My first random book drop of the New Year! It is dear to me, because it consists of old paperbacks my husband and I have been collecting for some time, many of which I had before I even met him.

Yes, I still love the old school Star Wars Extended Universe of books. No matter what happens to the ever-spiraling future of the gutted-and-recreated franchise.

I know, “I’m done with Star Wars!” will come from some and “You’re just a mysogynist who hates change” will come from others (and I’m a chick, too), and likely “Who asked you?” will come from all sides. Well, no one asked me what should happen when Disney took over the movie and show making, and that’s the problem.

I would have told them one thing: “Use the massive collection of stories and characters created from the Lucas-approved extended universe of novels.” Boom! Tons of great stories and characters for everyone. Let me very briefly recommend some favorites:

The Collected Han Solo Adventures by Brian Daley

My husband owns the tidy collected paperback of three original “Exploits of Han Solo” stories from Daley. I have my original ones I got from the Scholastic Book sales back in fourth grade. I still love them. If I hadn’t already been crushing on Han Solo before, these stories did it. My favorite is Han Solo at Stars’ End where he ends of up on the prison planet. These are all early adventures, so we see him in full lawbreaker fun, getting the girls, and saving the day. Each of these would have been a great pick for the Solo movie. In the least they should have been referred to.

The Collected Lando Calrissian Adventures by L. Neil Smith

I’ll admit it, I thought Donald Glover was a good choice for a young Lando. However, they didn’t even pay attention to these three cool early Lando stories books when they gave him a back story on the big screen. In this trio of books, you get to see what a badass pilot, smooth-talking gambler all-around cool dude Lando Calrissian was. He even has a cool robot companion in the books. Vuffi Raa, a kind jellyfish like robot, is much more useful and much less whiny than what he was given in the Solo movie. Oh, how I miss him.

Death Troopers by Joe Schreiber

In 2009, horror novelist Joe Schreiber released the first official Star Wars horror novel, and it was intense. Zombie Storm Troopers!! Hell, yeah! Okay, there’s more to it, and it features Han Solo and Chewbacca. One of the heroes is a female, by the way, medical officer Zahara Cody, and she has full-blown personality. The focus, however, is the creepy story of a virus that has broken loose on a deserted ship and how the characters are trying to stop this zombie contagion from spreading through the galaxy. Even if you hate Star Wars, you gotta love zombies, right?

The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton

I got to interview Wolverton for a non-Star Wars novel he did when I was little reporter in a small northern New Mexico town. It was cool, because he had written the story of how my favorite fictional “ships” (Han and Leia) had gotten married (after much jealously, and battles). It came out the year my own husband and I were married, so it still gives me warm fuzzies, even if it isn’t actually a romance novel. If there is one thing I hated about the new “Disney Star Wars” movies from the get-go, it was what they did to Han and Leia. These two are heroes who raised epic twins (not Kylo Ren). They continued to have great adventures together through good and bad. If you hate the way they busted them up and unceremoniously killed the coolest character ever in science fiction, go back and read this one. Let them fall in love again.

Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina

Kevin J. Anderson, who has written a bunch of Star Wars books and comics, as well as some interesting works based on Dune, edited (and contributed to) this cool anthology of short stories based on the characters seen in everyone’s favorite hive of scum and villany. I love my anthologies to have around for quick reads and every author involved did a great job brining some some minor characters to life. These range from jawas to Greedo and some you might not know. I recommended “Soup’s On: The Pipesmoker’s Tale” by Jennifer Roberson, because I never thought that weird effeminate dude in the cantina would have such a cool back story.

If you aren’t happy with the “new” Star Wars content, go back and read a book from the extended universe of novels. You will fall in love again with the Original Trilogy and with a time when people cared about one thing when writing Star Wars story….the story.

Love you all, even if you like the new stuff. May the Force Be With You and Long Live the Old School.