
Click on the
era symbol for description
Click on the title to
go that particular era
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |

Out-of-Print & Unpublished Stories

The
History of Space Opera

Lost (and found) Star Wars stories |


Articles, columns and quotes in defense of the Star
Wars Expanded Universe!

The goal of the all-volunteer,
non-profit
Twin Suns Foundation
is to promote reading and writing around the world,
and serve as the voice for the Star Wars Expanded
Universe Movement! Fundraisers, book donations,
billboards, check 'em all out today!

Eddie Van Der Heidjen's amazingly exhaustive page! |

Robert Mullin's
wildly unique chronology project attempts to fuse
the EU canon with Disney's.
|
 |

Long forgotten,
un-reprinted Star Wars adventures and nonfiction
literature |

TBone's famous Star
Wars site include cut-scenes, scripts, and so much
more! |

Plif lives with
Marvel Star Wars stats and loads of fun pages! |

Fascinating study of
the changes made to the original trilogy |

This site's original pre-Filoni Clone Wars Timeline |

The Clone Wars Viewing Order |

Another chronology of
the Clone Wars incorporates older stories in
relation to the animated series |

Everything you always
wanted to know about the Star Wars Holiday Special! |
|
 |
| |
 |
This long lost novel, commissioned and approved by
Lucasfilm, and set to be released in 1993, disappeared without a
trace. For many years fans wondered what became of the book and why
it was never published, and so it was chalked up to yet another tragic "lostworlds"
story that no one would ever get to read or enjoy... or so we thought!
Kenneth C. Flint's complete novel The Heart of the Jedi has at last
been unearthed!
* Note the cover mockup was made
by me based on an image from artist Paul Shipper. No copyright
infringement is intended or implied. For a look at all of Paul's
amazing artwork, please go to his page
here.
|
The Heart of the Jedi
Darth Vader and the Emperor are no more.
The Alliance has officially become the New
Republic.
As Han Solo, Princess Leia and new Chief-of-State
Mon Mothma
emerge triumphant against the diminishing Empire,
the Imperial Remnant
fights on until the long-silent Imperial Senate
rises up to call for peace. But not
everyone wants peace, and High Admiral Tharkus
has made plans to ensure the Empire
will reemerge under his rule. At his side stands
the mysterious
Dioskouroi, beings
of rare and
deadly powers! For Luke Skywalker, exhausted from
years of fighting, the time has come to depart
upon a journey of discovery, a journey that will
lead him to a secret long ago hidden by Obi-Wan Kenobi.
|
THE HEART OF THE JEDI
E-Book (Requires
e-reader)
AUDIO BOOK
BIO
BEHIND THE SCENES
EDITING
NOTES
Find Ken's
other books at:
http://www.amazon.com/Kenneth-C.-Flint/e/B001HPFIWC
See his
author Facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kenneth-C-Flint-Author/295987127198404
|
Kenneth C. Flint Bio
Kenneth C. Flint is the published author of eighteen fantasy, horror, and
suspense novels including the best-selling Sidhe series based on
Celtic myth. He has also published various other fiction and nonfiction
works including two Star Wars short stories and a history of 1820's Fort
Atkinson. His newest novel, Ironclad, is a Civil War adventure
about a Confederate terrorist attack on Washington D.C. with the world's
first Weapon of Mass Destruction.
His fantasy books--a combination of legend, history, and adventure--have
been reissued in E Book format by Double Dragon Publications and are
available for Kindle through Amazon. New novels are also being published
including sci-fi, fantasy, history, and ancient Irish myth.
In addition to his writing, Ken is a writing instructor at the University
of Nebraska at Omaha and Metropolitan Community College in Omaha Nebraska.
He is also a historic interpreter at reconstructed Fort Atkinson in
Nebraska with his family, which includes his wife, two sons,
daughter-in-law, and two grandsons.
|
The History of
Heart of the Jedi and How it
Didn't Get Published
By Kenneth C. Flint
In 1991, I was making my living as an author. I was
writing two books a year for Spectra, the sci-fi-fantasy imprint of Bantam
Doubleday Dell. I’d had twelve books published, with a seven book
backlist and a million books in print. I had just signed a new two book
contract with Spectra, with titles to be decided later. Then I got an
exciting word from my editor.
Because of the success of a hardcover Star Wars
trilogy by Timothy Zahn, Lucasfilm had asked Spectra to publish an
additional series of paperbacks. Spectra had searched through its stable
for suitable authors, sending copies of our works to Lucasfilm for
selection. My books were Celtic-based
sword-and sorcery, but my Sidhe series books were a fantasy/sci-fi
combination, and a review of Riders of the Sidhe said it
“has enough derring-do for at least one Lucas film.”
Apparently George Lucas thought so too, because I was
told he had personally selected me to do a Star Wars book. Even better,
I would be writing Book One of the proposed series, taking place
immediately after the second Death Star is destroyed [Note: This would
have been followed by Margaret Weiss’ Legacy of Doom, with both
books to be preceded by Jim Baikie’s Exiles of the Force four-part
