<Jedimaster> Welcome to the HoloNet. We would like to thank Mr. Perry for giving us a chance to chat with his fans. The room well be moderated for the first couple minutes so GhentZ can ask a few questions. There will be a few rules that need to be followed tonight. No Flaming, Nuking, Cussing, Flooding, Harassment. You WILL treat our guess with respect. Please ask intelligent questions. There will be alot of question be asked so if you don't get yours answered be patient. If you don't follow the rules you will be automatically banned.

<GhentZ> Welcome Steve, we're all glad you could make it tonight.

<GhentZ> Let me start with the obvious question, since it's been the subject of so much debate:

<GhentZ> Is Dash Rendar dead?

<Steve> Nope. Dash isn't dead.

<GhentZ> Hear that everybody?

<GhentZ> You can stop arguing now.

<GhentZ> What about Xizor?

<GhentZ> Is he dead?

<Steve> Xizor is dead. Yup. Dead.

<GhentZ> Ha! Another rumor laid to rest.

<GhentZ> Will we ever see more of the Falleen race?

<Steve> Yep. The Falleen will be back. Xizor had a niece. She shows up in the comics I wrote for Dark Horse.

<GhentZ> Whoa. Great!

<Steve> And Ann Crispin uses Xizor and Guri in her next book. Before SOTE.

<GhentZ> Interesting.

<GhentZ> Have you been approached by Del Rey to do SW books? Would you want to?

<Steve> Nope, haven't heard from Del Rey. I would like to do the novelizations of the new movies, but so would everybody else. I'm on the short list, I think, but I dunno who will be writing the tie-ins.

<GhentZ> What with all your other movie novelizations, I can see why you are on the list.

<GhentZ> Your MiB was better than the movie!

<Steve> Yeah, I keep telling Lucasfilm I'm the guy, but so far, they haven't taken the bait.

<GhentZ> Heheheh. They'd better.

<Tbone> Steve, how do youcome up with your character names?

<Tbone> Are any of your characters influenced by real life people?

<Steve> I made a list of characters I wanted to use in the book before I went to Skywalker Ranch. I tried to make them sound Star Wars-ish. Han Solo . . . Dash Rendar . . . They have a similar ring, I think.

<GhentZ> Ah.

<Steve> I try to stay away from real people when I'm populating my books, though.

<GhentZ> Except for that one traitor . . .

<Steve> Ah, yes, Benedict Vidkun. Not many people caught that one.

<GhentZ> Right.

<Steve> From Benedict Arnold and Vidkun Quisling, two of the most famous traitors of all time.

<GhentZ> Heheh, their first names.

<Tbone> Very cool.

<Steve> Or how about the jewel thief? Anybody catch that one?

<GhentZ> Not that I know of.

<Steve> Go find the guy who robbed star liners and spell his name backwards . . .

<GhentZ> Ok.

<GhentZ> Have you considered doing any original SW novels set in the prequel era?

<Steve> Not now.

<Steve> Later.

<Steve> No, I haven't thought about doing new original SWs stuff.

<GhentZ> How did you come up with Xizor?

<Steve> Xizor . . .

<Steve> Lucy Wilson at Lucasfilm came up with Xizor's name. I got to flesh him out, and I chose cold reptilian characteristics to counterpoint Vader's warm nature.

<Jedimaster> Steve do you have anything coming up with star wars. ( comics, books, rpg books )

<Steve> A five-issue miniseries from Dark Horse starting next month, Shadows of the Empire:Evolution. Features Guri.

<Jedimaster> great

<GhentZ> Tell us a little more about it.

<GhentZ> A few spoilers perhaps?

<Steve> After Xizor's death, Guri is "free." But she doesn't want to be a killer any more, so she goes looking for a programmer who can delete her bad memories. (more)

<GhentZ> Neat.

<Steve> Xizor's niece, Savan, is trying to take over Black Sun, so she wants to capture Guri for all she knows about the business (more)

<GhentZ> That should make for interesting fights and chases. <g>

<Steve> You'll see appearances by the Original Gang (Luke, Leia, Han, Chewy, Lando, the droids) and a very brief cameo by somebody who looks and talks a lot like Han, in the last issue . . .

