Lit Your First EU Experience

First book I owned was Han Solo at Stars' End. Never could get past the first page as a kid, though. First book I read in its entirety was Heir to the Empire. Nowadays I think Daley is fun pulp and I don't care for Zahn.

First EU experience would be the Ewok Adventure movies. As a kid I liked them every bit as much as the main trilogy.

 

I knew a significant chunk of EU before I watched a minute of any of the films. EU was my first venture into Star Wars (thanks, Databank!) and I hold it very dear.

 

When I was 9 or 10 I read some Choose Your Own Adventure books that I think featured Jacen and Jaina Solo. I might be wrong about that.

 

Maybe it's cliche, but my first was, in fact, Heir to the Empire.

 

That's one of my favorite trilogies in the EU. Loved the Han-Bria dynamic. Thought the whole series was well done, even though it gets a harsh rap from many fans.

My first foray into the EU was the Thrawn Trilogy. Buddy at school had the books. I had no idea there was such a thing as the EU. He lent me the first book and from there I picked up books whenever I could fin them.


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Although not my first EU books, Crispin's Han Solo books were very enjoyable reads for me. I ignored them for a while, but then on a whim picked up the first two books together from my university's bookstore. I'm very glad I didn't miss out on them.

First SW literature was a hardcover copy of the Star Wars (1977) storybook; I still have this storybook after all these years and it has taken some serious pounding, it's all taped up now. First encounter with EU was most likely The Ewok Adventure, called Caravan of Courage nowadays. And since they had a storybook for that as well...I think that would have been my first (or one of my first) encounters with EU literature, so to speak.

I once checked out Splinter of the Mind's Eye from the library, but I didn't actually read the book until many years later. While I was excited about that cover, I was easily daunted as a reader, early on.

And then came Heir to the Empire. I had to skip the harcover, but my patience was rewarded when it showed up in the supermarket in paperback. I talked my mom into buying it for me, so I would have something to read on the road during huge 2-week family vacation, driving to all kinds of national parks between Arizona and Montana. That night, two chapters in and my mom had to tell me to stop reading, go to bed and not read the whole thing in one night, save it for the trip. On the road, my parents kept telling me I should check out the impressive scenery we were driving through, but I got so lost in that book.

 

I like stories like this... I remember when my classmate landed me Heir to the Empire, I read it between every class, at lunch, after racing through homework... I would honestly try to read as many pages as possible between the 5 minutes we switched classes.

I don't care how many times a thread appears on these boards about how lazy an author Zahn is or how his books are over hyped... They're what brought me into the EU, and as such, will always be remembered fondly.


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It was seventh grade, I was twelve, and my homeroom teacher had this line of bookshelves against one wall which I sat next to. I'd been introduced to the movies a few years before, so when I saw the words Star Wars on the binding of a few of the books I span right around to look. It was the YJK books, not all of them though and I can't really remember which I read first cause it was so long ago. But I borrowed them from her, and I read them, and I just fell in love. Jacen Solo was my first crush, the first fictional pairing I really put myself into was Jacen and Tenel Ka. Those books inspired me to write, starting with fanfiction and eventually moving into original stuff. They also helped me through middle school, which we all know is hell on pretty much anyone. Young Jedi Knights kind of saved my life even, as cheesy as that sounds. So even though the writing is fairly juvenile at times, and the stories are so very black and white morally, I always have a soft spot for KJA and Rebecca Moesta.

 

It was the Timothy Zahn trilogy. Specifically, Heir to the Empire. After finishing the original films, I was desperately craving more, and came across that lone book that changed my life. Still have those old, beat up books, too. I need to buy some new ones, paperback covers are messed up, they didn't survive all the moving I've done. Then getting wet in the rain. Jeez, I really do need new copies. lol. Anyway, that book just completely blew my little mind away. To think that there was Star Wars beyond those films, it was just unbelievable.

 

Wil Wheaton's the only one I remember, since I got his autograph. The rest of the guests that year were people who had been on shows I didn't watch or who had done minor roles on the Original Series Star Trek.

 

I walked into a discount book store in 1994, not looking for anything in particular. Something jumped out at me though - this little black paperback sporting the Milennium Falcon on the cover! My heart soared - when did they start printing Star Wars books?!

I bought it, and began reading it. But because of my neurotic obsession with reading / watching things in order, once I realized it was the second book, I read only the first 3 chapters. The next day, I begged my mom to take me out in search of Heir to the Empire. I blew through both books in a few days.

I still recall my original thought about them, one which I believe to this day (and one I told Zahn the one time I had a chance to meet him). Those books felt as much if not more like 'Star Wars' than the original movies. There was just something about the way he captured the characters that was just breathtaking.

So I am sad that Episode 7 will not be HttE. As messy as recasting characters would have been, I would have been fine with them just pushing the timeline of all the events back and having Luke, Han and Leia just much older in the same story.

Oh well. I'm still excited about Disney owning the property. I just hope once they do get things going, we'll have the EU up and running once again. Btw...if they DO reboot it, doesn't that mean we could get some of our favorite characters back?!? Jade, Pellaeon...Thrawn...in all new stories?!?

Now I'm stoked

 

The first EU books I read were probably either the Jedi Quest series or the Jedi Apprentice series.

 

The first one I read was probably the Junior Jedi Knights books.

 

My first overall EU experience was with the 3-in-1 New Essential Guide to Characters/Weapons and Technology/Vehicles and Vessels.

My first novel was Vision of the Future by Timothy Zahn (great place to start, I know).

As far as my first comic, I'm not sure... I've actually been thinking about this the last few days. I'm thinking it was Tales of the Jedi: Golden Age of the Sith, but it may have been the Clone Wars run of Republic. Also a slight chance of it either being KotOR: Commencement, or Legacy, though I'm pretty sure those were both later.

 

Shadows of the Empire and The Bounty Hunter Wars.

 

I am not alone!

 

Thrawn Trilogy I think

 

Jedi Apprentice, the first book only, I couldn't really get into them

 

I'd like to say the Thrawn Trilogy. I honestly would. I remember when I first came across it (Heir to the Empire) in a grocery story. I then went ahead and acquired the rest of them. But... honestly? At that time I found them a bit boring. I couldn't get through them.

Yes the younger me certainly sucked at times.

It was actually the hardcover release of The Truce at Bakura that got me hooked to the EU. That and the WEG roleplaying game. I remember coming across it in a store and convincing my parents to buy it for a Christmas gift. Blew through it on Christmas morning.

 

Are you sure the reason you couldn't get into the Thrawn Trilogy wasn't actually because you subconsciously knew that Thrawn's nose would one day contradict Duros?

 

Th Ewok Cartoon followed by Young Jedi Knights

 

My first contact with the EU was Dark Empire I and II. It's probably one of the reasons I like Dark Empire so much.

 

My first contact with the EU was an early issue of the Knights of the Old Republic comic book series- with Zayne Carrick proving that the force has a sense of humour. I loved it from the beginning and read loads more.
I then went on to read Crispin's Han Solo Trilogy and then Drew Karpyshyn's Darth Bane books, although I had to wait for each new book to be published so I read a few others in between times. Outbound Flight was one of most memorable. The character of Thrawn really blew me away.