Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
With Thrawn: Alliances out now for more than a month (and being the first non-adapted Star Wars novel to be an NYT #1 since Heir to the Empire), James talks Thrawn, Vader, Padme and Anakin and spoilers with Timothy Zahn.
For more Zahn, check out Tosche Station’s DragonCon recordings: A full Thrawn panel, plus the author panel, which also features Kevin J. Anderson, Michael A. Stackpole, Christie Golden, and E.K. Johnston.
In addition to the nuttery going on with Aftermath and the ever-present comment hijacking on official Facebook pages, it appears that a faction of the ‘Bring Back Legends‘ crew was actually harassing VIPs and fans at DragonCon last weekend, Brian at Tosche Station reports:
One panelist and moderator was stalked to a restroom by someone from Bring Back Legends. Another panelist was halted in the Marriott atrium and, again, was talked at and had a set of flyers pushed off on them even though the panelist said they didn’t want one. The Bring Back Legends folks at Dragon Con had become general nuisances, but more than once it went beyond that. I spoke with several fans and panelists who confided that they were made extremely uncomfortable by the advances of the individuals from Bring Back Legends. Others corroborated my story, that they were cornered after panels and had a difficult time escaping their speeches and questioning. The combination of forced interaction and awareness of what the general behavior of these people online proved to be an unsettling experience every time we were approached. We knew they weren’t interested in talking to us, they wanted to talk at us and recruit us to their cause.
And those are far from the only incidents he experienced or heard about – there are more at the link.
The Legends folks were, from reports, fairly courteous at SDCC – and I don’t recall any stories from Celebration at all. Did DragonCon just luck into a particularly obnoxious contingent? Did the more fan-run nature of the con make people think they could get away with this sort of thing more easily? Or are we just dealing with a few individuals who don’t understand basic social cues? In any case, this is not how you get folks on your side.
First, if you’re going to be at DragonCon, Tosche Station has 25 signed copies from Del Rey, and I think they said something about giving them away at panels. If you’re not going to the con, Del Rey is giving away 20 copies randomly!
And of course the book will be out in hardcover on September 2, so it’s not that long a wait.
Dragon Con is coming up Labor Day Weekend. Once again, the center of Star Wars activity will be the Star Wars at Dragon Con track. On Sunday, August 31st, the track is asking fans to wear Aloha shirts in honor of one of Aaron Allston‘s favorite wardrobe features.
That same day at 5:30pm in Hyatt International North, there will be a tribute panel to Aaron and A. C. Crispin, who lost her battle with cancer since the last Dragon Con.
Other fun Star Wars activities coming up this year include:
Coming back will be the Podraces for the kids. And, as always, lots of discussion about the movies, collectibles and books.
For the most up-to-date happenings, be sure to download the Dragon Con app.
DragonCon will be memorializing Aaron this year as well – stay tuned for details.
Short stories. Star Wars Books announced last night that Lucasfilm editor Jennifer Heddle has written a young Leia Organa novel for Star Wars Insider #145. “Constant Spirit” features Leia before A New Hope, and Heddle thinks it’s “one of the earliest-set stories about Leia there’s been, if not the earliest.” The issue will be on newsstands October 22, and in subscriber mailboxes a week or so before that.
Chats. Star Wars Books also had a Facebook chat with James Arnold Taylor the other day. (About… Kenobi? I guess?) There’s even an official edited transcript. There’ll be a John Jackson Miller chat soon, but no details yet.
Interviews. Speaking of Miller, he did a bunch of Kenobi interviews. Check them out at Suvudu, Tosche Station, Eleven Thirty-Eight and TFN. Yes, there are more, but Miller himself has rounded ’em up and he’d know better than I.
DRAGONCON! Tosche Station Radio was on location at DragonCon, and they shared their experience with those of us who had to play along at home. Check out their audio of panels with Star Wars authors, fan activities and the panel on women and minorities in the franchise, featuring Club Jade’s own Luci! They also caught Tim, Mike, and Aaron conspiring!
Reviews. Head over to the newly-redesigned Big Shiny Robot for James’ latest comic reviews: A double (with Bryan Young) of the hot new release The Star Wars #1, plus Star Wars #8, Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin #5 and Dark Times: A Spark Remains #2.
Tosche Station wraps up their DragonCon coverage with a recap of Aaron Allston’s Mercy Kill panel on Monday.
In other Tosche Station news, Brian and Nanci have posted their Celebration VI special. I’m on it somewhere, but I haven’t listened to it yet out of fear of embarrassment squick by self…
I’m a little behind on this, mostly because, oh, that huge convention a week or so past. In any case, here are some of the best tweets out of Celebration and DragonCon and whatever else was going around from August 20th to September 2nd.
Another recap from the Tosche Station folks in Atlanta: Timothy Zahn, Aaron Allston, Michael Stackpole, Kevin J. Anderson and Doctor Carol White discuss Masculinity in Star Wars.
Hot on the heels and six hours north of Celebration, Dragon*Con is being held in Atlanta. Tosche Station is there now, and Brian has recapped the Star Wars author panel held there yesterday. Attending were Aaron Allston, Timothy Zahn, Mike Stackpole and Kevin J. Anderson.
Also coming up Monday will be a Mercy Kill discussion with Allston.