Authors of Upcoming Short Story Collection ‘Star Wars – The Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark’ Reveal Their Chapters
The upcoming short story collection, due out August 25, features eleven stories from eleven authors. Ten of the stories will be a retelling of classic episodes/arcs while the eleventh will be an original Nightsisters-based story.
Starwars.com have released a list of all the authors, the story title’s and the episodes they’re based on:
- Lou Anders (“Dooku Captured” and “The Gungan General,” based on the episodes of the same name from season 1). The author told StarWars.com that he is a big fan of how the show gave a new appreciation of what Anakin Skywalker was, and what he could have been. He is also a big fan of Count Dooku, the protagonist of his story, and Hondo Ohnaka, who played a big part in the episodes. He finds Dooku to be a fascinating villain because of his motivations, his backstory, or his intellectual superiority to many of his opponents.
- Tom Angleberger (“Bane’s Story,” based on the episodes “Deception,” “Friends and Enemies,” “The Box,” and “Crisis on Naboo”). Angleberger revealed to the site how much of a fan he is of both Ahsoka’s and Asajj Ventress’ arcs, and how the two of them intersect. His story is a retelling of the Crisis on Naboo story arc (season 4, episodes 15-18), this time from Cad Bane’s point of view, who got played by almost everyone involved in the tale. In that arc, Bane was hired to kidnap the Chancellor, along with a team of bounty hunters that include an undercover Obi-Wan Kenobi.
- Preeti Chhibber (“Hostage Crisis,” based on the episode of the same name). One of Chhibber’s favorite aspects of The Clone Wars is how it expands upon the story that the prequels were trying to tell, especially when it comes to how that conflict affected the galaxy and its people. He rewrote the episode Hostage Crisis (season 1 finale) from Anakin’s perspective, which he described as being very romantic for Anakin, and thus showing how that was already being dangerous for him, long before his fall to the dark side.
- E. Anne Convery (“Bug,” based on the episode “Massacre”). The author’s main takeaway from the show is that it succeeds in telling a great story while not glorifying war, and shows how all of us, whether it is through small or big actions, can be heroes. His story is loosely based on the season 4 episode Massacre, but it is basically an original story about mothers and daughters. Convery talks about how she had long conversations with Sam Witwer about Mother Talzin’s motivations.
- Zoraida Córdova (“The Lost Nightsister,” based on the episode “Bounty”). Córdova loves how The Clone Wars deepens the characters we as an audience already know and love, and does so by staying true to the spirit of Star Wars, which is about family, love, and hope, and also being incredibly funny. She relives the season 4 episode Bounty from Asajj Ventress’ perspective, who is now lost on Tatooine after Count Dooku massacred the Nightsisters.
- Sarah Beth Durst (“Almost a Jedi,” based on the episode “A Necessary Bond”). She told StarWars.com that while the original trilogy didn’t give us a girl wielding a lightsaber, she grew up dreaming that one day she would become a Jedi Knight. But then, when The Clone Wars introduced Ahsoka, and gave her two lightsabers, as well as using her as a way to deepen the story of Anakin’s fall to the dark side, she fell in love and got on board as soon as she was given the chance to write about her. Durst retells the story of A Necessary Bond (season 5, episode 9) from Katooni’s perspective, who was one of the younglings escorted by Ahsoka to the planet Ilum to assemble their first lightsabers and then are assaulted by pirates led by Hondo, who capture Ahsoka.
- Greg van Eekhout (“Kenobi’s Shadow,” based on the episode “The Lawless”). Eekhout loves how The Clone Wars spends a lot of time with its characters, and we as an audience see them grow and change. He wrote a couple of short scenes between Obi-Wan and Anakin not included in The Lawless (season 5, episode 16), that highlight their closeness and hint that Anakin was not the only Jedi tempted by the dark side of the Force. Eekhout placed Obi-Wan in a position in which he had to make a choice, strike out in violence, or rise above it.
- Jason Fry (“Sharing the Same Face,” based on the episode “Ambush”). Fry deeply appreciates how the show deepens the lore revolving around the Jedi and the Force. He relives the first episode ever of The Clone Wars (in release order, that is) from Yoda’s perspective because according to him that episode pretty much encapsulates the entire tragedy of the Clone Wars in a nutshell, when Yoda rejects the idea that all the clones are identical. Writing from Yoda’s point of view was one of the things he most wanted to do when writing for Star Wars, that he hadn’t done yet.
- Yoon Ha Lee (“The Shadow of Umbara,” based on the episodes “Darkness on Umbara,” “The General,” “Plan of Dissent,” and “Carnage of Krell”). He retells the Umbara arc from Rex’s perspective (season 4, episodes 7-10), which contains an emotionally devastating war story, as the clones are forced to take over the city of Umbara.
- Rebecca Roanhorse (“Dark Vengeance,” based on the episode “Brothers”). Roanhorse loves the character development and writing of the show. She rewrote the episodes in which Darth Maul is reintroduced to the world, with only one idea on his head – revenge against Obi-Wan. In her story, we’ll see Maul rebuild into a cruel and calculating villain.
- Anne Ursu (“Pursuit of Peace,” based on the episode “Heroes on Both Sides” from season 3 of the show). Ursu is a huge fan of how the show handles the relations between Anakin and Obi-Wan, and Anakin and Ahsoka, giving them so much character development. While watching the show, she also became a big fan of Padmé, who is at the center of her story, and how she is at the same time idealistic and realistic, and how she is not afraid to bend a couple of laws to make things right.
For the full article with the interviews see here.
Alex Newman is huge Star Wars fan and loves to keep up to date with the canon. He's also loved movies for as long as he can remember. He's a massive Disney and superhero fan but will watch anything. He's worked at a cinema, a comic book store and at Disney World but is currently working in radio in London!
