As any good writer will tell you, to write well, you've gotta read. A lot. And brother, I read a ton. Literally, perhaps. Last year, I read 75 books, though in all fairness, these included not only novels, but books of poetry, graphic novels, and children's books. Not included in the count are newspapers, magazines, or fast food menus.

When I was younger, I used to like to read Hardy Boys books, along with Nintendo Power and Electronic Gaming Monthly magazines. In the early 90s, Tim Zahn's Heir to the Empire changed my reading habits forever; blasting through the novel in a few days, I spent the next ten years reading nearly nothing but Star Wars, which should answer more than a few questions about my loony familiarity with so much of the Expanded Universe. Another major reading development occurred when I attended college, where I was forced to pound through one or two books a week while reading five to seven-odd books simultaneously. This, of course, was besides any "leisure" reading I was doing on the side, usually a Star Wars book of some kind.

Needless to say, this terrible reading habit was ingrained so thoroughly in me, that today I carry on in much the same way. Currently, I'm reading about a dozen books, give or take (mostly give) another half-dozen. I take one or two books with me whenever I go out the door, even though I won't necessarily touch them. I read while pumping gas, before I go to bed, at the dentist's office, while the shower warms up, and while I'm on the throne. I also read sometimes at local bookstores--a satisfying luxury.

It's rare when I don't finish a book, even if it's terrible. I like to see things through to the end before I judge 'em. Sometimes I can be quite surprised, as I was when I plowed through the overwhelming Middle English allegory Piers Plowman by William Langland. Sometimes, this masochistic exercise is undertaken intentionally from the get-go, as when I read Barbara Cartland's No Escape From Love in order to know exactly what a bestselling romance novelist writes like. Scary.

Below are some of the books I'm reading currently.

WARNING: References to female Star Wars authors unexpectedly abound, as does a potentially apocryphal recounting of the one-time only epic encounter between authors Curtis Saxton and Abel G. Peña in their fan days prior to receiving a Lucasfilm implant.

Jedi Quest #7: The Moment of Truth by Jude Watson
There's only one word to describe Jude Watson: Superwoman. The most prolific Star Wars writer to date, she is rivaled in speed only perhaps by Karen "lightspeed fingers" Traviss. Still, Watson seems like she can write a book faster than I can read one. I try not to read all her books one after the other, since the stories start to melt together and I can't pinpoint the events to a single book anymore. This also happens to me with book trilogies and long storylines like the New Jedi Order. In this novel, Obi-Wan and Anakin have a run-in with a nest of gundarks, as alluded to in their witty elevator banter in Attack of the Clones.

Will the Jedi duo survive? Why, it's elementary my dear Watson. (Alright, I'm a cornball, sue me.) The last Star Wars books I read were the Revenge of the Sith Visual Dictionary and Watson's Secrets of the Jedi. I'll probably start in on the Revenge of the Sith novelization after this.

Confessions by Saint Augustine
As the name implies, this famous tome is an interesting autobiographical account of the sins and conversion of one of the most respected clergymen of the 4th century, Saint Augustine. The book also includes smatterings of theology and some provocative philosophical questions.

The World of Ripley's Believe It or Not! by Julie Mooney, et al
Anyone familiar with Ripley's famous wax "Odditoriums" will know what this book's about. Highlighting some of Rip's most famous findings, including Three-Ball Charlie, a two-headed calf, and Ripley's trip to Hell--the name of a rural village in Norway, the picture filled book is an entertaining read for any lover of the weird and curious.

Revenge of the Sith: Incredible Cross Sections by Curtis Saxton, illustrated by Hans Jenssen and Richard Chasemore
I read parts of this book while doing research for the Ultimate Vader Guide, but it's only now that I'm able to read it from cover to cover.

Curtis Saxton, of course, is the proprieter of the impressive Star Wars Technical Commentaries. But what folks don't know is that Mr. Saxton and I shared some correspondence briefly back in 2000, when both of us were still only fans without any "professional" use for all the Star Wars knowledge swimming in our heads. Stumbling upon my essay on Star Wars canon, Curtis sent me an intelligently written e-mail telling me he enjoyed the piece. In one of the most uncanny instances of synchronicity I've yet experienced, I happened to be viewing Curtis's Technical Commentaries, which I'd always been curious about, for the very first time immediately prior to receiving his e-mail!

Meaning, while Mr. Saxton was reading my work and writing me about it, I was reading his. Clearly, the Force was at work here.

I immediately replied to the e-mail, remarking briefly on the spectacular coincidence that had just transpired -- using, in fact, some witty variation (I thought, anyway) of the above "the Force was at work..." -- and continuing to thank him for his kind words about my essay. Unfazed, Mr. Saxton soon replied, informing me that there were perfectly reasonable explanations for the aforementioned coincidence, giving an argument I had already considered and decided was unsatisfactory.*** This, I believe, was the end of our correspondence.

Believe It or Not!

Schizophrenia as a Human Process by Harry Stack Sullivan
A compilation of Sullivan's early 20th century essays exploring many facets of the schizophrenic psychosis, edited and with commentary by Helen Swick Perry. Sullivan's writing borders on impenetrability for a novice investigator like me, but remains engaging, especially with Perry's assistance.

Stephen King On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
While I'm not the biggest fan of Stephen King's work, I greatly admire his discipline as a writer and his wide audience appeal. Clearly a master of a kind, I figured I'd put my ego in check and pick up a few pointers.

