Expanded Universe shenanigans
And they're timed just perfectly to coincide with the Wook's Aaron Allston quote, too! How considerate.
The second Imperial Commando book has been cancelled. Karen Traviss has addressed the matter in her blog. (Brace yourselves; the entry begins with her usual self-righteous "I'm a journo, you know" attitude [yes, we do know, Karen, because you tell us only slightly less often than you tell us that "ba'buir" is Mando for "grandfather". WE KNOW] as well a self-congratulatory "I don't usually stoop to such things as confirming rumors, but for your sake, dear fans, I'll make an exception" sentiment. Ye-eah.
Still, it's fairly par for the course with Karen so far. But! Sue Rostoni has responded, and it's not pretty. Sue says:
Karen's blog was the first time I had heard that she was not going to write the second Imperial Commando book.
I don't know if we will hire another author to finish the series. It's rather up in the air at the moment.
So, is Sue's comment a swipe at an author who's very publicly turned her back on the franchise, or did Karen truly not even bother to inform TPTB of this decision and just flounce all over her blog again? The former seems plausible enough, but the latter is, you must admit, perfectly in character for Karen.
Ah, delicious EU drama: the gift that keeps on giving.
ETA: To be fair here, someone on the OS boards said, "And it does seem strange that she would not even inform LFL about it before bringing it out in the open," to which Sue responded, "This is really not an issue because Random House hires the Star Wars authors, not LFL."
Personally, I'm not impressed. That sounds very much like Sue's telling the truth from a certain point of view to maintain a united front on a professional level. Karen's actions and behavior still look shockingly unprofessional and sulky to me. But take Sue's words as you like.
Oooh, and I just refreshed the OS message board page before I hit edit for this entry, and here's the newest tidbit:
OS user: "But would not RH inform you guys right away? It seems to me you guys were deceived."
Sue Rostoni: "Absolutely not -- there is no deception -- I'm dropping out of this discussion now."
Really, Sue? Seems to me you had to have known that someone would ask just that question when you said that the first you'd heard of this matter was Karen's blog. You didn't have to admit that particular detail in the first place; you could have just said, "This is a fairly new development and I don't have details for you at the time, but we'll keep you updated." And to say, "I'm dropping out of this discussion now" - mmm. That sure indicates that there was fishy behavior somewhere along the line and she just doesn't want to discuss it. Still, is her spectacularly unsubtle exit from the conversation a knee-jerk reaction to realizing her verbal misstep earlier, or was the whole thing a deliberate ploy? I do not know, but it makes for fun reading. If I didn't have so much to do offline, I'd go bum around Lit for a while and watch the fireworks.
The second Imperial Commando book has been cancelled. Karen Traviss has addressed the matter in her blog. (Brace yourselves; the entry begins with her usual self-righteous "I'm a journo, you know" attitude [yes, we do know, Karen, because you tell us only slightly less often than you tell us that "ba'buir" is Mando for "grandfather". WE KNOW] as well a self-congratulatory "I don't usually stoop to such things as confirming rumors, but for your sake, dear fans, I'll make an exception" sentiment. Ye-eah.
Still, it's fairly par for the course with Karen so far. But! Sue Rostoni has responded, and it's not pretty. Sue says:
Karen's blog was the first time I had heard that she was not going to write the second Imperial Commando book.
I don't know if we will hire another author to finish the series. It's rather up in the air at the moment.
So, is Sue's comment a swipe at an author who's very publicly turned her back on the franchise, or did Karen truly not even bother to inform TPTB of this decision and just flounce all over her blog again? The former seems plausible enough, but the latter is, you must admit, perfectly in character for Karen.
Ah, delicious EU drama: the gift that keeps on giving.
ETA: To be fair here, someone on the OS boards said, "And it does seem strange that she would not even inform LFL about it before bringing it out in the open," to which Sue responded, "This is really not an issue because Random House hires the Star Wars authors, not LFL."
Personally, I'm not impressed. That sounds very much like Sue's telling the truth from a certain point of view to maintain a united front on a professional level. Karen's actions and behavior still look shockingly unprofessional and sulky to me. But take Sue's words as you like.
Oooh, and I just refreshed the OS message board page before I hit edit for this entry, and here's the newest tidbit:
OS user: "But would not RH inform you guys right away? It seems to me you guys were deceived."
Sue Rostoni: "Absolutely not -- there is no deception -- I'm dropping out of this discussion now."
Really, Sue? Seems to me you had to have known that someone would ask just that question when you said that the first you'd heard of this matter was Karen's blog. You didn't have to admit that particular detail in the first place; you could have just said, "This is a fairly new development and I don't have details for you at the time, but we'll keep you updated." And to say, "I'm dropping out of this discussion now" - mmm. That sure indicates that there was fishy behavior somewhere along the line and she just doesn't want to discuss it. Still, is her spectacularly unsubtle exit from the conversation a knee-jerk reaction to realizing her verbal misstep earlier, or was the whole thing a deliberate ploy? I do not know, but it makes for fun reading. If I didn't have so much to do offline, I'd go bum around Lit for a while and watch the fireworks.