Ryder Taylor Windham, born June 19, 1964, is an American author known for his extensive work in

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

, particularly within the ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' universe. He has authored over 60 books related to ''Star Wars'', encompassing

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

comics a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

, and

reference books A reference work is a document, such as a paper, book or periodical (or their electronic equivalents), to which one can refer for information. The information is intended to be found quickly when needed. Such works are usually ''referred'' ...

, as well as junior novelizations of the ''

Indiana Jones ''Indiana Jones'' is an American media franchise consisting of five films and a prequel television series, along with games, comics, and tie-in novels, that depicts the adventures of Indiana Jones (character), Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, ...

'' films. Since 1993, Windham has contributed to ''Star Wars'' literature, collaborating with other authors and working independently. His reference book, ''Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide'', was listed on the ''New York Times Best Seller list'' for three weeks in 2005.

Career

''Star Wars''

Windham began his involvement with ''Star Wars'' projects in 1993 while employed at

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, manga and Artist's book, art book publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon, by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, O ...

. His role extended beyond writing, as he also oversaw the editing of comics in series such as '' Heir to the Empire'', '' Jabba the Hutt'', and '' Dark Empire II''. His collaboration with Allan Kausch and Sue Rostoni at Lucas Licensing helped ensure continuity across ''Star Wars'' comics and novels. In his efforts to maintain narrative consistency, Windham worked alongside Leland Chee, the continuity database administrator for Lucasfilm, ensuring that his contributions to the ''Star Wars'' series remained coherent with the established universe.

Recent years

Since 2004, Windham has served as an instructor and certificate advisor for comic and sequential art classes at the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...

Continuing Education. He resides in Providence, Rhode Island, with his family. Ryder Windham also works closely with the publisher becker&mayer! and

Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company founded by filmmaker George Lucas in December 10, 1971 in San Rafael, California, and later moved to San Francisco in 2005. It is best known for creating and producing th ...

's publishing licensees, including

, Del Rey,

DK Publishing Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media cong ...

Grosset & Dunlap Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898. The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group. In recent years, through the P ...

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

, and Scholastic Inc. His work with the latter of these has included production of the Bionicle reboot novels and graphic novels.

Publications

Windham's bibliography includes a diverse range of ''

'' literature, from the '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Secret Missions'' series to junior novelizations of the original trilogy and the Indiana Jones films. His work in comics has contributed significantly to the ''Star Wars'' expanded universe, offering fans deeper insights into the saga's characters and stories.

Novels

*''Star Wars Missions 1: Assault on Yavin Four'' (1997) *''Star Wars Missions 2: Escape from Thyferra'' (1997) *''Star Wars Missions 3: Attack on Delrakkin'' (1997) *''Star Wars Missions 4: Destroy the Liquidator'' (1997) *''Star Wars Missions 9: Revolt of the Battle Droids'' (1998) *''Star Wars Missions 10: Showdown in Mos Eisley'' (1998) *''Star Wars Missions 11: Bounty Hunters vs. Battle Droids'' (1998) *''Star Wars Missions 12: The Vactooine Disaster'' (1998) *''Star Wars Missions 17: Darth Vader's Return'' (1999) *''Star Wars Missions 18: Rogue Squadron to the Rescue'' (1999) *''Star Wars Missions 19: Bounty on Bonadan'' (1999) *''Star Wars Missions 20: Total Destruction'' (1999) *''Episode I Adventures 1: Search for the Lost Jedi'' (1999) *''Episode I Adventures 2: The Bartokk Assassins'' (1999) *''Episode I Adventures 3: The Fury of Darth Maul'' (1999) *''Episode I Adventures 4: Jedi Emergency'' (1999) *''Episode I Adventures 9: Rescue in the Core'' (2000) *''Episode I Adventures 10: Festival of Warriors'' (2000) *''Episode I Adventures 11: Pirates from Beyond the Sea'' (2000) *''Episode I Adventures 12: The Bongo Rally'' (2000) *''Star Wars Adventures 1: Hunt the Sun Runner'' (2002) *''Star Wars Adventures 2: The Cavern of Screaming Skulls'' (2002) *''Star Wars Adventures 3: The Hostage Princess'' (2002) *''Star Wars Adventures 4: Jango Fett vs. the Razor Eaters'' (2003) *''Star Wars Adventures 5: The Shape-Shifter Strikes'' (2003) *''Star Wars Adventures 6: The Warlords of Balmorra'' (2003) *'' Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope'' junior novelization (2004) *'' Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back'' junior novelization (2004) *'' Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi'' junior novelization (2004) *''Galactic Crisis!'' (2005) *''Journey Through Space'' (2005) *''Star Wars Lives & Adventures 1: The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader'' (2007) *''Star Wars Lives & Adventures 2: The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi'' (2008) *'' Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark'' junior novelization (2008) *''

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' is a 1989 American action adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by Jeffrey Boam, based on a story by George Lucas and Menno Meyjes. It is the third installment in the Indiana Jone ...

