Tag Archives: Star Wars

Latest ‘EG to Warfare’ Endnotes Covers the New Jedi Order

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It’s a new week, which means there’s a new batch of Essential Guide to Warfare notes from Jason Fry. We’re finally up to the New Jedi Order, which means Fry is handing off the bulk of these notes to co-author Paul Urquhart.

Yavin, 28 ABY: The purpose of this piece is to set the scene for the events of the New Jedi Order novels – by introducing the alien culture of the Yuuzhan Vong, with its mix of mysticism, sadism and treachery, and by “interrupting” the narrative with something in a very different style, reflecting the violent shock of the alien invasion of the New Republic. Cutting the scene into static-washed fragments was Jason’s idea, and I really like the result.

Vergere’s agenda is a mystery that fans still debate, and I deliberately DON’T want to speculate on the answer, or on how much she’s deceiving her apparent allies here. (After all, Vergere’s most famous line is “everything I tell you is a lie.”) I don’t want to spoil all the surprises of the novels for fans who’ve not read them all, either. But I do want to suggest that Vergere was involved in schemes and plots we never really saw on the page – so her linkage to Mezhan Kwaad and her presence on Yavin 4 are new continuity. There are other questions raised by this piece, as well, which might sneak up on readers who give it several re-reads – for example, just who is monitoring the conversation?!

For more, head to Jason Fry’s Tumblr.

35 Page Excerpt and Dramatis Personae From ‘Mercy Kill’

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Over the weekend, Random House quietly put the first thirty-five pages from Aaron Allston’s upcoming novel X-Wing: Mercy Kill online. Included in the preview is the novel’s dramatis personae and a heartfelt note to fans.

There are a few very interesting names listed in the DP for this book. Those of you familiar with the X-Wing novels might find one name in particular to be a pleasant surprise, but I’ll refrain from writing that down here for those of you choosing to remain completely unspoiled until the novel releases on August 7th.

Knights of the Old Republic PC Bundle May Be Incoming

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According to G4, Lucasarts may be getting set to release a Knights of the Old Republic PC bundle containing both games.

LucasArts appears to be getting ready to release a two-pack PC bundle for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, based on Amazon and GameStop product listings (via Joystiq). The collection hasn’t been officially confirmed, but GameStop’s listing notes a July 17, 2012 release date and a $20 price.

If it’s released, I do hope it ships with bug and compatibility fixes. The last time I tried to play KotOR on a modern operating system, I ran into all sorts of glitches with the video playback that numerous crashes to the desktop. Just take a look at this thread that documents countless issues and partial workarounds.

Newest ‘Mercy Kill’ Mini-Excerpt Features Myri Antilles

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It’s another mini excerpt from Mercy Kill! This one features another look at the youngest of the Antilles-spawn, Myri:

“Myri, I thought you were making your living gambling. Nice and safe on the Errant Venture. Making a fortune, from what I heard.”

She nodded, her attention on her rifle.

“So? Why this?”

She smiled. “You must be so proud.”

“What? Of whom?”

“That’s what they tell me. Mostly about Daddy. ‘Wedge Antilles’s daughter? You must be so proud.’ And I am. Some people know about Mom’s career. ‘You must be so proud.’ And I am. Some people know about my sister’s record in the last war. ‘You must be so proud.’ Yes, yes, I am. But maybe it’s time for someone to be proud of what I do. Maybe even me.”

I suspect I’m going to like Myri a great deal. Mercy Kill is due out on August 7th. You should go buy it. Or preorder it.

Future of Star Wars at SDCC: What Do You Want To See?

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San Diego Comic Con is next week and the future of the Star Wars Expanded Universe hangs in the balance! Well. Not really. But drama is fun. Sometimes.

Over on Twitter, we asked you to tell us what you’re hoping or expect to have announced to continue the Post-Return of the Jedi Expanded Universe. If you have a suggestion (serious or snarky, we’re not picky), just reply to the tweet below and we’ll add you to this post!

Your suggestions below the jump!

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Latest Batch of ‘EG to Warfare’ Endnotes Looks at Spacey Things

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Another week, another set of endnotes from Essential Guide to Warfare author Jason Fry. This week, he takes a look at a touchy subject for a lot of fans: the Dark Empire comics.

The Dark Empire: I love the Dark Empire series, which I’ve long defended as a big-hearted continuation of the Skywalker clan’s struggles with family and the Force. But Dark Empire has always been a pain in the butt continuity-wise, hard to integrate with the story other sources tell about the Empire’s fragmentation and decline. I did my best here to cement it more believably in the chronology, letting the reader witness Imperial task forces disappearing into the Deep Core before Thrawn’s campaign gives New Republic Intelligence more clear and present dangers to worry about.

Fry also takes issue with things occasionally getting too “spacey.”

I groan when things are made “spacey” for no good reason – whether it’s space fantasy or some other genre, imaginary worlds work best when they depart from our own world in as few fundamental ways as possible. This makes it easy for us to imagine stepping into the protagonist’s shoes, which causes us to invest in the character and care what happens to him or her. When it comes to characters’ hopes and dreams and daily lives, you want to keep things familiar.

