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

Chic, IL So long Karen Traviss

Discussion in 'MidWest Regional Discussion' started by Rogue4809, Aug 11, 2009.

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  1. Rogue4809

    Rogue4809 Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Aug 2, 2003
    Karen announced on her blog over the weekend that she will not be writing any additional Star Wars books. She said that the reasons were many, but it was due in part to continuity issues from season two f the Clone Wars cartoon.

    I will miss her and all she brought to the EU.


     
  2. MusicTrooper

    MusicTrooper Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 22, 2005
    That is unfortunate:-(

    I do not know a lot about Stat Wars authors,
    but I guess that there are not many female ones.

    She was my favorite, and ok, so I hung out in a bar in INDY
    and got to know her a little, plus, she's from Britian,
    and the more SW embbraces the world, the better.

    but also, I liked her style and story ideas, even tho I am not
    a big fan prequel stuff in general.

    This news seems ......not good.........for Star Wars in general.
     
  3. Nadia-Oomia

    Nadia-Oomia Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 4, 2009
    Aw man. That sucks. I really liked her writing style and I will miss her greatly
     
  4. echo-3

    echo-3 Former RSA star 4 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Mar 11, 2002
    Me too
     
  5. JediAutobot

    JediAutobot Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 3, 2000
    I'm not willing to throw in the towel yet on her. After all, I recall that Stover said the same thing after Ep III. I predict she'll be back after a bathtub full of money is delivered. :)
     
  6. MusicTrooper

    MusicTrooper Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 22, 2005
    Well, this post has uplifted my spirits:)

    I think JediAutobot has a great point. Also, from what little I know of Karen,
    I think she still has more to say, and is basically a SW fan. How she will
    say it and where I can not guess, I can only hope.
     
  7. Xmaveric

    Xmaveric Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 25, 2000
    I agree with Ed that the Star Wars community has lost a great talent here. I hope she will return, but as a NYT bestseller she can get a job writing anything she wants, and I know she'll have no trouble finding something else to sink her teeth into.
     
  8. DrJawa

    DrJawa Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Apr 22, 2005
    So I get back from vacation and find this news waiting for me but even though I had enjoyed Karen's SW material I'm not so much upset about her leaving as I am for SW novels in general going forward. For me one of the things I've always loved and what's drawn me to SW novels has been the great, tight continuity but now with Karen's issue and the issues that the new cartoon is seeming to continuously create I'm wondering what is going on with editorial. What's even more concerning to me is the responses from both Sue Rostoni and Leland Chee in regards to continuity. First Sue responded with a vague non-answer about the enjoyment of SW books while Leland gave a cryptic non-answer about how it will all fit together but not how it would.

    The quality of SW novels has always been hit or miss but again the continuity was always there and now, I'm not sure if that glue that holds this universe together is there or is even cared about by editorial. I hate to say this but I'm now wondering if this is the point where SW novels go off the track with poor to no continuity and more okay to bad quality novels than there are good. It's this announcement from Karen, these continuity issues along with novels like the Darth Bane series (which I've thought were bad), the Clone Wars novels series (pedestrian at best), and coming novels like Holostar, Crosscurrent, and Death Troopers (none of which sound like they are going to be anything but "popcorn) that has me extremely worried and wondering if I'll continue to buy and read every SW novel that is released.

    I'm also concerned about the quality of authors in the SW stable as Karen is now gone, Matt Stover because of poor sales will probably not be given another novel, and Mike Stackpole has been gone for years. It seems to me that authors with a strong voice and or opinions are not wanted but those that will follow the corporate line, Troy Denning and Timothy Zahn will be given book after book after book. This isn't to say they haven't written some great books, they definitely have, but they don't have as....
     
  9. DrJawa

    DrJawa Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Apr 22, 2005
    ...strong of a literary voice as the previously mentioned authors and so far Karen Miller though enjoyable, to me hasn?t done anything to ?wow? me or stand out.

