Star Wars, Geek Culture, and Power Converters
It’s that time of the week again and Del Rey has posted another mini-excerpt from the upcoming novel Tarkin on their Star Wars Books Facebook page. You can find the excerpt here and you can check out Bria’s review of the book here.
Tarkin by James Luceno will be available in hardback and ebook formats on November 4.
Servants of the Empire: Edge of the Galaxy is the first installment in a new young reader tie-in series to Star Wars Rebels. Told from the perspective of a teenage boy named Zare Leonis, it chronicles his final year in AppSci school before following his sister Dhara to the Imperial Academy on Lothal.
Jason Fry is no stranger to writing Star Wars, and he does a great job with Zare’s character arc. Zare starts out the story a teenage boy whose only concerns are succeeding in grav-ball and proving himself to be just as good as his sister, but due to the year’s events he starts to question the Empire he’d basically been born to serve. It gives a good insight into what causes some people to want to rebel against the Empire, and why others would be more resistant to speaking out. Despite it being set in a different universe, it’s a very relatable issue. Do you do what you feel is right and in the process risk your life and the lives of your loved ones, or do you keep quiet about wrongdoings and not cause any trouble? It’s easy to say what you’d do in that situation until you’re actually in it. And Zare’s problems start small, from issues with a school administrator, but eventually become much larger than he could ever imagine.
One thing I found interesting is that the Imperial Academy was actually located on Lothal, and not on a more populated world. I always had the impression from A New Hope that there was just one Academy, but upon reflection I realize that would be unrealistic in a universe as big as Star Wars. It makes me wonder which Academy Biggs attended, and which one Luke would have gone to.
Edge of the Empire has great little nods to the Legends EU, including mentions of caf, hot chocolate, and use of the swear words stang and kriffing. I was also glad that Dhara mentioned women going through stormtrooper training at the Academy. Fry also invents a new sport called grav-ball, which is a combination of soccer, football, basketball, and Quidditch (the sport in Harry Potter, for all you Muggles out there). I’m not a huge sports fan, but those scenes were well-written and tied into the plot and Zare’s character arc very well.
If you’re a fan of Rebels, definitely pick this up. Don’t be put off that its meant for younger audiences. It’s a fun, fast read and does a great job at depicting everyday life in the Galaxy Far, Far Away. And, as I’m sure was the intention, I’m now really looking forward the Academy episodes of Rebels–not to mention the future installments in the Servants of the Empire series. This book gets a GO from me.
Fighter Flight is a pretty self-contained bottle episode. That in and of itself is pretty unremarkable. What is remarkable, however, is that it was a bottle episode that was thoroughly entertaining and fun. If this is what Rebels is going to do with even episodes that may not have the biggest bearing on the overarching story, we’re in for a great ride.
No Star Wars fan films are closer to my heart than Pink Five, a fan film project following the adventures of Stacy, a less than attentive X-Wing pilot, as she navigates her way through the events of the original trilogy. So when I recently managed to obtain a copy of the Kickstarter DVD of the complete Pink Five saga, I did what any typical person would do in such a situation: liveblog it on Twitter.
The results are what follows.
Please note that I have previously seen all of Pink Five except for the very last installment, Return of Pink Five, Volume III.
And be warned: here be spoilers.
Continue reading
Welcome back for another installment of the Thrawn Trilogy retrospective! We ended last time with our heroes escaping the Noghri and Leia being sent back to Bimmisaari. In this episode the Imperials launch another attack, and Luke visits Dagobah. Let’s get on with the show, shall we?
The Imperial assault on Bpfassh
First I would like to lodge a formal complain to Timothy Zahn for using another crazy planet that starts with a B. This time it’s Bpfassh. I know I’m to mess up this spelling, so I apologize in advance. The Imperials are launching a three-pronged attack and using C’baoth to coordinate the attacks. Pellaeon realizes it’s not only a test of C’baoth’s battle meditation, but also his ability to take orders. While watching the battle, he reluctantly admits how effective C’baoth is. He doesn’t want to think that the Emperor was controlling the Battle of Endor, but now he’s not so sure.
