Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

by Terry Brooks

Overview

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, an evil legacy long believed dead is stirring. Now the dark side of the Force threatens to overwhelm the light, and only an ancient Jedi prophecy stands between hope and doom for the entire galaxy.
 
On the green, unspoiled world of Naboo, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, arrive to protect the realm’s young queen as she seeks a diplomatic solution to end the siege of her planet by Trade Federation warships. At the same time, on desert-swept Tatooine, a slave boy named Anakin Skywalker, who possesses a strange ability for understanding the “rightness” of things, toils by day and dreams by night—of becoming  a Jedi Knight and finding a way to win freedom for himself and his beloved mother. It will be the unexpected meeting of Jedi, Queen, and a gifted boy that will mark the start of a drama that will become legend.

This special edition features a brand-new Darth Maul short story by New York Times bestselling author James Luceno!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780345434111
Publisher:	Random House Worlds
Publication date:	02/29/2000
Series:	Star Wars , #1
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	62,783
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 10.88(h) x 0.94(d)

About the Author

Terry Brooks is the New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty books, including the Legend of Shannara novels Bearers of the Black Staff and The Measure of the Magic; the Genesis of Shannara novels Armageddon’s Children, The Elves of Cintra, and The Gypsy Morph; The Sword of Shannara; the Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy: Ilse Witch, Antrax, and Morgawr; the High Druid of Shannara trilogy: Jarka Ruus, Tanequil, and Straken; and the nonfiction book Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life. His novels Running with the Demon and A Knight of the Word were selected by the Rocky Mountain News as two of the best science fiction/fantasy novels of the twentieth century. The author was a practicing attorney for many years but now writes full-time. He lives with his wife, Judine, in the Pacific Northwest.

Hometown:

Pacific Northwest and Hawaii

Date of Birth:

January 8, 1944

Place of Birth:

Sterling, Illinois

Education:

B.A. in English, Hamilton College, 1966; J.D., Washington and Lee University

Website:

http://www.terrybrooks.net

Read an Excerpt

NOTE:  This excerpt may not be posted on other Web sites without the permission of Lucasfilm Ltd.

Tatooine

The suns burned down out of a cloudless blue sky, washing the vast desert wastes of the planet in brilliant white light. The resultant glare rose off the flat, sandy surface in a wet shimmer of blistering heat to fill the gaps between the massive cliff faces and solitary outcroppings of the mountains that were the planet's sole distinguishing feature. Sharply etched, the monoliths stood like sentinels keeping watch in a watery haze.

When the Podracers streaked past, engines roaring with ferocious hunger and relentless drive, the heat and the light seemed to shatter and the mountains themselves to tremble.

Anakin Skywalker leaned into the curve of the raceway that took him past the stone arch marking the entry into Beggar's Canyon on the first lap of the run, easing the thruster bars forward, giving the engines a little more juice. The wedge-shaped rockets exploded with power, the right a tad harder than the left, banking the Pod in which Anakin sat sharply left to clear the turn. Swiftly, he adjusted the steering to straighten the racer, boosted power further, and shot through the arch. Loose sand whiplashed in the wake of his passing, filling the air with a gritty sheen, whirling and dancing through the heat. He ripped into the canyon, fingers playing across the controls, hands steady on the steering.

It was all so quick, so instantaneous. One mistake, one misjudgment, and he would be out of the race and lucky if he weren't dead. That was the thrill of it. All that power, all that speed, just at his fingertips, and no margin for error. Two huge turbines dragged a fragile Pod over sandy flats, around jagged-edged mountains, down shadowed draws, and over heart-wrenching drops in a series of twisting, winding curves and jumps at the greatest speed a driver could manage. Control cables ran from the Pod to the engines, and energy binders locked the engines to each other. If any part of the three struck something solid, the whole of the assembly would collapse in a splintering of metal and a fiery wash of rocket fuel. If any part broke free, it was all over.

A grin split Anakin's young face as he injected a bit more power into the thrusters.

Ahead, the canyon narrowed and the shadows deepened. Anakin bore down on the slit of brightness that opened back onto the flats, keeping low to the ground where passage was widest. If he stayed high, he risked brushing the cliff faces on either side. That had happened to Regga in a race last month, and they were still looking for the pieces.

It would not happen to him.

He shoved the thruster bars forward and exploded through the gap onto the flats, engines screaming.

