From the pages of Blue Harvest Episode Nine...
Summer 1996

Rogue Writer:
an interview with Michael A. Stackpole
by Paul Michael Kane

37-year-old Michael A. Stackpole woke up one morning to find he had been given the rare opportunity to make his own mark in the phenomenon known as the Star Wars saga. The Phoenix, Arizona-based author has been contracted to write four novels, the first of which hit the stands this past winter, chronicling the events of the X-Wing fighter group Rogue Squadron.  The writer has also been hired by Dark Horse Comics to outline and plot out a twelve-issue X-Wing comic book series.

Having the desire to write as far back as the sixth grade, Stackpole found himself attending the University of Vermont for a history degree rather than an English degree.  Learning to write from people who lack any publishing experience held no appeal for the author. Stackpole got his own start in the publishing industry with a sale to the role-playing game publisher, Flying Buffalo, Inc.  He was eventually hired by the same company and came to head the production department.  He went on to win two H.G. Wells Awards for Best Role-Playing Adventure in '84 and '85.  He was later inducted into the Academy of Gaming Arts and Design Hall of Fame.  Ending his career at Flying Buffalo, Inc., Stackpole went freelance.  He sold several short fiction pieces to small press magazines before becoming involved with the BattleTech series. It was his involvement with BattleTech and his ability to seamlessly work in other people's universes that got him the attention of Bantam Books and Lucasfilm...

Why science fiction?

MS:  I think ultimately science fiction is appealing on a number of different levels.  First, I think it's some of the only literature nowadays that really hits on some of those mythic archetypes that have been written about forever.  Secondly, science fiction tends to be optimistic literature.  Yes, things may be getting bad but generally speaking there's hope somewhere; whether it's magic, technology, or just the human spirit.  In the end, the good guys win or at least put up a really good fight. In modern literature it's kind of like you start in the toilet and the rest of the story is spent swirling around through the pipes.  I don't think that's very entertaining.

How do your friends react to you now that you're a published Star Wars novelist?

MS:  You run into several different reactions.  For friends who are writers, there is this big joke:  you work for fourteen years and then you become an overnight success. It's funny for anyone looking at my career from the outside, it looks like one grand rocket ride.  For me and those who know the inside story, it's been more like "Houston, we have a problem."

What was it like to be contracted to write a Star Wars story?

MS:  I was in a serious world of hurt back in the first few months of '93 as far as money was concerned.  I had just got a book back from Rock and was trying to sell it to (Janna Silverstein) my editor at Bantam.  She had already taken Once a Hero.  I wanted to know if she was interested in my new book.  I figured I'd get some money for the book and that would tide me over.  Before I could talk to her, she got into a traffic accident and was out of the office for ten days.  I was getting terribly nervous.  You know how it is when you get money trouble.  When she recovered and returned to the office, I called her late one night.  She tells me she's on pain killers.  By this time, I was really trying to talk her into buying this book.  It was pretty much getting a no-sale.
Then Janna said, "Ya know, I probably shouldn't tell you this, but--"
I said, "Wait, stop.  If you shouldn't tell me something, don't."  I didn't want to get her into trouble because she was on pain killers.  I didn't want to take advantage of that.  That was just about as black a moment as there was in my career.  At eight the next morning, my agent called me and said that Bantam Books has just offered me four Star Wars books.  Eleven o' clock the same morning, Jenna calls me and starts humming the theme song to Star Wars.
My comment to her was, "My, what a difference a day makes."

Had you been a fan of the saga?

MS:  I've always considered myself a fan until I started meeting the real fans.  I can recall, very vividly, seeing the trailer for Star Wars.  A friend of mine, my brother, and I went to go shopping on Christmas Eve.  We'd always save our shopping til then (laughter).  We'd go shopping during the day and then see a movie in the evening.  As I recall, the movie we saw was Clint Eastwood's The Gauntlet.  There was this trailer for a movie called Star Wars.  I mean it was like way cool.  For Christmas, I got this gift certificate to the bookstore.  I went out and bought the paperback of the movie and read it.  I just could not wait until the movie came out.  When Star Wars finally showed up in Vermont, I remember a co-worker and I took off from work and saw the first showing with about seventeen other people in the theater.  I think everyone who saw the saga in the theaters, as opposed to being introduced to it on video, watched it and said, "My God, I've never seen anything like this before!"  It was very, very cool.



Did you collect any of the merchandising?

MS:  I collected all the early stuff but kind of lapsed.  Now, coming back to it, I am very impressed by the depth of the stuff that's been developed and also the depth of knowledge the fans possess.

While writing the X-Wing novels, did Lucasfilm keep an eye on your input into the Star Wars continuity?

