Star Wars news site Knights Archive has published a lengthy interview with former LucasBooks Executive Editor Sue Rostoni. As someone who helped shepherd the Expanded Universe for over twenty years, Rostoni, who retired in July, had a lot to say about the work she did with authors, marketing personnel, and Lucasfilm's in-house editorial team. The interviewed concluded with messages of gratitude for Rostoni from a host of Star Wars authors, from Timothy Zahn to Paul S. Kemp. If you're a fan of the EU, this interview is a must-read. Rostoni provides insight into the process of drafting such an expansive literary environment and reflects on the many memories she has of her job at Lucasfilm.
Here's a snippet from the interview:
All of us deal with challenges at work. What was your greatest challenge?
I?d have to say it was the enormity of The New Jedi Order book series. Helping twelve different authors develop 19 stories, all continuous, was a brave undertaking. History shows that series lose readers along the way, often ending with dismal sales for the last books. And those numbers were for shorter series; trilogies and the like.
So to even consider a 19-book series was bold ? perhaps even foolhardy. And then to task the first author, R.A. Salvatore, with killing Chewbacca in the first book (Vector Prime) well, that was just nuts. The challenge was worth it as the story stayed strong and all nineteen books debuted on the New York Times bestseller?s list. The books certainly got fans involved ? so many opinions, so much passion.