Month: January 2009

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Book review roundup: Karen Miller’s Wild Space makes the Livejournalers squee

The Clone Wars: Wild SpaceAbout a month ago, Karen Miller’s first Star Wars novel was released. It’s been getting a surprising amount of of lip service in fandom lately, and I wasn’t sure why until I read a couple of reviews on LiveJournal – not exactly the hot spot for EU meta these days.

But no, right there in Jedi News, four reviews in little over a week, and two of them (Calmer-Sky and Senatorsfan-Ink) are so enthusiastic you’ll need a squeegee afterwards. Meanwhile, LazyPadawan enjoyed it but has a much different perspective on the book’s (dare I say?) fan service, while JawaStew takes a balanced tone.

Another surprise came off-LJ – a review of the book at io9 by Charlie Jane Anders, their first for Star Wars fiction. With the catchy title of ‘At Last, A Book That Explains Why Obi-Wan Is Such A Dick,‘ it’s easy to see why this post has a whopping 14,407 views as I type this.

And lest you doubt, the numbers at the highly-critical Jedi Council review thread look pretty good as well: An average of 8.08 out of 10.

With my chronic case of Clone Wars apathy, I’m still not too tempted to pick this up myself, but maybe… At the library. If I see it. Those who have read it, what do you think?

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Don’t forget the Shadows of Mindor chat tonight!

The power of Stover compels youHere in the midwest it feels like we’re buried under a good chunk of Hoth, so a nice warm internet chat after dark seems like a good option… At least as long as you’ve finished Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Minor. As many a former Star Lady may recall, IRC is a decidedly old-school format, but there are modern options, like a browser-based web client (Firefox recommended) you don’t even need to install. Join us at 8pm Eastern, 5pm Pacific.

And while Mindor is on your mind, go ahead and rate it.

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The Clone Wars: Are you ready for ‘Gungan?’

The Clone Wars: The Gungan General

It’s Friday, and you know what that means… In tonight’s new episode, ‘The Gungan General,’ Anakin and Obi-Wan finally get that whole reluctant alleigance with the enemy episode out of the way, with Jar-Jar riding to the rescue. I think I’m pretty safe in saying that hijinks ensue.

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Gate Geek – Atlantis launches its last puddle jumper

Tonight (Friday) is the series finale for Stargate Atlantis.

Tributes are a bit sparse in official channels, but it promises to be a good one, not only because Picardo says so, but because it’s the 100th episode.  And those tend to be extra good in the Stargate franchise.

So thank you, Atlantis.  It’s been an adventure!  Those of us in Club Jade who are Gate Geeks will be mourning for a while.

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Fate of the Jedi: Tidbits on the Outcast cover

Sure, we got Blood Oath the other day, but as things stand that’s not coming out until December… Whereas the first Fate of the Jedi book is due in March. No doubt we’ll get it soon, but for now, here’s what Sue Rostoni has to say:

I think I had posted earlier that OUTCAST would have Luke and Ben on the front — but we reviewed the cover yesterday and think it will look better with just Luke (Ben on the back) — Plus, the FOTJ is going to have a completely different cover treatment than what we’ve used in the past.

I don’t think having a EU character featured on the front is going to make a difference to readers — it hasn’t in the past, for the most part.

As long as it the phrase ‘like Rebel Force‘ doesn’t come up, I’m hopeful! Meanwhile, there’s been a little confusion about Outcast being in Previews under the name The Hidden Ones, which Sue says was a working title/placeholder.

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The fandom minute: Should George Lucas retire?

George Lucas in Carbonite @ Celebration Japan (Bonnie Burton / StarWars.com)Scrap the Maker? The relaunched Sci-Fi Wire (now in blog form!) has come up with nine reasons for George Lucas to retire already. Cinematical then made a poll out of it, and ‘yes, please’ is winning. Your thoughts? I honestly don’t care all that much as long as he sticks to the prequel/intertrilogy era.