[.ca] Tales from the Empire: Stories from Star Wars Adventure ... (ISBN 0553578766)

The adventures continue in this fine Star Wars anthology....:
Even though George Lucas' six-film Star Wars saga focuses intensely on a relatively small group of characters (the Skywalker family and the various Jedi and Sith Lords that tied their personal destiny to that of the rise and fall of the Galactic Empire), its setting ("a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....") was, and still is, a very huge canvas onto which many other stories can be easily included. Many fans, either by playing with their action figures as children or by writing fan fiction, created their own personal additions to the Star Wars universe and, at least in their own imagination, took part in the noble struggle between good and evil that's one of the building blocks of this modern day mythology. Eventually, as Peter Schweighofer, editor of Tales From the Empire, writes in his introduction to this 1997 anthology of short stories, the action figures were put away and the fan fiction stories stashed away in drawers or file cabinets, but the fans' appetite for new Star Wars stories -- on film and on the printed page -- never really went away. And with the 1991 publication of Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire, the fans received a cornucopia of "further adventures" featuring not only the beloved heroes from the movies but a whole new cast of allies and adversaries. Tales From the Empire is a collection of nine short stories that first appeared in West End Games' Star Wars Adventure Journal, plus a short novel (Side Trip) co-written by two of the best writers of Star Wars fiction, Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole. Most of these brief excursions into Lucas' galaxy are set during the time of the Galactic Civil War and/or the first few years of the post-Endor New Republic era, with entirely original characters -- Darth Vader makes a cameo in the Zahn/Stackpole novel and events that took place in the films (the Death Star's destruction at Yavin) are mentioned in passing -- that inhabit the millions of star systems in the strife-torn vastness of space. Although the stories by Kathy Tyers (The Truce at Bakura), Stackpole (the X-Wing series creator), and Zahn are as well-written as their published Star Wars novels, credit must also be given to lesser known writers as Tony Russo, Laurie Burns, and Angela Phillips, whose tale of a young hacker ("slicer" in Star Wars terminology) who joins the Rebellion in the face of her parents' opposition ("Slaying Dragons") is among the best pieces of short fiction I have read in a while.

Stories before the final Rebellion victory:
In this book are presented stories of the time shortly before the fall of the Empire. The best of the lot are those by Zahn and Stackpole, fleshing out the past of some of the characters they created. We learn how Mara Jade and Talon Karrde hooked up, how Corran Horn joined the Rebellion, and how Thrawn and Corran cooperated before the Emperor's death. While the other stories are generally good, some are slow. Note that all these stories originally appeared in the Star Wars Adventure Journal, so you might have read some or all of them in the past.

Star Wars:
This is one of those collection of Star Wars short stories that mentions the main characters (Luke, Han, Leia, etc.) really only briefly, if at all. This book fills in some of the gaps in the stories of some of the less known characters. It is an interesting read though.

Star Wars on a human scale:
Tales From the Empire is a collection of stories from the Star Wars adventure journal, a magazine that went out of print a few years back. Besides featuring games and rpg strategies, it let new authors write for the Star Wars expanded universe. Right off the bat, I'm going to list my ONLY real complaint: the title is misleading. The stories are not about the Empire, nor do all of them take place within the time of the Empire. However, that is my ONLY complaint. To explain why I love this novel, I have to explain what made me like the Star Wars universe. It wasn't the movies themselves; the movies are great, and they get better with each viewing, but it was after playing Rebel Assault and reading this book that I was taken in. That game and this novel bring Star Wars down to a human scale. Rebel Assault let players on an alternate version of the first movie. Tales From the Empire lets the reader experience the pain and suffering of characters throughout the universe. A lot of these characters aren't war heroes or Jedi Knights. Most of them are simple folk, pulled into a war they tried to stay out of. One story has a medical doctor who is faced with a task of killing others to save one. There is a civilian mail carrier who's freighter is commandered to help retreat from Courscant. A loyal Imperial who must watch her best friend get taken away as a rebel traitor. The stories make up the heart of the Star Wars universe, and while they're not tearjerkers (well maybe), they'll definitely touch you emotionally. What's also nice in these stories is seeing how the Star Wars universe has expanded. All the detail Lucas put into his classic trilogy has paid off. The book begins with a wonderful introduction which all Star Wars fans can relate to. All the stories feature little details that make them come alive; the Star Wars universe has its own name for paper, for the bathroom, for a switchblade, and almost anything else you can imagine. Heir to the Empire might be the classic Star Wars novel, but this book filled my imagination and put me right into the middle of the SW Universe. It allowed me to continue with new adventures in my mind long after I'd finished the book. With regards to the writing styles, while the stories aren't as finessed as mainstream authors, they are all excellent reads. I liked Zahn's backstory for Talon Karrde, and would've loved to read "Mist Encounter" or "Command Decision", two Thrawn stories alleuded to in the intro. Corran Horn fans also take note: this novel features a bit of Corran's backstory, as well as a four-part story featuring the father-son team of Hal and Corran and how they captured Zekka Thyne (from Stackpole's X-Wing novels). The bottom line: Get this novel. It is a true testament to the power of Star Wars fans and how they've kept the SW Universe alive for sixteen years.

So that's why they're the dark side...:
This has about 10 stories in it, the last being of 4 parts, written by both master authors, Timothy Zahn(my personal favorite) and Michael A. Stackpole, a great author in his own right. This last tale takes up about 100 pages and is really good. In fact, Many of these tales are quite good. One is about a medic assisting a recue team at an Imperial prison, one describes how Mara Jade came into Talon Karrde's service, and the others are good too. I highly recommend this collection of tales.