Saturday would’ve been the sixty-fifth birthday of Brian Daley. Brian was a lot of things — a Vietnam vet, a prolific writer, co-creator of the Robotech series, and native New Jerseyan (born in Englewood.) But he’s probably best known for his role in adapting Star Wars into other media. Most notably, he scripted the amazing NPR dramatizations of the original trilogy, including fleshing out the first film to a four-hour audio play that incorporated extensive story notes and other material that George Lucas had to cut from the screen version.

His second contribution was to write a best-selling trilogy of novels about Han Solo’s adventures before meeting up with the Rebellion. Published in 1979, Han Solo at Star’s End and its sequels, Han Solo’s Revenge and Han Solo and the Lost Legacy, were pure space pulp: Han and Chewie racing around the galaxy in the Millennium Falcon, dodging the law, playing Sabacc and Dejaric, and blasting their way in and out of trouble. To my nine-year-old self, they were possibly the best books ever written.

Brian died way too young in 1996, just after production wrapped on the audio adaption of Return of the Jedi.