comic-book mini-series from Dark Horse Comics. Weiss later stated that
she'd had a disagreement with Lucasfilm, and Baikie’s series was cancelled
–Ed.] Being a crazy big Star Wars fan (I saw the first movie seven times
in the theater and drank my coffee from a Star Wars mug), you can imagine
how thrilled I was.
I was given pretty much free rein on developing my
plot, other than that it should take place
immediately after the second Death Star is destroyed. I up front
figured it would be most logical to deal with a defeated but not destroyed
Empire, its military desperately trying to regroup and retaliate against
the Alliance, while other elements sought to make peace. Along with this
was my assumption that I had to deal with what Luke Skywalker had become,
and where he was going as a Jedi.
I spent the first months developing an outline and
submitted it to my editor. I want to make the point, here, that I
never, throughout all this, communicated directly with the Lucasfilm
people or knew who they were. I worked for Spectra, and everything came
through my editor. But I was told, and very honored to hear, that
George Lucas himself had approved my plot, with one specific alteration—I
had shown Sand People without their masks, and he said that that must
never happen.
I spent most of the next
year writing that book, putting my own books aside. My primary
sources were the movies themselves, which I watched over-and-over (often
in slo-mo), and a Star Wars Sourcebook for game players from West End
Games that Lucasfilm supplied. By the end of 1992 I had a draft ready. I
sent it in and waited… and waited. When I inquired as to how it was going,
my editor said that the process of the Star Wars project had stalled as
they developed the rest of the series. And she still had to go through it
herself before sending it to Lucasfilm for their assessment. I believed
her. Why not? I finally got a list of mostly minor stuff and started
revisions.
After more months passed, I heard from my editor that
“things were moving ahead again with the Star Wars project.”
I finished my revisions and submitted it. Again, I was told the Lucas
people approved it. In fact, they said they “quite liked it.”
Then I waited. Yet
more months went by. I heard nothing. Stupidly, I had no agent
through all this. I didn’t think I needed one, as I’d always dealt
directly with Spectra and been fairly treated.
Finally, growing concerned, I contacted an agent who contacted Spectra.
He discovered only then that Spectra had determined my book couldn’t be
published because it “no longer fit into the sequence for the new
series.”
I was told that this
happened because of my Spectra editor. She had supposedly promised
another author of the group (a friend of hers, according to one source)
that her book would be placed in Position One. This apparently accounted
for the “delays” that I had been told about, while she wrote her own book
to slip into my slot while I sat idle and ignorant of what was happening
for months. I have made a point of not knowing who this other author is,
and I have never been able to bring myself to read her book, or any other
of the subsequent series, saddened that this so violated my love of
everything Star Wars.
Did I confront Lucasfilm and try to fight this
situation? Nope. I didn’t know who to contact or how, remember. I
worked for Spectra. I had no resources of my own, I was pitifully naïve,
and I felt pretty much powerless by that point.
Oh, they graciously let
me keep the ten thousand dollar advance. And they threw me a bone letting
me still do two Star Wars short stories (for Tales from Jabba’s Palace
and Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina), but I was done otherwise.
None of my own books came out as the debacle went on (I would
normally have published four new ones during this time).
I lost my backlist of Irish books. Because
of the long delay, my family pretty much lived on my advance for two years
on expectation of the eventual payday from the Star Wars book.
This basically destroyed
my relationship with Spectra and my career as I writer. I felt completely
betrayed, and I was so depressed that I quit writing for years. Needing
money to support my family with two young sons, I found a job as a
Publications Consultant (meaning, tech writer) and, after another ten
years, finally made up the financial loss of being all but unemployed for
two years.
Finally, nearing sixty years old and with the boys
both adults and employed, I decided to semi-retire and work on a book idea
that had enthused me enough to try writing again… But not sci-fi or
fantasy. It was to be a Civil War adventure with a Jules Vernesque
plotline that had a band of Confederate agents trying to save the South by
destroying Washington DC with the world’s first Weapon of Mass
Destruction. It would be called NITRO!
I went back to teaching as an English department
adjunct for the University of Nebraska at Omaha (my alma mater) and got
the book written. I then discovered that, nowadays, an author of fiction
can’t even submit a book to a publisher without going through an agent.
I searched for an agent for a couple of years, but
found no one. It seems that unless they are sure they can sell a specific
book of yours, they won’t handle you. I guess that seems fair. And I had
