Zahn's novella Cascade Point won the 1984 Hugo Award. He is the author of the Blackcollar trilogy and the Cobra series (eight novels so far), twelve Star Wars expanded universe novels, including eight novels featuring Grand Admiral Thrawn: the Thrawn trilogy, the Hand of Thrawn duology, Outbound Flight, Choices of One, and Star Wars: Thrawn.
LucasFilm at times referred to some of the more detailed Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game supplements from West End Games, and when Zahn started work on a new trilogy of Star Wars books, boxes of West End sourcebooks were delivered to him. At the time, Zahnwas writing what would become known as the Thrawn trilogy, the first book of which was Heir to the Empire (1991). In turn, West End released sourcebooks for Zahn's three novels from 1992-1994.
The Thrawn trilogy marked a revival in the fortunes of the Star Wars franchise, bringing it widespread attention for the first time in years; all three Thrawn trilogy novels made the New York Times Best Seller List, and set the stage and tone for most of the franchise's expanded universe content. Zahn also wrote the young adult Dragonback series and the popular Conquerors' trilogy.