Lit The 181st Imperial Discussion Group: headquarters thread

If this here was only about making sense, where would I be?

In that regard, of course we won't start with the last one (although that might give a new perspective on things). First one is called The Paradise Snare, gotcha.

See, they had immensely different titles in German.

 

I'm so meh on that trilogy, I'll probably be having tomatoes thrown at me by The Hutt Gambit and be tarred and feathered by Rebel Dawn.

 

I didn't get a lot out of them either, if that's any comfort to you. Crispin wrote a book about the young Captain Jack Sparrow when the last Pirates film came out, and I immediately thought "oh that's going to be just like Han Solo".

 

I think I'd leave comic books and source books out of this for the moment. We did comic books from time to time, and the eventual discussion is so far removed from the medium that it turned out okay; but with a source book, I think this would turn out very different. Plus, I haven't got a single one at hand and I'm always kind of selfish about this stuff. But to be honest, there's more novels than we can do justice.

The Extreme Moderate already gave me a list of suggestions, and I had a few ideas of my own based on that. A spin-off idea was to not do this based on novels/eras/publication times, but rather have one month for one author, concentrating on one book (and inviting everyone to re-read more by that particular author and bring that to the table as well).

A more classic Greatest Hits line-up would possibly have to include, for me:

-Heir To The Empire (again)... or maybe another volume of TTT?
-Rogue Squadron, or a select highlight novel from the Stackpole run (I remember The Bacta War getting lots of praise)
-maybe a Wraith Squadron volume as well since they were just this good
-The Glove of Darth Vader (yes, I'm serious - think about what this book has given to us)
-something from KJA... but since we already had the Exar Kun extravaganza last year I'd best like a select YJK volume (would also be a nice swan song for the Solo kids)
-Darth Maul - Shadow Hunter or Cloak of Deception
-something from the Clone Wars - I'd prefer Dark Rendezvous, Laybrinth of Evil or maybe Shatterpoint
-Darth Plagueis could go in if we haven't had Luceno by then (well, that would be a source book included)
-something from Traviss... and since we already did Hard Contact, I'm suddenly open for Triple Zero (aka The One Where Everything Started Going Wrong)
-something from Stover - maybe Mindor? I've previously suggested ROTS to TEM since we already did Traitor and ROTS is the other heavy hitter; but I guess Mindor would fit nicely, as well
-maybe a Tales book... Cantina, obviously. Not sure, though.
-Han Solo at Star's End
-maybe Vector Prime/Star by Star
-The Unifying Force (The End)

 

I'll start now.

 

So are you getting the tar and I'm supplying the feathers or we just going to contract out the supply job to Calrissian Industries?

 

I can see where this is heading... "I’m talking incontrovertible, structural damage, human injury, real mayhem basically."

 

Keeping up with the latest links...

The Paradise Snare
The Hutt Gambit

In addition, we don't really have a plan for 2015 yet. Support for the Greatest Hits thing has been... three people, including The Extreme Moderate who came up with the idea and myself. I might not re-read as much of my SW stuff if I'm not forced to, but on the other hand, neither am I extroverted enough to keep posting about my re-reads if there's not much interest in discussion. I don't know, maybe it's time for an "indefinite hiatus" thing until Legends nostalgia starts kicking in again (with kids who grew up with TCW hunting down old novels in second-hand bookshops on ebay... that would be the day).

 

Grey1
Why not Choices of One the sequel to Allegiance ?

 

The basic question is, why have the 181st in the first place. We could do CoO at some point, but you might most probably get more out of a simple thread about the book that's not tied to a month and a group name. And by the way, what would be a book that you would actually love to discuss because you like it?

 

Nooooooo! Don't shut down the 181st I love these discussion threads, they help me notice a lot of small details I didn't pay attention to as a reader, and the one-book-a-month format makes for structured discussion and a good archive system. I know that I don't participate much because 1. I'm a lurker at heart, 2. DRL has been nasty to me lately, but if we go for CoO I'll make sure I'm more active. I find it's a very smart book, and I need to re-read it for a fic I'm writing anyway.

 

One EU Book that I enjoyed was Labyrinth of Evil. If no one else has any suggestions, I would be interested in a discussion of that book.

 

I would like to second the above suggestion. I've been wanting to reread LoE for some time, and would enjoy being involved in a discussion about it.

 

I loved The Paradise Snare and The Hutt Gambit. I read them soon after I had my first girlfriend and job and I kind of just connected with what he was going through in The Paradise Snare.

 

Now playing: Rebel Dawn.

 

I think I'd like to talk about Fatal Alliance next month, and about Choices Of One in Feburary.

 

ah sean williams

did you ever do the TFU novels?

 

Nope, haven't had TFU in here. Haven't read it personally either.

 

woo

That would be fun.

 

que sera, sera

Hm, maybe this board would work better as a musical.

 

This threeeead is alive with a discussion of Fatal Alliance...

 

DigitalMessiah If we were to pick one of the TFU books, which one would you suggest? I'm currently under the impression that the second one is rarer material since everybody hated on TFU by that time. And since the second game is said to be lacking something - plot or content or whatever - is the book a good example of "improving" on a game?


The thing is - listen everybody - I'm pondering the following schedule:
mar - Labyrinth of Evil
apr - The Glove of Darth Vader
may - Jedi Apprentice: The Rising Force
jun - something something Unleashed
jul - Vector Prime
aug - Balance Point
sep - Star by Star
oct - Destiny's Way
nov - The Unifying Force
dec - a special surprise. No, not The Crystal Star, I promise.

 

With TFU2, Williams was given more freedom to expand on the plot, including Juno's side of the story involving Ackbar, Bail, and Tarkin which isn't in the game at all. With TFU1, he was forced to just novelize the story of the game and wasn't allowed to embellish; apparently, one of the cut levels was rescuing Ackbar, and he wrote about that and they made him remove it. Personally, I felt like TFU2 was the stronger novel and it addressed at least some of the weaknesses of the game.

also December better be Traitor (but it's probably TFA novelization)

 

Wrong and Wot? Wrong.

Sounds like I prefer the second TFU, then. Especially since I already read the first one's comic book.