Galaxy of Fear

Goosebumps meets Star Wars!

Galaxy of Fear is a series of children's sci-fi horror novels set in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. The series is centered on the Force-sensitive Tash Arranda and her brother Zak, who travel with their Uncle Hoole, a shapeshifting Shi'ido, and their protocol droid tutor DV-9, or Deevee. Tash and Zak were survivors of the Death Star's attack on Alderaan as they had been in an off-planet field trip. They were taken in by Hoole, an anthropologist with a mysterious past, who travels the galaxy for his work.

There are twelve books in the series. The first six books deal with the mysterious Project Starscream, a series of experiments in biological weapons conducted by the Galactic Empire. The other six have more independent storylines with the main characters fleeing the Empire as fugitives.

List of novels

• Eaten Alive: Our heroes crash-land on the planet D'Vouran and deal with several mysterious disappearances.
• City of the Dead: The family visits the planet Necropolis, where Zak befriends some local kids who dare him to sneak into a cemetery. Boba Fett makes an appearance.
• Planet Plague: The family visits Gobindi, where Tash learns that the Empire is experimenting with viruses. And she might be infected.
• The Nightmare Machine: Zak and Tash visit Hologram Fun World, which includes a simulator that brings their worst fears to life. Lando Calrissian makes an appearance.
• Ghost of the Jedi: Fleeing Gog, the family hides out in an abandoned space station that houses an ancient Jedi library. However, the library also houses the spirit of a Jedi.
• Army of Terror: The Arrandas visit Kiva to investigate Project Starscream where they encounter a spectral army and rescue an infant named Eppon from an abandoned laboratory. Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, and C-3PO all make an appearance.
• The Brain Spiders: Hoole visits Jabba's Palace so that he can study the B'omarr monks. Meanwhile, the kids investigate a series of murders whose killer leaves a K carved into his victims' bodies.
• The Swarm: The gang visits the Sikadian Garden, where they run into Imperial officers and a swarm of carnivorous insects whose numbers have mysteriously skyrocketed. Captain (and future Grand Admiral) Thrawn makes an appearance.
• Spore: The family travels to a mining colony in the middle of an asteroid belt looking for fuel for their ship. However, the miners may have Dug Too Deep.
• The Doomsday Ship: The Arrandas are relaxing on a luxury space yacht when passengers are ordered to abandon ship due to an imminent meltdown. Zak and Tash are stuck onboard but the meltdown never happens. The Arrandas are now trapped onboard with no communications and no way out. Dash Rendar makes an appearance.
• Clones: The family lands on Dantooine, where they are tricked into visiting some old Jedi ruins. They run into a gang of Rebels but Tash senses the Dark Side in the ruins.
• The Hunger: Their ship destroyed by Boba Fett, the family is stranded on a swamp planet with a strange tribe calling themselves the Children. Boba Fett and Yoda make appearances.

Tropes used in Galaxy of Fear include:

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: SIM in The Doomsday Ship.
• Animal Wrongs Group: A sci-fi example. Vroon, a Sk'rrr (a humanoid insect), is part of a cult that worships drog beetles as they believe that drogs and Sk'rrr are related. As the gardener of Sikadian Garden, he kills the beetles' natural predators. This causes the drog beetle population to grow incredibly quickly.
• The Atoner: Hoole
• Big Bad: Borborygmus Gog for the first six books.
• Brain In a Jar: The B'omarr monks.
• Closed Circle: Several of the books start with the characters' ship being rendered nonoperational for one reason or another.
• Finger-Twitching Revival: After being killed by Gog, a headless Eppon's finger twitches. Then the novel ends.
  • Body Twitching Revival in City of the Dead, where uncontrollable spasms serve as a Red Right Hand for those who have been reanimated by Dr. Evazan's serum. The end of the book suggests Zak himself might have been reanimated.
• I Know What You Fear: The Nightmare Machine.
• I'm a Humanitarian: The natives in The Hunger, the planet D'Vouran in Eaten Alive, and Eppon in Army of Terror.
• Karmic Death: Vroon killed by the drog beetles he worshiped, Gog killed by the wraiths of people he killed.
• Mad Scientist: Gog and Mammon Hoole.
• Meaningful Name: D'Vouran, a planet that eats people and Necropolis, a planet with zombies.
  • Gog and Mammon are names from The Bible often associated with evil people or demons.
• Not Now, Kiddo
• Scarecrow Solution: In Ghost of the Jedi.
• The Swarm: The beetles in, well, The Swarm.
• Tomato in the Mirror: In Clones, some characters wonder if they are actually clones.
• Tyke Bomb: Eppon
  • Defusing the Tykebomb: Tash uses her Force powers to communicate with Eppon. This works until Gog sets off a device that makes his head explode.
• The Virus: Spore