Every year in late May and early June, Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park in Orlando, Florida, hosts Star Wars Weekends. If you’ve been to one before, you understand what I’m talking about. For those who haven’t had the chance to experience it, or who are planning to go this summer for the first time, here are my top five reasons Disney’s event is a summer must-do for Star Wars fans.

1) Star Tours – Last year, George Lucas showed up on opening day of Star Wars Weekends to unveil the new and improved Star Tours ride. With the assistance of C-3PO and R2-D2, tourists aid the Rebel spy aboard their ship in evading the evil Empire. Between journeys to destinations such as Tatooine, Hoth, and Naboo, messages from characters such as Yoda and Princess Leia deliver critical mission parameters. By the time the ride is over, passengers have experienced the rush of Podracing or the thrill of defeating the infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett. The new Star Tours has 54 different possible combinations, so each ride is a new Star Wars adventure. So far, I’ve seen 15 of the 54, and no duplications on the same day. Every ride, the conclusion never fails to bring whoops of joy and rounds of applause from the passengers.

TRICIA’S TIP: The Rebel spy is generally chosen from among the riders seated in the first or last row. Obey the crew’s instructions and keep your 3D glasses off your face prior to departure to give yourself the best chance of becoming the “chosen one.”

2) Hyperspace Hoopla – What happens when you mash up Star Wars and pop music? Fun, dancing, and hilarity. This show used to be on a side stage; now, it’s standing room only even at the main stage under the Sorcerer’s Hat in the center of the park. And for good reason: it’s one of the most entertaining Disney extravaganzas ever produced. Words can’t do this show justice, so here’s a peek at last year’s version available on Youtube.

TRICIA’S TIP: In previous years the show has started at 8:00 p.m., and the crowds start forming as early as an hour ahead of time. It’s summertime in Florida so wear your deodorant, hope everyone else does too, and bring water for the wait so you don’t have to lose your prime viewing spot.

3) Jedi Training Academy – I believe every Star Wars fan should watch this stage show. Recruits don Padawan robes and learn from a wise Jedi Master about wielding a lightsaber, then a Sith Lord shows up and the Jedi have to face him down. Sure, the experience of participating is limited to the kids – at least the ones whose parents get them to the park early enough to enroll before all the spots fill up – but anyone who watches these Yoda-sized fanboys and fangirls as they determinedly duel with Darth Vader is suddenly transported back to their earliest experiences with Star Wars. Do you remember believing that if Luke Skywalker could do the impossible, so could you? Every once in a while, a Jedi-in-training falls to the dark side and steals the show. The Academy takes place a couple of times each hour on the Star Tours side stage. After enjoying the ride, make the time to stop by, enjoy the youthful enthusiasm, and remember what it meant be young and inspired.

TRICIA’S TIP: I’m not joking when I say arrive early if you want to make sure your child will have a chance to participate. The earlier time slots are better with the Florida weather, and spots fill up fast. Get to the park before it opens, then join the line up on Main Street when they start letting people inside. When they drop the rope, grab (pick up) your kids and hurry straight to the signup location. Use of Jedi mind tricks and Force shoves will be penalized by the all-knowing Yoda who oversees the training.

4) The Hosts: James Arnold Taylor and Ashley Eckstein – The voice talent behind Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano on The Clone Wars are back again this year. Both actors host a variety of events throughout the day, including a sneak peek trailer for Season Five, and they always manage to capture the Disney spirit. James Arnold Taylor premiered his one-man show last year, performing an amazing spectrum of voices while weaving an inspirational tale of his life as a voice actor. His show last year literally left me believing I could achieve my lifelong dream of writing my own novel. It’s an experience that shouldn’t be missed.

TRICIA’S TIP: The lines for the hosts’ and celebrity guests’ stage appearances usually start forming about 30-40 minutes beforehand. If you’re only at the park for one day, I highly recommend the shows over rides as they offer unique insights into Star Wars (and are air-conditioned). I haven’t seen a guest turned away, but don’t be late. Once the doors are closed at show time, they generally don’t let people inside.

5) Star Wars VIPs – Throughout each day, Star Wars celebrities mingle with fans, sign autographs, and participate in Q&A appearances. Some of my past favorites are back this summer. Last year Ray Park (Darth Maul) took on the daunting prospect of teaching an entire stage of children a series of martial arts poses, complete with flailing lightsabers. Dee Bradley Baker joined Ashley and James in hilarious extemporaneous voice-overs to The Clone Wars scenes in non-Star Wars character voices. StarWars.com has a full list of special guests if you’re hoping to see someone in particular.

