It's Lit: FACPOV - Return of the Jedi is a Best Seller, and Adam Lance Garcia is Just Like Us
The FACPOV: Return of the Jedi celebration keeps on keeping on.
It’s one thing to excitedly tear open the packaging of a brand-new Star Wars book, devour it from cover to cover, and praise it endlessly after you’re done. It’s another thing entirely to watch that book succeed in real time.
This week’s newsletter is all about From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi in celebration of, well, how much everyone seems to love it! Plus, I’ll break down my favorite stories from the anthology and share a preview of my interview with Adam Lance Garcia, out in full this Tuesday.
FACPOV: Return of the Jedi is a USA Today Best Seller
It was announced this week that the anthology, released at the end of August 2023, made the USA Today Best Seller list. Which is cool, because anytime a Star Wars book sells a bunch of copies and gains more recognition for it is, by default, cool.
Every author, editor, and honorary amazing human being who put time and effort into bringing this anthology to life should be extremely proud of what they’ve accomplished. These stories have the power to reshape the future of Star Wars storytelling in big, inspiring ways. The contributors brand-new to writing Star Wars especially should get themselves a little treat this weekend. You’ve earned it. You wrote a Star War!
My Favorite FACPOV: Return of the Jedi Short Stories, Ranked (Except Not Really)
Picking a favorite FACPOV story is probably a lot like choosing a favorite child, but I know nothing about that, and I only have one dog. Still, a few of these stories really stood out to me, and while we’re already here celebrating, I might as well give them a shoutout.
These are in no particular order, because I have strong feelings about ranking things, those feelings being that I don’t enjoy doing it.
“Wolf Trap” by Alyssa Wong is one of those stories I’ve thought about probably every other day since I first read it. To me, that’s a marker of a good story. It helps that I think wolves are the best (I do have, technically, a tiny wolf, though some say she’s a Siberian Husky). It’s not a story I expected. It caught me off guard, and I liked that.
“The Plan” by Saladin Ahmed accomplished something major, which is what earned it a place on this list: It gave me feelings for a character I’ve not given much thought to in the years since I first watched Episode VI.
“The Chronicler” by Danielle Paige sent me to a place of joy I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced in the middle of a Star Wars book. And not just because I’m a journalist with big dreams of recording certain bookish elements of history (though that gives it some points). I loved seeing this unique segment of the rebellion. I want to see more of it. I want an entire book about it. I’d write an entire book about it if they let me. They will not let me. Danielle Paige can do it, I wouldn’t be mad.
I truly, genuinely, want to know your favorites too. I like to believe that every story is someone’s favorite. It makes me happy.
Adam Lance Garcia Dreamed of This
And I got to talk to him about it. You’ll hear (and be able to read) the interview on Tuesday.
I am presented with a unique challenge as our official conversation begins: Can I interview a Star Wars author and pet my dog at the same time? The answer, it turns out, is yes. Mostly because the interview would not have gone forward otherwise.
(In a recording I have saved on my phone, you can hear this same dog loudly chewing on a bone as I interview Ashley Eckstein in the background.)
Adam is so excited about having written a Star Wars story. He dreamed of writing a Star Wars someday, and now it actually happened. Wild. He can’t believe it.
“I'm adding a book to my collection that has my name on it,” he says. Many of us imagine this scenario, but imagine not having to imagine it at all because it’s happening to you. “Adding to the canonicity of it … there's going to be a book amongst hundreds, and I'm part of it. It’s just weird. Weird and wonderful.”
We also talked about what he would write if the powers that be let him do this magical thing all over again, but you’ll have to wait for the full interview for that.
Now This Is Lit is a podcast (and newsletter!) about Star Wars books, the people who make them, and the readers who just can’t get enough of them. You can find the show wherever you get your podcasts, and subscribe to the Substack for more deep dives, guides, interview transcripts, and book love.