Continued: numbers 75-50!

74 = The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic Trilogy, Sean Williams and
Shane Dix. There was a lot more to this series than just the Empire
opening up a big can of whup against the Yuuzhan Vong--glimpses
inside Tahiri's mind, for instance, or the development of several
exotic alien environments. But, like Havac, I suspect it was mainly
the sight of Star Destroyers striking back again that won it votes
here.

74 = Dark Empire Sourcebook, Michael Allen Horne & others. The first
entry for a West End Games Sourcebook in the list. I'm not sure what
singled this one out--perhaps the detailed descriptions of the
neglected events between The Last Command and Dark Empire?

74 = The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader, Ryder Windham. A new book, and
a young-readers' book too. Obviously, Adrick wasn't aone with the
enthusiasm he expressed for this story's "shockingly cool" highlights
in his recent review.

72 = Shadows of the Empire (computer game), LucasArts. Fans tend to
look at Dash Rendar, and see a shallow replacement for Han Solo. It
seems it's a little different when you are Dash Rendar, and put your
own imagination behind the cockpit POV of the character.

72 = The Courtship of Princess Leia, Dave Woverton. Not just one
Galaxy-threatening barbarian civilization of matriarchal feminists
from outside known space... but two!!

71 = Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader, LucasArts. I suspect a group of
gamers probably voted in this poll, but who's complaining? True, it
has none of the original characters, ships and plotlines found in
some other games, just a couple of Expanded Universe locations thrown
in, but it's a solid starfighter sim, broadly reprising the plot of
the Trilogy. It can also boast Dennis Lawson reprising his role as
the voice of Wedge. And Wookieepedia tells me that, with a cheat
code, you can fly a '69 Buick against the Empire.

68 = Death Star, Michael Reaves and Steve Perry. Not actually the
epic story of the construction and development of the Empire's iconic
superweapon, but a series of understated plotlines about ordinary men
and women, intertwining aboard the battlemoon before and during
Episode IV. Not that there's anything wrong with that, though, is
there?

68 = Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, James Luceno. Presented as
the direct sequel to Episode III. Obviously, the marketing strategy
worked. Or maybe it was just the chance to watch the big guy with bad
breath and black armour again, as he learned what he could really do
now that his journey to the dark side was complete.

68 = Knights of the Old Republic: Days of Fear, John Jackson
Miller/Dustin Weaver/Brian Ching. What accounts for the appearance of
this particular story-arc in the list? Was it the Gryph? Or the
Mandalorians showing the Republic that they had codpieces of bes'kar.
Not the rather gratuitous cameo by one of those HK-series assassin
droids, surely?!

66 = The Cestus Deception, Steven Barnes. Another of those prequel-
era one-shot novels--and the only Clone Wars novel to place Obi-Wan
in a starring role. Not to say that General Kenobi steals the scene
completely: a talking snail proves to be a better sidekick than Jar-
Jar, and it also has a very human portrait of a clone trooper, one of
the few worthwhile protagonists to actually be killed in a recent
Star Wars novel.

66 = The New Essential Guide to Characters, Daniel Wallace. One of
several examples of this author's effortlessly comprehensive mastery
of Star Wars continuity. The luscious illustrations by Michael Sutfin
may also have had something to do with its popularity, too, as you
see quite a few as screen-name icons.

65 = The New Jedi Order: Dark Journey, Elaine Cunningham.
Overshadowed a little at the time of its release by Star by Star and
the start of the War on Terror, subject to affectionate reassessment
in recent years: Jaina goes some way towards resolving her tangled
relationships with men
(... /Jag... /Kyp... /Lowie... /Zekk... /Isolder...?!) and starts on
the path to forge an important, enduring partnership.

63 = Return of the Jedi novelization . Fashes of brilliance liven up
the prose of this, my personal favourite among the original trilogy
adaptions. The scenes seen through the masked eyes of Darth Vader are
among the best told from the Dark Lord of the Sith's perspective.

63 = The Approaching Storm, Alan Dean Foster. Did this get votes for
Anakin and Obi-Wan, I wonder? Or for Barris and Luminara? Or maybe
some of you just dig stories about Jedi diplomats mediating in socio-
economic disputes?

62 = The History of the Mandalorians, Abel G. Pena. I still get
nostalgic for the days when all the supercommandos were dead and no-
one quite knew where or how Jaster Mereel became Boba Fett. But it's
an impressive feat to wrangle a range of inspiration that runs from
the old Marvel comics up to Episode II tie-ins into a single coherent
narrative, especially when you manage to avoid losing the sense of
complexity and diversity that came with the original chaos.

61 = Young Jedi Knights series, Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta.
For some fans, this is still the apogee of Star Wars storytelling.

60 = Survivor's Quest, Timothy Zahn. Is it just me, or is that Grand
Admiral Thrawn hamming it up in a yellow dress for the benefit of his
stormtrooper bodyguard, tricking Luke and Mara into starting a war
for him?