<GhentZ> Great!

<Tbone> Steve...was that 'really' the Outrider in the SW:specialedition?

<Steve> That's what they tell me. And the Asp droids and the swoop that nearly hits the critter in Mos Eisley are from SOTE, too.

<Jedimaster> Render? as the Cameo?

<Tbone> right.

<GhentZ> I think so.

<Tbone> cool...so tell us how you first found out your material would be referenced in the film.

<Steve> I knew early on, and it was a biiigggg rush, lemme tell you.

<Steve> They told me.

<Tbone> How early?

<GhentZ> Movies in production = hectic.

<Steve> Right after I started working on the book, after the outline.

<Tbone> That's inspiration!

<GhentZ> Can you tell us about the SotE prequel novel by Charles L. Grant?

<Steve> I don't know about Charlie's book, I haven't talked to him lately. All I know is rumor.

<GhentZ> Hmmm. I would think he'd need to contact you about character backgrounds. Oh well.

<Steve> Probably I should call him and find out.

<GhentZ> Let the crowd in, JM.

<Tbone> Here's where the fun begins...

<Jedimaster> ok we will open for questions now

<GhentZ> hehehehehhehehe

<Steve> Fire away . . .

<Tbone> Hang in there Steve...

<Jedimaster> one at a time:)

<Jedimaster> and follow the rules

<DrgnZuckuss> Mr. Perry, have you ever thought of writing storys for the sw adventure journal about guri or xizor's past?

<Steve> I was asked if I wanted to write for the Journal, but I'm snowed under with work at the moment.

<Azina> Steve, did you ever think you'd write "Star Wars" when you first began writing?

<BR>* Jedi_Knight asks Mr.Perry-- Hi, I wanted to ask you a Few Questions. 1. I thought Guri died right after the Thermal Detonator Explosion? What happened? 2. Is it hard publishing a novel? (I'm 12 and trying to write one)3. How is Rendar still alive?

<BR>* XiZ0R wants to know if there are plans for a fully CG SOTE movie???

<Steve> Guri escaped using the paraglider wings.

<Steve> No plans for a SOTE movie.

<Steve> Dash lives.

<Wolfpaw> Steve: My friend was an internist at Skywalker Ranch in the Marketing Department, and I was allowed to visit there. However, we weren't allowed in the archives. Were you?

<Steve> Didn't get into the archives, it was a working meeting. I did see a lot of neat stuff.

<Kyp> Q: Did you make a conscious effort to include more female characters in SOTE? AS Star Wars was originally lacking in them somewhat... (eg, we loved Guri)

<Steve> I like strong female characters, why I liked working with Leia and why I added Guri.

<Manager> Mr. Perry, I interviewed for my website a while back. I would like to know if you will be writng any SW books in the future, and if you have written a back story for Guri and Xizor?

<Steve> A lot of backstory about characters is being done by the gaming folks.

<Azina> Do you like Mara Jade?

<Steve> I like Mara just fine.

<Falleen> Mr. Perry, I thought Dash Rendar died. At the end of SOTE his ship blew up.

<Steve> Nope, Dash's ship went to lightspeed as the debris from the skyhook hit. That was the flash. He lives.

<Azina> Wouldn't Luke be able to sense he was alive through the Force?

<Steve> Luke can't sense _everything_ throught the Force.

<Swift> Steve, the novel seemed to have a few discrepancies with the movies it was meant to connect. Is there any way to reconcile, for example, the events of SotE with Threepio's comment at the beginning of Return of the Jedi regarding Lando and Chewbacca's failure to return from Tatooine? I did enjoy reading it, mind!

<Steve> Threepio was kept out of a few loops, if you recall.

<BR>* XiZ0R wants to know if you heard anything about Xizor being in the prequels?

<Steve> I don't know if Xizor will be in the prequels. He will be in Ann's next book.

