James Luceno (born 1947) is an American author known for his novels and reference books connected with the Star Wars franchise and the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and (with Brian Daley under the shared pseudonym Jack McKinney) novelizations of the Robotech animated television series. Luceno is also the author of several original novels along with film novelizations and other franchise tie-ins. He has also written for television cartoon series.

Star Wars

In the Star Wars universe he has written The New Jedi Order novels, Agents of Chaos: Hero's Trial, Agents of Chaos: Jedi Eclipse and The Unifying Force as well as the prequel trilogy novels Darth Maul: Saboteur, Cloak of Deception, Labyrinth of Evil and Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader. He also wrote a novel detailing the history of the Millennium Falcon and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: The Visual Dictionary.

In an interview with Star Wars Insider, Luceno said that he would like to write a future novel dealing with the search for immortality that both Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Plagueis embarked upon in their own separate ways. However, in a talk show interview in February 2007, he indicated that the novel was currently on hold due to Star Wars Expanded Universe continuity concerns. The Darth Plagueis novel again became viable in 2009, and Star Wars: Darth Plagueis was released in January 2012.

Luceno's 2014 novel Star Wars: Tarkin was one of the first four novels published in the franchise after Lucasfilm rebooted the Star Wars Expanded Universe in April 2014. His novel Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel was published in November 2016.

Other work

Luceno wrote 1980's Headhunters, the tale of three Americans' adventure in South America, a place Luceno himself has traveled extensively. He also authored A Fearful Symmetry, Rainchaser, Rock Bottom, and The Big Empty in 1993. Luceno wrote the novelizations of the films The Shadow and The Mask of Zorro. For The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Luceno penned 1992's The Mata Hari Affair. He is intermittently working on an autobiography.

He is also the author of the new Web Warrior series and co-author of the popular Robotech novelization series with his close friend Brian Daley. The pair wrote under the pseudonym Jack McKinney. Luceno wrote a tribute to Daley which is posted on Daley's website along with photos of the two of them. Daley and Luceno were also amongst a team of writers for the 1986 television cartoon series The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers, created by Robert Mandell. Luceno alone also wrote two episodes for the 1995 cartoon series Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders, also by Mandell.

Bibliography

{| class="wikitable"

!Title

!Publisher

!Date

!ISBN

!Notes

|-

|Head Hunters

|Ballantine Books

|September 1980

|

|

|-

|A Fearful Symmetry

| rowspan="5" |Del Rey Books

|November 1989

|

|

|-

|Illegal Alien

|March 1990

|

|

|-

|Kaduna Memories

|June 1990

|

|as by Jack McKinney

|-

|The Mata Hari Affair

|May 1992

|

|The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Book 1

|-

|The Big Empty

|Novelber 1993

|

|

|-

|The Shadow

|Ivy Books

|June 1994

|

|Film novelization

|-

|The Mask of Zorro

|Pocket Books

|June 1998

|

|Film novelization

|-

|Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

|Scholastic

|May 22, 2008

|

|Young adult film novelization

|-

|Hunt for the Mayan Looking-Glass

|Spectrum Literary

|September 18, 2011

|

|ISBN listed by Books In Print. Amazon listing: .

|}

Robotech (1987–1996)

Novels by Jack McKinney, pseudonymous with James Luceno and Brian Daley, based on the Robotech television series.. Published by Del Rey Books.

Episode novelizations (1987)

Each volume novelizes four to six episodes.

{| class="wikitable"

!

!Title

!Date

!ISBN

|-

|1

|Genesis

| rowspan="4" |February1987

|

|-

|2

|Battle Cry

|

|-

|3

|Homecoming

|

|-

|4

|Battlehymn

|

|-

|5

|Force of Arms

|April 1987

|

|-

|6

|Doomsday

|May 1987

|

|-

|7

|Southern Cross

|June 1987

|

|-

|8

|Metal Fire

|July 1987

|

|-

|9

|The Final Nightmare

|August 1987

|

|-

|10

|Invid Invasion

|September 1987

|

|-

|11

|Metamorphosis

|October 1987

|

|-

|12

|Symphony of Light

|November 1987

|

|}

The Sentinels (1988)

Robotech: The Sentinels depicts events originally scripted for the Robotech II: The Sentinels television series. Later printings re-numbered the series as books 13 through 17.

{| class="wikitable"

!

!Title

!Date

!ISBN

|-

|1

|The Devil's Hand

|March 1988

|

|-

|2

|Dark Powers

|April 1988

|

|-

|3

|Death Dance

|May 1988

|

|-

|4

|World Killers

|June 1988

|

|-

|5

|Rubicon

|July 1988

|

|}

Original Robotech novels (1989–1996)

Novels exploring events after the original television series and The Sentinels animated film.

{| class="wikitable"

!

