What is the Emperor's Hammer? The Emperor's Hammer is a fleet under the command of Grand Admiral Ronin. The Emperor's Hammer does many activities. Their main page has lots of information. You can join 8 different kinds of sub groups. If you want to join one of the groups you can find out the requirements. The groups are : The Dark Brotherhood, The Hammer's Fist Stormtroopers, The Bounty Hunter's Guild, The Infiltrator Wing, The Corporate Division, The Intelligence Division, The Smugglers Guild, Imperial Survey Corps. They are all good, but choose the one that best fits you. You can reach the page :

Emperor's Hammer Main Web Page

or http://homepage.interaccess.com/~csphil/hamm.html.

Have a great visit.

Welcome to Starfighter COMmand! This site here is for the multiplayer games from LucasArts. The games that LucasArts have released are : Xwing Vs TIE Fighter, Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight, and Rebellion. These games are really neat! At Starfighter COMmand you can find people to play with. You may think you are the best pilot, but there will always be someone better then you. At this site, you can chat, goto bulletin boards and more!!! This site is for any Star Wars fan who loves the games LucasArts has created. You will have a great page. By the way, Ghent22 has some of the best images on his page! He has searched for them for a very long time, and it really makes the page COOL!! The site for his main page is :

The Last Star Fighter Main Page

or http://www.starfighters.com/lsf/lsf.html.

Have a great time at the page!!! If you have any questions email Ghent22@Aol.Com.

If you have a page you would Like reviewed please email Rogue3244@Aol.Com. If you just want to give some suggestions or comments those are very appreciated.

LkSkywlkr@aol.com is the author of the Star Wars Literature Compendium. It's a wonderful, fan-produced sourcebook on the literature of Star Wars. I downloaded my copy from the Star Wars Fan Forum library on AOL. You can find one there, or on Mike's web site at:

http://www.asb.com/usr/cardsafe/mbcomp.htm

Here's the introduction:

"The "Canon" Question
by Mike Beidler with Rich Handley & Jack Camden


"What is 'canon' in the Star Wars universe?"
"Is this novel 'official?' "
"Did the events in this comic series actually take place?"

These are tough questions to answer. Although the canon question has been debated ever since Marvel began to create Star Wars comics beyond the scope of the first movie, and Alan Dean Foster's Splinter of the Mind's Eye was first published in 1978 as the basis for a potential low-budget sequel to Star Wars , it was Timothy Zahn's 1991 New York Times best-seller Heir to the Empire that made fans ask the question more frequently and earnestly than ever before. That very year, Lucasfilm Ltd. commissioned Dark Horse Comics and about a dozen popular science fiction novelists contracted by Bantam to continue the Star Wars saga beyond the events told in the third motion picture, Star Wars: Episode VI—Return of the Jedi . And in a major coup d'état, Lucasfilm allowed Dark Horse Comics to add to the Star Wars mythos with adventures taking place five thousand years before the first movie, Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope . With this exponential proliferation of Star Wars literature and the increasingly watchful eyes of thousands of true and loyal fans, the canon question has become foremost in many of our minds.

Defining "Canon"

Of course, some of you are wondering, "What the heck is canon ?" Referencing The American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition , and eliminating any definitions that have religious connotations, canon means:

3. A basis for judgment; standard; criterion.
7. An authoritative list, as of the works of an author.

Therefore, in our particular case, George Lucas—the author and creator of the Star Wars saga—is the only individual who may define what books, comics, or computer games are authoritative when discussing the Star Wars universe and its characters, places, and events. According to the premiere issue of the Star Wars Insider , the only works "canonized" have been the movies (and their respective screenplays), their novelizations, and their radio drama adaptations. So what about novels like Heir to the Empire and The Jedi Academy Trilogy , or comic series such as Dark Empire and X-wing: Rogue Squadron ? West End Games, which produces exhaustive source material based on the movies, novels, and comics, states in the Heir to the Empire Sourcebook that:

"this and all other products that take place after the events depicted in Return of the Jedi are the author's vision of what may have happened. The true fate of the heroes and villains of the Star Wars universe remains the exclusive province of George Lucas and Lucasfilm, Ltd."