<Jedimaster> Admiral_Ghent: Mr. Perry First i would like to say i loved your book. I would like to ask you if you know of any planning to make a shadows of the empire expansion for Star Wars custombizable card game?

<Steve> I haven't heard about the card game, sorry.

<GhentZ> A_Vigo asks: Knowing the Emperor's hatred for alien species, how do you explain the fact that Xizor ranks only behind Palpatine and Vader? It doesn't make sense.

<Steve> The Emperor uses whatever tools are at hand, like them or hate them.

<GhentZ> ChaosLord: What did you think of the N64 game?

<Steve> I think the N64 game is pretty neat, thought I don't own one. No freebies . . .

<Tbone> really?

<GhentZ> That is not just!

<Tbone> Did you get action figures?

<Steve> I have a few of the action figures. Luke has a little more muscle than he should.

<GhentZ> Heheheheh

<Jedimaster> :)

<Steve> I have the SOTE statue with the Emperor, Vader, and Xizor.

<Tbone> Dane asks: has there been any planning for a a another star wars video game for the N64 console

<Steve> There are some new games coming out for N64, I saw that in the last Insider. And BTW, Master of Teras Kasi? Guess where that name came from.

<Tbone> Where?!?

<GhentZ> Your idea!!!!

<Tbone> tell tell!

<GhentZ> It was in the SotE sourcebook

<Tbone> Very cool...great game.

<Steve> Right out of SOTE. The Pike Sisters, early in the book, that was their martial art. It's Finnish, it means "steel hands." (You'll see them in the comics I did. Using the name "Pikkell" instead of "Pike."

<GhentZ> DRGNZUCKUSS: Mr. Perry, out of all the star wars authors besides yourself, who is your favorite and why?

<Steve> I dont' have a favorite SWs writer. I know most of them personally.

<Jedimaster> Drgon_4loM asks: How bad did you want Xixor's pheramones(SP?) to work on Leia? would lucas arts have let you? did you try to convince them? or you decided on it early without another thought?

<Steve> Actually, some of the powers at Lucasfilm wanted Xizor's pheromones to do more than I wanted. I convinced them to tone it down.

<Steve> And ask me about the droids flying the Falcon.

<GhentZ> Fine. What about droids flying the Falcon?

<Steve> They didn't want me to write that scene. I pleaded to let me try it, and they grudgingly accepted. Then after I was done, they said, "Hey, this is neat. Make it longer!"

<GhentZ> The droids piloting? That was a nice touch. If Han had been there, he would've deactivated them.

<Tbone> ExarKun asks: Did you know while writing SoTE that a video game would be based upon it, if you did,how did it affect your writing?

<Steve> I knew about the game from the first. It was part of the overall marketing plan. The designers were at the meeting at the Ranch. That's why the book had a swoop chase scene in it, they asked for it.

<Steve> All of the SOTE material was based on the outline I did for the novel.

<Tbone> Dark Trooper asks:I wanna ask how did you feel when lucasarts said they were gonna make a game on SOTE?

<Steve> I felt just fine when they mentioned the game.

<Jedimaster> five wants to know: "is the Outrider dead?"

<Steve> The Outrider is still running just fine. A little scorched, maybe.

<GhentZ> GURI: MR. PERRY, I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF THERE IS ANYWHERE YOUR FELLOW FANS AND I CAN SEND YOU A LETTER AND ASK FOR AN AUTOGRAPH???

<Steve> If you'll send your address to my email box (sperry@teleport.com) I'll try to get you an official Bantam autograph sticker. Or if you'd rather, I can send you a jpeg or gif file of the autograph . . .

<Tbone> Gwiz asks:To what extent were you involved with the visual designs of yor original characters for the other, more visual mediums (ie cards, comics, toys, etc.)?

<Steve> Actually, the designers used my descriptions as a base. Dash underwent some changes, and Xizor came out a lot uglier on the book cover than he was supposed to be.