12 Monkeys novelization by Elizabeth Hand
12 Monkeys is one of my favorite movies, so I thought I'd dig in a little deeper. Author Elizabeth Hand should be familiar to Star Wars fans. Like New Jedi Order novelist James Luceno, who penned the novelization to The Mask of Zorro, Hand went on to write Star Wars literature, namely the Boba Fett children's series. Matt Stover's Revenge of the Sith not withstanding, the next novelization on my list will probably be R.L. Stine's Spaceballs: The Book.

The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't by Carolyn Howard-Johnson
This is an extremely helpful book for self-promoting writers. Incredibly well researched, Howard-Johnson's guide is full of important tools and tips for writers of any style and genre looking for ways to publicize their work. I highly recommend it.

Invisible Work: Borges and Translation by Efraín Kristal
An exploration of the concept of literary translation as suggested by the works of the incomparable know-it-all Jorge Luis Borges, including extrapolations from the classics "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote" and "The Translators of the Thousand and One Nights."

Le avventure di Pinocchio: Storia di un burattino by Carlo Collodi
The Adventures of Pinocchio in English. This amusing book deviates considerably in content if not meaning from the famous Disney animated movie. Not necessarily a bad thing. The book serves mostly as an entertaining means of keeping up my modest Italian. My next Italian-language reading will probably be Carlo Goldoni's play La Locandiera and the comic books Nathan Never #139: Vita Artificiale (Artificial Life) and Diabolik: L'idolo di sangue (Idol of Blood).

Dark Horse Comics actually translated several Italian fumetti (comic books) a few years back, including multiple Nathan Never, Martin Mystery, and Dylan Dog adventures, which retailers had to purchase in order to get four black and white, digest-sized reprints of a few Marvel Star Wars comics. They were crappy reprints, and Dark Horse has since released the full run in seven beautiful color trade paperbacks. In fact, I did interviews with several of the original creators for starwars.com back in 2002.

Romancero gitano and Poeta en Nueva York by Federico Garcia Lorca
I picked up this Spanish combo of the two books on a recent run to Baja. Usually I'm not a huge fan of poetry, but I tend to enjoy it with some regularity in other languages, Spanish being a favorite. Gypsy Balladeer and Poet in New York are two of Lorca's best-known works of poetry.

The Metaphysical Poets edited by Helen Gardner
Another book of poetry. Given what I'd heard about the metaphysical school of poetry, I thought this book would speak to me, but so far I haven't been overly impressed. However, two poems have been very powerful: Robert Southwell's mesmerizing "The Burning Babe" and John Donne's infamous "Elegie: To his Mistris Going to Bed." Definitely wasn't expecting some hooking up tips from a 17th century poet, but I guess maybe I should've.

Eragon by Christopher Paolini
I've been pretty impressed with what this author has been able to do. Only 15 years old at the time he wrote Eragon, Paolini has created a rich and engaging world that should inspire younger writers and light a fire under everyone else's a**es.

The Complete Far Side Vol. 1 by Gary Larson
This book is enormous, which seems somehow apt for Gary Larson. Larson is one of my favorite cartoonists alongside Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes) and George Herriman (Krazy Kat). I usually read this monstrosity before I go to sleep, when my brain just needs to unwind and I can use a good belly laugh to forget everything (Conan O'Brien and my Simpsons and Southpark DVDs serve much the same purpose). After Vol. 1, I'll probably take a break from the Far Side, and pick up either Lone Wolf and Cub Vol. 3: The Flute of the Fallen Tiger or Alan Moore's The Courtyard.

Russian Fairy Tales by Aleksandr Afanas'ev
I'm about halfway through this, another mammoth book, which I've been reading on and off since 2000. I actually tend to alternate between this compilation of fairy tales and Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Both books are chock-full of the horror and mind bending non sequitur so useful in developing a vivid imagination and mature reasoning (yet sorely missing from modern children's stories), not to mention a healthy dose of political incorrectness. The stories tend to get repetitive, however, thus the need for alternating between the Grimms and Afanas'ev and taking both in small doses. I expect to be finished with these 600-page monsters when I'm dead. ~ Abel G. Peña

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***Mr. Saxton's argument, never meant to be anything more than a helpful suggestion, was, I believe, this: it was likely that I had heard about his website while surfing the web, and it was thus that I had stumbled upon the Technical Commentaries. This was completely true, but I felt the explanation did not account for A) Why, having noticed his website prior to the exact day and time I chose to peruse it, I fatefully chose the precise moment I did to look at it, or B) Postulating the same explanation for how Curtis found my essay (admittedly a bit harder, since the website hosting my lone article was mostly full of other articles not by me, but not unlikely), how it was that we were viewing each other's work at exactly the same time, something I was only made aware of by his choice to e-mail me his thoughts on my essay. Or, taking the less extravagant thesis, how it was that Mr. Saxton was writing me an e-mail about my obscure work at essentially the same moment I was viewing his website, which I'd decided to visit on a complete whim.

(Admittedly, whims can be thought of as desires hanging out in the subconscious until they get triggered into full-blown choices by some catalyst, and given that I consciously remember seeing links to the Technical Commentaries several times over a period of months, if not years, that is a reasonable conclusion. But that doesn't help do away with the "specific time and place" issue of the event, which is the crux of what was so amusing about the whole scenario in the first place.)

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