Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Secret Missions, penned by Ryder Windham, is a series of books. While drawing inspiration from the The Clone Wars TV program, the book series distinguishes itself by prioritizing fresh characters alongside original happenings. Grosset & Dunlap, an imprint operating under the Penguin Group, serves as the publisher for these books. September 2009 saw the debut of the series' inaugural installment, titled Breakout Squad. The subsequent book, Curse of the Black Hole Pirates, was then launched the subsequent year. The third book, Duel at Shattered Rock, was made available in 2011. The fourth novel, entitled Guardians of the Chiss Key, was announced in the third book's addendum and subsequently released in 2012.
Windham's contributions to the Star Wars saga have largely consisted of freelance writing projects, rather than original story creation. Consequently, Lucasfilm directed him to incorporate the Malevolence within the book. However, he was hesitant to confine the Secret Missions series entirely within the timeline of Season One, anticipating that later books would be published well beyond the airing of that particular show episode. Frank Parisi advocated for the inclusion of a BX-series droid commando within the series. Lucasfilm also instructed him to feature Savage Opress in the comic book adaptation, The Clone Wars: Strange Allies.[2]_
- Discover All New Clone Wars in Secret Missions! coming This Fall on StarWars.com (content is now outdated; backup link provided)
- Ryder Windham Interview