Category: books and comics

Posted on

Only Karens for five-book The Clone Wars series

In the light of yesterday’s press release, Karen Miller spills a few more beans at her livejournal:

The Sekrit Projekt is a Star Wars novel. I’ll be doing 2. They’re both set in the Clone Wars era, and connected to the new animated series that’s coming out soon. It’s a 5-book series in total, and the super spectacular Karen Traviss will be writing the other 3. I’m so lucky to be working with her. It’s a bit of a cosmic trip, this, no pun intended. I think I’d be a lost cause if I didn’t have her to guide my tottering footsteps.

Gotta tell you, I am having waaaaay too much fun.

Posted on

Finally: The Clone Wars book announcement

With a month and a day to the first street date, LucasBooks and Del Rey have issued the press release, and now we know that five novels are coming! Karen Traviss and Karen Miller are the only authors named: no word on who, if anyone, will be joining them, or if the books are actual novelizations or side-stories… Though the plot description sounds familiar enough. In any case, we’re certain to get a lot more background on the Clone Wars.

Posted on

Poll: How much do you care about continuity?

Have you ever bemoaned a minor error in a novel as the end of Star Wars as we know it? Do clumsy retcons set you raging? Did the prequel’s Jossing of previously established EU elements make you seek therapy? Are you up all hours on TFN or Wookieepedia debating such things? If so, sometimes you scare even me, but it’s our latest poll nonetheless. Vote beneath the cut or on the sidebar. Continue reading “Poll: How much do you care about continuity?”

Posted on

Poll results: Upcoming Star Wars novels

156 readers weighed in, and there’s nothing too surprising here: Stover’s Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor, set not long after Return of the Jedi, took a clear lead with 61 votes; Luceno’s Millennium Falcon, our first look at the GFFA after the events of Legacy of the Force, took second with 43 votes. (Don’t forget these two recently swapped street dates: It’s good news for at least 43 of you.) Traviss’ Republic Commando: Order 66 and Reaves’ Coruscant Nights trilogy dueled it out for third place, ending up with 28 and 24 votes, respectively.

Posted on

Preaching to the choir, maybe

Mighty God King asks the question that has been floating in the head of many Expanded Universe fans. (Or is it just me?)

If we’re going to get an animated Star Wars film, why on earth are we getting the Clone Wars, which has already had live-action movies and an animated series and potentially a live-action series in the future about it – instead of, and this is just off the top of my head, an adaptation of the Heir to the Empire trilogy by Timothy Zahn, AKA “the only good Star Wars novels ever?”

We know the answer: Because George Lucas loves his shiny new Clone Wars, and it’s not like folks aren’t going to watch it. But really, why can’t we take the post-ROTJ books and feed them into the animation mill? By end of LOTF, we’re going on 40 years worth of raw material. True, they aren’t all the Thrawn trilogy, but even the worst could hold a glimmer of possibility in the hands of a competent scriptwriter. And it’s not like other endless franchises haven’t been doing it for decades.

I’ve nothing against The Clone Wars in theory – but didn’t we just leave that party? Maybe I’m just a sad old-school fan who simply isn’t all that interested in further exploration of the prequel era (okay, drop the ‘maybe’) but… Seriously. Forty years of imperfect but infinitely useful raw material with established movie characters that people actually mostly like and have fond memories of. And starting off with the Thrawn trilogy will bring in a lot of people who just weren’t feeling the prequels and other casual fans who might not make the time for The Clone Wars. (Plus, it would probably boost book sales. Books that are already written, edited, and sitting around in stores.)

I’ll keep holding out hope it happens eventually. You?