Tag: interviews

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EUbits: Looking ahead to Rebels

Luke, Leia and HanRebels. Austin at Fandom Apocalypse takes a look at what we know about the forthcoming Rebels series that was announced last summer. He reached out the authors Martha Wells and Kevin Hearne, who are handling books on Leia and Luke.

The blogside. Tor’s Ryan Britt explores the differences between A New Hope and its novelization. What’s a duck? And Tosche Station’s Bria continues her EU retrospective after Endor with True at Bakura and Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor. And over at Big Shiny Robot, Bryan lets the darkness take hold wondering if The Clone Wars won’t be coming back at all.

Podcasting. After something of a hiatus, EUCantina’s EUCast is poised to make their return soon. In the meantime, here’s Episode 0. And if you’re interested in podcasting, Tosche Station host Brian wrote at length about the gear you’ll need and what he uses.

Frames gets cheap(er.) TheForce.net spotted an Amazon listing for a paperback edition of the fancy screenshot book Frames. At $150 retail it’s still not pocket change, but seeing as the original would set you back $3000… Amazon being Amazon, we’d wait for official details before pre-ordering, though.

Interviews. Paul S. Kemp talks about Star Wars, Dungeons and Dragons and his non-franchise work with SF Signal. And Timothy Zahn chats Scoundrels on Fictional Frontiers.

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Interview: Timothy Zahn on Scoundrels

With Scoundrels just released in hardcover, author Timothy Zahn has been on a book tour of the West Coast. I was able to spend a few minutes with him before his signing at San Diego’s Mysterious Galaxy bookstore on Saturday to chat about Scoundrels and what else he’s got in the pipeline. Stay tuned later this week for more video from the signing, including Tim discussing how Scoundrels came to be, and audience Q & A.P1160317

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Bechko and Hardman talk up Ania Solo, new Legacy

In an interview with CBR, new Legacy writers Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman reveal the most information we’ve had about the comic’s revival yet.

It’s business as usual for how exactly she’s related to Han and Leia – it’ll be “a little bit of a mystery and we’re not going to be paying off anytime soon,” Hardman says. He does reveal that she’s not royalty, though:

A lot of the “Legacy” era has been about these larger-than-life Emperors and royalty — we’re taking this down to much more of a ground level. Ania Solo is somebody that is not a part of that world, and she doesn’t have a personal connection to it. She may have even turned her back on it.

“She’s living in a backwater, Outer Rim system. She runs a junkyard and she doesn’t have that many prospects, and that’s where we start things. Our story takes off there,” Bechko adds. And here’s one that may make some folks happy: “She’s not overly Force-sensitive.”

There’s more, of course, including who the two other characters on the cover are and what drew them to the comic.

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Scoundrels smorgasbord: Trailer, interview and review

I guess someone threw the Scoundrels switch yesterday, because there’s been a minor flood of coverage for Timothy Zahn’s book.

MTV Geek has a book trailer which I can’t bring myself to watch. (Sorry, I Have Issues with the entire concept. Blame Vector Prime.)

Perhaps paying homage to one of our fandom’s oldest traditions, Suvudu has a “holiday card insert” so you can gift the book ahead of the official release date. And it looks like they’re ‘introducing’ the individual scoundrels one-by-one, starting with Lando.

Tricia at Fangirl has an interview with Zahn – with more coming in the Insider.

And finally, I believe this may be our first official review: Tor’s Emily Asher-Perrin says it’s “just like a normal heist only much, much better.”

The book is, once again, not out until January 1st.

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Preview Brian Wood’s Star Wars

Nerdist has an exclusive first look at Brian Wood’s Star Wars comic, which launches next month. It also features an interview with Wood, who has a lot of nice things to say about Celebration.

When I started the job, I had this idea that Star Wars fans would be really hardcore and nitpicky and, to be frank, ready to challenge my work. Then I went to Star Wars Celebration, this convention, and I had one of the most positive experiences of my professional life. Everyone was super nice, very receptive to what I’m doing, and I felt like I belonged in a way that comic book conventions don’t. I came home from that show determined to write 10x on this title.

Hardcore? Nitpicky? Just stay away from the message boards. And, um, certain typos.

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Interview: Michael Price on LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out

With LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out premiering this Wednesday night on Cartoon Network, I checked in with the show’s writer, Michael Price, who also wrote last year’s LEGO Star Wars special, The Padawan Menace. That first animated show (reviewed last year), which had Yoda, C-3PO and a young Han Solo, ranks up as the best Star Wars based comedy I had seen in years, and one of my top Star Wars on screen for 2011. In this interview, Michael talks about the comedy of The Empire Strikes Out, and the challenges of solo writing Luke and Vader. Continue reading “Interview: Michael Price on LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out“

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EUbits: Star Wars books and comics at NYCC

New York Comic Con. The schedule for the October 11-14 con is up, and both EU panels are on Friday… both at noon? Star Wars Books features Jason Fry and Pablo Hidalgo, while Brian Wood & Dark Horse: From World’s End to the Galaxy’s Beginnings will be Brian Wood, Jeremy Atkins, Randy Stradley and Sierra Hahn.

Previews. EUCantina has a few pages from The Essential Reader’s Companion… (Which you can currently pre-order for $19.19 on Amazon.) Oh, and Paul S. Kemp still can’t talk about his duology.

