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Arizona author forces his way into bookstores

Millions of "Star Wars" fans across the country are discovering this week that the story of Luke Skywalker and company is far from over.

In fact, a new chapter of the "Star Wars" saga is unfolding right now under the subtitle "New Jedi Order."

But don't expect to find this latest series installment at the local megaplex.

Michael Stackpole, Arizona-based author of "New Jedi Order: Onslaught," has continued the adventures of the Jedi Knights in part of the "Star Wars" book series. Stackpole's book is the first installment in the new "Dark Tide" series.

Beginning as an award-winning game designer, he became a New York Times best-selling author for his work in the "Star Wars" galaxy.

In his newest book, Stackpole set out to create a story that would live up to fans' expectations and tie into a larger project materialized by the "Star Wars" parent company, Lucasfilm.

Stackpole says the biggest challenge he faced during the creation of "Dark Tide" was maintaining balance throughout the story lines and continuity throughout the novels.

Stackpole describes the story line of this project, called the "New Jedi Order," as a slight departure from the movies themselves.

"Rather than face the Empire again, in 'New Jedi Order' we have an invasion from outside the 'Star Wars' galaxy," Stackpole said. "In 'Onslaught' and 'Ruin' - the second part of the 'Dark Tide' series - the invasion gets pushed into high gear, with worlds falling and a lot of nasty battling."

Stackpole also said authors make an attempt of epic proportions when writing for the series.

"Writing these novels was like writing about Napoleon's retreat from Russia, from the French point of view. No fun to be had by our heroes," he said.

And those heroes include a number of legendary figures.

"You get to see most of the main characters from the saga - Luke, Leia, Han," said Stackpole.

There will also be a number of original and exciting characters, including some new Jedi and some characters from the Yuuzhan Vong - the bad guys in the "New Jedi Order" series.

"Writing (the Yuuzhan Vong) was tough, but fun," Stackpole said. "I wanted to make them very savage, very scary. I think they are driven and relentless, with their own twisted logic, more of which you get to explore in 'Ruin.' As for a comparison with the Empire, they are nastier than Stormtroopers, but not quite as bad as Darth Vader. At least, not all of them."

Also joining the cast is a name already familiar to many series fans - Mara Jade Skywalker, wife of Luke.

Stackpole said this marriage, which he portrays in the comic book series "Union" added a problematic dimension to the Star Wars saga.

"The work went normally until the last issue," he said. "About halfway through, I stopped and said, 'shucks, I'm marrying off an icon.' I got chills with the idea. So far the response to the series has been great, so I'm very happy.

Stackpole enjoys writing for the Star Wars series, both for personal and professional reasons.

"Writing for Star Wars is great fun, since the universe is so alive and has so much depth," he said. "It's also fun to work with other authors, tossing things back and forth to make stories link together. And it's a challenge, knowing folks will nit-pick the work, but I like that challenge."

Despite the challenge, the novels gave him the opportunity for a close examination of a cultural phenomenon.

"'Star Wars' is a universe that is very mythic and has a great capacity for telling grand stories," Stackpole says. "That diversity allows me to tell the kinds of stories I like. I get to explore things that readers want explored and bring my spin to them. It's . a sacred duty, given how so many folks feel about 'Star Wars.'"

When he sat down to write his first "Star Wars" book, the 1996 bestseller "Rogue Squadron," Stackpole had to wade through a lot of text.

"(I had) about a metric ton of books to use for research," he said. "I went through them, found the data I needed, learned a lot of other things, and used those elements to make sure the story hooks very well into the 'Star Wars' universe."