Evan, IN E'ville Jedi's Star Wars Literature Forum

Hello fellow readers!

Soon Dark Horse Comics will release the Indiana Jones Omnibus Volume 1. It will contain three DH comics based on the IJ character. I'm buying this in anticipation of the new IJ movie.

 

Whenever I go to Evansville I make it a point to buy at least one sci-fi book that is not franchise based. Usually, I pick it out because of the cover art. I picked one up yesterday that you may want to check out. "The Dragon Never Sleeps" by Glen Cook. I just started it, but it is good old fashioned Space Opera.

Ulkesh, you and I may disgree on everything, so here is one more thing we probably will not agree on. Science Fiction in its best and purest form exists only in the printed form these days.

Discuss.

Edric

 

Yes we agree that the very best of science fiction is in literature. I'd say the very best sci-fi novel is-

Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons (Hyperion and The Fall Of Hyperion combined into one novel)

It even out does the master writers of the golden age of sci-fi. Better than Foundation, Dune, etc. I'm very serious. Dan Simmons is that great!

 

Ulkesh and I agree, be still my heart.

I've read some of Simmons work. Try Simon Greene's Deathstalker Series. This book by Gene Cook has really gotten my attention. Of course, I am a sucker for Space Opera.

For me, personally, no one will top the early works of the Grandmaster Arthur C. Clarke.

Edric

 

I have the next Legacy Of The Force novel - Revelation!

 

Book Club tonight at 7, yes?

What's the topic?

 

SPOILERS-SPOILERS-SPOILERS!










Well I finished LOTF-Revelation. Very nice novel. JediMasterJaina will love the Boba/Mandalorians-training-Jaina sequences. Here are some highlights. Ben Skywalker's resolve to stay true to police work procedures pays off. He finds the evidence needed to prove who Mara's killer is. Luke chases Jacen's stealthX and systematically uses the Force to rip Jacen's fighter apart. Very cool. Niathal has created a Galactic Alliance capitol in exile. She broke ranks with Jacen's despotic rule. The cost to her and Luke was pretty high, but needed to be done. The Old Man of the Imperial Remnant is no more. Tahiri passes Jacen's test and he makes her his Sith apprentice.

 

Yeah, I really enjoyed this one, compared to many of the recent novels. I even enjoyed the Mandalorian stuff.
Also, ************** is back!!

Discussion?

 

I am so glad that ************** is back!!!! I missed ************ so much!!! Wait... who is ************* anyway? I do not recall a *************, and I have read every EU novel and comic.

 

Legacy issue 21 is out-

The Crossfire starfighter is given some screen-time. I think Incom must be under the influence of Corellian and Verpine engineers. This fighter seems to suggest this in its design.

Also we are given a heroic Dug serving as a GA pilot. Nice to see that my Dug character during the Vong War and Second Corellian Crisis started a trend of Dugs being merely misunderstod. Sebulba was just a bad seed.

 

Hey two posts in one day for the lit-sticky. What can I say-

Also in is the comic book Serenity-Better Days-Issue 1. Get'em while they be shiny!

 

Keeping up with the Joness-

Bantam Books has re-released their Indiana Jones novels from the 1990s/early 2000s. You can find them at book stores, but Wal-Mart has them in-store for much less. They are pretty good. With the new movie I expect Del-Rey Books to offer a new line of novel adventures. I hope some of the rejected screenplays for Indy IV will be retooled and released in novel format. Especially the one titled Indiana Jones And The Call Of Cthulhu. Yes a screenplay for Indy IV involved Lovecraftian elements! If anyone has connections to Del-Rey Books beg them to retool this screenplay for a new novel adventure!

 

Free Comic Book Day is coming!

JediMasterJaina needs help MANning the table. Your - oh so - humble Book Club Fuher will be there. Because well the Book Club Fuher is a MAN. Girls are weak and dopey. They are prone to fainting spells, swooning or in some specific cases !SQUEEEEEING! fits after three hours of MANning a Free Comic Book Day table. It's Uncle Sam not Aunt Sam.

 

Millenium Falcon novel to be written by Luceno! This novel is akin to the novel Death Star. It will fill in some history about the Falcon. Might be about how the ship changed hands over the years. If so the sabacc game in which Han won her from Lando will likely be in it.

Others news-

James Rollins is writing the adult novelization of the new Indy film. Luceno is writing the young adult version. This clears the confusion from a year ago.

Both the young adult version and the comic book adaptation should be here.

Legacy issue number 23 is in stores May 7.

I'll have LOTF-Invincible on May 7.

 

I have Invincible and at the back of the novel is more info about the Millenium Falcon novel. It takes place after the LOTF series. It will feature Han, leia and Allana Solo on a adventure that reveals more about the Falcon's history. Sounds a bit like Tatooine Ghost. Which is cool. This also might mean post-LOTF novels will be more self-contained rather than another maxi-series like NJO and LOTF. If this indeed be the case I bet a Jaina and Jag novel can not be far away.

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

I didn't think Tatooine Ghost was that bad. Who can't enjoy a good book with the same 3 characters chasing a piece of intergalactic art.

 

Really? I loved TG! I even just re-read it. Whats the deal with not likeing TG? Certainly, it is not a very important book in term of, well, anything. But, it is a good story, entertaining, connects the 2 trilogies without being TOO heavy handed like The Swarm books.

I dunno.

I guess I just liked a book featuring a hovercraft and Kitster.

 

Kitster saved the book. No doubt about it.

 

Interesting switch of novel releases. Seems the novel Millenium Falcon will be with us in October instead of Luke Skywalker-Shadows Of Mindor. The latter is now scheduled for January. My thinking is LOTF-Invincible has pressed Del-Rey to release MF sooner as a kind of coda to the controversial LOTF series. The ending of LOTF seems to have polarized SW readers and so that means Del-Rey might want to smooth things over after the pyrotechnics of Invincible.

