Book Wars Pod, Episode 121: Good Grades at Murder

Posted on by


Download

This week we continue our discussion of Alphabet Squadron, by Alexander Freed (chapter 15 through the end of the book). We talk about how the merry band of misfits accidentally stumbles into not killing everyone, and the evolving mindsets of both the Republic pilots and the Imperial ones.

For a list of black-owned bookstores to order from, now and always, click here: https://lithub.com/you-can-order-today-from-these-black-owned-independent-bookstores/

Book Wars Pod explores the Star Wars universe through the franchise’s non-screen media: the canon novels, comics, and video games. Check out our guide to past episodes, and subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and wherever else you cast your pods. You can also subscribe to the Tosche Station Radio Mega Feed on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher for more great shows from our podcast network.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr for episode updates! Hosted by Kristen Sereci, Chris Sedor, Kate Sedor, and Miranda Eldon. Art by Joe Butera. Music by Podington Bear.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by your support on Patreon!

Review: Star Wars: Shadow Fall

Posted on by

What happens when you bring together five New Republic pilots who all fly different starfighters and put them under the command of an Intelligence officer and also one of the Rebellions best generals? You get Alphabet Squadron. And then, if you’re really lucky, you get three whole books about them! Thankfully, we are indeed really lucky or at least much luckier than the Alphabet Squadron crew.

Out today, Shadow Fall by Alexander Freed is the follow up to last year’s Alphabet Squadron and the second book in a planned trilogy about these ragtag pilots fighting a war against a dying Empire. Although they’re fresh off their victory at Pandem Nai, they’re still no closer to tracking down and destroying what’s left of the Empire’s Shadow Wing. Even worse (if your name is Yrica Quell), they also don’t know that Major Soran Keize has returned to the Empire and Shadow Wing. The solution? Alphabet Squadron, along with parts of the 61st Mobile Infantry, are going to set a trap in Cerberon. It’s risk but if it works, the job will finally be done. If it doesn’t, things could get far worse than any of them have anticipated. Continue reading →

Book Wars Pod, Episode 120: A Broccoli-Type Direction

Posted on by


Download

This week we continue our discussion of Alphabet Squadron, by Alexander Freed (chapters 10 through 14). We discuss Hera’s penchant for bringing trash people together and making them useful, Yrica’s inability to bond with her team, and the lack of a moral code in the New Republic.

Book Wars Pod explores the Star Wars universe through the franchise’s non-screen media: the canon novels, comics, and video games. Check out our guide to past episodes, and subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and wherever else you cast your pods. You can also subscribe to the Tosche Station Radio Mega Feed on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher for more great shows from our podcast network.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr for episode updates! Hosted by Kristen Sereci, Chris Sedor, Kate Sedor, and Miranda Eldon. Art by Joe Butera. Music by Podington Bear.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by your support on Patreon!

Book Wars Pod, Episode 119: That’s What Makes the Groove New

Posted on by


Download

This week we continue our discussion of Alphabet Squadron, by Alexander Freed (chapters 6 through 9). We talk about the impact being in a war zone can have on your friend group, the birth of the book’s namesake squadron, and HERA MOTHERF*CKIN’ SYNDULLA.

Book Wars Pod explores the Star Wars universe through the franchise’s non-screen media: the canon novels, comics, and video games. Check out our guide to past episodes, and subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and wherever else you cast your pods. You can also subscribe to the Tosche Station Radio Mega Feed on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher for more great shows from our podcast network.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr for episode updates! Hosted by Kristen Sereci, Chris Sedor, Kate Sedor, and Miranda Eldon. Art by Joe Butera. Music by Podington Bear.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by your support on Patreon!

Book Wars Pod, Bonus Episode 29: Black Lives Matter

Posted on by


Download

The hosts take time to discuss the protests around the country in response to the murder of George Floyd, police brutality, and how (and why) it matters for EVERYONE, in fandom and out.

