A&A The Official Abel G. Pena Discussion Thread

The Story of General Grievous

http://blogs.starwars.com/abelgpena/17

 

Will the Story of General Grievous be an in-universe doc, like the essay "On Droid Intelligence"? Or will it be a more standard-fare biography? Either way, I hope you load this one with tonnes of little references like you did with the "Mandolorian History" and the "Vader: The Ultimate Guide" pieces you did.

 

Hey folks! Been busy writing the Story of General Grievous as many of you already know, a very fun piece to write, despite how fast I had to turn it in.

jawajames wrote:
?That was me! both prophets of waru in the same room and not knowing it at the time... waru works in mysterious ways!?

Ain?t it the truth? Little did the audience expect they were actually in a place of worship.

?i hope to be well-informed.. i wrote the questions. this was my third year doing a SW trivia panel at comic-con, but the first year we were made an official part of SW day.?

You did a great job. Hope to see you there next year!

Boneman wrote:
?Howdy Abel,

We met at CIII, running with Joe and Justin. My buddy Ed and I were part of the Vegas contingent.?

Jeff, what?s up!

?Anyway, I wanted to ask if you (or anyone else) has smoothed out the little background hiccup with Wedge Antilles in Issue 78 of the ol'Marvel books. I know you have a particular fondness for the Marvel stories, and this one making Wedge a boyhood pal of Luke's doesn't quite float.?

I sure do, and it was on my to-do list for a number of years until Cory Herndon actually addressed the issue in a roundabout way in a wizards.com article one or two years back. Can?t remember the name of the piece at the moment, but perhaps someone has a link?

?Just curious, and keep up the good work. I hope you and Joe get more gigs together, I really enjoyed the last recent collaborations in Insider.?

Thanks! We?re working on some collaborative proposals currently, so hopefully those go through. Also, while Joe and I worked on separate projects for Insider #84, there still might be a collaboration of a kind in there.

Senator_Cilghal wrote:
?Wedge was part of a campus exchange program and attended to years at the Mos Eisley Tech School, during which time he worked at Tosche Station, befriended Luke, dated Camie, got beat up by Fixer, and returned to Corellia.?

Keep this up folks, and I?ll be out of a job soon.

Super_Battle_Droid wrote:
?The Story of General Grievous ?

That was kind of my reaction when my editor pitched it to me too.

President_Sharky wrote:
?Will the Story of General Grievous be an in-universe doc, like the essay "On Droid Intelligence"? Or will it be a more standard-fare biography? Either way, I hope you load this one with tonnes of little references like you did with the "Mandolorian History" and the "Vader: The Ultimate Guide" pieces you did.?

Sorry, only measly tons. (Heh, just a bad cultural joke. )

As written, the Story of Grievous will not be explicitly in-universe, but I tried something a little different with the voice, especially in the earlier sections, that has a strong oral-tradition feel. Hope folks like it.

Take care,
Abel

 

>>>I sure do, and it was on my to-do list for a number of years until Cory Herndon actually addressed the issue in a roundabout way in a wizards.com article one or two years back. Can't remember the name of the piece at the moment, but perhaps someone has a link? <<<

The Hoth Stuff problem was referenced into continuity in Planet Hoppers: Hoth. Though it didn't address the mix-up between Biggs' and Wedge's backgrounds, it was a good retcon for the Marvel story.

We know that Leia has known Wedge for a while (even before Yavin, according to Galactic Battlegrounds), which makes this mistake especially odd.


Leia: "Hullo, Biggs!"

Wedge: "Luke... you know better than to let Leia get into the bota supplies!"

Luke:

 

Now why would Luke want to get Leia drunk?

Terrible, terrible. Someone blast me.

I actually remember watching the special edition of Empire Strikes Back at the theater, and since practically everyone in the audience was a huge Star Wars fan, they all let out a collective "Ewwwww!" when Leia kissed Luke.

 

watching the special editions in the theater with large crowds of fans was so much fun.. i remember in ANH, the crowd went wild when Vader appeared... and then went even wilder on Han's first scene. i also got into a plastic lightsaber duel in the front of the theater with some random stranger...

 

I recently read the article on droids and the Force, and I have a few nit-picky continuity questions about it.

1. How many Iron Knights were there, and how many of them later joined Luke's new Jedi Order?

2. Did Ilum name herself after the planet where the Jedi get their crystals intentionally, or was that just a little coincidence you worked in there?

3. About how long after the Yuuzhan Vong War would Tam Azur-Jamin have written this essay?

4. Would the Iron Knights be counted among the 100-or-so Jedi Knights and Masters at the beginning of the NJO series?

5. In the comic book Jedi Academy Leviathan there is a panel showing several Jedi in a mess hall type area. One of them looks like a droid. (but is hold a cup for some odd reason) Is it safe to assume that this was one of the Iron Knights? (The comic takes place at about the same time that they rejoined the Order.)