Kevin J. Anderson, author of The Jedi Academy Trilogy , states the following in the introduction to the Dark Empire trade paperback:

"when you read Dark Empire , or any of the other novels, remember that although Lucasfilm has approved them, they are our sequels, not George Lucas's. If Lucasfilm ever makes films that take place after Return of the Jedi , they will be George Lucas's own creations, probably with no connection to anything we have written."

So what does this mean? Will a Star Wars "otherworld" suddenly exist when and if George Lucas makes Episodes VII-IX ? Will George Lucas abide by only the "canonized" works and ignore all of the "official" events, characters, and premises that Timothy Zahn, Kevin J. Anderson, Tom Veitch, and others wrote about? Will all the books and comics have been bought in vain? Since this argument will probably never see resolution—given the unlikelihood that George will ever produce the last third of the Star Wars saga—I will now rid us of these questions and take the bold step of personally "canonizing" all of the "official" Star Wars novels, comics, and other material. Far be it from me to make such an assumption, but I find it necessary to take this plunge into "blasphemy" in order to create some stability in this ever-changing universe known as Star Wars . But since a particular work is considered "official"—meaning that, although the events in this work didn't necessarily happen, current authors must take "what came before" into account in order to maintain continuity throughout the entire gambit of Star Wars literature—it is senseless to attempt to make a distinction between the two. Therefore, in any further discussion regarding what is "canon" or "official," and what is "non-canon," the two terms "canon" and "official" will be interchangeable.

Blurring the Lines
of "Truth" and "Fiction"

Since inconsistencies and changed premises within the "official" Star Wars universe are inevitable when so many books and comics are being written in a relatively short period of time, the next question to be addressed is:

"Do inconsistencies between equally 'official' works—some major,
some minor—affect the canonicity of a book or comic?"

Until now, this issue has been rather clear-cut. If we ignore the arguments of the Star Wars "purists" who consider only the theatrical and television motion pictures, their novelizations, and their radio drama adaptations to be the only true, unadulterated "canon" in existence, we can safely say that—in addition to the aforementioned works, of course—the Del Rey, Bantam, & Boulevard novels, the Dark Horse comics, the West End Games sourcebooks, and the Archie Goodwin strips constituted the "canonical" works. And on the flip side of the coin, all Marvel and Blackthorne comics, the Russ Manning strips, the Droids and Ewoks cartoons, the children's books, Rebel Mission to Ord Mantell , and The Star Wars Holiday Special were considered "non-canon," or "apocryphal." However, Lucasfilm has begun to re-think the canon question as of late, effectively blurring the lines between "truth" and "fiction" in the Star Wars universe.

In recent years, several things have happened to obscure the line between "non-canon" and "canon." First, West End Games surprised fans by including references to the House of Tagge, Simon Greyshade, and the planet Aargau—all from the Marvel comic series—in the Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook , as well as accepting as "historical" the foundation of Marvel's "Alliance of Free Planets" and the Nagaí invasion in the Truce at Bakura Sourcebook . Most recently, the Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook made mention of Luke and Leia's adventures on Mimban and their confrontation with Captain-Supervisor Grammel from Splinter of the Mind's Eye . Topps' Star Wars Galaxy Magazine created two more controversies by including gaming supplements based on Shira Brie/Lumiya, also from the Marvel series, and Cypher and Phoedris Bos, characters from Rebel Mission to Ord Mantell . To further confuse the matter, the first X-Wing novel contained a reference to Throgg, a character from Blackthorne's short-lived Star Wars 3-D comic series. In addition, Chewie's family, as featured in The Star Wars Holiday Special and The Wookiee Storybook , appear in The Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy . Similarly, upcoming projects from West End Games will focus on Chewie's species, as well as characters and situations appearing in the Russ Manning strips, Marvel's issue #91, and a British Marvel story entitled "Way of the Wookiee." And now that Kashyyyk is accepted as the Wookiee homeworld, this fact raises a nagging canonicity question since the name actually originated in The Star Wars Holiday Special . Must we now accept a piece of "literature" as an "official" work even if George Lucas disowned it and stated that he'd like all known bootleg copies burned? To make matters worse, Andy Mangels' Essential Guide to Characters references characters, worlds, and situations from practically all non-canonical sources, ignoring all inconsistencies and contradictions therein, and (in a classic case of historical revisionism) even changing the chronology of events as presented in some stories, particularly the Marvel tales. And, as if that wasn't enough to reduce even the staunchest Wookiee to tears, Kevin Anderson's The Illustrated Star Wars Universe manages to contradict Mangels' book on several points, especially in its entry on Endor—even though both books are considered "official" by Lucasfilm!

