[geeks] "Expanded Universe" of Star Wars, LOTR, etc.

[Nicolai]

Hey all,

As many know, Star Wars, Star Trek, and probably other sagas have a
catalog of "expanded universe" stories written by 3rd party authors.
A Star Wars list is here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Wars_books

In short, I *LOVE* the books and have read from others, like Star Trek.

I think Lord of the Rings could benefit from this model.  Whenever I
re-read LOTR, by the end of it I feel like I'm saying farewell to dear
friends and there's a sadness about it.

Compared to this, the expanded universe is a breath of fresh air.  There
will always be new adventures and stories that broaden my understanding
of a galaxy far, far away...  I'll still re-read the original books (and
see the movies too), but they're richer as part of an expanded universe.

LOTR is ripe for its own expanded universe.  Only short periods of time
in its 3000+ year history are covered in meaningful detail.  It has a
deep and caring fan-base that could give Middle Earth new life.  I would
love to see it happen.

BTW if you'd like to try some Star Wars books, a good place to start is
the Darth Bane trilogy.  Bane is the Sith Lord who introduced the "Rule
of Two" 1000 years before A New Hope.  Or if you're more interested in
recent history, the book on Darth Plagueis (who taught Sidious aka
Palpatine) is also excellent.

Nicolai