In celebration of Pablo Hidalgo’s Essential Reader’s Companion hitting bookshelves today, Suvudu has gone and posted a large number of short stories on their site. Some of these shorts are older material gathered from various sources over the year. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m certainly excited to see Suvudu gathering up all of these great shorts and archiving them for Expanded Universe fans.
Category Archives: SWEU
New Ebooks and Bundles now Available from Del Rey
Del Rey has put a wealth of Expanded Universe ebook material on sale today. Perhaps a better way to phrase that would be a wonderfully staggering amount of ebook material on sale.
First off, both the Essential Guide to Warfare and the newly released Essential Reader’s Companion (Have you read our review yet? You should) are now available in electronic format. These editions are complete with all the illustrations that appear in their paperback counterparts, so if you own a tablet this could be a very interesting option for you.
As we mentioned yesterday, an essential novels bundle containing Heir to the Empire, X-Wing: Rogue Squadron, Vector Prime, and Legacy of the Force: Betrayal goes on sale today for only $7.99 total. A larger 10-novel bundle can also be purchased for $62.99.
Review: ‘The Essential Reader’s Companion’ by Pablo Hidalgo
It’s been a banner year for Star Wars reference books. We got Book of the Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side that chronicled various Dark Lords and their teachings. A few months later we got Essential Guide to Warfare, a dream for Star Wars and Expanded Universe military buffs.
Today perhaps the crown jewel of Star Wars references hit bookstores: The Essential Reader’s Companion by Pablo Hidalgo.
Just about everyone who has gotten their hands on the ERC has made this very comment, but it really can’t be said enough. This book is big. It’s nearly three pounds and nearly five-hundred pages of summaries, art, and analysis. That said, the dimensions are actually quite nice. This is a book that fits well on your bookshelf or would serve as a brilliant coffee table reader. But enough about the aesthetics, how does the content stack up?
To the jump!
Star Wars Reads Day: Essential Novels Bundle on Sale Tuesday
- Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn
- X-Wing: Rogue Squadron by Michael A. Stackpole
- Vector Prime by R.A. Salvatore
- Legacy of the Force: Betrayal by Aaron Allston
Vector Prime and Betrayal aren’t exactly the type of EU novels I’d recommend a new reader to pick up right away, but this bundle is worth it on the strength of Heir to the Empire and Rogue Squadron alone.
You can get your bundle tomorrow. Links to sellers are available at Random House.
“Scoundrels” Release Date Moved to January 1st
Del Ray has moved the publication date for Star Wars: Scoundrels but not in the way we wanted. According to Timothy Zahn’s Facebook page, Scoundrels will now be published a week later on January 1st, 2013.
A bit of news: The pub date for Star Wars: Scoundrels has been postponed a week until January 1, 2013. (The delay has apparently been applied to all of RH’s December 26 releases, so it’s not like Scoundrels has been singled out.) No reasons have been given, at least not to me.
While it’s still close enough to be a belated Christmas present, it’s a shame that the publishers didn’t choose to bump the release date ahead by a week instead of back.
Continuity and Perspective in the Expanded Universe
I just don’t care about continuity like I used to.
The fiery passion I had for it years ago isn’t there anymore. I used to scour over Wookieepedia to try and see how things pieced together. How did this book tie in with that comic, or how did that obscure background character from that film work in this book? There’s a part of me that still really enjoys seeing the minutia of the universe fit together, but over the last few years I’ve noticed that my insistence that everything mesh perfectly together has more or less vanished.
I got worn out fuming over how The Clone Wars was treading on the Expanded Universe. I got tired arguing about how the prequel films trounced on the ethics and philosophy of post-Return of the Jedi novels. At some point, I realized that the only thing that mattered to me anymore was that I was reading a compelling narrative. For a long time I had been prioritizing continuity over the story and it had gotten in the way of my enjoyment of the Expanded Universe.
While I may not be a continuity die-hard anymore, I know it matters to many fans. It still matters to me to a certain degree. That’s the great thing about fandom, because there are countless ways one can be a fan of something. We all weigh certain things differently.
However, because it’s very important for a lot of people and still matters to me somewhat, we need to sit down and have a discussion. Continuity fans, there’s some behavior and expectations that need to change.