59 = Legacy of the Force: Tempest, Troy Denning. Alema Rar. The
madness of war. And Luke Skywalker faces off against his first love
in a knock-down, drag-out lightsaber fight. The only problem with
this novel, if it is one, is that Jacen Solo has almost no weight or
agency in his supposedly central role. But he's a vital element of
set-up for a daft "Many Bothans died..." metatextual joke, so we can
forgive him.

57 = Evil Never Dies: The Sith Dynasties, Abel G. Pena. Second Retcon
Symphony, Op. 327, binding together the stories of the "bad guys"
into a subtly coherent narrative: clarity somehow shaped and shaded
into being by shadows and ambiguity. Considering that the story runs
from the Infinite Empire to the Galactic Alliance, it's like a
William Rutherford novel alchemically told in a few thousand lines.

57 = Jedi Apprentice series, Dave Wolverton, Jude Watson. Building
the much-needed bond between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, and establishing
their characterization as rounded human beings. Wasn't that meant to
be The Phantom Menace's job, rather than a series of young-reader
stories?

55 = Dark Times: The Path to Nowhere, Mick Harrison/Doug Wheatley.
Genocide, slavery, cannibalism, and a few characters surviving
against the odds. When even Darth Vader's secretly thinking the
Empire's a terrible mistake, you know that things are bad, and that's
a situation that can be bounced out into powerful storytelling.

55 = X-wing: Alliance, LucasArts. We always knew that Ace Azzameen
had his fans. We just didnt realise there were quite so many of you!

54 = Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force, Ryder Windham.
Obviously, some of you really liked the idea of a single-volume
survey binding together all the things the Jedi have got up to in the
various stories. And, once again, as with The Essential Guide to
Characters, swanky illustrations may also play a role in its
popularity.

53 = Republic: Show of Force, John Ostrander/Jan Duursema. Mace Windu
lights up his big purple lightsaber again. And this time, he's backed
up by the same hard-core Jedi strike-team who'll later appear in
Episode III. How different it would have been if this was a Barriss
Offee story, as originally planned.

51= The Han Solo Adventures Brian Daley. Some people still cite this
as the classic example of what a Star Wars story ought to be--a bit
like the prose equivalent of Empire Strikes Back, appropriately
enough.

51 = Jedi Academy Trilogy, Kevin J. Anderson. Blob Races. Gratuitous
superweaponry. Daala. A sadistic frog as one of the major villains.
And a love interest inspired by Chewie's dad's Wookiee porn from The
Holiday Special. I sometimes wonder if this story's fans may take it
more seriously than it does itself...?
To be continued: tomorrow, numbers 50 - 25!

49 = The New Jedi Order: Destiny's Way, Walter Jon Williams. I always
think that this book's much more cynical than it seems on the
surface. Or was it just the scene of Ackbar getting a hot-tub massage
from Mara and Winter that got this the high raiting that it did...?

49 = TIE Fighter, LucasArts. I used to end up flying my TIE upside-
down all the time when I played this game. But, even with that taken
into account, and even if you're flying for the bad guys, it's still
a lot of fun. Also the only Star Wars project to give Grand Admiral
Thrawn his own theme-tune.

48 = Republic Commando, LucasArts. Be an elite Republic stormtrooper
and kill some of those Trandoshan slaver scum!!

47 = Star Wars: Legacy: Claws of the Dragon, John Ostrander/Jan
Duursema. So awesome that it gets onto the list when it's not yet
finished. The story of Cade Skywalker takes another twist and turn,
the origins of Darth Krayt are revealed, and in the background, a
rescue-mision swings into action, led by Artoo Deetoo, Cade's hard-as-
nails mom, and a transsexual Hutt. Oh, and the cover for issue #16 is
the single defining image of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

46 = The New Essential Chronology, Daniel Wallace. The ultimate in
comprehensive summarizing of Star Wars continuity, revised and
expanded! Perhaps the quirky and colourful photomanip illustrations
(Riders of Rohan in the Great Sith War, anybody?) also counted for
something....

45 = Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice, Karen Traviss. Mara Jade
Skywalker died. Ben Skywalker went through the psychological mincer.
Boba Fett stared people down. A lot of you enjoyed it!

43 = Cloak of Deception, James Luceno. The political corruption and
Sith trickery of the early Prequel era seem to work much better when
they're outlined in narrative prose.

43 = Obsession, Haden Blackman/Brian Ching. Obi-Wan Kenobi wrestles
with his own motives as he pursues the trail of Asajj Ventress across
the Galaxy. And Anakin Skywalker blasts Durge down the long drop to
his doom in the most spectacular riff on this bad-guy-disposal motif
that we've seen in Star Wars canon. But then they scraped enough of
him off the walls to bring him back again in Star Wars: Galaxies...

