If you haven’t noticed, there’s been a top-secret project I've been teasing on social media. Well, here it is -- introducing STAR WARS: BROTHERHOOD, a novel about Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker as they transition from master/apprentice in Attack of the Clones to the team you see in Clone Wars. I honestly still can't believe it's real. Full info from StarWars.com.
So, what can I actually tell you? If you’re one of my readers who isn’t super into Star Wars, this might sound like a lot of gibberish -- apologies in advance. For those of you that want to geek out with me, read on!
STAR WARS: BROTHERHOOD is a character-driven examination of trauma, extremism, purpose, and letting go. With lightsabers. And the shadow of Qui-Gon Jinn weighs heavily on our heroes. If you've followed me a while, you know that I adore the prequel era. So writing this felt natural and fun. Lines spilled out of my head as if the cast of the films/show were speaking to me.
And in a really cool way, I felt like I could bridge Anakin's words and thoughts from both AOTC Hayden and TCW Matt Lanter. I knew which version of Anakin would come out based on situations and who he was speaking to. From a big-picture perspective, I get to fill in the logistical gap between "Where'd this clone army come from?" to "We're generals commanding battalions." So exploring that era is a bit overwhelming and unbelievable.
And the emotional fallout from Anakin's whirlwind of losing his mom, getting his arm chopped off, getting married, and becoming a knight leading into TCW, that's ripe for character examination. As for Obi-Wan's perspective, I get to dive into his own internal pressures of living up to his promise to Qui-Gon while also basically becoming a parent when he wasn't ready -- that's similarly great character fodder.
I also have the privilege of creating a few new characters. Who are, ironically, very inspired by Star Trek. In general, a lot of the book is heavily inspired by Deep Space Nine, which I'll get to talk about more down the road. The other big influences are, not surprisingly, Matthew Stover's REVENGE OF THE SITH novel and Claudia Gray's MASTER & APPRENTICE. It's an honor to expand on some of Stover's character work from ROTS.
And there are several moments where the John Williams’ Force theme should swell and it's ripe for fan art. Just saying. Please send me all the fan art.
On a personal level, since Delta stole our lives, I've had to juggle homeschool and day job. Every day has been a battle in so many ways, yet somehow, this book is one of the few things that kept me sane. When my agent Eric Smith called with the offer (out of nowhere!) my wife came down. She heard me say "Clone Wars" and gave me A LOOK. I nodded yes and she said "Do it. We'll make it work." And we did.
That was right before the July Delta surge, when we were certain kiddo would go to school in person. Which...she is not, for a variety of reasons. But we've made this work as a family. And surprisingly, meeting a fast deadline is the easiest part. No matter how tough homeschool or day job or THE WORLD were, every night I took 2-3 hours to go on an adventure with Anakin and Obi-Wan, easily hitting 3-5k words a night. If nothing else, I'm grateful for that. It made a difficult time so much easier and was never hard to write.
There will be much more to come about this book in the coming months, but for now here's my upcoming release timeline:
1/2022: LIGHT YEARS FROM HOME
5/2022: STAR WARS: BROTHERHOOD
1/2023: VAMPIRE WEEKEND
I'm sure BROTHERHOOD will get added to Goodreads soon, but until then, you can add LIGHT YEARS FROM HOME (which is more X-Files than Star Wars, so I'm hitting all the sci-fi subgenres).
