ThousandWorlds
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ThousandWorlds is the Star Wars universe created by Maggie Nowakowska and Dyane Kirkland. It was the first complex fan-created Star Wars universe.
These stories won at least one Fan Q.
Dyane's participation ended with the story "It's a Man's World" in Guardian #3.
Other Prominent Early Star Wars Fan-Created Universes
- Brightstar Universe by Christine Jeffords
- Catalyst! Universe by Jeanine Hennig
- Collected Circle of Fire by Anne Elizabeth Zeek
- The Cori Beckett Series by Judi L. Hendricks and Paula Block
- The Executor Cycle by Barbara T and Sylvia Stevens
- Maeve Solo Universe by Chris Callahan and L.C. Wells
- New Order Series by Pat Stanley
- ThousandWorlds by Maggie Nowakowska and Dyane Kirkland
- First Steps Universe by Samia Martz
Where the Stories Are
The first of the stories was published in Moonbeam #3 in February 1978. The stories were also in Skywalker, Time Warp, and Guardian. They were later collected and published in the zine ThousandWorlds Collected.
Comments Maggie Kowakowska
Hey, along with trying to figure out what Kenobi wasn't saying in ANH, the main reason I wrote ThousandWorlds was to figure out a way to get Solo into a state where I could believe he would successfully survive an Alliance victory. [1]
Ohmigoh Someone who remembers back to the early issues of Marvel SW comics and the lettercol. Ohmy. Yes, I'm the same Maggie. For those who weren't around then, Marvel was running a story line about surviving relatives of the Imperials killed when the Death Star went Boom! and appeared lo have confused Motti and Tagge. Being the obsessive fan, I wrote to them with all my citations, pointing out their error. They were very polite in their answer, which they published with the letter... The story I referred to in my Marvel letter eventually became part of my ThousandWorlds series, an ancient fan alternate universe that draws solely on ANH since it was 99% written before TESB came out. So, It's a bit dated as far as canon SW goes. [2]
Comments from Dyane Kirkland
After reading the loc's in SKYWALKER #4, I thought I'd better jump in and defend my-self! Dyane Kirkland, a person I know very well, is alive and well, and a completely separate entity from Maggie Nowakowska/Pam Kowalski. I can prove it to you by the fact that Pam/Maggie lives in apartment 202 and Dyane lives in 101. If Dyane and Maggie/Pam were not two separate people, they wouldn't live in two separate apartments in this town where the rents are so high. The reason that Emme didn't come through as her usual self in "Nothin" Left to Lose" is that Dyane didn't have anything to do with the writing of the character in that story. (Contrary to popular opinion, Maggie and Dyane do not collaborate on SW stories, they work separate stories around a firm timeframe.) The only Kirkland/ Nowakowska collaboration was to have been SKY #5, "The Battle for Rynan." For reasons that bridge sublime and ridiculous, the collaboration is off and Nowakowska will do "The Battle for Rynan" solo (pardon the pun). As for a ThousandMorlds Collected, do you suppose then we could get some of Emme's background in? For those who don't know it, editorial preference dictated that I start Emme's story in the middle, which is why a lot of people are frustrated at trying to decipher the galactic runaway/ beady dancer turned Jedi knight (sort of). The story of her flight from Halkin was where I really wanted to start, and her meeting Darth just after the Death Star Oh well. Such is a writer's life.
Before any rumors get started as to why I am not working on "The Battle for Rynan," I can only say that my interest in SW fiction is waning in favor of pro submissions (the law of averages has to catch up soon, or I'll be able to paper my bathroom, hall, and bedroom with rejection slips) and I find the infinite detail in writing such a tightly organized universe as TW quite difficult to do around my other commitments. Maggie, on the other hand, has both the tenacity and the mind for infinitesimal detail that I lack. I leave the novel in her competent hands, and will return unopened any hate mail I receive from my (untimely, too untimely, finally) exit from the TW universe. Satlnka Istari is alive and well and writing columns for ELAN VITAL. [3]
Reactions and Reviews
A fan who reviewed a story in Grip #17 mentions the universe's influence: "I found her use of the word 'enclave' interesting; it's further proof of the influence the 'ThousandWorlds' universe has over SW fandom, much like several 'Kraithisms' that have come to be accepted almost as 'canon' in ST fandom." [4]
At least one other fan wrote a riff on this series with two stories in Equal Space: "'Like Father' and 'Eight is More than Enough' are two short pieces based on a bit of Thousandworlds apocrypha involving eight bastard half-brothers fathered by Han Solo and their search for their father." [5]
References
- ^ Maggie Nowakowska commented in Southern Enclave #36
- ^ a comment in 1993 in Southern Enclave #37
- ^ from an LoC by Dyane Kirkland in Skywalker #6
- ^ from Universal Translator #24
- ^ from Jundland Wastes #1