Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
The podcast Far Far Away is auctioning off a signed hardcover copy of Aaron Allston’s Fate of the Jedi: Backlash on eBay to raise funds for the American Heart Association.
Aaron signed the book at Celebration in 2010; the auction runs through March 21.
Ascension is the second to the last in the Fate of the Jedi series. It picks up where Conviction left off: the Jedi coup that brought down Chief of State Natasi Daala has left a large hole temporarily filled by Wynn Dorvan, Senator Haydnat Treen, and Saba Sebatyne. This triumvirate, an emergency leadership put in place during a rough transition of power, was not meant to last long. Encouraged by the revolutionary group Freedom Flight and the efforts of the peaceful rebel leader Rokari Kem of Qaas, planets across the galaxy are abolishing slavery and clamoring to join the Galactic Alliance. In the midst of political meetings discussing which planets are ready to join, political rivals seeking to take power for themselves begin making plans that could have large repercussions for these mostly non-human worlds.
Continue reading “Book review: Christie Golden’s Fate of the Jedi: Ascension”
Let’s put a lid on it: The final Fate of the Jedi book, Troy Denning’s Apocalypse, is out today in paperback. Goodbye to the (hopefully) last of the mega-series…
Also, I don’t generally cover merchandise in these posts, but apparently the Kotobukiya Jaina Solo figure also goes on sale today.
For comic fans, Wednesday will bring Agent of the Empire: Hard Targets #4 and an Infinities omnibus. It’s just the three ‘what-if’ comics, alas – I’m still waiting for Dark Horse to collect all the funny Tales/Tag and Bink stuff that also falls under the Infinities umbrella.
Our next upcoming novel is something brand new – The Last Jedi, also a paperback, is due February 26.
It’s something old and something new for Expanded Universe fans this week. Coming to bookstores tomorrow in paperback is the penultimate chapter of the Fate of the Jedi series, Christie Golden’s Ascension.
Meanwhile, Wednesday brings a new storyline to Dawn of the Jedi with The Prisoner of Bogan #1.
That’s it for books for the rest of the year until Timothy Zahn’s Scoundrels drops on January 1 – though there is a short story coming December 10 .
In stores now is the paperback reprint of the seventh Fate of the Jedi book, Aaron Allston’s Conviction.
If you head over to the comic shop, you’ll find Darth Maul: Death Sentence #2 (which James has already reviewed) and the first Clone Wars Omnibus, The Republic Goes to War.
StarWars.com’s May 4th gift to EU fans is the entire second chapter of the upcoming Timothy Zahn book. And some other stuff, like a preview of Darth Maul: Death Sentence and Darth Vader and Son wallpapers. And the Fate of the Jedi writers talking about the series. But mostly Scoundrels.
For a good cause. EUCantina is selling #SWEU t-shirts with all the profits going to CJ’s favorite charity, Reading is Fundamental. There’s far more than tees in the store, and $3 of each purchase will go towards the charity. (Which really needs all the help it can get right now.)
UPDATE: There are tees for #ZahnSolo as well.
The blogside. Galactic Drift makes a point about poorly crafted villians, something some of us saw as a major problem in Fate of the Jedi. Meanwhile, Tosche Station collected folks dream Star Wars novels.
Interviews. Tom Taylor talked to Big Shiny Robot, Rebelscum and CNN.
Background. Even more Essential Guide to Warfare endnotes from Jason Fry. Speaking of, Jacob, one of Jawajames’ friends, recorded Fry’s author talk and more at one of the San Diego “Attack of the Authors” tour stops. (You did watch James’ interview, right?)
Reviews. James takes a look at Dawn of the Jedi #3 and Crimson Empire III: Empire Lost #6.
The blogside. Over at Tosche Station, Brian has a two-part retrospective of Fate of the Jedi. The series has garnered some mixed reviews, but overall I have to agree with some of Brian on this one, particularly regarding Luke/the Jedi, the arc-welding in Abeloth’s backstory, and the overall issues with Denning. Brian’s also revised his review of Apocalypse.
Warfare fallout. Jason Fry has posted his endnotes for The Essential Guide to Warfare in three parts, while his co-author Paul Urquhart writes (naturally) about the wackier side of the book at Suvudu.
Interviews. EU Cantina talks to comic writer Tom Taylor about his upcoming Darth Maul mini-series, Invasion, and Boba Fett is Dead. Meanwhile, Newsarama has John Ostrander to discuss Dawn of the Jedi in some detail.
Whoops! I caught the release date change for Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories last week, but not that it had changed formats from paperback to trade paperback. Guess someone likes the Sith…
WTF of the week. Kevin J. Anderson invented the Killiks. Of course he did.
Reviews. James enjoys the unexpected trickery in Knights of the Old Republic – War #4 and is satisfied (sort of) by the big ending of Agent of the Empire – Iron Eclipse #5.
The Star Wars Books page at Facebook had a chat with Troy Denning today. Due to the awkwardness of the format (and to spare you – trust me) I’ve gathered a quick recap of the highlights beneath the cut. The first part contains no spoilers, so if you haven’t finished Apocalypse yet, stop when you hit the red text.
Continue reading “Denning chats Fate of the Jedi, Apocalypse on Facebook”
Chat season. Troy Denning will be chatting Apocalypse tomorrow afternoon on the Star Wars Books Facebook page. (He’ll also be at San Diego Comic Con in July… A behind-the-scenes FOTJ panel, perhaps?) Also chatting, on the 11th, will be Essential Guide to Warfare author Jason Fry. We’ll likely be recapping both.
Scoundrels. Del Rey editor Frank Parisi was on last week’s ForceCast where he revealed two of the established characters that will be on the team. (If you want the fairly minor spoilers, highlight this: Kell Tainer and Winter. If Kell means nothing to you, he’s in the X-Wing series.)
Upcoming. We can expect news on something post-Fate of the Jedi what’s next “sometime this summer, if not sooner,” Erich Schoeneweiss said in response to a fan question. Not at SDCC, I hope.
Blurbs. Knights Archive spotted a longer summary for Pablo Hidalgo’s Essential Reader’s Companion in the Random House online catalog.
Interviews. Roqoo Depot talks to Matt Stover – mostly about his new book, Caine’s Law, which was out in stores yesterday – but they also touch on Star Wars. Meanwhile, Angela Slatter interviews Karen Miller and Sean Williams about working in franchises.