In 1984 William C. Dietz jumped into writing science-fiction with his first novel, War World, published by Berkeley/Ace. Since then he has written at least a novel each year, including the acclaimed Legion of the Damned in 1993, Bodyguard in 1994, The Final Battle in 1995 and his latest novel, Where the Ships Die in 1996. His most recent project, however, is not a novel at all but a series of novella-length graphic story albums based on the Dark Forces and soon-to-be-released Jedi Knight CD-ROM games from LucasArts. Each book in the trilogy-which the result of a joint publishing venture between Dark Horse Comics, Bantam Publishing, and LucasArts-features numerous full-page paintings rendered by a leading fantasy artists. The first book in the trilogy, Star Wars: Dark Forces-Soldier for the Empire, which is due out this March, features 25 fully painted illustrations from the magic brush of Dean Williams. Tom Fassbender had the opportunity to speak to William Dietz about his experience writing with the Force.

Tom Fassbender: How did you come to be chosen as the writer for the Dark Forces books?

William C. Dietz: To the best of my knowledge, gaining the authorship of any Star Wars novel is by invitation; they come looking for you. In this case they approached my publisher. Berkeley offered the project to another author who wasn't able to take it on. I was the number two choice... and very glad to be in the running.

Fassbender: What have you attempted to do by turning this series of videogames into a series of novels?

Dietz: Suffice it to say that the characters from the Dark Forces games are major players in the books. The stories contain action and backstory that people haven't encountered in the games, yet they tie in very closely with the games. The additional component of what makes it fun is the fact that people who enjoy the games will find out a great deal more about the backgrounds of the characters by reading the books.

Fassbender: In the last chapter in Soldier of the Empire, you have successfully captured the action of the first level of the Dark Forces game, so much so that I assume you've played the game?

Dietz: Yes, I have, and I enjoyed it. I didn't have enough time to get to be the top-level player, but I got pretty close. Of course I had this wonderful excuse in that it was for research.

Fassbender: How much of the backstory included in the stories was provided by LucasArts as part of the game?

Dietz: Lucas provided almost no backstory, and while I had a some input from Justin Chin, who is leading the team that's producing the games, I can claim that the details of the backstory were something I came up with while remaining true to Justin's original thoughts.

Fassbender: In the first story, you portray life through the eyes of Imperial Stormtrooper Cadets. Isn't this somewhat rare in Star Wars material?

Dietz: One of the details of the game is that the main character, Kyle Katarn, comes from an Imperial background. I thought it would be fun to write Kyle from the Imperial Trooper perspective for awhile before he switches over to the rebels. I must admit I relished the opportunity.

Fassbender: One of your strengths as a science-fiction writer is your method of portraying the military. This, I assume, helped you to pull off life as an Imperial Cadet.

Dietz: A number of the books I've written-certainly some of my more successful books-are classified as military science-fiction. That stems from two things: first, I enjoy military science fiction, and second, I was in the military. That, like any life experience, is great stuff that you can translate into what you write. It helps to have that feeling of what it's like to be abused by a drill sergeant... there's just no substitute for that.

Fassbender: Was there any precedent for how the Stormtrooper Academy was laid out or how they react in battle?

Dietz: There have been some stories-and LucasFilm is very careful about keeping all its facts coordinated so that everything is consistent-that have mentioned the Academy, but the description of the Academy with the statues and the cliff-even the name "Cliffside"-were all my own ideas.

Fassbender: Speaking of the LucasFilm's editorial control, it's been said that they-understandably-keep a tight rein over their properties for continuity's sake. How was this to deal with?

Dietz: It's the kind of thing that you approach with some trepidation because you don't know what you're going to run into, but the people there are extremely nice to deal with. They turn the Hollywood stereotype on its head. They're very respectful and professional in the way they deal with you and it's not at all confrontational.

Fassbender: You borrowed a few characters from other areas of the Star Wars mythos: Lando Calrissian makes an appearance as does Thrawn, the alien Imperial Commander from Timothy Zahn's novels. Why did you decide to use them?

Dietz: For flavor-I needed a commanding officer for an Imperial Starship. At first I thought that I'd invent one, but then I thought it would be fun-as a kind of homage-to put Thrawn in here. So I went back and checked Thrawn's history and the timeline and it looked like I could get away with it, so I put him in there as a cool detail.

Fassbender: Did you have an actual timeline to work from?

Dietz: Yes, they have a very elaborate timeline/bible to work from. Interestingly enough, I was also given copies of some books that are available commercially: A Guide to the Star Wars Universe by Bill Slavicsek and Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Characters by Andy Mangels.

Fassbender: In the first book, you really only covered the first level of the first Dark Forces game. In the latter two books will you be drawing adventures from the other levels of the first game?

Dietz: No. The way it divides out, the first book, Star Wars: Dark Forces-Soldier fo the Empire, centers around the first game, Dark Forces. The second two books, Star Wars: Dark Forces-Rebel Agent and Star Wars: Dark Forces-Jedi Knight, are chronological and follow Kyle Katarn's further adventures and are both linked to the game Jedi Knight, the sequel to Dark Forces.

Fassbender: Have you seen Dean Williams' paintings for the story?

Dietz: I have not, but I recently spoke with my editor at Berkeley who told me that she'd seen color photocopies of some of the paintings and they blew her away. Actually, seven of Dean's paintings have been accepted into the 1996 Society of Illustrators, and two of the seven are from Dark Forces-Soldier for the Empire.

Fassbender: How was the subject matter of the paintings chosen? Did you have any say in that?

Dietz: Yes I did, and that was a very enjoyable part of the process. They said from the very beginning they didn't want the illustrations to simply echo the words; wherever possible they wanted the pictures to add another dimension to the storytelling. They gave me the chance to go through and detail out what I thought would make good illustrations, and when all's said and done I think the final paintings are going to be pretty close to what I suggested.

Fassbender: Have you ever written comics?

Dietz: No, I've never had the chance. If I had the opportunity, I'd love to try it, though.

Fassbender: What about more Star Wars stories?

Dietz: Who knows? We'll have to see if these are successful and if LucasFilm has an interest in me doing something else. I have no idea whether they'd invite me to do another one or not. If they did I would certainly consider it. They're great people to work with.