A&A The Official Michael A. Stackpole Discussion Thread

I think he captures the spirit of Star Wars characters better than anyone else. Very cute little lines.

 

I've heard rumors that he and the powers that be with Del Ray (or whowever does the books now) had a bit of a disagreement. True or not, thats just what I've heard. I do know that recently he has written a couple of books for the Battletech: Dark Age series.

Sorry if I'm gushing a bit here, but I'm new here. Ive always liked Mr. Stackpole for his various controbutions to some of my favorite universes other than Star Wars such as Battletech and Shadowrun. So far, he's written some of my favorite stories and characters in those universes.

 

I love the I, Jedi- book

 

Any word on what is next book is, since it's been nearly a year since the New World came out?

 

Just wanted to say that I recently re-read I, Jedi for the book discussion thread over in Literature, and I loved it just as much as when it first came out. Maybe even more so. Your contributions to the EU are truly missed, Mr. Stackpole.

 

Yea, itd be great if they could get him back for something post LotF.

 

I've read the X-wing novels by Mike Stackpole many times and I love the plots. From the very first book you never know what's going to happen, but you also get hints and clues as to what Ysanne Isard is up to. I, Jedi was also very interesting because it delves into the mind and motivations of Corran Horn. As for the Dark Tide Duology, I liked the second book better because it featured Rogue Squadron more prominently. I hope Mr. Stackpole returns to write in the Star Wars universe again soon.

 

From Stackpole's official website: Why I?m not doing any more Star Wars novels

His three main points:
1. Del Rey has a lot of authors lined up at the moment and there are only so many book slots.
2. He needs to go back to some of his other series.
3. He needs to figure out his career.

That's the bare-bones version of it, and I would recommend reading his post. But still...

...that's it, I need to reread I, Jedi again!

 

Mr. Stackpole has said that a lot of people didn't like Corran when "I, Jedi" fist came out until they read the X-Wing novels, and I tend to agree with that. I appreciated Corran much more after reading the X-Wing series, he had a life and a personality then!

 

Well, keep in mind that was posted several years ago:

(underlines added)

So it's not necessarily the last word, period. I'm still holding out hope.

 

When I read I, Jedi, I had mixed feelings. On the minus side, Corran did seem a slight bit Mary Sueish (not as much as Kyp in JAT or Mara in BP), but forgivable. On the plus side, Stackpole is the one who paved the way for the darkness of the EU, really breaking us out of that "warlord of the month" phase, with I, Jedi. A year later, we had NJO.

 

It's been a while since Stackpole has release a new novel. I think "The New World" was his last. Anyone know if he has anything in the works? Seems like he is now more interested in the whole e-book thing.

 

I've really enjoyed Stackpole's contributions to the EU. The X-Wing series is probably neck-and-neck with the Thrawn Trilogy as my favorite Star Wars series, and I also really enjoyed most of I, Jedi (although the Jedi Academy part seemed like he was just scrambling to find stuff for Corran to do that wouldn't mess up the original JAT). His two books for the NJO were among my favorites in that series, and I hope he'll write another Star Wars book for us soon!

 

Seems I, Jedi is a good stand alone book to give to someone who wants to read more Star Wars.

 

I sure hope they do a new starfighter series and Stackpole leads it. Because the X-Wing series is by far the best series there is in the Star Wars universe I think. I've read the X-Wing series (all of the books except for the last two books), Thrawn series, all the printed books (not online books) of the Yuuzhan Vong series, Dark Nest series, started but gave up on The Legacy of the Force series (pretty bad series), and started on the Fate of the Jedi series. X-Wing by far was the best out of all of those.

 

At the Queen's Command, the first book of Mike's new Crown Colonies series, comes out in November.

 

Good to know. I'll most likely give this a go even though the Age of Discovery was a very mixed bag for me. Stackpole's one of those authors I sort of feel duty bound to keep up with given that Talion was my gateway book that eventually led to the discovery of fantasy (and literary) heavyweights like Wolfe, Peake, and many others.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one to feel this way about certain authors!

 

Im torn, because he's a great author, yet created the SW character i dispies the most.

No hard feeling Corran

 

I liked Age of Discovery 1... the other two... not as much; the series was good as an overall; just wasn't what I expected/wanted out of a series designated "Age of Discovery".

 

Thank you for answering my questions at Gen Con! I love Jagged Fel and Jaina Solo!!

 

Well, his new book is now in my hands!

 

After reading the sample pages on Amazon I think it looks promising enough. Some of the immediate name-dropping reminded me of his last trilogy's tendency to throw way too much "stuff" on the table without really developing much of it, but fortunately I also caught some nice character moments (Owen thinking how his wife can make an adventure out of a splinter-and loving her for it) and a bit of welcome humor ("You cannot flog me. I am a gentleman!). Both of these were the type of moments that I found mostly lacking in the aforementioned Age of Discovery, so hopefully I'll be more satisfied with this one if I do indeed give it a go.

As side note I've been re-reading a bit of Dark Glory War for the first time in almost a decade. Surprisingly, it still holds up for me as a solid adventure tale. Reads like a more focused and foreboding take on the common Jordan-style Tolkien riff.