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Star Wars: Tales #1
Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina
Sixteen stories from the most infamous cantina in the universe...by some of today's leading writers of science fiction.
In a far corner of the universe, on the small desert planet of Tatooine, there is a dark, nic-i-tain-filled cantina where you can down your favorite intoxicant while listening to the best jizz riffs in the universe. But beware your fellow denizens of this pangalactic watering hole, for they are cutthroats and cutpurses, assassins and troopers, humans and aliens, gangsters and thieves....
Featuring original stories by:
Kevin J. Anderson * Doug Beason * M. Shayne Bell * David Bischoff * A.C.
Crispin * Kenneth C. Flint * Barbara Hambly * Rebecca Moesta * Daniel Keys
Moran * Jerry Oltion * Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens * Jennifer Roberson
* Kathy Tyers * Tom Veitch & Martha Veitch * Dave Wolverton * Timothy
Zahn
In a far corner of the universe, on the small desert planet of Tatooine, there is a dark, nic-i-tain-filled cantina where you can down your favorite intoxicant while listening to the best jizz riffs in the universe. But beware your fellow denizens of this pangalactic watering hole, for they are cutthroats and cutpurses, assassins and troopers, humans and aliens, gangsters and thieves....
Featuring original stories by:
Kevin J. Anderson * Doug Beason * M. Shayne Bell * David Bischoff * A.C.
Crispin * Kenneth C. Flint * Barbara Hambly * Rebecca Moesta * Daniel Keys
Moran * Jerry Oltion * Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens * Jennifer Roberson
* Kathy Tyers * Tom Veitch & Martha Veitch * Dave Wolverton * Timothy
Zahn
380 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1995
About the author
Kevin J. Anderson
868 books2,899 followersYes, I have a lot of books, and if this is your first visit to my amazon author page, it can be a little overwhelming. If you are new to my work, let me recommend a few titles as good places to start. I love my Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. series, humorous horror/mysteries, which begin with DEATH WARMED OVER. My steampunk fantasy adventures, CLOCKWORK ANGELS and CLOCKWORK LIVES, written with Neil Peart, legendary drummer from Rush, are two of my very favorite novels ever. And my magnum opus, the science fiction epic The Saga of Seven Suns, begins with HIDDEN EMPIRE. After you've tried those, I hope you'll check out some of my other series.
I have written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E., and The X-Files, and I'm the co-author of the Dune prequels. My original works include the Saga of Seven Suns series and the Nebula Award-nominated Assemblers of Infinity. I have also written several comic books including the Dark Horse Star Wars collection Tales of the Jedi written in collaboration with Tom Veitch, Predator titles (also for Dark Horse), and X-Files titles for Topps.
I serve as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest.
My wife is author Rebecca Moesta. We currently reside near Monument, Colorado.
I have written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E., and The X-Files, and I'm the co-author of the Dune prequels. My original works include the Saga of Seven Suns series and the Nebula Award-nominated Assemblers of Infinity. I have also written several comic books including the Dark Horse Star Wars collection Tales of the Jedi written in collaboration with Tom Veitch, Predator titles (also for Dark Horse), and X-Files titles for Topps.
I serve as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest.
My wife is author Rebecca Moesta. We currently reside near Monument, Colorado.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 196 reviews
March 24, 2023
Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina is a Star Wars anthology edited by Kevin J. Anderson. The hook that links all the stories is really from the one scene in the first Star Wars movie, (really Star Wars IV) A New Hope. The one scene common to all the stories here, is the scene where Obi Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker enter the cantina with the droids in tow, and they are told to leave the droids outside. The stories all involve characters that were present whose stories needed telling, satellites to that one cinematic epiphany. Such characters as: the band, Greedo, a stormtrooper, the bartender, a Jawa, Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba, and a moisture farmer neighbor to the Skywalkers. Some of the writers are science fiction allstars like Barbara Hambly, A. C. Crispin, Dave Wolverton, Timothy Zahn, Judith, and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. This was an enjoyable read that provided me the opportunity to Geek Out on Star Wars.
March 28, 2012
So you may be asking yourself why a 30 year old man would read Star Wars books when he could be reading something else of substantial value. I mean, the poor guy doesn't realize that his life is getting farther and farther away from being 1/3 over and into the first stages of middle-life (I gave myself to 81). And, you know, I would be right beside you and berating myself too if these books weren't so fun. Ya see, about five years ago I got down from my pedestal of high-brow literary thinking and went slumming.
And, let me tell you, that will be a night not soon forgotten. Since then, my tastes have been eclectic and varied. These Star Wars books along with King or Koontz or name your thriller author, clean my palate. They entertain me enough that when I go back to a Tolstoy or Dickens or someone of contemporary status today, I'm looking at you DeLillo and you, too, Pynchon, that I can appreciate these more.
If you've never been on the other side of the tracks, today is as good a day as any to venture forth. Oh, and the book...interesting approach to telling what the other characters saw and experienced that day as Solo and Skywalker and Obi-won walked into thier lives. Closer to a 2.5 star, but I rounded up. I mean, this stuff used to entertain me for hours when I was younger. (HONEST MOMENT: It still entertains me today.)
RECOMMENDED
And, let me tell you, that will be a night not soon forgotten. Since then, my tastes have been eclectic and varied. These Star Wars books along with King or Koontz or name your thriller author, clean my palate. They entertain me enough that when I go back to a Tolstoy or Dickens or someone of contemporary status today, I'm looking at you DeLillo and you, too, Pynchon, that I can appreciate these more.
If you've never been on the other side of the tracks, today is as good a day as any to venture forth. Oh, and the book...interesting approach to telling what the other characters saw and experienced that day as Solo and Skywalker and Obi-won walked into thier lives. Closer to a 2.5 star, but I rounded up. I mean, this stuff used to entertain me for hours when I was younger. (HONEST MOMENT: It still entertains me today.)
RECOMMENDED
October 18, 2019
I'm going to attempt to write a few lines on each story as I read them so bear with me on this one. I remember when I first received this as a gift back in '95 for Christmas and being so, so excited to finally read all the back stories of the denizens shown in what to me was the best set of scenes in the Star Wars movies - the Mos Eisley Cantina. Not every story is how I would have played them out with all the action figures I once owned as a kid but they did enough to fire up my imagination and satisfied my Star Wars cravings at that time in my life. On to the tales...
We Don't Do Weddings: The Band's Tale
In all honesty not much happens in this one. We learn the name of the band and the species of that bunch of baldies you no doubt remember from the Cantina scene in the original Star Wars (Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes, Species: Bith). Band plays music, fight breaks out at a wedding, bride rips groom into pieces and the band gets new gig at the infamous Mos Eisley Cantina. For a group of Biths so paranoid about breaking their exclusive contact with the local crime boss (Jabba the Hutt) they choose a rather conspicuous new place to play... 2/5 Biths.
A Hunter's Fate: Greedo's Tale
Ah, the infamous "Who shot first? scene plays out in all its glory here in A Hunter's Fate and thankfully, being penned pre-1997 and before all the George Lucas ret-con controversy hit the fan, has Han Solo shooting first as was originally intended!
So, as the title implies, here we have the story of Greedo, starting from when he was a young naive little Rodian growing up on an adopted jungle world to how he came to be, shall we say, a rather unsuccessful Bounty Hunter. Greedo is nothing like the character I imagined him to be when I was calling the shots. In my little make believe world, Greedo was only second in line to the great Boba Feet and never hesitated in dispatching Han away at the first opportunity. I mean, c'mon man, the dude is green! That's damn cool, right? But in this Greedo is deplorable, a loser, a "stinking green goon" as one of the other Bounty Hunters puts it. I couldn't drum up one iota of sympathy for his plight and actually loved the scenes where Han shows him up for the fool he is. Ah, Greedo, you shan't be missed... 2/5 Rodians.
Hammertong: The Tale of the 'Tonnika' Sisters
Definitely the best of the three tales thus far - I wonder if that's because it's written by Timothy Zahn, the man who kicked off the whole Star Wars 'Expanded Universe' with the fantastic 'Thrawn Trilogy'. I can't believe that was first published over twenty years ago now. Even though the more recent films contradict some of the events in Heir to the Empire I still want to go back and read them at some stage as those books helped me get back into reading after I neglected my favourite past time during my late teenage years.
Hammertong begins with our two protagonists, members of an all female sect known as the 'Mistryl Shadow Guard', being hired to provide security detail for the transportation of a secret and important piece of Imperial equipment - the mysteriously named, Hammertong. And as you can no doubt guess, any time guards have a great reputation and come highly recommended, the best laid plans of mice and men go to rack and ruin...
To say much more about the story will probably ruin it but I will leave this hint that anyone with a good EU background may pick up on. Imprinted on the item in question is a rather important name. Lemelisk...
2 stars for each Tonnika sister, so 4/5.
Play It Again, Figrin D'an: The Tale of Muftak and Kabe
Inside cover, this is how the story is sold to us...
Muftak, a spy who plots the biggest heist of his life - the plunder of a hundred worlds - but risks a one-way trip to the Great Pit of Carkoon...
Let's just say that lead in is being a tad too melodramatic. Muftak is indeed a spy and from what we are lead to believe a rather good one. You need trade secrets? You go see Muftak. But as good as he is hyped up to be he doesn't even know the name of the species he belongs to! Some random Stormtrooper fills him in on that particular piece of information. And for those interested, Muftak is a Talz. Just think of Hugo the Abominable Snowman, best known for his line “I’ll hug him and squeeze him and call him George” when he tries to keep Bugs Bunny as a pet...
Getting back on track, Muftak and his adopted Chadra-Fan companion, Kabe (a diminutive little thief and piss-pot to boot) hatch up a plan to rob the most notorious of criminals (yep, you guessed it, Jabba of course!) of his most prized possessions (the plunder of a hundred worlds mentioned above – so, not an outright lie, but sensationalised nonetheless!). And it’s while on this daring heist that they discover something even more valuable than said plunder...
Rating? I’ll give this 2 and a half Talz out of 5. Seeing as a Chadra-Fan is half the height of a Talz this fits rather nicely.
The Sand Tender: The Hammerhead’s Tale
As the title of this book tells us all of these stories are linked due to each character’s association with the Mos Eisley Cantina. In this particular tale we get another link to the preceding story through the character of Alima, a xenophobic Lieutenant in the Imperial Navy and a man who has a personal history with Momaw Nadon, an exiled Ithorian High Priest banished from his home world for revealing technological secrets to the Empire.
The Ithorians are a peace loving and intelligent species, one that has a firm connection to Mother Nature, especially plant life and all are avowed to honour their sacred code, the Law of Life. When Momaw Nadon discovers that the officer that got him banished from his home world of Ithor is also on Tatooine he finds himself facing a hard choice – to take revenge or to uphold his vow, that every life is sacred...
Here’s another character I pegged as a gun-toting thug back when I was a wee little’un. Obviously anything that didn’t resemble a human must have been a baddie in my eyes and thus won every battle that I acted out. It’s funny that my set of Rebel Alliance figures always perished in spectacular fashion...
Overall, The Sand Tender is a very likeable little tale due to containing a very sympathetic character in Momaw Nadon and one that delves into the history and culture of the Ithorian species. Star Wars factoid: Apparently the term ‘Hammerhead’ is highly offensive to them...
3.5 Ithorians out of 5 for this one.
We Don't Do Weddings: The Band's Tale
In all honesty not much happens in this one. We learn the name of the band and the species of that bunch of baldies you no doubt remember from the Cantina scene in the original Star Wars (Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes, Species: Bith). Band plays music, fight breaks out at a wedding, bride rips groom into pieces and the band gets new gig at the infamous Mos Eisley Cantina. For a group of Biths so paranoid about breaking their exclusive contact with the local crime boss (Jabba the Hutt) they choose a rather conspicuous new place to play... 2/5 Biths.
A Hunter's Fate: Greedo's Tale
Ah, the infamous "Who shot first? scene plays out in all its glory here in A Hunter's Fate and thankfully, being penned pre-1997 and before all the George Lucas ret-con controversy hit the fan, has Han Solo shooting first as was originally intended!
Cut to:
EXT. AFTERLIFE DAY
GREEDO stands alone in the afterlife looking despondent.
GREEDO
If only I could have another chance to shoot first!
A figure steps out of the shadows.
