Tag: fate of the jedi

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EUbits: Cover art for Allston’s Mercy Kill gets a makeover

Okay… The Mercy Kill cover has been tweaked. The ships appear the same, but the background has been tweaked – the ‘gray’ background will be silver when printed. It seems a bit overdone to me: you know Coco Chanel’s old axiom about always removing one accessory before you leave the house? I think it applies here. Maybe it’ll look better in actual silver? Still, I don’t think it’ll hurt Aaron Allston’s sales figures, and we’ve certainly seen worse.

Nonfiction. Knights Archive spotted Steve Sansweet’s next book, Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection: 35 Years of Characters, on Amazon. Rancho Obi-wan publicist Consetta Parker confirms, as well as giving us a look at the production. Amazon gives an October 17 release date.

Essential Guides. With The Essential Guide To Warfare just a week away, there’s already a brief review from Knight’s Archive and an interview with Jason Fry at EU Cantina.

Fate of the Jedi. Roqoo Depot’s Skuldren takes a look at the series as a whole. Meanwhile, as you may have heard, Apocalypse made the New York Times’ bestseller list.

Hey, librarians! You can contact DK to hold a “Summer of Star Wars” day in June or July. By the by, we don’t recommend handing kids Fate of the Jedi.

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Out this week: Vortex paperback, Dawn of the Jedi reprint

If you’ve been following the Fate of the Jedi series in paperback, today is the day to go to the book store – the sixth book, Troy Denning’s Vortex, is out in mass market. Don’t forget, Erika reviewed it last year.

Meanwhile, Wednesday will bring those Dawn of the Jedi #1 reprints.

The only actual new thing you’ll find out there this week is the latest Star Wars Insider, which features an interview with Aaron Allston, Christie Golden, and Troy Denning on Fate of the Jedi and a short story by Jason Fry.

Our next book release will be The Essential Guide to Warfare on April 3.

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Things to Do With Dengar When You’re Dead: Best #StarWars and #SWEU tweets for the past week

Welcome to a new feature! As fannish pros and fans alike are so active on Twitter, I thought we’d expose our readers to a little bit of what goes on there. This week: Some tidbits on The Essential Guide to Warfare, a few Fate of the Jedi snarks, and, of course, #ZahnSolo!

Continue reading “Things to Do With Dengar When You’re Dead: Best #StarWars and #SWEU tweets for the past week”

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Denning talks in-depth on Fate of the Jedi

Author Troy Denning goes into detail on Abeloth, Ben, Allana, tying into the Legacy comics, and all that other spoilery stuff we read in Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse in an interview with Suvudu. He also talks about working with multiple authors, like this interesting bit from the New Jedi Order:

…When I was writing Star by Star, I got the manuscript for Balance Point and saw that Kathy Tyers had followed the outline exactly. She did exactly what the outline had called for, but it was all about fifteen percent off of what I thought she meant. I was 400 pages into Star by Star and I thought, “Oh my gosh, I have slightly different interpretations of these characters than Kathy does!” So I had to go back and rewrite the first 400 pages before I could go on.

He also talks about the differences in Fate of the Jedi and Legacy of the Force, the ‘Jacen Solo saga,’ the last words of Apocalypse, and leaving things open-ended.

Meanwhile, Rooqoo Depot talks to Lucasfilm continuity guru Leland Chee.

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EUbits: Delving into Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse, again

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.

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Denning, “chick” books, and looking past Fate of the Jedi

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.

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And the Apocalypse just keeps coming

Well, it’s the final Fate of the Jedi release day, and thus comes a few more links – and one discount offer. I’m not really a fan of how Barnes & Noble only offers coupons on certain books, but today they’ve included Apocalypse for 40% off, which puts them on equal ground with Amazon. The online coupon code is C8M3R4E, but I believe it will only work if you have a membership with them. (It’s 33% off cover for non-members.)

And yes, there are more reviews, and they do contain spoilers. Roqoo Depot has two more: One from Lane Winree and another in round-robin form. NJOE’s Chris Carey has also reviewed.

Roqoo Depot is on a roll: They have an interview with Troy Denning, too.

Meanwhile, here’s a brief profile of Keltie Cochrane, the firm that designed all the Fate of the Jedi covers.

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Out this week: Fate of the Jedi’s Apocalypse arrives

What more is there to say about Apocalypse at this point? Troy Denning’s finale of the Fate of the Jedi series drops tomorrow, and I think all of us – fans and cynics alike – are more than ready to put this series (and maybe even the format) to bed.

Fans: Don’t forget about Troy Denning’s book tour.

Cynics: Remember, this book contains our first look at Aaron Allston’s X-Wing: Mercy Kill.

By the by, the spoilers for Apocalypse are insane. And that’s all I’m going to say. For now. (Assuming this book doesn’t start off with six straight chapters of Sith ala Ascension, in which case it may take me another 7 months to force myself to read it…)

As for the comic readers, Wednesday brings Agent of The Empire – Iron Eclipse #4 and Knights of The Old Republic: War #3

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EUbits: Fate of the Jedi is ending, have you heard?

Fate of the Jedi. Apocalypse is only days away, and so there is a book trailer. (Naturally.) And a mini-excerpt. And a 50-page excerpt. And Troy Denning on a podcast. And, of course, another spoiler-free review at Star Wars Report. Will it ever end? (Well, yes. Presumably, Tuesday. And then, the arguing. Yay!)

Comics. John Jackson Miller talks about Knight Errant’s next arc, ‘Escape,’ with io9’s Cyriaque Lamar.

Upcoming. DK will be releasing The Old Republic Encyclopedia this fall, Roqoo Depot discovered.

The blogside. Roqoo Depot’s Skuldren speaks out against super-powered characters in video games and the EU. In my book, that’s a very big reason why certain streams should no be crossing… Meanwhile, io9 makes a valiant effort to connect the Star Wars timeline to Earth’s timeline – pity that the comic tale they’re using as a cornerstone is kind of, a little bit, well, actually entirely Infinities, aka a non-canon AU. Which they admit. But still.

Okay, fine. If it’s an actual EU timeline you’re looking for (sorry, no Earth,) here’s an official one from Del Rey.

Review. James gives the latest Clone Wars digest, The Enemy Within, a thumbs-up for its Dirty Dozen meets L.A. Confidential in space storyline.

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Out this week: Crimson Empire III, The Enemy Within

Once again, we have a week without a book release, but Wednesday does bring a few things to your local comic shop. First up is Crimson Empire III: Empire Lost #5, as the series winds up to next month’s conclusion. Then, for the The Clone Wars fans, there’s The Enemy Within trade, which Dark Horse is describing as “Dirty Dozen in space.”

Of course, next week, we’ll finally get the last Fate of the Jedi book, Troy Denning’s Apocalypse. Which means now is the time for those of us who’ve been slacking (ahem, yours truly) to finally get around to reading finishing Ascension. For those who are hanging on every word, Lightsaber Rattling has the first review. He hints at some spoilers, but nothing major.