Books A/V Star Wars Galaxy's Edge Black Spire by Delilah S. Dawson

I have to laugh when I see Leia saying that the good thing about the Resistance is that everyone has free will and can leave anytime they want. I guess she forgot to tell that to Rose in TLJ

 

Rose is not representative of the Resistance. And i think people need to realize she wasn't thinking straight due to the loss of her sister.

 

I thought Rose was specifically ordered to prevent people from deserting?

 

Resigning and leaving is different from deserting in the middle of a chase, stealing an escape pod which might be needed later in the process

 

Yeah, I would think Rose is doing deserters a favor, there.

Sinre Edit: And no.

 

For me that opening situation with Rose goes a bit too close to the Resistance having loyalty officers. Personally, that concept should be far away from the Resistance and they should never head in that direction.

Now, if you want to say it's all part of TLJ's cunning deconstruction of the idea of 'good' and 'bad' sides, that could work but SW pretty much did that already with the Clone Wars.

 

The Amazon site preview is up and boy there's a lot they let you "Preview"

Spoiler

Including the Epilogue!!!

Book kinda reminds me of the concept for Bacta War: Vi has to build essentially a army for scratch on Batuu to help the resistance.

 

More previews.
https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/exclu...ge-black-spire-is-brooklyn-nine-nine-in-space

Spoiler

Spinning straight out of Disney's immersive new Star Wars Land at Disneyland (and soon at Walt Disney World), a new theme park tie-in prequel novel from Del Rey Books seeks to provide vivid details about this exotic fictional outpost and its clashing ideals existing at Galaxy's Edge — and SYFY WIRE is presenting an exclusive excerpt and illuminating comments from its prolific architect.

Written by New York Times bestselling author Delilah S. Dawson (Star Wars: Phasma, The Tales of Pell), Star Wars Galaxy's Edge: Black Spire lands Aug. 27 and centers on the daring exploits of master spy Vi Moradi as she endeavors to gather forces for the resistance and carve out a rebel foothold on the remote world of Batuu, a destination uniquely populated by scores of smugglers, merchants, and travelers from every nefarious nook in the galaxy.

To thrive and survive on this distant planet of verdant forests, jagged mountains, and colossal, petrified trees, Vi will have to seek out the warm-hearted heroes hiding in a realm that redefines the nature of scum and villainy. With the aid of a traitorous trooper and her wisecracking droid, she begins to collect a colorful crew of notorious outcasts and misfits, and embarks on a dangerous mission to ignite fire with the resistance on Batuu before the First Order extinguishes it entirely.

"Black Spire picks up closely after Phasma where General Organa gives Vi Moradi a new directive to go to a planet nobody cares about and start building a base," Dawson tells SYFY WIRE. "As we know at that point the resistance only really has a small number of people left over, their allies aren't coming and they need to recruit bodies. Vi ends up at a planet called Batuu that's a gateway cantina town, the last stop before Wild Space. With almost no resources, she needs to start a resistance base, find warm bodies, and hold off what turns out to be the First Order invasion."

Dawson did some traveling of her own to research the rich world of Black Spire Outpost and jetted out to California to experience it first hand.

"I was so fortunate to go there for the media opening and we got to meet the Platonic ideal of the original Vi Moradi," she recalls. "We got to ride the Millennium Falcon ride and try all the foods and drinks and I got to do one more editing pass after that so I could put some of those details into the book. If you can't get there right away, reading the book will be like your travel guide to that area. In addition to having the usual scoundrels vs. bad guys, hair-raising plot, you also get to see what the world is like."

Authors entering the Lucasfilm domain often have special restrictions in crafting their narrative and this novel was no different.

"Before I wrote Phasma I got to read the script for Episode Eight so I could have some insight into what was happening, but I did not get to read the script for [Episode} Nine, nobody has, so there were lots of things we were told," Dawson adds. "Don't use this person or that person, take out this ship. But that happens a lot in the new canon where instead of using existing things, they tell us to just make something up. We can have a lot more fun actually and create new characters. This book does have a little more humor than Phasma because Vi is building a ragtag group on this planet and everything that can go wrong will.

"So on one side of the book I liken it to Brooklyn Nine-Nine In Space. It's this group of lovable misfits who are all banded together and learning how to be part of the resistance. The flip side of that is we do have the First Order show up and when you have spies and resistance tangling with the First Order there's going to be some violence. I felt like this was a book where we had to deal with things we don't see in Star Wars, insofar as people dealing with heavy trauma."


Now blast into our exclusive excerpt from Star Wars Galaxy's Edge: Black Spire by Delilah S. Dawson and published by Del Rey Books.

https://io9.gizmodo.com/in-this-star-wars-black-spire-excerpt-a-hero-of-the-r-1837373302

Spoiler

“Where the hell have you been?” came a raspy, gurgling voice that somehow managed to chill Vi to the bone. The language was Huttese, which of course Vi understood.