GEORGE LUCAS
I think something like that can be arranged…
So, as the title implies, here we have the story of Greedo, starting from when he was a young naive little Rodian growing up on an adopted jungle world to how he came to be, shall we say, a rather unsuccessful Bounty Hunter. Greedo is nothing like the character I imagined him to be when I was calling the shots. In my little make believe world, Greedo was only second in line to the great Boba Feet and never hesitated in dispatching Han away at the first opportunity. I mean, c'mon man, the dude is green! That's damn cool, right? But in this Greedo is deplorable, a loser, a "stinking green goon" as one of the other Bounty Hunters puts it. I couldn't drum up one iota of sympathy for his plight and actually loved the scenes where Han shows him up for the fool he is. Ah, Greedo, you shan't be missed... 2/5 Rodians.
Hammertong: The Tale of the 'Tonnika' Sisters
Definitely the best of the three tales thus far - I wonder if that's because it's written by Timothy Zahn, the man who kicked off the whole Star Wars 'Expanded Universe' with the fantastic 'Thrawn Trilogy'. I can't believe that was first published over twenty years ago now. Even though the more recent films contradict some of the events in Heir to the Empire I still want to go back and read them at some stage as those books helped me get back into reading after I neglected my favourite past time during my late teenage years.
Hammertong begins with our two protagonists, members of an all female sect known as the 'Mistryl Shadow Guard', being hired to provide security detail for the transportation of a secret and important piece of Imperial equipment - the mysteriously named, Hammertong. And as you can no doubt guess, any time guards have a great reputation and come highly recommended, the best laid plans of mice and men go to rack and ruin...
To say much more about the story will probably ruin it but I will leave this hint that anyone with a good EU background may pick up on. Imprinted on the item in question is a rather important name. Lemelisk...
2 stars for each Tonnika sister, so 4/5.
Play It Again, Figrin D'an: The Tale of Muftak and Kabe
Inside cover, this is how the story is sold to us...
Muftak, a spy who plots the biggest heist of his life - the plunder of a hundred worlds - but risks a one-way trip to the Great Pit of Carkoon...
Let's just say that lead in is being a tad too melodramatic. Muftak is indeed a spy and from what we are lead to believe a rather good one. You need trade secrets? You go see Muftak. But as good as he is hyped up to be he doesn't even know the name of the species he belongs to! Some random Stormtrooper fills him in on that particular piece of information. And for those interested, Muftak is a Talz. Just think of Hugo the Abominable Snowman, best known for his line “I’ll hug him and squeeze him and call him George” when he tries to keep Bugs Bunny as a pet...
Getting back on track, Muftak and his adopted Chadra-Fan companion, Kabe (a diminutive little thief and piss-pot to boot) hatch up a plan to rob the most notorious of criminals (yep, you guessed it, Jabba of course!) of his most prized possessions (the plunder of a hundred worlds mentioned above – so, not an outright lie, but sensationalised nonetheless!). And it’s while on this daring heist that they discover something even more valuable than said plunder...
Rating? I’ll give this 2 and a half Talz out of 5. Seeing as a Chadra-Fan is half the height of a Talz this fits rather nicely.
The Sand Tender: The Hammerhead’s Tale
As the title of this book tells us all of these stories are linked due to each character’s association with the Mos Eisley Cantina. In this particular tale we get another link to the preceding story through the character of Alima, a xenophobic Lieutenant in the Imperial Navy and a man who has a personal history with Momaw Nadon, an exiled Ithorian High Priest banished from his home world for revealing technological secrets to the Empire.
The Ithorians are a peace loving and intelligent species, one that has a firm connection to Mother Nature, especially plant life and all are avowed to honour their sacred code, the Law of Life. When Momaw Nadon discovers that the officer that got him banished from his home world of Ithor is also on Tatooine he finds himself facing a hard choice – to take revenge or to uphold his vow, that every life is sacred...
Here’s another character I pegged as a gun-toting thug back when I was a wee little’un. Obviously anything that didn’t resemble a human must have been a baddie in my eyes and thus won every battle that I acted out. It’s funny that my set of Rebel Alliance figures always perished in spectacular fashion...
Overall, The Sand Tender is a very likeable little tale due to containing a very sympathetic character in Momaw Nadon and one that delves into the history and culture of the Ithorian species. Star Wars factoid: Apparently the term ‘Hammerhead’ is highly offensive to them...
3.5 Ithorians out of 5 for this one.
December 16, 2015
WHEW! It feels good to finally be finished with this one; it's been on my "Currently Reading" shelf for just about 6 months. After my 4 month hiatus from this book, I'm finally finished!
I did enjoy the book, despite the fact that the length of time that I spent NOT reading it vastly dwarfs the amount of time I was reading. The stories in this book are all interesting, and varied, and center around the (apparently) most popular watering-hole in the universe.
These aren't the best written stories I've ever read, but for what they are, they serve their purpose. This book gives the reader a chance to look into the lives of all those background characters that they see in the Mos Eisley, but who never get any speaking roles in the films. Which, come to think of it, could be due to the fact that the film-makers weren't sure where their mouths actually were. But when you hire aliens to make a movie, you are both grateful that they showed up, and grateful that they showed up without any sort of probe... that you can remember.
Anyway, this was an enjoyable read with some interesting stories. Recommended to fans of the Star Wars franchise. :)
I did enjoy the book, despite the fact that the length of time that I spent NOT reading it vastly dwarfs the amount of time I was reading. The stories in this book are all interesting, and varied, and center around the (apparently) most popular watering-hole in the universe.
These aren't the best written stories I've ever read, but for what they are, they serve their purpose. This book gives the reader a chance to look into the lives of all those background characters that they see in the Mos Eisley, but who never get any speaking roles in the films. Which, come to think of it, could be due to the fact that the film-makers weren't sure where their mouths actually were. But when you hire aliens to make a movie, you are both grateful that they showed up, and grateful that they showed up without any sort of probe... that you can remember.
Anyway, this was an enjoyable read with some interesting stories. Recommended to fans of the Star Wars franchise. :)
September 6, 2022
This is the book you never expected to exist and you don't need it. Try to remember stars wars the first movie.. remember that location when ben kenobi & luke skywlker entered the bar to ask for help to leave the planet?
There are a lot of stuff there that it's mildly interesting... per example, why the bartender hate droids that he doesn't want to serve them? Why han solo killed Greedo? What about those musicians? Why they are there? What a heck is lucifer doing there? Why that man try to confront ben kenobi and luke going all powerful "I am wanted in twelve systems" and so on... Those are the tales you never wondered but they wrote about them...
So, each of these and many more characters received tales - most of them are interconnected even follow ups. The best one, well there are two, but one made me see Han Solo as a villain and Greedo as "wrong place, wrong time situation"... His life was not easy so to survive he turn to bounty hunter and he was doing his job and han solo which is a bit of scoundrel, and never had any intention to pay Jaba just kill him.. not spoilers because of the movie. - if you didn't watch the movie -why are you here?
Then most of the stories are a bit boring and not that interesting BUT until we arrive to the last one - the moisture farmer tale - notthing to do with Mos Eisley Cantina and he wants to have peace between the farmers, jawas and sand people - but things don't go the way intended. It's a very good, sad story. Then another highlight are the the Desert Wind Turns which shows us how the alliance knew the weak spot of AT-AT and also Kevin J Anderson tale which in turn connects with his wife's tale (Moesta) caled Trade Wins.
All of these 5 tales are good but everything else is just a bit bland and boring...
There are a lot of stuff there that it's mildly interesting... per example, why the bartender hate droids that he doesn't want to serve them? Why han solo killed Greedo? What about those musicians? Why they are there? What a heck is lucifer doing there? Why that man try to confront ben kenobi and luke going all powerful "I am wanted in twelve systems" and so on... Those are the tales you never wondered but they wrote about them...
So, each of these and many more characters received tales - most of them are interconnected even follow ups. The best one, well there are two, but one made me see Han Solo as a villain and Greedo as "wrong place, wrong time situation"... His life was not easy so to survive he turn to bounty hunter and he was doing his job and han solo which is a bit of scoundrel, and never had any intention to pay Jaba just kill him.. not spoilers because of the movie. - if you didn't watch the movie -why are you here?
Then most of the stories are a bit boring and not that interesting BUT until we arrive to the last one - the moisture farmer tale - notthing to do with Mos Eisley Cantina and he wants to have peace between the farmers, jawas and sand people - but things don't go the way intended. It's a very good, sad story. Then another highlight are the the Desert Wind Turns which shows us how the alliance knew the weak spot of AT-AT and also Kevin J Anderson tale which in turn connects with his wife's tale (Moesta) caled Trade Wins.
All of these 5 tales are good but everything else is just a bit bland and boring...
July 26, 2021
This delightful volume should be read and cherished by everyone who is interested in Star Wars, or science fiction in general. The book is actually comprised of 16 novellas or short stories all centered on the Mos Eisley Cantina. We learn that the Rebellion actually has more members than initially thought. The only complaint I have about this book is that it retells the killing of Greedo ad nauseum. Other than that, it was an awesome collection of stories.
April 24, 2024
Some of these stories I didn't connect with and others were alright, but the only really brilliant one was the tale about the moisture farmer. The sticker on the back suggests that I bought my copy a few years after my obession with the Galaxy of Fear series and I vaguely remember being pleased to discover more about Momaw Nadon and Dannik Jerriko. The story I recall most from two decades ago, when I last read this anthology, is the Barbara Hambly one, which is interesting because I'm really getting into her non-Star Wars work at the moment.
July 26, 2023
Absolute blast to read, everything I wanted and more
November 6, 2017
As with any short story collection, there are always a few entries that leave me scratching my head ("The Pipe Smoker's Tale" just left me baffled). However, this very first official "Star Wars" short story collection makes for a surprising & fascinating read. Virtually all of the stories connect in interesting ways to the moment when Kenobi slices off an arm in the cantina, and the moment when Solo shoots Greedo, never once feeling forced or unnatural. Many of them are extremely poignant (especially "The Moisture Farmer's Tale"), and the story of Greedo is actually heartbreaking in its inevitability. One of those lovely books that delivered a much different reading experience to what I was expecting.
July 3, 2011
In the Mos Eisley Cantina scene in A New Hope, there are little lingering looks of all kinds of weird-looking aliens. This is a collection of short stories that covers pretty much everyone in that cantina.
This was cool at the time that I read it because I had all of these aliens' cards for the Star Wars CCG. My favorite was Figrin D'an. The fact that I can write the previous two sentences is indicative of something. I probably don't want to know what that something is.
This was cool at the time that I read it because I had all of these aliens' cards for the Star Wars CCG. My favorite was Figrin D'an. The fact that I can write the previous two sentences is indicative of something. I probably don't want to know what that something is.
April 8, 2009
Yawn. Not bad, not good. Amazing how many stormtroopers were supposedly dying in the vicinity of the Mos Eisley cantina that day.
December 15, 2016
Me lo he pasado teta. Historias de los personajes de la Cantina... Nada más que añadir.
June 1, 2020
For 2020, I decided to reread (in publication order) all the Bantam-era Star Wars books that were released between 1991 and 1999; that shakes out to 38 adult novels and 5 anthologies of short stories & novellas.
This week’s focus: Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, edited by Kevin J. Anderson.
SOME HISTORY:
Anderson edited the first of the short story collections, this one taking a Rashomon-like approach to Luke Skywalker and Ben Kenobi’s fateful visit to the Mos Eisley Cantina. Writers range from established Star Wars authors like Timothy Zahn and Tom Veitch, to future SW authors like A.C. Crispin, and then some sci-fi writers unfamiliar to me. I was initially glad to see that Kenneth C. Flint contributed a story, after Bantam cancelled his full-length novel. And for the first time, I have no New York Times paperback bestseller list data to report: Tales must not have made it within the top 15, because I couldn’t find it on any lists.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
I think the only story I remembered from this collection was “Soup’s On” by Jennifer Roberson, mostly because the revelation that the weird-looking pipe smoker was an assassin who drinks people’s brains was...well, bizarre yet memorable.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
Jump into the dark and dangerous setting of the Mos Eisley Cantina with sixteen short stories about the minor characters seen there in Episode IV: A New Hope.
THE STORIES:
“We Don’t Do Weddings: The Band’s Tale” by Kathy Tyers
One of the shorter stories, and a pretty straightforward look at how the Modal Nodes ended up playing in the cantina—they worked for Jabba, they took a gig for his rival’s wedding, and now they’re hiding out with no money. What elevates it above some of the other stories, though, is that Tyers is a musician, so I think she captures the relationships between band members and the tedium of playing at a wedding.
