The excitement is back. I admit, the down time of not having any new Star Wars books almost made me walk away. As each day passed without having a new book and not knowing what the future was going to hold my brain distanced itself from the Star Wars Universe. Those nagging thoughts that I shouldn’t invest anymore of my money into something that might not matter on the whims of people who don’t get what being a book fan has meant to some people over the last twenty-some years. These last few months have been especially hard. I don’t remember a time when I went on a summer trip and didn’t have a new Star Wars book to accompany me on a plane flight. Anyone paying a lot of attention to this site has also noticed my lack of articles lately. That’s because I almost walked away. Completely. Sure I would’ve gone to see the Star Wars movies when they came out but I was seriously thinking about not reading anymore.
At the start of all this, when we found out about the reboot I was excited. I get that these things don’t happen overnight but there is some millennial generation in me that wants things instantly and the wait for a new book began to weigh on me. Would I care about the characters anymore? I admit that part of me stayed with the EU because I just couldn’t handle not knowing what was happening to “my people”. Was Corran Horn being treated all right by the authors? Did Wedge Antilles ever get married? Would Gavin Darklighter ever lead Rogue Squadron? I had to know. How could the new universe ever replace the 17 year relationship I had with some of the EU characters. Those characters helped me through high school, college and some dark times in my life. How can I betray them by starting a relationship with new characters while not knowing if they’re going to be grandfathered in to the new universe?
As you can see the Star Wars drought did not do me any good. However! Finally! We are done with that. I gave A New Dawn a shot. I was apprehensive after months of doubt despite how much I adore John Jackson Miller I wasn’t sure he could fix things. You see in my questions above that I didn’t mention Luke, Han or Leia as one of my people. I’m a book girl, through and through. My favorite movie character has always been R2-D2, the real hero of Star Wars. I realize JJM can’t fix things. A New Dawn wasn’t even in the right era for him to fix anything. There’s been shockingly little written about that era anyways so while we’re getting new books there is still a wait for what really matters to me.
So why did I title this the excitement is back? Because it is. I got goosebumps while reading the forward from Dave Filoni. He set the right tone for my brain to let go of all the insecurities that had built up over the course of a year of not getting any new Star Wars books. I still see a lot of people on forums talking about how they’ve given up and I wish they wouldn’t. I wish they’d read the forward and then the perfectly titled A New Dawn. JJM has been with Star Wars for a long time and if anything HE deserves a chance from the fans.
In a time when I see a lot of polarizing views from fans and some serious issues in geek culture I think we as a fandom need to stand up and show people how to do things right. In a time where Harry Potter has paved the way for some amazing things outside of the books and movies we need to show a united fan base in order to reap some of those benefits. Who doesn’t want to have a Star Wars theme park area like Harry Potter World? Every investment of time watching the new TV show and money spent on the new books is going to show the powers that be that this fandom deserves to have everything the HP fandom has if not more. Star Wars is even more universal than Harry Potter was because Star Wars is far more family friendly. Parts of HP are family friendly but there are some seriously dark themes within those books, themes that have me recommending that my brother doesn’t start reading those books to my 6 year old niece yet.
I’ve seen a lot of negative articles concerning geek culture lately. With the gamers going after females, cosplayers fighting with each other and even a little unrest with how some of the Star Wars male fans look at females going on lately we all need something positive to focus on. I hope the Rebels show can turn us all back into children and restart some of the original magic that was Star Wars in 1977. I’m not saying there aren’t some fights that need to be fought. Trust me, there are. I shall probably be embarking on one such endeavor soon if the cards fall right but I do think we need to figure out how to work together to get our fandom on track and prepared to handle all that is going to be thrown at us in the near future. Disney has proven with Marvel that they are going to enable something that is successful and I want to have books to read for another 20+ years at least or a movie coming out every year like we see from the Avengers crew and a live action TV show. 
I want more Star Wars than we know what to do with!
If you still have doubts about the new Universe I encourage you to read A New Dawn. If you’re unwilling to read the entire book I encourage you to at least read the forward by David Filoni. No, I challenge you to read the forward and not get excited about the future of Star Wars.