 

The ending of LOTF-Invincible really really stank. However, i really enjoyed reading the book (untill the last chapter), and the whole LOTF actually. It felt much more like SW than the NJO. I thought the juxtipostion of Jacen's kiddy jokes with the dark plot of each chapter to be a realy nice stroke. For me, the fanboy (not so much me the English major) it truely hit home that the once innocent Kevin J Anderson Jacen was the same chairctor as (spoiler?) Darth Cadus. The end of the novel, to me, was an emotional rollercoaster from 1994-2008 EU; and I will man up and say it, when the solos walk in on their baby girl clutching a severed head that used to be their first born son-- i wept a bit. Just solid EU book.

Then I read the last chapter.

Really? Eight pages (didn't count, but you know what i mean)? That's how we tie up all the lose ends; with the Solos watching CNN and saying, "huh Dalaa. weird. well, gotta raise some yunglings!"?

So Kesh et al; I hope the Millenium Falcon book will be Millienium Falcon good, but in my opinion, the EU will be better off with a new book company. Del-Rey just really dropped the ball for me. Sure, Bantam gets some flack-- but Tycho, Corren, Thrawn, Mara Jade-- we all know and love the Bantam heroes. I don't see a big push to get Hasbro to make; the Gorog nest action playset, Shimrra Unleashed, or a Dovin Basel Titanium (actually, I would buy that).

MTFBWY

Jammies

 

Other than the X-wing novel series I'm not a huge fan of the Bantam era of SW publishing. I liked NJO and DNT. LOTF was mostly ok. Would have been better had Darth Caedus killed Luke rather than Mara. By doing that Del-Rey could have explored Mara and Ben dealing with their own dark sides after Luke's demise. At least the comic book series Legacy is using that dynamic. That being the father dying and mother and son left to cope with it. As things developed in LOTF I liked the father-son talk on Endor between Luke and Ben. It would have been nice if the authors of LOTF had included holonet news articles in each of the LOTF novels. That way the reader would know how the third modern galactic civil war was playing out across contested space. It seems Del-Rey is going to do at least one interim stand-alone novel beyond LOTF - that being the MF novel. However a recent report seems to indicate a new series of novels are to start in March 2009. The first novel is by Aaron Allston. It is titled Fate Of The Jedi: Book 1. Not sure of this new novel's era. Some people think it might be a post-LOTF novel series. Others argue it's a novel trilogy that takes place shortly after Order 66 is in full swing. Sort of like the Coruscant Nights trilogy. Which by the way is the topic of our next club meeting. It is a fine addition to the EU. Stay on topic...stay on topic. I know I'm not alone in the opinion that Del-Rey should do a bunch of novel duologies and trilogies rather than another long series of post-LOTF novels. The direction they'll take is not yet clear. Hints of a novel series based in the era of the Legacy comic books also creeps in from time-to-time. I'm all for it. I think the era of Cade Skywalker is ripe for development beyond comic books. Hasbro thinks so. After all Legacy era toys are on their way! Whew! This has been one long rambling essay. What say YOU fellow readers?

 

Kesh et al.,

So, I was at the lit forum (shuddder), and it seems that the new clone wars cartoon may override established CW continutity. Any trueth to this, or is it all just fanboy feardom? The Dark Horse comics kicked butt (novels, not so much) and I would hate, hate, for the battle of jiblimb to be ruled infinaties.

Heard anything?

Jammes

 

I do not think there is much to worry about. If a conflict of storyline, timeline or other slight deviation appears one might cover it by saying it's all a matter of point of view. Or perhaps the 'fog of war'. Unlike Trek the SW saga and its expanded universe are more tightly controlled. Mistakes might happen, but the really big ones are not likely. Much of the recent complaints can be worked out from slight adjustments in P.O.V. or perhaps an in-universe explaination for a mistake could be covered by Old Galactic Republic or Confederacy of Independent Systems propaganda or misinformation ploys to fool the enemy. Let me give an example from today. I was at the K-Mart in O'boro. They had the Clone War Encyclopedia-like book. Instead of calling Count Dooku's rebel government the Confederacy of Independent Systems the authors applied the term Separatist Alliance. Despite the long held perception that the moniker CIS was Dooku's rebel government. Does this change of term call into question all the stuff prior to the animated Clone War movie? No it does not. My example is explained away by semantics (?sic?). Depends on the shoes you are wearing as to what is named what. So don't worry overly much - a strong storyline like the Battle of Jabbim will not likely be cast aside. If there is a conflict in storyline or timeline a solution is already built in. Most SW stories are vague on placement of time or date. Much can happen in a three year war. There's plenty of room for all the adventure to come.

 

Kesh, I hope so too. I think a lot of the angst from the fan boys in the Lit Forum stems from the rumor that the new cartoons start immediately after Geonosis (was this tid-bit mentioned in the Clone wars novel adaptation that I am sure Kesh has already read, or is this rumor all just fanboy feardom?).

If so, then it would override a lot of existing Dark Horse continuity?especially my favorite, the Battle of Jablimb. Seeing as how Ani has his K'Tucky-Mullet hair in the trailer for the new movie, it seems to me that this story takes place between the two CW Cartoons-- which lets everything fit nicely.

And, Ani having a padawan seems cool to me.

BUT, if it does start right after Geonosis, with Ani being a Jedi Knight and having an instant mullet--- I think we may have a bigger issue than just the ?they stole the shuttle Tyderium twice? type retcons.

Of course, I am getting all this from the Lit Forum. And they are all weirdos. I did go to the Official Site to get some answers, but, um, just played the new shooting game instead.

Jammies