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

Lou, KY April 2014 Book o' the Month

Discussion in 'MidWest Regional Discussion' started by Yoda_Jammies, Dec 11, 2013.

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What Bantam Book?

Poll closed Dec 25, 2013.
  1. Truce at Bakura

    2 vote(s)
    66.7%
  2. The New Rebellion

    1 vote(s)
    33.3%
  3. I, Jedi

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. Yoda_Jammies

    Yoda_Jammies Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 28, 2003
    Back to Bantam! The Bantam-era (before Del Ray got the star wars rights back) started the post-rotj era long before JJ Abrams was around, so let's get to reading before they disappear from our continuity (but not our bookshelves, or our hearts).

    The Truce at Bakura by Kathy Tyers. One of my favorites. Ever wonder what happened the day after the Battle of Endor? Well, read this and find out! The Rebels must call a truce with the Empire to fight a common foe: Dinosaurs on Spaceships! Plus, we read Luke trying to date, Leia struggling with the knowledge of her true father, and Wedge flying his X-wing.

    The New Rebellion by Kristine Rusch. One of 11-11's favorites, and features one of the best written droid scenes. The bombing of the New Republic Senate starts a chain of events that uncovers a plot to frame Solo, kill all Jedi, and topple the New Republic still licking its wounds from the Black Fleet Crisis.

    I, Jedi by Mike Stackpole. One of Mika's favorites. The first, and only to my knowledge, Star Wars novel told in first person. Also one of the first to "shoehorn" events into an established story line. Corran Horn is written in "behind the scenes" during the events of the Jedi Academy trilogy, learning the ways of the Jedi to save his kidnapped wife. Also: X-wings go pew pew.

    All of these are on paperback, ebook, and at used book stores.
     
  2. jedimika

    jedimika FanForce Chapter Rep star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 2, 2008
    Voting for The New Rebellion...that's the only one of the three I haven't read.
     
  3. Yoda_Jammies

    Yoda_Jammies Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 28, 2003
    You know, I was rooting for the New Rebellion as well, but majority rules. Truce at Bakura it is!
     
  4. jedimika

    jedimika FanForce Chapter Rep star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 2, 2008
    Bump. I need to finish up what I'm reading and start this.
     
  5. Yoda_Jammies

    Yoda_Jammies Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 28, 2003
    Bump bump bump......

    Dinosaurs in spaceships! What more do you people want?
     
  6. jedimika

    jedimika FanForce Chapter Rep star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 2, 2008
    Bump
    Less than a week away. I will be there.
     
  7. Yoda_Jammies

    Yoda_Jammies Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 28, 2003
    I will be there in my entechment chair!
     
  8. Lord_Zannah

    Lord_Zannah Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2012
    Appo and I Will be there!
     
  9. Yoda_Jammies

    Yoda_Jammies Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 28, 2003
    Yay! Miss you two!
     
  10. Lord_Zannah

    Lord_Zannah Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2012
    And we miss you guys too. Very much. :(
     
  11. jedimika

    jedimika FanForce Chapter Rep star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 2, 2008
    Bump for tonight. See everyone there.
     
  12. Yoda_Jammies

    Yoda_Jammies Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 28, 2003
    Bump Bump Bump.
    I am hoping for a good discussion tonight! I think this book will spark some interesting topics.
    Also: Dinosaurs on Spaceships!
     
  13. Commander APPO

    Commander APPO Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Oct 19, 2012
    Bump-it-tee, Bump, Bump, Bump
    We'll be there with our renewing mechanisms intact…..

    oops forgot

    who's bringing the P'weks???
     
  14. jedimika

    jedimika FanForce Chapter Rep star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 2, 2008
    **bad post**
     
  15. jedimika

    jedimika FanForce Chapter Rep star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 2, 2008
    Good meeting last night, lots of tangents but they were good tangents. Zannah made a good observation...how many times in the EU books do we really see Han get wounded? It seems Luke gets the major share of bacta tank time.
    Also I found the site that chronicles how unlucky in love Luke is...

    http://scifi.about.com/od/starwarscharacters/tp/SWAR_lukes-black-book.htm
     
  16. Lord_Zannah

    Lord_Zannah Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2012
    Meeting was awesome! We'd missed two of them and it was so good to be there.
     
