Club Jade

The Star Wars Books page at Facebook had a chat with Troy Denning today. Due to the awkwardness of the format (and to spare you – trust me) I’ve gathered a quick recap of the highlights beneath the cut. The first part contains no spoilers, so if you haven’t finished Apocalypse yet, stop when you hit the red text.

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Chat season. Troy Denning will be chatting Apocalypse tomorrow afternoon on the Star Wars Books Facebook page. (He’ll also be at San Diego Comic Con in July… A behind-the-scenes FOTJ panel, perhaps?) Also chatting, on the 11th, will be Essential Guide to Warfare author Jason Fry. We’ll likely be recapping both.

Scoundrels. Del Rey editor Frank Parisi was on last week’s ForceCast where he revealed two of the established characters that will be on the team. (If you want the fairly minor spoilers, highlight this: Kell Tainer and Winter. If Kell means nothing to you, he’s in the X-Wing series.)

Upcoming. We can expect news on something post-Fate of the Jedi what’s next “sometime this summer, if not sooner,” Erich Schoeneweiss said in response to a fan question. Not at SDCC, I hope.

Blurbs. Knights Archive spotted a longer summary for Pablo Hidalgo’s Essential Reader’s Companion in the Random House online catalog.

Interviews. Roqoo Depot talks to Matt Stover – mostly about his new book, Caine’s Law, which was out in stores yesterday – but they also touch on Star Wars. Meanwhile, Angela Slatter interviews Karen Miller and Sean Williams about working in franchises.

If you’ve been following the Fate of the Jedi series in paperback, today is the day to go to the book store – the sixth book, Troy Denning’s Vortex, is out in mass market. Don’t forget, Erika reviewed it last year.

Meanwhile, Wednesday will bring those Dawn of the Jedi #1 reprints.

The only actual new thing you’ll find out there this week is the latest Star Wars Insider, which features an interview with Aaron Allston, Christie Golden, and Troy Denning on Fate of the Jedi and a short story by Jason Fry.

Our next book release will be The Essential Guide to Warfare on April 3.

Author Troy Denning goes into detail on Abeloth, Ben, Allana, tying into the Legacy comics, and all that other spoilery stuff we read in Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse in an interview with Suvudu. He also talks about working with multiple authors, like this interesting bit from the New Jedi Order:

…When I was writing Star by Star, I got the manuscript for Balance Point and saw that Kathy Tyers had followed the outline exactly. She did exactly what the outline had called for, but it was all about fifteen percent off of what I thought she meant. I was 400 pages into Star by Star and I thought, “Oh my gosh, I have slightly different interpretations of these characters than Kathy does!” So I had to go back and rewrite the first 400 pages before I could go on.

He also talks about the differences in Fate of the Jedi and Legacy of the Force, the ‘Jacen Solo saga,’ the last words of Apocalypse, and leaving things open-ended.

Meanwhile, Rooqoo Depot talks to Lucasfilm continuity guru Leland Chee.

Over at Galactic Drift, Racheal recaps Troy Denning’s book tour stop in Carmel, Indiana, complete with the above video. Denning talking about the “Jacen Solo era” that Apocalypse is closing out, the push for war stories, tying into the Legacy comics and more.

As for news, Denning said he’s not involved – and isn’t sure if he will be – with whatever is happening next in the EU.

One thing that rubs me (and others) the wrong way is his reference to Tatooine Ghost as a “chick book.” It’s not one of my favorites – I don’t even own a copy – but it is exactly the kind of story I think the Expanded Universe needs more of now that the glut of long series are over: Character-focused adventures that don’t have the fate of the entire galaxy in the balance. (Another example: Zahn’s Survivor’s Quest.) I can take or leave any romance aspects; I just want stories that give some consideration to the characters, not just their lightsabers and blasters.

I’m not saying we need to totally get rid of the galaxy-in-peril plots – as Denning points out, there’s a demand, and they are part of the formula. It’s not Star Peace, after all. But the one thing that the EU has been missing lately – at least if you’re not in it for brand-new characters – has been the balance of ‘galaxy’ books and ‘character’ books. Successful Star Wars stories that manage to do both – Matt Stover’s Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor, for instance – have been few and far between lately. And while I can’t speak for everyone, I’d rather have one Mindor a year than any of these drawn-out cast-of-thousands deals we’ve been getting. Or at least in addition to whatever cast-of-thousands thing is going on.

