A Paint-by-Numbers Star Wars Book?
Yes, it's mine. No, I didn't do the art. (Whew!)
A while back the good folks at Becker & Mayer came to me and asked if I wanted to do a Star Wars paint-by-number book.
My first reaction: “Do I have to do the art?”
The answer, which was good news for all involved: no.
My job was to write 10 short essays about the classic Star Wars trilogy and its place in pop culture. That was a mandate I was allowed to interpret broadly, so I dug into Star Wars storytelling, the characters, cinema history, appreciations of the actors, the pros and cons of “machete order,” and so much more.
I’ve written or co-written more than 40 Star Wars books or short stories, but this was new ground for me, and I loved exploring it.
Here’s a sneak peek at the 10 mini-essays in the book:
1) Message From a Princess – how Luke Skywalker’s heroic journey follows the pattern of Joseph Campbell-style meta-myths while remaining accessible to anyone who’s ever been a teenager who feels stuck and unappreciated. (In other words, everyone.)
2) A Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy – geeking out about the aliens of the Mos Eisley cantina and their changing identities and backstories. Spoiler: sometimes a barfly’s just a barfly.
3) That Old Fossil – an appreciation of Ben Kenobi’s vital function in the storytelling of Episode IV, and how Alec Guinness was the perfect actor to make it work.
4) X-Wings Over Yavin – how World War II flying movies such as 1955′s The Dam Busters shaped not just the effects but also the structure of Episode IV’s third act.
5) From Sequel to Saga – how The Empire Strikes Back broke every rule about how to make a sequel and transformed Star Wars from Saturday-afternoon serial to epic saga.
6) Breaking Up the Band – Quick: how many scenes do Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher have together in Empire? An appreciation of Han, Luke and Leia, and of Empire’s boldness in splitting them up.
7) An Actor Alone – giving Mark Hamill his due for an unjustly underrated performance, without which Empire would have been DOA.
8) The Moment That Changed Everything – yeah, you know the one. Examining its power, and how “machete order” is a noble but impossible attempt to preserve that power.
9) The Odd Couple – we all know R2-D2′s the secret hero of the Star Wars saga. But did you ever notice that C-3PO’s kind of a monster?
10) Learning to Let Go – how Luke Skywalker’s story breaks all the rules of action movies.
It’s a fun book, whether you like to paint Star Wars scenes or want to read a bit more about these three beloved movies, and I was really excited to get to write it. Check it out – just be sure not to get paint on you.