Bless the Ewoks, the moment we’ve all been waiting for in this year of the Wicket, the 40th Anniversary of Return of the Jedi, is here: From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi has been announced! These excellent collections of 40 stories from 40 different authors has brought us memorable, unique, jaw-dropping, exciting, and weird new perspectives on the original trilogy films so far and I expect Return of the Jedi’s to be no different. Head below for the list of authors, what stories have already been revealed, and some little tidbits on this and the series from Random House Worlds Editor Tom Hoeler!
How about that Ewok-rific cover by Will Staehle!? Simple and hopeful, and celebratory with the fireworks, it looks like the right crescendo for this series of anthologies reframing the films we’ve loved and known for 40 years and more. And we don’t have to wait long to get it in our hands: From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi is out September 5 a week earlier now: August 29!
Out of the 40, the official site revealed 5 stories and a few have mentioned or teased something on Twitter, while the character cards which tell us who or what everyone is covering usually arrive a month out from release, so expect the full list revealed in August or so. Until then, check out the list of authors, which includes the stories we know, hype over returning names, and intrigue over what the new authors can bring:
- “Olivie Blake gives us a chilling glimpse into the mind of Emperor Palpatine.” Olivie Blake is new to me and Star Wars, but she takes over from Mike Chen on penning an Emperor Palpatine tale…I’d love it if it’s during his final moments, falling to his doom, thinking of all the plans he still has in place, but I’m game for whatever she’ll bring to the table!
- “Saladin Ahmed recounts the tragic history of the rancor keeper.” Saladin Ahmed previous wrote in the Canto Bight anthology collection, while I’ll be curious if he’s going to canonize some of the Malakili Legends content out there with this one (as the character previously got expanded in the Legends Tales from Jabba’s Palace collection).
- “Charlie Jane Anders explores the life and times of the Sarlacc.” Co-founder of io9, Charlie Jane Anders has gone on to focus on her writing career and we’re all better off for it, as the two I read, All the Birds in the Sky and The City in the Middle of the Night were mesmerizingly unique and well-worth any sci-fi fan’s time. If she can bring an ounce of those skills to her Sarlacc tale, we’ll be lucky as heck.
- “Fran Wilde reveals Mon Mothma’s secret mission to save the Rebel Alliance.” Fran Wilde’s Bone Universe, of which I’ve read the first two and this reminded me I need to read the third, was a bit to wrap my head around but worth the trouble. Mon Mothma has had a renaissance thanks to the stellar first season of Andor so anything more with her, especially from someone of Wilde’s caliber, is something to get hyped for. And imagine if Genevieve O’Reilly performs the narration!!
- “Mary Kenney chronicles Wicket the Ewok’s quest for one quiet day on the forest moon of Endor.” Mary Kenney has written several games I’ve loved recently, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and The Walking Dead: The Final Season, so I look forward to her joining the Star Wars universe. I really hope they get Warwick Davis to narrate!
- “And Anakin Skywalker becomes one with the Force in a gripping tale by Mike Chen.” Mike Chen got his Star Wars start with a Palpatine tale in FaCPOV: The Empire Strikes Back, which led him to the stellar Brotherhood in 2022, and him returning to write Anakin at such a pivotal time in his life feels like the perfect full circle. Hayden Christensen, please narrate!
- Tom Angleberger returns, likely to close us out with another memorable turn from the Whills themselves!
- Kristin Baver, the lovely host of This Week! In Star Wars and has written some non-fiction items, has her first piece of original fiction now! Well deserved and can’t wait to see what she’s cooked up!
- Akemi Dawn Bowman is new, best known for her The Infinity Courts series, among other works.
- Emma Mieko Candon gets to write something in canon!! After their dazzling debut with the always recommended Ronin: A Visions Novel, more from Emma is the blessing that keeps on giving.
- Olivia Chadha is new as well, where it’s said she has hopepunk novels across many genres, and hope is the name of the game for the Star Wars universe!
- Gloria Chao is both an award-winning author and world-ranked in curling doubles, which is quite the feat, and is now new to Star Wars!
- Adam Christopher should be a household name to Star Wars fans at this point, having written from the Imperial POV in the last two FaCPOVs and penned the excellent, sequel-trilogy expanding Shadow of the Sith.
- Paul Crilley has written both for the MMORPG The Old Republic and in IDW’s Star Wars Adventures before in a tale starring Shriv Suurgav and Nien Nunb of all beings! Either character would be a great POV to bring to this!
