John Jackson Miller, author of Knight Errant and the upcoming Kenobi novel, has recently started a new original story, Overdraft: The Orion Offensive as a Kindle Serial. The first episode was released on April 2, and today is the release of the second installment, ‘Golden Handshake.’ Miller was kind enough to answer a few questions for us, as well as give us a prize to give away: copies of the short story prequel to the series, ‘Human Error’.
I’ve enjoyed Miller’s work as writer of the Knights of the Old Republic comics, as well as the Knight Errant comic series and novel, and the Lost Tribe of the Sith short stories, and I think that this serial, while set in an original universe, will delight readers with its characters, world building, and Miller’s mix of action and humor. Let’s get into the mini-interview on Overdraft:
Awards. The finalist list for the Nebulas was released yesterday, and I’ve read… Exactly one of the novels. (The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin. It was okay, but I found the sequel much more engaging. Still, not a bad book at all.) So, no idea who will win, and I won’t even guess at the rest. I am likewise ignorant on the Andre Norton nominees, but I do have two of them on my to-read shelf.
I’m not much one for short fiction, but if you are, the SF Signal link above has links to the lions share of novelette and short story nominees.
As for the Bradbury (Dramatic Presentation,) the selections are The Avengers, Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Cabin in the Woods, The Hunger Games, John Carter (?!?) and Looper. Alrighty then.
Adaptations. SyFy is aiming for Philip K. Dick’s Man in the High Castle, while Heathers and Mean Girls alums are taking the reins of the Vampire Academy movie. One of these projects is doomed, and sadly it’s not the one about a vampire academy.
I appeared with the always top-notch Brian and Nanci on the Toshe Station podcast last week to talk about Marvel’s latest harebrained scheme to pander to the female demographic and what place chick-lit style romance has in genre and Star Wars. As promised, there was ranting and rambliness and random asides about Laurel K. Hamilton and Star Destroyer bubbles.
At his Star Wars: Scoundrels signing in San Diego on January 12, Timothy Zahn gave a talk on how the novel came to be and then held a Q&A session. He discussed the real world publication timeline he worked with, his initial idea to make it a heist using a who’s who of the main characters and top smugglers in the GFFA (Luke, Han, Leia, Mara, Lando, Corran, Mirax, Talon and more) just before the New Jedi Order, and how even the cover art influenced the final story.
Ty Franck – one half of James S.A. Corey, who’s working on a Han Solo book for the Rebels series, gave fans the first progress update yesterday:
Ground has been broken on the Star Wars novel. An outline has been approved, and chapters are being typed. Things I’ve learned so far: It is important to know ahead of time how you will handle Chewie talking, the Star Wars universe has instantaneous communication and nearly instantaneous travel but space is STILL big enough to hide things, hyperspace is how you get away from badguys but jumping through hyperspace ain’t like dusting crops kid, and Leia is the brains of the operation. If someone has a good idea, it’s Leia. Han is always always always wrong when he makes a plan or predicts the future, but man does he improvise gracefully. More robots. Always more robots.
The post got passed around quite a bit today, and well:
Thing I learned today: If you blog about writing a Star Wars novel, PEOPLE CARE.
Ha. Welcome to the, ah, family. Keep your seatbacks and tray table in the locked and upright position…
You can learn a little more about Franck and writing partner Daniel Abraham in an excerpt from a recent interview in Locus. I also recommend checking out their first two novels – Leviathan Wakes and Caliban’s War. I have horrible luck with Star Wars writers outside of Star Wars (sorry, it’s true, no recs please) but these books are pretty fantastic. Hopefully that means good things for this Han book.
As James pointed out in our earlier Scoundrels post, it seems like every year lately there’s been a Star Wars book that comes out almost directly after the holiday. Many of us has been wondering about that in light of Scoundrels, but there is a solid reason, according to LFL’s Jennifer Heddle:
Pubtip: Sometimes certain books come out right after the holidays on purpose, so they don’t get lost in the holiday avalanche of gift books.
College Humor is not making many friends in the comics blogosphere, lately. The ad at right has appeared on the back page of several DC Comics books, and… Well. Take it away:
WonderAli: That Joke isn’t Funny Anymore. “College Humor, and DC by association, are perpetuating the message that comics simply cannot possibly be enjoyed by girls. They are for BOYS ONLY–mouth-breathing, women-hating boys at that. Sorry, intelligent woman who is enjoying the hell out of Wonder Woman, this book is not for you!”
The Mary Sue’s Susana Polo: So, The Back Cover Ad on Batman This Month Is a “Fake Geek Girl” Joke. “I just can’t decide which is more depressing to imagine: someone in marketing at College Humor (whose work I generally enjoy) pitching this specific example from their series of real life comic book “villains” to DC for an ad… or someone on DC’s marketing team saying “These ‘villains’ you came up with are all super funny, but you know… Some of our readers might feel targeted by the “guy who gets angry on forums” joke or the implications that they’re not good at personal interaction. And we probably shouldn’t use the one about executives… seeing as how we’re employed by them. So we’ll use the one that’s a girl. Girls don’t read comics anyway.””
iFanboy’s Jim Mroczkowski: Real Geeks Only, Ladies. “Funny how people who were bullied throughout their childhoods will become the most hateful bullies themselves at the first whiff of a victim. Hang on: when I typed “funny,” I misspelled “unimaginably depressing.” A round of applause for human nature, everybody.”
Or is it Attack of the Clones? Well, I suppose that depends on your certain point of view…
Earlier this week, Vulture posted a massive list of what they’re calling the most influential fan bases, and Star Wars came in number 2 – pretty good, all things considered. Occupying the #1 spot is Game of Thrones, which I can’t really be all that bitter about seeing as they’re peaking right now. (And, well, I’m a fan, if not technically in the fandom.)
It’s an interesting series, but one major qualm with the Star Wars listing: Warsies? Dude, no one with an actual clue uses that term. It’s not even a Trekker/Trekkie situation: No one uses it.
The Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Star Trek, Joss Whedon and Lord of the Rings fandoms also made the list. It’s all part of a week-long series, which also covers things like naming your fandom (don’t,) psychology and the crazy shit fans buy.
Several of Timothy Zahn’s science fiction novels from the 80′s and 90′s – now out of print – have been reissued as eBooks by Open Road Media. They even produced a short video you can see under the cut. (more…)
Club Jade is a group of (mostly) female fans who love Star Wars - particularly the Expanded Universe novels - and other things of that nature. You can also follow us on Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook!
John Jackson Miller, author of Knight Errant and the upcoming Kenobi novel, has recently started a new original story, Overdraft: The Orion Offensive as a Kindle Serial. The first episode was released on April 2, and today is the release of the second installment, ‘Golden Handshake.’ Miller was kind enough to answer a few questions for us, as well as give us a prize to give away: copies of the short story prequel to the series, ‘Human Error’.
Awards. The finalist list for 
I appeared with the always top-notch Brian and Nanci on the 
Ty Franck – one half of James S.A. Corey, who’s working on a Han Solo book for the Rebels series, gave fans the first progress update yesterday:
Or is it Attack of the Clones? Well, I suppose that depends on your certain point of view…
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