Imagine a version of The Empire Strikes Back without Han Solo, Cloud City or wampas. Instead, picture a lovestruck Luke as he and his non-sibling crush object Princess Leia, try to find a way off a foggy swamp planet called Mimban before being captured by Imperial troops. That’s the plot of Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, a 1978 spin-off novel by Alan Dean Foster that was commissioned as a possible springboard for a new Star Wars film, should the first one survive its legendary behind-the-scenes problems and become a hit.

Of course, by the time Splinter hit shelves in March 1978, the first Star Wars movie was a confirmed pop culture phenomenon, and when it came to a new Star Wars film, George Lucas and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan decided to take the story in a different direction for 1980′s The Empire Strikes Back. But Foster’s book remains an intriguing hint of where the Star Wars franchise could have gone, had Lucas adapted the book.

Splinter begins with Luke and Leia crash-landing on Mimban en route to a gathering of key members of the Rebel Alliance. While looking for a way off-planet, the duo cross paths with an elderly woman named Halla, who is in possession of a shard from the Kaiburr crystal—a legendary gem of great power that allows those already in touch with the Force to enhance and amplify their psychic powers (hence the title).

In exchange for aid in escaping Mimban and its vicious ranking Imperial officer, Captain-Supervisor Grammel, Luke and Leia agree to help Halla recover the gem, a mission that takes them deep into the jungle in search of an ancient temple. Meanwhile, one of the few survivors of the Battle of Yavin, Darth Vader, turns up planetside looking for a little payback against a certain Jedi-in-training…

Even though Splinter was airbrushed out of official Star Wars continuity, unlike other franchise outliers—like the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special— Foster’s book has never been erased from existence. It remains in print to this day, readily available in paperback or for e-readers. The book even got the graphic novel treatment in 1996, with a four-issue comic book adaptation published by Dark Horse Comics. (The planet Mimban has also been referenced in a number of other non-cinematic Star Wars properties although, again, few of them are recognized as being part of official canon.)

Yahoo Movies spoke with the 68-year-old Foster, who continues to write original sci-fi novels and film novelizations (since Star Wars, he’s also adapted The Last Starfighter, The Chronicles of Riddick and Transformers from the screen to the page), about his memories of writing Splinter of the Mind’s Eye and the book’s unique place in Star Wars history.

What were the origins of Splinter of the Mind’s Eye?

My contract was originally for two books: the novelization of the first film and then a sequel book, because George — being a student of Disney, I’m sure — wanted more material in case the movie was a success. He wanted something out there that the hoped-for fans would be able to enjoy while he was busy making the second film. The only restriction placed on me was that the follow-up novel had to be filmable on a low budget. That’s why I set it on a fog-shrouded planet. A lot of the action takes place in the fog or underground, which facilitates shooting with cheap backgrounds. The book originally opened with a fairly complex space battle that forces Luke and Leia down on this planet, and George had me cut that out because it would have been expensive to film.

What sort of access did you have to footage and behind the scenes material from the first Star Wars?

I saw very little. I had a couple versions of the screenplay and they also gave me a 16mm reel of rough footage to take around to a couple of sci-fi conventions to publicize the film, which I was happy to do. I had also visited ILM [Industrial Light & Magic, Lucas’s effects company], which at that time was a rented warehouse in Van Nuys, so I had seen the trenches for Luke’s flyby at the end, as well as the Millennium Falcon and the Death Star. And I had access to some of Ralph McQuarrie’s production paintings. But that was it.

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