Марта Уэллс: From a Certain Point of View

No, it’s not. Now be quiet and let me get on with this.

Evading the dreaded Imperial Starfleet—

Wait…“Starfleet”? Did you just say “Starfleet”? Are Kirk and Spock going to show up next?

I don’t even know what Kirk and Spock are!

There’s a big surprise…Do you know anything?

Yes, I do. That’s why the Whills asked me to write this! So if you don’t mind…

…a group of freedom fighters led by Luke Skywalker—

“Led by Luke”? Gee, I wonder what Mon Mothma and General Rieekan would say about that? Good grief, even Major Derlin outranks Luke! Luke’s on tauntaun patrol for crying out loud!

He’s their unofficial leader!

Right…And also, “freedom fighters”? Why do they fight freedom?

Oh My Nocks! You are driving me crazy! You know what I mean! Now, shush…

…a group of freedom fighters led by Luke Skywalker have established a new secret base on the remote ice world of Hoth.

Just pointing out…it’s covered in snow, not ice. But keep going, you’re almost to the best part—when all the wampas attack! That’ll make a great start!

Er…

Don’t tell me. You’re cutting out the wampas?

Well, I’m keeping one of them.

One wampa? One. Wampa. Next thing you’re going to tell me is that Willrow Hood just runs through the background without saying anything.

Well.

No room for the wampa attack! No room for Willrow’s inspiring bravery! But let me guess, you’re going to find room for Yoda’s rootleaf stew, aren’t you?

Uh…

You are, aren’t you? You just had to have Yoda’s lunch. I knew it!

Listen, I’ll never even get to Yoda if you don’t let me get this thing started.

Okay, okay. What are you starting with?

The evil lord Darth Vader…

Good…good…

…obsessed with finding young Skywalker…

Ooh, excellent. Which of Vader’s amazingly Sith-tastic deeds are you starting with?

…has dispatched thousands of remote probes—

Probe dispatching?

That’s it, I give up. I’m outta here.

Go ahead. Write a story that starts with probe dispatching and only one wampa, and then nothing really happens except for Yoda’s lunch and Vader’s breakfast and the good guys lose. Whee! That’ll be everybody’s favorite! Maybe you could end it by having Luke and Leia looking out a window feeling sorry for themselves. What a thrill ride!

You know what would really be thrilling?

What?

If you actually left when you said you were leaving!

Fine! I’ll leave you alone so you can focus on ruining the story!

Thank the Maker…Now, where was I?

DISPATCHING!

Right…

The evil lord Darth Vader, obsessed with finding young Skywalker, has dispatched thousands of remote probes into the far reaches of space….

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

All participating authors have generously forgone any compensation for their stories. Instead, their proceeds will be donated to First Book—a leading nonprofit that provides new books, learning materials, and other essentials to educators and organizations serving children in need. To further celebrate the launch of this book and both companies’ long-standing relationships with First Book, Penguin Random House has donated $100,000 to First Book, and Disney/Lucasfilm has donated 100,000 children’s books—valued at $1,000,000—to support First Book and their mission of providing equal access to quality education.

TOM ANGLEBERGER is the author of the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling Origami Yoda series, as well as The Mighty Chewbacca in the Forest of Fear and a retelling of Return of the Jedi titled “Beware the Power of the Dark Side.” Also a Clone Wars fan, Tom recently adapted a Cad Bane story arc for the anthology: The Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark .

SARWAT CHADDA spent twenty years as an engineer before turning his hand to writing. Since then he’s written novels, comic books, and TV series, including Devil’s Kiss, City of the Plague God, and Baahubali the Lost Legends . His writing embraces his heritage, combining East and West, with a particular passion for epic legends, vicious monsters, glorious heroes, and despicable villains.

Having spent years traveling the Far East collecting tales, he now lives in London with his family, but has a rucksack and notebook on standby.

S. A. CHAKRABORTY is the author of the critically acclaimed and internationally bestselling Daevabad Trilogy. Her work has been nominated for the Locus, World Fantasy, Crawford, and Astounding awards. When not buried in books about thirteenth-century con artists and Abbasid political intrigue, she enjoys hiking, knitting, and re-creating unnecessarily complicated medieval meals. You can find her online at www.sachakraborty.comor on Twitter and Instagram at @SAChakrabooks, where she likes to talk about history, politics, and Islamic art. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, daughter, and an ever-increasing number of cats.

MIKE CHEN is a lifelong Star Wars fan and the author of the critically acclaimed novels Here and Now and Then and A Beginning at the End, as well as the upcoming We Could Be Heroes. He also writes for geek media, from defending the Prequel Trilogy at The Mary Sue to comparing The Last Jedi to literary fiction at Tor.com to examining those other space adventures at StarTrek.com. A member of SFWA, Mike lives in the Bay Area, where he can be found playing old LucasArts adventure games with his wife, daughter, and rescue animals. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @mikechenwriter.

ADAM CHRISTOPHER’s debut novel, Empire State , was SciFiNow ’s Book of the Year and a Financial Times Book of the Year. His other novels include Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town , Made to Kill , and Seven Wonders . A contributor to the internationally bestselling Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View fortieth-anniversary anthology and IDW’s Star Wars Adventures comic, Christopher has also written the official tie-in novels for the hit CBS television show Elementary and the award-winning Dishonored videogame franchise. Born in New Zealand, Christopher has lived in Great Britain since 2006.

KATIE COOK is a writer and artist who has been involved in the Star Wars universe for over a decade. Her work includes illustrating the Star Wars children’s books ABC-3PO , OBI-123 , Search Your Feelings , Creatures Big& Small, and Galactic Storybook as well as many Yoda doodles that have graced her homework papers throughout the ’80s and ’90s.

ZORAIDA CÓRDOVA is the author of many fantasy novels for kids and teens, including the award-winning Brooklyn Brujas series, Incendiary, and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: A Crash of Fate . Her short fiction has appeared in the New York Times bestselling anthology Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View and Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark. She is the co-editor of Vampires Never Get Old . Her debut middle-grade novel is The Way to Rio Luna . She is the co-host of the podcast Deadline City with Dhonielle Clayton. Zoraida was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and raised in Queens, New York. When she’s not working on her next novel, she’s finding a new adventure.

DELILAH S. DAWSON is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Phasma, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire , and Star Wars: The Perfect Weapon, as well as the Blud series, the Hit series, and the Shadow series, written as Lila Bowen. With Kevin Hearne, she co-writes the Tales of Pell. Her comics include Star Wars Adventures and Star Wars: Forces of Destiny, Firefly: The Sting, Marvel Action Spider-Man, Adventure Time, the X-Files Case Files, and Wellington, written with Aaron Mahnke of the Lore podcast, plus her creator-owned comics Ladycastle, Sparrowhawk, and Star Pig. She lives in Florida with her family and loves Ewoks, porgs, and gluten-free cake.