Sitting in the Pod with his hands on the controls, Anakin could feel the vibration of the engines travel up the control cables and fill him with their music. Wrapped in his rough-made jumpsuit, his racing helmet, his goggles, and his gloves, he was wedged so closely in his seat that he could feel the rush of the wind across the Pod's skin beneath him. When he raced like this, he was never simply the driver of a Podracer, never just an additional part. Rather, he was at one with the whole, and engines, Pod, and he were bound together in a way he could not entirely explain. Each shimmy, each small throb, each tug and twist of strut and tie were apparent to him, and he could sense at any given moment exactly what was happening throughout the length and breadth of his racer. It spoke to him in its own language, a mix of sounds and feelings, and though it did not use words, he could understand everything it said.

Sometimes, he thought dreamily, he could sense what it would say before it even spoke.

A flash of gleaming orange metal shot past him on his right, and he watched the distinctive split-X of Sebulba's engines flare out before him, taking away the lead he had seized through an unusually quick start. His brow wrinkled in disgust at himself for his momentary lapse of concentration and his dislike of the other racer. All gangly and crook-legged, Sebulba was as twisted inside as out, a dangerous adversary who won often and took delight in doing so at the expense of others. The Dug had caused more than a dozen crashes of other Podracers in the past year alone, and his eyes glinted with wicked pleasure when he recounted the tales to others on the dusty streets of Mos Espa. Anakin knew Sebulba well—and knew better than to take chances with him.

He rode the thruster bars forward, fed fresh power to the engines, and rocketed ahead.

It didn't help, he supposed as he watched the distance between them narrow, that he was human or, much worse, that he was the only human ever to drive in the Podraces. The ultimate test of skill and daring on Tatooine and the favorite spectator sport of the citizens of Mos Espa, it was supposed to be beyond the skill and capability of any human. Multiple arms and multihinged joints, stalk eyes, heads that swiveled 180 degrees, and bodies that twisted as if boneless gave advantages to other creatures that humans could not begin to overcome. The most famous racers, the best of a rare breed, were strangely shaped, complexly formed beings with a penchant for taking risks that bordered on insanity.

But Anakin Skywalker, while nothing like these, was so intuitive in his understanding of the skills required by his sport and so comfortable with its demands that his lack of these other attributes seemed to matter not at all. It was a source of some mystery to everyone, and a source of disgust and growing irritation to Sebulba in particular.

Last month, in another race, the wily Dug had tried to run Anakin into a cliff face. He had failed only because Anakin sensed him coming up from behind and underneath, an illegal razor saw extended to sever Anakin's right Steelton control cable, and Anakin lifted away to safety before the saw could do its damage. His escape cost him the race, but allowed him to keep his life. It was a trade he was still angry at having been forced to make.

The racers whipped through columns of ancient statuary and across the floor of the arena erected on the edge of Mos Espa. They swept under the winner's arch, past row upon row of seats crammed with spectators cheering them on, past pit droids, repair stations, and the boxes where the Hutts watched in isolated splendor above the commoners. From an overlook in a tower centered on the arch, the two-headed Troig who served as announcer would be shouting out their names and positions to the crowd. Anakin allowed himself a momentary glimpse of blurred figures that were left behind so fast they might have been nothing more than a mirage. His mother, Shmi, would be among them, worrying as she always did. She hated watching him drive in the Podraces, but she couldn't help herself. She never said so, but he thought she believed that simply by being there she could keep him from coming to harm. It had worked so far. He had crashed twice and failed to finish even once, but after more than half a dozen races he was unharmed. And he liked having her there. It gave him a strange sort of confidence in himself he didn't like to think about too closely.

Besides, what choice did they have in the matter? He raced because he was good at it, Watto knew he was good at it, and whatever Watto wanted of him he would do. That was the price you paid when you were a slave, and Anakin Skywalker had been a slave all his life.

Arch Canyon rose broad and deep before him, an expanse of rock leading into Jag Crag Gorge, a twisting channel the racers were required to navigate on their way to the high flats beyond. Sebulba was just ahead, rocketing low and tight across the ground, trying to put some distance between Anakin and himself. Behind Anakin, close now, were three other racers spread out against the horizon. A quick glance revealed Mawhonic, Gasgano, and Rimkar trailing in his strange bubble pod. All three were gaining. Anakin started to engage his thrusters, then drew back. They were too close to the gorge. Too much power there, and he would be in trouble. Response time in the channel was compacted down to almost nothing. It was better to wait.

