EUbits: Sansweet’s 1000, Random Clones, Bohnhoff’s plotting and something gamey

Nonfiction. Here we have the cover for Star Wars: 1,000 Collectibles. Steve Sansweet and Anne Neumann take us into the depths of Rancho Obi-Wan… Okay, maybe not the depths. Look for it October 1st.

Random. TheForce.Net has some random updates on upcoming books, mostly The Clone Wars kids stuff, which honestly I’m not even trying to keep track of. There is an episode guide that might be of interest to some.

A Padawan’s Journal. Bohnhoff on Plotting the Wily Star Wars Novel and First Impressions.

Games. Another Battlefront on the way. On that note, here’s the Threat of Peace web comic is now on #7.

There are no gay people in Star Wars, except for the part where there totally are

UPDATE: Bioware has lifted the topic ban and Dahlberg has apologized. And Penny Arcade weighs in.

So, the latest kerfuffle in the saga of gays in Star Wars comes out of Bioware’s forums, where community manager Sean Dahlberg shut down a discussion of possible gay and lesbian relationships in The Old Republic with the phrase:

As I have stated before, these are terms that do not exist in Star Wars.

Thread closed.

Well, as any crazy obsessed EU fan will tell you… He’s half right. In recent years, Star Wars has played host to a single gay couple – Goran Beviin and Medrit Vasur in Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice – but they’re fairly easy to overlook if your eyes glaze over at the very mention of Mandalorians. And the terminology ‘gay’ or ‘homosexual’ is never used: One point for Dahlberg. They’re just there, without comment, just like any other couple. (Which is as it should be, IMO.) Though as subtle as it was, the inclusion still proved controversial in the fandom.

Of course, the real issue here: Will this message board mishap continue to get play in the blogs? Will that prompt Lucasfilm to finally up and address the issue of homosexuality in the GFFA? It’s not going to be a fun time for the message board moderators either way.

EUbits: Charity windfall, FOTJ, Bohnhoff, TOR

Good news, everyone! Several of the initial auctions in the Australian bushfire charity effort wrapped up this week, with the character name rights both netting impressive takes – $1,725 for Karen Miller and $1,028.75 for Sean Williams.

EUbits: Adventures, Kemp, Bohnhoff, TCW, Invasion, Threat of Peace

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  • Preview: Take a peek at the first issue of the new Star Wars Adventures digest. Apparently some have found it in the UK, but there’s been no sign of it on Diamond so I wouldn’t go looking just yet.
  • The Blogside: Paul S. Kemp has thoughts on writing Crosscurrent, while Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff has two updates in her Padawan’s Journal series: Protocol Droids and Velveteen Bunnies and Mistakes Were Made.
  • The Clone Wars: Don’t expect to see a paperback of Karen Traviss’ Clone Wars novel anytime soon – There are no plans to release one, says Sue Rostoni. If you absolutely must have a paperback, look to the UK version.
  • Comics: DarkHorse.com has a new From the Editor, about Invasion. (Nothing we don’t already know, but we can expect an announcement in a week or so.)
  • Webcomics: Third and fourth updates in The Old Republic‘s Threat of Peace.

NYCC: Dark Horse takes on the NJO with Invasion

News out of New York Comic Con! Dark Horse is launching a new ongoing series based in the New Jedi Order era, Invasion… It follows the Yuuzhan Vong and will feature main characters like Luke and Jacen. It’s scripted by Tom Taylor with art by Colin Wilson, and will launch with a web-only preview issue on StarWars.com in May. (via)

UPDATE: Dark Horse is not adding a another book; Rebellion is getting the ax and Invasion is replacing it. Check out a full report from NYCC’s Dark Horse panel at Newsarama.

Also coming up, Fixer. Um, okay. And a webcomic tie-in with The Old Republic.