It’s day one of Dragon*Con! Nanci, Bria, Maggie, and myself are at the first big Expanded Universe panel (in costume) to cover all the fun. Aaron Allston, Kevin J. Anderson, Timothy Zahn, and Mike Stackpole are on hand. Highlights below the cut!
Tag Archives: SWEU
Tosche Station Radio #28: The Celebration VI Special!
It’s the big Celebration VI special! Unfortunately, the hosts don’t have enough time to sift through everything that happened at the convention, so this week’s show notes will be brief. The episode, however, isn’t. For the first time, Brian and Nanci are unscripted and coming to you almost live from the Orange County Convention Center.
On the docket is a discussion of Del Rey’s big announcements, celebrity panels, news from the StarWars.com redesign, and all sorts of odds and ends from the premiere Star Wars convention. We also had a pair of guests on the recording, including Tracy of Club Jade.
Sit back, grab some power converters, and enjoy our first-ever unscripted foray into podcasting!
Celebration VI Coverage: Del Rey 2013 and Beyond
It’s Celebration VI Day Two, and we’re kicking things off with the hotly anticipated Del Ray panel looking into what’s new from the Expanded Universe. Some interesting tidbits, but a couple of HUGE announcements were dropped. To the jump, major announcements are in bold.
Celebration VI Coverage: Timothy Zahn Retrospective
We’re wrapping up the day with a recap of the Timothy Zahn retrospective panel at Celebration VI. Pablo Hidalgo moderated a panel jam-packed with all sorts of information and tidbits that a packed house enjoyed.
To the jump!
Celebration VI Coverage: Dark Horse 2013 Panel
Once again, we’re on the move so we’ll just leave the news tidbits! Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter (link in the sidebar) for up-to-the-minute news and observations from CVI. Bullet points!
- No announcements for this show, Dark Horse’s new offerings likely will be revealed at New York Comic Con.
- Cover for new Knight Errant revealed. Looks like it’s got a Dragonriders of Pern vibe.
- John Jackson Miller talked about the next Knight Errant arc. Kerra learns that her parents may still be alive. This will be the “most important moment in Kerra’s life.”
- New Jedi to be introduced in the next Darth Maul arc.
- Lost Tribe of the Sith an example of synergy between Del Rey and Dark Horse.
- New Agent of the Empire arc will feature a lot of cameos from familiar names like Bail Organa, Leia, and Winter. Revolves around the current Count of Sereno. Both Nanci and I were particularly gleeful over this announcement.
- There IS a new announcement! A new arc of Dark Times is coming. Gabriel Guzman will provide the interior art.
- Cover for a new Star Wars: Purge: The Tyrant’s Fist revealed. Features Vader and stormtroopers. Look for the new Purge in December.
- The new Star Wars comic is NOT a reboot. It’s NOT ignoring continuity. It’s NOT trampling pre-existing canon. So cool your jets on that front, so says Randy Stradley. This is going to be a gateway point for new Star Wars fans who want to get into comics.
- Invasion stopped because a satisfying conclusion was reached. That said, Randy Stradley said to keep your eyes open to see what might happens next as far as Legacy goes.
- No plans for more Tales Of comics, but John Jackson Miller certainly seems interested. That said, Lost Tribe of the Sith is probably your Tales of the Jedi for a while.
- Del Rey and Dark Horse have been talking about a “really, really cool” collaboration which would culminate in a big climactic event. Another Galactic Apocalypse of the Week plot?
Celebration VI Day 1 Schedule
Going to be at Celebration VI today and want to catch myself and Nanci (and get some nifty Tosche Station swag)? Just want to know what we’ll be covering today? Here be the list.
- 11:30-12:30: Starwars.com and Beyond (Collecting Stage/W303 ABC)
- 1-2: Aaron Allston signing (Barnes and Noble booth 129)
- 1:30-2:30: Dark Horse Comics Look Ahead (Behind the Scenes Stage/W414 ABCD)
- 5-6: Ian McDiarmid (Celebration Stage/Chapin Theatre)
- 6-7: Timothy Zahn Retrospective (Behind the Scenes Stage/W414 ABCD)
Remember, give us a follow on Twitter for up-to-the-minute coverage! Link on the sidebar.
Trope Tuesday: Continuity Snarl
Visual representation
It’s Tuesday. The Tuesday before many of you are heading to Celebration VI. This is probably the longest Tuesday you’ve faced in a long time, but fret not. We’re here to provide extremely mild amusement in another Trope Tuesday, our weekly foray into the world of TV Tropes to investigate the literary devices and themes that make our favorite entertainment chug along. Or in the case of Continuity Snarl, grind to a screeching halt.
A Shared Universe can become a very confusing place, and the longer they exist, the more confusing they can become. As new creators come on board and take over, continuity eventually gets tangled, convoluted, and increasingly difficult to pick through. Sometimes, it gets to the point that not even the fans who write Wikipedia articles understand what is and isn’t in canon.
It goes something like this: in the beginning, The Universe is created, and it’s a blank slate. Everything’s new; as such, the creators can do whatever they want to do, create whatever they want to create, throw everything in and have fun doing so. Whatever works, works and whatever doesn’t, doesn’t. So far, so good.
