Between 1999 and 2009 Lightsabre.co.uk brought news, fanfic, podcasts and much, much more to the masses. Our one hundred and nineteenth guest has been running his site Star Wars Books UK since early 2001 – Zee Zee himself, Ewan Bannatyne.
Lightsabre – Ewan, welcome to Lightsabre.
EB – Thank you, it’s a pleasure to be invited.
Lightsabre – Star Wars affected all of us to lesser or greater degrees and pulled us in to that galaxy far, far away but what was it about the saga that made you such a huge fan?
EB – I suppose what really made me such a fan was the sense of different and changing journeys that our heroes make throughout the saga. It shows that life is not a single journey, but rather as we travel on the road that is life, we make course changes as we reach crossroads on that journey. Decisions have to be made, or they may even be forced upon us, but whatever the direction we take, our lives can change because of them.
Then of course there are the lightsaber fights!! – vvvvmmmm, vvvvmmmm – hey, we are all still kids at heart!!
Lightsabre – Star Wars Books launched back in 2001 when the book programme was beginning to really amp up. In the years since then and especially recently, Star Wars Books seems to be everywhere. How pleased are you with the sites progression and progress?
EB – Star Wars Books was born following numerous requests from friends to recommend which Star Wars books to read following the increased awareness of Star Wars after the release of The Phantom Menace. By then there were over forty Star Wars novels published and many friends who had rediscovered Star Wars were looking for advice on which books they should read next.
It was at this time that I had joined the “internet revolution”, when cheap internet access was made available through the likes of Freeserve and FreeNetName. At first, I published a non-Star Wars website that ran for a couple of successful years, but it had run its natural course. So in late 2001 I launched “Zee Zee’s Star Wars Books Emporium” – a rather pompous and ever so uncatchy title 😉 – but its mission to provide an easily accessible and cross-indexed source that listed all official stories (books, graphic novels and short stories), remains the same today for Star Wars Books as it did in 2001.
It is not and was never my intention to provide a comprehensive Star Wars timeline; there are other sites available that provide that service (Nathan P. Butler, Christopher G. McElroy and Eddie van der Heijden spring to mind), instead Star Wars Books is for people who have read/finished a book or comic and want to know quickly and easily which other stories are related to the one they have just read.
When I first started, I was updating about twice a month and getting, you know, a moderate amount of hits. But, about this time last year, I decided to revamp, rename (well shorten it), and give it a dedicated url whilst at the same time to increase the amount of updating (I noticed that simply adding a News section that was updated roughly once a day meant a dramatic increase in the number of hits). I also had to increase awareness of my new url (redirecting from the old url would not last forever) and this succeeded in drawing more visitors and, as you say, it meant that “Star Wars Books seems to be everywhere”.
I am so pleased that, as Star Wars Books enters its ninth year online (in one form or another), it has become such a popular destination for Star Wars fans around the world.
Lightsabre – Which of the seven episodes – including The Clone Wars but excluding Caravan of Courage and Battle for Endor – stands out as your favourite?
EB – Okay, no surprise here – its Empire, hands down.
Lightsabre – As a fan, what is it like to be part of the Star Wars phenomenon?
EB – Yes, I am a fan, but to be regarded as being a “part of the Star Wars phenomenon” is something I haven’t really considered myself to be. I am acutely aware of the responsibility I have as a webmaster when dealing with the intellectual properties of George, Lucasfilm and its related companies. I mean, if it wasn’t for the internet I wouldn’t have a website and I wouldn’t be having this interview. I am happy that George and Lucasfilm recognise the power of the internet for the spread of information and as such actively support the efforts of sites like my own and yours and others without overtly restricting us under piles of legal and copyright laws. Look at the 501st, where else in fandom do fans get such active support that they can be honoured guests on the Rose Bowl Parade? George and co. understand that it is the fans who provide their “bread and butter” at the end of the day, and I believe it is this that has helped to maintain and spread the Star Wars phenomena.
Lightsabre – Being so connected to the Star Wars saga you must have some brilliant memories. Could you tell us about some of them.
EB – I often refer to my website as being located in a corner of the galaxy on the Outer Rim (I suppose it could be a rather ambiguous description of where I live) and so would say that I wasn’t really “so connected to the Star Wars saga” – instead I feel fortunate to be able to publish my website. Most of my memories are personal and revolve around the screenings the films.
