Club Jade

Audio For you audio drama fans, Big Shiny Robot has unearthed Rebel Mission to Ord Mantell a ye olde (scripted by Brian Daley!) tale that takes place between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back.

The blogside. EUCantina debuts a new column, with a look at what they’d like to see in Kenobi (some Clone Wars spoilers.) Meanwhile, Bria’s Waru Express has pulled into Tosche Station with The Thrawn Trilogy.

Interviews. There’s a real surplus of them since we last checked in, with new writers (Martha Wells, Tim Siedell, Corinna Bechko & Gabriel Hardman) old writers (Kevin J. Anderson) and of course Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, co-writer of The Last Jedi, which came out yesterday.

Speaking of The Last Jedi… The reviews! NJOE, EUC, Jedi News, Lightsaber Rattling, Roqoo Depot and Bry/Megan at Knights Archive are all fairly positive, while Bria at Tosche Station is unimpressed.

Comics. Preview Dark Horse’s Free Comic Book Day offering, and behold a Legacy variant cover. Also, James has his reviews of the most recent comics: this week’s Dawn of the Jedi: Prisoner of Bogan #3 and ,a href=”http://www.bigshinyrobot.com/reviews/archives/49301″>Agent of the Empire: Hard Targets #5 and Brian Wood’s Star Wars #2.

Congratulations to your publicist. Forbes, of all publications, profiles Dark Horse and their role in making licensed properties cool for comics. There’s some interesting stuff from a generalized viewpoint, but despite use of the term ‘expanded universe’ it’s more focused on video game tie-ins than things like Star Wars and Buffy.

As one comic leaves, another begins… Well, begins a new arc, anyway. In Agent of the Empire: Hard Targets #1, out Wednesday, Jahan Cross heads to Alderaan to party with the Organas.

If you’re a military sci-fi fan, you might want to go check out Five by Five, a set of novelettes that includes stories by Aaron Allston, Michael Stackpole, and Kevin J. Anderson.

As for Star Wars books, we have the paperback reprint of James Luceno’s Darth Plagueis due at the end of the month. Our next new book will be a hardcover, Drew Karpyshyn’s The Old Republic: Annihilation, on November 13.

Another recap from the Tosche Station folks in Atlanta: Timothy Zahn, Aaron Allston, Michael Stackpole, Kevin J. Anderson and Doctor Carol White discuss Masculinity in Star Wars.

Hot on the heels and six hours north of Celebration, Dragon*Con is being held in Atlanta. Tosche Station is there now, and Brian has recapped the Star Wars author panel held there yesterday. Attending were Aaron Allston, Timothy Zahn, Mike Stackpole and Kevin J. Anderson.

Also coming up Monday will be a Mercy Kill discussion with Allston.

Spotlight. Essential Guide to Warfare co-author Paul Urquhart takes a look at ‘the best star-pilots in the galaxy’. But what we’re really talking about here is the art by Frank-Joseph “Mazzic” Frelier, which includes what I think is out first look at Syal Antilles.

In other Warfare-related matters, there have been three more installments of endnotes since we last checked in: 9, 10 and 11.

Awards. John Jackson Miller’s Knight Errant is a Scribe Award nominee for Best Original Novel in the Speculative Fiction category. The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers are also naming Expanded Universe alumni Kevin J. Anderson as the year’s Grandmaster. Other familiar names among the nominees include Mike Stackpole (for his Conan the Barbarian adaption) and A.C. Crispin for her Pirates of the Caribbean novel.

Interviews. Lots of them! In the world of podcasts, we have Aaron Allston over at Tosche Station Radio and Mike Stackpole at Star Wars Book Report. If you can stomach the ForceCast, they had Leland Chee on, plus there’s a new Jedi Journals. If it’s text you prefer, Tom Taylor talks Darth Maul at CBR.

Teases. A bounty hunter short story by a new-to-Star Wars author will be gracing the pages of Insider #136. Karen Miller’s Myri Antilles story will be in the next issue, #135.