Mawhonic and Gasgano seemed to agree, settling their Pods into place behind his as they approached the split in the rock. But Rimkar was not content to wait and roared past Anakin split seconds before they entered the cleft and disappeared into darkness.

Anakin leveled out his Pod, lifting slightly from the rock-strewn floor of the channel, letting his memory and his instincts take him down the winding cut. When he raced, everything around him slowed down rather than sped up. It was different than you'd expect. Rock and sand and shadows flew past in a wild mix of patterns and shapes, and still he could see so clearly. All the details seemed to jump out at him, as if illuminated by exactly what should make them so difficult to distinguish. He could almost close his eyes and drive, he thought. He was that much in tune with everything around him, that much aware of where he was.

He eased swiftly down the channel, catching glimpses of Rimkar's engine exhausts as they flashed crimson in the shadows. Far, far overhead, the sky was a brilliant blue streak down the center of the mountain, sending a frail streamer of light into the gap that lost brilliance with every meter it dropped so that by the time it reached Anakin and his fellow racers, it barely cut the dark. Yet Anakin was at peace, lost deep within himself as he drove his Pod, bonded with his engines, given over to the throb and hum of his racer and the soft, velvet dark that folded about.

When they emerged into the light once more, Anakin jammed the thruster bars forward and streaked after Sebulba. Mawhonic and Gasgano were right behind. Ahead, Rimkar had caught Sebulba and was trying to edge past. The lanky Dug lifted his split-X engines slightly to scrape against Rimkar's Pod. But Rimkar's rounded shell eased smoothly away, unaffected. Side by side the racers tore across the high flats, headed for Metta Drop. Anakin closed on them, drawing away from Mawhonic and Gasgano. People said what they wanted about Watto—and there was plenty to say that wasn't good—but he had an eye for Podracers. The big engines jumped obediently as Anakin fed fuel into the thrusters, and in seconds he was drawing alongside Sebulba's split-X.

They were even when they reached Metta Drop and rocketed over and tumbled straight down.

The trick with drops, as every racer knew, was to gather enough speed going down to gain time over your opponents, but not so much speed that the racer couldn't pull out of the drop and level out again before it nose-dived into the rocks below. So when Sebulba pulled out early, Anakin was momentarily surprised. Then he felt the backwash of the split-X engines hammer into his Pod. The treacherous Dug had only looked as if he would pull out and instead had lifted away and then deliberately fishtailed atop both Anakin and Rimkar, using his exhaust to slam them against the cliff face.

Rimkar, caught completely by surprise, jammed his thruster bars forward in an automatic response that took him right into the mountain. Metal fragments of Pod and engines careened away from the rock wall in a fiery shower, leaving a long black scar along the ravaged surface.

Anakin might have gone the same way but for his instincts. Almost before he knew what he was doing, at the same instant he felt the backwash of Sebulba's engines slam into him, he lifted out of his own descent and away from the mountain, almost colliding with a surprised Sebulba, who veered off wildly to save himself. Anakin's sudden wrenching of his Pod's steering took him spinning away into the midday, off course and out of control. He pulled back on the steering, eased off on the thrusters, cut the fuel supply to the big engines, and watched the ground rise up to meet him in a rush of sand and reflected light.

He struck the ground in a bone-wrenching skid that severed both control cables, the big engines flying off in two directions while the Pod careened first left, then right, and then began to roll. Anakin could only brace himself inside, spinning and twisting in a roil of sand and heat, praying that he didn't wind up against an outcropping of rock. Metal shrieked in protest and dust filled the Pod's interior. Somewhere off to his right, an engine exploded in a ground-shaking roar. Anakin's arms were stretched out to either side, keeping him squarely placed through the pummeling the Pod experienced as it continued to roll and then roll some more.

Finally, it stopped, tilted wildly to one side. Anakin waited a moment, then loosened his restraining belt and crawled out. The heat of the desert rose to meet him, and the blinding sunlight bore down through his goggles. Overhead, the last of the Podracers streaked away into the blue horizon, engines whining and booming. Silence followed, deep and profound.

Anakin glanced left and right at what remained of his engines, taking in the damage, assessing the work they would need to operate again. He looked finally at his Pod and grimaced. Watto would not be happy.

But then Watto seldom was.

