Kevin J Anderson Is a Bad Writer.

Yes, the idea that a Hutt could build a superlaser is both laughable and crappy. It's typical of KJA's total disregard for scale and logic.

 

Darkside, you miss the point, he DIDNT. Typical Hutt sloppiness failed him. And a superlaser wouldnt be THAT hard to make if you knew how, its just getting it working

 

The Hutts could have built it without problem if they weren't that stingy with money. Cheap materials + cheap and uneffective workers = Poodoosaber. Simple.

 

I'll put in my two cents.KJA is cool!I hate Greg Keyes!(hisssss)

 

Why do you hate Keyes? I thought he did a great job!

 

It's personal.But I'll get over it.

 

´My hate for KJA comes from my time in the alt.fan.wedge newsgroup. He created that feather brain, Qwi, and made her Wedge's girlfriend! Urgh!

KJA is the only author I have ever read whose work is better when translated to a foreign language...

Ara
(I may get SbS today... can we sau nervous?)

 

The Death Star was a great project for a galaxy-spanny Empire that taxed its citizens to the limit, did everything possible to gather as much dosh and resources to itself as it possibly could, and had the power to enslave whole populations arbitrarily at will. The resources of the whole galaxy were bent upon the Death Stars, particularly the many-times-bigger DSII.

Tell me now that one measly little (well maybe ) Hutt could build one.

 

Whoa, I'd thought this one was dead and burried.

 

The Death Star was a great project for a galaxy-spanny Empire that taxed its citizens to the limit, did everything possible to gather as much dosh and resources to itself as it possibly could, and had the power to enslave whole populations arbitrarily at will. The resources of the whole galaxy were bent upon the Death Stars, particularly the many-times-bigger DSII.

Tell me now that one measly little (well maybe ) Hutt could build one.


The Death Stars were moon sized space stations. The Darksabre was basically a superlaser(and not as powerful) with a ship. A mere, MERE fraction of the cost

 

For Star Wars books, I lower my standards. I don't expect great writing in a SW novel, it's just an added bonus when it shows up. In my opinion, and having read more than just his Star Wars stuff, KJA is a pretty bad author, condescending, repetitive and unbelievable -- although admittedly he does have some good ideas.

There have been some very good authors whose SW works has been bad or awful, and some cruddy authors who have written quite engaging SW fiction.

If I were reading a piece of fiction that's not SW, or ST, or whatever franchise I'm into at the time, I'd be quite disappointed with it if it were written at the same level as most of the Star Wars novels. Not all of them, but many of them simply, despite engaging characters or stories, quite simply are technically badly written.

 

Probally Anderson's biggest problem in the Jedi Academy Trilogy is that it followed the Zahn books. I thought that the followup novel "I Jedi" actually put a more positive light on the JAT. I have liked Anderson's other works ie Tales from Jabba's Palace, so to say he is a terrible writer is a bit harsh.

 

Well put Mastadge. Star Wars fiction, though part of a universe that is vast and wonderful, is often unrealistic and very poorly researched. There are of course exceptions (Zahn springs to mind)...

Tales from... books, like the vast majority of KJA's work, is unfortunately no such exception. Quoted from the Technical Commentaries:

1. In Tales from Jabba's Palace Ephant Mon is said to be in Mos Eisley at times when he is clearly seen in the crowd of Jabba's palace. Similarly, Bib Fortuna is clearly seen to be aboard the sail barge on Jabba's final journey to the Pit of Carkoon.

2. In Tales of the Bounty Hunters Dengar misses Skywalker's fight with the Rancor, whilst in Return of the Jedi he can be seen among the hecklers watching Skywalker before, during and after the Rancor fight. In fact he is seen on alert, standing upright when Skywalker entered the throne room, visible through an archway and across the chamber.

The very worst aspect of KJA-authored novels is their rampant continuity problems, because it has a bearing on all of Star Wars. And please don't say that the stories in question were not authored by KJA. He was the editor of the anthologies, therefore he is responsible for everything in them. If you want an example of something he directly wrote having problems, look at the references to the planet Endor is moon of in Dark Apprentice, when canon sources (ROTJ novel) indicate that it was lost millennia ago.

 

As I remember KJA didn't write either of those three stories.

Flint, Bell, and Wolverton did. In the case of the book KJA was a Text editor, not the "Continuity Editor". The continuity editors(sue rostini and others) and the writers of those stories are to blame for any "continuity" problems.

KJA did his job on the text editing side of the job, and isn't to blame for those other parties messing up.

Zahn, too, has his fair share of continuity problems, that he and the continuity editors are to blame for in his books as well.

Also note that endor has a planet, and always had a planet, and the ewoks are not dead. See marvel, and ewok movies.

ROTJ novel says the planet was destroyed millenia ago. Yet we see it still exists within 5 years of ROTJ in the ewok movies by lucas himself.

