I developed the idea and pitched it to the folks at Lucasfilm, Skywalker Ranch; with a few minor changes, the idea proceeded to book form as originally conceived. Technical corrections and some character details and limitations were imposed, of course, the make the book fit into the Star Wars universe... but I think they were comparatively minor.

Professional science fiction writers have never been quite sure what to make of Star Wars; some embrace it wholeheartedly, while others wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot lightsaber. Why is that?

Success breeds discontent, and Star Wars is quite different from the kind of science fiction exemplified by, say, 2001: A Space Odyssey, or Darwin's Radio. But I grew up on many different kinds of SF, from Edgar Rice Burroughs to Edward E. "Doc" Smith and Jack Williamson, as well as Arthur C. Clarke. Storytelling is storytelling. Having to work to order for your main ticket (writing nothing but Star Wars novels) would be stifling, but getting a chance to dabble in George's universe one time only, with these characters, in this timeline, is like a vacation on an exotic island.

Did you try to bring the same quality of scientific rigor to Rogue Planet that distinguishes your other novels?

No. Star Wars is as much techno-myth as science fiction, and while my aliens and planetscapes are feasible, up to a point, I did not feel it necessary to dot every 'I' and cross every 'T' on technical details. Nor would I in any space adventure novel. Faster-than-light travel is a given in the Star Wars universe, but I feel no need to create a new rationale for it, as I did in, say, Moving Mars; nor did I feel it necessary to work out all the tactical physics of space battle, as I did in Anvil of Stars. Watching Alderaan blow up in Episode IV might have prompted me to describe what a planet would really look like, exploding, in The Forge of God, but George Lucas would not have wanted to devote so much time to what is, after all, a minor plot element.

After Episode I, some critics complained that the distance between the boy Anakin and Darth Vader, the man he grows up to be, was so great as to be unbridgeable. What insights can you offer us into the character of the two Anakins: the boy and the man?

I suggest reading Rogue Planet, since that was obviously my task: to show, for the first time, how Anakin Skywalker could possibly grow up to become Darth Vader. The elements were there, they just needed to be fleshed out. It's regrettable that George Lucas didn't pick up Anakin's development a little farther along, but that left the opening for me, and I took it with glee. And obviously George has things planned for Episode II.

Let me pose the same question with regard to Obi-Wan Kenobi.

A tougher character to handle in some respects, because we see him at a subdued stage in his later life. Working between Dave Wolverton's [and Jude Watson's] Obi-Wan character [in the Jedi Apprentice series] and the young adult in Episode I provided a good skeleton for my version of Obi-Wan, a man in search of truth, but attached to conceptions of almost courtly dignity; a passionate man, yet seeking wisdom through restraint. He's a good foil for the young Anakin.

I know that writers who've had the opportunity to write Star Wars books develop their own understanding of the Force. What's yours?

No different from George's, as I understand it: the Force is like Ch'i, in the Buddhist conception, with a hint of Tao as well--both impetus and shape, as it were, metaphysical energy plus direction, which can go either way, yin or yang. As a shaper of living things, the Force acquires some more subtleties, but the oriental flavor is clear. The Force is not judgmental, not particularly personalized, and difficult to grasp even for a Jedi Master. And the Force is never a nursemaid!

Is there a chance you'll write more Star Wars novels?

Probably not. It's been great fun, but I've said my say, and I have far too many of my own books to write!