Hold on to your hats, Star Wars fans! The Star Wars posse is back in town, riding hard for adventure!

Yep, it's been a lean time for us Star Wars fans.... No more adventures for Luke Skywalker, Lucasfilm said. Marvel killed the comic book. All we had were fan stories, whihc are fine, but many of us wondered what an 'official' continuation might be like.

Now we know. Timothy Zahn has crafted a really nice tale here, with all our favorite characters and some interesting new ones as well.

Especially the villains. Ok, they're a combination of Imperial remnants and a wacked-out Dark Jedi, but they're guaranteed to cause our heroes lots of original trouble...

...because this is the first of three volumes, naturally!

Heh...sorry, it's just nice to have something to look forward to again.

Let's see... how much shall I reveal? Well, the tale begins five years after the 'defeat' of the Empire (some few Imperial forces still exist, of course). The New Republic has happily in the former Imperial headquarters and is busily organizing and directing. Leia and han are married and immersed in the new government, with help from Chewie, Artoo and See-Threepio. Luke is doing his bit as well as teaching his sister some Jedi pointers. Entrepeneur Lando is ceerfully running a rare-mine operation on the superhot planet of NKllon. Even good 'ole Wedge Antilles is still around.

All sounds rather cosy, doesn't it?

But wait - look what else we have here:

A fiendishly cunning Grand-Admiral, who, stationed out in the boonies, escaped destruction during the rebels' climactic battle in Return of the Jedi and is now gunning for the New Republic.

Leia is pregnant - with twins, already strong with the Force.

The Grand-Admiral has enlisted the support of a wacky Dark-Jedi. C'baoth's price? The last two remaining Jedi.

A mysterious woman wants Luke dead - badly.

Some of the New Republic leaders aren't working together as nicely as one might expect.

And that's just the beginning! Zahn's cliffhanger isn't too agonizing, but it certainly leaves you raring for more. Here's hoping he doesn't make us wait as long as we had to in between the movies!