Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
No books this week, but you’re probably still making your way through The Essential Reader’s Companion, right? Still, John Jackson Miller fans can head to their shops Wednesday for Lost Tribe of the Sith: Spiral #3 and Knight Errant: Escape #5, which sadly brings the series to an end.
Our next book release is the paperback reprint of James Luceno’s Darth Plagueis on October 30th.
Patricia C. Wrede was the guest of honor at Conjecture, a sci-fi/fantasy convention in San Diego, this past weekend. While known more for her young adult fantasy work (including The Enchanted Forest Chronicles and Frontier Magic series), Wrede is also the author of the middle school novelizations of the three prequel movies (from Scholastic). As part of Star Wars Reads Day, she and voice actor Mark Biagi performed a reading of different scenes from her junior novelizations. I got a chance to chat with Wrede about getting into the heads of Amidala and other prequel characters as well as other aspects of writing the novel adaptations for movies that weren’t complete at the time she was writing. She also discusses her most recent Frontier Magic novel, The Far West, the conclusion of a tale of magic in frontier America.
As a panelist at Conjecture, I got to moderate a panel entitled “What Didn’t George Lucas Steal?”, with Patricia Wrede, David Brin (of Star Wars On Trial), and Donna Keeley. While we started on topic about original concepts in the Star Wars films (and whether original ideas in storytelling even matters), we soon moved into the usual dissection of the saga, with Brin serving up his usual gripes against the moral lessons of Star Wars and George Lucas. Wrede had some good counters when examining the parallels between Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi, and Keeley broke down how haters of “Do or do not. There is no try.” are missing the context.
Learn more about Patricia C. Wrede on her official website.
There were several Star Wars Reads Day events in the Bay Area. After bribing her with the chance to see special guest R2-D2, a friend and I made our way to the Vacaville Town Square Library around 10:30. There were children already outside of the entrance playing with neon colored poster board lightsabers, shouting all kinds of Star Wars things at each other. It was pretty darned cute.
Continue reading “Star Wars Reads Day at the Bay Area’s Vacaville Town Square Library”
Star Wars Reads Day was a roaring success at Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, Georgia. This was the big event for the Atlanta metro area, featuring Ashley Eckstein (aka Ahsoka Tano) as the main guest.
The crowds had formed by about 9:30 with excited kids in Jedi and Ewok costumes. The street musician who always hangs around the square was working his way through Star Wars pieces. Vader came out not long after with the best reaction ever: the kids all yelled out “Yay!” while simultaneously backing up.
Once inside, the 501st and Rebel Legion worked their magic greeting the kids. The display of Star Wars books quickly got picked through. (Which was the whole point, right?)
Nonfiction. Coverage of The Essential Reader’s Companion isn’t slowing down now that’s it’s out. Author Pablo Hidalgo wrote about what didn’t make the cut, and as well as talking toSuvudu, Jedi News and Jedi Journals. Tosche Station’s Brian reviewed the book, and NJOE asks if it’s right for you. If you have to ask…?
As for the books’ much talked-about art, Chris Trevas talked to Lightsaber Rattling, while Darren Tan and Chris Scalf have posted some on their DeviantArts, including Tan’s Allegiance piece above.
Star Wars Reads. Well, hopefully you have a good idea of what you’re doing tomorrow, but for today, the chat at GoodReads is on. Of particular interest may be Randy Stradley addressing continuity concerns people have been bringing up for Brian Wood’s Star Wars. Jason Fry, Ryder Windham, Jeffrey Brown and Timothy Zahn have answered fan questions so far. And on the Star Wars blog, Fry weighs in on his first Star Wars book.
Bundles. In a related matter, the two Essential Novel eBook bundles (10 for $63, and 4 for $8) are on sale now. And it looks like that’s not the last bundle we have coming: Knights Archive noticed a listing for Drew Karpyshyn’s The Darth Bane series, and it’s now live in the Random House catalog. The eBook bundle will be on sale November 5th for $18.99.
Art books. J.W. Rinzler blogged a bit about the release of Star Wars Art: Illustration, revealing that there are two more books coming in the series.
Paula shared her story yesterday, but Star Wars Reads day is coming up this Saturday! You can find a location near you on the event map. Want to know if any authors or artists be appearing near you? Del Rey, DK and Dark Horse have posted lists of those participating.
If you can’t make it, several authors will be answering fan questions on GoodReads tomorrow. And StarWars.com has been posting video as well.
And, now for something completely different: Tor’s Ryan Britte wonders if the citizens of the Star Wars galaxy illiterate.
Last week, an internet-famous cat watched Star Wars, Simon Pegg worked out at Elstree, Pablo weighed the ERC, dogs looked like Chewbacca and the usual amount of #StarWars and #SWEU.
Continue reading “We seem to be made to suffer: Last week’s best #StarWars and #SWEU tweets”
To, uh, celebrate the release of Pablo Hidalgo’s The Essential Reader’s Companion, Suvudu has reposted some of the old short stories: John Jackson Miller’s Labor Pains (with illustrations by Pablo,) Jason Fry’s Deader Than a Triton Moon, Ed Erdelac’s Fists of Ion, Chris Cassidy’s Precipice, Rich Handley’s Lando Calrissian: Idiot’s Array, Christopher Cerasi’s Crossroads, Charlene Newcomb’s Shades of Gray and The Old Republic: Smuggler’s Vanguard by Rob Chestney.
That’s… A lot of shorts. There are a few more, including some older stuff, at the first link. All the stories are ones that are covered in the Reader.
Let’s do the time warp again. Over at Tosche Station, Brian is the latest to weigh in on continuity and perspective in the Expanded Universe. If you’re with us in just shrugging at the latest Clone Wars kerfuffle (which Brian references – but he spends more time on Sword of the Jedi and Brian Wood’s Star Wars comic) you’ll enjoy it. If not… Well. I’ve already said my bit on all this.
Upcoming. Knights’ Archive spotted a brief blurb for Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void. (I’m a little surprised to see it’s a hardback, though I’m honestly not sure if we knew that already.) Also interesting is that Dark Horse is collecting the three Infinities mini-series into an omnibus… I’m hoping this will lead to one (or two) that collect all the best (funny!) bits of Star Wars Tales.
The blogside. Over at the StarWars.com blog, J.W. Rinzler talks about laying out The Making of Return of the Jedi, Tim Zahn shares some of his memorable experiences with books, and Daniel Wallace shares endnotes for the Book of Sith.
Reviews. EUCantina and Lightsaber Rattling take a look at The Essential Reader’s Companion.
Nonfiction. Matt Staggs reveals some of what Camille Paglia has to say about George Lucas in her upcoming book, Glittering Images.
Timothy Zahn just shared this bit of news on Facebook: The Scoundrels release has been pushed back. The good news? It’s only a week, to January 1st.
The hardcover was originally going to come out on December 26th, so instead of fighting off the post-Christmas crowds, you’ll be able swing by on a sleepy retail New Year’s Day. Yay?