MS:  Lucasfilm, Bantam Books and West End Games have formed a really strong foundation, a backbone if you will, of the Star Wars universe. This is where my history background and the background of working in other people's universes prior to Star Wars really helped me out.  The thing is, I love research.  For instance, one of very real concerns I had was since my books were set before Timothy Zahn's trilogy, I had to make sure that I did nothing that Tim said was happening for the first time.  I also, and I have thanked Tim profusely for this (sarcastically), had to take a look at the defenses he set up for Coruscant.  In my book I've got to break those.

How many hours have you spent playing the X-Wing PC game?

MS: (Groaning) I don't think I kept track of that.  I do know that I was developing this chronic ache in my hand. I did log a lot of time on X-Wing and even more on TIE Fighter.  I got my copy of TIE Fighter when it just came out and had the occasion to speak with Larry Holland, the guy who designed the game, on an unrelated matter.  I told him what scenario I was up to and he was very impressed (laughing).  Apparently, I was logging a bit more hours than I thought.  (The mission that was described in the opening chapter of Rogue Squadron was actually in the first Tour of Duty #1, Operation #4 of X-Wing.)
That mission was one that stopped me cold.  I hated it.  When I went to do the opening of the book, I said yes, this is the mission I want to use.  I couldn't get through it.  I called Bantam and they called Lucasfilm.  They'd arranged to have sent to me the hint book.  Over a weekend, I didn't have the book yet, I kept trying this damn scenario over and over again.  Finally came up with a solution on my own.  When I got the hint book, it didn't even match, the solution they suggested.

So Corran Horn uses your solution?

MS:  Yes, that's what I spent hours figuring out.

How did you feel about not using Luke, Han and Leia as central characters?

MS:  To be very honest, that was a godsend.  I like those characters a lot and I really, really like the movies too.  I enjoy them every time I see them.  One of the things I bring to universes when I come into them is that I like defining stuff, I like expanding the universe.  I like taking it one step further.  With Luke and Leia and the principal characters, you really can't do that.  Everybody who has seen those movies forms their own mental images of these guys.  Doing my characterization of these guys and getting it right is nearly impossible.  What I really enjoyed, and what Lucasfilm has been unbelievably generous with, is in allowing me to pick out what character types I wanted to explore and what races I wanted to use.  I remember very specifically that I wanted to use a Gand.  One Gand appears in the second movie for about seven seconds.   I wanted to use that race because I like the look, but I had very little information about them.  I asked Lucasfilm for more information on the Gand.  The reply I got was a photocopy of the material I already had and a note saying, "This is it.  Have fun."

I was able to go through and do all the stuff  I was able to do with the Gand.  It was very neat to be carving out my own little niche in the Star Wars universe. One of the things I really enjoyed was the interactivity of the Star Wars universe.  The other day I was talking with Tim Zahn.  I wanted to use Talon Karrde in the fourth novel and from the conversation Tim and I had, we were able to feed some stuff back and forth.  Now things that are going on in my fourth book will have direct consequence in Tim's later book.  Again, it's that interactivity of the universe that makes it possible.

Tell me about the comic books.

MS:  The comics take place directly after Jedi and The Truce at Bakura (Kathy Tyers).  The novels pick up somewhere between two-and-a-half to two-and-three-quarter years after Jedi.

The events surrounding they Tycho character, will we see that in the comic prequels?

MS:  At this point no.  The reason being is that originally the comics were going to be three, four issue mini-series (twelve issues in all).  Now, it looks as though they may do an addtional four issues.  In the chronology I've written, the events with Tycho happens a little bit later.  Unless the series continues, chances are we won't see those events. I suppose there is always the possibility that Dark Horse might say, "Let's do an annual and cover that story."  But nothing on that right now.

Is there a big difference between writing a novel and outlining a comic book?

MS:  The primary difference is the work load.  Outlining the comic stories is relatively easy.  One of the things that I do pretty well is plots, and that pretty much what (Dark Horse) is asking me to do. It's been a lot of fun working on the comics, getting to see what other people do with my outline.

What is the ultimate goal of the new Rogue Squadron?

MS:  Taking Coruscant, pacifying Coruscant, and dealing with the fallout of occupying Coruscant is the main focus of all four books. I decided real early on that since I was not dealing with the usual characters, I'd better do something interesting.  Otherwise, people wouldn't buy the book.  Since Coruscant had already been taken in Tim's books and even in Dave Wolverton's book, I knew it had to be taken at some point.  So I said what the heck.

Were you surprised by the popularity of the Wedge character?