“A Hunter’s Fate: Greedo’s Tale” by Tom Veitch and Martha Veitch
This was a long story, covering Greedo’s almost entire life. He’s a young Rodian on a jungle planet, then he’s living on Nar Shaddaa, then he becomes a bounty hunter. Then he dies! Greedo doesn’t know what he’s doing, and that leads to his demise. I appreciated, though, that not everyone in the cantina is a seasoned killer.
“Hammertong: The Tale of the ‘Tonnika Sisters’” by Timothy Zahn
This was one of my top three stories, and introduced the characters of Shada D’ukal and Karoly D’ulin. They’re Mistryl guards who stole something important from the Empire, they need a ship off Tatooine, they pretend to be the Tonnika sisters, they get thrown in jail… It’s not a complex story, but I like Zahn, so I enjoyed this. (I also liked the foreshadowing of the Death Star II.)
“Play It Again, Figrin D’an: The Tale of Muftak and Kabe” by A.C. Crispin
A decent story about two thieves. But I finally have a mental image of the Talz! While reading Children of the Jedi, I couldn’t picture them but was too lazy to Google. Now I know that they’re like the fuzzy white fellow with a weird tube mouth!
“The Sand Tender: The Hammerhead’s Tale” by Dave Wolverton
I was not a fan of Wolverton’s first work in the Star Wars universe, but I liked this one better. Momaw Nadon has a moral quandary: Ithorians don’t approve of murder, but the Imperial lieutenant on Tatooine destroyed his life. How can he resolve that?
“Be Still My Heart: The Bartender’s Tale” by David Bischoff
This was one of my bottom three stories. Wuher wants to brew a drink for Jabba the Hutt? Ehhhhhhhh.
“Nightlily: The Lovers’ Tale” by Barbara Hambly
Another of my top three! Hambly gave us such a distinct sense of Feltipern Trevagg’s character—he works for the Empire but he’s only concerned about himself—and I loved the twist ending. M’iiyoom seems like a naive, stupid girl, but she’s much more dangerous than she appears.
Empire Blues: The Devaronian’s Tale” by Daniel Keys Moran
I know that Moran wrote two stories about Boba Fett in the other two Tales collections, but this one is about Kardue’sai’Malloc, the devil-headed Devaronian. It was one of the longer stories. I did like the Machiavellian scheming that Malloc undertook to get the Modal Nodes in the cantina.
“Swap Meet: The Jawa’s Tale” by Kevin J. Anderson and “Trade Wins: The Ranat’s Tale” by Rebecca Moesta
Anderson and Moesta’s stories flow very closely from one to the other. Het Nkik is a Jawa who discovers that his friend’s sandcrawler was slaughtered by Imperials. He wants revenge, so he buys a Sand People talisman from Reegesk the Ranat and exits the cantina to go out in a blaze of glory. In Moesta’s story, we find that Reegesk has stolen the power pack from his blaster, so while the Jawa goes out, there’s no glory involved.
“When the Desert Wind Turns: The Stormtrooper’s Tale” by Doug Beason
This is another one of the long stories. It covers the most of the life of Davin Felth, the stormtrooper who said “look sir, droids!” I think my favorite part was that Felth was originally training to be an AT-AT pilot until he figured out the flaw with their legs; however, General Veers doesn’t want anyone to rain on his parade, so Felth is reassigned to the stormtroopers on Tatooine. (And it’s strongly hinted that he’s going to defect to the Rebellion and give them that insider AT-AT info.)
“Soup’s On: The Pipe Smoker’s Tale” by Jennifer Roberson
Who would have thought that the weird-looking pipe smoker at the bar was an assassin named Dannik Jerriko who used these things in his cheeks to drink people’s brains? (As I said above, this was highly memorable for me.) Roberson’s prose style is closer to, say, Hambly than Zahn, so there’s a certain ornate quality to her writing. I like ornate, but others may not.
“At the Crossroads: The Spacer’s Tale” by Jerry Oltion
BoShek is the guy in the spacesuit that Obi-Wan first talks to at the bar. He’s Force sensitive, he knows Han and Chewbacca, he works for the monks, he’s hiding out from the Imperials. That’s pretty much it.
“Doctor Death: The Tale of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba” by Kenneth C. Flint
I was excited to see a story by Kenneth C. Flint, but I hated this one. Bottom three for sure. It’s set entirely after the cantina scene, on the Aqualish homeworld of Ando, Cornelius Evazan is trying to mind swap people? Ponda Baba’s just there. Nope nope nope.
“Drawing the Maps of Peace: The Moisture Farmer’s Tale” by M. Shayne Bell
But then the last of my top three stories! Ariq Joanson is a moisture farmer who wants good relations between the humans, the Jawa, and the Tusken Raiders. (He’s usually identified as the unnamed moisture farmer in the cantina, but that’s not official from Lucasfilm.) It was a neat look into the tensions between those communities, and I loved seeing a hitherto undeveloped part of Tatooine culture.
“One Last Night in the Mos Eisley Cantina: The Tale of the Wolfman and the Lamproid” by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
Oh boy. Another bottom three story. Lak Sivrak the wolfman and Dice Ibegon the lamproid have this epic romance, and she died in the Battle of Hoth and he died in the Battle of Endor, and most of the story is his life flashing before his eyes. Very little is set in the cantina, which you think I would like. But nope, I just couldn’t get past their relationship, because she’s like a disembodied throat with teeth??
ISSUES:
The concept behind Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina is pretty cool, in that you get to see those cantina scenes from different viewpoints and perspectives. But in reality, it just gets tedious. Everyone mentions the bar fight between the wanted duo and Ben Kenobi; everyone notices when Han shoots Greedo. I appreciated the stories that gave us more insight into their characters, other than just “observed some standoffs in the cantina.” The execution of this can also vary, however. Kathy Tyers’s band story gave us the backstory behind why the Modal Nodes are playing in a dingy cantina, and I thought it worked pretty well; Kenneth C. Flint’s story about Evazan and Ponda Baba is set at some unspecified point afterwards, and I really didn’t enjoy it.
There was also more of an attempt at cohesiveness and connectivity than has been demonstrated in the Bantam books so far. Kevin J. Anderson’s Jawa story and Rebecca Moesta’s Ranat story were a great example of two stories that fit together, with Moesta’s story giving you further insight into the story that came previously by Anderson. There were numerous occasions where things didn’t quite mesh, though, especially in the different authors’ portrayal of Greedo. In the Veitchs’ story, Greedo is a naive kid who’s completely out of his depth. Other characters seem to view Greedo as rude or pompous or threatening in a way that he absolutely does not seem in the first story.
IN CONCLUSION:
Completionism is not necessary here. If you want to read all the stories, go ahead—but take your time about it. I read this book in a week, and I wish I hadn’t! I think these stories would benefit from only being read one at a time, spread out over time. Otherwise, I think it’s perfectly fine to compile a list of the best reviewed stories, and only read those.
Next up: the conclusion to the Corellian trilogy by Roger MacBride Allen, Showdown at Centerpoint.
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/8xYHlf5H_tw
This week’s focus: Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, edited by Kevin J. Anderson.
SOME HISTORY:
Anderson edited the first of the short story collections, this one taking a Rashomon-like approach to Luke Skywalker and Ben Kenobi’s fateful visit to the Mos Eisley Cantina. Writers range from established Star Wars authors like Timothy Zahn and Tom Veitch, to future SW authors like A.C. Crispin, and then some sci-fi writers unfamiliar to me. I was initially glad to see that Kenneth C. Flint contributed a story, after Bantam cancelled his full-length novel. And for the first time, I have no New York Times paperback bestseller list data to report: Tales must not have made it within the top 15, because I couldn’t find it on any lists.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
I think the only story I remembered from this collection was “Soup’s On” by Jennifer Roberson, mostly because the revelation that the weird-looking pipe smoker was an assassin who drinks people’s brains was...well, bizarre yet memorable.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
Jump into the dark and dangerous setting of the Mos Eisley Cantina with sixteen short stories about the minor characters seen there in Episode IV: A New Hope.
THE STORIES:
“We Don’t Do Weddings: The Band’s Tale” by Kathy Tyers
One of the shorter stories, and a pretty straightforward look at how the Modal Nodes ended up playing in the cantina—they worked for Jabba, they took a gig for his rival’s wedding, and now they’re hiding out with no money. What elevates it above some of the other stories, though, is that Tyers is a musician, so I think she captures the relationships between band members and the tedium of playing at a wedding.
“A Hunter’s Fate: Greedo’s Tale” by Tom Veitch and Martha Veitch
This was a long story, covering Greedo’s almost entire life. He’s a young Rodian on a jungle planet, then he’s living on Nar Shaddaa, then he becomes a bounty hunter. Then he dies! Greedo doesn’t know what he’s doing, and that leads to his demise. I appreciated, though, that not everyone in the cantina is a seasoned killer.
“Hammertong: The Tale of the ‘Tonnika Sisters’” by Timothy Zahn
This was one of my top three stories, and introduced the characters of Shada D’ukal and Karoly D’ulin. They’re Mistryl guards who stole something important from the Empire, they need a ship off Tatooine, they pretend to be the Tonnika sisters, they get thrown in jail… It’s not a complex story, but I like Zahn, so I enjoyed this. (I also liked the foreshadowing of the Death Star II.)
“Play It Again, Figrin D’an: The Tale of Muftak and Kabe” by A.C. Crispin
A decent story about two thieves. But I finally have a mental image of the Talz! While reading Children of the Jedi, I couldn’t picture them but was too lazy to Google. Now I know that they’re like the fuzzy white fellow with a weird tube mouth!
“The Sand Tender: The Hammerhead’s Tale” by Dave Wolverton
I was not a fan of Wolverton’s first work in the Star Wars universe, but I liked this one better. Momaw Nadon has a moral quandary: Ithorians don’t approve of murder, but the Imperial lieutenant on Tatooine destroyed his life. How can he resolve that?
“Be Still My Heart: The Bartender’s Tale” by David Bischoff
This was one of my bottom three stories. Wuher wants to brew a drink for Jabba the Hutt? Ehhhhhhhh.
“Nightlily: The Lovers’ Tale” by Barbara Hambly
Another of my top three! Hambly gave us such a distinct sense of Feltipern Trevagg’s character—he works for the Empire but he’s only concerned about himself—and I loved the twist ending. M’iiyoom seems like a naive, stupid girl, but she’s much more dangerous than she appears.
Empire Blues: The Devaronian’s Tale” by Daniel Keys Moran
I know that Moran wrote two stories about Boba Fett in the other two Tales collections, but this one is about Kardue’sai’Malloc, the devil-headed Devaronian. It was one of the longer stories. I did like the Machiavellian scheming that Malloc undertook to get the Modal Nodes in the cantina.
“Swap Meet: The Jawa’s Tale” by Kevin J. Anderson and “Trade Wins: The Ranat’s Tale” by Rebecca Moesta
Anderson and Moesta’s stories flow very closely from one to the other. Het Nkik is a Jawa who discovers that his friend’s sandcrawler was slaughtered by Imperials. He wants revenge, so he buys a Sand People talisman from Reegesk the Ranat and exits the cantina to go out in a blaze of glory. In Moesta’s story, we find that Reegesk has stolen the power pack from his blaster, so while the Jawa goes out, there’s no glory involved.
“When the Desert Wind Turns: The Stormtrooper’s Tale” by Doug Beason
This is another one of the long stories. It covers the most of the life of Davin Felth, the stormtrooper who said “look sir, droids!” I think my favorite part was that Felth was originally training to be an AT-AT pilot until he figured out the flaw with their legs; however, General Veers doesn’t want anyone to rain on his parade, so Felth is reassigned to the stormtroopers on Tatooine. (And it’s strongly hinted that he’s going to defect to the Rebellion and give them that insider AT-AT info.)
“Soup’s On: The Pipe Smoker’s Tale” by Jennifer Roberson
Who would have thought that the weird-looking pipe smoker at the bar was an assassin named Dannik Jerriko who used these things in his cheeks to drink people’s brains? (As I said above, this was highly memorable for me.) Roberson’s prose style is closer to, say, Hambly than Zahn, so there’s a certain ornate quality to her writing. I like ornate, but others may not.
“At the Crossroads: The Spacer’s Tale” by Jerry Oltion
BoShek is the guy in the spacesuit that Obi-Wan first talks to at the bar. He’s Force sensitive, he knows Han and Chewbacca, he works for the monks, he’s hiding out from the Imperials. That’s pretty much it.