 

Ah, the age before the advent of the midnight screening.

One of my favorite memories during the ANH special edition was a total silence, salted only by occasional awed whispers, when the new "old" Jabba the Hutt scene made its debut. When it was over, my cousin and I exchanged a satisfied look, as if to say, "It was everything they said it would be."

Take care,
Abel

 

Joser_Kyind wrote:
?I recently read the article on droids and the Force, and I have a few nit-picky continuity questions about it.

1. How many Iron Knights were there, and how many of them later joined Luke's new Jedi Order??

Good question. I thought maybe I answered this some place else before. (Oh wait, that was in regard to Mandalorians). I don?t really have a specific answer, but on a purely unofficial basis, I?d say a dozen or so Iron Knights.

?2. Did Ilum name herself after the planet where the Jedi get their crystals intentionally, or was that just a little coincidence you worked in there??

Ilum is intentionally named after the planet by the same name, but more accurately a type of Jedi lightsaber crystal. This is a naming convention among Iron Knights. Note that the Iron Knight Luxum, who fell to the dark side during the NJO, is a similar example.

?3. About how long after the Yuuzhan Vong War would Tam Azur-Jamin have written this essay??

Not sure at the moment. It?s definitely between the NJO and the Dark Nest Trilogy; arbitrarily, I?d put it a year after NJO, given Daye Azur-Jamin?s being held hostage in the Dark Forces Saga.

?4. Would the Iron Knights be counted among the 100-or-so Jedi Knights and Masters at the beginning of the NJO series??

Definitely.

?5. In the comic book Jedi Academy Leviathan there is a panel showing several Jedi in a mess hall type area. One of them looks like a droid. (but is hold a cup for some odd reason) Is it safe to assume that this was one of the Iron Knights? (The comic takes place at about the same time that they rejoined the Order.)?

Maybe he?s drinking lubricant or something.

The timing actually seems to coincide perfectly with my intention, about 9 years post-ROJ. So I?ll say, yes, that?s definitely an Iron Knight, but clearly not of the Juggernaut variety.

Take care,
Abel

 

Thanks for those answers. I was wondering, are there any future articles already planned for after the Story of General Grievous?

 

Yep you did answer the number question elsewhere. Fortunatley, lol, your answers are the same!

?A question about the Shard. Do you have an idea about how many there were on Dweem? 10, 20, 50??

Good question. Without thinking about it too much, I?d say a dozen or two at the most. Maybe even less, like a half dozen, especially after the Yuuzhan Vong War. I don?t think more than that would fit in very well with our perceptions of what the new Jedi Order is like."

 

Nothing I can talk about it, but I'll probably announce any future projects here or on my blog.

You're telling me! I hate contradictions born of whimsy.

What's that? No, Mr. Lucas, I meant when I create them.

Take care,
Abel

 

hehehe.

 

Reposting from the Kyle thread, just for redundancy synergy.

While looking back through some issues of Insider, I noticed an article in Insider #31 about the making of Jedi Knight. It mostly describes how Lucasarts did the live-action parts of the game, but also includes brief descriptions of Dark Jedi. Here's the description of Maw:

Maw is a tortured soul who grew up in the streets, started a speeder bike gang, and then became a Dark Jedi.

-Insider #31, p. 55

Which is different from the Dark Forces Saga version. Now, its only nitpicking since the description is not an in-universe source, but it is part of the backstory the game designers had in mind. Still, its a contradiction of sorts.

Of course, the two are not mutually exclusive. Maw could have grown up in the streets...before he was found to be Force-sensitive and taken to be a Jedi. He started a speeder bike gang...while he was hiding from the Empire. And he did become a Dark Jedi.

Any comment, Abel?



And as a second comment, have you gone back through the original Essential Guide to Characters lately? I just did and found it full of odd stuff: Mantilorrian rat catchers, Dengar as a gladiator, a contraditory Rand Ecliptic story, the Nagai being called the "N'Gai" etc. Obviously, some of the quirks come from it being such an old source, but there could be retcons involved...

 

One of them looks like a droid. (but is hold a cup for some odd reason)

Presumably the Shard need some form of sustenance to survive, he could be feeding the Shard...

 

Howdy folks!

News: The Story of General Grievous, as most of you have probably figured out, is not in Insider 84, most likely because Karen, Ryan, and I all went over budget on the word count. But, fret not maniac cyborg killer fans, the good general will be appearing in ish #85.