I was in Primary school when Star Wars opened in ’77 but I was unable to see it (the nearest cinema was a 6 hour round trip away) or Empire in ’80, instead I remember buying a copy of the book in ’78 from a school book club. It had a bright yellow cover and included colour photos from the film – I read it so many times the photo pages fell out. I also remember pestering a friend at school saying that I would be their bestest friend ever if they let me play with their Star Wars toys as I didn’t own any! Unfortunately, “bestest friend ever” didn’t last long as we moved home not long after.
When Jedi opened in ’83 my family and I went to see it (the 6-hour round trip now only took 4 hours thanks to road improvements), but we never got to see past Jabba’s palace scene. At the time I suffered from epilepsy and it was while we were watching Jedi that my brain decided I should have a fit! Why couldn’t it wait until the film had finished? And so we all missed Jedi.
So, the first time I got to see all three films on the big screen was in 1997 with the Special Edition releases. It was during the screening of A New Hope that I remember clearly a man and his young son sitting behind me and all during the film all I got was “I don’t remember this in the film before” (Jabba’s scene, etc) or “who’s that?” (Biggs’s scene) from the father! (his son sat quietly throughout the film). Oh, for the ability to Force choke!
I also attended a midnight screening of Revenge of the Sith with some friends and being the last Star Wars film made I remember thinking to myself after the film had finished that, at least for the next few hours, we had seen the final Star Wars film first – before it opened for general release in the UK and the US. That was kind of exciting in a way!
Lightsabre – Which of the many Star Wars books published is your favourite?
EB – It was my brother-in-law who introduced me to Heir to the Empire and it was Zahn’s re-imagining of the Star Wars universe eight years after the release of Return of the Jedi that captured my imagination. In these three books, Zahn gave us all new adventures of our film heroes and introduced new villains to replace the Emperor and Vader in stories that were as good as the films.
Ever since Star Wars was renamed Episode IV: A New Hope and the release of Return of the Jedi in ’83, there was continual talk of more than just two sequels, as well as the required prequels to account for Episode 4’s title. But, like many childhood fans, I grew ever more tired and even delusional of waiting for George to deliver Episodes I-III and VII-IX, so when Zahn published Heir to the Empire, I believed that here was the unofficial Episode VII story. Zahn rekindle my fondness for George’s galaxy far, far way and even though I may have been in my early twenties, I can still recall the feelings of excitement and trepidation at being able to submerge myself in the Star Wars universe all over again. And it is for these reasons that Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy is my favourite.
Lightsabre – If you could travel back in time and alter history, what would you change about Star Wars?
EB – I don’t think that I could be so bold as to change anything in Star Wars. I have always believed that as a fan, whether it is as a football fan or a Star Wars fan, you must be prepared to support your team through both the good times and the bad times. And so I will support Star Wars during the bad times (e.g. Jar Jar; akin to league relegation); and the good times (e.g. The Empire Strikes Back; akin to winning the cup).
Yes, we can criticise, moan and express our opinions, but at the end of the day they are just that: personal opinions – whatever we may think is wrong (or right) with Star Wars that decision has already been made by the person, or persons, who must accept the responsibility for those decisions (and they have).
Lightsabre – Believe it or not, there’s more to life than just Star Wars. Tell us a bit about your interests outside of the saga.
EB – Apart from the arduous grind that is a “full-time” job, I am presently studying for a history degree with the Open University. One of my great regrets is dropping out of college after only two years (okay with hindsight it was the wrong course for me), but I still regret not completing my higher education. So for the last four years, a lot of my free time has been occupied studying – roughly two hours a day for about nine months a year. At other times, I enjoy swimming, cycling, and model railways and for the last two years I have been learning Tai-Chi.
Lightsabre – With The Clone Wars film and TV series kicking off in 2008 and the promise of the live action show in 2010, as well as The Force Unleashed, how optimistic are you that LucasBooks can maintain the high levels of quality they’ve previously set?
EB – I have to say that I am highly optimistic because LucasBooks have shown time and time again that although Star Wars may be the creation and vision of one man, it is the diversity of different authors that has maintained Star Wars popularity off of the cinema screen and on to the written page.
LucasBooks also realise that they have differing markets to cater for: during the Prequel Trilogy’s releases, while adults may read the novels of the New Jedi Order and the continuing adventures of their film heroes, younger readers who are captured by the Prequels will want to read of Anakin’s, Obi-Wan’s and even a young Boba Fett’s adventures beyond the films. Even the adult novel series of Legacy had corresponding younger reader series in Last of the Jedi. It is clear that as younger reader grew up they will hopefully move into the adult novels that are available (and vice versa, the youth novel series’ by Jude Watson are accessible to older readers).