“Doctor Death: The Tale of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba” by Kenneth C. Flint
I was excited to see a story by Kenneth C. Flint, but I hated this one. Bottom three for sure. It’s set entirely after the cantina scene, on the Aqualish homeworld of Ando, Cornelius Evazan is trying to mind swap people? Ponda Baba’s just there. Nope nope nope.
“Drawing the Maps of Peace: The Moisture Farmer’s Tale” by M. Shayne Bell
But then the last of my top three stories! Ariq Joanson is a moisture farmer who wants good relations between the humans, the Jawa, and the Tusken Raiders. (He’s usually identified as the unnamed moisture farmer in the cantina, but that’s not official from Lucasfilm.) It was a neat look into the tensions between those communities, and I loved seeing a hitherto undeveloped part of Tatooine culture.
“One Last Night in the Mos Eisley Cantina: The Tale of the Wolfman and the Lamproid” by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
Oh boy. Another bottom three story. Lak Sivrak the wolfman and Dice Ibegon the lamproid have this epic romance, and she died in the Battle of Hoth and he died in the Battle of Endor, and most of the story is his life flashing before his eyes. Very little is set in the cantina, which you think I would like. But nope, I just couldn’t get past their relationship, because she’s like a disembodied throat with teeth??
ISSUES:
The concept behind Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina is pretty cool, in that you get to see those cantina scenes from different viewpoints and perspectives. But in reality, it just gets tedious. Everyone mentions the bar fight between the wanted duo and Ben Kenobi; everyone notices when Han shoots Greedo. I appreciated the stories that gave us more insight into their characters, other than just “observed some standoffs in the cantina.” The execution of this can also vary, however. Kathy Tyers’s band story gave us the backstory behind why the Modal Nodes are playing in a dingy cantina, and I thought it worked pretty well; Kenneth C. Flint’s story about Evazan and Ponda Baba is set at some unspecified point afterwards, and I really didn’t enjoy it.
There was also more of an attempt at cohesiveness and connectivity than has been demonstrated in the Bantam books so far. Kevin J. Anderson’s Jawa story and Rebecca Moesta’s Ranat story were a great example of two stories that fit together, with Moesta’s story giving you further insight into the story that came previously by Anderson. There were numerous occasions where things didn’t quite mesh, though, especially in the different authors’ portrayal of Greedo. In the Veitchs’ story, Greedo is a naive kid who’s completely out of his depth. Other characters seem to view Greedo as rude or pompous or threatening in a way that he absolutely does not seem in the first story.
IN CONCLUSION:
Completionism is not necessary here. If you want to read all the stories, go ahead—but take your time about it. I read this book in a week, and I wish I hadn’t! I think these stories would benefit from only being read one at a time, spread out over time. Otherwise, I think it’s perfectly fine to compile a list of the best reviewed stories, and only read those.
Next up: the conclusion to the Corellian trilogy by Roger MacBride Allen, Showdown at Centerpoint.
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/8xYHlf5H_tw
June 8, 2020
Star Wars Legends Project #226
Background: Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina was edited by Kevin J. Anderson and published in July 1995. It is an anthology of 16 short stories featuring the characters seen in Cantina scene in Star Wars. Just under half of the stories are written by authors who also produced at least one Star Wars novel of their own. All of them feature the events that take place in Chalmun's Cantina in Mos Eisley during the movie, and most take place during the few days before and after that scene. Greedo's story begins several years earlier, and the Wolfman and the Lamproid's story stretches all the way to the Battle of Endor.
Review: As you might expect, the execution in this collection is kind of all over the place, but the idea that every scene in Star Wars is packed with characters who are the stars of their own great stories, all just waiting to be told, was the thing that really drew me to the Star Wars universe in the first place. I'd never encountered world-building like that before. So for that alone, this anthology holds a special place for me, and I was surprised, re-reading it over 20 years later, how vividly most of these stories came rushing back to me as I read. Here's my ranking and a few words about each:
Hammertong: The Tale of the "Tonnika Sisters" by Timothy Zahn
Big surprise, Zahn's story is the best of the bunch. But leave it to him to spin such an intricate web based on the conceit that the characters we see in the movie aren't really the people they're supposed to have been (hence the quotes in the title). I would absolutely read an entire series of novels about the group he introduces in this story. Fantastic.
Drawing the Maps of Peace: The Moisture Farmer's Tale by M. Shayne Bell
I wonder how much John Jackson Miller's excellent Kenobi was inspired by this story. Bell puts in a lot of work fleshing out the dynamics between the various factions in rural Tatooine, and this story is a real emotional rollercoaster.
The Sand Tender: The Hammerhead's Tale by Dave Wolverton
Wolverton tells a really interesting story within some pretty strict constraints about the Ithorians. His protagonist is one of the best characters we meet in this collection.
When the Desert Wind Turns: The Stormtrooper's Tale by Doug Beason
There's a bit of a contrived element when we learn that the same stormtrooper popped up in just about every scene during the first hour of Star Wars, but nevertheless this is a fun little journey through the first half of the movie from the perspective of The Enemy.
Empire Blues: The Devaronian's Tale by Daniel Keys Moran
An interesting main character mostly saves an otherwise mediocre story. There's not a whole lot to this one, but it's bolstered by its connection to some of the other tales.
We Don't Do Weddings: The Band's Tale by Kathy Tyers
Guys, it will never not be hilarious that some genius decided to name the Cantina Band's style of music "jizz." Just some really lazy naming there, and it really came back to bite them. Nevertheless, if you can keep a straight face through a story that mentions "jizz" a couple hundred times, this story isn't half bad.
Trade Wins: The Ranat's Tale by Rebecca Moesta
This story is extremely short but delivers the punchline twist of the story that precedes it (and is also better).
Swap Meet: The Jawa's Tale by Kevin J. Anderson
This is the story that precedes the Ranat's Tale. It's fine. Really, they're basically one story told in 2 parts, and together they make for one decent tale.
Doctor Death: The Tale of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba by Kenneth C. Flint
I could see a lot of people deeply hating this story, and I get that. I kind of enjoyed it for it's deep B-movie horror/sci-fi weirdness. There's no getting around how utterly bizarre it is, and you'll either embrace that or . . . not.
Play It Again, Figrin D'an: The Tale of Muftak and Kabe by A. C. Crispin
I wanted to like this story more than I did, and in particular I wanted to like the main characters more than I did. I think either of them might have been better solo than they were in a story together.
A Hunter's Fate: Greedo's Tale by Tom & Martha Veitch
These two went big with a whole biography of Greedo, the canonicity of which is dubious at best. The result is almost certainly too long, but it has a certain fascination nonetheless. Not half bad, really.
Be Still My Heart: The Bartender's Tale by David Bischoff
The bartender is a pretty unpleasant character and his motivations aren't that interesting. I didn't feel like this story really made a lot of sense.
At the Crossroads: The Spacer's Tale by Jerry Oltion
With this many authors in play, it was inevitable that at least one of them would try something corny with a Force-sensitive character. This one's pretty thin even by those low standards. Totally forgettable.
Soup's On: The Pipe Smoker's Tale by Jennifer Roberson
I actually kind of admire the way this story really goes for it in putting us inside the the point of view of a totally disgusting character, and it is not badly done . . . but that doesn't make it pleasant or fun to read.
One Last Night in the Mos Eisley Cantina: The Tale of the Wolfman and the Lamproid by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
This is for sure the dumbest of the bunch, and also one of the dumbest Star Wars stories I've ever read. It's going for something big and profound and sweepingly-epic and it's just so spectacularly stupid. I hate everything about it and the entire concept.
Nightlily: The Lovers' Tale by Barbara Hambly
This somehow still squeaks into the bottom spot on my list by virtue of having the most hatable main character. I assume this was done in order to generate some sort of catharsis from the twist conclusion, but the whole thing is just weird and gross and it doesn't land at all. And it goes on so long and foreshadows so heavily that you're unlikely to be surprised.
B-
Background: Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina was edited by Kevin J. Anderson and published in July 1995. It is an anthology of 16 short stories featuring the characters seen in Cantina scene in Star Wars. Just under half of the stories are written by authors who also produced at least one Star Wars novel of their own. All of them feature the events that take place in Chalmun's Cantina in Mos Eisley during the movie, and most take place during the few days before and after that scene. Greedo's story begins several years earlier, and the Wolfman and the Lamproid's story stretches all the way to the Battle of Endor.
Review: As you might expect, the execution in this collection is kind of all over the place, but the idea that every scene in Star Wars is packed with characters who are the stars of their own great stories, all just waiting to be told, was the thing that really drew me to the Star Wars universe in the first place. I'd never encountered world-building like that before. So for that alone, this anthology holds a special place for me, and I was surprised, re-reading it over 20 years later, how vividly most of these stories came rushing back to me as I read. Here's my ranking and a few words about each:
Hammertong: The Tale of the "Tonnika Sisters" by Timothy Zahn
Big surprise, Zahn's story is the best of the bunch. But leave it to him to spin such an intricate web based on the conceit that the characters we see in the movie aren't really the people they're supposed to have been (hence the quotes in the title). I would absolutely read an entire series of novels about the group he introduces in this story. Fantastic.
Drawing the Maps of Peace: The Moisture Farmer's Tale by M. Shayne Bell
I wonder how much John Jackson Miller's excellent Kenobi was inspired by this story. Bell puts in a lot of work fleshing out the dynamics between the various factions in rural Tatooine, and this story is a real emotional rollercoaster.
The Sand Tender: The Hammerhead's Tale by Dave Wolverton
Wolverton tells a really interesting story within some pretty strict constraints about the Ithorians. His protagonist is one of the best characters we meet in this collection.
When the Desert Wind Turns: The Stormtrooper's Tale by Doug Beason
There's a bit of a contrived element when we learn that the same stormtrooper popped up in just about every scene during the first hour of Star Wars, but nevertheless this is a fun little journey through the first half of the movie from the perspective of The Enemy.
Empire Blues: The Devaronian's Tale by Daniel Keys Moran
An interesting main character mostly saves an otherwise mediocre story. There's not a whole lot to this one, but it's bolstered by its connection to some of the other tales.
We Don't Do Weddings: The Band's Tale by Kathy Tyers
Guys, it will never not be hilarious that some genius decided to name the Cantina Band's style of music "jizz." Just some really lazy naming there, and it really came back to bite them. Nevertheless, if you can keep a straight face through a story that mentions "jizz" a couple hundred times, this story isn't half bad.
Trade Wins: The Ranat's Tale by Rebecca Moesta
This story is extremely short but delivers the punchline twist of the story that precedes it (and is also better).
Swap Meet: The Jawa's Tale by Kevin J. Anderson
This is the story that precedes the Ranat's Tale. It's fine. Really, they're basically one story told in 2 parts, and together they make for one decent tale.
Doctor Death: The Tale of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba by Kenneth C. Flint
I could see a lot of people deeply hating this story, and I get that. I kind of enjoyed it for it's deep B-movie horror/sci-fi weirdness. There's no getting around how utterly bizarre it is, and you'll either embrace that or . . . not.
Play It Again, Figrin D'an: The Tale of Muftak and Kabe by A. C. Crispin
I wanted to like this story more than I did, and in particular I wanted to like the main characters more than I did. I think either of them might have been better solo than they were in a story together.
A Hunter's Fate: Greedo's Tale by Tom & Martha Veitch
These two went big with a whole biography of Greedo, the canonicity of which is dubious at best. The result is almost certainly too long, but it has a certain fascination nonetheless. Not half bad, really.
Be Still My Heart: The Bartender's Tale by David Bischoff
The bartender is a pretty unpleasant character and his motivations aren't that interesting. I didn't feel like this story really made a lot of sense.
At the Crossroads: The Spacer's Tale by Jerry Oltion
With this many authors in play, it was inevitable that at least one of them would try something corny with a Force-sensitive character. This one's pretty thin even by those low standards. Totally forgettable.
Soup's On: The Pipe Smoker's Tale by Jennifer Roberson
I actually kind of admire the way this story really goes for it in putting us inside the the point of view of a totally disgusting character, and it is not badly done . . . but that doesn't make it pleasant or fun to read.
One Last Night in the Mos Eisley Cantina: The Tale of the Wolfman and the Lamproid by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
This is for sure the dumbest of the bunch, and also one of the dumbest Star Wars stories I've ever read. It's going for something big and profound and sweepingly-epic and it's just so spectacularly stupid. I hate everything about it and the entire concept.
