Star Wars, Geek Culture, and Power Converters
To celebrate their 30,000th Like on Facebook, Star Wars Books thanked fans by releasing an excerpt from Timothy Zahn’s highly anticipated upcoming novel, Scoundrels. Head on over to the official SWB page to see how Han and Chewie deal with a cantina dustup.
Star Wars: Scoundrels is due out on December 26th.
Star Wars Books released a few sneak-peek images from the upcoming Essential Reader’s Companion. The four new illustrations are Old Republic and prequel trilogy era material. While I was hoping for some post Return of the Jedi art in the preview, the images that did go up are awfully pretty and definitely worth checking out.
The Essential Reader’s Companion goes on sale October 2nd.
Check out the preview images over at the official SWB Facebook page.
(Originally written 3/13/12, updated 4/4/12)
The long-awaited Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse finally is on bookshelves, wrapping up the nine-book tale and marking the end of the megaseries approach in the Expanded Universe. Does it stack up with the rest of the series? Is it a satisfying conclusion?
Be forewarned, spoilers loom below the cut.
Meet Mara Jade. She’ll be very important in the EU.
I think we all recall how we felt the first time we saw the credits roll at the end of Return of the Jedi. It starts with a moment of satisfaction and content as the credits roll. Then, almost without fail, a moment of dread. It’s over! But I’m not ready for it to be over! What do Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewie do next? There has to be more, right? (Ed. note 11/2/12: Ahahahahahahahahah)
Mercifully, there is: the Expanded Universe.
Perhaps you’ve hit up the Internet and have done some preliminary research into the EU, thinking you’ll pick up one of these books to satisfy your hunger for more Star Wars. It seems like a great idea at first, right up until you discover that there are scores upon scores of books, comics, and games featuring different characters and eras. Where do you start?
To preface, this is intended to be a roadmap to becoming familiar with the post-Return of the Jedi EU. This isn’t an official Tosche Station reading guide, just my own suggestions* on what novels will best help a new reader build up the needed knowledge of universe, plots, and characters to understand and appreciate the current state of the Expanded Universe. It is possible to get every bit of information needed from Wookieepedia, but if you’re anything like me, it’s simply more fun and enjoyable to develop this knowledge by reading the novels over reading a dry wiki-style overview.
*But a big, big thank you to my friend Bria for helping me compile this list
Seventeen books comprise this list and are broken into five distinct phases. While that sounds like a lot, it’s a mere drop in the giant Expanded Universe bucket. Some of these novels are optional depending on your preferences and are marked as such.
To the cut!
A funny and rather unexpected thing happened while trudging through the latest entry in a series of Star Wars Expanded Universe novels that haven’t exactly jumped out and grabbed my attention. Somewhere in the middle of reading through Aaron Allston’s Conviction (the seventh entry in the much maligned Fate of the Jedi series), I realized I was feeling a strange sensation. I was having fun with this book. Now, that’s not entirely unusual, I wouldn’t be an EU reader if I didn’t manage to derive some kind of fun from every novel I pick up.
No, I was having a lot of fun with this.
Podcast: Stream Here | Download
Things get meta this week on Tosche Station Radio as Brian and Nanci dive into some of the great literary devices and themes that define Star Wars.
First up on Fixer’s Flash, Nanci plugs a Clone Wars season four roundtable she participated on over at Club Jade. She also got a glimpse at the upcoming Essential Guide to Warfare, which made Brian very jealous. Brian, on the other hand, is back into reading Marvel’s Civil War comics and is waiting for things to go horribly, horribly wrong with all of the characters he has grown fond of. He also admits he’s a sucker for musicals. Both the hosts briefly discuss some fanfiction projects that they’re in the process of wrapping up.
Podcast: Stream Here | Download
It’s a news-heavy week on Tosche Station Radio, but Brian and Nanci still have a discussion topic they’re eager to share.
Kicking off the show in Fixer’s Flash, Nanci and Brian discuss the finale of The Clone Wars’ fourth season. Don’t look now, but Nanci might be shipping Obi-Wan and Asajj Ventress. Nanci has finished her re-read of Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor and is jumping into At the Queen’s Command by Michael Stackpole. She’s also pretty enamored with the trailers for Snow White and the Huntsmanand Prometheus. Last week Brian went and saw Disney’s John Carter and proclaims that it is decidedly okay-ish. He’s also still wrapped up in the Marvel comics universe, having jumped into Runaways.
Podcast: Stream Here | Download
Brace yourselves, things get silly in this episode of Tosche Station Radio
Over in Fixer’s Flash, Nanci reveals she finally has a name for her new ride: The Starry Ice. Nerd cred there for naming it after an EU starship! Brian’s knee-deep in Marvel’s Civil War comics, which he’s been warned will make him cry.* He’s also planning on seeing John Carter after the recording, but we’re happy we managed to peel him away from Mass Effect 3 long enough to get an episode in.
*Not that this is anything new.
Podcast: Stream Here | Download
In this week’s edition of Tosche Station Radio, Brian and Nanci get a bit ranty with the news and discuss what they would love to see in the post Fate of the Jedi Expanded Universe.
Starting off the show in Fixer’s Flash, Nanci is re-reading Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor and gives Brian a hard time for not having read it. She’s also looking for help naming her new car, but apparently Lady Luck is out of the question. How about the Wild Karrde? Brian is still trapped in the Marvel universe, having read through the House of M and diving into the Young Jedi Knights of the Marvel-verse, the Young Avengers. He also has a bit of trouble containing his excitement for Tuesday’s release of Mass Effect 3.
Podcast: Stream Here | Download
In this week’s episode of Tosche Station Radio, Nanci and Brian explore the tales beyond the Star Wars films by diving into the Expanded Universe.
Over in Fixer’s Flash, Nanci lets us know that the latest episode of The Clone Wars left her fending off nightmares. Zombie Nightsisters? Now there’s some nightmare fuel. She even manages to slip in some talk of the Academy Awards before admitting to her newest guilty pleasure TV show. Brian has dived headfirst back into the world of comics. In preparation for Marvel’s newest movie due out in May, he’s familiarizing himself with the Avengers mythos. The hosts talk briefly about a guest spot they did on another podcast (and friend of the show), The Star Wars Book Report.