<Jedimaster> Hunter asks: Were you as disappointed Boba Fett wasn't in the SOTE novel as I was? Why wasn't he?

<Steve> The comic book folks wanted Boba Fett, so I deliberately left him unseen, so as not to step on their toes. I worked with them so where we crossed we wouldn't glitch.

<GhentZ> JEDI_KNIGHT: Mr. Perry, I want to tell you have a great book!! And my question is Where is Dash now? Is it hard publishing a novel? I am 12 and trying to write one!

<Steve> Dash is currently off on an adventure I can't really talk about. Publishing isn't that hard, but it takes practice to write well enough so somebody wants to publish you.

<Jedimaster> Jodo_Kast asks: Steve, how come you didnt' add the Hoth scene in the novel or the Comic book with Dash flying a Snowspeeder? and is IG-88 gone for good? and will you be planning on having any bounter hunters in the next comic?

<Steve> The idea was to have parallel but not quite the same story lines in the book, comics, and game, so you would get a little different ride on each one. There's a new bounty hunter in Evolution who is pretty nasty, unlike any you've seen before. I don't know if all the IG-88s have been destroyed -- there were what? four? I lost count.

<GhentZ> Kwento: if xizor's skyhook did blow up, what happened to the debris did it jst orbit corsuant?? or did it hit the planet? Also what did the emperor think of Xizor''s death?

<Steve> Most of the debris that fell toward Imperial City (as it was still called then) either burned up on reentry or was blasted by the local equivalent of the Coast Guard. The Emperor knew all along that Xizor was going to die. He was deep into the dark side of of the Force.

<Tbone> Kyp asks: How much "creative control" does LucasFilm exercise over Star Wars authors' work in general - for example, did anything that you really liked or ideas that you wanted get modified or cut? And SOTE was a great book too btw :)

<Steve> Lucasfilm has total control. But they allow much room for stretching. The only scene I had to cut was of Luke and Lando stopping at the SWs equivalent of a gas station to use the phone. They thought that was a bit much. Other than that, the comments on my manuscript were pretty minor. I stuck to the outline, which is what you do when you're working in somebody else's universe, or in TV.

<Jedimaster> Leebo asks: Mr.Perry Are you a star wars collector?

<Steve> I'm a fan, but not a collector of SWs material. Though I do have a couple of things, including a misprint dust jacket for the novel they decided not to use. I doubt there are more than a dozen of those, and I've got three of 'em . . .

<Steve> And I have the original manuscript for SOTE, of course . .

<GhentZ> DARKTROOPER: How did you come up with Xizor's character?

<Steve> I wanted Xizor to be the opposite of Darth Vader, soI made him cool and cunning, to Darth's hot-tempered and straight-ahead kind of guy.

<Tbone> McKal asks: How up to date are you with the SW universe?(how many books read etc.)

<Steve> I've read some of the books and comics, but not enoughto qualify as an expert. I have all the books that have been publishedsince I started work on SOTE, but I haven't had time to read them all.

<Tbone> Manager asks: Mr. Perry, I interviewed you for my websitethrough email a while back. I was wondering: did you find itdifficult to work with the droids, Chewbacca, Lando, etc., who other authorsthink get in the way (ie: There's nothing for them to do?)

<Steve> Nah, I like the droids, and I used them the same wayGL did in the movies, as comic relief. They are based on two charactersfrom a Japanese movie called "The Hidden Fortress," BTW.

<Tbone> Kurosawa!

<GhentZ> WOLFPAW: Steve, what are your plans for future NON-StarWars endeavors?

<Steve> I'm always working on two or three books at the sametime. I may do some more movie novelizations, if they come up. And I'mghostwriting a series of books for a Big Name Writer I can't talk about.

<GhentZ> WOW

<GhentZ> ASP_7_DROID: Will Kyle Katarn or dash be in any of themovies

<Steve> I really don't know anything about the new movies. And,to be honest, if I did, I couldn't tell you.

<Jedimaster> Odan-Urr asks: Mr. Perry do you know who will be doing,or who is the artist for the Shadows of the Empire: Evolution comic?