- Amal El-Mohtar is new to Star Wars, so welcome, and is best known for her novella This Is How You Lose the Time War.
- M. K. England has X-Wing pilot in their Twitter bio, what more do you need to know!
- Jason Fry is another name fans should be well familiar with! He also wrote in the past two FaCPOVs as well.
- Adam Lance Garcia is one of us and now has his first Star Wars tale!
- Lamar Giles is new to Star Wars, but anyone who helps found something like the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books is more than welcomed to the franchise!!
- Max Gladstone actually co-wrote with Amal El-Mohtar in the past, but has many of his own works as well, like debut novel Three Parts Dead.
- Thea Guanzon already mentioned tooka-cats in her hype for being part of the upcoming book, so she’s fitting in just nicely!
- Ali Hazelwood wrote, what I’ve been told, is essentially a re-skinned Reylo story with The Love Hypothesis, so I’ll be curious to see what she’ll do in canon now!
- Patricia A. Jackson makes her first Star Wars return in decades, having contributed to previous Legends anthologies and the Star Wars Adventures Journal. Whoa! She might’ve revealed she’s writing a scout trooper during the speeder bike chase scene, of which I’ve heard there is such a story via rumors on Reddit (so take it with a grain of salt, but I heard that rumor first before Jackson’s tweet).
- Alex Jennings’ debut novel The Ballad of Perilous Graves came out just last year and he has quite the bio!
- Jarrett Krosoczka is best known for his writing and illustrating of picture books, the Lunch Lady series, so maybe he’ll be this FaCPOV’s illustration contributor.
- Sarah Kuhn penned the script for the mind-blowingly fun Doctor Aphra audiobook, and while I’d hope she’d write more Aphra here, she’s not the only name who could be and I’d rather she get to try new characters anyways! Hopefully it’s a sign of more Kuhn to come.
- Danny Lore wrote some fun short stories in IDW’s Star Wars Adventures (Vol. 2)!
- Sarah Glenn Marsh is new, known for her Reign of the Fallen series. Welcome!
- Kwame Mbalia looks to be behind a series of MG books called Tristan Strong, also very welcome!
- Marieke Nijkamp has written tie-in material for stuff like Hawkeye and Critical Role: Vox Machina, so they should fit right in here!
- Danielle Paige has been nominated for Daytime Emmys and is know for her Dorothy Must Die series, though I’m intrigued by this daytime soap opera writing, as I’d love to see such a style applied to a fun little Star Wars story.
- Laura Pohl has “obsessing about Star Wars” in her bio, so she’s going to be right at home here! Best known for The Grimrose Girls.
- K. Arsenault Rivera has written a Batman story for Realm, among other works. Welcome!
- Dana Schwartz is an ultimate win for new to Star Wars: she was a staff writer on the funny and excellent She-Hulk: Attorney at Law!
- Tara Sim, best known for her Timekeeper Trilogy, is an exciting new addition to the wars in the stars. Did she hint at who she is writing in her emoji choices? Someone more fluent in emoji, tell me!
- Phil Szostak is another name fans should be more than familiar with, as he’s been working at Lucasfilm in one capacity or another for years, while he’s written many art books, including those for the sequel trilogy. And now…original fiction! Well-deserved.
- Suzanne Walker, co-creator of Mooncakes, is new. Welcome!
- Hannah Whitten is best known for her Wilderwood series. Welcome!
- Sean Williams hasn’t been back to Star Wars since the ol’ Legends days, from The Force Unleashed novelizations to some New Jedi Order work. Welcome back!
- Alyssa Wong should be on everyone’s radar and any visit to the Manor has probably ended up with visitors finding me singing their praises for their work on the Doctor Aphra (Vol. 2) comic! They’ve done plenty of short fiction before so I can’t wait to see what they have in store here, and while I’m hoping Aphra or anyone in her circle, like Just Lucky, Sana Starros, Magna Tolvan, to name a few, I wouldn’t be disappointed if it’s someone new as well; it’s gonna be a great read regardless.
If you made it this far down, then you’ve come to the fun little facts section, provided by Random House Worlds Senior Editor Tom Hoeler! He shared everything from how some stories in FaCPOV: RotJ are direct responses to previous FaCPOV tales and these only exist thanks to fan enthusiasm, while he dug into the stats and found 90% of the 120 stories were written by unique authors and 70% of those were debuts, among other stats.
From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi is out August 29. Check back for more story reveals as we get closer to release and eventually our review!
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.