Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Were yesterday’s eyeglasses a bit rich for your blood? Well, here’s something a bit less pricey: Thinkgeek’s Millennium Falcon bottle opener.
If that doesn’t do it for you, ThinkGeek has a nice chunk of Star Wars stuff on sale right now. It’s never too early to start thinking about holiday shopping… Get there before Santa Maul does!
Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, co-author of Shadow Games and Coruscant Nights III: Patterns of Force, was a featured guest at Conjecture/ConChord in San Diego this past weekend for her work on writing filk songs, but she had time to give me the scoop on her upcoming Star Wars novel with Michael Reaves, The Last Jedi, as well as shares about writing Dash Rendar in Shadow Games, and characterizing droids like I-Five and Leebo. She also discusses how the short story “And Leebo Makes Three…” came about, and her other upcoming works.
I was a little disappointed that the programming staff for the joint convention (ConChord is a Southern California filking con, for which Bohnhoff and her husband were toastmasters, while Conjecture is a San Diego sci-fi/fantasy lit con) didn’t get their ducks in a row to have Bohnhoff on any Star Wars panels, such as readings for Star Wars Reads Day, or joining the discussion with Patricia Wrede, David Brin, and myself. Still it was a treat to have a chance to sit down with Bohnhoff about the writing process and baseball. Smaller cons are great places to actually meet and talk to the featured guests.
The Last Jedi, by Michael Reaves and Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, comes out on February 26, 2013 in paperback.
Her Universe is revealing their new products for Halloween! A brand-new Spock hoodie, this year’s Halloween tote by Katie Cook (only available for a limited time) and a Hot Topic exclusive Tardis dress.
These are all brand new editions to their existing collection of “everyday cosplay” – the Leia hoodie, Asoka tunic (now in adult sizes,) and the Uhura tee.
Same Cliff Nielsen art, new layout. What do you think?
The book is due out July 2 in hardcover and eBook.
Star Wars is no stranger to glasses, but usually they’re of the drinking kind. A bit pricier at $500 a pop – but perhaps more practical – is this Star Wars designer eyewear, from Japan’s Aigan, that will be available stateside from Gizmine come the end of the month. Prescription lenses not included, but they do come with matching cases. (via)
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.
Looks like the push is on. StarWars.com has the details, including a look at all the revamped birds. And don’t fear – it looks like the game is hitting all the major platforms: iOS, Android, Amazon Kindle Fire, Mac, PC, Windows Phone, and Windows 8
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”
Sure, we winced when ex-Twilight story 50 Shades of Grey became the giant bestseller of 2012. But for the world of fanfic, what’s worse than watching badly-written BDSM shoot up the bestseller lists?
Could it be… Boy band fan fiction? Penguin has picked up a story called Loving the Band, written by a 16-year-old “One Direction super-fan”. Maybe the cash will help take the sting out of the embarrassment she’ll feel about the thing in 5 to 10 years – assuming it proves even a fraction as sucessful as 50 Shades, anyway.