For this reason, I won’t willingly entertain retcons that speed up or slow down local calendars – when Luke looks at Uncle Owen and objects that “it’s a whole ‘nother year,” we understand his despair because we know or can imagine or can remember what a year feels like when you’re a teenager. If a year on Tatooine is only 100 days, the scene doesn’t work — and if you’ve made a key scene in A New Hope not work, you’ve accomplished the opposite of what a Star Wars author ought to be doing. (The EU says a Tatooine year is 304 days, which I dislike but is at least in the right ballpark.)

And I do mean days – don’t talk to me about “planetary rotations.” STOP IT. STOP IT RIGHT NOW. WHY DOES EVERYTHING HAVE TO BE SPACEY?

For more, and there’s a lot more in this batch, head over to Jason Fry’s Tumblr.

The Official Star Wars Blog Returns

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It went dark for a while, but the official Star Wars blog is back and under new management. Which is still kind of a bummer since we’re still pretty fond of Bonnie Burton. That said, the new blog has a solid lineup featuring names like Stephen Sansweet and Pablo Hidalgo.

It’s been just about two months since we put this blog on hiatus to update its design and develop a new approach to content. It took a bit longer than we had hoped, but we’re glad to say that starting today, we’re back… with a few exciting changes.

We want the Star Wars Blog to be as exceptional as the fan community that it’s written for, and that requires both ongoing commitment and a specific vision.

The truth is that this blog – much as we love it – often got less attention than it deserved, and became a place to put stories that don’t fit somewhere else on StarWars.com. Sure, we can give you news and announcements, but so can all of the community sites we now feature on the site. We can talk about collectibles and books, and point to stories from around the web, and we plan to keep doing all of that.

There area lready a few interesting posts up, so head on over to the revamped blog and have a look.

Trope Tuesday: Manchurian Agent

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Tycho Celchu: Manchurian Agent or Not?

It’s Tuesday! For some of us, it’s the day before a national holiday. But I’m not letting that serve as an excuse to slack off on my favorite feature on the blog, Trope Tuesday. This week, we’re looking at a trope called the Manchurian Agent.

Memory Gambit and Neuro Vault meet Deep Cover Agent. A person is Brainwashed so that, on a certain trigger (either a situation, or else a phrase only someone in the know would ever say), they will go from their normal self to The Mole; they will most often remember nothing afterward.

See also Brainwashed, Berserk Button, Morality Dial, Tomato in the Mirror, Conveniently Unverifiable Cover Story and Lotus-Eater Machine. Compare Memory Gambit, which is when you do this to yourself. May require Deprogramming to cure.

Since we’ve been focusing a lot of the blog activities over the last month on the X-Wing series, it’s only appropriate we chose another trope that fits those books well. One of the central subplots of the first four Rogue Squadron books was the mystery surrounding Tycho Celchu. Throughout, there was the suspicion that he was the Manchurian Agent, just waiting for the signal to turn on his squadron mates.

A bit of a subversion there, but this trope was played a bit more straight in the Wraith Squadron books. The trigger phase “Wedge Antilles hops on one transparisteel leg” was used to activate one such sleeper agent in Solo Command, setting off a series of unfortunate events that would wreak havoc on the Wraiths and the New Republic military.

Random House Wants To Record Your Fan Fiction

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Seriously.

Attendees at San Diego Comic Con will have the opportunity to record a five-minute sample of their fan fiction for Random House to listen to. These pieces will then be judged and one lucky winner and a few runner-ups will be able to have their piece professionally recorded, mixed, and hosted at the official Random House Audio site.

Still with me? I never thought I would see the day a publisher reached out for fan fiction of any variety, but apparently this is a thing that actually exists.

One story will be selected by RH Audio producers to be recorded professionally and streamed online!

At this year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego, CA, Random House Audio will be recreating an audiobook studio right on the convention floor–inviting authors of fan fiction to record a sample of their work for a chance to have their story recorded and released as a digital audiobook.

Stories from the following fandoms are eligible for the contest:

  • Star Wars®
  • The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini
  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan
  • The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
  • Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Aspiring authors (who must be legal residents of the U.S. and 18 years or older) can sign up for a time slot to record their five-minute sample during the convention, July 12-15 at the San Diego Convention Center. Random House Audio producers will listen to the entries (no mashups, please) and select one to be professionally recorded and mixed by Random House Audio for streaming at www.randomhouseaudio.com. The grand prize winner and five runner-ups will have clips from their stories featured on the Random House Audio weekly podcast.

I imagine a lot of people will be disappointed they won’t have the opportunity to take part in this, which is understandable. It’s not like it’s exceptionally difficult to record a five minute excerpt on your own and digitally submit it, so limiting this strictly to attendees of San Diego Comic Con is a little odd.

In any case, if you’re going to be at SDCC, this might be something you want to check out.

(Via)