Anakin Skywalker sat down with his back against the ruined Pod, gaining what small relief he could from its shadow in the glare of Tatooine's twin suns. A landspeeder would be along in a few minutes to pick him up. Watto would be there to chew him out. His mother would be there to give him a hug and take him home. He wasn't satisfied with how things had turned out, but he wasn't discouraged either. He could have won the race if Sebulba had played fair. He could have won easily.

He sighed and tipped back his helmet.

One day soon he would win a lot of races. Maybe even next year, when he reached the age of ten.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Breathless . . . filled with action from page one.”—New York Post

Interviews

On Tuesday, June 1st, barnesandnoble.com welcomed Terry Brooks to discuss STAR WARS, EPISODE 1: THE PHANTOM MENACE.

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Moderator: Thank you for joining us tonight, Terry Brooks. We're so glad to have you with us in the Auditorium to chat about STAR WARS, EPISODE 1: THE PHANTOM MENACE. How are you this evening?

Terry Brooks: Great. I'm happy to be here.

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Mindy from Detroit: I have always loved your books, Mr. Brooks. You are a natural fit for writing the Star Wars novel. When did Lucasfilm approach you? What made you decide to get involved?

Terry Brooks: I was approached in early December of 1997 through my publisher, who bought the rights to do the books to all three movies and asked if I would be willing to consider doing the first book, and if I was, would I be willing to fly down to Skywalker Ranch and meet with the Lucasfilm people and meet with George. And I agreed. So, I did, and I spent two days in early December at the ranch reading the movie script, viewing some visual presentations that were being shown to potential licensees, asking questions about the script from the subrights people, touring the grounds, and then meeting with George. This meeting lasted about four hours, and at the end of that time, I guess I had taken the job!

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Mike from Massachusetts: Why was it that the novel for The Phantom Menace was released before the actual movie? Also, do you plan to write any other Star Wars novels?

Terry Brooks: The decision to release the book early came after considerable discussion between the publishing house and Lucasfilm. It was felt that releasing the book early would help book sales and wouldn't really hurt the picture. As for writing any other books, there's been no discussion up to this point as to what's to happen with books two and three.

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Harvey from Oak Park, IL: In looking at the screenplay, was there anything in the original that didn't make it into the movie? How was it changed to come to film?

Terry Brooks: There were a few scenes that were in the shooting script that were cut during editing that ended up in the book, but most of them were very small. Much of what's in the book is original material, particularly the material about Anakin and his background.

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Alicia Angell from Las Vegas: I have read all of the Shannara books and have loved every one of them. Will there be another Shannara novel, and do you have plans to make a movie of the Shannara saga?

Terry Brooks: I am at work at present on the first of five new books in the Shannara series. Publication of those books will begin in September of 2000. These books take place in the future following the close of THE TALISMANS OF SHANNARA. As for movies, there's always interest, but nothing concrete at the present.

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Marco Aurelio from Fortaleza, Brazil: Hello, Mr. Terry! You know, Star Wars became legendary in people's mind and life... became legendary to mankind for many generations. Do you think it will ever die? Do you think that Star Wars will vanish some years in the future? Thanks!

Terry Brooks: I think Star Wars will be around for a long time, but I don't know how long it will last. It's impossible to be able to foresee anything like that. It's part of a myth-making tradition, and the classics of that form of writing have endured since the time of the Norse and Greek mythologies and the Homeric epics.

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Bob from Louisville, KY: I'm curious about the timing of when you wrote the novelization -- was it before or during the filming? Did you already know what actors were chosen? How did this influence your descriptions of them?

Terry Brooks: The book was written after the completion of filming, but before editing. So I knew who the actors were and could see stills of how they looked in the movie, but I didn't get to see the movie until much, much later. So I had some help, from knowing the story line and how people looked, but not how the action would develop in the picture.

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Bobby Lee from Louisiana: It seems like this movie tops all others in terms of how much stuff there is to buy! Were you at all worried about having your book become just another piece of merchandise?

Terry Brooks: I wasn't worried about this, because from the very beginning, George indicated that the book would be a companion piece to the movie. It would be an expansion of the story line, and it would be a new and different experience for the moviegoer seeking to learn new and additional information about the Star Wars world and its characters. Because it contained original material -- and was meant to be a new experience for the moviegoer -- it was never treated just as an additional piece of merchandising.

