Star Wars books (re)reading
Star Wars: The Land Calrissian Adventures (1983) -
Lando Clrissian and the Mindharp of Shau
Lando Clrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon
Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of Thonboka
~ by L. Neil Smith (Random House Publishing / Del Rey)
Star Wars: Tales of the Bounty Hunters - Editied by Kevin J. Anderson (1996, DEC)
Therefore I Am: The Tale of IG-88: - Kevin J. Anderson
Payback: The Tale of Dengar - Dave Wolverton
The Prize Pelt: The tale of Bossk ~ Kathy Tyers
Of Possible Futures: The Tale of Zuckuss and 4-LOM ~ M. Shayne Bell
The Last One Standing: The Tale of Boba Fett ~ Daniel Keys Moran
After putting down “Therefore I Am: The Tale of IG-88” - in the SW: Tale of the Bounty Hunters - I had this amusing thought of C-3PO becoming Prime and stopping the war between Droids and Organics.
Star Wars: X-Wing series
#7 Solo Command - Aaron Allston (1999)
(OCT) Star Wars Rebels: Rise of the Rebels by Michael Kogge. (If one likes the cartoon SW: Rebel series, this chapter book is short, sweet, and very in character … for the first season anyway, seeing as this was published in 2014).
Found towards the back of Star Wars: Outbound Flight (by Timothy Zahn) is his short story “Mist Encounters” - for Star Wars fans, Thrawn is a familiar (to many, a beloved) character and these stories - the novel and it’s tag-along - leave one hungry for more.
Miscellaneous Star Wars books from March-to-September:
Star Wars: X-Wing series:
#1 Rouge Squadron - (Michael A. Stackpole)
#2 Wedge’s Gamble ~ Michael A. Stackpole
#3 The Kytos Trap - Michael A. Stackpole
#4 (the) Bacta War ~ Michael A. Stackpole
#5 Wraith Squadron - Aaron Allston
#6 Iron Fist ~ Aaron Allston
# 7 Solo Command ~ Aaron Allston
Star Wars: X-Wing: #8 Iscard’s Revenge - Michael A. Stackpole
Star Wars: X-Wing#9 Starfighters of Adumar - Aaron Allston - Bantam Spectra Book, August 1999)
Star Wars: Before The Awakening - Greg Rucka
and various other Star Wars books/tales/series
No, these were not written to prepare me for Rouge One. (What good would it do to read stories situated AFTER the events shown in that movie?)
For me, Star Wars officially begins with “A New Hope” - haven’t yet decided if “Return of the Jedi” - with the Expanded Universe books - or “The force Awakens” is the proper ending path.
I grew up with the E.U. Novels - everything published from Timothy Zhan’s “Dark Force Rising” (1991) till “…. What is the last SW book I read? Was it Scoundrels, by Timothy Zhan? Maybe it was the more recelnt release Kenobi? Or Aaron Allstron's last X-Wing Book: Mercy-Kill? No, pretty sure most recently published one was by Martha Wells Razor's Edge … Was it Dawn-of-the-Jedi? (2015) Think so.
Because I grew up with the S.W. novels - spanning mostly the Classical era (New Republic), nostalgia alone demands I don’t hold “The Force Awakens” as established canon … not when the most recent (released to DVD), overturns those many many books, makes them a hypothetical situation our favorite characters might never see.
And yet …
The Prequels - telling of Ani’s fall to the dark side - were decent enough, so starting Star Wars Universe with Anakin Skywalker seems prudent.
My hardcore enjoyment of explosions - especially if told and shown in story format, and not simply recordings of destruction for destruction’s sake, -Which makes choosing the revamped Universe a viable option.
Torn between the different generations. Will I like Rey and Poe, and Finn’s adventures as much as I did their predecessors?
Well, I meant Rouge One, set before A New Hope, but I think my Star Wars world has been shaken - and stirred enough with just The Force Awakens -
I don’t need to add another turbulent zone yet.
Not until I decide the love of Star Wars (movies and novels and comics) is enough to accept the changes, challenges, created by the direction chosen by the new director, fresh ownership, producers.
(Then again, the LEGO Freemaker Adventures were very good).
ASIDE ~ I read somewhere that one reason - out of a multitude - K.T. chose not to continue writing her Clone Wars era (ending with the first book of the 501st Legions), was due to the opposing views between her vision of Mandaloria - the warrior-soldiers, whose’ word is binding - and what the Clone Wars Cartoon set down as unbreakable canon.
[Maybe now that little rule of Lucas, “It all fits into one seamless universe: what one author has established, another cannot overwrite or ignore” will be broken. Or LOOSELY reinterperated. After all, it’s been challenged by his own contradictions between Episodes IV through VI and Episodes I to III. Those tiny breaks have already been further exploited by director-and-producer J.J. Abrams in his single “The Force Awakens”
… Theoretically, Episode VII could have been expounded into a trilogy instead of smoshed into a single film.
For those hardcore Star Wars movie lovers, it is NOT a good idea to marathon watch the Originals (Luke Skywalker’s story) followed directly by the last official episode on the - so far - seven film saga.
Which is yet ANOTHER reason I am not planning on watching S.W. Rouge One - while the timeline does allow for an epic movie to fit into the years between “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope”, film wise, there is already an episode III (3) and an episode IV (4) - no room on the docket.
Besides, we know what happens to those brave spies and fliers: they don’t make it - or if they do accomplish their mission, they don’t live to see the results. (Only two fighter pilots survived the first Death Star, and Wedge Antilles is no spy or infiltrator. Not according to the books anyway).