<Steve> SOTE: Evolution. Pencils are by Ron Randall. Colorsby Tom Simmons. I've seen the first issue, which is due out in February,and it looks terrific. Guri is drop-dead gorgeous, the way she should be.

<Tbone> Zero asks: Is it hard to weave a storyline while bendingaround other stories?

<Steve> Storylines aren't that hard, as long as you know whereyou're going. Since my outline for SOTE was the basis for everything elseconnected to it, they all had to weave around me. I liked that . . .

<Tbone> Michale asks: What is your opinion of Dash Rendar as a character?Was he created largely as a stand in for Han Solo, or do you think he hasan independent personality and merit of his own? Thanks, and a great book,BTW!

<Steve> Truth is, Dash is kind of like Han's slightly-youngersmart aleck brother. I came up with him because Han was on ice, and thegame folks love Han. They snapped up Dash in a hurry. I'd like todo a story with Han and Dash together, trying to out-do each other.

<Tbone> That sounds like fun.

<Steve> I thought Dash had some character, especially when he thought he could fail at something.

<GhentZ> FALLEEN: when did you start working on SOTE?

<Steve> Lemme see, the book came out in April, '96, I think. I started the outline in November the year before, the book around January.

<Tbone> XIZ0R asks:Mr Perry: I was wondering if you knew if Xizor was going to be in the prequels. I heard him and Thrawn were.

<Steve> I haven't heard anything about Thrawn or Xizor being in the prequels. And like I said, if they trusted me enough to tell me the plots or show me the scripts, I wouldnt' be able to pass any of it along. Rules of the game.

<GhentZ> DARKTROOPER: Is the Out rider a newer version of the millennium falcon?

<Steve> The Outrider was conceived as a Falcon-like vessel, but I dunno if it would be considered a newer version.

<Tbone> Viffi_Raa asks: Steve: Can you tell me if there are plans to do an SOTE TV series or a full CG movie for TV.

<Steve> No plans to do a TV series or movie that I know of.

<Tbone> Xizor asks: Do you decided to kill Xizor or was you obligated?

<Steve> Lucasfilm wanted Xizor to stay dead. I left his end ambiguous.

<Jedimaster> *Zero How hard is it to get a book published and agreed on by LucasArts? (I'm a writer!)

<Steve> Lucasarts books are currently by invitation only. You can't get an invitation unless you have a track record as a published writer.

<Tbone> Veter asks:Mr. Perry: In the game for the N64 it showed dash coming to echo base. To me that part of the movie had no purpose and had nothing to do with the book. Do you have any say what is put on the comics and the video games? The only thing that scene has to do is that Dash and Han are competing agienst other.

<Steve> In the book we wanted Dash and Han to have some history, and so there was a memory of a scene on Hoth. I didn't have anything to do with the specifics of the game, save for the general outline.

<Jedimaster> Zorg asks: Where did you come up with the idea for Guri? is she based on someone you know?

<Steve> Guri is somebody I thought would be cool, plus I wanted another strong female character, pretty much why I came with her. I think Star Trek swiped her from me as 7 of 9 . . .

<GhentZ> <Swift> Steve, what did you think of the changes made to the special editions? I presume you enjoyed the cameos by your creations (what was the deal with the ASP's li'l elf-boot feet?), but what about things like Greedo's altered showdown and Luke's added scream during his Cloud City plummet? Were you at all concerned that the lightsaber-construction scene cut from the beginning of Jedi would be restored?

<Steve> I liked most of the special edition changes. I understand why they wanted Han to let Greedo shoot first, though if that had been up to me, I wouldn't have done it. I didn't worry about the lightsaber scene being restored, since they knew I was writing one.

<GhentZ> Yes, you were writing an ls-consturction scene, but one had already been written. The RotJ novelization already has it!

<Steve> I think the Marvel comics also had a lightsaber construction scene, too, but I was told not to worry about it, to do what I had in mind.

