Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Del Rey’s Erich Schoeneweiss announced today that Pablo Hidalgo’s Essential Reader’s Companion has been pushed back from April to October 2.
The reason? “To provide our exceptional art team a little more time to complete over 100 painted scenes plus nearly 50 character portraits from the Expanded Universe,” Schoeneweiss wrote. More art? I’m okay with that.
Schoeneweiss expects to be able to start sharing some pieces soon. Per usual, our book release schedule has been updated.
If you follow publishing news at all – or picked up last week’s Game of Thrones issue of Entertainment Weekly – you’ve probably heard about Fifty Shades of Grey. It’s a vanity-published erotic novel that’s sold more than 250,000 copies,and got author E L James a seven-figure book deal with Vintage, a division of Random House. It just became a a New York Times bestseller. So, yes, it’s incredibly popular.
It also started life as a Twilight alternate universe fanfic, something even major media have been picking up on.
Taking a fanfic and reworking it as an original piece is nothing new – I’m fairly sure one of my favorite space opera sagas started out as a Star Wars story way back in the day, for instance. Cassandra Clare and Naomi Novak may be the best known these days, but they were far from the first to cross over and go pro. It happens, and it’s been happening for a long time.
But it can strike an uncomfortable chord, particularly in cases such as this. Not because of the porn, per say, but because it skirts violating the most sacred – perhaps only – rule of fan fiction: Thou shall not make money off it. (Remember Lori Jareo?) And to boot, the incredible yet completely unsurprising success (yes, ladies do sometimes like porn, deal with it) of this particular case is shining a big, mainstream light on fan fiction in general… One I’m not sure the community wants or needs.
Given the deeply AU nature of her original fanfic, I think it’s unlikely we’ll be seeing James in court. But if the attention continues to spread to fan fiction and the community, if this just is the beginning of a trend, who knows what else will come to light? But only time will tell.
Fate of the Jedi. If you haven’t finished Apocalypse yet, don’t click any of the links in this section, because they are chock-full of spoilers! Over at Lightsaber Rattling, Pete Morrison takes a look at the state of the Expanded Universe post-Fate of the Jedi. (Always-relevant musical interlude: Where do we go from here?)
There are also some new reviews from The Galactic Drift, Fantasy & SciFi Lovin’, and The EU, the Bad, and the Ugly.
Also, if you’re in the mood for some snark, I live-tweeted my reading of the book, and then rambled at length about it on my Livejournal. My review, in brief: Meh.
Namesake corner A custom Clone Wars style Mara Jade action figure! I’ve made no secret of not being a fan of the style, but this is pretty nifty, I must admit. And she doesn’t look like Giada DeLaurentiis!
Author talk. Dan Wallace posts his endnotes for the Book of Sith.
Excerpts. A mini for Jeff Grubb’s Scourge. It’s our next new novel release, coming April in paperback.
Gaming. One of our readers, Annalee, has a good write-up at the Geek Feminism blog on issues in The Old Republic.
Comics. James gives a thumbs up to the twists in Agent of the Empire: Iron Eclipse #4, and Zayne digging himself in deep in Knights of the Old Republic: War #3.
The first in a new series of shorts developed by Lauren Faust (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic) featuring Wonder Girl, Supergirl and Batgirl premiered yesterday on Cartoon Network.
You might recognize the voices: Wonder Girl is played by Grey DeLisle (Azula in Avatar: The Last Airbender,) Batgirl is Tara Strong (IN EVERYTHING, including MLP:FIM, and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends) and Supergirl is played by Nicole Sullivan (Shego in Kim Possible.) Oddly, none of these ladies have been in The Clone Wars, though DeLisle did do voice Padme and Asajj Ventress in the Tartakovsky Clone Wars series, as well as some video game work, and Strong did a voice for The Old Republic.
Over at Galactic Drift, Racheal recaps Troy Denning’s book tour stop in Carmel, Indiana, complete with the above video. Denning talking about the “Jacen Solo era” that Apocalypse is closing out, the push for war stories, tying into the Legacy comics and more.
As for news, Denning said he’s not involved – and isn’t sure if he will be – with whatever is happening next in the EU.
One thing that rubs me (and others) the wrong way is his reference to Tatooine Ghost as a “chick book.” It’s not one of my favorites – I don’t even own a copy – but it is exactly the kind of story I think the Expanded Universe needs more of now that the glut of long series are over: Character-focused adventures that don’t have the fate of the entire galaxy in the balance. (Another example: Zahn’s Survivor’s Quest.) I can take or leave any romance aspects; I just want stories that give some consideration to the characters, not just their lightsabers and blasters.
I’m not saying we need to totally get rid of the galaxy-in-peril plots – as Denning points out, there’s a demand, and they are part of the formula. It’s not Star Peace, after all. But the one thing that the EU has been missing lately – at least if you’re not in it for brand-new characters – has been the balance of ‘galaxy’ books and ‘character’ books. Successful Star Wars stories that manage to do both – Matt Stover’s Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor, for instance – have been few and far between lately. And while I can’t speak for everyone, I’d rather have one Mindor a year than any of these drawn-out cast-of-thousands deals we’ve been getting. Or at least in addition to whatever cast-of-thousands thing is going on.
And really, does focusing on character over endless battle scenes really make something ‘for chicks?’ Really? Yes, this is Star Wars, and by the very nature of the franchise there’s always going to be a lot of pandering to the lowest common denominator… But throw the rest of us a bone every once and a while. Please.
The rematch prequel fans had no idea they were waiting 13 years for airs tonight as ‘Revenge’ brings Season 4 of The Clone Wars to an end. Jedi. Will. Be. Kicked! (Wait…)
Watching these clips, I can’t help but think… Dude, you talk too much, Maul. (Sorry.) And here’s one more:
Entertainment Weekly will have Sam Witwer (Maul) and James Arnold Taylor (Obi-wan) chatting live about the show tonight. They also interviewed Sam Witwer about Darth Maul.
Let’s not forget to remember the good times.
While I admit that making a comedy out of Dark Shadows is a completely natural progression from the (naturally) campy source material, this… I don’t know. But it did make me laugh, so at least it has that going for it.
This brand new trailer was shown at yesterday’s upfronts, when they announced the premiere’s release date. Excited yet?!?
Getting ready to hop on a flight wearing my @starwars hat and carrying my NEW tote bag! Coming this summer! twitter.com/HerUniverse/st…
— Her Universe (@HerUniverse) March 14, 2012
Ashley Eckstein tweeted the above yesterday, our first look at a new product. The tote’s fabric bears some resemblance to that of a prototype Ashley polled fans about a year ago, but with a much simpler design.
Nickelodeon has finally announced the premiere date of the highly-anticipated follow up to Avatar: The Last Airbender. The Legend of Korra will debut Saturday, April 14, at 11:00 a.m. and I am too excited for words. KORRA KORRA KORRA KORRA KORRA! Or, basically:
Nick recently launched an official site for the show, and has been releasing clips from the show there.