'' junior novelization (2008) *''Star Wars Lives & Adventures 3: A New Hope: The Life of Luke Skywalker'' (2009) *''

Star Wars The Clone Wars ''Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' is an American 3D animation, 3D animated television series created by George Lucas and produced by Lucasfilm Animation. Set between ''Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones'' (2002) and ''Star Wars: Episod ...

Secret Missions 1: Breakout Squad'' (2009) *''Star Wars The Clone Wars Secret Missions 2: Curse of the Black Hole Pirates'' (2010) *''Star Wars Adventures in HyperSpace: Fire Ring Race'' (2010) *''Star Wars Adventures in HyperSpace: Shinbone ShowDown'' (2010) *''Star Wars The Clone Wars Secret Missions 3: Duel at Shattered Rock'' (2011) *''Star Wars The Clone Wars Secret Missions 4: Guardians of the Chiss Key'' (2012) *''Indiana Jones and the Pyramid of the Sorceror'' (2009) *''Star Wars Lives & Adventures 4: The Wrath of Darth Maul'' (2012) *'' Star Wars Rebels: Ezra's Gamble'' (2014) *'' LEGO BIONICLE: Island of Lost Masks'' (2015) *''LEGO BIONICLE: Revenge of the Skull Spiders'' (2016) *''LEGO BIONICLE: Escape from the Underworld'' (2016)

Comics

*"Star Wars Droids: Artoo's Day Out" in ''Star Wars Galaxy'' issue 1 (1994) *''Star Wars: The Mixed-Up Droid'' (1995) *''Star Wars Droids: The Kalarba Adventures'' (1995) *''X-wing Rogue Squadron: Apple Jacks Special Bonus Story'' (1995) *''Star Wars Droids'' (1995) *''Shadows of the Empire Galoob Micro-Machines'' Mini-Comic (1996) *"This Crumb for Hire" in ''A Decade of Dark Horse'' issue 2 (1996) *"The Rebel Thief" in ''Star Wars Kids'' issues 1-5 (1997) *''Shadow Stalker'' (1997) *''Star Wars Droids: The Protocol Offensive'' (1997) *''Battle of the Bounty Hunters'' (1998) *''Episode I: Qui-Gon Jinn'' (1999) *''Episode I: The Phantom Menace ½'' (1999) *'' Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan: Last Stand on Ord Mantell'' (2000) *" The Death of Captain Tarpals" in '' Star Wars Tales'' issue 3 (2000) *"Thank the Maker!" in '' Star Wars Tales'' issue 6 (2000) *''Podracing Tales'' (2000) *''

Jedi Quest ''Jedi Quest'' is an eleven-book young reader series written by Jude Watson about Obi-Wan Kenobi and his apprentice Anakin Skywalker. It is set in the fictional ''Star Wars'' universe between ''Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Episod ...

'' (2001) *''The Clone Wars: Strange Allies'' (2011) *''LEGO Bionicle: Gathering of the Toa'' (2015) *''LEGO Bionicle: Battle of the Mask Makers'' (2016)

Reference books

*''Star Wars Who's Who'' (1998) *''Star Wars Episode I Who's Who: A Pocket Guide to Characters of the Phantom Menace'' (1999) *''Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Movie Scrapbook'' (1999) *''Aurra Sing: Dawn of the Bounty Hunters'' (2000), co-written with Josh Ling *''Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Movie Scrapbook'' (2002) *''Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Movie Scrapbook'' (2005) *''Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide'' (2005) *''Star Wars: The Comics Companion'' (2006) *''Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force'' (2007) *''Star Wars: The Complete Vader'' (2009), co-written with Peter Vilmur *''Star Wars Blueprints: The Ultimate Collection'' (2008) *''Star Wars Blueprints: Rebel Edition'' (2010) *''Star Wars Year by Year: A Visual Chronicle'' (2010) *''Millennium Falcon: A 3-D Owner's Guide'' (2010) *''Imperial Death Star: Owner's Workshop Manual'' (2013) *''Ultimate Star Wars'' (2015), co-written with Tricia Barr, Adam Bray, and Daniel Wallace *''Star Wars: Stormtroopers: Beyond the Armor'' (2017)

Short stories

*''Deep Spoilers'' (2000)

Awards and honors

In 2005, Winham's book ''Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide'' spent three weeks in the top 10 of the New York Times Best Seller list. This comprehensive reference book is known for its detailed exploration of the ''Star Wars'' universe, catering to both new fans and long-time enthusiasts alike.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Windham, Ryder Living people American fantasy writers American male novelists 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American male writers 1964 births