Since Ross continues to suck, and there's nothing fun happening in the toy collecting realms, I figured it's time for another edition of my series on the books in my collection. So, here are some books that are some of the oldest ones in my collection.
James Khan's novelization of Return of the Jedi was one of the very first full-size adult books that I ever read. Of course, when I read it, it was a paperback with a cover that looked like this:
And when I say I read it, that might be an understatement. I went over that thing with a fine tooth comb. On occasion, they would mention a name of a character that I wasn't familiar with, and I would jot that character's name down and say to myself, "They need to make an action figure of that guy." (Hey, there we go, I managed to work toy collecting in somehow!)
So, when I started building my collection of books, it was only natural that I should add the Star Wars novelizations to the mix. They were in the process of releasing the prequels at that time, and just a few years earlier, in 1995, they had released the Star Wars trilogy in a box set of VHS tapes...one of the last times, I think, that you could get it before they made those abominable special editions.
With the VHS tapes, they also released a set of hardcover books with the same art on the covers. That's were these came from. They're no great works of fiction as far as the writing goes, just novelizations, which are synonymous with a writer slummig it, but I don't care. I didn't get them at that time, because I wasn't quite at a point that I could start into a book collection yet, but a few years later, I started picking them up from used book stores, or eBay, or half.com (remember that place?).
I want to say that Rish Outfield got me one of the books as well, but it's been so long that I can't remember which one or any of the circumstances surrounding that (I think it was probably Empire, but I'm not certain). I guess maybe he could comment on that when he sees this post.
The Star Wars trilogy, oddly enough, is what made me want to be a writer. Funny, considering that they are movies, not books, but I think I may have read the novelization to Return of the Jedi before I ever saw the movie (because I was a poor kid, I never saw the movie until it came out on home video for losers like me to rent). It inspired a generation of kids to want to be filmmakers, and I even tried going that route, but what I truly love, and what I wanted in the end was to be a writer. The guy who makes the stories like Star Wars. So, it's only natural, that they make a part of my collection on my shelves.
2 comments:
I don't think I knew that you didn't see JEDI in '83. I'm sorry, man.
Yes, I got you the EMPIRE adaptation from a thrift store a few years ago, because you had told me to pick it up if I ever found it in hardcover . . . but it had to be that particular cover, so it would match the other two on your self.
I know I've told you this before, but the first book (actually written by Alan Dean Foster, despite the credit on the spine) came out in late 1976, six months or so before STAR WARS hit theaters. And it not only cites Emperor Palpatine by name, but mentions his rise to power (as a once-ambitious senator now an old man shackled by the very bureaucracy he erected), and even drops the name Mace Windu at the start. Scary, huh?
I remember reading that 1976 book, I think the paperback was mostly gold-ish in color.
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