In fact, current policy seemingly mandates that all stories bearing the name Star Wars are canonical, no matter how disharmonious they might be with other supposedly canonical sources. In other words, if it was printed, filmed, or recorded, it now happened. Period. Gloss over the five differently recorded accounts of Han's Ord Mantell adventure. They all occurred. Accept that the evacuation of Yavin IV reportedly occurred both a few weeks and a few years after A New Hope . Both accounts are accurate. Overlook how implausible it might be that Luke and Vader battled each other twice before The Empire Strikes Back . Battle they did. Quibble not over the two accounts of Han's infamous "Kessel run," the three accounts of the fate of Bespin, the five accounts of the discovery of Hoth, the three accounts of Luke's and Leia's swimming abilities, the two accounts of the nature of the Kaiburr Crystal, the five accounts of the characters' "first" run-in with Boba Fett, the three accounts of Fett's real identity, or the three accounts of how the plans to the original Death Star were stolen. They are apparently all part of one storyline now, impossible contradictions and all.

Considering such, where does this leave the poor, befuddled reader? If every Star Wars tale is to be part of one universe, then which accounts are the correct ones? And how far does this go? Do we also include the numerous video games produced over the years, even though they place the fans themselves inside the story? Or how about the Which-Way -type books, which have infinite outcomes? Or the Disney attraction Star Tours , which features R2-D2 and C-3PO as tour guides? Have the lines become so obscured by blindly including any and all Star Wars stories into one continuity, and by allowing "revisionist" history to change what has come before, that it is now impossible to judge anymore which events in the Star Wars universe actually occurred and when?

Many fans feel that any attempt to include everything as "canon" is doomed to failure. Others applaud the effort being made to incorporate all the stories put out over the years. Is it actually possible to weave one coherent storyline out of all the contradictions? In 1999, Kevin J. Anderson will attempt to do just that in his book, The Star Wars Chronology . In this work, Luke builds his own Jedi holocron and records the adventures that he and his friends have undertaken over the years in the films, cartoons, comics, novels, and young adult books. Will this work be a success? Possibly . . .

A New "Certain Point of View"
on the Canon/Continuity Problem

As we have discussed, questions of canon and continuity have become the hot topics of late, given Lucasfilm's apparent willingness to make room in the Star Wars universe for storylines that die-hard fans had decided "hadn't happened." But such questions actually aren't so new. There are apparent inconsistencies even within the filmed Star Wars trilogy. The most famous apparent inconsistency, of course, is that of Luke's parentage. In A New Hope , Ben tells Luke that Darth Vader betrayed and murdered Luke's father. In The Empire Strikes Back , Vader tells Luke that he is his father, and Luke is left wondering why Ben hid the truth from him. In Return of the Jedi , Ben's spirit seeks to explain his apparent lie, explaining that Luke's father died when the evil half of Anakin Skywalker betrayed the good. What he told Luke was true, he says, "from a certain point of view."

What is that "certain point of view"? Well, we get a big hint right there at the beginning of each Star Wars movie:

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away . . ."

