Top 10 Most Prolific Star Wars Short Story Writers

Do you know who the most prolific Star Wars short story writers are? Through the expansive realm of Star Wars fiction, there has been no shortage of short stories. Be it in Star Wars Insider, Star Wars Adventure Journal or standalone eNovellas, quite a few authors have racked up some sizable scores. To give fans an idea of just who is at the top of short story fiction in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, we’ve compiled a top ten list.

10

Burns/Cassidy/Denning/Stackpole

The number ten spot is a four way tie between Laurie Burns, Chris Cassidy, Troy Denning and Michael A. Stackpole who all wrote four short stories for the Expanded Universe. The first to score four was Laurie Burns who, by 1997, had written four stories for the Star Wars Adventure Journal published by West End Games.

Next was Michael A. Stackpole who wrote “Missed Chance” and co-wrote “Side-Trip” (with Timothy Zahn) for Star War Adventure Journal. Stackpole and Zahn teamed up again for “Interlude at Darkknell” which appeared in Tales from the New Republic. His fourth short story, “Elusion Illusion”, was printed in Star Wars Insider #66 in March 2003.

Troy Denning tied up for four just a few months after Stackpole with his story “The Trouble With Squibs” which appeared in Star Wars Insider 67 in May 2003. Before that, Troy wrote “Recovery” a short eBook that coincided with Star by Star; “A Forest Apart”, a short eBook that coincided with Tatooine Ghost; and “Corphelion Interlude” which was posted online for Valentines Day 2003.

Chris Cassidy did not join the group until 2008 when her story “Precipice” was published for Star Wars Hyperspace. Before then, she wrote several stories for the Star Wars Adventure Journal, all of which were co-written with Tish Eggleston Pahl.

It’s worth noting that author Christie Golden will be joining the number ten slot when her fourth short story appears in Star Wars Insider #142.

9

Karen Traviss

Karen Traviss takes the number nine slot with five short stories. To no one’s surprise, they all star clones or Boba Fett. In March 2005 her short story “Omega Squad: Targets” appeared in Star Wars Insider 81 and later in Republic Commando: Triple Zero. The following July, her short story “In His Image” appeared in Vader: The Ultimate Guide, which in turned spawn a sequel, “A Two-Edged Sword”, which appeared in Star Wars Insider 85. Both stories were later reprinted in the paperback edition of Legacy of the Force: Betrayal. Karen then wrote “Odds” for Star Wars Insider 87, and was later reprinted in Republic Commando: True Colors. Her final short story was “Boba Fett: A Practical Man” which was released as an eBook and later released in the paperback edition of Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice.

8

Kevin J. Anderson

Technically Kevin J. Anderson and Karen Traviss are tied at five stories each, but Kevin finished his first. His first short story was “Swap Meet: The Jawa’s Tale” for Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina in August 1995. He followed that with “A Boy and His Monster: The Rancor Keeper’s Tale” for Tales from Jabba’s Palace in January 1996. Later that year “Therefore I Am: The Tale of IG-88” came out in Tales of the Bounty Hunters. All three of those short story anthologies were also edited by Kevin J. Anderson. In 1997, Kevin broke in the Star Wars Adventure Journal with “Firestorm” featuring Tionne and Luke Skywalker. His final short story was “Bane of the Sith” which starred Darth Bane and was published in Star Wars Gamer 3 in January 2001. This was also Kevin J. Anderson’s last Star Wars story.

7

Paul Danner

Now you might ask, “whose Paul Danner?” Well, get out your copy of Tales from the New Republic. Two of his stories were published in that anthology: “The Last Hand” and “No Disintegrations, Please.” Both of those stories previously appeared in the Star Wars Adventure Journal, which is where all his other stories were published. Those included: “One of a Kind”, “Easy Credits”, “Small Favors” and “Two For One.” That put his official total at six, though he did write two other stories for Star Wars Adventure Journal, but they were never published.

6

Kathy Tyers

Kathy Tyers is best known for her two novels, The Truce at Bakura and Balance Point, however she also wrote quite a few short stories. Her first short story, “Tinian on Trial”, appeared in Star Wars Adventure Journal 4 in November 1994, which was later reprinted in Tales from the Empire. The next year, she wrote “To Fight Another Day” for Star Wars Adventure Journal 6. For Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, she wrote “We Don’t Do Weddings: The Band’s Tale.” For Tales from Jabba’s Palace, she wrote “A Time to Mourn, A Time to Dance: Oola’s Tale.” From there, she jumped back to Star Wars Adventure Journal with “Only Droids Serve the Maker” before jumping back to the anthologies with “The Prize Pelt: The Tale of Bossk” for Tales from the Bounty Hunters in 1996. Her final short story was published in Star Wars Gamer 6 in 2001, “Rebel Bass.”

5

Patricia A. Jackson

Patricia A Jackson may have never written a Star Wars novel, but she did churn out no less than nine short stories. Most of them starred an ex-actor turned dark Jedi, though a few followed a smuggler named Drake Paulsen. All of them are pretty entertaining, but they can be hard to track down since most appeared in the out of print Star Wars Adventure Journals. Only three of her nine short stories made it into the mass market anthologies, two in Tales from the New Republic, and one in Tales from the Empire. One of her short stories, “Betrayal by Knight”, was also co-written with fellow short story writer Charlene Newcomb. Here’s the full list.

