"Out here, when somone above you gives an order, you follow it. When someone tries to teach you something, you pay attention. When someone shoots at you, you shoot back."
any Star Wars readers got their first introduction to Alexander Freed in 2015 with Battlefront: Twilight Company, but he began writing in the Star Wars universe earlier than that. In fact, if you’re a fan of Star Wars: The Old Republic, you may have been enjoying some of his work without even knowing it.
After getting his start writing for pen-and-paper roleplaying games, Freed was on the writing staff at BioWare from 2006 to 2012. There, he was part of the team that earned The Old Republic MSNBC’s game of the year award in 2011 as well as four Game Developers Choice Awards, among others. He wrote the arc for Imperial Agent, one of the playable character classes, and two arcs—Blood of the Empire and Lost Sons—for the Dark Horse comic that tied into the game.
In 2012, he left the company to become a freelance writer. As a freelancer, he continued to work in video games and pursued some additional work outside the Star Wars franchise. He also continued to write for Dark Horse’s Star Wars comics, writing both parts of Purge: The Tyrant’s Fist.
2015’s Twilight Company was his first Star Wars novel, and it earned a spot on BuzzFeed’s “Best Science Fiction Books of 2015.” He followed that up the following year with the novelization for Rogue One. He contributed to “Contingency Plan,” a short story in From a Certain Point of View. In it, we see Mon Mothma during the Battle of Yavin—a fascinating look into what those tense hours were like for the legendary Rebel leader and one of the anthology’s highlights.
His credentials in the current crop of Star Wars authors thus solidified, in 2019, Freed published Alphabet Squadron, the first in a trilogy set just after Return of the Jedi as the New Republic—and a cobbled-together team of pilots—hunt down Imperial holdouts. You can read our review and check out our two-part podcast roundtable where we gave our full thoughts on the first entry in the trilogy. The second installment, Shadow Fall, came out in 2020 and you can check out our review as well as Alexander Freed's interview on The Living Force Podcast!
Coming Soon
Our team is hard at work building out this collection. Stay tuned!
Books in this Collection
The Old Republic Volume 1 Blood of the Empire
The Old Republic Volume 3: The Lost Suns
Purge (Graphic Novel)
Battlefront: Twilight Company
Deep in the trenches of the Galactic Civil War, there is no more time for games. Rebel Alliance troops must run headfirst into Imperial territory in order to gain ground, risking everything for even the smallest chance of victory.
The fiercest of them all, a group of soldiers bound by loyalty and their collective hatred of the Empire, is known as Twilight Company. Always eager for a fight, they embark on a mission that could jeopardize everything the Alliance has worked for. But if Twilight Company emerges victorious, their efforts could bring new recruits to the cause and increase the Rebellion’s chances of winning the war.
The bravest soldiers. The toughest warriors. The ultimate survivors.
Among the stars and across the vast expanses of space, the Galactic Civil War rages. On the battlefields of multiple worlds in the Mid Rim, legions of ruthless stormtroopers—bent on crushing resistance to the Empire wherever it arises—are waging close and brutal combat against an armada of freedom fighters. In the streets and alleys of ravaged cities, the front-line forces of the Rebel Alliance are taking the fight to the enemy, pushing deeper into Imperial territory and grappling with the savage flesh-and-blood realities of war on the ground.
Leading the charge are the soldiers—men and women, human and nonhuman—of the Sixty-First Mobile Infantry, better known as Twilight Company. Hard-bitten, war-weary, and ferociously loyal to one another, the members of this renegade outfit doggedly survive where others perish, and defiance is their most powerful weapon against the deadliest odds. When orders come down for the rebels to fall back in the face of superior opposition numbers and firepower, Twilight reluctantly complies. Then an unlikely ally radically changes the strategic equation—and gives the Alliance’s hardest-fighting warriors a crucial chance to turn retreat into resurgence.
Orders or not, alone and outgunned but unbowed, Twilight Company locks, loads, and prepares to make its boldest maneuver—trading down-and-dirty battle in the trenches for a game-changing strike at the ultimate target: the very heart of the Empire’s military machine.
Alphabet Squadron
The Emperor is dead. But the Empire is still clinging to what remains of its resources to survive. It’s up to a mismatched team of pilots to finish chipping away at what remains of one of the worst threats the recent galaxy has ever known.
If you’re a fan of the X-Wing books on the legends timeline, you will love the debut novel in this trilogy set just after the events of Return of the Jedi. With so little known about the events leading up to The Force Awakens, this is the perfect book to introduce you to the Galactic Empire’s final end.
The first novel in a new trilogy starring veteran New Republic pilots.
