Tosche Station Radio #75: Fan Culture

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Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight what’s New on the Blog. The Hondo Caravan is out of the station! In the past two weeks Bria watched The Clone Wars feature film and learned that yes, Jar Jar does play a role in The Clone Wars. Bria also gave her Expanded Universe wish list for 2014. Brian wrote about Brian Wood and Changing Harassment Culture. More on that later in the show.

In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci’s been busy with NaNoWriMo. Both the hosts bid a fond farewell to the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. They also saw Thor: The Dark World, and naturally that means a spoiler-filled discussion ensues. Brian’s been busy playing FIFA 2014 and Tiny Death Star.

Deak’s Dirt starts with Brian freaking out over the The Night of the Doctor mini-episode. In Marvel news, Four live-action Marvel shows are coming to Netflix! There’s a new cover for Honor Among Thieves. Mark your calendars! Episode VII will be hitting theaters December 18, 2015. There’s even a confirmation! Artoo will be in the film, and it’s going to be fan-made. Turns out the other two individuals in that photo Bad Robot tweeted were Lee Towersey and Oliver Steeples of the R2 Builders Club.

This week’s Camie’s Concerns tackles a tough topic. With the Brian Wood news as a springboard, the hosts discuss harassment in fandom culture and what our obligation as fans are to change things for the better.

Wrapping up the show, the hosts field a question in Ask Us Anything. 

Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net and a part of Majestic Giraffe Productions. If you like what you hear, please leave a review on the iTunes Music Store. 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.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and Audible.com.

On Brian Wood and Changing Harassment Culture

Brian Wood, writer for one of Marvel’s X-Men runs and Dark Horse’s ‘Star Wars’ series, has been accused of harassing female convention goers. The Mary Sue reported it here and Beccatoria has a detailed and very insightful rundown here. Read these posts for more information if you’re not up to speed, particularly Beccatoria’s. Additionally, please read Dunc’s latest post on harassment.

It goes without saying that this is going to be a post that will probably elicit some very charged reactions. So before going too much further, three points I want to make clear.

First: I’m not going to call for Brian Wood to be fired strictly for what he confessed to in the links above.

Second: If the additional allegations beyond what he confessed to turn out to be true or if more individuals come forward with accusations of misconduct by Wood, I believe Marvel/DH/LFL should re-evaluate their working relationship with him.

Third: This issue goes beyond infidelity between Wood and his wife. There are much broader fandom and societal issues this brings up that should be discussed.

To the jump.

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Tosche Station Radio #74: 2013 in the Expanded Universe

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Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight what’s New on the Blog.  Bria started her new blog project, the Hondo Caravan. She also reviewed 2013 in the Expanded Universe…which we’ll get back to shortly. Brian and Nanci did a Go/No-go for Ender’s Game. Brian reviewed the The Haynes Death Star Owner’s Technical Manual by Ryder Windham, Chris Reif, and Chris Trevas. Bria reviewed The Star Wars #3.

In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci’s been busy reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. She’s knee-deep in NaNo, but still found time to watch Ender’s Game. Both Brian and Nanci watched Thor in preparation for The Dark World. Bria. Bria’s kept herself busy with duolingo. She also attended a Pretty Deadly signing and met awesome person Kelly Sue DeConnick

There’s not a whole lot in Deak’s Dirt this time. UK Casting Call for Episode VII? Also a US call? Dennis Barbie tweets that Episode VII will be coming “end 2015,” but he backtracked later in the day. In comics news, the new Ms. Marvel is a Muslim shapeshifting teenager! Awesome!

On Camie’s Concerns, staff writer Bria joins the hosts to take a look back at the year that was in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. What books stood out? What books fell flat? Which book got everyone angry ranting and which book had everyone gushing? Wrapping things up, everyone discusses the trends noticed in 2013 and what we hope to see in 2014.

Finally, the hosts field questions in Ask Us Anything. 

Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net and a part of Majestic Giraffe Productions. If you like what you hear, please leave a review on the iTunes Music Store. 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.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and Audible.com.

Tosche Station Radio #73: Mechanical Breakdown

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On this episode of Tosche Station Radio, Brian and Nanci discuss Razor’s Edge and fan expectations!

Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight what’s New on the Blog. Bria penned an unapologetic love letter to the Young Jedi Knights books. She also reviewed Star Wars Legacy #8. There’s a new episode of our sister podcast, Women of Odd Enthusiasms.This week Bria and Emily chat all about Harry Potter. We looked back on one year after Disney bought Lucasfilm and announced Episode VII.

In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci finished Razor’s Edge and started reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. She also work on her next NaNo project. Both of the hosts watched Pacific Rim and are now making Drift Compatibility jokes. Related to this, Bria took to twitter and asked for the best suggestions regarding Jaegers in Star Wars. As often happens on the show, the hosts go off on a tangent about meta diversity commentary in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D fandom

Deak’s Dirt starts with the release of the The Making of Star Wars enhanced eBooks. Last week Jedi News uncovered some Star Wars information out of the European Brand Licensing Show. Next up, it’s the rumor roundup. Rumor the first: LFL wanted a 2016 release for Episode VII, but Disney wants them to stay on target for 2015. Rumor the second: Harrison Ford has a deal for Episode VII in exchange for Indy 5? Finally, some big actual news: Arndt is done with his portion of the script, Kasdan and Abrams to finish. Next on the docket: Trailers! Lots of trailers! Specifically Catching Fire, Winter Soldier, X-Men: Days of Future Past. And finally, in news very relevant to our interests, Jen Heddle and Shelly Shapiro met with Leland Chee and Pablo Hidalgo the other day. Wonder what they were discussing…

This week’s installment of Camie’s Concerns has the hosts discussing Razor’s Edge by Martha Wells and a more macro discussion of fan expectations and how they impact our feelings of books, film, and entertainment as a whole.

