It's Lit: Jason Fry, James Kahn, and More Star Wars Book Hype
A look ahead to what's coming up on Now This Is Lit.
Of all the cool things I get to do because of hosting Now This Is Lit, seeing how many people I can convince to let me interview them — and record it — is by far my favorite. I’ll never stop reviewing Star Wars books or exploring their impact on the people who make and read them. But talking to people is my job. I’m making an effort to do it more than ever before this year.
That’s one reason you’ve gotten to hear my conversations with so many amazing authors recently — from Claudia Gray to Justina Ireland, and many more to come! Here’s a look back at this week’s latest interview, and who you can expect to hear from in the weeks to come.
Bryan Q. Miller Talks the Making of Padawan’s Pride
The moment I start the call, Zoom’s AI bombards me with suggestions for team building activities. As I’m testing our audio, I ask Bryan Q. Miller if he’d be interested in participating in a two-person scavenger hunt, or facing off in a virtual baking competition.
He groans. “Maybe next time, we can consider team-building. Let’s get to know each other better first.”
A TV writer by trade, Miller is equal parts lighthearted and knowledgeable when it comes to the “dying industry” he works in (his words, not mine). To be fair, I also went to school for a long time to pursue a career that might not even exist in five years (thanks to, you guessed it — AI). We immediately bond over our shared exhaustion. He tells me a story about his pandemic dog. It’s somewhat Star Wars-related.
If you’ve never heard of Padawan’s Pride — an Audible Original Star Wars audiobook adventure written by Miller about Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker set three years after The Phantom Menace — there’s a reason for that. The publisher dropped this thing on a random Thursday morning last fall without any warning. If you weren’t an Audible subscriber, you likely missed out.
The project was recently nominated for a Webby Award, so I invited Miller onto Now This Is Lit to finally talk about how it all came together. Better late than never, right? That dropped on your podcast feeds earlier this week. Don’t miss it — and per usual, no spoilers!
Next Week on Now This Is Lit: Jason Fry, the Sports and Star Wars Guy
Jason Fry and I have a few key things in common. We both love Star Wars. We’re both writers. And we both agree that pizza and Andor go great together — as evidenced by the pause we take from our interview so he can put in his choice for toppings.
I often feel like I’m overreaching when I invite authors onto my show. It’s just a little podcast, and I’m just a struggling journalist with a lot of skills and no one who wants [to pay for] them. But as soon as I ask Fry my first question, I’m reminded that if these storytellers didn’t want to talk with me about Star Wars, they’d just decline my invites. No one ever has.
You’ll likely notice a few things when you listen to our interview, out this coming Tuesday. You’ll notice that we ended up talking for over an hour, even though I originally promised we’d only Zoom for about 30 minutes. You’ll also notice that the longer we talked, the more passionate we both seemed to get about a galaxy far, far away.
And that is by far my favorite thing about these interviews. The passion for wars in the stars cannot be contained on either end. I suppose I, as well as those I interview, are in many ways professional nerds. We like our shared fandom so much that we just can’t stop talking or writing about it. I wouldn’t do what I do if it weren’t for the authors keeping Star Wars alive. They make it worth it, every single day.
Get Ready for the Return of James Kahn
You may know him as the author of the Star Wars: Return of the Jedi novelization. And maybe you also remember him from the Now This Is Lit Season 3 premiere episode “James Kahn Was at the Right Place at the Perfect Time” — and if you’ve not heard his haunting Poultergeist stories, well, you’ll never forget them once you do. But the author has led a fascinating life, one he’s written about in a brand-new book out now.
Kahn’s new memoir, My Jedi Memoir: A Double Life (released, appropriately, on Star Wars Day), tells the wild story of the author’s mostly-accidental plunge into the Hollywood writing scene. It all started with a phone call to a hospital about recusitating and alien, and well … you can read the rest. The book, however, also paints a much larger picture of the events, big and small, that steered Kahn along the various paths his life has taken.
I’ll be sitting down soon to dive deeper into Kahn’s memoir with him, and you’ll get to hear that interview very soon.
The High Republic’s End is Nearer Than Ever
Review copies for Charles Soule’s conclusion to The High Republic series arrived in select inboxes this week, and I thought I’d dive right in as soon as I had it. But I waited an entire day to start. Not because I wasn’t excited … but instead because I was scared. I still am.
There is no doubt in my mind that Soule and the entire team are going to absolutely nail this ending. I’m not worried about being disappointed — Star Wars so rarely lets me down. I just don’t like endings. They’re hard to wrestle with. And at the end of a long series, when you’ve spent years with a set of characters … saying goodbye isn’t easy.
I’ll talk much more about this once all the embargo restrictions lift on June 17. With myself, with other High Republic fans, with the Soule-crusher himself … but for now, I just want to say: No matter what happens, we are all the Republic. And we always will be.
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.