The TFN EU staff is happy to announce a new ongoing feature for you books and comics fans - the EU Roundtable series. Basically, Roundtables are hour-or-so-long chat sessions between various well-known (by our standards, anyway) members of the online Star Wars fan community, covering some of the very same topics doing the rounds in message boards here and elsewhere. They're unscripted, unrehearsed, and unedited - think of it as a Star Wars Politically Incorrect.

Today sees the release of the first Roundtable, featuring Matthew Creelman, aka Raven on the Jedi Council forums, Michael Sheridan of Star Wars: Myth & Magic, and Paul Myers of The Unofficial Clone Wars Site. In conjunction with this, we're having a sort of impromptu contest; while accurate, I consider the name "EU Roundtable" a bit drab. If anyone out there can come up with a more interesting name for these things (think Tough Crowd, Dinner for Five, Politically Incorrect, etc.), they'll be granted a spot in an upcoming Roundtable.

The plan is for the Roundtables to be released in separate series, or "seasons", of four or five at a time, with one week between episodes of a series and a couple months or so between series. Right now I plan to at least see this through to the end of series one, beyond that, it's up to you. I can't stress this enough; if you enjoy reading these things and want to see more, let us know. There will be a feedback link at the bottom of each week's transcript, and a dedicated thread on our message boards.

Beyond that, I guess there's nothing left to say but check it out!

Oh, wait, there is something else to say - next week: Bob "Unofficial Encyclopedia" Vitas, Nathan "Mastadge" Blumenfeld, and Nathan "ChronoRadio" Butler!

You have a green recruit, in an X-Wing for the first time, with DARTH VADER on his tail, the Death Star in firing range, and an impossible shot coming up, and what does the boy do: he turns off his scope!