Nightlily: The Lovers' Tale by Barbara Hambly
This somehow still squeaks into the bottom spot on my list by virtue of having the most hatable main character. I assume this was done in order to generate some sort of catharsis from the twist conclusion, but the whole thing is just weird and gross and it doesn't land at all. And it goes on so long and foreshadows so heavily that you're unlikely to be surprised.
B-
May 1, 2022
It was fun to read!
February 2, 2022
Stars: Varies but in general 3
Reread? Leaning no.
Recommend to: People who think they would like short stories about everyone who was in the cantina.
I'm generally not a big fan of short stories, so this book had an uphill climb from the get-go. The best part of the book is that almost all of the stories are intertwined. By the end, many of the stories are viewed significantly differently through the knowledge you gain about them from the following stories. Kevin J Anderson seems the most likely candidate for this being well done. Like most collaborative efforts, the quality of the stories varied from really good to a waste of your time.
I really like the idea of the book, which is go to the cantina scene and come up with a backstory of nearly everyone you can see in the background. You'd miss most of them if you hadn't read this book and were watching the scene specifically looking for the characters.
My biggest complaint that spans the book is that it got really old reading about the events in the cantina that we saw in ANH. I'm assuming most people who would read a book like this have seen the movie multiple times, so it seems like a bad decision to have us repeatedly visit those same events.
I'll give a few thoughts on each story.
1. We don't do weddings: The Band's Tale by Kathy Tyers 3-Stars
It's kind of hard to judge this one as you read it because you don't know yet how subsequent stories will change your perspective on the story. This change was neat.
2. A Hunter's Fate: Greedo's Tale by Tom Veitch and Martha Veitch 1.5 stars
I didn't like this story mainly because it was one of the few that make the movie worse. Greedo wasn't a top-level bounty hunter in the movie, but I never thought of him as a complete and utter joke like he is in this story. He dies because his past with Han blinds him from taking advantage of having the upper hand and Han Solo is good enough to grasp the opportunity this gives him. This was one of the weakest stories for me.
3. Hammertong: The Tale of the 'Tonnika Sisters' by Timothy Zahn 4-stars
I knew a story by Zahn was likely to be one of the best of the book, and I wasn't disappointed. The story had a few parts that were a bit of a stretch, but they weren't enough to ruin the story for me. I did like the action and the fact that .
4. Play it Again, Figrin D'an: The Tale of Muftak and Kabe by A.C Crispin 4-stars
Written by the author of the Han Solo trilogy, which I really like, this story follows Muftak and Kabe. They are characters you're likely to remember seeing in the movie. The story is fun and engaging although I'm not sure it was necessary for .
5. The Sand Tender: The Hammerhead's Tale by Dave Wolverton 4-stars
A slow (it's about a high level gardener basically) story that has pretty good backstory and is interesting throughout. The ending is a bit silly.
6. Be Still My Heart: The Bartender's Tale by David Bischoff 2-stars
This story was silly.
7. Nightily: The Lover's Tale by Barbara Hambly 2.5-stars
This story was just fine but you just roll your eyes at parts.
8. Empire Blues: The Devaronian's Tale by Daniel Keys Moran 3-stars
Was pretty standard. The character had an interesting backstory but the story itself wasn't much. There was also one part that was absurd.
9. Swap Meet: The Jawa's Tale by Kevin J. Anderson 4-stars
This was one of my favorite stories. It was fun learning about Jawas, and the story itself was good. I especially liked how the story intertwined with the following story.
10. Trade Wins: The Ranat's Tale by Rebecca Moesta 3-stars
This was the shortest story and was mostly relevant for how it altered the events in the previous story.
11. When the Desert Wind Turns: The Stormtrooper's Tale by Doug Beason 2-stars
More interesting than some of the other stories, this one suffered from some ridiculous decisions story-wise that were too big to ignore.
12. Soup's On: The Pipe Smoker's Tale by Jennifer Roberson 0-Stars
I was really looking forward to this story and was completely let down by it. Throughout the previous stories, people kept ominously mentioning the pipe smoker and how dark his aura was and he is obviously this crazy powerful and dark presence. I was like, heck yeah, let's see this crazy assassin in action. But no. Absolutely nothing happens. He sits in the cantina and talks about eating soup (which is something like eating their essence) and he spouts a lot of high-brow nonsense. I hated it. Definitely skip if reading again.
13. At the Crossroad's: The Spacer's Tale by Jerry Oltion 2.5-stars
An alright story that seems skippable to me. Boshek is a memorable character in the cantina scene, but I never really got into his story as he runs around Mos Eisley.
14. Doctor Death: The Tale of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba by Kenneth C. Flint 3.5-stars
A bit too absurd and the character of Dr. Evazan was a bit too different than the movie. Maybe he was just really drunk in the cantina. The story was kind of cool and, unlike most of the other stories, focused on their life exclusively after the events of the movie. That was a really nice change.
15. Drawing the Maps of Peace: The Moisture Farmer's Tale by M. Shayne Bell 3-stars
Kind of a longer story that was alright but not particularly memorable. This one is skippable for me.
16. One Last Night in the Mos Eisley Cantina: The Tale of the Wolfman and the Lamproid by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens 2.5-stars
One of the weirder stories in the book. It was kind of cool but a little hard to follow in the beginning.
Reread? Leaning no.
Recommend to: People who think they would like short stories about everyone who was in the cantina.
I'm generally not a big fan of short stories, so this book had an uphill climb from the get-go. The best part of the book is that almost all of the stories are intertwined. By the end, many of the stories are viewed significantly differently through the knowledge you gain about them from the following stories. Kevin J Anderson seems the most likely candidate for this being well done. Like most collaborative efforts, the quality of the stories varied from really good to a waste of your time.
I really like the idea of the book, which is go to the cantina scene and come up with a backstory of nearly everyone you can see in the background. You'd miss most of them if you hadn't read this book and were watching the scene specifically looking for the characters.
My biggest complaint that spans the book is that it got really old reading about the events in the cantina that we saw in ANH. I'm assuming most people who would read a book like this have seen the movie multiple times, so it seems like a bad decision to have us repeatedly visit those same events.
I'll give a few thoughts on each story.
1. We don't do weddings: The Band's Tale by Kathy Tyers 3-Stars
It's kind of hard to judge this one as you read it because you don't know yet how subsequent stories will change your perspective on the story. This change was neat.
2. A Hunter's Fate: Greedo's Tale by Tom Veitch and Martha Veitch 1.5 stars
I didn't like this story mainly because it was one of the few that make the movie worse. Greedo wasn't a top-level bounty hunter in the movie, but I never thought of him as a complete and utter joke like he is in this story. He dies because his past with Han blinds him from taking advantage of having the upper hand and Han Solo is good enough to grasp the opportunity this gives him. This was one of the weakest stories for me.
3. Hammertong: The Tale of the 'Tonnika Sisters' by Timothy Zahn 4-stars
I knew a story by Zahn was likely to be one of the best of the book, and I wasn't disappointed. The story had a few parts that were a bit of a stretch, but they weren't enough to ruin the story for me. I did like the action and the fact that .
4. Play it Again, Figrin D'an: The Tale of Muftak and Kabe by A.C Crispin 4-stars
Written by the author of the Han Solo trilogy, which I really like, this story follows Muftak and Kabe. They are characters you're likely to remember seeing in the movie. The story is fun and engaging although I'm not sure it was necessary for .
5. The Sand Tender: The Hammerhead's Tale by Dave Wolverton 4-stars
A slow (it's about a high level gardener basically) story that has pretty good backstory and is interesting throughout. The ending is a bit silly.
6. Be Still My Heart: The Bartender's Tale by David Bischoff 2-stars
This story was silly.
7. Nightily: The Lover's Tale by Barbara Hambly 2.5-stars
This story was just fine but you just roll your eyes at parts.
8. Empire Blues: The Devaronian's Tale by Daniel Keys Moran 3-stars
Was pretty standard. The character had an interesting backstory but the story itself wasn't much. There was also one part that was absurd.
9. Swap Meet: The Jawa's Tale by Kevin J. Anderson 4-stars
This was one of my favorite stories. It was fun learning about Jawas, and the story itself was good. I especially liked how the story intertwined with the following story.
10. Trade Wins: The Ranat's Tale by Rebecca Moesta 3-stars
This was the shortest story and was mostly relevant for how it altered the events in the previous story.
11. When the Desert Wind Turns: The Stormtrooper's Tale by Doug Beason 2-stars
More interesting than some of the other stories, this one suffered from some ridiculous decisions story-wise that were too big to ignore.
12. Soup's On: The Pipe Smoker's Tale by Jennifer Roberson 0-Stars
I was really looking forward to this story and was completely let down by it. Throughout the previous stories, people kept ominously mentioning the pipe smoker and how dark his aura was and he is obviously this crazy powerful and dark presence. I was like, heck yeah, let's see this crazy assassin in action. But no. Absolutely nothing happens. He sits in the cantina and talks about eating soup (which is something like eating their essence) and he spouts a lot of high-brow nonsense. I hated it. Definitely skip if reading again.
13. At the Crossroad's: The Spacer's Tale by Jerry Oltion 2.5-stars
An alright story that seems skippable to me. Boshek is a memorable character in the cantina scene, but I never really got into his story as he runs around Mos Eisley.
14. Doctor Death: The Tale of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba by Kenneth C. Flint 3.5-stars
A bit too absurd and the character of Dr. Evazan was a bit too different than the movie. Maybe he was just really drunk in the cantina. The story was kind of cool and, unlike most of the other stories, focused on their life exclusively after the events of the movie. That was a really nice change.
15. Drawing the Maps of Peace: The Moisture Farmer's Tale by M. Shayne Bell 3-stars
Kind of a longer story that was alright but not particularly memorable. This one is skippable for me.
16. One Last Night in the Mos Eisley Cantina: The Tale of the Wolfman and the Lamproid by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens 2.5-stars
One of the weirder stories in the book. It was kind of cool but a little hard to follow in the beginning.
November 6, 2017
I don't read a lot of short stories, and I don't read many collected anthologies, but I do read a lot of Star Wars, and since I've come this far into the project thus far, I powered on through this book. Like most anthologies, it's a mixed bag, with some stories being more impactful than others, but this one elevates itself a bit by being more than just a collection of stories.
Most of the stories in Tales are interconnected. Some are connected more than others (there's a pair smack in the middle of the book that couldn't exist without each other), and on the one hand, it's a little annoying, since I want my stories to stand well independently. Still, it's impressive to look at the stories as more than individual stories and view the effort that went into making all of them relate to each other.
Because this is a collection of stories featuring the characters in the Mos Eisley Cantina, it means we get to see that familiar scene over, and over, and over again, since that's the one moment that brings all these stories together. It's interesting to see the different perspectives on the scene (and I'm talking about the whole thing, from when Obi-Wan and Luke enter, to when Han leaves), but it does try one's patience.
We get some big-name characters here -- Greedo, Dr. Evazan, and Ponda Baba the largest of them -- but for the most part we learn about the tertiary characters who flash by only momentarily. The authors take the opportunity to add their own flair and detail to the Expanded Universe, not content just to tell us about what happened in the cantina. Instead, we get authors who create worlds and cultures and characters that last longer than just a momentary glance in a cool scene. They also delve into giving Tatooine further context, with a few of the stories talking about life on the planet and what it means.
My favorites of the bunch were the moisture farmer's tale by M. Shayne Bell, Greedo's tale by Tom and Martha Veitch, and "Nightlily" by Barbara Hambly. I also liked the story that concluded the anthology, which told about the Wolfman and the Lamproid, and was written by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. The rest were passable, with only one or two that didn't do a thing for me. For an anthology, that's a pretty good ratio. I like the conceit of the anthology best, and I'm hoping that the other books in the Tales series will follow this example.
Most of the stories in Tales are interconnected. Some are connected more than others (there's a pair smack in the middle of the book that couldn't exist without each other), and on the one hand, it's a little annoying, since I want my stories to stand well independently. Still, it's impressive to look at the stories as more than individual stories and view the effort that went into making all of them relate to each other.
Because this is a collection of stories featuring the characters in the Mos Eisley Cantina, it means we get to see that familiar scene over, and over, and over again, since that's the one moment that brings all these stories together. It's interesting to see the different perspectives on the scene (and I'm talking about the whole thing, from when Obi-Wan and Luke enter, to when Han leaves), but it does try one's patience.