As with the "once upon a time" opening of children's fables, we immediately know that old tales are being told, that we are hearing legends of people long dead and events long past. Similarly, the first crop of 1970s Star Wars novels came with the subtitle From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker . Again, the reader immediately knew that he or she was in the company of old tales, and that Luke Skywalker had many adventures indeed. The trick to neatly resolving the canon/continuity debate is to adapt Star Wars ' famous opening lines for another galaxy—Luke Skywalker's own. Here we go:

The three Star Wars movies collect Luke Skywalker's most important adventures: a four-year period in which this young man saved the galaxy, assuring the overthrow of the Galactic Empire, the restoration of the Republic, and the rebirth of the Jedi Knights. Thousands of years after those events, the citizens of the peaceful New Republic still tell stories about Luke Skywalker and his family and friends. The smallest adventure of Luke and his friends has been told and retold for generations, and every planet in the galaxy—if only for the sake of pride—has its local legend of Luke or one of his contemporaries. In some places the local legend tells of important events indeed: the people of Bespin, for instance, claim that the evil Darth Vader made his chilling revelation to Luke on their planet, after their first saber duel. Other worlds only claim a footnote to history: the good folk of Saheelindeel, for instance, claim that Han Solo won an air show once, before he ever met Luke. With centuries separating storytellers from their famous subjects, contradictions are inevitable. Even American legends barely 100 years old—tales of the Wild West, for instance—are wildly contradictory. Why should the legends of the Star Wars universe be any different?

The need to have one's home validated by some connection with great events is also a well-established part of human psychology. In the Middle Ages, chroniclers joked that if every piece of the true Cross were legitimate, Jesus would have carried the entire forests of Lebanon on his back to Golgotha. It's logical for stories about Luke and his friends to have grown, over the generations, to the point where they appear to have been fighting for freedom on every planet in the galaxy at the same time. Contradictions big and small abound, stories are told in different ways and with different characters, and only a brave (or foolish) New Republic historian would even bother trying to figure out what is true and what isn't.

Here's a peek at one dispute which is hotly debated by New Republic scholars: the site and date of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader's first saber battle. Bespin's claim is well-known, but the citizens of lush Circarpous V tell a quite different tale, one of a dark meeting in the long-lost Temple of Pomojema. To make matters worse, the people of Monastery remember a duel between the two which was fought at the order of the Sacred Circle's high priestess. That's nothing, however, compared to the dispute over the episode in Han Solo's life popularly known as "the bounty hunter of Ord Mantell." No less than five factions on Ord Mantell claim to tell the definitive account of what happened to convince the Corellian that he'd better quit playing rebel and pay Jabba the Hutt. Faced with the various versions of "the bounty hunter of Ord Mantell," even the most determined historians simply throw up their hands.

If all of the Star Wars stories are approached as legends, the argument about what's canon simply vanishes, and anyone can construct a timeline by simply picking and choosing what they like. Maybe the A New Hope movie and Splinter of the Mind's Eye are the only real goods; or the movies and only the movies; or the movies and Dark Empire and nothing else; or each and every novel except The Crystal Star ; or only the Marvels; or nothing but A New Hope , The Star Wars Holiday Special , and the David's' young adult sextet. It's up to the individual.

From our new "certain point of view," we don't have to bend logic to make all the stories fit together. We also don't have to pass judgment on a given Star Wars story as having "never happened." Instead, we can try to make the most logical tales "fit" and decide to call the rest " Star Wars apocrypha," or whatever term we like. From our new "certain point of view," Star Wars apocrypha are to be enjoyed, instead of swept under the rug. While such stories are considered highly suspect by most New Republic historians, they remain entertaining favorites that have been told and retold for generations and are well worth hearing again. Who knows? Perhaps many of those apocryphal tales are known from the holocrons of other Jedi Masters, devout and good students of the Force who teach their students about Luke's quest for the Kaiburr Crystal, his befriending of the Jedi Prince Ken, or his betrayal at the hands of Shira Brie.

"We are among legends, and each legend offers much to entertain and teach us."