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Ned from Patchogue, NY: A lot of people like to read the book before they see the movie, but since your book is a novelization, do you think we should see the movie first? Which do you recommend?

Terry Brooks: I think it's an individual choice. Some people would want to see the movie first so as not to spoil the experience in any way. Some people would want to read the book first, so as to increase their understanding of what's going on in the movie. I think that most people will see the movie, then read the book, then go see the movie again with fresh eyes.

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Sebastien Courchesne from Quebec, Canada: Hi. What do you think about the reviews complaining about the lack of character development in the movie? Is it something that you have added to the book?

Terry Brooks: I don't think I'm the best judge of how well I've succeeded in achieving appropriate character development in my own book. I do think that the critics of the movie are missing the point. This is not a movie centered around character study. It's an action/adventure story, and character development is secondary to the pacing of the story, and I think that most character development in Star Wars is the moviegoers intuiting what the storyteller intended.

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Jack Sampson from Arlington, VA: Have you ever written a novelization before? What was the experience like? I've heard from other well-known science fiction writers that writing novelizations is good money but a major pain in the buttocks. Was the process smooth for you?

Terry Brooks: I wrote a novelization in the early '90s for the movie "Hook." It was a painful learning experience, and it did not pay well at all. The idea of good payment for novelizations of movies is a relative one. My experience with doing the adaptation of Phantom Menace was very good. The people at Lucasfilm have a much more relaxed attitude toward the adaptation of their material to other forms, and I was given a tremendous amount of freedom to take the original movie script and rework it so it would have the same amount of magic in book form that it has on the movie screen.

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Yvonne Gregory from Springfield, OH: Just curious: What was your favorite part of the movie? What part did you enjoy writing about the most?

Terry Brooks: I find it very difficult to single out particular parts of movies or books or particular characters for special attention, especially in a project on which I've spent a lot of time and energy. I tell everyone that the character I felt most at home writing about was Qui-Gon Jinn. Qui-Gonn is prototypical of the characters I write about in my own books all the time, and therefore the kind of character for which I have a particular affection.

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John Marcon from Edmond, OK: Hi, Terry. I love your novels. The novelization was excellent -- the best one yet. Give me your opinion: How you would compare this screenplay with the previous three? In my opinion it was strange -- some parts were very much for children; others were more complex and challenging. The pieces came together for me only after I read your novelization.

Terry Brooks: I believe that George has said publicly on at least one occasion that this is a movie for children, and I wouldn't attempt to compare it to the earlier movies, any more than I would attempt to compare my own books written in the '70s with what I'm writing now. Star Wars movies are of a different time and place. I think that moviegoers have to accept them for what they have to offer; part of what George believes in his moviemaking is that he shouldn't have to explain everything and that the audience should be able to work out for themselves the parts of the story and character that he leaves out. This is very much in the traditional nature of mythic storytelling.

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Peter McAfree from Atlanta: Hi, Mr. Brooks. Don't know if you've answered this yet, but when is the new Running with the Demon novel coming out? Keep up the excellent work!

Terry Brooks: Thanks for the encouragement. ANGEL FIRE EAST is the third and final book in the Running with the Demon series, and it will be published in hardcover in October.

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Oren from Bennington, VT: As the author of the novelization, did you have any say in the movie? Who had final say in the book? Did you encounter any editorial heavy-handedness? How much was collaborative?

Terry Brooks: I didn't have anything to do with the movie, which was shot before I came on board. George Lucas and I talked about the form of adaptation of the book at the very beginning and hashed over possibilities for the way the story might be developed. In the end, he sent me off to write it, and nobody looked at it until it was finished. The editorial help that I received was in no way heavy-handed, and it was in fact of great benefit. Most of it revolved around my use of technical terms and character references. Very little of the substantive writing was changed, even in the editorial stage.

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Sara Hospador from Seattle, WA: I have yet to read your novel, and have never really been much of a fan of novelizations, although I love your work. How does the novel differ from the movie? What character did you enjoy developing the most?

Terry Brooks: This particular adaptation is different from most novelizations, in that it's an expansion on the movie story line and incorporates a great deal of new material about the background of Anakin Skywalker, the relationship between the Jedi Knights, and the history of the Jedi and Sith orders.

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Chris Long from Philadelphia: Good evening, Mr. Brooks. How are you holding up on your tour? Ready to go home yet? Are you coming to Philly at all? Hope I haven't missed you.

