What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

I read this book about 15 years ago. For the life of me I can't remember the title but it was written in the late 50's or early 60s and it was almost exactly the story of STAR WARS. It involved Knights of the light, a Princess, A "Darth VAder" type character, sky cities etc.etc. even the NAMES of some characters were almost identical!

The similarities were astonishing.

I think the title was "something" like Light Wars or Sky Wars...VERY similar. Of course I lent it out didn't I?

It's out there somewhere.....Anyone have it or AWARE of it? I'd LOVE to know as I can't find anything online.

Thanks for your time

The only book I've heard Star Wars being accused of stealing from is Dune, but I don't think it matches all of those points or is generally quite as similar as you've described.

Thanks Dylan

Yes I've heard of that too but when I read this particular book,I couldn't help but think George had too ;)

Actually "Star Wars" was inspired by a Kurosawa movie, according to Lucas.

However, his work shows throughout heavy influences of popular culture, so it wouldn't surprise me if the story and characters got lifted from an earlier authors work.

HI Gerd

Yes Ol' George claims he was inspired by many things, including just about every religion on the face of the earth :)

There's a scene in Fritz Leiber's Gather, Darkness! that is extremely reminiscent of the light saber duel between Obi Wan and Vader. I always suspected that book had some influence, too.

This is hardly an original thought by me, but the reason Star Wars seems similar to everything from Dune to Harry Potter is that the structure of the monomyth/hero's journey is extremely common.

The young orphan boy storms the castle of the dark knight to rescue the princess, accompanied by the crazy wizard, rogue and beast, and two servants.

Sounds like every fantasy ever written :-)

Maybe one of the MANY Flash Gordon novels?

I got that one from this amazing review from JamesNintendoNerd on YouTube pointing out many of the films and other stuff that 'inspired' Star Wars :)

Thanks for all the replies guys but this book was THE story in space with characters and names so similar it made me think it was a direct ripoff. I think George must've bought every copy in the world and wiped everyone's minds with a jedi mind trick :)

Are you absolutely sure of the publication date? To be honest, I can't help but be skeptical that there's a book that similar to Star Wars which predates it. No offense or anything, it's just that more research has gone into everything related to Star Wars than probably any other pop culture property ever, and it's very close to unbelievable that this wouldn't have turned up. Could it have been a parody that claimed Lucas ripped it off for humorous purposes?

And to eliminate another obvious but unlikely candidate, it's not the Lensman series is it?

No Dylam I'm not absolutely sure.All I can remember is that it was the late 1950's with a title similar to what I said at first. I wish I could remember who I lent it to as well. I know it's not E Doc Smith's books. It was not a well known author.

MY GOD!!! Paul! Haven't seen you for AGES! This is FREAKY!

I GAVE you that book YEARS ago and I told you it was written in 1958 and the story was a bit suss cos it was the SAME as Star Wars. I just joined this group and happened to see your topic and got me curious.

I hate to be a spoilsport Paul but I had 2 copies of it as you may remember and I was wrong when I said 1958. It was 1978. I'll relieve your anxiety right now. I just grabbed my copy off the shelf. The book is STAR FORCE by Robert E Mills !!! The story is practically the same and there are 3 books.

Sorry I misled you. You shouldn't have lent it out mate! :) I'm working in Asia at the moment. I'll contact you via priv email.

Jake

AAAGGGHHHHHH!!!! I don't belive it! What's the CHANCES??? Jake! You @#$!!!

Well now that's out of my hair,I must thank everyone else for their effort and apologise for my mistake(which was really Jake's) But how AMAZING is that!?

Now that I was able to look up the title I've found that is correct. I wonder if this guy actually came up with the idea before Lucas? ( now I doubt it)

Okay, that has to be one of the funniest/freakiest connections we've ever had in this group. Cool!