However, the whole idea of a Shared Universe is that different creative teams will eventually take over. Sometimes Writer A of Title A will leave and Writer B will take over, while at other times Writer A’s character will guest star or make a Cameo apearance in Writers B’s title. People being people, those different creators will have their own ideas. They’ll have different ideas about what the ‘verse should be, about what has worked and what hasn’t, what might work and what doesn’t.
The longer that this goes on and as more teams take over, the more chance there is of a Continuity Snarl.
When canon becomes too involved and self-contradictory, it starts denying new writers “room to move.” When writers disagree strongly with what previous writers before them have added to the mix and are overly keen on using continuity to get rid of them (or attack the other writer), then the snarl may come from the writers being Armed With Canon. If worse comes to worst, the writers may simply perform a Continuity Reboot, discarding the old continuity completely and starting over from scratch. (Everything you read or watched before? It never happened! You imagined it! Either that, or it wasAll Just a Dream.)
Holy wall of text, Batman. So let’s try and distill that down a bit, shall we? A Continuity Snarl is pretty much what happens when different books/comics/games/films/television shows in a universe start conflicting with each other. Suddenly a new piece of material comes out that directly contradicts some older material. Say hello, Republic Commando controversy.
As many of you know, Lucasfilm actually employs someone by the name of Leland Chee who (among other things) is responsible for keeping tabs on continuity and canon, helping to ensure that new material doesn’t trample over old material. Or helping put together retcons for when snarls do happen.
Now, if you’re looking for a book that deftly manages to avoid the pitfalls of twenty years of Expanded Universe continuity, you may want to give X-Wing: Mercy Kill a try.
Tosche Station Radio #27: Convention Madness
On this week’s Tosche Station Radio, the hosts gear up for Celebration VI!
Kicking off the show, Nanci highlights what’s new on the blog. Emily, Brian, and new staff writer Bria contributed Mercy Kill reviews. Cosplay Monday featured Savannah’s awesome Jedi costume. All three were extremely positive. We asked, you answered: What Celebration VI events are you most looking forward to? We went over our own CVI schedule. Finally we wrapped up our Replace Mara’s Catsuit contest with thirteen entries. Thanks to all who participated!
In Fixer’s Flash, both Brian and Nanci read and finished X-Wing: Mercy Kill. They enjoyed it. Tremendously. Nanci began reading Scourge and in her free time, began edits to her original novel. She also found the time to re-watch X-Men: First Class in order to admire Michael Fassbender. Brian read through Captain Marvel #2 and thinks that comic readers absolutely need to pick the new series up. He also began the groundwork for his own original book, but most of his time is spent preparing for convention season with Celebration VI and Dragon*Con right around the corner.
Deak’s Dirt begins with news that Raiders of the Lost Ark is coming to IMAX theaters in September. In other film news, Joss Whedon got himself a new deal from Marvel and it’s a dandy. The final Crucible cover was revealed, and it looks pretty much like the old cover. Her Universe revealed their Mara shirt as part of their Celebration VI exclusives.
In this week’s Camie’s Concerns, the hosts talk Celebration VI and what you should expect. They highlight Club Jade’s convention prep posts, an invaluable resource for those who may be attending a con for the first time. The hosts dive into what you can expect from Orlando and the Orange County Convention Center itself before diving into their schedules for CVI. Brian and Nanci take a few questions from listeners as well.
For Wormie’s Works, Nanci highlights a NASA parody video and Brian links to a musicvideo highlighting fifty years of fandom.
This week’s Trope of the Show takes a look at The Charmer. Hello, Wes Janson!
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.
Replace the Catsuit: The Winners
Darren Tan’s illustration that will be appearing in the ‘Star Wars: Essential Reader’s Companion’
Discussions were had, comments were tallied, and the verdict is in. We’ve got winners in our Replace Mara’s Catsuit contest!
I should probably start by saying that selecting winners for this contest was really hard. All of the Tosche Station staff spent a good chunk of yesterday going over each entry and factoring in feedback from comments. We came to a consensus on the overall winner pretty quickly, but picking out who also should earn prizes was no easy task. In the end, we decided that there were too many solid entries for this contest. So we added a fourth prize slot that will also be receiving a copy of Allegiance by Timothy Zahn. Even then, some great entries just missed the cut.
Also as a note, Bria’s entry was taken out of the running because we brought her on as a writer last week, which is a bummer because the rest of the staff thought her costume was awesome.
The Tosche Station Staff does want to give a big thank you to everyone who entered the contest. The path to getting Mara new iconic outfits and images is a tricky one, but raising awareness that we can do better than the catsuit is a necessary first step. With any luck, the entries submitted for this contest can be a stepping stone to doing just that.
That said! Here are the winners in ascending order. To the jump!
Aaron Allston’s Celebration VI and Dragon*Con Schedule
Expanded Universe author Aaron Allston has updated his appearance schedule to note just where he’s going to be at both Celebration VI and Dragon*Con. As we’ve said before on the blog and the podcast, Allston is a fantastic guest to sit down and listen to. If you’ve got a chance to see one of his panels or writing workshops, you owe it to yourself to do so.
