Back when George Lucas still owned his own creation, before the dark times, there existed a beautiful world called the Expanded Universe. It was Star Wars content other than the films. That entailed books, comics, and even video games. Many of you I know have the mentality of sticking with what George created and nothing else. And I respect and follow that. But I think it is important to realize that everything that was published under Lucasfilm had to be approved by George. He was honored that people took what he made and used their creativity to make add to it.

The first EU book was Splinter of the Minds Eye. It was written in 1978. Crazy to think that there was a book written because of a movie. When the book was republished George Lucas said this at the beginning:

After Star Wars was released, it became apparent that my story--however many films it took to tell--was only one of thousands that could be told about the characters who inhabit its galaxy. But these were nto stories that I was destined to tell. Instead they would spring from the imagination of other writers, inspired by the glimpse of a galaxy that Star Wars provided. Today it is an amazing, if unexpected, legacy of Star Wars that so many gifted writers are contributing new stories to the Saga. 

George was happy that others were making content and that an entire universe was made. Think of it like this, Stan Lee made Marvel. He made those characters, but then it became bigger than anything he could have imagined. People used the characters he created and made their own stories, while keeping in line of what he did. Then people created their own characters. But all based on what was originally made. It's the same thing for Star Wars.

George did not just create a franchise, he made an entire universe. I treat as a real thing, looking at the earliest recorded events and the latest. I look at the entire timeline. But obviously what George made is the most important era. But there's so much more than the movies but they don't do anyhting that wouldn't make sense and it always feels like Star Wars. 

Everyone just check out Legends. At least see what Disney got rid of. Then you will see how Legends is better than the new canon.

Here's just a little taste of what you're missing out to as Darth Malak said, "Whet your appetite"