I just wanted to thank you for the incredible job you've done on this book. I wanted to post this on your site but the registration link I got seems unsafe, so I chickened out;) Anyway, I've read the book that was available on your site a few years ago and my interest in Star Wars that was starting to fade at that time got in fact new life by it, the book confirmed all the things I've thought and felt all these years but started to doubt on, so thank you for that and a late congratulation for getting it published. I just bought a copy of it:)
I also love your great articles on your site, very cool that you managed to get response from Marcia for your latest one.
We want you to be aware that we have no plans—now or in the future—to restore the earlier versions.
Sincerely, Lynne Hale publicity@lucasfilm.com
Thanks, msycamore!
Also, what registration link are you referring to?
Well, the activation link sent to me through email showed up as a high security risk to open on my computer. I don't know, maybe that's nothing to worry about?
We want you to be aware that we have no plans—now or in the future—to restore the earlier versions.
Sincerely, Lynne Hale publicity@lucasfilm.com
Oh, you mean on the discussion board. It's probably safe as it is from a reputable provider, but it's probably just as well, i was going to delete the forum since it hasn't had much interest.
Just finished reading the print edition. Wonderful job, though it looks like you could release a second edition (typos, awkward sentences, etc).
Perhaps a "Special Edition" where you can show us what you "always intended" to have written? ;)
It's definitely a page turner and I've only encountered a few people who refuse to read it because they think it's "paranoid" and "Lucas bashing" (which if they actually read it they'd realize it is far from that).
(Just so everyone knows, I realize how hard it is to find and correct EVERY error in a long work, even professional scholars miss stuff, which is why we have editors, but even they are not perfect! Every book has a few errors. However if you DID make a second edition, there is stuff you could fix, and I just notice this in passing after reading a wonderfully entertaining and informative book)
Oh for sure. I'm not sure when you read it, but as its initial print was rushed there were some typesetting errors, which we corrected in a revision which started streeting in September of last year. There probably is still stuff that got through i am sure. I am planning on doing a full-on second edition in 2013 in any case.
My copy arrived yesterday. Looking forward to finally read it.
Since they're like poetry, what with the rhyming and all, I find that I only need to watch three out of the six films.
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Well done, sir.
I look forward to receiving my copy as well. It will arrive in 5 - 8 business days.
Since someone bumped this thread, I'll throw in my comments.
I read Secret History a few months ago and was enthralled. It was so refreshing and exciting to read a book by someone who maintained objectivity and skepticism about this subject, while unfailingly demonstrating a deep abiding appreciation and passion for the subject matter.
A rare thing, in the 'EU,' as it were.
I was left with just one big question: what is the nature of the dialogue in the partially-restored Biggs-in-the-hangar scene, which refers to 'father Skywalker' in a way inconsistent with 'father Vader'? Secret History mentions it in passing, without ever quoting the dialogue. If it is really inconsistent, I think that may be the strongest single piece of evidence for the book's central thesis.
[Of course, I can't help inserting on tiny nit-pick. There are some serious, systemic 'who'/'whom' issues, overlooked by the editor! I would love to take a crack at editing the 2013 edition! I think the organization could be cleared of some topical redundancies as well. But don't get me wrong--I loved in and devoured it very quickly!]
Yes, if/when I get a crack at a full-out second edition, large parts of it will be quite different, probably about 15% of the entire text will be rewritten, and there will be a lot of nips and tucks and quite a bit of additional facts that have come about in the last 4 years. There was talk about adding an afterword on all the post-prequel mythology, but that was with the assumption that the live-action series would already be in production by now, so there might not be enough material to warrant this now. But ultimately this is all up to the control of my publisher anyway.
The dialogue with Red Leader in ANH is not necessarily "inconsistent"--in fact, I wish they left it intact, since it could be plausible and makes the conversation flow a helluva lot better and make more sense--but it raises some questions.
The dialogue in the SE goes something like this:
Red Leader: Are you sure you can handle this?
Biggs: Sir, Luke Skywalker is the best bush pilot in the outer rims.
Red Leader: You'll do alright.
Kind of a weird about-face without any real motivation. The real version went like this:
Red Leader: Are you sure you can handle this?
Biggs: Sir, Luke Skywalker is the best bush pilot in the outer rims.
Red Leader: Skywalker? I knew your father when I was a boy, he was a great pilot. You'll do alright.
Of course, since we see Anakin in his youth, a close relationship of some kind between Red Leader and him would seem weird to casually throw out there unless you were going to reference it in the prequels. I am pretty sure RL says "when I was a boy" and given his age this would mean three things, both sort of implausible: 1) He knew him on Tatooine, when Anakin was a slave boy; 2) he knew him as an adolecant elsewhere in the galaxy, when he was training to be a Jedi Knight; 3) He fought with him in the Clone Wars. I guess these aren't so implausible, but it's just a really weird sort of personal connection to make. Probably the third option makes the most sense, after all RL is a military pilot and there would have been many soldiers and pilots Anakin interacted with at that time, but I think Lucas just didn't want to have to commit himself to any sort of character relationships in 1997, because if you have a reference like that that draws attention to itself, then you better show it in the prequels that take place at the time period referenced. Anyway, the dialogue would made sense in light of the prequels because people would just make their own projections, but it clearly is referring to a person who is the "Father Skywalker" Ben spoke of and not the Jedi student Darth Vader, who would not have been old enough to be a pilot or fighter when RL was a boy.