Mike Beidler, Rich Handley, & Jack Camden, June 1996
(updated April 1997)

* * *

The Purpose of
The Star Wars Literature Compendium

In addition to the question of canonicity, I have seen a lot of confusion as fans attempt to figure out when a particular piece of literature takes place in the Star Wars chronology. Likewise, many individuals have asked me which book or comic series they should read next so as not to miss or spoil a single tidbit in the complex chain of events that constitute "official" Star Wars history. This problem is compounded by the fact that the novels and comics are written and marketed out of chronological order. I've tried to lessen this confusion by creating The Star Wars Literature Compendium . This labor of love—over two years in the making—is my humble attempt at putting every piece of Star Wars literature in existence into chronological order and including as much practical information regarding each entry as possible. Of the many Star Wars authors I've worked with, all of them have agreed that this compendium has been quite helpful in putting the merchandising nightmare into perspective when writing their novels and comics. Hopefully, this document will be just as useful for the typical Star Wars layperson.

As you may notice when reading the Compendium , I've used the word literature rather loosely, as I have included entries for the movies (both theatrical and televised), animated series, audio books & dramatizations, and story-based computer games. Each entry specifies the original and/or current medium of the entry, the authors/illustrators, various adaptations (if any), a brief plot summary and the dustjacket/cover/intro text (where applicable), and its particular "chrono-setting" in the Star Wars chronology. And please note that I have stated which "literature" is not considered Star Wars canon by the majority of fans. Although most fans would probably agree with my assessment of a particular work's non-canonicity, this determination, of course, is purely my own opinion. If you tend to disagree with me on a certain canonicity matter, have literature to add to the list, or have any corrections/modifications for a future version, please e-mail me at LkSkywlkr@aol.com.

Check our LkSkywlkr's Compendium website at:

http://www.asb.com/usr/cardsafe/mbcomp.htm

Please note, for your own good, the changes in AOL's policy on raiding in recent months. Raiding is absolutely NOT tolerated at all anymore. This means that if you raid "The Bridge", or any other chatroom, and are reported, as you likely will be, there is a greater chance than not that your account will be GONE. Also, while opinions disfavorable to the "other" big sci-fi series are certainly agreed with by many fans, and are permitted, remember that the Terms of Service still apply. This is beneficial to yourself, but more importantly, is extrememly helpful to the SW Fan Forum. We have been denied certain privileges because of past misconduct in this area, and can benefit greatly from a clean record with regards to raiding. Thank you.

(thanks to GdAmThrawn for writing this up on behalf of the SWOFC.)
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You can get up-to-the-weekly reports on what is available to buy, trade, or sell in the Star Wars Online Fan Club universe by adding your name to the JaWA JUnk LiVe mailing list. Advertise what you want to buy, to sell, or to trade! E-mail AWing5@aol.com to be added to the mailing list! AWing5 requests your snail mail address as well.

And.... if you are an internet member of the club, or can't make it to JJL...take out a JaWA JUnk LiVe classified ad! E-mail AWing5@aol.com or QUEST32681@aol.com to take out a FREE classified ad that will be aired at Jawa Junk live on Wednesday nights in the Cantina!

Jawa Junk Live is the new official buy/sell/trade night for the club, come and seek others interested in trading Star Wars:CCG, Toys, figures, posters, etc. Or come to offer up stuff your selling, or come to se if anyone's selling what your looking for! Wednesdays at 10 PM EST in the Cantina.

Uttini!
*************

classifiedclassifiedclassifiedclassifiedclassifiedclassifiedclassifiedclassifiedclassifiedclassifiedclassified classifiedclassifiedclassifiedclassifiedclassifiedclassifiedclassifiedclassifiedclassifiedclassifiedclassified classifiedclassifiedclassified

"Do you all know about the SW 20th Anniversary Con in SF? Here is the info if you haven't heard of it......

May 2,3,4 at the San Francisco Concourse Exhibition Center 620 7th St San Fran Ca 94103
Guests: Mayhew, Bulloch,Prowse,Baker,Davis, Daniels....more to be announced
1 day $15, 2 day $25, 3 day $35
Official Con Hotel Holiday Inn Civic Center 50, 8th St 415-626-6103
E-mail
http://www.shamag.com/galactic
galactic Entertainment
105 Pepper Drive
Collegeville, Pa 19426
610-454-1197"


...thanks to LeiaSky@aol.com