Daniel Keys Moran

Author of "The Last One Standing: The Tale of Boba Fett" in Tales of the Bounty Hunters and "A Barve Like That: The Tale of Boba Fett" in Tales from Jabba's Palace.

Moran notes on his web site: "Editorial changes that were unacceptable to me were made to 'A Barve Like That,' which is why the 'J. D. Montgomery' pseudonym, but on balance it is perhaps not a bad story, and I won't disown it if people understand that the final product is only perhaps 80% mine."

Inventing "Jaster Mereel"

"No idea where the name came from. It was me, but beyond that, don't recall. As to influences on the character, mostly Westerns, which I like -- easily half my top 10 favorite movies are Men on Horses (Or Camels. Or Motorcycles.) Boba Fett would have fit into the Sergio Leone/Eastwood saga with no real changes except costume. A little Torquemadea, too -- that scorched-earth fundamentalist worldview (my addition, that) -- that sense of utter moral certainty that drives the people who talk to God..." -- 2007 Interview with BFFC

About His Pseudonym

Daniel's pseudonym for "A Barve Like That: The Tale of Boba Fett," Tales From Jabba's Palace was "J. D. MONTGOMERY." On his web site, he notes: "I like my story. It's long enough to let me tackle a couple of characters -- Solo and Boba Fett -- in something approaching depth; and Lucasfilm messed with me less on this story than on either of the two previous."

Excerpt from "A Barve Like That: The Tale of Boba Fett"

"Fett floated in a long dreamtime moment, tied to the gambler's last moments of real awareness down in the slime on the floor of the pit, blind, deaf, limbs dissolved, rib cage cracked apart with the tentacles massaging his organs, dreaming of a woman who loved him -- Boba Fett had been born to anger, and rage was his life. He struggled up out of the vision, fought it wildly, carried himself up out of the nightmare on the back of a wave of fury and abruptly was back, there in his body with the pain of the burning acid all around him, suffused with a clear, lucid, thinking hatred, an emotion so dark and deep and pure the Dark Lord himself might never have felt its equal. He could hear his own heartbeat thudding in his ears and he said, 'I'm going to kill you very slowly,' and he had never meant anything more in his life."

Interviews

• Our exclusive interview, part 1
• Our exclusive interview, part 2