Resources for those who want to learn more:

Places to donate:
– https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/
– Minnesota Freedom Fund
– https://www.joincampaignzero.org/
– Black Visions Collective
– Reclaim the Block
– Northstar Health Collective (medics)
– Bail funds in your city
– Mutual aid funds
– If you read a Black person’s tweets and learned something, PAY THEM

Educate yourself:
– How to be an Antiracist and Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
– So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
– White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson
– Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
– The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
– The Fire This Time edited by Jesmyn Ward
– Racism without Racists by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
– The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates
– Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad
– White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin J. DiAngelo Foreword by Michael Eric Dyson
– Tears We Cannot Stop by Michael Eric Dyson
– This Vogue UK list : https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/black-lives-matter-reading-list
– This list: https://www.charisbooksandmore.com/understanding-and-dismantling-racism-booklist-white-readers
– The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
– They Can’t Kill Us All by Wesley Lowery

Other media:
– NYT 1619 Project – there’s a podcast along with multiple essays
– 13th – documentary dir. Ava DuVernay

Book Wars Pod explores the Star Wars universe through the franchise’s non-screen media: the canon novels, comics, and video games. Check out our guide to past episodes, and subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and wherever else you cast your pods. You can also subscribe to the Tosche Station Radio Mega Feed on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher for more great shows from our podcast network.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr for episode updates! Hosted by Kristen Sereci, Chris Sedor, Kate Sedor, and Miranda Eldon. Art by Joe Butera. Music by Podington Bear.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by your support on Patreon!

Review: Queen’s Peril by E.K. Johnston

Posted on by

Fifteen months ago, I wrote a review of Queen’s Shadow in which I expressed a hope that we might get both a prequel and sequel to that book. Mission (halfway) accomplished because Queen’s Peril by E.K. Johnston was published today and it is indeed a prequel to the 2019 novel, covering the time in Padmé’s life from when she was first elected queen through dealing with the Trade Federation’s invasion. (If I close my eyes and wish real hard again, will I also be able to will a sequel into existence too? This is the trilogy we deserve, dang it!) It is precisely the book you think it is and that is a very good thing. Continue reading →

TSR #214: A Lovely Hot Mess

Posted on by


Logo

Download

Sure it’s five months late, but the hosts finally get around to reviewing The Rise of Skywalker.

TSR is the flagship show of the Tosche Station Network. If you like what you hear, subscribe and leave a review on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play. For more great shows from us, you can also subscribe to the Tosche Station Network mega feed on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play. We can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Nanci and Brian are the co-founders of ToscheStation.net and the Tosche Station Network. 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 your support on Patreon!

Book Wars Pod, Episode 118: Let’s Go Hang Out in the Toilet

Posted on by


Download

This week we’re starting our discussion of Alphabet Squadron, by Alexander Freed (the start of the book through chapter 5). We meet our merry band of misanthropes, try to pin down what’s happening in the different timelines, and figure out where in the galaxy it’s all going down. We also talk about the trauma facing Imperial defectors and how well Freed wove diversity into the characters introduced so far.

Book Wars Pod explores the Star Wars universe through the franchise’s non-screen media: the canon novels, comics, and video games. Check out our guide to past episodes, and subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and wherever else you cast your pods. You can also subscribe to the Tosche Station Radio Mega Feed on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher for more great shows from our podcast network.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr for episode updates! Hosted by Kristen Sereci, Chris Sedor, Kate Sedor, and Miranda Eldon. Art by Joe Butera. Music by Podington Bear.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by your support on Patreon!

Book Wars Pod, Episode 117: He’s THAT Girl

Posted on by


Download

This week we’re wrapping up our discussion of TARKIN by James Luceno. We talk about the progression of the Empire, from Order 66 and CATALYST through the OT era, as well as ask the question: does anyone actually respect Darth Vader? (Spoilers: other than Tarkin, no).

Book Wars Pod explores the Star Wars universe through the franchise’s non-screen media: the canon novels, comics, and video games. Check out our guide to past episodes, and subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and wherever else you cast your pods. You can also subscribe to the Tosche Station Radio Mega Feed on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher for more great shows from our podcast network.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr for episode updates! Hosted by Kristen Sereci, Chris Sedor, Kate Sedor, and Miranda Eldon. Art by Joe Butera. Music by Podington Bear.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by your support on Patreon!

Book Wars Pod, Episode 116: Does Finland Exist?

Posted on by


Download

This week we’re finishing up the reading for TARKIN by James Luceno. We cover the different loyalties and motivations of the beings that make up the Empire, how Tarkin is Smart (TM), and what that little rascal Palpatine’s end-game might be. Now, ONTO THE WRAP!

Book Wars Pod explores the Star Wars universe through the franchise’s non-screen media: the canon novels, comics, and video games. Check out our guide to past episodes, and subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and wherever else you cast your pods. You can also subscribe to the Tosche Station Radio Mega Feed on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher for more great shows from our podcast network.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr for episode updates! Hosted by Kristen Sereci, Chris Sedor, Kate Sedor, and Miranda Eldon. Art by Joe Butera. Music by Podington Bear.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by your support on Patreon!