In case you haven't heard in the midst of the Celebration IV craze, the first issue of the Outsider fanzine is now available for download and your EU enjoyment. This zine holds a most special place in my heart because none other than the cast of my Dusty Duck databank entry grace the cover! Not only that, but I actually got to write another story about my favorite Pa'lowick family!

When Arf Maul approached me out of the blue, and asked if I'd be interested in writing a further adventure of the Dusty Duck, I nearly passed out from joy. It was a great honor and, out of all the wonderful What's the Story entries that have been created by my fellow fans, I'll never be able to express how grateful I am that Arf chose me and the Duck. When he asked me what kind of story I would like to tell, I knew immediately that I wanted to tell a prequel to the Duck's databank entry. One of my only regrets about that initial entry was that I never gave Aneesa Dym's father a name! I opened up with the guy being dead and I always wanted to go back and explore their family's dynamic and get into their personal history. I mean, how does a Pa'lowick end up as a smuggler on Nar Shaddaa anyway, right? Also, I wanted to explore what it might "really" be like for a Pa'lowick family in the galaxy. Pa'lowicks aren't really well-known (save for Sy Snootles) and I wanted to really focus on the Pa'lowicks and their struggles, and culture, and triumphs, and, as I often told Arf, show my "Pa'lowick Pride".

I had an absolutely amazingly fun time writing this story and, yeah, because it appears in a fanzine, NONE OF IT IS CANON. It's all just me writing a "What If", but, nonetheless, I did a ton of research on official Star Wars lore so that there's plenty of stuff in there for the continuity fans to investigate.

Looking through the Outsider for the first time, I was astounded at the amount of work that everyone involved put into the project. Really, if you haven't checked it out, you're doing yourself a disservice. This is a labor of love for all of us, but the work remains undone until it's read and ejoyed by the people. So, please, make our joy complete and give the Outsider a read. And, if you liked seeing the Duck back in action, feel free to drop a line and show your "Pa'lowick Pride".

Hedec Ga