The recent release of The Clone Wars has continued this element of dual readership, although admittedly the young reader books are aimed at younger children than Jude Watson’s books were. And in 2009 we can expect the, as yet unconfirmed but highly rumoured, 9-book adult series Fate of the Jedi as well as a new young reader series from Scholastic.
As I said, I believe it is the diversity of authors that LucasBooks through its publishing licences with Del Rey, Scholastic, Dark Horse and others that ensures the quality will be maintained in the years to come as there are still plenty of stories to be told (even if the tie-in books to the forthcoming live-action TV series won’t feature Luke and Leia).
Lightsabre – If you could focus in one, and only one, era of Star Wars for novels, comics and books, what era would that be?
EB – Oh, if it’s just one era, it would have to be the New Republic. The furthering adventures of Luke and co. contain possibly the most original amount of material ever written across all three major media formats: books, comics and short stories. Without George limiting what could be written as he did with the Prequel eras, authors were literally allowed to run riot with their stories. So, you have the likes of Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy producing some of the most visually stunning images outside the movies in Dark Empire (as well as resurrecting both Palpatine and Boba Fett from the dead!); novel authors like Timothy Zahn creating a storyline that competes on the same level as the Original Trilogy; and you have relatively unknown authors such as Charlene Newcomb writing a plethora of short stories published in the Star Wars Adventure Journals and in the role-playing game guides from West End Games.
What is nice about this era is that although these stories were jumping up and down the Timeline as they were published, they somehow all coalesce into a well structured tale of what Episodes VII-IX (and beyond) could have been like: Luke’s attempts to rebuild the Jedi; Leia’s reconciliation with her father’s crimes; the challenges in constructing a new political order that incorporates so many different ideals after the common enemy is beaten; the constant threats from the remnants of the defeated Empire; Han and Leia’s marriage and the development of their offspring. Although the promised Prequels would supply the first three Episodes, George’s eventual rebuff of Episodes VII-IX, meant that the exciting tales of the New Republic satisfy what happened to our heroes after Return of the Jedi.
Lightsabre – What’s next for Star Wars Books?
EB – Well, I am currently looking as ways of offering more content for my visitors – various ideas are being examined, but I can’t really say too much at the moment as nothing is set in concrete, so to say – trying out different ideas and seeing what works and what doesn’t, e.g. way back in April this year I launched “My Book Collection” (a place to display visitor’s book collections), but unfortunately I’ve had very little uptake on this, so it’s back to the drawing board as they say. Instead, I’ll going to try to concentrate on some features, but I’m still working out the details.
In the short-term, I am in the process of redesigning page layout (nothing drastic – I believe just a better layout for each story entry). But it’s a slow and laborious task as I am unable to use PHP and other programming languages and so have to stick with good old HTML.
Looking towards the immediate future, I will be following The Clone Wars TV series and its related books and comics. We can also expect the next book series’ from both Del Rey and Scholastic Books in 2009 and looking a bit further ahead, the possibility of a novel series set in The Old Republic (back in early 2004 Sue Rostoni hinted of a 9-book series set during The Old Republic, but this was replaced by the 9-book Legacy series). So an Old Republic series could still be on the cards, so to say (we’ve had two Darth Bane novels, there could be more to come). Then there will be the live-action TV series in a couple of years. So there is plenty on the horizon and the foreseeable future for not just Star Wars Books but also the countless other Star Wars sites on the internet. This could potentially be another golden time for all of us.
Lightsabre – A quick question about our site, Lightsabre. Any comments?
EB – I’ve always found Lightsabre to be somewhat inspirational – the quality and quantity are always excellent. It is obvious that at Lightsabre quality is never sacrificed, while quantity is always justified.
Lightsabre – It’s been a great interview, and thanks for being our guest on Lightsabre. Just one final question. You’re sharing the stage at a Celebration somewhere with Karen Traviss, Timothy Zahn and Matthew Stover when a fanboy asks a question with a concept so staggering, every writer immediately offers to write it up as a novel.
You have the choice to make of who writes it, but are torn about which author to choose so you set them a task to complete. They must condense the entire Star Wars prequels into three single line paragraphs within the next ten minutes.
Which authors finishes first and what do they say?
EB – Ahh, I think that Karen would finish first – she’s such a prolific writer, but nobody would understand what she says or has written down because it would all be in Mando!