Terry Brooks: I'm all done with touring, and I can't wait to get home. No Philly tour for this particular outing, but I might make it there with ANGEL FIRE EAST. If not, I will certainly be there in September of 2000 with the new Shannara book.

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Jessica from Port Orchard, WA: Mr.Brooks: This isn't a question, just a little note of thanks I have really enjoyed your books and always look forward to every new release. So thank you for your great work.

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Bill Smith from NYC: Hi, Mr. Brooks. I'm 25 years old. Star Wars was the most significant film of my childhood. And you know, THE SWORD OF SHANNARA is my favorite novel of all time. When did you decide to write a fantasy novel? How did the idea of the Shannara series come to you?

Terry Brooks: Whoa. I began writing SWORD OF SHANNARA in 1968 in my second year of law school to keep from going insane. It took me about 12 years and countless tries at other types of fiction before that time to get to fantasy and the start of the Sword. I was influenced by a tremendous number of authors over those years, both in content and style. But in particular, the European adventure story writers of the last century and Tolkien in this century.

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Irena from Boston, MA: I read that the screenplay to The Phantom Menace was written before the trilogy we've seen thus far. Did the first episode change based on how the three earlier films came out?

Terry Brooks: I have no idea. Maybe nobody knows except George.

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Alex Wolsk from Boston: What is your opinion of Jar Jar? Are you aware of all the negative backlash that character has been receiving from the adult fans? Any chance Jar Jar may not make it back for the next film? Looking forward to more C-3PO in episode two.

Terry Brooks: My feeling is that adults never do understand kids entirely, which is probably the difficulty that the adults are having with Jar Jar. I haven't had the same kinds of problems with the character that the critics have and think maybe they're overreacting. The biggest difficulty with Jar Jar is understanding what he's saying, and some of that is helped by reading the book, where it's easier to study the language and the conversations that take place during the story.

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Brett from NYC: Are there any plans to make an illustrated novel of The Phantom Menace using images from the movie? In your mind, do all the characters look the same?

Terry Brooks: I have no idea about an illustrated novel, but my guess is if you've got money to buy it, someone will make it.

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Kingsley from Indianapolis, IN: When you were writing the novelization of The Phantom Menace, were you working from the script or the film itself? What sort of editorial decisions were made based on how the final cut of the film appeared?

Terry Brooks: The only substantive changes that occurred during the writing of the book came at about the halfway point, when I went back down to Skywalker Ranch to talk to George about changes in the movie that would impact the overall story line. One of the points at issue was the way in which the Midi-Chlorian count was extracted from Anakin. Mostly it was just a heads-up kind of meeting so I could make the adjustments that would keep this story consistent with the movie story. George didn't even bother with script pages. We just dialogued about what would happen.

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Alicia Angell from Las Vegas: Mr. Brooks, were you the original author of the Star War series? If not, who was?

Terry Brooks: I was not. And I can no longer remember who was, if I ever knew. I think that George Lucas wrote episode four -- that's all I know. I've never read them.

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George S. from Williamsburg, VA: Have you done novelizations like this before? How was the process different from writing your other novels? Was it easier or more difficult having the plot laid out for you?

Terry Brooks: It's neither easier nor more difficult -- it's just different. The fact is, you're working with someone else's material, and you have an obligation not to go trampling all over it and also to bring your own creative abilities to the process of translating it, so it turns out to be a good adaptation. Obviously, when you're writing original material, and you're developing the story from scratch, you tend to exercise more control over the direction it takes. But that doesn't mean that you can't find the project, as I did with Star Wars, where the creator's work is similar to your own, and the material feels familiar and makes the entire process comfortable.

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Tom Brack from West Palm Beach: Have you always been a Star Wars fan? Are you more or less a fan now that you've worked so closely with the project?

Terry Brooks: I was always a fan. I saw the first movie when it came out in '77, saw all the other movies when they came out, have taken various sets of kids to see them, and one grandchild, so that makes me a fair-to-moderate sort of fan.

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Moderator: Mr. Brooks, thank you so much for taking time out from your busy tour to speak with our online audience tonight. Continued success with the new novel and with the remainder of your tour. Any parting words?

Terry Brooks: Just that I look forward to meeting some of these people in person somewhere down the line at a book signing. Thanks for all the good questions.

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Editorial Reviews

Breathless . . . filled with action from page one.”—New York Post

From the Publisher