 

Perhaps you are right (I did edit my post to clarify that he didn't directly write the two examples given). I agree that the LFL continuity editors could do their job better (veto the publication of rubbishy sourcebooks, for one). Alot of KJA's technical mistakes (e.g. 8km "Super Star Destroyers") come from WEG sourcebook-derived material.

 

Also note were the ewok holocaust is wrong, as I edited above.

You'll will also note that star tours has ewoks alive and well after ROTJ, and several books point ewoks being alive after endor and refrences to star tours, ben burt's book, EG to aliens, as well as marvel comics.

The planet exists in ewok and movies cartoons by lucas, that show that the ROTJ novel quote is contradictory. Also check out the official site about the planet endor and it's moon.(maybe listed under the ewok headings)

 

Could you give an example of Zahn having continuity problems by the way? I know he was out with the date of the Clone Wars, but he couldn't help that because he did not have the information available at the time.

 

No offence, but that post wasn't as comprehensible as I would have liked. You seem to be taking issue with the existence (or otherwise) of Endor's parent planet, plus the destruction of Endor in its present form when the Death Star II exploded. The justification is simple: order of precedence. The ROTJ novel is canon, so it overrules anything that the EU might say. The only source able to contradict it and survive would be the Star Wars movies themselves. Similarly, the Endor Holocaust is calculated to have happened from canon sources, so it takes precedence over the Expanded Universe - it "indirectly enjoys canon status", as Saxton puts it.

The Official Site isn't canon. It's just a load of stuff written up directly from the EU - it's not derivative of the films and it's not personally approved by Lucas.

 

I'm sorry but those errors are still errors, an are considered headaches by the current continuity gurus and editors, like dan wallace. The thing was zhan would have been safer not to give any dates for anything at all.

Other errors include making ships fly faster or more maneuvable than there official stats allowed.

As well as admitting he wanted to ignore past continuity like marvel, and DH comics. While saying he was willing to follow the continuity of WEG alone(Adventure Journal #1).

Causing Veitch a load of headaches and a rewrite of certain scenes of his comic he would have had released way before zhan's books if wasn't that zhan wanted to ignore them.

Then zhan coming back and saying that emperor was not the emperor even if enough continuity written down by WEG, and other sourcebooks, and a story called Vader's revenge, already had proof that palpatine was the real palpatine. (If you don't like the story that is fine, by me, but it still was a continuity error)

As well as him saying there is only one emperor's hand and anyone who says other wise are "lieing or conniving", even if LFL's continuity says otherwise. While not a written down continuity error, he is most definatly wrong with his knowledge.

His dark force rising sourcebook is one of the sources that says the planet endor is missing, which contradicts with variety of sources, including lucas's own stories in ewok movies, and star tours.(Though if zhan wasn't behind the dark force rising sourcebook at all, I don't know the staff on it entirly, then this would not be zhan's blame. We would need to know who was behind that book to be sure if you get my drift.)

Don't get me wrong, but his books include there share of errors like any other star wars book. He isn't "God". Everyone is open to mistakes. But it is wrong to say one doesn't have mistakes to bash another, when errors still exist, in everyone's works. "To Err is human."

 

When I read the JAT I was thirteen years old, and at that point in my development I saw nothing wrong with his style and it was actually a heck of a lot easier for me to read than TTT even though I read that when I was eleven and only because I was Star Wars crazy and didn't care if the language and the descriptions were a little over my head. I enjoyed the JAT because it probably was a little more juvenille than the other Star Wars books and it was easy for me to read and to get into. Do I think that KJA's writing is directed to a younger audience? Yes. Do I think that's a good thing? It depends on what you're used to. If you're a kid reading them then it gets you even more into Star Wars. Do I think he's a bad writer? Once again, bad writing depends on what you've seen already. At that point in my life when I first read them they were fun and engaging and fast-paced and the language level only helped me to become more into them. The only other writing I'd seen before then was TTT, books for school, kids books, and books that put me to sleep before I could read them because I have a short attention span. I still have a short attention span. And while I look back at the JAT and realize it's not the most amazing writing I've ever seen (I now consider myself more of a writer than I was in seventh grade) I still find them enjoyable. Just like Star Wars doesn't exactly have the most amazing, original plot (the same thing could be set in medieval England or feudal Japan) it's still fun. That's why I like KJA and I think he's an OK writer.

Jae Angel

 

"No offence, but that post wasn't as comprehensible as I would have liked. You seem to be taking issue with the existence (or otherwise) of Endor's parent planet, plus the destruction of Endor in its present form when the Death Star II exploded. The justification is simple: order of precedence. The ROTJ novel is canon, so it overrules anything that the EU might say."

Actually by lfl's policy all stories(except those items marked by infinities) are canon, The "movies" are true canon, and the ROTJ novel is considered an EU entity now.

"The only source able to contradict it and survive would be the Star Wars movies themselves."

Like Lucas's own Ewok movies, or the star tours movie which he directed and wrote.