A figure stepped out from the shadows—a Blutopian, Vi knew, thanks to her extensive training on alien species.

“That’s Oga Garra,” Salju whispered, surprised. “It’s a rare thing, seeing her out and about.”

Oga, like all Blutopians, was a curious sort of person to human eyes. The local crime boss had wrinkled, leathery skin that faded from gray to a fleshy salmon, and her mouth was a mess of pinkish tentacles that constantly moved in a peevish sort of way and reminded Vi of a can of angry worms. Her back was hunched, but her flipperlike arms had thick hands that looked capable of crushing skulls. She wore a belted tunic and vest that Vi was certain had come from Arta’s shop, along with cargo pants and brown boots. Her eyes were small black dots, but she somehow managed to look crafty—and dangerous.

“Nnngharooogrrrr!”

Up on a balcony, a Wookiee had emerged from the arched door of an apartment and seemed to be the focus of Oga’s wrath. The Wookiee’s hair was mussed, he was in the middle of buckling on a bando lier, and despite his general lack of expressive facial features and her tenuous grasp of Shyriiwook, Vi could tell he was embarrassed . . . and frightened.

“Taking an afternoon nap? In the room assigned to that new Rodian waitress, Meeba? The same one I saw you giggling with in the back booth last week, when you assured me you were merely discussing the going rate for Corellian champagne?”

“Mmrawwr!”

“Well, what was it, then? Were you fixing the bathroom for her or . . . oh, I don’t know. Navigating some other sort of personal plumbing issue?”

Whispers had started up, and the Blutopian spun around, blaster ready.

“This is between me and Dhoran,” she warned them. “I can’t make you leave, but I can accidentally shoot you.”

The locals didn’t seem to understand Huttese, but the sentiment was clear in any language. Their whispers went silent, and several of the more timid folk blended back into the shadows or scuttled behind half-closed doors to continue watching.

“Rrhhhhhogah?” the Wookiee crooned, putting his hands on a low metal railing and leaning down as if to give his lady love a flower and beg for her favor.

Oga turned away, waving a hand as if to disperse him. “Don’t you Oga me, you walking catastrophe. Get off my planet and don’t ever come back or I’ll mount your head on the bar with the droids.”

Dhoran stood back up and smoothed the hair around his face. “Huhn. Greh.” Vi didn’t know much Shyriiwook, but that sound of scorn and dismissal was about the same in all languages.

Without another word, Oga spun around and shot the Wookiee in the chest.

Dhoran’s hands—or paws, Vi didn’t know what was under all that hair—clutched at the smoking wound. The Wookiee’s eyes went wide with surprise and he gently toppled over the rail, breaking the aged metal as he tumbled into space and fell with a heavy thump at Oga’s feet.

The Blutopian knelt, pinched him somewhere, and muttered, “Good riddance.” Then, almost to herself, “Why do I always fall for the big, hairy bad boys?”

A new figure appeared in the open apartment door. The tall female Rodian was wrapped in only a small pink towel, but she screamed bloody murder as she stared down at the dead Wookiee. Oga glanced up briefly, aimed her blaster, and shot a bolt within centimeters of the Rodian’s antennae.

“You’re fired. Get out of here. I’m keeping this week’s wages as your formal apology.”

The Rodian disappeared, and Oga silently looted her former lover’s body. She slung his bandolier over her shoulder and stood.

“Anybody who doesn’t want to eat lasers should probably stay out of my way today,” she said.

Everyone found something else to look at or somewhere else to go, and the Blutopian disappeared into the shadows around the edge of the cantina, her shoulders hunched. Vi noted the direction, reasoning that if she ever needed to face the gangster herself, she would find an entrance in that area. The busy market went back to normal, but the sort of normal that involved completely ignoring a smoking Wookiee corpse.

“So that was Oga,” Salju said again. “And you definitely don’t want to talk to her today. Maybe not this week. Or month.”

 

Still got Alphabet Squadron and Thrawn Treason to read. Probably pair this up with Resistance Reborn.

 

Same here


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Of course you are, you literary gannet!

 

The Xmas splurge pattern crops up for books, comics and games - hugely irritating.

 

Fifteen books? That'll take you what? A day?

 

Does this book tell us where Phasma fits into the timeline?

 

Yes;

Spoiler

A few weeks before TFA. Black Spire starts on the day before the Hosnian Cataclysm, and Vi refers to the events of Phasma as a few weeks before.

 

My copy is in the post. Might end up reading this a little faster than planned having done A Crash of Fate.