Interviews. There were a lot of them. In text, EUCantina has Haden Blackman, Jedi News has Bill Slavicsek (old-timers will remember his Guide to the Star Wars Universe) and Fangirl talks to Del Rey’s summer intern, Tom Hoeler. In audio, Fictional Frontiers has Aaron Allston, while Jedi Journals caught up with Aaron and Drew Karpyshyn at CVI. And Roqoo Depot ties up their series of CVI video interviews with John Jackson Miller.

The blogside. Roqoo Depot thinks Crucible may bring Borsk Fey’lya back from the dead. Oh-kay.

Reviews. James reads Lost Tribe of the Sith: Spiral #2, Knight Errant: Escape #4, and Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison #5.

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EUbits: EUC chats with Lucas Books art director; fansites take to the blogside

Interview. EUCantina interviews Lucas Books Art Director Scott Biel about creating covers for Star Wars books. He talks about the process, why the Mercy Kill cover got a makeover, and Mara Jade’s Choices of One jumpsuit.

In other news, EUC is kicking off their Summer Reading for Children’s Literacy program on July 11th. They’re (again) raising money for Reading is Fundamental.

The blogside. Lots going on this week! At The Galactic Drift, Racheal takes a look at how Tahiri Veila has been misused, while NJOE’s new hire Matthew Rushing takes on the state of Luke Skywalker. Meanwhile, Megan at Knights Archive reviews Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor, and Tosche Station is taking a look with their X-Wing Retrospective.

Conventions. The Del Rey folks will have a double-sided poster that they’ll be giving out during summer con season. It features the cover art from The Essential Reader’s Companion and The Old Republic: Annihilation. Look for Del Rey at San Diego Comic Con, Star Wars Celebration VI, and New York Comic Con.

eBooks. Knights Archive looks at the upcoming Star Wars eBook releases.

Endnotes. Jason Fry posted the 12th part of the series going behind-the-scenes of The Essential Guide to Warfare.

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Karen Miller on being a female Star Wars writer

Tor’s Liz Bourke has a great interview today with author Karen Miller, where she addresses some of the harsh realities of writing licensed fiction and, in particular, Star Wars and the differences with a female-dominated fandom like Stargate.

The Stargate fan audience is small, compared to the Star Wars audience. The Stargate fan audience is also, overwhelmingly, female—which means that it is far, far more accepting of a female writer and a female writer’s particular POV (and I think there is one). The Star Wars fan audience, on the other hand, is overwhelmingly male. At least as far as I can tell. The vast majority of writers who do the tie-in novels are also male. There is a definite predominance of male voices and male POVs in Star Wars novels. And that makes a huge difference in the reception of the material.

Everything I write is grounded in character. Everything. It’s the people that make a story for me. So my Star Wars work is as much a character study or exploration as it is an action adventure romp. For some readers, that was brilliant. For others, it wasn’t. For a lot of Star Wars fans—the guys in particular—the story is about fighting and space battles and stuff like that. For them, that’s the whole point. For them, the intricacies of psychological investigation are boring and unwelcome. And I completely accept that. But it’s not what floats my starship—and I felt strongly that I can’t be the only one who is in love with the story because of the characters, not despite them. Or who wants to take a breath and spend some time with them as human beings, who wants to explore what makes them tick, the relationships between them, the strengths and fragilities they contain and share.

She goes on to defend Karen Traviss, among other things, though I really must disagree that gender was the only aspect which garnered Traviss venom from fandom. (Though I’m sure some of it was, I’d hesitate to call it the main issue. The lesson one should take away from Traviss’ tumultuous time in this fandom? Don’t feed the trolls, and be respectful of your audience.)

But that quibble aside, it’s so refreshing to hear a Star Wars author actually be in it for the characters. There is nothing else here I have any issues with – it all needs to be said. Though not so much to label it as a niche, even though it’s probably true. Club Jade has been fighting that fight for so long…

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EUbits: Everybody loves pilots


Spotlight. Essential Guide to Warfare co-author Paul Urquhart takes a look at ‘the best star-pilots in the galaxy’. But what we’re really talking about here is the art by Frank-Joseph “Mazzic” Frelier, which includes what I think is out first look at Syal Antilles.

In other Warfare-related matters, there have been three more installments of endnotes since we last checked in: 9, 10 and 11.

Awards. John Jackson Miller’s Knight Errant is a Scribe Award nominee for Best Original Novel in the Speculative Fiction category. The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers are also naming Expanded Universe alumni Kevin J. Anderson as the year’s Grandmaster. Other familiar names among the nominees include Mike Stackpole (for his Conan the Barbarian adaption) and A.C. Crispin for her Pirates of the Caribbean novel.

Interviews. Lots of them! In the world of podcasts, we have Aaron Allston over at Tosche Station Radio and Mike Stackpole at Star Wars Book Report. If you can stomach the ForceCast, they had Leland Chee on, plus there’s a new Jedi Journals. If it’s text you prefer, Tom Taylor talks Darth Maul at CBR.

Teases. A bounty hunter short story by a new-to-Star Wars author will be gracing the pages of Insider #136. Karen Miller’s Myri Antilles story will be in the next issue, #135.

Now hiring… NJOE, EUCantina and Knights Archive are looking for some dedicated fans to join their respective sites. (Rather limited) internet fame! Glamour! No money! But possibly drinks at CVI!