A little while ago, my Tosche Station Radio co-host Nanci and myself did a guest spot with the Star Wars Book Report. If memory serves, we talked about fan fiction, fun at conventions, and our thoughts on the post-Return of the Jedi Expanded Universe.Hop on over there to listen to us go off-the-rails on someone else’s podcast!
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The Star Wars Art of Benjamin Carré
Sometimes you just stumble across something awesome. While looking at Kotaku.com last night I came across a piece of incredible Star Wars art. The post included a link to the artist’s deviantart account and I decided to check it out. I was taken completely off guard by the quality of this guy’s work. After a bit of poking around, I found out that he had done some of the covers for Dark Horse Comics KOTOR series and figured out who he was. His name is Benjamin Carré and his Deviant ID is orincar.
Now I’m linking you to this. Because it AWESOME. Check this out!
Tosche Station Radio #12: Fandom Nod
Fan creations are the on the minds of the hosts this week.
Before getting into the show, Nanci and Brian announce that the Tosche Station blog is having a giveaway contest to celebrate going live. You can win one of two copies of the Essential Guide to Warfare! Details here, enter in both places to double your odds. Be sure to also check out the news, reviews, and columns at the new site.
In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci went and saw Titanic in 3D and said it’s the best post-conversion 3D film out there. Of course, Brian’s a little more excited about the Prometheus trailer that showed before the movie started. Nanci is also (re)reading The Seasons of Passage and heartily recommends it. She also wrote a guest post over at Club Jade talking about fan fiction, a topic we’ll be visiting in today’s episode. In preparation for the Avengers next month, Brian has begun his Marvel films re-watch. More importantly, baseball season is back and he can geek out over advanced statistics! But something that will actually interest most listeners, Brian’s also posted the first part of his Fate of the Jedi series review over at the blog.
Fallout, Wasteland and a favorite author
I’m not what you might call a ‘hardcore’ gamer. I really haven’t ever been, but as time has gone by I’ve gotten to the point where I’m less and less competitive when it comes to games. At the end of the day, I’d rather play a good co-op game than go head to head against a nameless stranger that insists on throwing insults my way. But I still love gaming and I still love difficult, challenging games. I just like them in the single player world.
My wife will tell you that she’s seen me play more in the setting of Fallout than is healthy for any person, and as I check my Steam account, I can tell you that I have spent 238 hour in Fallout: New Vegas. I’m a little bit sick, I think.
This is all leading up to something loosely Star Wars related, I promise.
Continue reading
‘Star Wars Attack of the Authors’ Announces West Coast Tour
DK Publishing announced their West Coast tour of Star Wars Attack of the Authors. Numerious EU authors, the 501st Legion, and the Rebel Legion will be on hand for. Expect giveaways, photo opportunities, and the chance to win Star Wars prizes.
- April 12: Raleigh Park Elementary in Portland, OR – 1PM
- April 12: Powell’s Books in Beaverton, OR – 7PM
- April 14: Third Place Books in Bothell, WA – 2-4PM
- April 15: Books Inc. in Berkeley, CA -3PM
- April 20: Carlsbad City Library in Carlsbad, CA – 3:30PM
- April 20: Bookworks in Albuquerque, NM – 7PM
- April 21: Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego, CA – 2PM
- April 21: Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, AZ – 1PM
- April 22: Warwick’s in La Jolla, CA – 2PM
- April 22: Barnes & Noble on Rainbow Boulevard in Las Vegas, NV – 2-4PM
For more details, head over to DK Publishing’s calendar page
Check Out Nanci’s Guest Post on Fan Fiction at Club Jade
Our own Nanci has a post up at Club Jade examining the media perception of fan fiction since the release of 50 Shades of Grey.
Until now, I’d couldn’t believe that the mainstream media hadn’t yet made the erroneous connection that fanfic = porn. So an article on CNN entitled “Fifty Shades of Grey shines light on erotic fan fiction”, I wasn’t that surprised. But I still facepalmed; especially when I saw the accompanying photograph of Kirk and Spock. The third sentence of the article states, “Welcome to the world of fan fiction, where fans tweak or add to existing series, novels and characters —oftentimes with a steamy twist” (emphasis mine).
It is the word “oftentimes” that bothers me about that statement. Yes, I know there is erotic fanfic on the internet (refer back to Rule 34). I’ve read it; heck, I’ve written it. I don’t think “smut” (as it’s called) is anything to ridicule or look down upon, and I’m not ashamed to read or write it. But that does not mean that the majority of fanfic is porn, and I hate that people will see novels like “50 Shades” and believe that is the case.
As a fanfic writer myself, the implication that all I’m doing is writing badly written porn really ticks me off. I’ve read some tremendous fan fiction that deserves praise for being well written fiction. So yes, I’m annoyed with 50 Shades and how the media is portraying fanfic.
Star Wars Easter Eggs (Literally)
No matter what your beliefs, Easter is here and we can all enjoy the one universal thing about it: Talking about how awesome these eggs are. Incredibly talented people from across the internet have put these pictures up online and I am shamefully reposting them for all of you to see.
Pictures below the cut.
Essential Reader’s Companion Sneak Peek
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.
It just wouldn’t be April
So, it’s a few days into April and as we all know, the April Fools jokes have been and gone, mostly. Google had an 8-bit version of Google Maps, complete with 8-bit streetview and an introductory video to go with that, George Takei made us all hope for a new Star Trek movie starring him as the captain of the Excelsior and ThinkGeek previewed yet another product we all wish we could actually buy.
In case you missed it, it’s below the jump.