‘Revan’ Now Available in Paperback
Hero, traitor, conqueror, villain, savior—the man called Revan has been all of these. He left Coruscant a Jedi, on a mission to defeat the Mandalorians. He returned a Sith disciple, bent on destroying the Republic. The Jedi Council gave Revan his life back, but the price of redemption was the loss of his memories. All that’s left are nightmares—and deep, abiding fear. What happened beyond the Outer Rim that Revan can’t quite remember or entirely forget? One thing he’s certain of: Something dark is plotting to destroy the very existence of the Republic. With no idea how to identify the threat, let alone stop it, Revan may be doomed to fail. For he’s never faced a more powerful and diabolic enemy. But only death can stop him from trying.
Tosche Station Radio #32: Tears for Fears
On this episode of Tosche Station Radio, Nanci and Brian take a look at their favorite tear-jerker moments from Star Wars and the Expanded Universe!
Kicking the show off, Nanci highlights what’s new on the blog this week. Fanwork Friday featured Marcin’ On, a Harry Potter fan music video. Bria highlighted an incredible Lin Bei Fong costume in Cosplay Monday. In honor of The Avengers releasing on DVD and Blue Ray, This week’s Trope Tuesday investigated the Avengers Assemble trope. Brian reviewed War of the Seasons: The Human by Janine Spendlove.
In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci finished off her final edits of her original novel Robber Barons. Of course, that means she also started work on the sequel! She also watched a couple more episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender, much to the joy of the rest of the Tosche Station staff. Brian finished reading War of the Seasons: The Human and dove into the second novel.
Deak’s Dirt starts out with news of a female Expendables and the hosts offer up their suggestion for who should be in it. Mark Hamill celebrated a birthday this week and in other Star Wars news, the latest LEGO Star Wars special aired on Wednesday. Be sure to check out James’ interview with Michael Price over at Club Jade! Timothy Zahn is on his way to New York Comic Con. Meanwhile, Jen Heddle of Lucasfilm answered questions regarding fan diversity and reiterated that the Big Three will be fading into the background post-Crucible. Finally The Hunger Games: Catching Fire just began filming!
This week’s Camie’s Concerns will require some tissue on hand. Brian and Nanci discuss their notable and favorite tear-jerker scenes in the films and Expanded Universe.
Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net and a part of the Solo Sound network. If you like what you hear, please leave a review on the iTunes Music Store or the Zune Marketplace. We can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.
Nanci and Brian are the co-founders and writers of Tosche-Station.net. You can find Nanci on Twitter with the handle @Nancipants and you can find Brian with @LaneWinree.
Timothy Zahn Discusses his Favorite Reading Moments on the Star Wars Blog
Expanded Universe author Timothy Zahn is the latest contributor to the all-new Star Wars blog. Keeping in spirit with the upcoming Star Wars Reads day, Zahn recounts some of his favorite reading moments in his first blog post:
When I was growing up, the library in Lombard, Illinois, was located inside a mansion donated by the original residents, Colonel and Helen Plum. Instead of the long stacks of modern libraries, this one literally had separate rooms—of all different sizes—as well as unexpected nooks and cubbies along the way where the books were shelved. Hunting down fresh reading material was as much a physical exploration as it was a literary one.
To read the rest, head over to the Official Blog.
Trope Tuesday: Avengers Assemble
Welcome back to another edition of Trope Tuesday, where I attempt to destroy your life by luring you into TVTropes.org. Each week we dive in and take a look at a literary element, theme, or device that makes our favorite fiction work. To celebrate the release of the Avengers today, we’ve selected “Avengers Assemble” as our trope!
A Dream Team is needed for The Con or The Caper. Each teammember is contacted in a short scene revealing their specialty. This sequence culminates with all the members being in the same room together. c.f. Ocean’s Eleven, Mission: Impossible.
Compare A-Team Montage, Intro Dump, Lock and Load Montage, Putting the Band Back Together, Everyone Meets Everyone.
I can think of one instance of this happening in the Expanded Universe. Need a bunch of war heroes to play diplomats? Well that’s no problem! Tab Wedge Antilles as the leader and watch him bring along notable Rogue Squadron veterans Derek “Hobbie” Klivian, Wes Janson, and Tycho Celchu. What could possibly go wrong? When you pull together a Dream Team of Big Damn Heroes, expect shennanigans to ensue.
Now I want to re-read Starfighters of Adumar.