• “Out of the Cradle”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 2
• “When the Domino Falls”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 3
• “The Final Exit”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 4, reprinted in Tales from the Empire
• “A Bitter Winter”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 5
• “Uhl Eharl Khoehng”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 8, reprinted in Tales from the New Republic
• “The Longest Fall”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 11, reprinted in Tales from the New Republic
• “Idol Intentions”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 12
• “Betrayal by Knight”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 12
• “Laughter after Dark”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 15

Personally, my favorite is “Out of the Cradle”, which follows 15 year old Drake Paulsen as he’s forced to help out some smugglers in a decoy trip that turns sour. It’s worth noting that Patty was able to fully flesh out the planet Socorro, Drake’s native homeworld, in The Black Sands of Socorro, a role-playing sourcebook for West End Games. The book is pretty cool and contains a ton of fun info.

4

Peter Schweighofer

Peter Schweighofer published 10 short stories for Star Wars. Peter was behind the establishment of the Star Wars Adventure Journal and also served as its editor. In addition to his short stories, he wrote 11 sourcebooks and 29 Star Wars articles published for West End Games and Wizards of the Coast. Of his 10 short stories, all but two appeared in Star Wars Adventure Journal. Here’s the rundown.

• “Chessa’s Doom”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 1
• “Big Quince”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 2
• “Explosive Developments”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 3
• “The Void Terror”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 3
• “Starter’s Tale”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 4
• “Vengeance Strike”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 5
• “Crimson Jailbreak”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 5
• “Finder’s Fee”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 6
• “Sandbound on Tatooine”, Star Wars Galaxy 10
• “The Emperor’s Trophy”, Star Wars Galaxy 11

3

Charlene Newcomb

The third most prolific Star Wars short story writer is Charlene Newcomb. As mentioned earlier, Charlene co-wrote one short story with Patricia A. Jackson. She also co-wrote “Crimson Bounty” with Rich Handley. In total, she wrote 11 short stories for the Star Wars Expanded Universe. In fact she is the only author to have a short story appear in each of the first eight Star Wars Adventure Journals. Her last story, “Shades of Gray”, wasn’t released until December 22, 2009 for Star Wars Hyperspace.

• “A Glimmer of Hope”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 1
• “Whispers in the Dark”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 2
• “Mission to Zila”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 3
• “Shadows of Darkness”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 4
• “Turning Point”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 5
• “Rendezvous with Destiny”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 6
• “Passages”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 7
• “A Certain Point of View”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 8
• “Betrayal by Knight”, Star Wars Adventures Journal 12
• “Crimson Bounty”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 14
• “Shades of Gray”, Star Wars Hyperspace Exclusive

2

John Jackson Miller

Maybe you guessed this one, but the Lost Tribe of the Sith anthology certainly gave John Jackson Miller an edge over the competition. He’s also the only Star Wars author to write an anthology all by himself. In total, John has written 13 short stories for Star Wars. Nine of those stories were gathered together in The Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories which sold so well that it went into a third printing within a month of its release. Aside from those, John wrote three short stories for his Knights of the Old Republic comic series: “Labor Pains”, “Interference”, and “The Secret Journal of Doctor Demagol.” Plus he wrote one short story for his novel Knight Errant which was published online.

• “Precipice”, Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories
• “Skyborn”, Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories
• “Paragon”, Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories
• “Savior”, Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories
• “Purgatory”, Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories
• “Sentinel”, Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories
• “Pantheon”, Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories
• “Secrets”, Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories
• “Pandemonium”, Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories
• “Labor Pains”, Star Wars Hyperspace
• “Interference”, Star Wars Hyperspace
• “The Secret Journal of Doctor Demagol”, Star Wars Hyperspace
• “Knight Errant: Influx”

I hope I’m not alone with my sincere hope that John will pen a short story or two for his upcoming Kenobi novel.

1

Timothy Zahn

Yes, the most prolific short story writer in Star Wars is also the person who breathed new life into the EU with his famous Thrawn Trilogy. Zahn has written 19 short stories for Star Wars. From Star Wars Adventure Journals to standalone eBook releases, he’s been writing short stories for 18 years. Have you read them all?

• “First Contact”, Tales from the Empire
• “Mist Encounter”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 7, reprinted in Outbound Flight paperback edition
• “The Saga Begins”, The DarkStryder Campaign sourcebook
• “Hammertong”, Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina
• “Sleight of Hand”, Tales from Jabba’s Palace
• “Command Decision”, Star Wars Adventure Journal 11
• “Side Trip”, Tales from the Empire
• “Jade Solitaire”, Tales from the New Republic
• “Interlude at Darkknell”, Tales from the New Republic
• “Handoff”, Star Wars Gamer 10
• “Hero of Cartao”, Star Wars Insider 68, 69 and 70
• “Duel”, Hasbro Short Story Collection
• “Fool’s Bargain,” Survivor’s Quest paperback edition
• “Changing Seasons”, Star Wars Insider 76 and 77
• “Judge’s Call”, Valentine’s Day 2004 online release
• “Buyer’s Market”, Star Wars Insider 126
• “Crisis of Faith”, 20th Anniversary Edition of Heir to the Empire
• “Heist”, Star Wars Insider 138
• “Winner Lose All”, eBook

Posted By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.