Following the success of
Brian Daley's trilogy of Han Solo novels in 1979-80, Del Rey Books released a three-volume cycle of
Star Wars universe novels by
L. Neil Smith, featuring the
Millennium Falcon's previous captain, the roguish Lando Calrissian in 1981. The titles were:
Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu, Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon and
Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka. (My spellchecker's having a stroke.)
Like Daley's Han Solo books, these novels took place well before the events of the original
Star Wars films, and were set off in corners of the galaxy that seemed to have little connection with the Imperial settings of the films. Unlike the Solo novels, though, the Calrissian adventure were just plain weird. Even when Lucasfilm was building and putting considerable effort into reconciling its "Expanded Universe," the events, characters and planets in these books were essentially ignored. Still, at the time of their release, there was damned little new
Star Wars adventures to be had, and offbeat as they were, they were eagerly snapped up by young fans.
Plus, they had great cover paintings by
Williams Schmidt.
 |
| The Mindharp Of Sharu |
 |
| The Flamewind of Oseon |
 |
| The Starcave of ThonBoka |
Those look great! Thanks for sharing. Wait a minute, is his robot sidekick like R2D2 but with a red dome and tentacles?!
ReplyDeleteTotally looks like 7-Zark-7 from "Battle of the Planets".
DeleteThe funny thing is that he completely *isn't* just like R2-D2 with tentacles; he's like a silver starfish with a red gem in the center (uncannily similar to the Pokemon Staryu) with tentacles at the tip of each star-point. He is described very clearly and in great detail, several times... so it's very strange that the cover artist decided to paint him like an R2-D2 with a red, tentacled starfish on his head.
DeleteAh Lando, Lando, Lando! I was just thinking about "Star Wars" and just how humongous it was after it crashed into theaters. With no internet, it couldn't have broken it as so many modern things seem to do (regularly...poor internet is rather fragile it seems), but I can think of nothing (Harry Potter maybe) in the years since which has commanded so much of the popular imagination at a single time. And I'm a fan of the prequels too, especially the much derided "Phantom Menace", so there.
ReplyDeleteI never read the novels much, some of the Alan Dean Foster stuff early on, and I didn't really follow the comics after the first dozen or so, but the movies have always been a hoot. Used Episode 4 just a few weeks ago in class to reveal elements of the mythic hero cycle in a narrative. Students had not seen it before save for a couple. One girl had when her "Grandpa" made her watch it. Sheesh!
Rip Off
I always wanted to read that The Mindharp of Sharu book. The cover looked so cool and the was just stuck in my head as something cool. Of course in my memories it was "The Mindship of Sharu". No idea why I made that change in my mind. But that is a cool title too.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading these. They were definitely a bit different.
ReplyDeleteI love how the artist obviously used Kenner's Millenium Falcon as a model, with it's over-sized cockpit and laser gun. It's what made these books stand out to me on the book racks way back when. Never did buy them or the Han Solo novels as a kid. I read Splinter of the Mind's Eye and didn't care for it (actively hated it, actually - my apologies to those who like it) and it put me off buying anymore Star Wars novels for 35 years. I finally bought one of the Solo books recently but haven't read it yet.
ReplyDeleteApparently Mongo passed through the galaxy far, far away a long time ago. Klytus looks a little annoyed at Lando on that 3rd cover.
Timothy Brannan, I read it that way too when I first read it at this site, so you're not alone. Must be the science fiction premise that makes one predisposed to see the word "ship".
ReplyDeleteWow, I have no memory of having ever seen these. The Han Solo books, of course, I recall, and everyone else seems to, too. I'll have to check these out.
ReplyDeleteI read these a long time ago and still have them. Each book got weird in the middle but they are worth reading. Interesting fact; Lando didn't fly the Falcon, his droid Vuffi Raa (?) did. Hope I got his name right.
ReplyDeleteI found an omnibus of the three novels at a book sale. I may have to push it up on the reading queue if it's weird enough that the EU ignores it. Interestingly, I just checked Wookieepedia and apparently the omni's getting re-issued under the new Legends banner. Speaking of Wookieepedia, here's the article on Lando's droid:
ReplyDeletehttp://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Vuffi_Raa
Thing looks like an nightstand with tentacles.
they were very weird. and way too much alliteration in the writing. almost like the author was attempting a dime novel pulpy style but it wasn't like Daley, or Alan Dean Foster. even though I have the Solos and the Landos and Splinter of TME all on my kindle/iphone.
ReplyDeleteAs a kid I took a class on writing sci-fi with L.Neil Smith. As a result, I read most of his stuff. These three are definitely not his best, but one must realize that everything he writes is heavily influenced by the fact that he is a hard-core Libertarian. The one book of his I read more than once was The Probability Broach which uses the classic fantasy trope of someone from our world going into a fantasy world, only Smith's fantasy is really an alternate history/sci-fi mash up.
ReplyDelete