As Return of the Jedi continues to mark its 40th anniversary, one of the best traditions to come out of this blockbuster trio of celebrations for the original Star Wars trilogy is From a Certain Point of View, short story collections going blow-by-blow through the movies from the perspectives of those in and around the main story. Now we know what’s coming up in Return of the Jedi’s collection, and it sounds fantastic.
Well, mostly fantastic—for this particular starfighter connoisseur, there’s too many short stories announced by Penguin Random House Worlds today that feature the perspective of A-Wing pilots for my liking, but I suppose we must mark its cinematic debut somehow. At least one of them will be about the most infamous A-Wing to ever fly with style, aka get shot and crash (“The Impossible Flight of Ash Angels,” by Marieke Nijkamp).
But enough starfighter slander: in an extensive thread on Twitter today PRH unveiled all 40 stories, their stars, and their authors from this month’s Return of the Jedi: From a Certain Point of View, and it’s an amazing guide to the movie through some very intriguing viewpoints. Recognizable authors include Star Wars stalwarts like Adam Christopher, Mike Chen, Phil Szostak, and Alyssa Wong, as well as familiar faces like Saladin Ahmed, Max Gladstone, and oh, I don’t know, maybe readers of this very website have heard of Charlie Jane Anders, who will write, of course, about how the Sarlacc feels having people thrown into its mouth every once in a while.
There’s plenty of other intriguing hooks for stories too—like “The Light That Falls” by Akemi Dawn Bowman, which examines how Dagobah itself reacts to the death of Yoda, or Adam Lance Garcia’s “The Veteran,” which follows Dexter Jettster as he reflects on the Empire’s downfall and the shadows of the Clone Wars. And several about Ewoks killing Imperials! Delightful.
Click through to see all the teasers and author details for every story in the anthology, in chronological order as they occur throughout the movie. Return of the Jedi: From a Certain Point of View will release on August 29.
