Heir to the Empire

A F T E R W O R D

About this same time twenty years ago, I incorporated Lucasfilm’s final corrections on Heir to the Empire and sent the manuscript to the production department, confident that Tim had delivered a terrific story but completely unaware of what an impact it would have on readers just a few months later. All of us at Bantam Spectra had loved the films, and we were honored that Lucasfilm would allow us to bring a new story to Star Wars fans. But would those fans want to read a new adventure rather than see it played out on the biggest screen possible? We had no way to know for sure.

I remember the day we sat in Lou Aronica’s office to brainstorm which author might be best for the project. We’d made the deal with Lucasfilm, but no book would exist until a suitable author was found and an outline approved. First and foremost we wanted a writer who loved the films and would be excited to expand George Lucas’s vision. We looked initially at people who were already being published at Bantam Spectra, wanting to give our own authors first shot.

Bantam published numerous popular writers at the time, so Tim’s was not the first name to come up. I knew he’d be right for the job but was hesitant to mention him because we’d signed him up only a few months earlier and he was in the middle of writing the first of three novels we had under contract.

Still, I knew Tim was a huge fan. And from working with him previously at Analog magazine—where he’d won a Hugo Award for his story “Cascade Point”—and at Baen Books, where I’d been his editor on several novels including the Cobra trilogy and The Backlash Mission, I knew Tim had the writing skills to handle a big-picture Star Wars plot. Not only that, but he could also re-create the interplay among George Lucas’s beloved characters as well as generate new ones who would capture readers’ interest.

That trust was certainly borne out: In Heir to the Empire, Tim “gave birth” to the unforgettable Mara Jade, Grand Admiral Thrawn, and Joruus C’baoth and was already thinking of names for the twins Leia would bear later in the trilogy. Heir to the Empire hit number one on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list—almost unheard of for a science-fiction novel at that time—and went on to sell millions of copies. Tim and I were invited to Skywalker Ranch in San Rafael, California, and had the pleasure of meeting George Lucas, who thanked Tim for his contribution to the Star Wars universe. (Talk about somebody walking on air! I swear I could have swung a cat underneath Tim’s boots during that encounter.)

It was the publishing experience of a lifetime, and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy, or a better writer. Thank you, Tim!

—BETSY MITCHELL

November 2010