In the meantime, Dan, Pablo and Joe worked in a little easter egg into issue 84?s HoloNet News. As Joe promised, I am literally *in* HNN. You can see my Star Warsified mug at Joe's website:

www.joecorroney.com/cgi-local/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Star_Wars/Star_Wars_Insider_Art&image=84HalagadVentorFinal.jpg&img=&tt=img

...and you can read the story behind the art at my blog.

http://blogs.starwars.com/abelgpena/22

Ah, one more thing. While mentioning resources for the freelance writer, I meant to post the link to one that was recommended to me by a fellow SW author, but thought I'd lost:

http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/003089.html

Very straight-forward, no-nonesense. Enjoy!

Take care,
Abel

 

I think they feed on electromagnetic energy, or some similar sort of pseudo-metabolism, but you're right: its likely drinking Shard-food.

Rogue, I always seem to put off your questions. I'll be revisiting the DF Saga thread soon.

Take care,
Abel

 

Its all right. Just so long as you get your official stuff done.

While I was digging through the history of the SWFA (www.archive.org is quite handy) I found this old bio of some wannabe writer.

Bio: Star Wars is the very first movie I remember consciously watching; my parents first showed it to me at about the age of three ... I fell in love immediately. I had the pleasure of watching Empire in the comfort of my home, with an old projector reel. I finally had a legitimate Star Wars experience when I got to see Jedi in the theaters, subsequently falling in love with Ewoks. I vaguely remember watching the Droids & Ewoks cartoons, wearing Wicket shirts in 5 different colors ... it was like something out of a ... dream. Then I discovered a little something called Nintendo and I entered my the Dark Times.

My passion for Video Games completely over shadowed my love of Star Wars, and it would be many years before I would find my roots again. Ironically, though, video games would lead me back to Star Wars in 1992, when I saw that a game called Super Star Wars was coming out for the newest Nintendo system at that time. Seeing the shots of the game in a magazine, I began to recall not only forgotten scenes from that film which I had not seen in years, but my wonderful memories of it as well.

As fate would have it, within days of reading about the game, I went to a Price Club and there was the SW Trilogy newly packaged, just waiting to be bought. Obviously without a choice (or will power) I did so with the excuse that at least my young nephew would enjoy it; we popped in ROJ and both loved every minute of it. As the twists of fate continued, the next day I went to the super market and discovered Heir to the Empire in paper back; I read the book faster than I had ever read any book before. After doing so, I sought out more and more SW literature, eventually specializing in the miscellaneous corner of Star Wars, becoming most knowledgeable in obscure factoids and continuity glitches.

I go to college and write for fun/publication. I was really excited and looking forward to submitting a story for West End Games around the end of June, and was forced to give that idea up one week into July, as the company belly-flopped. I now nurture my psyche by writing occasional SW fanfic.

The Old SWFA

Super Star Wars is officially awesome! Again!

 

Rogue... where did you dig up this old fossil?

Heh heh. For those who don't have a clue what I'm talking about, click here.

Always has been.

Take care,
Abel

 

>>>Rogue... where did you dig up this old fossil? <<<



I was actually looking through the history of SWFA (back when it was on the SW RPG fan-site) just for kicks, and I found the old member bios. Of course, all the old Abel-fan-fics have been expunged from the internet.

There are also pretty good bios on (now "famous") Pablo, Joe Corroney, Dan Wallace, and Jason Fry, in addition to all the others. They all have ecclectic backgrounds.

I liked this quote from Dan's bio:

DW: When I realized I couldn't remember where I had left my car keys twenty seconds ago, but I could recite the entire Death Star conference room scene from memory, complete with different voices for all the generals. It was then that I realized there was something tragically crosswired in my brain and the best I could hope for would be to pour it all out on paper through guides and such. But instead of exorcising it, it's actually gotten worse. "The Rebellion will CONTINUE to gain support in the IMPERIAL senate..." - dang, there it goes again.

I think my brain might be crosswired in the same way...

 

Ha ha! You need to remind Dan of that one on his thread.

Alas, on a slightly more serious note, I have some less than good news. The Story of General Grievous will be delayed one more time--looks like it'll close out the year with Insider #86.

There is some good news to go along with this, but I can't report it at the moment. Suffice to say, the wait should be worth it, and fans will be getting more bang for their buck than they would have if it had been published sooner.

Take care,
Abel

 

Abel, I never got my copy of Insider #84 in the mail, and when I e-mailed IDG, I was basically told to wait another month for it, then e-mail them again. Can you use your magical VIP abilities to light a fire under someone's rear and get me my issue?

 

Unfortunately, I don't have any extras of this issue or I'd send you one.

Best,
Abel

 

Aww. I appreciate the thought.

It's funny; they offered to send me a free copy of the Vader Guide last summer and it came, like, the next day.

 

Whether you have them or not, call IDG and leverage your kids to get some results. That works. I don't have any kids... (unless you count the apocryphal ones ).

Take care,
Abel