Akwat Kbrana said:

...This "shrunken universe" phenomenon gets gradually worse as the OT progresses, but takes an Obama-federal-deficit-sized quantum leap with the onset of the PT.

This is what I like about the very early Han Solo and Lando Calrissian novels. And Splinter of the Minds Eye, to a lesser extent. The authors took the characters to whole new worlds without worrying about continuity and were able to focus on character development.

Frankly, I'm surprised Ep. 3 didn't include a ten-year-old Han solo winning the Falcon from lil' Lando,

This wouldn't surprise me as a young Han Solo was storyboarded into Episode 3 but wisely not filmed. Yet.