Lit Literature member interviews

RC's clearly Luke Skywalker if he grew up in the mountains rather than desert.

 

7. I'd organize survivors, form a militia, attempt to slowly rebuild or remake civil life, slowly hunt down the zombies, and declare myself god-emperor of mankind. So basically, a more megalomaniacal Governor

Alternatively, I'd grab surviving friends, acquire a boat, and avoid the undead hordes altogether- make port for supplies and little else. Perhaps wait for scavengers, weather, and decomposition to end the threat. I'd probably do something ludicrous like roleplay an 18th-century pirate in the meantime.

8. Man, it's hard to rank these, but I'll give it a shot.

I. Jacen Solo, hands down. Despite the character assassination he received post-2003 or so, his journey in the NJO remains my favorite storyline in Star Wars.
II. Vergere. She's a brilliant teacher, and is partially responsible for me calling myself a philosophical Daoist.
III. Darth Vader.
IV. The Jedi Exile. Despite her every action- and indeed, her backstory- being multiple choice, the Exile is such a complex character, written by one of my two favorite video game writers.
V. Nom Anor. I have to give a shout-out to a fantastic, complex villain. He was a consistent threat in the NJO, underwent his own detailed character arc, and was the saving grace of the Force Heretic trilogy.
VI. Wedge Antilles.
VII. Mitth'raw'nuruodo.
VIII. R2-D2, Shiva Incarnate, Destroyer of Worlds.
IX. Obi-wan Kenobi. Easily one of the best things to come out of the prequels.
X. Wes Janson the Irreverent.

I'm probably missing a few; honorable mention goes to the wonderfully dysfunctional crew of the Ebon Hawk in KOTOR II.

 

9. Starting from the top:
I. The Empire Strikes Back
II. A New Hope
III. Return of the Jedi
IV. The Phantom Menace
V. Revenge of the Sith
VI. Attack of the Clones.

10. Well, TV-wise my favorite shows are Breaking Bad, The X-Files, Band of Brothers, Mad Men, Code Geass, and Dexter before it went to crap. HBO's Rome is also amazing, and met an untimely demise- as did, of course, Firefly. I used to be a big House fan, although I stopped watching during the 6th season. The Walking Dead is a decent show, though the writing is too uneven for me to consider it to be a favorite. I also have a love-hate relationship with the television adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire. At times, it absolutely nails characters- Roose Bolton, Davos Seaworth, Melisandre, Ned Stark, Theon Greyjoy, Robert Baratheon, Ygritte, and a few others, and some of the deviations from the novels worked out rather well- Tywin and Arya's scenes, for example. On the other hand, many of the deviations didn't work out that well- I loathed how Robb was wooed by a great college entrance essay, rather than marrying Jeyne because he remembers how Jon was treated by Catelyn. I think that Jon comes off as rather whiny in the series, and it's hard to take show!Jon seriously as a potential leader. At some point, I need to finish watching Boardwalk Empire and Battlestar Galactica.

Movie-wise, my favorite movies include The Departed, No Country for Old Men, Terminator 2, The Dark Knight, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, Elysium, The Avengers, Life of Brian, and the aforementioned Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

 

I think I'm the only person that thinks The Terminator is a better film than the sequel.

 

I actually do love T1. It's a fantastic chase film, and does have better pacing than Judgment Day.

11. Hooooooo boy. I'm not going to try and rank these, so here we go.

-Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Traitor, by Matthew Stover
-Malazan Book of the Fallen series, by Steven Erikson (favorites within that: Memories of Ice and Reaper's Gale). Also note that Erikson's co-creator, Ian Esslemont, has written some additional novels set in the Malazan universe. They're nowhere near the level of MBOTF, but are good fun fantasy. MBOTF might be the one fantasy series I rank above ASOIAF.
-A Song of Ice and Fire, by George Martin (Favorite is probably A Storm of Swords, but I also adore A Dance With Dragons)
-Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, by Sean Stewart
-Starfighters of Adumar, by Aaron Allston
-Candide, by Voltaire
-The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
-The Children of Hurin, by Tolkien, edited into a workable form by Christopher Tolkien
-Red Storm Rising, by Tom Clancy
-Not *exactly* a novel, but I can't help but give a shoutout to the 36 Sermons of Vivec, from Morrowind. Written by the brilliant/insane Michael Kirkbride, my other favorite video game writer.
-Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling
-The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton

I'm going to take this opportunity to highlight some other favorite books that wouldn't count as novels.