!Title

!Date

!ISBN

|-

|18

|The End of the Circle

|December 1989

|

|-

|19

|The Zentraedi Rebellion

|April 1994

|

|-

|20

|The Masters' Gambit

|May 1995

|

|-

|21

|Before the Invid Storm

|March 1996

|

|}

Matt Terry series (1988–1990)

Westerns featuring the character Matt Terry. Published by Ivy Books.

{| class="wikitable"

!

!Title

!Date

!ISBN

|-

|1

|Rio Passion

|September 1988

|

|-

|2

|Rainchaser

|April 1989

|

|-

|3

|Rock Bottom

|September 1990

|

|}

The Black Hole Travel Agency (1991–1994)

Satirical scif-fi novels by Jack McKinney, pseudonymous with James Luceno and Brian Daley. Published by Del Rey Books. Allegedly planned as a shared universe of loosely connected stories lampooning corporate power.

{| class="wikitable"

!

!Title

!Date

!ISBN

|-

|1

|Event Horizon

|May 1991

|

|-

|2

|Artiface of the System

|August 1991

|

|-

|3

|Free Radicals

|May 1992

|

|-

|4

|Hostile Takeover

|January 1994

|

|}

Star Wars (2000–2025)

The New Jedi Order (2000–2003)

Star Wars: The New Jedi Order is a nineteen volume, multi-author series exploring events following Return of the Jedi.

{| class="wikitable"

!

!Title

!Date

!ISBN

!Notes

|-

|4

|Hero's Trial

|August 2000

|

|Agents of Chaos, Book I

|-

|5

|Jedi Eclipse

|October 2000

|

|Agents of Chaos, Book II

|-

|19

|The Unifying Force

|November 4, 2003

|

|

|}

Original Star Wars novels (2001–2016)

{| class="wikitable"

!Title

!Date

!ISBN

!Notes

|-

|Cloak of Deception

|May 29, 2001

|

|

|-

|Labyrinth of Evil

|January 25, 2005

|

|Adapted as the German-language audiodrama Labyrinth des Bösen (2006–07)

|-

|Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader

|November 22, 2005

|

|

|-

|Millennium Falcon

|October 21, 2008

|

|

|-

|Darth Plagueis

|January 10, 2012

|

|

|-

|Tarkin

|November 4, 2014

|

|Anthologized in Star Wars: The Rise of the Empire (2015)

|-

|Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel

|November 15, 2016

|

|

|}

Short fiction (2001–2012)

Availability of short fiction is limited, and listed ISBNs are unverified. Later reissues or ebook updates have removed the works.

{| class="wikitable"

!Work

!Collection

!AuthorEditor

!Date

!ISBN (unverified)

!Notes

|-

|"Darth Maul: Saboteur"

|Shadow Hunter

|Michael Reaves

|November 27, 2001

|

|Included in 2001 paperback reissue.

|-

|"Restraint"

|Shadow Hunter

|Michael Reaves

|June 28, 2011

|

|Included in 2011 ebook edition

|-

|"End Game"

|The Phantom Menace

|Terry Brooks

|January 31, 2012

|

|Included in 2012 reissue of film novelization.

|}

Reference works (2004–2025)

Star Wars reference works published by DK.

{| class="wikitable"

!Title

!Date

!ISBN

!Notes

|-

|Inside the Worlds of the Star Wars Trilogy

|August 5, 2004

|

|

|-

|Revenge of the Sith: The Visual Dictionary

|April 2, 2005

|

|with Laura Gilbert and J. W. Rinzler

|-

|Star Wars: Complete Locations

|October 17, 2005

|

|

|-

|Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary

|September 25, 2006

|

|

|-

|Star Wars: Complete Locations (revised ed.)

|September 27, 2016

|

|

|-

|Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary (new ed.)

|September 18, 2018

|

|

|-

|Star Wars: Complete Locations (new ed.)

|March 6, 2025

|

|

|}

Web Warriors (2002)

Web Warriors is an incomplete cyberpunk series published by Del Rey Books. Many writers have been credited as creator and editor, however the series is attributed to James Luceno. The third volume was not published.

{| class="wikitable"

!

!Title

!Date

!ISBN

!Alternate titles

|-

|1

|Memories End

|June 25, 2002

|

|Web Warriors, The Real Frontier, Cyberspace Warriors

|-

|2

|Dimension X

|October 29, 2002

|

|Fifth Dimension, Danger in the Fifth Dimension

|-

|3

|The Slavers War (unverified title)

|February 25, 2003

|0-345-44473-6

|Great Cataclysm, Galactic War, Great Slave War

|}

Filmography

{| class="wikitable"

!Year(s)

!Title

!Writer

!Notes

|-

|1986

|The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers

|

|6 episodes

|-

|1995–1996

|Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders

|

|2 episodes

|-

|2025

|Crafting an Epic: The Making of the New Jedi Order

|

|Audio documentary; 9 episodes

|}

References

  • Bibliography at SciFan
  • James Luceno at Fantastic Fiction