In the days of the original Star Wars trilogy, I can recall a couple early novels that extended the stories of a few main characters. These were on the “Del Rey” label, which I believe was associated with science fiction. Maybe it still is. I remember one titled Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, which, if I recall, followed Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia. More clearer in my memory is another — Han Solo’s Revenge.

While I can’t recall the plot in any detail, I do remember a few tidbits. In particular, I think that early in the story some interloper forced Han (at blaster-point, probably) to let him on the Falcon, and of course had warned Han to “be cool” and not let on to Chewbacca that something was up. The story explained that Han and Chewie had this protocol, that if ever they did come aboard with a stranger, that they’d specifically say that he was OK, or cool, or whatever. And that by saying nothing, Han was telling Chewie that “hey, we have a problem here”. Slick, right?

On the classic cover art of Han Solo’s Revenge, this story is claimed, as many others are, to be “from The Adventures of Luke Skywalker”. I remember reading an article in Time Magazine from around this period in time, that, I’m pretty sure, had George Lucas claiming that he’d actually written such a book. After 30+ years, I’m pretty sure no such book exists. Though, you’d think these book publishers would find some way to make it so.