Q: One of the fascinating things about the Legacy series so far is how it reveals the fault lines that have always existed in the relationships of the Solo and Skywalker families: between husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, parents and children. That’s certainly at the heart of Bloodlines.
KT: I’m not sure the fault lines are the issue, actually. But what’s great in one part of your life can turn out to be exactly the same thing that isn’t so great later. Real people don’t change that much at a fundamental level—although we show growth and epiphany in character arcs, of course, because that’s the nature of fiction—but the circumstances shift and what was your saving grace in your youth can make you a liability in your middle years and older. Take Han—his stubborn independence was terrific when the Empire needed overthrowing, but decades later, when the Solos and Skywalkers are part of the ruling elite themselves, the power brokers, he’s a problem for Luke. Whatever happened to the farm boy and the space bum? They grew up, and the galaxy changed.
Bloodlines is more about the pain that families can cause you, and how you can’t ever walk away from family completely. Only people you love and trust can hurt you, and most of the characters find that out in spades.
Q: I understand that you and your fellow writers are working in sequence on the series: first Allston, then you, then Denning, and so on. How closely do you three keep in touch? And are you already writing book five?
KT: Yes, it’s a juggling act. We stay in touch by e-mail, but the real anchors are the editors, Shelly Shapiro at Del Rey and Sue Rostoni at Lucasfilm. Readers might think that it’s a simple sequential thing—that each author reads what the previous one has written and picks up from it—but it can’t work that way at all. We’ve all got different work commitments, and we all write at different speeds. I’m naturally a very fast, immersive writer—four or five weeks per book now I’m writing full time, and that’s for all my novels, not just Star Wars—and I already have contractual commitments to other publishers built around the Legacy schedule that mean I can’t wait for someone to finish their book before I deliver mine. I have to turn it in on the due date and get on with the next book. That’s where the real discipline of writing as a team comes in: you stick to the outline you agreed with Lucasfilm and Del Rey, and you let everyone know if you need to change stuff. No surprises. Of course, that can’t possibly cover every single line in a book, so the editors are there playing long stop and fielding detail that might get missed. The creases get ironed out on revisions. The key to it is communicating throughout the process.
Q: What other projects are you working on now?
KT: I’m finishing the fifth book in my Wess’har series for HarperCollins, and then I’ll be going back to Sacrifice, LOTF #5. At the moment my schedule means I’ll probably switch to another series after that—can’t mention that one yet—and then I’ll go back to book six of the Wess’har arc, which is the final book in that six-part story. Then it’s back to Legacy again. That takes me to March 1, 2007, but somehow in that period I also have to fit in short fiction and what I’ll just call Other Projects at this stage…
If I had three wishes, they’d all be: “Get more sleep.”
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BETRAYAL
Aaron Allston
Hardcover—On Sale Now
$25.95/$34.95 in Canada
0-345-47734-0
BLOODLINES
Karen Traviss
Mass market—On Sale 8/29/06
0-345-47751-0
TEMPEST
Troy Denning
Mass market—On Sale 11/28/06
0-345-47752-9
EXILE
Aaron Allston
Mass market—On Sale 3/06/07
0-345-47753-7
SACRIFICE
Karen Traviss
Hardcover—On Sale 6/05/07
0-345-47740-5
INFERNO
Troy Denning
Mass market—On Sale 9/04/07
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UNTITLED #7
Aaron Allston
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0-345-47756-1
UNTITLED #8
Karen Traviss
Mass market—On Sale 3/04/08
0-345-47757-X
UNTITLED #9
Troy Denning
Hardcover—On Sale 6/03/08
0-345-47746-4
By Karen Traviss
CITY OF PEARL
CROSSING THE LINE
THE WORLD BEFORE
STAR WARS: REPUBLIC COMMANDO: HARD CONTACT
STAR WARS: REPUBLIC COMMANDO: TRIPLE ZERO
STAR WARS: LEGACY OF THE FORCE: BLOODLINES
Star Wars: Boba Fett: A Practical Man is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
A Del Rey Books E-book Original
Copyright © 2006 by Lucasfilm Ltd. & ® or ™ where indicated.
All Rights Reserved. Used under authorization.
Excerpts from Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Betrayal and Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Bloodlines copyright © 2006 by Lucasfilm Ltd. & ® or ™ where indicated. All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization.
Published in the United States by Del Rey Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
DEL REY is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
This book contains excerpts from the books Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Betrayal by Aaron Allston and Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Bloodlines by Karen Traviss. These excerpts have been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the printed editions.
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eISBN: 978-0-345-49509-9
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