Lando Clrissian and the Mindharp of Shau
Lando Clrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon
Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of Thonboka
~ by L. Neil Smith (Random House Publishing / Del Rey)
Star Wars: Tales of the Bounty Hunters - Editied by Kevin J. Anderson (1996, DEC)
Therefore I Am: The Tale of IG-88: - Kevin J. Anderson
Payback: The Tale of Dengar - Dave Wolverton
The Prize Pelt: The tale of Bossk ~ Kathy Tyers
Of Possible Futures: The Tale of Zuckuss and 4-LOM ~ M. Shayne Bell
The Last One Standing: The Tale of Boba Fett ~ Daniel Keys Moran
After putting down “Therefore I Am: The Tale of IG-88” - in the SW: Tale of the Bounty Hunters - I had this amusing thought of C-3PO becoming Prime and stopping the war between Droids and Organics.
Star Wars: X-Wing series
#7 Solo Command - Aaron Allston (1999)
(OCT) Star Wars Rebels: Rise of the Rebels by Michael Kogge. (If one likes the cartoon SW: Rebel series, this chapter book is short, sweet, and very in character … for the first season anyway, seeing as this was published in 2014).
Found towards the back of Star Wars: Outbound Flight (by Timothy Zahn) is his short story “Mist Encounters” - for Star Wars fans, Thrawn is a familiar (to many, a beloved) character and these stories - the novel and it’s tag-along - leave one hungry for more.
Miscellaneous Star Wars books from March-to-September:
Star Wars: X-Wing series:
#1 Rouge Squadron - (Michael A. Stackpole)
#2 Wedge’s Gamble ~ Michael A. Stackpole
#3 The Kytos Trap - Michael A. Stackpole
#4 (the) Bacta War ~ Michael A. Stackpole
#5 Wraith Squadron - Aaron Allston
#6 Iron Fist ~ Aaron Allston
# 7 Solo Command ~ Aaron Allston
Star Wars: X-Wing: #8 Iscard’s Revenge - Michael A. Stackpole
Star Wars: X-Wing#9 Starfighters of Adumar - Aaron Allston - Bantam Spectra Book, August 1999)
Star Wars: Before The Awakening - Greg Rucka
and various other Star Wars books/tales/series
No, these were not written to prepare me for Rouge One. (What good would it do to read stories situated AFTER the events shown in that movie?)
For me, Star Wars officially begins with “A New Hope” - haven’t yet decided if “Return of the Jedi” - with the Expanded Universe books - or “The force Awakens” is the proper ending path.
I grew up with the E.U. Novels - everything published from Timothy Zhan’s “Dark Force Rising” (1991) till “…. What is the last SW book I read? Was it Scoundrels, by Timothy Zhan? Maybe it was the more recelnt release Kenobi? Or Aaron Allstron's last X-Wing Book: Mercy-Kill? No, pretty sure most recently published one was by Martha Wells Razor's Edge … Was it Dawn-of-the-Jedi? (2015) Think so.
Because I grew up with the S.W. novels - spanning mostly the Classical era (New Republic), nostalgia alone demands I don’t hold “The Force Awakens” as established canon … not when the most recent (released to DVD), overturns those many many books, makes them a hypothetical situation our favorite characters might never see.
And yet …
The Prequels - telling of Ani’s fall to the dark side - were decent enough, so starting Star Wars Universe with Anakin Skywalker seems prudent.
My hardcore enjoyment of explosions - especially if told and shown in story format, and not simply recordings of destruction for destruction’s sake, -Which makes choosing the revamped Universe a viable option.
Torn between the different generations. Will I like Rey and Poe, and Finn’s adventures as much as I did their predecessors?
Well, I meant Rouge One, set before A New Hope, but I think my Star Wars world has been shaken - and stirred enough with just The Force Awakens -
I don’t need to add another turbulent zone yet.
Not until I decide the love of Star Wars (movies and novels and comics) is enough to accept the changes, challenges, created by the direction chosen by the new director, fresh ownership, producers.
(Then again, the LEGO Freemaker Adventures were very good).
ASIDE ~ I read somewhere that one reason - out of a multitude - K.T. chose not to continue writing her Clone Wars era (ending with the first book of the 501st Legions), was due to the opposing views between her vision of Mandaloria - the warrior-soldiers, whose’ word is binding - and what the Clone Wars Cartoon set down as unbreakable canon.
[Maybe now that little rule of Lucas, “It all fits into one seamless universe: what one author has established, another cannot overwrite or ignore” will be broken. Or LOOSELY reinterperated. After all, it’s been challenged by his own contradictions between Episodes IV through VI and Episodes I to III. Those tiny breaks have already been further exploited by director-and-producer J.J. Abrams in his single “The Force Awakens”
… Theoretically, Episode VII could have been expounded into a trilogy instead of smoshed into a single film.
For those hardcore Star Wars movie lovers, it is NOT a good idea to marathon watch the Originals (Luke Skywalker’s story) followed directly by the last official episode on the - so far - seven film saga.
Which is yet ANOTHER reason I am not planning on watching S.W. Rouge One - while the timeline does allow for an epic movie to fit into the years between “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope”, film wise, there is already an episode III (3) and an episode IV (4) - no room on the docket.
Besides, we know what happens to those brave spies and fliers: they don’t make it - or if they do accomplish their mission, they don’t live to see the results. (Only two fighter pilots survived the first Death Star, and Wedge Antilles is no spy or infiltrator. Not according to the books anyway).