Celebration VI
- Friday 10:30 am-11:30 am, Behind the Scenes Stage (W414 ABCD): What’s Coming From Del Rey.
“Acclaimed Star Wars authors Aaron Allston, Troy Denning, Drew Karpyshyn, James Luceno, and Timothy Zahn join Shelly Shapiro of Del Rey and Jennifer Heddle of Lucasfilm to reveal what’s coming next in best-selling Star Wars fiction.” - Friday 2:30 pm-3:30 pm, Star Wars University (W300):
Laying Down Tracks: A Different Way to Write Your Novel.
“Most people writing their first few novels start with an outline, or just a sense of how the early chapters should progress, and then write straight through to the end. But that’s not necessarily the best method for all novelists. In this seminar,New York Times bestselling author Aaron Allston (X-Wing: Mercy Kill) discusses an alternate method of novel writing intended to capitalize on each writer’s individual strengths and passions. This method helps bypass some causes of writer’s block, invokes ‘flow state’ writing, and prevents the sort of discouragement that can kill a novel. If you’ve ever wondered whether the standard novel-writing methods are holding you back, come to ‘Laying Down Tracks.'” - Friday 6:00 pm-7:00 pm, Barnes & Noble Booth (Booth #129):
Signing. Aaron Allston, Troy Denning. - Saturday 3:00 pm-4:00 pm, Barnes & Noble Booth (Booth #129):
Signing. Aaron Allston, Troy Denning. - Sunday, 11:00 am, Del Rey Booth (Booth #910):
Del Rey 2012 Star Wars Sampler Signing.
Drew Karpyshyn, Timothy Zahn, James Luceno, Aaron Allston, Troy Denning, John Jackson Miller.
Dragon*Con
- Friday 2:30 pm-3:30 pm, Seminar 4:
Talk to Me: Dialogue.
“Aaron Allston discusses the art of writing dialogue — to improve characterization, to influence the reader’s responses, and to deliver the emotional wallop your story needs.”
Room: Hanover A-B (Hyatt). Additional seminar charge will apply. - Friday 4:00 pm-5:00 pm, Seminar 5:
Description.
“Have your descriptive passages become blocks of text that stop your story cold? Aaron Allston discusses techniques to transform those passages into memorable experience that propel your story to its conclusion.”
Room: Hanover A-B (Hyatt). Additional seminar charge will apply. - Friday 5:30 pm-6:30 pm:
Meet Your Favorite Star Wars Authors.
“Have a burning question for your favorite authors? They’ll be here to talk to you!” Panelists TBA.
Room: A706 (Marriott) - Saturday 1:00 pm-2:00 pm, Seminar 8:
Ruining Your Career Before It Gets Started.
“Aaron Allston walks you through the minefield of deadly career-killers, including query letters that spell doom, research practices that murder a writer’s reputation, ‘everyone knows’ fallacies that lead novices and even experienced writers into quicksand, and fan interactions that are pure poison.”
Room: Hanover A-B (Hyatt). Additional seminar charge will apply. - Saturday 2:30 pm-3:30 pm, Seminar 9:
Style and Mood.
“Aaron Allston talks about establishing and sustaining the tone of a novel — how to switch from technique to technique, like a pitcher switching from a curve ball to a fastball, in order to make the readers experience exactly what you want them to.”
Room: Hanover A-B (Hyatt). Additional seminar charge will apply. - Saturday 5:30 pm-6:30 pm:
Masculinity in Star Wars.
“Vader, Han Solo, Luke, Lando — just what does it all mean, and where was the Maker going with chivalry, patriarchy, and the definition of masculinity?” Panelists TBA.
Room: A706 (Marriott) - Sunday 11:30 am-12:30 pm:
Literature of Gaming.
“The world of gaming has provided a grounding for a number of books. We’ll discuss what makes it popular and writing for a preconceived world.” Panelists TBA.
Room: Greenbriar (Hyatt) - Sunday 2:30 pm-3:30 pm, Seminar 14:
Unclogging Your Plot.
“Aaron Allston describes the Thirteen Deadly Sins that can grind your novel’s plot to a halt — how to detect them, understand them, and bulldoze them out of your way.”
Room: Hanover A-B (Hyatt). Additional seminar charge will apply. - Sunday 4:00 pm-5:00 pm, Seminar 15:
Showing Off Your Manuscript.
“Aaron Allston discusses ways to put your fiction before the eyes of others, including advance readers, workshoppers, editors, and agents. We’ll also talk about the hazards of showing off your manuscript, including submission mistakes, hurtful reviews, and loss of creative energy.”
Room: Hanover A-B. Additional seminar charge will apply. - Monday 2:30 pm-3:30 pm:
Discussion of Mercy Kill with Aaron Allston.
“Just what the title says — Allston discusses his latest Star Wars novel, the long-awaited continuation of the X-Wing series, released August 7.”
Room: A706 (Marriott)
If you’re going to be at Dragon*Con, I strongly encourage you to attend both the Expanded Universe multi-author panel as well as the Mercy Kill panel.