Ark Karen Travis bids Star Wars farewell...

If you read the "Latest News" down on the bottom of the boards, then you may have noticed that Karen Traviss is no longer going to be authoring Star Wars books.

Look below and link to the article if you are interested in more.

Looks like Canon was just changing too much for her books to fit into the timeline anymore.

Sad to see her go, even if she is the author who killed Mara Jade...

 

Sorry. I know this is really old, but is 501st her last? ...cuz I for one would really
like to see more Commando novels.

 

I believe so... She's parted company and I don't think there's anymore commando novels going come from her...

 

I hope you're wrong.

 

So I went and looked up the article: (Sadly, I'm right about this...)

News Blurb

Due to continuity issues that seem to be evolving out of The Clone Wars series, Karen Traviss will be making Imperial Commando #2 her last Star Wars novel. Our friends at EUC picked up on the news and pointed us over to Traviss' official blog where she made the announcement. Click here for the full read and/or check out the excerpt below about her decision:


"Anyway, let me get to the point of this blog. I've been receiving mail from Star Wars fans who have bought the new visual guide to the second season of the Clone Wars TV cartoon, and have been perplexed by detail in it. They've noticed changes in canon. They're mailing me to ask what's going on because it appears to affect areas that my novels deal with. I admit I didn't know there was a guide coming out this early, let alone what would be revealed in it. But now that it has, and you're asking me what's happened, it would be naive to stall you when you have the book in front in you, and pretty rude to ignore you.

I can't discuss the canon issues because of the standard non-disclosure agreement that all writers sign. I'm not even going to discuss the ones that are public now, and I know little of the full detail anyway. So please don't ask me. All I can say is that I was given enough of the detail in January to realise that changes in continuity were such that I wouldn't be able to carry on as originally planned with the storylines you were expecting to see continued in my books. It would have required a lot more than routine retcon.

The only solution I could think of that could accommodate the changes was a complete reboot, and I seriously considered doing that. But starting over, when I had so many other books on my plate? The knock-on effect on my other work was a problem, because most of my income doesn't come from Star Wars. And then there was the risk of alienating readers. Pulling the rug from under them after so many books - that wouldn't go down well, and "I was only following orders" doesn't appease anybody these days.

The canon is beyond my control, because that's the very nature of tie-in work. But that still left me with some personal choices I had to make. I could try to make the massive retcons. Or I could switch to different SW books that weren't affected by these changes. Or I could decide to call it a day - I had a great run, but I had an increasing amount of non-SW work to get on with that was more important to my business.

In the end, the only rational decision I could take was to make Imperial Commando #2 my last book for Star Wars. I'm sorry I had to do that, and it wasn't a decision I took lightly or even quickly, so bear with me while I explain."


As a fan of the Republic Commando series, it's sad to see Karen Traviss go. I wonder if such continuity issues will arise with other authors as the progression of The Clone Wars continues to have us unlearn what we have learned. Stay tuned!

Star Wars 501st: An Imperial Commando Novel is due out on October 27, 2009.

 

...but she says in there that 501st 2 will be her last. Has she abandoned that, too?

Can anyone tell me what these continuity issues are? I am not up with The Clone Wars and haven't seen that visual guide.

How sad--to write out one of the best SW authors over a technicality.

 

I think it was her choice not theirs...

 

I realize the ultimate decision was hers. I'm just interpreting what she wrote above to mean that they forced her hand in terms of her artistic integrity, because of continuity changes--that's what I meant by "write her out." From what little I understand (still not knowing what the actual continuity issues are), the Clone Wars writers wrote something that contradicts some key point to her story arc.

Personally I feel like The Clone Wars is trampling too many continuity issues as it is. I think it should not count in the overall continuity like some "Tales" and "Infinities" stories.

 

They did take a lot of liberties with it... of course, it's their sandbox they can do what they want with the shovels...
But, sticking Ashoka in there to appeal to Little Girls (I'm assuming) when we've never even heard of Anakin having a padawan???? riiiigggghhhhtttt...

 

I guess he didn't want to talk about it (since his sithly arse probably caused it in some ridculously selfish act), like Mos Def in The Italian Job, "I HAD A BAD EXPERIENCE!"

 

I'm wondering if this last Friday's Clone Wars cartoon has something to do with it... Cause there were peaceful Mando's with a senate delegate and the armored Mando's were on the moon? I don't know if that fits with Travis's Mado's or not??? I'd have to go back and do a lot of re-reading???

 

I stll haven't seen the episode and dint know where they'll go with the Mandos now, but from what I've read so far they really did trample all over the main premise of Mando culture, especially in terms of the current state of things in the times of the clone wars, which had been K. Traviss' milieu.

I understand that it's all George's toys, but I think this is a classic case of an Indian giver. If he had plans for this story line, he shouldn't have given the go-ahead on her story lines. Even if he hadn't originally planned on exploring this era of Mando culture and then changed his mind, he should have respected the ideas of the other artists he's allowed to play in his sandbox.

I've now heard that he doesn't give a rat's patooty about EU. Well, that's his problem. He signs off on it on some level. If he doesn't want it, or it goes against his sensibilities or story ideas, he shouldn't approve it.

 

For a bit more information on the situation you can read here:

Karen Travis speaks out

 

Well, that is interesting. And I thought that one episode of the cartoon had already done enough damage. I wonder what he's gonna do now?

 

She was saying it's not The Clone Wars cartoon that was going to cause the problems... It was the Live Action series.

We know from Sansweet's panel at Dragon Con that Daniel Logan is going to be involved...

But, who knows...

I'm so Mandalore confused at this point that I don't know what to think...

 

I still wanna know, are they publishing a 501st 2, or not?

 

I'm not sure but I don't think so.

I think that last one that came out was it??? But, I haven't looked it up or anything... So, don't write in down in marker or anything like that.

 

The original article said there would be a second one, but her attitude seems kinda final. I was thinking maybe she's already written it.

 

Who knows? I'm too lazy to dig around for information...