I was scanning some old negatives into the Mac a few days ago and ran across a photo I'd taken of my bedroom at my folks' house back in 1979. On the shelf above my stereo was a book I'd long forgotten, Splinter of the Mind's Eye by Alan Dean Foster. This was the first of the Star Wars novels to come out after the initial film, sometime in 1978. I no longer have the book, but I tracked down a copy at the library and have been reading it again.
Resoundingly trashed by the critics even then, it's still a fun read. Even moreso now, because it takes place in what would definitely be considered an "alternate" Star Wars universe. Coming out as it did two years before The Empire Strikes Back, all of the familiar, now-established Star Wars lexicon and mythology simply do not exist. Darth Vader is not Luke's father. Leia is not his sister (good thing too, considering some of the romantic stirrings going on between the two of them in the book). Yoda does not exist (although the planet the duo crash land on in the book does bear a striking resemblance to Dagobah, and the old woman who enlists their help does have many of Yoda's Force-wielding qualities). I've pretty much forgotten the book's entire story line since it's been twenty-five years since I last read it, so it's been interesting to glimpse into a decidedly different "long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…"
I remember reading this book! What a blast from the past !