Ann Crispin Interview Page 2 of 3

A LOT OF SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS
ES: What significant moments in Han's history were you allowed to write about?

Rebel Dawn - Upcoming Finale to the "Han Solo Trilogy"

AC: Han's first meeting with Lando, Boba Fett, Jabba, and his first flight on the Falcon are all in The Hutt Gambit. In Rebel Dawn, I got to show the famous sabacc game that resulted in Han winning the Falcon, and later, show him dumping that infamous load of spice. There are lots of other plot elements, of course, that I can't be too specific about, since I'm not supposed to give away the plots. But much of what we know as canon from the films will be included in the books.

ES: The sequence on Alderaan with Bail Organa and a young Leia was a delightful bit of foreshadowing. Did you have any difficulty getting that past Lucasfilm?

AC: No, not a bit. It just slid right on by. I'm glad you liked it! A lot of people have commented that they enjoyed that part.

ES:In the first novel, The Paradise Snare, we see Han Solo as a child picking pockets for Garris Shrike. This seemed to conjur up very "Oliver Twist" like images, with Garris Shrike as a Fagan-type figure and Han's escape from that life.

AC:As an English Lit. major in college, I could hardly be unaware of how much some of Han's early adventures resemble what happened to young Oliver Twist. This is partly Lucasfilm directive, and partly my own invention. When I asked Lucasfilm if there was any background at all on Han Solo, they told me, as I've mentioned, "Han has no memory of his family, and will never discover anything about them." They also said, and this is almost a direct quote, "Han was raised by a bunch of space traders, roving from place to place. They were a pretty seedy lot, and forced Han to steal, beg and pick pockets." So from that, I created Trader's Luck and Garris Shrike. I believe from what I've been told that the "Oliver Twist" similarity must have been in Mr. Lucas's mind when he decreed that Han was raised by such people and brought into a life of crime. The parallel is pretty obvious.

     Regarding Garris Shrike as Fagin...Not really. I created my own "Fagin" and that's the droid, "F8GN." The name is a dead giveaway, right? <g> And the way the droid talks is a deliberate takeoff on Dickens' famous children's criminal mastermind. So, yes, there are OLIVER TWIST similarities, but the novel itself wasn't structured at all like Dicken's famous book -- at least, past the first couple of chapters. Han's story is much shorter, faster moving, and is an action adventure novel.

ES:Some tales of Han Solo's early adventures have been told by Brian Daley in his Han Solo Trilogy. Will any of these stories be referred to in your book, or will things like the Corporate Sector Authority or Han's smuggling bosses be mentioned?

AC:-The events in the Brian Daley trilogy will be "encapsulated" within Rebel Dawn. I'm describing Han going off to the Corporate Sector, including a couple of "insets" where he thinks back to his smuggler pals in Imperial Space, then showing him coming back from Corporate Sector after about a year there. Meanwhile, events in Rebel Dawn will continue to progress along the plotlines with Hutt characters, Rebel characters, smugglers, etc. Of course Han's Hutt bosses will be included in the story. You couldn't tell Han's early story without including mention of the Hutts he worked for, especially Jabba! I'm having a lot of fun "fleshing out" the Hutts, their society, culture, motives, etc. I like having them be more dimensional characters, rather than just cardboard baddies. I think some of what happens in my books regarding the Hutts will be a bit of a surprise!

A WRITER IS NEVER SOLO
ES: Han's cousin Thracken Sal-Solo appeared in The Paradise Snare. Did you work closely with Roger MacBride Allen on your novels? What about the other Star Wars authors?

AC: Actually, Roger is just about the ONLY author I didn't work with in producing The Paradise Snare. That's because he's living in Brazil and is hard to stay in touch with these days. But he's an old friend, and I happened to run into him at the World Science Fiction Convention last year in L.A. -- at the Bantam party, matter of fact. We chatted about Cousin Thracken for quite a while, and I told him then what I'd done. He seemed to think I'd done a pretty good job of explaining how Han could know his cousin, and yet not know ANYTHING about his parents. (Remember, this was mandated by Lucasfilm!)

     As for the other Star Wars authors, I've been in touch with a lot of them. Since my books cover the early material, there are only a few minor references to the Zahn creations -- such as Senator Garm Bel Iblis meeting Han when he was a kid. But Kevin Anderson, Kris Rusch and Mike Stackpole have all done more extensive glimpses into Han's past...such as Moruth Doole, Wynni the Wookiee, and CorSec inspector Hal Horn, Corran Horn's dad. So, yes, when I needed to touch base with the other novelists, I did so, and they were very gracious and helpful.

     Actually, due to to my work as Eastern Regional Director for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, I've had the opportunity to meet many other writers in this field. So I already knew Kevin, Mike and Kris. Matter of fact, it was Kevin Anderson who first talked me into writing for the Star Wars universe.

Ann spins a "Yarna"

I did two stories for his "Tales" anthologies. I wrote the story of Muftak and Kabe, "Play it Again, Figrin D'an" for the Cantina anthology, and I wrote the story of Yarna, the fat dancer, for the Jabba's Palace anthology. Lucasfilm responded very positively to both stories, and that's one of the reasons I was the writer chosen to do "The Han Solo Trilogy." I'm very grateful to Kevin for his encouragement. The Hutt Gambit is dedicated to him. Since I contacted them to do crossovers with their stories, both Kevin Anderson and Rebecca Moesta, and Mike Stackpole, have done "crossovers" in their fiction with stuff I've done. It's a lot of fun, figuring how to fit all the little pieces together, so they become one huge Star Wars mosaic!

ES: What do you have planned for the rest of the series?

AC: To write it! <g> Seriously, I'm not supposed to give summaries of the plots before the books are released. The fans can rest assured, however, that, with the caveats I've already mentioned, they'll see pretty much what they expect to see insofar as established SW canon is concerned. (In other words, we know that Han won the Falcon from Lando, and yes, we'll see that historic event shown in Rebel Dawn. We know that Han met Boba Fett and Lando, and yes, we see that (in The Hutt Gambit.) The books are also a trilogy, don't forget, so I will be carrying the story through to its conclusion, but I'm not going to give a plot summary of how that happens. The fans will just have to wait, I'm afraid. <eg>

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