 

https://www.starwars.com/news/delilah-dawson-star-wars-galaxys-edge-black-spire-interview

Spoiler

StarWars.com: Black Spire picks up after Star Wars: The Last Jedi, with Resistance spy Vi Moradi being sent on a mission to establish a new camp on some remote planet called Batuu. What was it like getting to tell more of Vi’s story?

Delilah S. Dawson: Publishing in general makes no promises, and quite often a writer will begin a beloved character’s story knowing full well they’ll never get to finish it. That was definitely the case with Vi, and I’m so grateful I was chosen to fill the gap between her story in Phasma and her story at Galaxy’s Edge. I know her inside and out, which makes her a joy to write. I always know exactly what she would say, and I know her backstory. I admire her combination of competency, wry humor, and ability to keep going even when things seem impossible.

StarWars.com: Your first Star Wars novel, Phasma, introduced Vi Moradi and you hinted back then that she would be taking a larger role. Now that fans have had a chance to interact with her on Batuu in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland, can you tell us how your character came to be an integral part of the Galaxy’s Edge story?

Delilah S. Dawson: From our first round table meeting to outline Phasma, we knew we needed a plucky Resistance spy. I wanted to write Vi a little like a female Poe Dameron, cocky and strong, but I also wanted to honor the broken body underneath. After seeing the toll spying has taken on James Bond in Skyfall, I wanted to see more of that in Star Wars — Vi has a tragic backstory, she’s been tortured multiple times, she’s been in situations that have caused her physical and emotional damage…but she’s still cracking jokes and helping people and knitting ugly sweaters. That spy became Amaka Moradi, who I envisioned as Danai Gurira with a closet full of wigs and colored contacts. [Later, her name was changed to Vi.] I had no idea what a big role she would play!

StarWars.com: Black Spire takes place primarily in and around Black Spire Outpost on Batuu, around the same timeframe as Galaxy’s Edge. What was it like working in a place with its own characters and culture that was going to be a real-world themed-land, as well as a setting for your story? How did the collaboration work with Disney Parks and Lucasfilm as both your story and the theme park were being crafted?

Delilah S. Dawson: It was an enormous responsibility and a pure joy, and they gave me a lot of runway to contribute my own vision to the lore. I was given a dossier on the park, from maps to art to character backstories, and I was told which characters to treat lightly (because another writer was fleshing them out) and which characters I could take liberties with. It was especially fun to give voice to Oga Garra and help establish the elusive cantina owner and local mob boss. I begged to see the park during construction so I could describe it more clearly, but since we couldn’t logistically make that happen, I had a call with the Imagineers and a long list of questions that I followed up with several emails. I was truly fortunate to visit the Disneyland Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland Resort before it opened to the public, and then I had six days to turn around an edit with those added details gleaned from the experience. Those little touches of gold in world building mean a lot to me. I have synesthesia, so my senses get crossed up, and I love to give the reader a full sensory experience that weaves sight, sound, smells, taste, and texture.

StarWars.com: You really do a great job of capturing the total experience of Black Spire — sights, sounds, smells, and more. You also delve into the history of Batuu with a journey to the ruins outside the outpost with a very Indiana Jones-type feel. What was the process of building up the ancient past and their connections to the characters of the present?

Delilah S. Dawson: Hey, thanks! This part is kind of funny, actually. I’m a very linear writer — I draft straight through, beginning to end — and when it was time to introduce Vi to the ancient ruins, they couldn’t give me a finalized map. Rather than waiting, I just left “[TK]” [Editor’s Note: publishing notation meaning that the text is “to come”.] in the doc and kept writing the next scene. When the map finally came through, I had to go back in and write the entire scene. Visitors will be able to walk Vi’s route through the ruins as part of the queue for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, although of course all the booby traps have already been removed by our plucky band of Resistance fighters. I really enjoyed building up the myths around Black Spire and attempting to capture the magic of the space.

StarWars.com: In the excerpt from Black Spire released earlier, it is revealed that General Organa dispatches Vi to recruit new allies and build a new hidden camp for the Resistance, but she’s not being sent alone — she’s sent with Archex, the man formerly known as the First Order soldier Cardinal, who previously tortured her for information about his rival, Phasma. Who is he now and what’s their relationship like?

Delilah S. Dawson: I don’t want to give too much away, but Cardinal is an incredibly special character for me. He was designed as Phasma’s foil; where she is out for Number One, nearly a sociopath, Cardinal is a good egg who firmly believes that the First Order wants to save the galaxy. When he realizes, thanks to Vi, that he’s dedicated his life to a farce, he basically tries to commit suicide by Phasma. And then Vi saves him and drags him back to the Resistance, and that’s where we pick up: with a good man who doesn’t know how to go on. During his journey with Vi, Cardinal must find his purpose in life and decide whether he can remain neutral or if the Resistance is worth fighting for. We learn more about his backstory and see some of his own skills come to life. And he has one strong tie to Galaxy’s Edge that I’m really proud of, so you’ll have to read it to see what he contributes to the marketplace.

