TFN reader Jake Black recently submitted to us a nice interview he conducted with longtime Star Wars author Dave Wolverton, the man behind The Courtship of Princess Leia and the Jedi Apprentice series. Jake himself is a published comic writer who, alongside Wolverton, just might be involved in Star Wars comics in the near future. Take a look:

He is known as Dave Wolverton and David Farland. But by whatever name you call him, he is one of science fiction’s most prolific authors. Known for his Runelords series, among many other projects, one of his biggest accomplishments was writing the marriage of Star Wars star-crossed lover, Han Solo and Princess Leia in The Courtship of Princess Leia. In this exclusive interview, Wolverton tells Jake Black about his 20+ Star Wars projects, setting a Guinness World Record, and what the future holds for his many projects…including a new hope for working on Star Wars.

JB: You have accomplished what many fans have only dreamed of – writing Star Wars fiction. How did that come about?

DW: I was first approached by Bantam Books way back in 1992. My editor, Betsy Mitchell, was looking for some authors to work on some Star Wars books, and she asked if I was interested. I was told at the time that they wanted to make sure that they had good writers, but that they also were looking for nice guys. Hence, they asked me and Kevin Anderson at about the same time. So remember, folks, nice guys don't always come in last.

JB: Were you a fan of Lucas’ universe before writing The Courtship of Princess Leia?

DW: Oh, yeah, I was a huge fan. When the first Star Wars movie came out, I was very excited to see it. But every time that I drove the 20 miles to the theater, the show was sold out. I happened to be in Corvallis morning early on a Tuesday, and heard over the radio that the theater was going to start doing early morning showings. I drove over immediately and got in line, then squeezed in between two immense, smelly loggers. But as soon as the movie started, I forgot all about them. I watched it about thirty five times in the next few weeks.

Somewhere in my photo album I have a picture that I took at the time, dressed as a Jedi with my lightsabre. (I had decided that I wanted to work in special effects on movies after seeing Star Wars.) The shot was done in very low light at a long shutter speed. It came out rather nice, if I do say so myself.

But after a few years of studying art and photography, it was my writing that took over, and eventually I turned that into a career. But I still have an interest in film-making on several levels.

JB: It is a pretty intense process to be approved for a project like this. Tell us a bit about your experience getting authorization.

DW: The folks at LucasFilm have always been very easy to work with. What they do first is to look at your work to see if you're writing at a high enough level so that they want to work with you.

Once you get approved as an author, you are free to submit ideas for stories. So you pitch your outlines, make any necessary changes, and go from there.

I've done maybe twenty projects with them, and really never did have any problems. Each of them got through with minor changes, if any at all.

JB: In addition to The Courtship of Princess Leia and the first novel in the young adult series Jedi Apprentice you also wrote a great number of projects for Scholastic’s Star Wars Adventures Club. What did those entail?

DW: Once again, the publisher solicited me. In most of those projects, I simply wrote a story--an opening and an ending. The middle part of the story was a role-playing game that was played with dice.

In later editions, I wrote the whole story out, and then we made a separate book that let you play the story as a game. I much preferred that format. Interestingly, I think that in some of these little-known Star Wars books, I've done some of my best work. I felt really free to just have a good time.

JB: What are some of your favorite Star Wars moments?

DW: That's a big question. From the movies, or from my own work? Some of the scenes are of course classic--the Star Wars cantina scene, the assault on Hoth, the speeder-bike battle, and so on.

JB: In addition to what we’ve already discussed, you have written several other novels for both licensed products and your own creations. Tell us a bit about them.

DW: Well, I've written four young adult books for the Mummy series, helped design Starcrafts' “Broodwar” game, wrote for the videogame Xena: Talisman of Fate, and some other video games.

In my own work, I've done a number of science fiction novels, in several different styles. My first book, On My Way to Paradise, was a Latin-American Cyberpunk novel. But my Serpent Catch series was more of a world-building adventure, and The Golden Queen series went a sort of literary space opera hybrid. But lately I've been mainly writing fantasy under the name of David Farland. My Runelords series has hit on the New York Times Bestseller list, and I've got a young adult series called Ravenspell that I've created. The first book in the series, called "Of Mice and Magic" will be out in May. I've got some plans for a new fantasy series, but I'm going to hold off news on that until I talk to my publisher.

JB: I hear you hold a pretty impressive record in the Guinness Book. What’s the story behind that?

DW: Oh, I wrote a book called "A Very Strange Trip," based on a screenplay by L.
Ron Hubbard. I guess that that's a licensed property that I forgot to mention. As part of the launch of the book, the publishers threw a huge party in Hollywood, with bands, celebrities, and free hot-fudge sundaes, while I signed books. And signed books. And signed more books. And eventually set a Guinness Worlds' Record for the largest book signing. I signed about 2800 books in the four hours that the Guinness judges were there, so that's the record, but I believe that I signed an additional 4000 books that day.

Really, I think that it was a pretty easy way to get a world record. I don't envy the guy that, say, tries to catch cannonballs in his mouth at three hundred yards. The only ill effect that I had from the signing was a terrible cramp in my index finger that struck a week after the signing. Oh, and between the fast signings, my suit coat, and the hot lights, I sweated more than a human should ever sweat in public. It was an ugly sight.

JB: What’s on the horizon for Dave Wolverton? Will we see you again in the Star Wars universe?

DW: I'm just finishing a new Runelords novel, and of course have Ravenspell books coming out. But I've got several other projects of interest. Mostly, I want to concentrate on my fiction for now. I've been working on a Runelords movie, and after getting stalled for several months, I think that that is coming back on track, but mainly I'm just having fun with my writing.

As for Star Wars, of all of the properties I've worked with, it has easily been the most fun. I may be working on some comics in the near future, and of course if any of the publishers would like me to write another novel in the Star Wars universe, I'd be eager to hear from them.

JB: Thanks for you time!

And thank you from TFN, Jake!