The Star Wars universe turns to view the galaxy from the other side with its second book in the new canon. Veteran writer James Luceno makes his return to the galaxy and his debut in the new canon with Star Wars: Tarkin due out on November 4th. Set five years after Revenge of the Sith, Moff Wilhuff Tarkin finds himself stationed on the remote planet overseeing the construction of what all of us know will become the fearsome Death Star. The story, of course, leaves the fledgling battle station behind as the Emperor first summons and then sends both Tarkin and Darth Vader to Murkhana to investigate Separatist communications technology.
Without a doubt, Luceno is the master of weaving together all the pieces into one cohesive tale that makes sense of things you didn’t even realize you wanted clarity for. The time period between the trilogies has been deemed the Dark Times and rightly so as there have been relatively few stories placed in those years. Unlike Darth Plagueis, Tarkin doesn’t cover years and years of the protagonist’s life; instead covering perhaps a week supplemented with looks back into Tarkin’s formative years and moves seamlessly between the past and the present.
Yesterday Del Rey posted another Tarkin mini-excerpt to their Star Wars Books Facebook page. Check it out here.
And also according to the Star Wars Books Facebook page, Star Wars Insider issue 153 comes out on October 22 and will contain another excerpt from the novel. Read more about that here.
Tarkin, by James Luceno, will be released in hardback and ebook formats on November 4.
Geek Girl Con is not a very large convention, only taking up the atrium of the Seattle Conference Center, and this year it happened to fall on the same weekend as New York Comic Con. Understandably, there were not a lot of big names present at Geek Girl Con 2014. But GGCs fourth year (and my third year attending) was, once again, a very fun time.
What makes Geek Girl Con stand out is its focus. It doesn’t specifically emphasize comics or anime or games or any particular medium or fandom like that. Instead, it is focused on celebrating geeky women and creating a safe, inclusive space for people of all types to enjoy the things they love and you could really tell, both from the make-up of the attendees and from the panel topics. Not only were a very large portion of the attendees women, but throughout the conventions various forms of non-traditional gender presentation were on display, even beyond the cosplay. The whole convention just has an open and friendly atmosphere and there really does seem to be a sense of community. Continue reading
On this all-new Tosche Station Radio, author John Jackson Miller joins us to discuss A New Dawn!
Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight what’s New on the Blog. Welcome Ryorin, our new staff writer. She’ll be handling news and occasional columns. She wrote about some possible directions for diversity in the Sequel Trilogy. We hope to have her on the podcast sometime soon! Bria wrote about what Sabine Wren means for Star Wars. There’s loose ends in the old Expanded Universe, so we’re Lighting the Legends Fanfiction Signal. Nanci started her Thrawn Trilogy retrospective. Bria pleaded for everyone to stop being mean to Del Rey. We roundtable reviewed of Spark of Rebellion. Bria also reviewed Droids in Distress. Nanci wrote about why Wedge Antilles needs to be in Rebels.
In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci’s been keeping busy re-reading Heir to the Empire and is about to crack open Tarkin.
Deak’s Dirt starts with Random House releasing a 50 page excerpt of Tarkin. They also revealed the full blurb for Heir to the Jedi. The Ventress/Vos novel gets a title, Dark Disciple. It’ll be released in July 2015. Clone Wars story reels- Crystal Crisis on Utapau, online now. The Lost Missions DVD/Blu Ray will be released on November 11. Rebels gets an order for a second season. Also lots of new clips, including one featuring Hera and Sabine. ABC will air Spark of Rebellion on October 26, featuring a new Vader scene. The Star Wars: Battle Pod arcade game was unveiled at NYCC. Not a lot of other news out of NYCC, but a big comic announcement: Kanan by Greg Weisman
This week on Camie’s Concerns, author John Jackson Miller comes on to discuss A New Dawn. There are major spoilers in this discussion, so if you have not read the book yet, come back to this episode later! You can find John Jackson Miller at Faraway Press and on Twitter at @jjmfaraway.
Wrapping up the show, the hosts discuss news that Warwick Davis will be appearing in Episode VII.
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.
This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and Audible.com.
A rather amusing video of Warwick Davis, the actor who portrayed the Ewok Wicket W. Warrick, announcing that he will be in Episode VII has been posted on the official site.