And really, does focusing on character over endless battle scenes really make something ‘for chicks?’ Really? Yes, this is Star Wars, and by the very nature of the franchise there’s always going to be a lot of pandering to the lowest common denominator… But throw the rest of us a bone every once and a while. Please.

Well, it’s the final Fate of the Jedi release day, and thus comes a few more links – and one discount offer. I’m not really a fan of how Barnes & Noble only offers coupons on certain books, but today they’ve included Apocalypse for 40% off, which puts them on equal ground with Amazon. The online coupon code is C8M3R4E, but I believe it will only work if you have a membership with them. (It’s 33% off cover for non-members.)

And yes, there are more reviews, and they do contain spoilers. Roqoo Depot has two more: One from Lane Winree and another in round-robin form. NJOE’s Chris Carey has also reviewed.

Roqoo Depot is on a roll: They have an interview with Troy Denning, too.

Meanwhile, here’s a brief profile of Keltie Cochrane, the firm that designed all the Fate of the Jedi covers.

What more is there to say about Apocalypse at this point? Troy Denning’s finale of the Fate of the Jedi series drops tomorrow, and I think all of us – fans and cynics alike – are more than ready to put this series (and maybe even the format) to bed.

Fans: Don’t forget about Troy Denning’s book tour.

Cynics: Remember, this book contains our first look at Aaron Allston’s X-Wing: Mercy Kill.

By the by, the spoilers for Apocalypse are insane. And that’s all I’m going to say. For now. (Assuming this book doesn’t start off with six straight chapters of Sith ala Ascension, in which case it may take me another 7 months to force myself to read it…)

As for the comic readers, Wednesday brings Agent of The Empire – Iron Eclipse #4 and Knights of The Old Republic: War #3

Fate of the Jedi. Apocalypse is only days away, and so there is a book trailer. (Naturally.) And a mini-excerpt. And a 50-page excerpt. And Troy Denning on a podcast. And, of course, another spoiler-free review at Star Wars Report. Will it ever end? (Well, yes. Presumably, Tuesday. And then, the arguing. Yay!)

Comics. John Jackson Miller talks about Knight Errant’s next arc, ‘Escape,’ with io9′s Cyriaque Lamar.

Upcoming. DK will be releasing The Old Republic Encyclopedia this fall, Roqoo Depot discovered.

The blogside. Roqoo Depot’s Skuldren speaks out against super-powered characters in video games and the EU. In my book, that’s a very big reason why certain streams should no be crossing… Meanwhile, io9 makes a valiant effort to connect the Star Wars timeline to Earth’s timeline – pity that the comic tale they’re using as a cornerstone is kind of, a little bit, well, actually entirely Infinities, aka a non-canon AU. Which they admit. But still.

Okay, fine. If it’s an actual EU timeline you’re looking for (sorry, no Earth,) here’s an official one from Del Rey.

Review. James gives the latest Clone Wars digest, The Enemy Within, a thumbs-up for its Dirty Dozen meets L.A. Confidential in space storyline.

And speaking of Apocalypse, Random House has posted a fairly sizable excerpt. (via)

Meanwhile, over at Amazon, the ‘search inside’ will give you not only some Apocalypse, but the previews of Aaron Allston’s X-Wing Mercy Kill and Jeff Grubb’s Scourge! (via)

The blogside. With a title like ‘We Don’t Need George Lucas,’ the latest Action/Reaction over at EU Cantina was was bound to be controversial. Chris has some interesting points (yes, George Lucas worship does get out of hand from some aspects of fandom) but I don’t really agree with everything he says (I have no regrets on our coverage of Red Tails or Amanda Lucas) And course we’ve always had coverage of things outside the realm of Star Wars and the Expanded Universe. I’m not so fond of the ‘telling other people how to be a fan’ aspect, but it’s certainly an issue worth giving some thought.

Street date shuffle. In responses to a query about Paul S. Kemp’s duology, Frank Parisi says it’s “a very ambitious project” but the first book won’t be coming out this November as it was previously (tentatively) scheduled.

Excerpt. The latest mini-excerpt of Denning’s Apocalypse comes with bonus audio linkage.

Photoshoppery. What if Judy Blume wrote Star Wars books? (Bonus linkage.)

Review. James looks at Dark Times: Out of the Wilderness #4.