MS:  Very surprised!  From the very first phone call I had from Sue Rostoni at Lucasfilm, she said that I should really look at using Wedge.  Then, before I had gotten my initial package from Lucasfilm containing all the information I needed to start and even before doing any research, I talked to Kevin Anderson and he said I ought to think about using Wedge.  Finally I got the information and was given what my assignment was.  I was to do a fighter squadron series.  Rogue Squadron was my only choice and therefore Wedge Antilles was the only choice I had as a main character. Looking back at all the information and research material I was given, I would have wound up using Wedge whether anyone had tipped me toward him or not. One tough thing was getting rid of the surviving members of the squadron (laughter), because Hobbie and Janson show up in Tim's books.  I couldn't kill them but here they are taking up space in my squadron.  Obviously they can't die, so I transferred them away and brought in new pilots so I could scrag a bunch of them (laughter).

Tell me a little about Corran Horn.

MS:  I wanted Horn to be different from every other Corellian.  Every Corellian at some point is a smuggler.  I wanted someone who hates smugglers (laughter).

What about Nawara Ven, the Twi'lek lawyer.  Is that character based on your sister, Kerin, who is also a lawyer?

MS:  (Laughter) No, no, no.  Oh God, no.  I basically knew I wanted a wide diversity of characters.  Twi'leks, given what they do, were really reluctant to join the Rebellion.  I need a Twi'lek whose character was somewhat different from the norm.  I figured that one of them could easily be a lawyer.  Having Nawara Ven feel the brunt of the Empire's anti-alien bias seemed perfectly natural and was a good way to drive him to the Rebellion.
 It's funny though, in the third book Nawara Ven gets to act as a lawyer again.  I consulted my sister fairly heavily to make sure I was getting (the jargon) right so it would read properly.

Was Gavin Darklighter your creation?

MS:  Gavin was my creation because originally Sue and I set the first X-Wing book before the formation of Rogue Squadron.  I balked at the idea because it would mean that everybody would know how the book would end.  There would be no suspense to it whatsoever.  To find out more about the background of certain characters, I created Gavin as a conduit to that information. The other thing with Gavin was that in every WWII movie or novel, there is always this big-for-his-age 16 or 17-year-old kid who lied to get into the army.  Gavin is that innocence of youth who is in the last place the innocent ought to be.  I thought he would be a real interesting character, someone readers can watch grow with the squad.

How do you go about killing a character, Lujayne for instance?

MS:  I knew, when I created Lujayne, that she was destined for death.  I also knew she was going to be killed on the ground because I wanted readers to think that it was unfair she died that way, to think that in some ways the Empire had cheated.  I chose her to die because she was a character that was very helpful.  I think if Bror Jace had been killed, nobody would have cared (laughter).  I think a lot of people would have felt glad.  Given some of the replies on the Internet, if Corran died, some people would have applauded.  By killing Lujayne, I wanted to remind readers that war is not a nice thing.  It's not just guys with funny masks in TIE fighters blowing up, we do lose friends.  I felt it was necessary to get that point across.


& <>

How has audience response been to the series so far?

MS:  Overall, word of mouth on the book has just been spectacular.  There are some people who jump up with quibbles and that sort of thing.  Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.  The only thing I don't like is when someone says that I had made a mistake in the book, and I didn't.  For example, off the Internet, someone said I referred to Grand Admiral Thrawn as having once held the rank of Colonel.  According to this person, Thrawn is in the Imperial Navy and there is no rank of Colonel.  Well, in the TIE Fighter game, the ranks of the Imperial Navy include Colonel.  That's my source material (laughter).  It ain't my fault!  The fans definitely have deep interest in the saga, and I think that's great.  However, I don't think the fans have been given an actual look at the process we go through to get this stuff approved.  For an error to slip through is really tough.  I do all the research and footnote my manuscript with where I've got the material.  Then that manuscript goes to Bantam, then to Lucasfilm, and finally to West End Games.  So there are multiple sets of eyes reading this stuff over.  I think what readers are perceiving as errors are actually people who simply haven't read the same source material the rest of us have.

Are all four books completed?

MS:  I am finishing the fourth book now.  The second book (came) out at the beginning of May.  One of the things I have always tried to do with my serial is have a beginning, middle, and an end to every one.  A recurring nightmare of mine is to be in an airport with nothing to read and every book in the bookstore is book two of a series.

Finally, has George Lucas ever given you his personal input on your books?

MS:  What I was told initially about George is that he reads all the outlines.  He is a very busy, busy man.  I think it would be wonderful if he did read all the books but I would be very surprised if he did.  I did go up to Skywalker Ranch and had lunch with Sue Rostoni and Lucy Wilson.  George was in fact at the next table over.  This is how stupid you get when stuff like this goes on.  We're sitting there eating lunch and I'm looking around the restaurant.  I see this guy and what goes through my mind is, "Ya know, that guy looks a lot like George Lucas."  I like to tell people that as I left the restaurant, I walked right past him.  I was about five inches from George Lucas.  As it is, I've been thrilled that Lucasfilm and Bantam Books have been as happy with the novels as they've been.  And so have the fans.

©1996 Blue Harvest

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