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April 16, 2013April 16, 2013

Interview: John Jackson Miller talks about his new scifi serial Overdraft: The Orion Offensive

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:

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April 15, 2013April 15, 2013

In the news: Star Wars vs. Star Trek vs. startups?

British chat show host Jonathan Ross argues for his answer to the ancient geek question, Star Trek or Star Wars? to The Times. While he finally sides with Star Trek, he does offer this about Star Wars:

I think I love Star Wars mainly because it took all the cool stuff I loved in comic books and science fiction novels and finally put them up on the big screen. And I no longer felt like an outcast.

Meanwhile, Forbes tries to look at both franchises as a model for startup companies:

These were David and Goliath stories. Little guys, taking on impossibly big challenges. Irresistible stories of human aspiration. What happened over time? They became Goliaths themselves; they lost their inner David, their startup spirit.

..and then points to Firefly for not turning into a Goliath, by being canceled.

Awesome photo totally snagged from GeekTyrant and their Ultimate Star Wars vs Star Trek page.

April 12, 2013May 3, 2013

Saving The Clone Wars

As a fan and supporter of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, I’ve been watching the momentum of the Save the Clone Wars movement. I’ve written my letters to Bob Iger and Kathleen Kennedy. I sent a few tweets for the twitter bomb led by Star Wars Underworld. I’ve told pretty much everyone I know connected with Star Wars or Lucasfilm how much I’ve enjoyed the show, how great I think the show is, and how I want it to continue. One of my reasons for the Team Hondo shenanigans was to drum up support for the characters of the show in a forum that Lucasfilm and fans alike would be watching.

Right now Save The Clone Wars is still pushing for Disney to magically hit the undo button, and un-cancel the show, bring back all the staff that was laid off and give us another season, and they point to how Kim Possible was given another season due to fan activism. I’d love for that to happen, but I think we need to be a little more pragmatic. My friend Bryan Young over at Big Shiny Robot points out that the smarter option may be to push for as much of ‘bonus material’ as possible – whatever that was made or in the pipeline for season six as we can get, which will hopefully be more than the two story arcs that was the rumor reported from TheForce.Net. I agree with him – we can’t get the show back on the air, but we can strive for as much of that season six content that was done/nearly done as possible.

Having a weekly twitter bomb? Maybe good for getting the word out, but I think there are more effective methods to reach Disney and Lucasfilm. Youtube video tributes? Meh. Letter campaigns are a stronger way to give the message – so long as everyone is on the same point. But really what would work – time to take a page from the playbook of some successful save-my-tv-show campaigns: express our love for The Clone Wars with our money. Here’s a few things that another fandom that I’ve belonged in has done to help keep flyin’:

Raise money to buy ad space that Disney will see. Let’s put a full page ad in Variety or some other industry periodical on a day that everyone will see it. Have a full press release and media contact ready to back up the ad. Yes, that means being organized, but it also will show “Hey, we’re organized”
Organize charity screenings to show that people still want to see The Clone Wars. While the original film that kicked off the series was a little rough compared to the quality of the later seasons, it’s a film that can be requested for showings. Like the Browncoats’ “Cant Stop the Serenity” showings for Equality Now, if we put The Clone Wars on the big screen in theaters across the country on the same day, and get people to show up and pay to see it, the studios will notice.
Video sales. The big kicker that perhaps helped Universal decide to turn a cancelled Fox show into a feature film was they noticed how well the DVD sales of that one-season show was doing. If you’re a fan of the show and can afford it, put your money where your mouth is. Own every season of the show on DVD or Blu-ray. Buy it for your friends. Buy it for every kid you’re stuck having to get a gift for. Buy copies to donate to your local library or send to the troops. Buy a second copy for yourself to loan to friends and family. And when season five comes out this fall on DVD and Blu-ray, let’s knock it out of the park, and keep it on the top ten bestseller list of Amazon and whatnot. It does get a little weird, since guess who is the distributor of the home video versions? Warner Brothers. So by buying the video releases, you’re showing Disney how much you’ll give money to one of their competitors for a product that Disney could sell to you, if only they continued making it. And if the ‘bonus content’ becomes available for separate purchase, buy it to show demand for more of it.
Keep those letters going and find new fans and convince them to write.

Meanwhile, Season 5 of The Clone Wars has started airing in the United Kingdom. One of our readers pointed out that Cartoon Network UK just recently started broadcasting season five, and it seems to be playing nearly every day at 10:30 AM and 6:30 PM. While they’ve already started the season, they do seem to be re-playing episodes. Catch the start of season five ‘Revival’ on Sunday at 10:30 AM.

April 10, 2013

It’s “Book Bomb for Ben” Wednesday for Dave Wolverton’s son!

Just a reminder that today is “A Book Bomb for Ben” Wednesday, to raise funds for the medical expenses for Ben Wolverton, the son of Star Wars author Dave Wolverton. Check out the Help Ben website or the Facebook event for more links on where to get Dave Wolverton’s latest books (under his fantasy pen name David Farland : Nightingale, a young adult fantasy, or Million Dollar Outlines, a writer’s guide. Sixteen year old Ben is in a coma after a recent accident so if you’d like to help out, buy a book, spread the word, or donate directly.

April 9, 2013April 9, 2013

This Is Madness: Vader concedes, Yoda (and Hondo) win!

Great news, my loyal, well mostly loyal, crew, from your captain, Hondo! I’ve won the StarWars.com This Is Madness contest. [Editor’s note: Hondo is not being entirely truthful. Yoda is the official winner. You can see the official results here. Also note that the official header image on the website today is Vader with the quote: “I find your lack of faith disturbing.”] Team Hondo can rejoice in my victory. [Editor’s Note: Yoda won. We have video proof from ESPN UNITE.]

