshop every year at Sci-Con.
Charlene Newcomb had contributed to every Journal when "A Certain Point of View" appeared. Up to then, all her stories had focused on a character she created called Alex Winger, the daughter of an Imperial Governor who was secretly working to free her planet from the Empire.
Before "Point of View," Charlene finished the latest Alex Winger story and was wondering where to go from there.
To help inspire her, I sent her a copy of a painting that had once adorned an old Star Wars game adventure. It showed a ship's officer and several aliens playing a hologame.
I told Charlene to write a story involving this scene so I could feature the color artwork in the Journal. She went to work and submitted "A Certain Point of View," in the plot of which she managed to highlight several elements of the painting. Framed by a large viewport, the picture reveals a greenish nebula swirling in the distance: a hazardous section of space called the Maelstrom. One of the aliens represented in it holds a large goblet-the helmet of an approaching stormtrooper is reflected in its glassy surface. In her story, Charlene even integrated source material about the Maelstrom and the starliner that originally appeared in the game adventure. The story provides a nice bridge between short fiction and previously published game material.
Most Journal authors concentrate on one area: source material, game adventures, or short stories. Tony Russo covered all the bases.
His source articles have taken readers to Sevarcos, a world of Imperial prisons and swash-buckling spice lords, introduced them to an elite mercenary commando team, and explored the tyrannical holdings of the Pentastar Alignment. In his adventure, players had to try to free a frontier colony from the iron grasp of a crime lord. His story "Blaze of Glory" successfully combined the excitement and character interaction of a game adventure with source material about a commando team, all in the form of a short story.
Erin Endom, who practices and teaches pediatric emergency medicine, merged her medical knowledge and the drama of her job in a Journal story. "Do No Harm" is a good example of how new fiction can focus on and explore facets of the Star Wars universe otherwise glimpsed just offscreen. While many stories focus on Rebel commandos making desperate raids against Imperial forces, few contemplate the emotions of normally peaceful people who injure and kill others in battle. By demonstrating the conflict within a combat medic charged with saving lives, Erin brought a different perspective to the war between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance.
Angela Phillips also provided a new perspective on the Star Wars universe with her story "Slaying Dragons." Her young heroine, Shannon, has ambitions similar to characters in the Star Wars films-to rise from humble beginnings and make a difference in the galaxy. Her story is notable for its merging of the medieval theme of dragon slaying and the movie mystique of the noble Jedi Knights.
Laurie Burns started by using her experience as a newspaper reporter in her Journal story "Kella Rand Reporting."
By the time she submitted "Retreat from Coruscant," she had moved on to integrating her characters into the more significant events in the Star Wars chronology.
She chose to involve her independent courier in the New Republic's flight from Coruscant that occurred just before events in Dark Horse Comics' Dark Empire series.
In writing, Laurie did her homework-while fitting her fiction into existing continuity, she included appearances by Garm Bel Iblis, Mara Jade, and Colonel Jak Bremen, characters Timothy Zahn created in his Star Wars trilogy.
That is perhaps one of the most exciting parts of working on the Journal: expanding the breadth of the Star Wars universe. Since it's a licensed publication, all the material becomes an official part of the continuity. Where else could a kid with a wild imagination and dreams of writing science fiction create stories based on the most popular films of all time? Stories that unfold in a galaxy where two bantering droids deliver plans for an Imperial super-weapon, where a scoundrel smuggler becomes a selfless hero, and where a simple moisture farmer is transformed into the last Jedi Knight.
This anthology is the culmination of four years of adventure.
Like the throne-room scene at the end of Star Wars, it is certainly not the end of the saga, only a momentary triumph before we return to work.
As Journal editor, I do not stand alone; I've been blessed to work with some very talented individuals from across the Star Wars licensing universe. Like any epic adventure, we meet important people along the way who help us achieve our goals. The Journal owes a lot to those heroes working behind the scenes. West End's Richard Hawran, Jeff Kent, and Daniel Scott Palter have provided support and much-needed encouragement as the Journal grew from an idea to an illustrated, 288-page quarterly magazine. None of this would have been possible without the imaginative vision and perseverance of George Lucas.
Lucasfilm's Sue Rostoni helped guide the Journal's initial format and content, while Allan Kausch continued his meticulous patrol over continuity and quality. Timothy Zahn, Kathy Tyers, and Michael A.
Stackpole have delighted readers (and editors) with stories in which they return to the characters and galaxy they love.
Up-and-coming authors have contributed stories that expand the Star Wars galaxy's scope and still live up to Lucasfilm's standards of excellence.
The Journal has been a place where writers can realize their Star Wars dreams. These authors have risen from their humble beginnings to make a difference-however small in the grand scope of the Star Wars universe in the galaxy far, far away they love so much. They all have stories to tell, tales that began as playful musings and imaginative romps through George Lucas's Star Wars playground.
You're about to read some.
I did like Rogue one....
And major Kudo's to FFG for bringing an anniversary copy of WEG (and X-Wing). Allowing me to have fun and wax nostalgic.
Edited by Cr0aker