-The Roman Triumph, by Mary Beard- excellent commentary on Roman historiography
-The Prince, by Niccolo Macchiavelli
-The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior, by Deckle Edge
-Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World, by Roger Crowley
-Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization, by Richard Miles
-Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan, 1517-1570, by Inga Clendinnen
-The Tao of Pooh, by Benjamin Hoff
-The Star Wars Essential Guide to Warfare, by Jason Fry and a certain pseudonymous Scotsman
-Catullus's Poetry- rather bawdy Latin poet
-1776, by David McCullough
The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson
-Ab Urbe Condita books I-V, by Titus Livius. Livy's treatment of the Roman Kingdom and early Republic is no longer viewed as historically accurate, but is an excellent insight into the mindset of the aristocracy of the Late Roman Republic.

-I think that I would enjoy the Aeneid a lot more if I hadn't taken the AP Vergil Test back in high school, or spent my senior year translating the first few books of that epic poem.

-I recently started The Black Company by Glen Cook, and it's pretty great so far. Conversely, I once tried out Wheel of Time, but couldn't get past book two. I'm also currently reading The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down, by Colin Woodard. Having just finished ACIV: Black Flag, it's fascinating to look at the historical inspirations for the game.

12. Once again, it's hard to order these.
- Star Wars: Legacy
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
- Marvel Civil War, despite its flaws
- V For Vendetta
- Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi: Redemption
- Star Wars: X-Wing
-Iron Man: World's Most Wanted
- Nomad, from Star Wars Tales
-Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison

 

Republic of Pirates is fantastic, the real-life adventures of pirates and all of the politics and real events behind them are often much more interesting than anything I've seen in fiction.

 

I object! The Lord of the Rings has never been and never will be a trilogy, but one book split into three for the simply reason that no one would have ever published it otherwise.

 

13. I haven't compulsively read every new novel or comic for several years now- I think the most recent EU work (barring awesome cut content by Jason Fry) that I've read was Scourge, although I definitely want to read Kenobi at some point in the future, and would like to catch up on Legacy 2.0 at some point. Back around early- to mid-2011 or so, I pretty much burned out on Star Wars- a combination of TCW, Legacy, and the Revan novel drove me away from it altogether. I went on hiatus from the boards for the better part of a year, ended up reading The Eye of the World and ASOIAF, breaking up with my girlfriend, firmly deciding to pursue a career in history academia- it was an interesting year. I ended up reading Darth Plagueis, Warfare, DOTJ, and Riptide in May 2012, which convinced me to come back to the boards, and re-engage with the EU a bit. Then the Disney announcement came. This is all kind of a long-winded way of saying that my initial reaction was dismay, but it was probably the final nail in me getting really worked up over canon issues. I've largely made my peace with Disney Wars and the probable impending death of EU 1.0. I've even mellowed towards TCW slightly.

*Slightly*.

I'm a bit curious as to what kind of EU will result from Disney Wars- I doubt that Disney will toss the idea of an EU altogether, as it's another cashcow to milk, and I could even maybe see adaptations of one or two EU works. I'd at least stay abreast of new EU developments out of morbid curiosity, though I doubt I will invest any money in the affair besides likely seeing the new movies. I guess I feel that I still have my copies of X-Wing, the NJO, YDR, Legacy, and the rest, and that I don't expect Mousketeers to burst into my bedroom at 2 in the morning, demanding the heterodoxical texts or else.

Regarding the sequels themselves, I'd like to see Abrams move beyond the Big Three- they've just been this massive albatross around the neck of the post-NJO, and I'd like to see a new generation step up and take the torch and not rely on the same characters who have been forced to carry the saga for 30-odd years.

14. Strangely enough, I've never actually watched the Holiday Special. So, I'll have to get back to you on that one

 

That's an awesome mental image...

 

Tut, tut, it's not a trilogy Zeta - it's 6 books! Plus appendices.

 

NO ONE EXPECTS THE MOUSQUISITION!

 

My point was that it wasn't a trilogy, which we both agree on, and I am well aware of it actually being six books, plus appendices.

 

15. Well, let's talk dislikes first. TCW created all sorts of needless continuity headaches. Some would say that Filoni and Lucas mined the EU for ideas, whereas I would say that mountaintop removal is a better description. TCW also butchered several characters- Dooku, for example, massively suffered, as Havac detailed in one of his excellent ElevenThirtyEight article. Bariss Offee was the victim of a similar character assassination. The show threw the idea of there being any sympathetic Separatists to the wind, preferring to portray them as Dick Dastardly villains who would make Darth Caedus blush. And I remember plenty of the plots being wildly nonsensical, not to mention all the fodder it provided for Coop's Diversity thread.