StarWars.com: If Cardinal is the good egg caught up in the First Order and now adrift, then who is Wulfgar Kath and how does he connect to Cardinal?

Delilah S. Dawson: Wulfgar Kath is a very bad man. Let’s just leave it at that.

StarWars.com: With Archex going by Cardinal and Vi being nicknamed Magpie by Leia (and given another avian code name by the First Order), is there a bird theme with your characters? What’s that about?

Delilah S. Dawson: You could definitely say that birds are a theme in my body of work. In my Shadow series (written as Lila Bowen), every book is titled for a different bird, starting with Wake of Vultures. I have a vulture feather tattooed on my arm and a peacock feather on the nape of my neck. So it makes sense that my mind goes there. Vi’s code name makes sense, as she’s a pilot and must be swift, nimble, and fast. And with Cardinal, we needed a name that matched his bright red armor, which we decided on before I knew about the Praetorian guards or Sith troopers. My Star Wars bird obsession began with the Millennium Falcon and Ebon Hawk and continued when I named Bazine Netal’s ship the Sparrowhawk. Oh! And since you’ll be sure to see ibises at Galaxy’s Edge in Orlando, I gave them a Star Wars name: pipa birds.


StarWars.com: Vi interacts with several of Black Spire Outpost’s key movers and shakers, whose establishments theme park guests might visit in Galaxy’s Edge. What was it like building scenes with Oga and her goons, Dok-Ondar, and other noteworthy Batuu denizens?

Delilah S. Dawson: It was an interesting challenge! Oga, for example, plays a big part in Black Spire but is never seen in the parks; she’s the silent mastermind of the town. I loved giving her a voice and designing her lair, and I especially liked giving her a disheveled tooka cat, as every good villain needs a pet. And I liked taking a throwaway line about her shooting her Wookiee boyfriend and turning it into a plot point in Black Spire — and telling the story of the broken banister across from the cantina. Mubo, the little Utai droid builder was a delight to capture. I wasn’t able to spend much time with Dok-Ondar, but I’m pretty sure my words can’t come close to describing the wonder I felt in his Den of Antiquities. For each of the shops and restaurants you’ll visit in Galaxy’s Edge, I got to introduce the proprietor and goods, at the very least, and I hope readers will be as excited to see them in the flesh as I was. That’s one of my favorite things about the book — it answers questions you’ll have walking around the land. Why is that tree covered in ribbons? Why is there a blaster mark on that tank above the cantina taps? Where does Savi get the parts for his lightsabers? What is the story of the actual black spire the town is named after? It’s all in Black Spire.

StarWars.com: If you lived on Batuu, what would your typical days be like? Who would you hang out with?

Delilah S. Dawson: I would work in Bina’s Creature Stall and help people select the perfect pet. When I visited, I bought a puffer pig, and it is honestly the best money I’ve ever spent. It makes the most wonderful noise, and I squeeze it at least once a day and smile. I would eat at Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo, talk to Cookie and try whatever new thing he’d created — gluten free, of course. And I’d stay out of Dok’s way, because nobody wants to be on the Doklist.

StarWars.com: Several other authors have written about Batuu and its residents in their Star Wars stories — did you work with any of them on getting the same look and feel to the places and characters?

Delilah S. Dawson: Most of my information came directly from the Imagineers, but I did chat with my friend Zoraida Córdova, author of the YA book Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge – A Crash of Fate, as I was writing. Her book was due before mine, so she was already done with her first draft while I was just beginning my work. We just wanted to make sure we didn’t step on one another’s toes. Zoraida and I will actually be signing our books together for the first time at Launch Bay Cargo at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando on August 28, and I can’t wait!

StarWars.com: Lastly, you’ve mentioned in the past that part of your writing process is listening to a playlist of songs on Spotify that sound like the book. What songs helped to inspire and shape Black Spire? Are there any particular songs that fit with certain characters or scenes?

Delilah S. Dawson: My playlists definitely don’t drill down to scenes or characters — that might pull me out of the drafting process while I was in a flow, which would hinder the work. They’re more of an overall feeling, which is why the Phasma playlist is mostly the Mad Max: Fury Road soundtrack, Star Wars movie soundtracks, and, strangely, the song “Houdini” by Foster the People, which was my intro song. If Phasma is Fury Road meets Star Wars, then Black Spire is Brooklyn Nine-Nine meets Star Wars — it’s a plucky band of misfits who come together to help people while also acting as their own group therapy session. Of course, it’s also got the typical Star Wars adventures and goes to some dark and violent places, since the First Order is involved, but the heart of the story is Vi Moradi building a family — and a home.