Now hiring… NJOE, EUCantina and Knights Archive are looking for some dedicated fans to join their respective sites. (Rather limited) internet fame! Glamour! No money! But possibly drinks at CVI!

The blogside. Over at Tosche Station, Brian has a two-part retrospective of Fate of the Jedi. The series has garnered some mixed reviews, but overall I have to agree with some of Brian on this one, particularly regarding Luke/the Jedi, the arc-welding in Abeloth’s backstory, and the overall issues with Denning. Brian’s also revised his review of Apocalypse.

Warfare fallout. Jason Fry has posted his endnotes for The Essential Guide to Warfare in three parts, while his co-author Paul Urquhart writes (naturally) about the wackier side of the book at Suvudu.

Interviews. EU Cantina talks to comic writer Tom Taylor about his upcoming Darth Maul mini-series, Invasion, and Boba Fett is Dead. Meanwhile, Newsarama has John Ostrander to discuss Dawn of the Jedi in some detail.

Whoops! I caught the release date change for Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories last week, but not that it had changed formats from paperback to trade paperback. Guess someone likes the Sith…

WTF of the week. Kevin J. Anderson invented the Killiks. Of course he did.

Reviews. James enjoys the unexpected trickery in Knights of the Old Republic – War #4 and is satisfied (sort of) by the big ending of Agent of the Empire – Iron Eclipse #5.

The other day i09 published a list of weirdest stories from the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Several of us – who’ve actually read the books and comics, not just looked them up on Wookieepedia – found their choices to be a tad uninspired.

As it so happened, I did a few posts on the topic myself a few years back. Now yes, we do love the EU here, but let’s face it: There’s a lot of awfulness in them thar hills, and we here at Club Jade have always been fans of facing them head-on. With sarcasm!

Don’t say I didn’t warn you. (more…)

Revisiting the Jedi Academy trilogy. Bryan Young is a glutton for punishment: He reread Kevin J. Anderson’s first Star Wars novel, Jedi Search, even though he knows better. Joining him is Kelly, aka Scarlett Robotica, who actually likes the series. (I suppose someone has to.) They’re debating it. I’m sure you can guess whose side I’m on. (And no: I wouldn’t. Last time I tried I couldn’t get past Luke’s speechifying.)

Details, details… Sue Rostoni updated us on a couple of minor details this weekend: There’s a hint that the Heir to the Empire anniversery edition will indeed have a new cover, and confirmation that short stories are coming back, at least in the Insider.

More on The Jedi Path. Daniel Wallace has posted a four-part series of endnotes for the in-universe instruction manual.

Veitch talks Dark Empire on Tuesday. The comic’s writer is holding a discussion on the comic this Tuesday evening at the bookstore he co-owns in Bennington, Vermont.

Here are some of the things I’ve micro-blogged over @clubjade in the last week or so.

Hollywood hyperbole. Sony’s Amy Pascal thinks that James Cameron’s Avatar could be the next Star Wars. I’m just trying to think of an upcoming genre movie I care less about than Avatar and failing miserably.

Duck and cover, Dallas. Will Texas be able to handle the squee produced by an official Twilight convention? We can only hope the lack of Robert Pattinson gives them a fighting chance.

Space blob approaches! Guys. GUYS. Waru is coming! I repent of all my Twilight mocking. Okay, not really.

But the real question is, who did they ship? Wired’s Scott Brown takes a brief look back at Sherlock Holmes fanfic.

Presented without comment. Guess who wants to write a Wonder Woman novel?

The bushfires that raged in the Australian state of Victoria earlier this year killed more than 200 and left over 7000 homeless. The fires may be snuffed, but the victims are still hurting, and Star Wars fans have banded together to help them.

Though there are plenty of items up on Ebay now, including signed photographs from David Prowse, Kenny Baker, Jeremy Bulloch and Bonnie Piesse. But of particularly of interest to EU fans is a chance to get a namesake (tuckerized) character in the fifth Clone Wars novel by Karen Miller or a yet-unannounced Star Wars book (!) from Sean Williams. And Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta are offering an original manuscript from one of the Young Jedi Knights novels.