Hello world.
Got a question for any busy fan fiction writers out there.
Since the day Star Wars came out there have been people like you and me, writing, drawing, making super 8 films, audio dramas, costumes, all kinds of things to celebrate and expand upon the Star Wars universe. Bantha Tracks (still by far the closest us fans have ever been made to feel a part of the SWU - Maureen Garrett, wherever you are, I still remember you fondly) used to run a fantastic contest for art, fiction, poetry, model making, with superb prizes (I remember entering in 1982 so I could win Threepio's arm from Empire).
That story started a journey for me that's continued to this day - writing Star Wars fan fiction. During the intervening 23 years I've made audio dramas, done hundreds of hours of West End Game RPG (great way to celebrate the 10th anniversary) and continued to write. In 1997 me and my good friend Louis Turfrey started Wirezone, and by 1999 that became Lightsabre. (stick with me, there's a point to this).
To its credit, Star Trek began something 7 years ago that was a genuine tip of the hat to all Trek fans. Pocket Books began an annual series of books called Strange New Worlds, where fan fiction writers could enter their stories for submission and have the chance to be published authors. During the years of the series, which is still going strong, some have gone on to be Trek writers, some to publish their own works.
So answer me this - why doesn't Del Rey do something similar?
We've had some interest over at Lightsabre. We constantly heard rumours of a fan fiction based collection being investigated. I don't know how much of this was fan wishing or if it was true, but whatever, it ain't happened yet.
So come on Lucasfilm and Del Rey, there are thousands of us out here. We are a resource that will keep Star Wars at boiling point until the TV series begins. Don't waste that resource.