We get some big-name characters here -- Greedo, Dr. Evazan, and Ponda Baba the largest of them -- but for the most part we learn about the tertiary characters who flash by only momentarily. The authors take the opportunity to add their own flair and detail to the Expanded Universe, not content just to tell us about what happened in the cantina. Instead, we get authors who create worlds and cultures and characters that last longer than just a momentary glance in a cool scene. They also delve into giving Tatooine further context, with a few of the stories talking about life on the planet and what it means.
My favorites of the bunch were the moisture farmer's tale by M. Shayne Bell, Greedo's tale by Tom and Martha Veitch, and "Nightlily" by Barbara Hambly. I also liked the story that concluded the anthology, which told about the Wolfman and the Lamproid, and was written by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. The rest were passable, with only one or two that didn't do a thing for me. For an anthology, that's a pretty good ratio. I like the conceit of the anthology best, and I'm hoping that the other books in the Tales series will follow this example.
June 27, 2017
"Heard you were having a little trouble in here"
Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, is an anthology novel featuring multiple short stories written by various authors. And as the title suggests, this Star Wars Tales book tells the tales of the creatures and denizens within the Cantina in Mos Eisley Spaceport on Tatooine around and during the time of A New Hope.
This is a great little book that you can pick up, read one or two stories, put down, and then pick back up later with no issue, and that's really nice.
It's a shame these stories are now considered non-canon because they are fun and don't contradict much considering it's all about background characters and it offers a little insight on who or what is in the background of the movie.
My favorite short story has to be "When The Desert Wind Turns: The Stormtrooper's Tale". The stormtrooper featured is apparently the one we see in the special edition scenes of A New Hope picking up a piece of the escape pod R2 and C-3P0 crashed in and exclaiming, "Look sir, droids!" to his commander.
Besides that, there are at least 15 other stories written by various authors such as ones about Greedo and even the cantina band as well.
Pick this up if you're looking for a quick, fun read!
Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, is an anthology novel featuring multiple short stories written by various authors. And as the title suggests, this Star Wars Tales book tells the tales of the creatures and denizens within the Cantina in Mos Eisley Spaceport on Tatooine around and during the time of A New Hope.
This is a great little book that you can pick up, read one or two stories, put down, and then pick back up later with no issue, and that's really nice.
It's a shame these stories are now considered non-canon because they are fun and don't contradict much considering it's all about background characters and it offers a little insight on who or what is in the background of the movie.
My favorite short story has to be "When The Desert Wind Turns: The Stormtrooper's Tale". The stormtrooper featured is apparently the one we see in the special edition scenes of A New Hope picking up a piece of the escape pod R2 and C-3P0 crashed in and exclaiming, "Look sir, droids!" to his commander.
Besides that, there are at least 15 other stories written by various authors such as ones about Greedo and even the cantina band as well.
Pick this up if you're looking for a quick, fun read!
October 10, 2010
I read this book while I was on vacation in Sun River, OR. Even though I was on vacation I probably read this book at an average of 3 hours a day because it was really good. My favorite story in this book is the one about Greedo because since Greedo is killed by Han Solo in the original Star Wars movie, he is not in many of the Star Wars books, so I did't know much about him besides the fact that he's a Rodian bounty hunter.
December 11, 2010
When I read this book, I was well out of my sci-fi phase. Nonetheless, despite all the Star Wars and Star Trek novels I read in all the endless series, this one stands out in my memory as being ONE FUN READ.
What a great idea - focus in on all those weird, nameless monsters in that super-cool Star Wars scene at the cantina! Multiple authors did a great job of offering multiple storylines, none like the others. If you like the Star Wars type genre, check this one out.
What a great idea - focus in on all those weird, nameless monsters in that super-cool Star Wars scene at the cantina! Multiple authors did a great job of offering multiple storylines, none like the others. If you like the Star Wars type genre, check this one out.
April 19, 2009
This book is pretty much for the big Star Wars fan. The tales are all interconnected, and it certainly will make you want to rewatch parts of A New Hope to pick out all of these aliens from the cantina.
April 10, 2010
I read a lot of Star Wars novels in Jr. High. This one, like all of the "Tales" collections, was actually pretty good. It's hard to go wrong with short story collections -- curious ideas and interesting character studies in a compact form!
August 15, 2017
repetitive, but has its good moments. also has its bad moments.
malloc eating a dead rat while naked and sitting on the floor of his shower is iconic
if shada d'ukal isn't a lesbian, timothy zahn owes me $300,000
malloc eating a dead rat while naked and sitting on the floor of his shower is iconic
if shada d'ukal isn't a lesbian, timothy zahn owes me $300,000
April 8, 2016
Been a while since I felt a book deserved a five star this much. Riveting, comedic, epic, romantic and fascinating. A must read for fans of the Star Wars 'verse!
December 17, 2022
Just a heads up - I took notes on my phone while I read this book, then just put my notes on here with some edits. My phone kept autocorrecting "droid" to "druid". So, if I missed fixing one, let me know. Also, some little summaries are more detailed than others. Deal with it. I had more thoughts for some stories than other ones.
"We Don't Do Weddings: The Bands Tale" by Kathy Tyers
Can we just take a moment for the fact that the band's name is Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes and they play jizz music? Let my pre-teen sense of humor giggle about that for a minute….
Okay. Done with that.
Story is about the band that plays in the Cantina. Originally they had a contract with Jabba, then Figrin agrees to play Lady Valarian's wedding. She is Jabba's chief rival on Tatooine. So, that should end horribly.
Spoiler - it ended horribly. The bride and groom got into a fight. The band barely escaped, and then they got stuck playing at the Cantina trying to make enough money to leave Tatooine.
"A Hunter's Fate: Greedo's Tale" by Tom Veitch and Martha Veitch
Greedo's family and some others escaped Rodia after some shit went down. They end up on some nice peaceful jungle planet and live fine. For, like, 12 years. And then the Rodians they left Rodia because of found them. So… off to Nar Shaddaa. Which, for those unfamiliar with the planets of Star Wars that weren't obviously shown in the movies, Nar Shaddaa is like if Mos Eisley Cantina was an entire planet. Lots of scum and villainy.
Greedo meets some bounty hunters on Nar Shaddaa. One of which is described as "obviously an intelligent species of bird – or descended from birds." So that dude is now Big Bird in my head. Greedo travels with these bounty hunters to Tatooine. Where we all know what happened there.
I almost feel sorry for Greedo. He was just a kid who wanted to be a bounty hunter and got betrayed in the end.
"Hammertong: The Tale of the "Tonnika Sisters"" by Timothy Zahn
I was never a huge fan of this story. Not sure why or if there is a reason. But every time I read this book it is a chore to get through this story.
It's not a bad story. Honestly, it's pretty good. Two women are pretending to be the Tonnika Sisters so they can hire a smuggler to get themselves and a piece of equipment they stole from the Empire off Tatooine. *whispers* they stole a bit of the Death Star.
I think my issue was that I was expecting a story about the actual Tonnika sisters, who are thieves. I wanted some Catwoman-level thievery, but that wasn't what I got. But this one is still good.
"Play It Again, Figrin D'an: The Tale of Muftak and Kabe" by A.C. Crispin
Kabe is a baby and just wants her juri juice! Wait. What is juri juice? *looks it up* Booze. It's booze.
What race is Muftak? They showed up in an episode or so of The Clone Wars and I loved them. It's fine. Muftak doesn't know what he is either. Just a big ol' space polar bear…
He's a Talz!
Anyway! Kabe is a thief, Muftak is… well… he's not a thief. He mostly just sells information to people and keeps Kabe out of trouble. And they decide to rob Jabba's town house. Which… probably not a great idea… But, Muftak wants off Tatooine and they need the credits.
"The Sand Tender: The Hammerhead's Tale" by Dave Wolverton
Momaw Nadon is a spy for the Rebellion. And because of an Imperial named Alima, has been exiled from his home planet.
Momaw has a little garden of plants. One of which is a talking tree. That tree needs to shut the fuck up and let Nadon kill that Imperial. Asshole deserves Death.
"Be Still My Heart: The Bartender's Tale" by David Bischoff
This droid includes aspects of both R2 and protocols droids, and their specialty includes "meal preparation, catalytic fuel conversion, enzymatic composition breakdown, chemical diagnostic programming, and bacterial composting acceleration." They are also "an excellent blender, toaster over, and bang-corn air popper. And can whip up an extraordinary meal from everyday garbage." Where I can I find me one of those?
This story does explain Wuher (the bartender)'s hatred for droids. Basically, he was treated like shit and droids are the only things he can treat like shit. Chalmun (the wookie that owns the cantina) doesn't want druids in the cantina because they don't drink so are wasting space.
Dr. Evazan is just dropping his "wanted on 12 systems" shit just randomly in conversations…
Wuher is a little obsessed with Greedo's scent. For reasons *shifty eyes* not gonna spoil that bit.
"Nightlily: The Lovers' Tale" by Barbara Hambly
trigger warning
a whole bunch of sexism and use of a date rape drug.
Feltipern Trevagg is a gotal. Which, kind of looks like a goat man… with a gorilla face. For reference. Anywho! Gotals can feel emotions through those horns of theirs. And somehow, Felt here feels Obi Wan (well, a jedi) in Mos Eisley. And, as a hunter, he's gonna find Ol' Ben and let the Empire know. For the dolla dolla billz.
A lady - M'iiyoom Onith (Star Wars names, man) - needs Felt's help with a tax issue. Yeah. Felt is a tax man. As in, he raises and comes up with taxes then giggles when people can't pay. Anyway, M'iiyoom shows up and Felt falls in love. Oh. It's a kissing story!
*whispers* It wasn't a kissing story and Felt got what he deserved.
I will leave you with an old Ithorian proverb - N'ygyng mth'une vned 'isobec' k'chuv 'ysobek' loosely translated means "the word for 'love' in one language is the word for 'dinner' in others
"Empire Blues: The Devaronian's Tale" by Daniel Keys Moran
This fella is a war criminal sort of. Going by Labria which I might or might not have misread as Labia more than once… He is also known as Butcher of Montellian Serat. And he's a music nerd.
Dude pretty much manipulates everything to get Figrin D'an to play at the Cantina. He goes to Lady Val and convinces her to get them to play her wedding. He told Jabba that they were playing the wedding so Jabba would retaliate. He had Wuher go to the wedding and offer the band a job playing at the Cantina.
End note: I am pretty sure there is a story out there where Boba Fett goes after this guy and has to sit in the mud in his underwear. I swear I remember reading that story and it wasn't fan-fiction.
"Swap Meet: The Jawa's Tale" by Kevin J. Anderson
Het Nkik is a Jawa that has crazy ideas. Crazy! He thinks Jawas are weak because they choose to be. Which… little fella might be right. But the other Jawas think he is bantha-shit crazy.
The story opens with Het Nkik and his fellow Jawas arriving at a yearly swap Meet among all the jawas of Tatooine.
Oh! Apparently Het here fixed up the assassin/messenger Droid that shows up in the Figrin D'an story. Neat.
Anyway, one of the sandcrawlers doesn't make it to the swap Meet. Three guess what happened to them… other jawas think it might have been Tusken Raiders, as they attacked another group of Jawas. So little Het buys himself a blaster…
Het's group of Jawas find the missing Sandcrawler. Where they find the dead jawas and Obi-Wan. Who gives a bit of a motivational speech. Which is probably going to end badly, but keep up those pep talks Obi-Wan. One might work out for you.
"Trade Wins: The Ranat's Tale" by Rebecca Moesta
This one is almost a sort of companion piece to the previous story. The Ranant (who's name is either never mentioned or I forgot to take note of...) that traded with Het Nkik is the focus of this story. And it is basically just a retelling of the meeting from their point of view.
Rude little ranant stole from poor Het Nkik.
"When the Desert Wind Turns: The Stormtrooper's Tale" by Doug Beason
This is about Davin Felth - He’s the “Look sir, droids!” stormtrooper.
The story opens with Davin arriving for training on Carida. Which is apparently hell. At one point he gets sent for AT-AT training. Which he is super excited about. I understand. I wanna drive one of those things. Davin is a smart boy who figures out that there is a chance that fighters could trip up an AT-AT. As a reward for discovering this slight flaw, he gets shipped off to Tatooine. As a stormtrooper, not an AT-AT operator.
Davin began having some doubts as his troop of Stormtroopers killed the group of jawas that sold Artoo and Threepio to Luke and Owen. And then Owen and Beru. Davin is not enjoying his job at this point.
In the end Davin realizes that the Empire is evil and he will become a spy for the Rebellion. Good on him. I mean, he’ll probably die at some point, but good on him.
