Hey everyone. Back in 1977, George Lucas had a plan B, just in case his little space movie flopped.

He was going to make a very low budget sequel to it. And the novelization to that sequel was trusted to none other than Alan Dean Foster, who wrote it before a movie was even made, and then the movie was

never made, making this the very first Star Wars original novel. And with no other movies or

legacy to draw on, it's pretty weird. Today's book is Star Wars, Splinter of the Mind's Eye,

by Alan Dean Foster.

And this is The Book Pile.

A podcast about the best of books and the worst of books.

If this is your first time to the podcast, welcome.

And maybe suggest checking out our back catalog of over 170 episodes with as many books.

And may I add that all of the episodes before number 142 include my co-host

David Vance on every episode rather than his current every other week's schedule. I'm Kalanerskin.

I'm a comic, a father, and as a Star Wars fan as a kid, I would sometimes try and move stuff

with my mind and never succeeded.

But as a Californian, I often think back on what might have happened had I been trying to

use the force when the Loma Prieta earthquake struck in 1989, the one that broke the Bay Bridge

and stopped a World Series game, I probably would have immediately tried to run away to Dagobah for training,

or at the very least, would have chased those powers for way too many years.

As per our current usual, Dave is out this week,

selling bootleg cassette tapes of Ace of Bass Albums on a sidewalk in North Hollywood.

But he'll be back next week for a very special episode,

a live recording in front of a live audience as we roast the novelization of The Force Awakens,

also by Alan Dean Foster.

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