Authors from across the Star Wars galaxy took the NYCC stage on Saturday for a special panel marking the release of From A Certain Point of View, the brand new anthology novel telling 40 stories celebrating 40 years since the release of Star Wars: A New Hope.
Each of the forty short stories in the collection reimagines a moment from the original film but through the eyes of a supporting character.
Lucasfilm’s Story Group member Pablo Hidalgo moderated the panel which featured 19 of the book’s 44 authors, including Hidalgo himself who wrote a story about Grand Moff Tarkin.
Our #FromaCertainPOV panel has begun. The one and only @pablohidalgo leading a panel of 19 authors. We start with THE VILLAINS pic.twitter.com/ReQVRueNSS
— Star Wars Books (@StarWarsByRHW) October 7, 2017
Highlights from the panel include Star Wars newcomer Pierce Brown, author of the NYT bestseller Red Rising, whose story follows Biggs Darklighter during the Death Star attack. Brown says he thought it was important to tell a story about how other Rebel pilots have to deal with Luke’s arrival — a “farmboy pilot” who is obviously skilled but doesn’t really know what he’s doing. It’s also about making Biggs’ ultimate sacrifice feel very intentional, and “not like an accident,” Brown says.
Writer Meg Cabot’s story is an intimate character portrait of Luke’s Aunt Beru. Cabot told the audience that her contribution is all about getting to know the woman who raised Luke and endowed him with empathy and compassion that we see fully manifest when Luke tosses away his lightsaber away at the end of Return of the Jedi.
The amazing @CaptainEhud reading an excerpt from Gary D. Schmidt's Yoda story. As Yoda and Obi Wan *squee* #FromaCertainPOV pic.twitter.com/86Sscz1vRQ
— Star Wars Books (@StarWarsByRHW) October 7, 2017
Marc Thompson, who narrates the audio version of the book, took the stage to perform a charming excerpt with Yoda and Obi-wan discussing the possibility of beginning Luke’s training. We won’t spoil it for you, but Obi-wan appears through the Force to Yoda and asks him to train Luke — his request doesn’t go over too well.
Prolific Star Wars author Chuck Wendig (Aftermath) wrote a story about Wuher, the gruff droid-hating bartender at the Cantina. “The prequels,” Wendig joked, “actually exist to explain to us why Wuher is mad at droids. I wanted to contextualize that because once upon a time droids terrorized the galaxy!”
Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View is out now from Del Rey.