As you can see in the video above, Darth Vader has bowed out of the contest, and he got only 40% of the vote. That leaves 60% for me. Or if you look at the way I set it up over the weekend, 100% of the votes were really for me. So that’s really 160% of the vote for me! So somebody needs to give Matt Martin 10 credits, I heard he bet it all on me, which is always a good option. Unless I’m betting on the other guy, and in those cases, I usually know something.

And as customary with victory speeches, I must thank all of my supporters. You. and you, and that guy over there. But especially all the fans on #teamhondo on twitter, and Justin at Jedi News and Tricia at Fangirl Blog. But not Cad Bane. Ok, enough frivol.. frivoli.. fun and games. Time to get back to work – I smell profit.

April 9, 2013April 9, 2013

Support Dave Wolverton’s son by buying books on Wednesday

Ben Wolverton, the teenaged son of Star Wars author Dave Wolverton, was recently in an accident and is currently in a coma. As you may know, many authors don’t have the health care coverage of an employer-based insurance, and the Wolverton family could use a boost to help with Ben’s medical care. His website is calling for a book bomb on Wednesday, April 10 – basically a big one-day drive for book sales.

Check out their Facebook event, A Book Bomb for Ben, to get links to buy Wolverton’s award-winning 2011 young adult fantasy novel, Nightingale (written under his pen name for his fantasy books, David Farland), or his guide for writers, Million Dollar Outlines. Or you can donate money directly to Ben’s recovery. And help spread the word!

As David Farland, Wolverton has written the fantasy series, The Runelords, and has started the Nightingale series. In the Star Wars sandbox, Wolverton is best known for introducing the witches of Dathomir in The Courtship of Princess Leia, while also penning The Rising Force, the first in Scholastic’s Jedi Apprentice series, and several of the books in the Scholastic Episode I Adventures and Star Wars Missions gamebook series, and short stories in each of the three original trilogy Tales anthologies.

April 7, 2013April 16, 2013

Roundup: LucasArts closed: Tributes & Inquiries

With the official word that Lucasfilm’s video game division, LucasArts, was being effectively shut down this week, there’s been a lot of reminiscing of the great titles that LucasArts had developed and some investigation for why the closing happened, and the search for a silver lining.

With the company’s re-alignment to solely focus on licensing Lucasfilm’s intellectual property to outside game developers, in-house game development has been shut down, finally cancelling Star Wars: 1313 and First Assault games. (See our guest column from Paul Ens suggesting that Dark Horse could turn these game projects into graphic novels.) I’ve rounded up some of the views on the closure, with a look at LucasArts’ recent history, and some tributes to the game company that started in 1982 and the people who worked there, as well as my own nostalgic look at some of the games that were part of my life.

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April 7, 2013April 7, 2013

This Is Madness: Yoda vs Darth Vader vs Hondo. Hondo wins!

It is I, Hondo Ohnaka, bane of both Jedi and Sith, and I have one more pick for the StarWars.com game This Is Madness. It’s the final match and if you notice I’m not in it. Because I have better things to do, like make money rather than sit around waiting to face off against Yoda or Darth Vader. Really, a green puppet is no contest for the likes of me! And an old in a body suit with no eyebrows? Again, I laugh at the thought. Really, they should put both of them together against me. Certainly all the ladies would still pick me. It’s this jacket, it makes me look handsome.

So go to This Is Madness and vote, vote for Hondo. You can’t do that you say. Well, I have a solution. Mmmm… actually I don’t anymore. It sounded good at the time when I came up with it, but then I passed out. No, Hondo never passes out. I just got sleepy after too much frivolity at the wake of the fearsome pirate Guybrush Threepwood. But there was a plan.

Despite the brackets, Hondo is not on the dark side. So we have a light side winner – Master Yoda, and a dark side winner – Darth Vader, and a not-light-side-nor-dark-side winner – that’s me! And since it’s no contest, I’ve already won! So, #TeamHondo, you can vote for whomever you wish for second place – the incredible shrinking Hulk, or Timmy the human piece of toast. Because a vote for either of them is really a vote for Hondo.

Because: This Is Madness.

April 6, 2013April 7, 2013

Highlights of Dark Horse’s Star Wars Comics chat with Corinna Bechko, Gabriel Hardman, & Brian Wood

On Friday afternoon, Dark Horse hosted a Twitter chat with the writers of two of their most recent Star Wars comics series, Brian Wood of the top-selling new Star Wars ongoing series, and the team of Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman of the new Star Wars: Legacy (Volume 2) series.

With Brian Wood’s series that has been flying off the shelves since its premiere in January (the 4th printing of Issue #1 comes out on April 17, while Issue #4 comes out April 10), there were a lot of questions about the focus on Leia. Bechko and Hardman discussed Legacy’s new protagonist, Ania Solo, and gave a few hints for what’s in store for the series, which had its first issue on March 20. I’ve got the highlights of the conversation at #SWComicsChat below, and even have a handful of questions of my own.

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April 4, 2013April 4, 2013

Twitter chat with Star Wars comics writers Brian Wood, Gabriel Hardman and Corinna Bechko on Friday

Join several of Dark Horse Comics’ writers for a live twitter chat, on Friday, April 5th at 4 PM ET / 1 PM PT.

Brian Wood (@brianwood), writer of the new ongoing Star Wars series, and the team of Corinna Bechko (@corinnabechko) and Gabriel Hardman (@gabrielhardman), of the new Legacy series featuring Ania Solo, will be on hand to chat with comics fans using hashtag #SWComicsChat. Plus Dark Horse will be giving away some cool swag to a few lucky participants!