been out of the business (by my own choice) a long time.
But then I got a new chance. An online publisher
agreed to put out all my old novels as e-books. He also published my new
book, now called Ironclad.
I’ve written other things too, since then. My family
does living history at the reconstructed 1820’s frontier outpost called
Fort Atkinson (near Omaha). I started a series of historical novels based
at the place, and got a history book of the fort published through
Arcadia.
So my old fans can still find my books through
Amazon. But, man, I’d love to get Ironclad put out as a
physical book, and I still have ideas for other fantasy, sci-fi, and
horror plots, plus the twenty or so other Celtic/Irish books I’d still
like to write. I think I’ve got at least a few viable years of authorship
in me. (So, if anybody knows of somebody who’d like to represent me, I am
ready to start writing two books a year again.) Otherwise, I am quite
content teaching some writing classes and being the school time daycare
for my two grandsons, age 3 years and 6 months.
|
EDITING
NOTES
As there have
been some questions regarding the editing process for The Heart of the
Jedi, I'd like to briefly
clarify the process by which Ken and
I approached this manuscript.
As a professional editor and writer, and
owner of a small-press publishing
company (www.theroyalpublisherofoz.com), I've read dozens of manuscripts from both established authors and new
talents, and can say with certainty that every manuscript requires some kind of editing,
some of it in areas of grammar, punctuation and spelling, and other
relatively minor things that if not caught can annoy or distract the
reader. At times, there are more serious structural issues,
narrative problems or character concerns that need to be addressed.
When dealing
with works that are part of a larger series (like the Oz books
or Star Wars), there's an additional task that's just as important, and
that is ensuring harmonious
continuity across the spectrum of the series. While some readers are
better at reconciling contradictions internally, for others, there are few
things as aggravating as continuity errors. Contradictions great and
small can take the reader out of the story by spoiling the necessary
verisimilitude of the individual narrative and larger series.
Hypothetically, had Lucasfilm/Del Rey opted to publish The Heart of the
Jedi today, they would have edited it with continuity in mind.
As the manuscript fell to me to publish, I've taken that responsibility to
heart (no pun intended). I'm grateful too that author Ken Flint was
enthusiastic about that process. Since the story did not have any
serious structural, narrative or character issues, my goal was to keep it
as close to what you would have read in 1993 as possible. By the
same token, I believe, as do many of you who've contacted me, that the
story deserves its place in continuity.
You might
think this would have amounted to a monumental endeavor, but in the final
analysis, very little was altered from the original manuscript, and what
small changes were made were either authored or approved by Mr. Flint. This remains his work.
The majority of continuity issues had to
do with its placement in time. Originally, the story would have come out
a short while after the Battle of Endor. With Truce at Bakura and
the post-Jedi Marvel series in that spot, it was a simple matter of
shifting it over a few weeks. Also, in the section where the Imperials,
Tharkos and Kantos, are discussing the shapeshifter, I've changed the
dialogue slightly so that it's clear they're aware of the existence of
other shapeshifters, particularly since Clawdites and Shi'ido are known in
the galaxy, and it would have been odd if such high ranking Imperials had
spoken as if they'd never heard of such a thing as a shapeshifter before.
I also changed
the name of a planet, which had originally been called Gathol, to Galvoni
III. Gathol struck a little too close to Kathol (first mentioned in
Star Wars: Galaxy Guide 2: Yavin and Bespin, by West End Games, but
later explored in depth in the DarkStryder Campaign and its
sequels), which has a very
specific etymology. Galvoni III’s scant
history fitted just as well with the narrative that Flint was telling.
This and a few other minor name updates to match with established
continuity are the
most overt changes I've instituted, and I recognize that for some
that might prove jarring since, for example, Clawdites weren't invented
until
2002 for Attack of the Clones. But that's how the Star Wars
Expanded Universe has always worked, and I don't see any reason why this
story should be treated with any less consideration. Apart from a few examples
like these and some very minor issues (e.g., spelling, grammar, trimmed
dialogue), indicative of the editing process for any story, The Heart
of the Jedi remains essentially the same as it was in 1993.
I hope this
helps readers to understand the process a little better. It's not every
day we get to read a lost story, particularly from the early
Bantam era, and at a time when there are no more Expanded Universe books
or comics coming out. This book is certainly something to be thankful
for, particularly to author Ken Flint for his love in sharing it with all
us! Thank you, Ken!
~Joe Bongiorno
|
|