    And I don?t want this to seem like I?m just worried about editorial or the rudder that is steering the ship but I think a lot of fault lies at Karen?s feet as well. She knew very well going into her SW assignment that this was a shared world and that she wouldn?t be allowed complete free reign so any battles she had shouldn?t have been surprising. But if enough was enough for her I wish her the best of luck. Something that really surprised me though was how this all came down, in her blog. Now to me that is extremely unprofessional as the responses from Sue portrayed that this was how she was notified. In my professional opinion if Karen had, had enough and wanted to quit she should?ve first notified Sue/her employers and then blogged about it publically. Instead she chose to go public first and let her employers find out second hand and on the weekend. For this I unfortunately think she burned a bridge and I expect her back again about as much as Mike Stackpole which is to say not at all.

    I honestly could go on about Karen?s quitting, how she handled it, the current and future state of SW novels for pages but instead I?ll sum it up for now that I am extremely worried about the future of SW fiction.

    PS: I hope to be back at book club soon to rant about this at length.
     
  10. MusicTrooper

    MusicTrooper Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 22, 2005
    Good points DrJawa
     
  11. Rogue4809

    Rogue4809 Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Aug 2, 2003
    I agree that Karen might have handled the situation better. But I think the continuity problem was not an "editorial" decision but a "George Lucas" decision. The continuity in the EU has been great because George has stayed out of it. But he is making some story decisions in the Close Wars and is messing everything up. It is George, not Sue or Leland, that is causing the problem. As much as I wish he would pay attention to the EU and what is out there, no one can tell him not to do what he wants. Except maybe the fans when too many continuity changes drive us away.

    In this case, the specific problem is with the Mandlorians. Karen wrote a detailed history and George is re-writing it. She had the rug pulled out from under her. Frankly, I don't blame her for leaving. If George didn't like the way Karen was handling the Mandalorians she should have been told a long time ago.

    As for Karen, she is busy writing Gear Wars, another tie-in, and a series of her own. Don't worry about her, she will be fine.
     
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  12. DrJawa

    DrJawa Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Apr 22, 2005
    If this is true and Lucas is starting to step into and on the EU continuity I'm even more concerned. I have a bad feeling about this...
     
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  13. Warsie

    Warsie Jedi Youngling star 2

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2005
    This. Oh god no. He'll screw it up like he did the prequels :p

    Also wasn't Traviss leaving the Star Wars Universe due to all those arguments that broke out with the Saxtonites with their focus on numbers, etc? I mean, they are right re the numbers; but how they act isn't the nicest.
     
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  14. Schph_Gochi

    Schph_Gochi Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 17, 2002
    I am just finishing up "Order 66"...

    I did enjoy all of the books that she wrote with regard to the Clones etc...

    however...
    I was not a big fan of how she made the Mandos look like saints...
    and she definitely had no love for the Jedi...

    I was not a fan of how she slanted that...
     
  15. Fett402

    Fett402 Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    May 3, 2005
    I have loved all of Karen's books, I just literally picked up the latest Imperial Commando: 501st. If she is done writing for SW, then that does suck as a fan. However she did it, whatever her reasons, I'm sure she'll land on her feet with something else.

    As for making the Mando's look like saints, I don't see that, certain characters might make the perception that they look like saints, but then again, people thought Hitler was a great man and everything he did was right. It is all about the view of the person (or character in this case) and their beiliefs, what's right in one persons eyes is wrong in anothers. That goes the same about her view on the Jedi. I think that might be another reason why I like her writing style, everyone praises the Jedi and make them gods, and they sometimes are, or think they are.

    All in all, she is telling a story of a select few from a group of tribal like warriors. I thought her background and all she's done for the Mando community was great. If Lucas wants to go and mess that up, he has all rights, it is his baby in the long run. But I will almost gaurantee he will lose fans!
     
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  16. Jarael

    Jarael Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Jan 11, 2010
    Yeah, I really am not happy about this. She's one of the few SW authors from which I liked every book written. I might just have to pick up her other books.
     
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  17. JediAutobot

    JediAutobot Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 3, 2000
    Fett, we've had a lot of discussion on this at the bookclubs.

    The big problem I have, that if you look at how Karen structures Mando's vs what the Jedi structure is, there are many similaries, but in the Mando's it's good and on the Jedi it's bad. Both the Jedi and Mando consider themselves elite. It's arrogance in the Jedi but pride in your heritage for the Mandos. I wish I could remember all the different things we brought up, but I can't, maybe someone else remembers a more clear example?
     
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