Splinter of the Mind's Eye
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| Author | Alan Dean Foster |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Star Wars |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Del Rey Books |
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Publication date
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Hardcover: March 1, 1978 Paperback: April 1, 1978 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages |
Hardcover: 216 Paperback: 199 |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker (1976) |
| Followed by | Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) |
Star Wars: Splinter of the Mind's Eye is a 1978 science fiction novel written by Alan Dean Foster. It takes place between the original Star Wars film and its sequel The Empire Strikes Back. Originally published in 1978 by Del Rey, a division of Ballantine Books, it was the first original full-length Star Wars novel to be published after the release of the original Star Wars film, retroactively making it one of the earliest Star Wars expanded universe works.
The novel's principal characters are Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Darth Vader. The characters of Han Solo and Chewbacca do not appear, and Solo is only referred to by Luke Skywalker as "a pirate and a smuggler" that he knows at the end of the book. The book was originally written to be filmed as a low-budget sequel to Star Wars if the original film was not a success.
In 1976, Alan Dean Foster was contracted to ghostwrite a novelization for Star Wars. Foster was given extensive access to the shooting and draft scripts, as well as early story treatments, for use as source material in fleshing out the novel. Elements of this are visible in the resulting novel, such as the prologue, which borrows the Journal of the Whills title from Lucas' original synopsis.
Foster's contract also required a second novel, to be used as a basis for a low-budget sequel to Star Wars in case the film was not successful. Though Foster was granted a great deal of leeway in developing the story, a key requirement was that many of the props from the previous production could be reused when shooting the new film. Foster's decision to place his story on a misty jungle planet was also intended to reduce set and background costs for a film adaptation. According to Foster, Lucas's only request upon inspecting the manuscript was the removal of a space dogfight undertaken by Luke and Leia before crash-landing on Mimban, which would have been effects-heavy and expensive to film.
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