Halloween Countdown Day 6: Star Wars Reads

[eldritchhobbit]

October once again is Star Wars Reads Month. This means free events, a free downloadable activity kit and posters, and general celebration of Star Wars books. For more information (and free downloads), see this site.

I know you.

You're wondering how I'm going to connect the topic of Star Wars Reads with Halloween. This is, after all, our Halloween countdown.

Wait for it...

Remember Cthulhu, the monstrous creation of H.P. Lovecraft first introduced in his creeptastic classic "The Call of Cthulhu" in 1928? Here is one of Lovecraft's own illustrations of his cosmic nightmare:


Source.

Fast forward fifty years from Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu" in 1928 to 1978. In 1978, Alan Dean Foster published Star Wars: Splinter of the Mind's Eye, the first original full-length Star Wars novel produced after the release of the original Star Wars film, and thus one of the earliest Star Wars Expanded Universe (now Legends) works.



Guess what familiar face makes a cameo in Splinter of the Mind's Eye? I'll let you be the judge.

"A colossal statue was seated there against the dark wall. It represented a vaguely humanoid being seated on a carved throne. Leathery wings which might have been vestigial swept out in two awesome arcs to either side of the figure. Enormous claws thrust from feet and arms, the latter clinging to the ends of armrests on the throne. It had no face below slanted, accusing eyes -- only a mass of Medusian, carved tentacles."
- Alan Dean Foster, Splinter of the Mind's Eye

Here's how the statue appears in the 1996 graphic novel adaptation of Splinter of the Mind's Eye.



May this make your next session of Jedi (or Sith) meditation just a little bit more eldritch.

Comments

[estellye.livejournal.com]

It's been such a long time since I read "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" but I think I recall two things, if my memory is holding up: 1. Leia gets a turn fighting Darth Vader, and 2. Luke & Leia kiss, (indicating that Foster wasn't given a peek into Lucas's brain prior to publication).

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Great memory! That's it. Ah yes, Luke and Leia. Gotta love accidental incest! ;)

[homespunheart.livejournal.com]

Star Wars and Lovecraft in the same post...a perfect Halloween countdown day! Must reread Splinter of the Mind's Eye!
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”
― H.P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. How I love that quote!

[sittingduck1313.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, the pose in that illustration makes it look like Cthulhu is taking a dump.

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Lovecraft didn't opt for his "good side," that's for sure. I don't think Cthulhu was ready for his close up.

[internet-sampo.livejournal.com]

Great! I read Splinter when it first came out (which was at least 25 years before I heard of Lovecraft).

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

Old school! I love it.

re: Halloween Countdown Day 6 HPL and SW

[acciochocolate.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the quote! I couldn't re-read SotME again, not when it had Luke knowing how to swim perfectly. However, it was interesting that ADF had a swamp planet setting!

We received a SW book sampler at Dragoncon. I did try to read the excerpt from ADF's novelization of TFA, and found that his style has become even more of a high style than in his earlier years of writing.

Re: Halloween Countdown Day 6 HPL and SW

[eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com]

not when it had Luke knowing how to swim perfectly

To quote Han from The Force Awakens, "That's not how the Force works!"

I did read ADF's novelization of TFA, which was a nice nod to the fact he ghostwrote the very first film's novelization, but I agree with your assessment of him as an author. There are some great writers in SW novels today, but he's not one of them.