42 = Jedi: Count Dooku, John Ostrander/Jan Duursema. A study in
shades of darkness, as the Clone Wars' other Sith Lord tests the
loyalty of Jedi deep-cover spy Quinlan Vos. The flip side of
Palpatine's relationship with Anakin?

41 = MedStar duology, Michael Reaves and Steve Perry. It's MASH in
space!

40 = The Black Fleet Crisis trilogy, Michael P. Kube-McDowell. Hard
military sci-fi with an edge of Arthur C. Clarke-style deep-space
mystery and some subtle moral ambiguity. Notable for depicting the
movie heroes during various forms of mid-life crisis, while putting
the weight of the action on a seperate cast of original characters.
Oh, and Lobot and Lando have a funky subplot.

39 = Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, LucasArts. Kyle Katarn swaps his
Bryar pistol for a lightsaber. Occasionally.

38 = Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, Michael Reaves. In which the moody
Zabrak with the double-bladed lightsaber slices his way through a
cast of vaguely Star Wars-y characters--neurotic young Jedi, down-on-
his-luck Corellian, second-hand droid packed with mechanical plot-
devices. Still, when it's done well....

37 = Knights of the Old Republic: Flashpoint, John Jackson
Miller/Dustin Weaver. When lots of Mandalorians and an elf girl in
chains suddenly started appearing on the covers of Knights, I thought
they were going for shameless fanservice. The story behind the cover,
however, was a tight, neatly-wrapped combination of plot, place and
people. And it introduced Dustin Weaver to those of us who hadn't
seen his work in Star Wars Tales. This was where this series really
started to gain its stride.

36 = Tatooine Ghost, Troy Denning. Grand Admiral Thrawn tries to
disrupt Han and Leia's honeymoon.

35 = Star Wars: Legacy: Ghosts, John Ostrander/Jan Duursema. Mara
Jade and Darth Vader rise up from Cade Skywalker's unconscious mind;
the Yuuzhan Vong and K'Kruhk, complete with his indestructable Hat,
are classically Campbellian "help from without". But any analysis
will simply fail to do justice to the persuasive power of the story
here.

34 = The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime, R.A. Salvatore. A bunch of
ugly alien punks rock up, and moon at Chewbacca.

33 = The Han Solo Trilogy, A.C. Crispin. For those of you who loke
your scoundrels heroic, your rebels desperate and scarred, your
Imperials all-too-human, your Boba Fett silent and enigmatic, and
your Hutts pregnant.

32 = Dark Empire, Tom Veitch/Cam Kennedy. Palpatine returns, and
throws Star Destroyers and superweapons at the Rebellion, while
trying to turn Luke to follow his father's path to the dark side. It
simply doesn't get any more Star Wars than this!

31 = Jedi vs. Sith, Darko Macan/Ramon F. Bachs. The Jedi and the Sith
are brought down to the same level in the mud and carnage of Ruusan.
A young hero loses his ideals, his innocence, and his right hand, and
walks away not as a Jedi or a Sith, but as a man. Darth Bane
ruthlessly pursues his own status as the big dog among the bad guys
of the era, and makes himself the unchallenged Master of the Sith.
And, somewhat more subtly, Farfalla gives a Sith Lord an honourable
death, and walks away a Jedi.

28 = Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. The Bryar pistol is back. And so
is Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian, as an Imperial warlord and
his dark side allies attack the Jedi on Yavin 4. They just don't
make 'em like this any more, alas.

28 = Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, Drew Karpyshyn. Taking up the
cues from Jedi vs. Sith, the three-dimensional characterization of
the bald-headed Sith Lord is most impressive... but putting
faithfully-adapted scenes from the source material in a totally
different order in the closing chapters can be a little bit
disconcerting.

28 = The Last One Standing: The Tale of Boba Fett, Daniel Keyes
Moran. There's still a whole lot of love out there for this pre-
Episode II version of Fett: silent, deadly, driven by his rigid moral
complex and a barely-articulated grudge against Han Solo.

27 = Knights of the Old Republic: Commencement, John Jackson
Miller/Brian Ching. Introducing that Wayne guy. Has it ever struck
you that he's actually inept enough to be responsible for the Padawan
Massacre after all?

26 = Legacy of the Force: Fury, Aaron Allston. Ewoks lurk in the
undergrowth. A massive battlemoon becomes fully-armed and
operational. Luke Skywalker leads starfighter squadrons into battle.
The Sith return. The most Star Wars you can get without actually
featuring the Empire....

25 = Outbound Flight, Timothy Zahn. More than just a story about
Thrawn. For some reason, this is the only Prequel-era story to
feature smugglers in a meaningful role, or a delusional, psychotic
Force-user commanding a big space battleship. Am I the only person
who's worried by that? This, at least, is the Star Wars you remember.

To be continued: tomorrow, numbers 25 - 1!