"Soup’s On: The Pipe Smoker’s Tale" by Jennifer Roberson
Dannik Jerriko is an Anzat, which are basically space vampires? I dunno. He's also an assassin.
This whole story sort of confused me. Dude keeps talking about drinking people's soup. Which I don't think was explained… I should probably look that up but seriously I am bored of reading "soup, such soup" and the like. Story was kind of boring honestly. I complained about the Tonnika sisters' story, but I forgot about this one. That one was a delight. This one is a chore to get through...
"At the Crossroads: The Spacer's Tale" by Jerry Oltion
This is about BoShek, he's the dude Obi-Wan talks to before talking to Chewbacca.
Also seems like the dude has some talent in the Force. Obi-Wan offers to talk about that when he gets back to Tatooine. Hope that dude isn't still waiting…
"Doctor Death: The Tale of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba" by Kenneth C. Flint
Remember the guy that was wanted in 12 systems and his buddy that lost an arm cause Obi-Wan has a thing for slicing off people's limbs? Yeah. That's these guys. This takes place after the events in A New Hope.
Dr. E needs a "Young, strong, healthy, perfectly formed" human man. Little creepy, but okay.
It's a mind-swapping story, y'all… And it does not end well for anyone, really
"Drawing the Maps of Peace: The Moisture Farmer's Tale" by M. Shayne Bell
Ariq Joanson is a moisture farmer, the furthest farm out. And he gets the idea to make peace with the Jawa and the Sand People. Spoiler - lots of people do not like his idea During a wedding, adolescent Sand People show up, a dude gets killed and his new wife gets taken. So Ariq is off to save her. Then,. Imperial stormtroopers show up and ruin it all. Dude decides he's going to join the Rebellion cause the Empire is a bunch of dicks.
"One Last Night In the Mos Eisley Cantina: The Tale of the Wolfman and the Lamproid" by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
Okay. This one is more amusing to me if I just leave the notes I took instead of making them into some sort of cohesive thing. Enjoy!
Lak Sivrak and Dice Ibegon
What the hell? We're at the Battle of Endor?
Is this Wolfman time traveling? Having visions? What?! I am confused…
What is a Florn lamproid? I forget… *looks it up* AAAAHHHHHHHHHH! IT'S A MONSTER! AND ACCORDING TO THIS STORY THAT THING IS GONNA FUCK A WOLFMAN! AAAAHHHH!
DON'T HISS SEDUCTIVELY! I KNOW WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE!
THEY'RE KISSING!
"her ringed teeth that were never again to know the bliss of shredded flesh." Ah. Such bliss.
Oh. That was actually a really nice love story…
End thoughts?
Greedo's smell is mentioned constantly. So weird. It is brought up every time Greedo shows up in a story, I think.
Almost all of the stories take place before and during A New Hope. All but the Dr. E and Ponda one go through what is shown in the movie. And how others react.
So many rebel agents were just hanging out on Tatooine. I think there were about seven or eight rebel agents just there. And a few characters decided to join the Rebellion by the end of their story.
I always enjoyed these books. Tales From Jabba's Palace (which I reviewed here), Tales From Mos Eisley Cantina, Tales of the Bounty Hunters. All were great and always fun reads. I highly recommend this to Star Wars fans. Just remember, this isn't canon. And Florn lamproids are monsters... but monsters that deserve love.
"We Don't Do Weddings: The Bands Tale" by Kathy Tyers
Can we just take a moment for the fact that the band's name is Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes and they play jizz music? Let my pre-teen sense of humor giggle about that for a minute….
Okay. Done with that.
Story is about the band that plays in the Cantina. Originally they had a contract with Jabba, then Figrin agrees to play Lady Valarian's wedding. She is Jabba's chief rival on Tatooine. So, that should end horribly.
Spoiler - it ended horribly. The bride and groom got into a fight. The band barely escaped, and then they got stuck playing at the Cantina trying to make enough money to leave Tatooine.
"A Hunter's Fate: Greedo's Tale" by Tom Veitch and Martha Veitch
Greedo's family and some others escaped Rodia after some shit went down. They end up on some nice peaceful jungle planet and live fine. For, like, 12 years. And then the Rodians they left Rodia because of found them. So… off to Nar Shaddaa. Which, for those unfamiliar with the planets of Star Wars that weren't obviously shown in the movies, Nar Shaddaa is like if Mos Eisley Cantina was an entire planet. Lots of scum and villainy.
Greedo meets some bounty hunters on Nar Shaddaa. One of which is described as "obviously an intelligent species of bird – or descended from birds." So that dude is now Big Bird in my head. Greedo travels with these bounty hunters to Tatooine. Where we all know what happened there.
I almost feel sorry for Greedo. He was just a kid who wanted to be a bounty hunter and got betrayed in the end.
"Hammertong: The Tale of the "Tonnika Sisters"" by Timothy Zahn
I was never a huge fan of this story. Not sure why or if there is a reason. But every time I read this book it is a chore to get through this story.
It's not a bad story. Honestly, it's pretty good. Two women are pretending to be the Tonnika Sisters so they can hire a smuggler to get themselves and a piece of equipment they stole from the Empire off Tatooine. *whispers* they stole a bit of the Death Star.
I think my issue was that I was expecting a story about the actual Tonnika sisters, who are thieves. I wanted some Catwoman-level thievery, but that wasn't what I got. But this one is still good.
"Play It Again, Figrin D'an: The Tale of Muftak and Kabe" by A.C. Crispin
Kabe is a baby and just wants her juri juice! Wait. What is juri juice? *looks it up* Booze. It's booze.
What race is Muftak? They showed up in an episode or so of The Clone Wars and I loved them. It's fine. Muftak doesn't know what he is either. Just a big ol' space polar bear…
He's a Talz!
Anyway! Kabe is a thief, Muftak is… well… he's not a thief. He mostly just sells information to people and keeps Kabe out of trouble. And they decide to rob Jabba's town house. Which… probably not a great idea… But, Muftak wants off Tatooine and they need the credits.
"The Sand Tender: The Hammerhead's Tale" by Dave Wolverton
Momaw Nadon is a spy for the Rebellion. And because of an Imperial named Alima, has been exiled from his home planet.
Momaw has a little garden of plants. One of which is a talking tree. That tree needs to shut the fuck up and let Nadon kill that Imperial. Asshole deserves Death.
"Be Still My Heart: The Bartender's Tale" by David Bischoff
This droid includes aspects of both R2 and protocols droids, and their specialty includes "meal preparation, catalytic fuel conversion, enzymatic composition breakdown, chemical diagnostic programming, and bacterial composting acceleration." They are also "an excellent blender, toaster over, and bang-corn air popper. And can whip up an extraordinary meal from everyday garbage." Where I can I find me one of those?
This story does explain Wuher (the bartender)'s hatred for droids. Basically, he was treated like shit and droids are the only things he can treat like shit. Chalmun (the wookie that owns the cantina) doesn't want druids in the cantina because they don't drink so are wasting space.
Dr. Evazan is just dropping his "wanted on 12 systems" shit just randomly in conversations…
Wuher is a little obsessed with Greedo's scent. For reasons *shifty eyes* not gonna spoil that bit.
"Nightlily: The Lovers' Tale" by Barbara Hambly
trigger warning
a whole bunch of sexism and use of a date rape drug.
Feltipern Trevagg is a gotal. Which, kind of looks like a goat man… with a gorilla face. For reference. Anywho! Gotals can feel emotions through those horns of theirs. And somehow, Felt here feels Obi Wan (well, a jedi) in Mos Eisley. And, as a hunter, he's gonna find Ol' Ben and let the Empire know. For the dolla dolla billz.
A lady - M'iiyoom Onith (Star Wars names, man) - needs Felt's help with a tax issue. Yeah. Felt is a tax man. As in, he raises and comes up with taxes then giggles when people can't pay. Anyway, M'iiyoom shows up and Felt falls in love. Oh. It's a kissing story!
*whispers* It wasn't a kissing story and Felt got what he deserved.
I will leave you with an old Ithorian proverb - N'ygyng mth'une vned 'isobec' k'chuv 'ysobek' loosely translated means "the word for 'love' in one language is the word for 'dinner' in others
"Empire Blues: The Devaronian's Tale" by Daniel Keys Moran
This fella is a war criminal sort of. Going by Labria which I might or might not have misread as Labia more than once… He is also known as Butcher of Montellian Serat. And he's a music nerd.
Dude pretty much manipulates everything to get Figrin D'an to play at the Cantina. He goes to Lady Val and convinces her to get them to play her wedding. He told Jabba that they were playing the wedding so Jabba would retaliate. He had Wuher go to the wedding and offer the band a job playing at the Cantina.
End note: I am pretty sure there is a story out there where Boba Fett goes after this guy and has to sit in the mud in his underwear. I swear I remember reading that story and it wasn't fan-fiction.
"Swap Meet: The Jawa's Tale" by Kevin J. Anderson
Het Nkik is a Jawa that has crazy ideas. Crazy! He thinks Jawas are weak because they choose to be. Which… little fella might be right. But the other Jawas think he is bantha-shit crazy.
The story opens with Het Nkik and his fellow Jawas arriving at a yearly swap Meet among all the jawas of Tatooine.
Oh! Apparently Het here fixed up the assassin/messenger Droid that shows up in the Figrin D'an story. Neat.
Anyway, one of the sandcrawlers doesn't make it to the swap Meet. Three guess what happened to them… other jawas think it might have been Tusken Raiders, as they attacked another group of Jawas. So little Het buys himself a blaster…
Het's group of Jawas find the missing Sandcrawler. Where they find the dead jawas and Obi-Wan. Who gives a bit of a motivational speech. Which is probably going to end badly, but keep up those pep talks Obi-Wan. One might work out for you.
"Trade Wins: The Ranat's Tale" by Rebecca Moesta
This one is almost a sort of companion piece to the previous story. The Ranant (who's name is either never mentioned or I forgot to take note of...) that traded with Het Nkik is the focus of this story. And it is basically just a retelling of the meeting from their point of view.
Rude little ranant stole from poor Het Nkik.
"When the Desert Wind Turns: The Stormtrooper's Tale" by Doug Beason
This is about Davin Felth - He’s the “Look sir, droids!” stormtrooper.
The story opens with Davin arriving for training on Carida. Which is apparently hell. At one point he gets sent for AT-AT training. Which he is super excited about. I understand. I wanna drive one of those things. Davin is a smart boy who figures out that there is a chance that fighters could trip up an AT-AT. As a reward for discovering this slight flaw, he gets shipped off to Tatooine. As a stormtrooper, not an AT-AT operator.
Davin began having some doubts as his troop of Stormtroopers killed the group of jawas that sold Artoo and Threepio to Luke and Owen. And then Owen and Beru. Davin is not enjoying his job at this point.
In the end Davin realizes that the Empire is evil and he will become a spy for the Rebellion. Good on him. I mean, he’ll probably die at some point, but good on him.
"Soup’s On: The Pipe Smoker’s Tale" by Jennifer Roberson
Dannik Jerriko is an Anzat, which are basically space vampires? I dunno. He's also an assassin.
This whole story sort of confused me. Dude keeps talking about drinking people's soup. Which I don't think was explained… I should probably look that up but seriously I am bored of reading "soup, such soup" and the like. Story was kind of boring honestly. I complained about the Tonnika sisters' story, but I forgot about this one. That one was a delight. This one is a chore to get through...
"At the Crossroads: The Spacer's Tale" by Jerry Oltion
This is about BoShek, he's the dude Obi-Wan talks to before talking to Chewbacca.
Also seems like the dude has some talent in the Force. Obi-Wan offers to talk about that when he gets back to Tatooine. Hope that dude isn't still waiting…
"Doctor Death: The Tale of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba" by Kenneth C. Flint
Remember the guy that was wanted in 12 systems and his buddy that lost an arm cause Obi-Wan has a thing for slicing off people's limbs? Yeah. That's these guys. This takes place after the events in A New Hope.
Dr. E needs a "Young, strong, healthy, perfectly formed" human man. Little creepy, but okay.
It's a mind-swapping story, y'all… And it does not end well for anyone, really
"Drawing the Maps of Peace: The Moisture Farmer's Tale" by M. Shayne Bell
Ariq Joanson is a moisture farmer, the furthest farm out. And he gets the idea to make peace with the Jawa and the Sand People. Spoiler - lots of people do not like his idea During a wedding, adolescent Sand People show up, a dude gets killed and his new wife gets taken. So Ariq is off to save her. Then,. Imperial stormtroopers show up and ruin it all. Dude decides he's going to join the Rebellion cause the Empire is a bunch of dicks.