  17. Relin

    Relin Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    May 17, 2010
    Unfortunately, the Falcon was getting repairs but I should see some of you all Friday.
     
  18. Lord_Zannah

    Lord_Zannah Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2012
    Oh Relin that's Wuuuuunderful! Well, not about the Falcon of coarse but seeing you that is!
     
  19. Yoda_Jammies

    Yoda_Jammies Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 28, 2003
    Indeed, a great meeting.
    We all seemed to have really enjoyed this book. In fandom: this is one of those "either you love it or hate it" works-- and it was interesting to see all 5 of us agreeing.
    The plot was interesting-- a truce between the Empire and Rebellion to stave off an alien invasion. Kathy Tyers also did a great job of capturing the "feel" of the big 3, as well as Chewie and 3PO. Also, we all enjoyed her humor. Also discussed was the more "trek like" nature of the aliens and their technology. Capturing the force soul of a person to power a droid starfighter didn't seem too Star Warsy-- and then I went off on a tangent on "The Matrix" and Dyson Spheres ( see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere ).

    A short history of the Ssi-ruuk was also given, as well as their eventual fate in the NJO. Also given was a brief "whatever happened to" Bakura itself. She stayed independent, was a strong ally of Luke and the New Republic, and created a sizable space navy with hybrid tech.

    Of the people introduced in this novel, we discussed Eppy Belden and Pter Thanas. Zannah liked the spark of the old woman's wise eyes, as Eppy was a force to be reckonded with int his book. Pter (I am pronouncing it Peter) was the loyal Imperial. A man who fights for justice, not for a particular ideology. Appo and I both remarked how cool it was at the novel's end that he saluted his men in the troop shuttle as they evacuated the planet untill the ship was out of eyesight, then took out his pocket knife, cut off his rank patch and folded it up neatly into his pocket, and defected-- become head of the Bakuraan Military. The Correlian Trilogy will see him and Bakura again-- several years later, as will an NJO book I forgot the title of.

    We also talked about Ghost Anikan. Luke has forgiven his dad, and in Jedi found the good in him. In this book, Anikan visits his daughter and asks for forgiveness. Well, she doesn't have the same opinion her brother does. A last minute act of contrition, thinks Day After Endor Leia, doesn't make up for a life time of massacre. This attitude will change years later in Troy Denning's Tatooine Ghost.

    We got of on another tangent-- how many crappy attempts at romance did luke have? I mean, the dude kissed his sister. Mika found the link. I can't believe I forgot about Calista.
    I, naturally, talked about the ships in the book (with visual aids). I also brought the West End Games Sourcebook also written by Kathy Tyer (I think she was the only one to write her own sourcebook: I know Zahn wrote short stories, but she wrote the data entries as well as short fiction). Speeking of Tyers's humor and the sourcebook-- I had to share a bit of fiction I have allways found funny.

    In sum, it was fun. See you all for the next book! Please come so I don't fly "Solo."

    Jammies
     
  20. Yoda_Jammies

    Yoda_Jammies Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 28, 2003
    I mentioned the WEG Sourcebook's humorous short fiction. I am posting an excerpt that I read aloud (with bad voice acting) at the meeting. Any typos are mine, as I transcribed it from the book.

    Deposition transcribed from statements given by General Han Solo and Lieutenant Page. Deposition given to Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar.
    Mon Mothma: General Solo, could you please elaborate on your report concerning the boarding action against the Star Destroyer Accuser? It is a trifle ... vague.
    General Solo: Uh, well, there ain't much to tell. Admiral Ackbar: (Stifles cough.)
    Mothma: You have something you wish to add, Admiral?
    Ackbar: No, I do not. Except that, given General Solo's reputation, his last statement is somewhat difficult to believe.
    Mothma: Lieutenant Page, perhaps you could fill in some of the blanks in General Solo's report. According to the good General, you and the commandoes temporarily under your command simply -and I quote -"boarded the enemy vessel and captured the bridge."
    Lieutenant Page: Yes, ma'am. That is what happened. General Solo and I led the boarding action.
    Mothma: General Solo participated in the action?
    Page: Er, yes. It was the General's idea, actually.
    Mothma: Naturally.
    Solo: Thanks, kid.

