Lit The Heart of the Jedi by Kenneth. C Flint

I don’t see The Heart of the Jedi on Amazon anymore

 

Yep, it gone.

 

Same here, though HandofThrawn45 provides a very acceptable alternative in the meantime!

 

If this book was actually released at the time, it would have had a different cover. The cover is taken a from a fan poster of A New Hope (which is why Darth Vader and Tatooine are on it).

 

For those wondering, this is what just got delivered. I ordered two copies, and feel very lucky to have ordered this in time. I don't know if Amazon is halting shipments for placed orders, but I can confirm that the product page is indeed gone. This is going to become an infamous and very valuable collectable, even though it is waaaay unofficial. Beyond any future value (just wait until somebody puts their copy up on Ebay...), the real value, at least for me, is that I can enjoy this pretty much exactly as I would have had it been released back in the day.

If it weren't for a few minor details and how white and crisp the pages are, I would not be able to tell this unofficial version apart from a Bantam paperback from the 90s. As it is, this custom printing is at a glance indistinguishable from a real copy. The size, fonts, layouts, etc- they are all exactly correct, and this looks exactly like real EU paperbacks. Only the inner cover (which confirms that it is not official), the presence of the "L word" on the inside with much later EU works, and the modern prices on the spine give it away. For comparison, I took pictures of one of my actual Bantam paperbacks alongside it. The person who put this together is to be commended on their attention to detail and quality, as this is something vastly better than any fan project normally is.

I was a bit surprised to see that it is the timeline version exactly, including the BTS write-ups from Mr. Flint and Joe. I only wish that I'd ordered more copies, but if anyone reading this wants some they should check with the (purported) seller of these. He probably has some, though he might be in some hot water with Amazon and The Mouse. Of course, Amazon itself might be in some hot water for letting this slip through in the first place...

Does anyone know if there's a way to send money to Mr. Flint? I've really enjoyed this story, and I do wish to send him an appropriate sum.

 

If Mr Flint has a FB page, website, or Twitter account you could ask. Alternatively you could make a donation to a charity in his name.

 

Apparently Blood Oath and Legacy of Doom (sequel to Heart of the Jedi) were also finished but the manuscripts were unfortunately lost. I’ve also heard that the Nomi Sunrider novel Mandorla was completed as well but not sure if that’s confirmed.

Tom Veitch’s Lightsider was also confirmed complete I believe but I remember reading that after it was canceled he wanted to rework it and publish it as an original property. Not sure if he ever got around to that.

 

Several years ago, Tom's plan was to release Lightsider in a short story collection he was putting out. Then, his plan was to release the short story collection after releasing a nonfiction memoir about Star Wars. Then, he found out Clone Palpatine etc was going to be in TROS so he decided to hold off on putting the book out until he could add a TROS/Dark Empire compare and contrast section. Presumably, he wanted to wait until the "home video" release so he could watch it multiple times, so the earliest he could've finished the book was maybe April of last year. And now we play the waiting game.

 

My understanding has always been that it was never actually written, so you might be waiting a while on that.


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What about the Zahn/Stackpole story for Baron Fel?

 

Has no one else noticed the price difference of $5.99 vs $11.99?

 

Hate to be the guy who keeps looking at it from this perspective, but in viewing SheaHublin's pics I have to wonder if replicating the 1990's era Star Wars paperback trade dress in such precise detail isn't opening another potential can of worms. It's a little difficult to make out but that actually looks like the Bantam Spectra logo there on the spine? Not a lawyer by any stretch but I could see that potentially being problematic in its own right.

 

Meh. If anything, Kenneth C. Flint deserves all the royalties and profits from whoever did this.

I'm still amused that aside from Thrawn Ascendancy, it outsold The High Republic books. A quick check of Top 100 Best Selling books on Amazon as of 10.13pm (Australian Eastern Standard Time) has no Star Wars books. On the Sci-Fi Fantasy Best Selling, Thrawn Ascendancy is at #47 and NO High Republic books. Something tells me that perhaps there might be an issue.

One thing I can say about The Heart of the Jedi is that unlike most of the Star Wars novels both Legends and Canon, it feels like Star Wars and what it should be. I have only felt that in recent years with A New Dawn, Tarkin, Lost Stars and the new Thrawn books. I just don't feel it with the others.

 

Bloodline is a drag to get through. Last chapter I read was Carise Sindian leaving for Birren. I suppose it doesn't help there is no Republic leader in the Chancellor role of note. It's as if the Senate is functioning without any leadership. And the senators around Leia are boring and without a face to feel. Same goes for even the opposition senators. Ransolm Casterfo is alright but at the same time I can't feel for him and his eventual fate. Joph and Greer don't have much of a reaction from me either. Probably doesn't help that nothing in Bloodline really mattered in the Sequels.

 

Yeah. That's the hard part too.

 

I am confused how anyone thought this was legal. And why people are upset that Disney is taking care it’s property. This is what annoys me. There are serious breaches when companies should allow parody or what have you but this isn’t it. If you thought Disney would let this stand well. I don’t really know what to tell you.

 

They might have got away with it longer, had they not gone for the social media global megaphone, but it would have been noticed eventually

 

It more annoys me that clickbait youtubers and articles say something along the lines of Disney is attacking the little guy. Like yea because they are stealing and almost certainly making money off their IP. I think Disney should have definitely taken it down. Just kinda annoyed that more people don’t agree with this reasonable stance.

 

I'm always surprised by people talking of fan art being stolen by Disney, when it's Disney who owns SW.

 

I don’t think any rational people (i.e. people who bought it because it was something cool to have as opposed to weirdos who bought it out of spite) expected it to stay up forever, but Disney having the legal right to have it taken down (assuming that’s what happened) doesn’t absolve them from criticism for exercising it. They’ve done far worse things in the name of protecting their copyrights.

Morally, I don’t see why anyone would care, as no one’s losing money over the book being available. It seems comparable to the bootlegs of the Holiday Special and OOT you can buy on eBay, except less shady because I doubt those are being sold at cost.

I assume that the people who are commissioned to make the art for official Star Wars publications are paid for their work and the people whose fanart gets taken from Deviantart or wherever and used in official publications without their knowledge are not.

 

I get that to a degree. But it’s not even close to this. Where someone is just legit selling a book for money. Disney does have the right to use fan art, but I can at least understand people being upset there.

I am 100% on board with Disney protecting thier IP. Someone shouldn’t be able to sell something Lucasfilm commissioned. Even if it was decades ago. Yes current laws protect things basically forever. In an ideal world. 50-70 years would be all you would get. But even in that world this book still falls under that. So I have legit no problem with Disney doing this. Assuming it was them and not Amazon who took it down.

Correct but Disney can do whatever they want with fan art. Fan art is in a legal grey area. If Lucasfilm wanted to they could say tomorrow that fan art is no longer allowed and sue anyone who makes any fan material.

So even though I think fan art should be fine it isn’t and Disney can legally do what they please with it.