"One Last Night In the Mos Eisley Cantina: The Tale of the Wolfman and the Lamproid" by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
Okay. This one is more amusing to me if I just leave the notes I took instead of making them into some sort of cohesive thing. Enjoy!
Lak Sivrak and Dice Ibegon
What the hell? We're at the Battle of Endor?
Is this Wolfman time traveling? Having visions? What?! I am confused…
What is a Florn lamproid? I forget… *looks it up* AAAAHHHHHHHHHH! IT'S A MONSTER! AND ACCORDING TO THIS STORY THAT THING IS GONNA FUCK A WOLFMAN! AAAAHHHH!
DON'T HISS SEDUCTIVELY! I KNOW WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE!
THEY'RE KISSING!
"her ringed teeth that were never again to know the bliss of shredded flesh." Ah. Such bliss.
Oh. That was actually a really nice love story…
End thoughts?
Greedo's smell is mentioned constantly. So weird. It is brought up every time Greedo shows up in a story, I think.
Almost all of the stories take place before and during A New Hope. All but the Dr. E and Ponda one go through what is shown in the movie. And how others react.
So many rebel agents were just hanging out on Tatooine. I think there were about seven or eight rebel agents just there. And a few characters decided to join the Rebellion by the end of their story.
I always enjoyed these books. Tales From Jabba's Palace (which I reviewed here), Tales From Mos Eisley Cantina, Tales of the Bounty Hunters. All were great and always fun reads. I highly recommend this to Star Wars fans. Just remember, this isn't canon. And Florn lamproids are monsters... but monsters that deserve love.
December 28, 2020
A unique and creative collection of short stories based on characters from the famous cantina scene in Star Wars. As a collection, it does suffer from weak stories but there are gems to be found.
At its worst, the book includes stories with rushed plots, clunky dialogue, and confusing syntax. In my opinion the first few stories lack polish and are a grind to read through. However, once you get past the first few chapters, some truly interesting stories come along.
These better segments are written quite well. The authors show a talent for expanding on details and emotions, to the benefit of the reader, while concisely pushing along to fit the story within a short chapter. Several stories are also quite unique and delve into science fiction topics that Star Wars fans may not have expected. At its best, the book carves out a piece of unexplored lore, and breathes life into it.
Readers may be tempted to skip weaker chapters, and I couldn't blame you, but it is rewarding to read the whole book. Some elements of each story bleeds into the next - several chapters around the middle of the book directly build off each other in a way that I found to be fun and interseting.
Some Star Wars fans may roll their eyes at the fact these stories focus on what are essentially background extras, and often give them inflated roles never intended by the movie. Personally, I was amused and a little tickled by the creative stories pitched by these authors.
Overall, I found this book to be greater than the sum of its parts, a lot of the stories were a fun exploration of Star Wars.
Below is a list of my favorite stories:
The Tale of Muftak and Kabe - A. C. Crispin
The Hammerhead's Tale - Dave Wolverton
The Devaronian's Tale - Daniel Keys Morgan
The Ranat's Tale - Rebecca Moesta
The Tale of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba - Kenneth C. Flint
The Moisture Farmer's Tale - M. Shayne Bell
At its worst, the book includes stories with rushed plots, clunky dialogue, and confusing syntax. In my opinion the first few stories lack polish and are a grind to read through. However, once you get past the first few chapters, some truly interesting stories come along.
These better segments are written quite well. The authors show a talent for expanding on details and emotions, to the benefit of the reader, while concisely pushing along to fit the story within a short chapter. Several stories are also quite unique and delve into science fiction topics that Star Wars fans may not have expected. At its best, the book carves out a piece of unexplored lore, and breathes life into it.
Readers may be tempted to skip weaker chapters, and I couldn't blame you, but it is rewarding to read the whole book. Some elements of each story bleeds into the next - several chapters around the middle of the book directly build off each other in a way that I found to be fun and interseting.
Some Star Wars fans may roll their eyes at the fact these stories focus on what are essentially background extras, and often give them inflated roles never intended by the movie. Personally, I was amused and a little tickled by the creative stories pitched by these authors.
Overall, I found this book to be greater than the sum of its parts, a lot of the stories were a fun exploration of Star Wars.
Below is a list of my favorite stories:
The Tale of Muftak and Kabe - A. C. Crispin
The Hammerhead's Tale - Dave Wolverton
The Devaronian's Tale - Daniel Keys Morgan
The Ranat's Tale - Rebecca Moesta
The Tale of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba - Kenneth C. Flint
The Moisture Farmer's Tale - M. Shayne Bell
April 2, 2022
In 1995, Kevin J. Anderson edited the first anthology of Star Wars short fiction, featuring characters from the Mos Eisley Cantina scene from the original film. Here, a number of well-known science fiction authors--many of whom worked with Lucasfilm to craft their own novels set in the Star Wars universe--give life to the diasporic characters seen in the background. The stories are as varied as one might imagine, from atmospheric noir to unconventional time-warping science fiction.
The stories are all of fairly similar quality, with only one or two truly standout entries. My favorite two stories, "Drawing the Maps of Peace" (which is a remarkably good Western) and "One Last Night in the Mos Eisley Cantina" (which serves up a delectable slice of ethereal science-fiction), don't appear until the end of the anthology, but the stories are surprisingly interconnected and fit together well tonally.
Nevertheless, because this anthology is so heavily focused on one particular scene set in Mos Eisley, every single one of the narratives can feel like they start to slog when it comes to the cantina scene. Having to read the fight between Luke and Evazan and then see Ben Kenobi swing a lightsaber 16 times in one anthology is just too much. These narrative hiccups keep many of the stories from really ramping up into their own weird and exciting conclusions.
That said, there's a lot of richness to this first anthology, and I wish more Star Wars fiction focused on the regular folk inhabiting the greater universe of the franchise. Though I won't likely remember most of the stories in this anthology, I think the book still delivers some of my absolute favorite Star Wars to date.
Just... don't show me that fucking cantina scene ever again, please.
The stories are all of fairly similar quality, with only one or two truly standout entries. My favorite two stories, "Drawing the Maps of Peace" (which is a remarkably good Western) and "One Last Night in the Mos Eisley Cantina" (which serves up a delectable slice of ethereal science-fiction), don't appear until the end of the anthology, but the stories are surprisingly interconnected and fit together well tonally.
Nevertheless, because this anthology is so heavily focused on one particular scene set in Mos Eisley, every single one of the narratives can feel like they start to slog when it comes to the cantina scene. Having to read the fight between Luke and Evazan and then see Ben Kenobi swing a lightsaber 16 times in one anthology is just too much. These narrative hiccups keep many of the stories from really ramping up into their own weird and exciting conclusions.
That said, there's a lot of richness to this first anthology, and I wish more Star Wars fiction focused on the regular folk inhabiting the greater universe of the franchise. Though I won't likely remember most of the stories in this anthology, I think the book still delivers some of my absolute favorite Star Wars to date.
Just... don't show me that fucking cantina scene ever again, please.
March 27, 2021
This is an anthology of short fiction that tells the back stories of the various curious denizens of the famous Mos Eisley Cantina scene in *Star Wars: A New Hope.* If you're a fan of the movie (and who isn't?), this is highly recommended; it will make that scene very interesting and tells a lot about Tatooine, Luke's homeworld. As a work of science fiction, this is entertaining but somewhat strained at times and displays a varying degree of quality. Like any multi-author anthology, some writers are more inspired than others. My favorite two stories were "A Hunter's Fate," by Tom and Martha Veitch, and "Drawing the Maps of Peace: A Moisture Farmer's Tale," by M. Shayne Bell. "A Hunter's Fate" is about Greedo, the Rodian Bounty Hunter killed by Han Solo. It is quite sad and gets you to sympathize with Greedo. "Maps of Peace" explores the Jawas, the Sand People, and the Moisture Farmers, memorable elements of the Tatooine setting. Some interesting science fictional ecology and anthropology is explored in that story. There are other stories that really work for me and only a few flops. I really did not like "Doctor Death": miserable, unlikable characters doing horrible things. As a whole, though, the anthology works; each story creatively brings in the cantina scene, and sometimes they creatively blend and overlap. Having read this, I really appreciate that cantina scene.
December 19, 2022
While I'm not going to say most of these short stories are anything amazing, I will say a majority of them are incredibly entertaining.
Is it a massive coincidence that all the people in the cantina are not just regular people enjoying a drink, but rather characters resting during a big adventure? Yes.
Do most of the stories feel out of place in Star Wars? Yes.
Are the stories usually stereotypical and predictable? Yes.
Is it cheesy and silly? Absolutely
And that's really all there is to say about it. It's probably not for anyone who takes Star Wars seriously and dislikes the massive coincidences and the small world feeling when so many characters are connected and important. But for a fun space opera, I think they fit and are fascinating. The few duds are short enough that it's hard to hold it against the book and the good far outweighs the bad.
Highlights include: revolutionary Jawas, mad scientists in castles, rogue smugglers running from the law, stormtrooper povs, and an alien peacher who can talk to trees.
Overall this book isn't one of the bests by any means, but it's fun and entertaining which is more than I can say about a lot of legends books. If you're going to read any individual stories, I think it's wildly agreed that the Greedo and Moisture farmer stories are the best, and are well worth it even if it's just those two.
Is it a massive coincidence that all the people in the cantina are not just regular people enjoying a drink, but rather characters resting during a big adventure? Yes.
Do most of the stories feel out of place in Star Wars? Yes.
Are the stories usually stereotypical and predictable? Yes.
Is it cheesy and silly? Absolutely
And that's really all there is to say about it. It's probably not for anyone who takes Star Wars seriously and dislikes the massive coincidences and the small world feeling when so many characters are connected and important. But for a fun space opera, I think they fit and are fascinating. The few duds are short enough that it's hard to hold it against the book and the good far outweighs the bad.
Highlights include: revolutionary Jawas, mad scientists in castles, rogue smugglers running from the law, stormtrooper povs, and an alien peacher who can talk to trees.
Overall this book isn't one of the bests by any means, but it's fun and entertaining which is more than I can say about a lot of legends books. If you're going to read any individual stories, I think it's wildly agreed that the Greedo and Moisture farmer stories are the best, and are well worth it even if it's just those two.
April 15, 2022
"It was okay." - 2 out of 5 star rating.
I was really excited about this one and came at this with nothing but positive energy. Overall, I am pretty let down.
Very similar to the Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View series (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) and (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) and also Tales From a Galaxy Far, Far Away, Vol. 1: Aliens (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)... this is a collection of short stories within the Star Wars universe revolving around the commonality of Mos Eisley.
There are a few gems in here, specifically:
- A Hunters Fate: Greedo (5/5) (hands down the #1 story in the book)
- When the Desert Wind Turns: A Storm Troopers tale (4/5) (rock solid 2nd place)
- Swap Meet: A Jawas tale (3-4/5) (3rd overall)
Middle of the road:
- Empire Blues: A Devaronian tale (3/5
- We don't do weddings: A Bands tale (3/5)
- Moisture Farmer (3/5)
And then... everything else outside of that was a 2 at best. Quite a few 1's as well.
I want to give this a 3 because the top 3 stores are damn good. But, overall "it was okay" is really how I feel.
There is just a few table scraps of good material here, and the rest is a mostly empty plate, leaving you hungry wanting for more.
I was really excited about this one and came at this with nothing but positive energy. Overall, I am pretty let down.
Very similar to the Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View series (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) and (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) and also Tales From a Galaxy Far, Far Away, Vol. 1: Aliens (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)... this is a collection of short stories within the Star Wars universe revolving around the commonality of Mos Eisley.
There are a few gems in here, specifically:
- A Hunters Fate: Greedo (5/5) (hands down the #1 story in the book)
- When the Desert Wind Turns: A Storm Troopers tale (4/5) (rock solid 2nd place)
- Swap Meet: A Jawas tale (3-4/5) (3rd overall)
Middle of the road:
- Empire Blues: A Devaronian tale (3/5
- We don't do weddings: A Bands tale (3/5)
- Moisture Farmer (3/5)
And then... everything else outside of that was a 2 at best. Quite a few 1's as well.
I want to give this a 3 because the top 3 stores are damn good. But, overall "it was okay" is really how I feel.
There is just a few table scraps of good material here, and the rest is a mostly empty plate, leaving you hungry wanting for more.
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