Don’t forget to check out our sister podcast Wrong Opinions About Movies. This week, they reviewed The Counselor.

Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net and a part of Majestic Giraffe Productions. If you like what you hear, please leave a review on the iTunes Music Store. 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.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and Audible.com.

Compare and Contrast: Leia in 2013

comics_star_wars2013 was a big year for Leia in the Expanded Universe. First up, we got the Brian Wood written Star Wars comic, which Bria and myself were less than impressed by. Today we got Razor’s Edge by Martha Wells, which we were significantly happier with. Why the difference in reactions? Simply put, it boiled down to how Leia was used and characterized. To see what we mean, head below the cut.

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Go/No-Go: Razor’s Edge by Martha Wells

nasa-mission-control-3Welcome back to Go/No-Go, Tosche Station’s regular feature where we offer our spoiler-free opinion as to whether or not you should spend your hard-earned money on a book, film, or other entertainment. Today on the launch pad: Razor’s Edge by Martha Wells. Does the first of the new Empire and Rebellion series stack up? Time to go around the horn at mission control.

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Tosche Station Radio #69: Dragon Con 2013 Recap

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On this episode of Tosche Station Radio, the hosts are back and recapping Dragon Con!

Kicking off the show, there’s a bit of housekeeping. We’ve been away for a while, but hope you enjoyed our interview with John Jackson Miller and our episodes recorded live at Dragon Con. We conned Bria and Emily into stepping in for us one week, and now they have their own show! Be sure to check out their monthly show, Women of Odd Enthusiasms.

The hosts proceed to highlight what’s New on the Blog. Bria reported on her time at Baltimore Comic Con 2013.She also reviewed Legacy #6 and The Star Wars #1. Nanci discussed a certain plot twist in Kenobi and how it made her evaluate her own assumptions. Speaking of Kenobi, we have reviews by Brian and Bria. Spoilers: we all loved it. Bria reviewed another SWEU item: Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown. Emily gushed about the podcast Welcome To Night Vale. As we previously mentioned, we have a ton of content from Dragon Con! Be sure to check out our live recordings of the Introduction to the Expanded Universe panel, the Star Wars Authors panel, the Blogging, Podcasting, Vidding, and Fanfiction panel, the Women and Minorities in Star Wars panel, and the Conspiring for Fun and Profit panel.

In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci’s been busy reading The Darwin Elevator and writing a short space western story. Brian’s been reading through Razor’s Edge while both hosts recover from con season.

Deak’s Dirt starts with some news outside of the Star Wars fandom. J.K. Rowling is writing a Harry Potter spinoff film based on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. In a Reddit AMA, Seth Green addressed the status of Detours. According to him, it’s just on hold. J.J. Abrams is setting up a post-production facility for Episode VII in Los Angeles. Episode VII rumors! They exist! Don’t fall for them. Del Rey released the blurb for Honor Among Thieves by James S.A. Corey. Finally in some sad news, Expanded Universe author and publisher watchdog A.C. Crispin passed away.

In this week’s Camie’s Concerns, the hosts finally sit down to recap their Dragon Con experience. From panels to workshops and costume photoshoots, it was certainly one convention to remember!

Wrapping up the show, the hosts field questions in Ask Us Anything. 

Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net and a part of Majestic Giraffe Productions. If you like what you hear, please leave a review on the iTunes Music Store. 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.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and Audible.com.

Bria’s ‘Razor’s Edge’ cosplay featured on Suvudu

Our own Bria was featured in an interview over at Suvudu to discuss cosplay and one of her latest costumes: Leia from the cover of Razor’s Edge.

What inspired you to create this costume?

From the minute I saw the cover for Razor’s Edge, I knew that I wanted to do the costume. I’ve said to my friends in the past that so many of the book covers with Leia bore me because they almost all show her in her film costumes. This was absolutely not something she wore in the films but it works so well for not only her character but also for the role she’s filling within the book as a leader of the Rebel Alliance on a vital mission. She gets to wear an outfit that shouts ‘this is meant for action!’ without automatically having to wear a catsuit. I had an idea for how I wanted to make the costume and one day, I challenged myself to complete the costume in 12 hours because I loved the look of it that much.

For the rest of the interview and for more photos, head over to Suvudu.

A.C. Crispin bids farewell to her fans.

150px-TheparadisesnareA.C. Crispin, author of the Star Wars Han Solo Trilogy, posted a farewell to her fans yesterday on StarTrek.com.  Ann, who has written for a variety of franchises, including Star WarsStar Trek, Pirates of the Caribbean, as well as her own original Starbridge universe, made the announcement that her battle with cancer is nearing its end.

Crispin thanked her fans for their support and assured them that she was receiving excellent care, let them know that her husband was collecting messages sent to her, but warned them that she may not have the strength to post to her Facebook or website again.

In addition to being a prolific science-fiction writer, Crispin has also served as the Vice President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and with colleague Victoria Strauss, founded Writer Beware, a offshoot of SFWA that helps writers avoid publishing scams and assists law enforcement in shutting down criminal activity in the publishing world.  She has also been a leader in ensuring female voices and representation among the science-fiction community.

Ann’s Star Wars resume includes the Han Solo trilogy and two short stories, one for both Tales of the Mos Eisley Cantina and Tales from Jabba’s Palace.