On the other hand, I do have some praise for TCW. First and foremost, the show gave us a better portrayal of Anakin Skywalker than much of the prequel-era EU ever did. It's easy to see why Obi-wan speaks of Anakin with such reverence in ANH, despite all that eventually transpired between them- Anakin was a big damn hero, and a great friend to Obi-wan, and this did come across well in the parts of TCW I watched (mainly seasons 1 and 2). I've actually warmed up to the Mandalorian retcons a bit- they certainly put Open Seasons (which I somehow left off my favorite comics list. Bad Tyler! Bad!) in a new light. Open Seasons is no longer just an internal feud within a mercenary company- it's a war for the heart and soul of the tattered remnants of Mandalorian warrior culture. The show sometimes gave us some excellent visuals, and I've heard all sorts of great things about the Umbara arc.

So it's kind of a mixed bag. I don't loathe TCW the way I did two years ago. I can even praise some aspects of it. With less input from Lucas, and more consistent writing, it could have been an excellent show.

16. Hmm, tough question. I've already met jasonfry AND got him to sign my copy of the Warfare guide (get on my level, nerds!), and he's one of the main reasons I still maintain some level of engagement with the EU. Incidentally, he's the only TFNer I've ever met in person, although I am friends with a few via facebook. So I would probably have to go with either Matthew Stover or Chris Avellone. Such a meeting would likely consist of me massively embarrassing myself by effusively gushing over how much I adore their contributions to the EU/begging Avellone to write KOTOR III or steal the Fallout license from Bethesda.

 

I have a copy of TEA signed by a bunch of people, including Fry AND Wallace IIRC.

 

17. First of all, I'd toss out the post-NJO, minus Legacy. In its place, I would have some sort of series where the Jedi actually act as Jedi. Conceptually, think Jedi Apprentice with competent writing. I'd have the Sith not pop up again until Legacy- if there need be a large galactic conflict, let it be something non-Force based. Have the Jedi finally try to root out slavery in Hutt Space. Have the hundred terrors of the Unknown Regions break loose. At some point in all of this, Jacen should take the lead as informal leader of the NJO, without all of that silly "we need a formal Grand Master!" tosh from Dark Nest. Somewhere in all of this, Lando becomes Chief of State, and oh god it's awesome. And have Lando ACTUALLY BE DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED. So 100 years of peace, with the Jedi and the democratic process largely working, and the One Sith slowly working behind the scenes to prepare for their return. Also, Legacy doesn't get axed at issue 50, and lasts long enough for Ostrander and Duursema to properly tell the stories they wanted to tell.

18. Hmm. I think I would go with the ability to bend minds with the Force. Either that or some sort of Force-based precognition.

"You will admit me to this graduate program and give me a free ride."

"You will give me a grant to study Italic cultures in late Republican Roman Italy."

"Bethesda, you will rehire Michael Kirkbride, and hand over production of Elder Scrolls VI to him."

 

Literally, one of my first thoughts as I was riding a bus from the trainstation in Cimarron to Philmont was "holy crap you can land a Star Destroyer in these plains. WHERE DOES IT STOP WHY CAN'T I SEE MOUNTAINS AGGGGHHHHHH". Philmont itself wasn't too bad, since it's centered around a bunch of mountains (might be a leg of the Rockies, actually), but sometimes I could see out beyond Philmont from the mountains, and holy Waru, why don't those plains end, where are the lumps obscuring the horizon, clearly the textures aren't loading, WHERE ARE MY DRAGONS MOUNTAINS?!

Rapid-fire questions!

A) Classic rock.
B) Either in my bed or out on the benches behind Woodburn Hall, overlooking the old football field/Mon River.
C) Hamburger. If we can count drinks, then black rum.
D) Cat poop.
E) House cat/ Shih Tzu/ Eric Burdon

 

Lightning Round Part Deux!

A) Summer. Used to like winter, then I moved to Morgantown. Sadly, one of the grad schools I'm looking into is in Ann Arbor.
B) Cross-country. Probably the only sport I've ever enjoyed.
C) Sci-Fi
D) Sportula, -ae, f. Latin for "small gift basket".
E) Math. We hates it precious! Yes we does! And it's largely irrelevant to my field of study!