New York, January 31, 2001 - STAR WARS®, the cultural phenomenon that has been the inspiration for one of the most successful hardcover and paperback book series ever, is about to make its debut as an e-book. Del Rey Books, a division of Random House Inc.'s Ballantine Books, will publish STAR WARS: DARTH MAUL: SABOTEUR, the first original Star Wars story to be available exclusively in e-book format. SABOTEUR is also the exclusive preface to the new Star Wars novel DARTH MAUL: SHADOW HUNTER, just published by Ballantine.

The e-story, DARTH MAUL: SABOTEUR, written by James Luceno (best-selling author of the Star Wars: The New Jedi Order duology, Agents of Chaos: Hero's Trial and Jedi Eclipse), author of the forthcoming Star Wars: Cloak of Deception (Del Rey/LucasBooks, June 2001), is approximately 14,000 words in length and priced at $1.99. It will be available from the four major e-book platforms-Microsoft Reader, Gemstar, peanut press, and Adobe/GlassBook-and can be downloaded from a number of websites, including traditional and online bookstores such as B&N.com, Amazon.com, and Powells.com.

The e-book will be available for downloading on February 15, 2001.

When The Phantom Menace debuted in May 2000, its most popular character was the double-lightsaber-wielding Darth Maul, the centerpiece of both the e-book, DARTH MAUL: SABOTEUR and the newly written full-length hardcover novel STAR WARS: DARTH MAUL: SHADOW HUNTER, by Michael Reaves. Additionally, DARTH MAUL: SABOTEUR introduces characters featured in DARTH MAUL: SHADOW HUNTER, available throughout the United States and Canada on Tuesday, January 30th, 2001 with a suggested retail price of $26.00. In DARTH MAUL: SHADOW HUNTER Darth Sidious meets secretly with his Neimoidian contacts in the Trade Federation to plan the blockade of the planet Naboo. But Hath Monchar, a member of the delegation, is missing. Sidious does not need his Force-honed instincts to suspect betrayal and orders his apprentice Darth Maul to hunt the traitor down.

"Ballantine and Del Rey chose to enter the e-book universe with a Star Wars story because of the enormous appeal Star Wars has with the vast online community. We believe STAR WARS: DARTH MAUL: SABOTEUR will have tremendous immediate want-to-read appeal for Star Wars fans everywhere," said Edward Volini, Executive Vice President, Deputy Publisher, Ballantine Books, who added, "By editorially linking the e-book, STAR WARS: DARTH MAUL: SABOTEUR and the hardcover print book DARTH MAUL: SHADOW HUNTER, we hope to expand the Star Wars audience for both reading formats."

Howard Roffman, President of Lucas Licensing, also expressed his enthusiasm for the project. "Star Wars brought moviemaking-and storytelling-into an entirely new universe a generation ago. Now we have found the perfect opportunity to take the world of Star Wars in a bold new direction."

Del Rey Books is the charter publisher of Star Wars fiction and nonfiction books, having published the first-ever Star Wars novel, Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, in paperback in 1976, one year before the release of the movie which it novelized. Del Rey subsequently published Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, as novels based on the screenplays for those movies, as well as several nonfiction books on the making of the movies.

LucasBooks is the publishing imprint of Lucasfilm Ltd. Drawing upon Lucasfilm's rich creative culture, LucasBooks appeals to readers of all ages with books, comics, and magazines based on perennials such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones as well as newly developed fiction and nonfiction material.

In October 1997, Ballantine Books and Lucasfilm announced a comprehensive licensing agreement under which Del Rey would publish novels of the movies and movie tie-ins, novels in The New Jedi Order fiction program, "bridge" novels that take place before and between Episodes I, II, and III, and nonfiction books, both in the new and the classic Star Wars programs.

The first movie novel, the #1 bestselling Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, by Terry Brooks, was published in May 1999 and spent five weeks at #1 on the New York Times hardcover list. The New Jedi Order fiction program was launched with Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime by R.A. Salvatore (Hardcover, October 1999), followed by four original mass market paperbacks. The most recent book in the series was Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Balance Point by Kathy Tyers (Hardcover, October 2000). Each was an instant New York Times national bestseller. There are more than seventeen million copies of Del Rey/Lucas Books Star Wars titles in print, with many more hardcovers and paperbacks scheduled in 2001 and beyond.

Devoted exclusively to publishing outstanding science fiction, fantasy, and alternate history, Del Rey was founded in 1977 as a division of Ballantine Books under the guidance of the leaders of the field, the late Judy-Lynn del Rey and her husband, Lester del Rey. The imprint publishes the best of modern fantasy and science fiction writers including Stephen Baxter, Greg Bear, Alice Borchardt, Terry Brooks, Arthur C. Clarke, David Eddings, David Gemmell, Anne McCaffrey, R.A. Salvatore, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Harry Turtledove in hardcover, paperback and now e-book formats.

Ballantine Books is a division of Random House Inc., the world's largest English-language general trade book publisher. Its imprints include Ballantine, Del Rey, Fawcett, Ivy, and One World. The publishing divisions of Random House publish more than 3,500 new adult and children's titles annually in hardcover, trade paperback, mass market paperback, audio, and electronic formats in the U.S.