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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Lit Eleven-ThirtyEight and stuff

Discussion in 'Literature' started by CooperTFN, Jul 8, 2013.

?

Well?

  1. I don't care

    20 vote(s)
    17.7%
  2. Hm, neat

    49 vote(s)
    43.4%
  3. OMG COOPER IS MY HERO

    44 vote(s)
    38.9%
  1. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    I would not have pegged you for a Mara Jade critic based on those same conversations. :p

    No, I didn't include any post-NJO in my assessment; I focused on the five Zahn books and the NJO.
     
  2. themetresgained

    themetresgained Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 23, 2013
    Interesting stuff, anakinfan. I don't think I noticed this about Mara especially with regards to her relationship with Luke in the books you mention, but it's entirely possible that in chewing through them so fast because of plot! glorious plot! I missed some crucial characterisation.
     
    anakinfansince1983 likes this.
  3. Robimus

    Robimus Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 6, 2007
    I find Star Wars fiction in general largely guilty of the one size fits all social interactions Ben mentions.

    Even stories I love, like Legacy, have these types of social interactions. Marasiah & Antares entire relationship seemed much more blunt that anything between Luke & Mara that I recall, but I'm pretty far removed from having read the novels in question. Han & Leia seemed all over the map depending on the author. I also wonder how much Han & Leia's relationship on the page is helped by the vivid imagery and memories we have from the films? Is it easier to to buy into Han & Leia because we bought into the relationship in the film?

    There are exceptions, but all in all reading about romance in Star Wars novels & comics leaves a lot to be desired.
     
  4. CooperTFN

    CooperTFN TFN EU Staff Emeritus star 7 VIP

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 1999
    I struggle to think of a single EU romance I've ever been genuinely invested in that didn't originate in the X-Wing series.
     
  5. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    I really liked the Anakin/Tahiri romance. They were kids, they were friends first, it was sweet without being overblown and saccharine.

    I can't think of a book in which I didn't enjoy Han and Leia. One great thing about TTT is how well Zahn wrote the birth of the twins; Han and Leia's interactions were great and the entire scene felt as real as a birth scene is going to feel (nobody wants to read the gory details that are involved in a real-life birth). Whereas Mara giving birth to Ben just read like "LOOK AT ME EVERYONE IN THE GALAXY!!! I'M HAVING A BABY!!!"

    I also liked the depiction of Han and Leia drifting apart and then reuniting in the NJO as Han dealt with Chewie's death. Both the marital problems and the slow reconciliation felt real to me.

    I just started the X-Wing series; I look forward to seeing any well-done romance there.
     
    themetresgained likes this.
  6. Cynical_Ben

    Cynical_Ben Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 12, 2013
    The NJO did do well with Han and Leia's relationship, not the least because of how the authors effectively handled Han's character progression after Chewie's demise. And Anakin/Tahiri is sweet, mostly because Greg Keyes wrote them together so well in his duology, like teenagers being forced to grow up by events around them, looking for a way to hold on to the past.
     
  7. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    So, 16 comments - is that a record?
     
  8. CooperTFN

    CooperTFN TFN EU Staff Emeritus star 7 VIP

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 1999
    Metal Bikini has 18. Race Factor and Jaina Solo's Hands have 17. Last Stands pt 1 also has 16. Death of Luke Skywalker has 15. Nothing else over 10, I think.
     
  9. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Odie and Erk?
     
  10. CooperTFN

    CooperTFN TFN EU Staff Emeritus star 7 VIP

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 1999
    I'm more invested in this Odie.

    [​IMG]

    He'd be a more compelling romantic lead, too.
     
    blackmyron and Jedi Ben like this.
  11. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    You can't have Odie without Garfield, the Dark Lord of the Lasagna:

    [​IMG]
     
    Son of a Bith likes this.
  12. Force Smuggler

    Force Smuggler Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Anakin and Tahiri FTW!
    Also Zayne and Jarael!
     
  13. CooperTFN

    CooperTFN TFN EU Staff Emeritus star 7 VIP

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 1999
    I loved KOTOR, but eh.
     
  14. CooperTFN

    CooperTFN TFN EU Staff Emeritus star 7 VIP

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 1999
    Okay, now it's a record.
     
  15. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    Damn, people are sensitive about their fan 'ships. [face_laugh]

    There have been some good comments with information I hadn't considered (thanks Rob. along with a few others), and then there have been the hilarious ones with blatantly wrong assumptions about my taste.
     
  16. CooperTFN

    CooperTFN TFN EU Staff Emeritus star 7 VIP

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 1999
    Yeah, at no time did I think the article was going to give the Club Jade demo a come-to-Jesus moment, but the tone of some of the responses has been disappointing. There's a big gap between "I disagree" and "how dare you".
     
    anakinfansince1983 likes this.
  17. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    21 !? Blimey.
     
  18. Lugija

    Lugija Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2009
    Articles with conflicting views always generate most traffic. But don't start to make articles like "4 Mind-blowing Reasons Why Vitiate Could Defeat Sidious!"

    I mean, if you don't have pages of numbers and graphs to back you up.
     
  19. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
  20. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    I had thought A1983 might be more proofed as it were, by her gender, against the standard blanket rejection card of: 'If you don't like X, you must not like strong women.' Clearly not.

    Thanks. That piece kept changing, I knew I wanted to use those quotes somehow because they're good but they also led me all over the place!
     
    Iron_lord likes this.
  21. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    It's not the first time I've heard it; apparently there is a mindset out there that all "strong women" are equally likable and apparently their relationships are too. I find that amusing; among other reasons, "strong women" are not a monolith any more than any other group, such as "Star Wars fans."

    I've seen the mindset directed at people who dislike Ahsoka Tano as well.

    There are women out there who hold very 1950s values about their gender but I'd be the very last to count myself among them.
     
    themetresgained and Jedi Ben like this.
  22. CT-867-5309

    CT-867-5309 Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Jan 5, 2011
    anakinfansince1983 likes this.
  23. CooperTFN

    CooperTFN TFN EU Staff Emeritus star 7 VIP

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 1999
    26.
     
  24. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    I laughed so hard at a couple of them last night that I was afraid I was going to wake up my kids.

    Apparently there are people out there who think they are Mara Jade. And there was one wall-of-text comment that read like this thread from the temp boards, only with the genders reversed.

    It's pretty hard to have a discussion with people who don't actually want one, are more interested in doing the online version of the SNL imitation of the McLaughlin Group.



    That said...feedback from almost everyone has been good, and most of the people who disagreed gave me something to think about.

    And the useless and overly personalized feedback, while wasting Coop's bandwidth, was at least worth the comic relief.
     
  25. CooperTFN

    CooperTFN TFN EU Staff Emeritus star 7 VIP

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 1999
    This has been a weird experience for me, because I mean, I'm sort of on their side. :p

    I just hate seeing what I consider to be a reasonable POV shouted down--and the more aggressively people tear away at it, the more my back gets up. There's a reason I put "no sacred shaaks" right up at the top of the site.