On the verge of victory in a brutal war, five New Republic pilots transform from hunted to hunters in this epic STAR WARS adventure. Set after Return of the Jedi, Alphabet Squadron follows a unique team, each flying a different class of starfighter as they struggle to end their war once and for all.
The Emperor is dead. His final weapon has been destroyed. The Imperial Army is in disarray. In the aftermath, Yrica Quell is just one of thousands of defectors from her former cause living in a deserters’ shantytown—until she is selected to join Alphabet Squadron.
Cobbled together from an eclectic assortment of pilots and starfighters, the five members of Alphabet are tasked by New Republic general Hera Syndulla herself. Like Yrica, each is a talented pilot struggling to find their place in a changing galaxy. Their mission: to track down and destroy the mysterious Shadow Wing, a lethal force of TIE fighters exacting bloody, reckless vengeance in the twilight of their reign.
The newly formed unit embodies the heart and soul of the Rebellion: ragtag, resourceful, scrappy, and emboldened by their most audacious victory in decades. But going from underdog rebels to celebrated heroes isn’t as easy as it seems, and their inner demons threaten them as much as their enemies among the stars. The wayward warriors of Alphabet Squad will have to learn to fly together if they want to protect the new era of peace they’ve fought so hard to achieve.
Alphabet Squadron: Shadow Fall
Alphabet Squadron: Victory's Price
From A Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back
From A Certain Point of View
A truly unique and heroic feat in Star Wars publishing, From a Certain Point of View is a compilation of forty short stories by more than forty incredible authors to retell the story of A New Hope in celebration of its fortieth anniversary. Not only did Del Rey assemble a massive team consisting of their catalog of regular Star Wars writers such as Chuck Wendig, John Jackson Miller, and Claudia Gray, they managed to rope in many award-winning authors to pen their first stories in a galaxy far, far away. Such authors include Ken Liu, Sabaa Tahir, Zoraida Córdova, and Rae Carson. All of the book’s authors donated their pay to First Book, a nonprofit dedicated to improving literacy.
The stories represent the points of view of many of the notable side characters from A New Hope, such as Wedge Antilles, Greedo, and Grand Moff Tarkin. But they don’t stop there. The book benefits from forty years of expanding the Star Wars universe, and as such many characters not originally in the original film provide perspective in creative ways–Lando Calrissian, Yoda, Breha Organa, and even Qui-Gon Jinn! It is a compilation not only of characters and authors, but also styles and tones. At times heartbreaking, hilarious, and head-scratching. Some stories will connect differently with different readers. It certainly has something for everyone and is a remarkable read.
Forty years. Forty stories.
In honor of the fortieth anniversary of Star Wars: A New Hope, this collection features Star Wars stories by bestselling authors, trendsetting artists, and treasured voices from Star Wars literary history. More than forty authors have lent their unique vision to forty "scenes," each retelling a different moment from the original Star Wars film, but with a twist: Every scene is told from the point of view of a background character. Whether it's the X-wing pilots who helped Luke destroy the Death Star or the stormtroopers who never quite could find the droids they were looking for, Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View places the classic movie in a whole new perspective, and celebrates the influence and legacy of the unparalleled cultural phenomenon, Star Wars.
Rogue One
Plucked directly from the opening credits of A New Hope, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story brought us exactly the type of adventure that fans had been longing for. The dark yet hopeful tone of the film is mirrored beautifully in the words of Alexander Freed in this novelization as he weaves the tale of Jyn and her compatriots.
As opposed to some other film adaptations, Freed uses this opportunity to create a novel that can truly stand on its own regardless of the reader's previous history with the film. And if you loved Rogue One as much as we did, you'll be awed by his masterful characterizations of the beloved team as they're plunged into the most harrowing moments of their lives.
As the shadows of the Empire loom ever larger across the galaxy, so do deeply troubling rumors. The Rebellion has learned of a sinister Imperial plot to bring entire worlds to their knees. Deep in Empire-dominated space, a machine of unimaginable destructive power is nearing completion. A weapon too terrifying to contemplate . . . and a threat that may be too great to overcome.
If the worlds at the Empire’s mercy stand any chance, it lies with an unlikely band of allies: Jyn Erso, a resourceful young woman seeking vengeance; Cassian Andor, a war-weary rebel commander; Bodhi Rook, a defector from the Empire’s military; Chirrut Îmwe, a blind holy man and his crack-shot companion, Baze Malbus; and K-2SO, a deadly Imperial droid turned against its former masters. In their hands rests the new hope that could turn the tide toward a crucial Rebellion victory—if only they can capture the plans to the Empire’s new weapon.
But even as they race toward their dangerous goal, the specter of their ultimate enemy—a monstrous world unto itself—darkens the skies. Waiting to herald the Empire’s brutal reign with a burst of annihilation worthy of its dreaded name: Death Star.