<Tbone> Drgn_Fir asks: I just got here and heard that Dash Rendar survived. I've always wondered about that and would be curious to know how he did that

<Steve> Hmm. I guess I should just drop in a note about Dash surviving every so often. His ship went to lightspeed as the debris got there. The flash was the debris getting cooked, not Dash . . .

<Jedimaster> piett asks: Steve, how did you come up with the Title Shadows Of The Empire?

<Steve> The title was not mine, it came from Lucasfilm.

<GhentZ> Onslaught: Have you ever met George Lucas?

<Steve> Didn't get a chance to meet GL. I do have an autographed copy of SOTE from him though. (Also got one autographed by Mark Hamill . . .)

<GhentZ> That's strange.

<GhentZ> People signing stuff they didn't have much to do with.

<Steve> Well, GL certainly had a little to do with it. And my friend in L.A. who was a story editor on Batman the Animated Show got Mark's autograph as a joke.

<Tbone> Faleen asks:Why did you decide to put in Greedo's uncle?

<GhentZ> He was cool

<GhentZ> :-P

<Steve> I wanted to use another name like Greedo's and I thought it would be fun to go to his homework and meet a relative.

<GhentZ> <Swift> Ghostwriting for a Big Name Author? That's a bit different from ghosting for a Big Name Celebrity. How often does that kind of thing happen?

<Steve> Ghostwriting happens a lot more often than you know. You don't think William Shatner wrote all those books, do you?

<GhentZ> HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

<Tbone> LOL!

<Jedimaster> hehehehe

<Steve> Probably another five minues or so and I'll have to wrap this up, folks. My dogs are ready to go out for a walk. Any final questions?

<GhentZ> <CHAOSLORD> steve, there's a way to get a autograph of you?

<Steve> Send your snailmail address to my email address -- sperry@teleport.com -- and I'll try to get an autograph sticker to you. Or I can send a jpeg of my signature . . .

<Jedimaster> manager asks: did you find it difficult to work with the droids, Chewbacca, Lando, etc., who other authors think get in the way (ie: There's nothing for them to do?) And if you don't want to answer that, then do you want to write another book? If so, would it be before SW:ANH or After ROTJ, or another in betweener?

<Steve> I believe I already answered the droid question. And the only SWs books I'm really interested in doing are the novelizations of the new movies.

<Tbone> McKal asks:What media do you think best captures the mood of SW: books, comics, films, games.... ?

<Steve> Movies, no question.

<GhentZ> <DrgnZuckuss> Did you need special permission to write from darth vaders point of view?

<Steve> No, actually, I didn't think they were going to let me get inside Darth's head, because I had Xizor, but Tom Dupree at Bantam (my editor) told me to go for it. We're the only guys to go there since ADF's "Splinter . . ." so we should. I really enjoyed it.

<Tbone> That was well done, BTW.

<Tbone> I enjoyed him trying to "breathe".

<GhentZ> Yeah!

<Jedimaster> Atruejedi asks: You said Imperial City was the name of the city on Coruscant, so what is its current name that you know of? And how did you come up with the idea of having it all happen around Coruscant?

<Steve> Coruscant, during the Empire's late days, was known as Imperial City. The whole planet, since it was essentially one continuous city.

<Steve> And since Coruscant was where Vader, the Emperor and Xizor all lived, I pretty much had to go there.

<GhentZ> yup.

<Steve> Okay, folks, one more, then I gotta run.

<GhentZ> Hunter: Can anyone write a SW novel or do you have to be asked?

<Steve> Invitation only. And the line is very long of hopeful writers who'd like to be invited.

<Steve> Thanks for having me as your guest, I enjoyed it.

<GhentZ> Thank you so much for being here Mr. Perry!!! We hope you can come again. We're rooting for you to get to do the prequel novelizations!!!!

<Jedimaster> Thank you

<Steve> MTFBWY

<Tbone> Steve, thanks so much! It was great!

<GhentZ> And with you!!!!

<GhentZ> Au revoir!

*** Steve has quit IRC (Quit: Bye, gang. Thanks again..)