[blocquote]"Similarly, the Endor Holocaust is calculated to have happened from canon sources, so it takes precedence over the Expanded Universe"[/blockquote]

ROTJ novel says it happened millenia ago, with contradicts with lucas' own movies.

and it's only as canon as the rest of the EU in which it belongs.

"- it "indirectly enjoys canon status", as Saxton puts it."

Canon status like all the EU by lucasfilms policy, and Only the "Movies" not the novels are "true canon". Everything else falls under secondary canon.

Saxton has failed in his knowledge of the policy.

"The Official Site isn't canon. It's just a load of stuff written up directly from the EU - it's not derivative of the films and it's not personally approved by Lucas."

Your knowledge of LFL's new policy the only valid policy in any argument is flawed. The official site is the source of behind the scenes information, and is split into 3 parts. The movies(true canon information), The EU(secondary canon, noveliziations are in this part), and Behind the scenes(creation of lucas's "movies", and other things are in this part, Both canon and secondary canon.)

P.S. I hear saxtion is getting to write an official star wars book coming up. I respect that he got that honor, but one thing that he will learn is that why he works for them he is bound by contract to follow there rules. Which he will have to legally. This includes any new polices, or EU plots. He can't come up with contradictory knowledge.

 

In my 20 years I've learned never to start a sentence with "No offense, but. . .". Then a person will just be LOOKING for offensive things! Just a suggestion to whoever said it (I know it wasn't you, Valiento).

Jae Angel

 

I'm sorry but those errors are still errors, an are considered headaches by the current continuity gurus and editors, like dan wallace. The thing was zhan would have been safer not to give any dates for anything at all.

Maybe he would have. But his mistakes are worse than KJA's because KJA had the material available to get the correct information whereas Zahn did not.

Other errors include making ships fly faster or more maneuvable than there official stats allowed

And the "official stats" decree from on high that fighters can take out Star Destroyers at whim, that the Executor's size is only a fraction of what measurements from the films show it to be, that the AT-AT is far too small for Luke to be as relatively insignificant as he was when he ascended up to the belly of one of them, and countless other nonsenses.

Furthermore, descriptions of space battles in books tend to be rather abstract and very rarely include precise technical details, so I will be interested to see whether or not you can find an example.

As well as admitting he wanted to ignore past continuity like marvel, and DH comics. While saying he was willing to follow the continuity of WEG alone(Adventure Journal #1).

Irrelevant. I'm aware of him being in the doghouse because of what he's said in some interviews, but it has no bearing on the quality of his published work.

Causing Veitch a load of headaches and a rewrite of certain scenes of his comic he would have had released way before zhan's books if wasn't that zhan wanted to ignore them.

I doubt that the precise discussions undergone by writers in the production of their books will ever be made available to us. Your rather incoherent wording of this statement doesn't help matters - and recriminations relating to behind-the-scenes events will be difficult for us to ever pass judgement upon.

Then zhan coming back and saying that emperor was not the emperor even if enough continuity written down by WEG, and other sourcebooks, and a story called Vader's revenge, already had proof that palpatine was the real palpatine.

Was this statement in one of his books, and if so, was it a direct statement about the "fact" of the Star Wars universe or was it merely the opinion/supposition of a character? Again, interview material doesn't count - if writers produce acceptable goods, I couldn't really care less what they may say to the interviewers.

As well as him saying there is only one emperor's hand and anyone who says other wise are "lieing or conniving", even if LFL's continuity say sotherwise. While not a written down continuity error, he is most definatly wrong.

This is what precipitates my above question about the precise source of the statement, if indeed it appears in official published work. When Thrawn meets Mara Jade, Thrawn (who has been largely established as a genius, a "knower of all things") indicates that Jade was not the only Emperor's Hand. As far as his published fiction goes, Zahn is noncommital on the number of Emperor's Hands, and the belief that there was one only comes simply from Mara Jade's perspective. (ref. p.238, Dark Force Rising, please do look it up)

His dark force rising sourcebook is one of the sources that says the planet endor is missing, which contradicts with variety of sources, including lucas's own stories in ewok movies, and star tours.(Though if zhan wasn't behind the dark force rising sourcebook at all, I don't know the staff on it entirly, then this would not be zhan's blame. We would need to know who was behind that book to be sure if you get my drift.)

Leaving aside recriminations about who did what, the nonexistence of Endor's parent comes from a canon source - the ROTJ novel. I reiterate: I don't care what Star Tours and Ewok movies say, because canon is indisputable truth and any source that disagrees with it is automatically [u

 

Apologies for breaking the rule that I have just suggested by making a second post, but much as I love real-time debating, I have to go now. I will be back on either later today or early tomorrow. I look forward to continuing this discussion then, and it will give you a good while to reply to my latest monolithic contribution.

Good to hear that Saxton is authoring a Star Wars work btw, do you have a link? Bear in mind, however, that he might well refuse to go through with it if he is forced to state things he knows are blatantly incorrect. At least it would explain the lack of updates on his website recently - I was beginning to get worried.