[kjjcarpenter]

Indeed. Fan-fiction is the bane of my existence, and although I used to tinker in a range of personal iterations of some of my favourite stories, as I've matured the art holds no place in my library. In my opinion, life is too short to read anything that doesn't pertain to canon, and I have even less time to produce such material.

Xavier, you bring up an excellent point about the Star Wars novels. I have seven of them, including the Jedi Academy Trilogy and Darksaber by Kevin J. Anderson (only because I'm a fan of his work as a whole), and another trilogy my fiancé picked up for a dollar. I was a late-comer to the whole Star Wars phenomenon, and I have still yet to see Return of the Jedi in its entirety, but I was marvelled and inspired by the scope of the entire universe and wanted to be a part of it … until I learned the canonical value of the novels pertains to what the core movies eventually decide to depict, which pretty much renders much of the textual reliability and enjoyment moot. If I take the time to read something, I expect it to be "real" within its parent-world, not a tentative instalment that might disappear at any moment.

From what I have read, many of the novels that dictate life after Return of the Jedi are being pulled from the official timeline so J.J. Abrams and crew don't have to abide by the established lore. While I love much of J.J.'s work, and I appreciate he would rather craft his own story rather than retell events that have already been written, it seems to me (the studio formerly known as) LucasArts isn't particularly interested in maintaining a coherent universe. If you had already perused through these various novels, and enjoyed the continuation of the saga, would you not feel cheated by having these experienced effectively erased?

I also once read an interview where George Lucas claimed he has not read any of the extended mythology. When filming Revenge of the Sith, he had to be told by one of the production designers to include a scar on Anakin Skywalker's face, which the character had acquired in one of his novel adventures. A very poor attitude for the creator of such a renowned the universe. I wouldn't imagine Lorne following a similar procedure with his IP—I also wouldn't imagine Lorne selling his IP to a mega-corperation either, but that's another subject.

So, without bashing Star Wars any longer, I completely agree. The novels would have to be canonically accurate without the grand scheme of the Oddworld mythos, and (at the very least) approved by Lorne.