    Mothma: General, I would like to know why you chose to lead an unauthorized action like this. You know that I would not have approved.
    Solo: That's why I didn't ask. Anyway, it seemed like a good idea. At least, it did at the time.
    Mothma: No doubt. Continue, Lieutenant.
    Page: Well, mop-up operations were still underway, but most of the action was going on overhead. As planet-level unit leader, Major Derlin remained on Endor to supervise incoming ground forces; he placed me in temporary command of the commando force. First Mate Chewbacca and General Solo were doing some work on the shuttle we used to penetrate Endor's security when we got word that there was still some trouble in orbit. The relief troops had managed to land, but General Solo seemed most ... eager ... to assist in the battle over the moon.
    Solo: Well, not exactly eager. Y'see it was all Chewie's idea.
    Ackbar: It was First Mate Chewbacca's idea to attempt a boarding action against an Imperial Star Destroyer that was carrying a full troop complement? An attack, I might add, that was to be carried out by one commando squad?
    Solo: Ah, well, no. He just said we should use the Tydirium to get back to the fleet.
    Mothma: And?
    Solo: And, it occurred to me that he didn' t say which fleet. And we had all those spare stormtrooper uniforms and the security code that got us in, not to mention that bucket of a shuttle
    Mothma: So you took it upon yourself to steal a Star Destroyer?
    Solo: Well, er ... yes. I guess you could call it a general's prerogative, if you want.
    Mothma: Yes, we could, except that usually a general clears such an unorthodox maneuver with Admiral Ackbar, General Madine or myself.
    Page: Yes, ma'am, but when the Death Star blew, it disrupted communications. We tried to alert you, but we couldn't get through.
    Mothma: (Sounds skeptical.) No doubt General Solo was literally grafted to the shuttle's comm unit.
    Ackbar: Lieutenant Page, how did you manage to fight your way to the bridge? This is not meant to denigrate the abilities of you and your men . . . I realize that you and your men are exceptionally capable soldiers, and that ground combat is not my area of expertise . .. but those kind of odds sound overwhelming.

    Page: Well, actually, we didn't fire a shot.
    Ackbar: Preposterous. Surely you are exaggerating, Lieutenant.
    Page: No, sir. After all, we did have the proper Imperial clearance -the code that allowed us through the shield perimeter at Endor -and General Solo was quite convincing when he called the Accuser's captain claiming we had just escaped from the Death Star. They certainly fell for it; they actually used their own docking tractor beams to bring us in.
    Mothma: They brought you in?
    Page: (Smiles slyly.) Yes ma'am. You could say they invited us aboard.
    Ackbar: And how did you eliminate the crew?
    Page: Er, General Solo actually managed it.
    Mothma: Of course he did.
    Page: Once we took the bridge ... and, I swear all we did was just walk in ... he uh, relieved the Accuser's captain.
    Ackbar: Let me see if I've understood you correctly, Lieutenant. General Solo-posing as a stormtrooper -boarded an Imperial Star Destroyer, marched you and your group to the bridge and assumed command?
    Page: No, sir. General Solo was wearing an Imperial general's uniform, not stormtrooper armor.
    Mothma: (Chuckles softly.) A general. Naturally.
    Solo: Hey, it fit, that's all!
    Ackbar: And how did you and your team manage to eliminate the Accuser's crew?
    Page: General Solo convinced them to leave.
    Mothma: ... convinced them ...
    Ackbar: ... to leave .. .
    Page: Er, well, he rendered the Star Destroyer's captain unconscious while my people secured the rest of the bridge crew. Then the General activated the ship-wide hull breach alarm and ordered the crew to, er ...
    Ackbar: To abandon ship.
    Mothma: (Shakes head.) Amazing.
    Solo: Oh, knock it off. It worked.
     
  21. Lord_Zannah

    Lord_Zannah Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2012
    I loved this so much!! You read it splendidly!! My Jammies, you are my Jammies!!
     
  22. Yoda_Jammies

    Yoda_Jammies Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 28, 2003
    I figured you'd like a copy of it :D
     
  23. Lord_Zannah

    Lord_Zannah Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2012
    Oh my yes! And when I read it, I see you and hear you doing it... PRICELESS!!!! Thank you so much!