For Star Wars Expanded Universe fans, Essential Guide to Warfare author Jason Fry and Del Rey editor Erich Schoeneweiss will be attending the weekend of June 1st to 3rd. Jason will be wielding a pen in lieu of his lightsaber at three book signings:

Friday, June 1: 12pm-2pm in Darth’s Mall
Saturday, June 2: 12pm-2pm in Writer’s Stop
Sunday, June 3: 11am-1pm in Darth’s Mall

After you get your book signed, grab Erich and chat Star Wars.

Just announced this past week, Cat Taber (Padmé Amidala) will be joining the festivities the same weekend as Jason and Erich. Cat is getting a special nod because she happens to be a longtime Star Wars Expanded Universe fan. Having voiced Padmé in The Clone Wars and Leia in the The Force Unleashed, Cat has stated repeatedly in interviews that she hopes to someday portray Jaina Solo, the daughter of Leia Organa and Han Solo. Late last year, Suvudu readers voted on the Star Wars books series with the most screen potential, and the New Jedi Order series, which features Jaina and her brothers Anakin Solo and Jacen Solo, beat out the X-Wing series. Now if we can convince George Lucas…

TRICIA’S TIP: Jason, Erich, and Cat are all great ambassadors for Star Wars, and they’re fans just like us.

I plan to attend several of the Star Wars Weekends this summer, and I’ll be running around the park capturing the fan fun for FANgirl Blog, including some pictures of the book signing with Jason and Erich. Hopefully I can catch up with Cat, get her to pose with a purple lightsaber – Mace Windu wasn’t the first character to slice bad guys with a violet blade – and then start the campaign for more Star Wars television shows, preferably with Jaina. A fangirl can dream.

Cat, Jason, and Erich were good sports and answered a little quiz I created to predict a fan’s ideal Star Tours ride. Befitting their artistic careers and their enthusiasm for Star Wars, all three of them gave answers that weren’t among the options I’d given. I have to say I’m most impressed with their fannish creativity. To see what their best potential Star Tours combination might be – or if you want to take the quiz yourself – click over to FANgirl Blog.

That’s where we at Suvudu come in with a series of posts about Expanded Universe “gateway” novels. Various aspects of the Star Wars films, from romance to political intrigue, have become the subject of entire books or series. From reflections on the path toward Jedi Knighthood to Sith machinations described by the plotters themselves, there’s something for just about every type of Star Wars fan in the EU. If you want to set a course for the EU but you’re not sure where to start, let Suvudu be your navicomputer. It’s time to punch in our first set of coordinates!

Aaron Allston’s upcoming new novel X-Wing: Mercy Kill is generating a lot of buzz in the fan community, so we thought we’d kick off our gateway series by looking at another X-Wing novel that does a great job of setting the stage for both the series and the broader EU. X-Wing: Wraith Squadron, also written by Aaron Allston, was released in 1998 as the fifth book in the X-Wing series. Its immediate appeal and status as a great gateway novel into the EU comes from the fact that it unites familiar characters with all-new personalities in a classic setting and retains the combination of camaraderie, humor, and grittiness that made the original Star Wars trilogy so iconic.

First, here are the key details about the book:

X-Wing: Wraith Squadron by Aaron Allston

Released in paperback on February 2, 1998, with cover art by Paul Youll

Set in the New Republic era, 7 years ABY (After the Battle of Yavin,  the destruction of the Death Star as seen in the original film)

Dramatis personae

The Wraiths

• Commander Wedge Antilles (human male from Corellia)
• Lieutenant Wes Janson (human male from Taanab)
• Lieutenant Myn Donos (human male from Corellia)
• Jesmin Ackbar (Mon Calamari female from Mon Calamari)
• Hohass “Runt” Ekwesh (Thakwaash male from Thakwaa)
• Garik “Face” Loran (human male from Pantolomin)
• Ton Phanan (human male from Rudrig)
• Falynn Sandskimmer (human female from Tatooine)
• Voort “Piggy” saBinring (Gamorrean male from Gamorr)
• Tyria Sarkin (human female from Toprawa)
• Kell Tainer (human male from Sluis Van)
• Eurrsk “Grinder” Thri’ag (Bothan male from Bothuwai)

Rogue Squadron Support Personnel

• Cubber Daine (human male from Corellia, squad mechanic)
• Chunky (Tyria’s R5 unit)
• Gadget (Phanan’s R2 unit)
• Gate (Wedge’s R5 unit)
• Shiner (Donos’s R2 unit)
• Squeaky (3PO unit, squadron quartermaster)
• Thirteen (Kell’s R2 unit)
• Vape (Face’s R2 unit)

New Republic Military

• General Edor Crespin (human male from Corulag)
• Captain Choday Hrakness (human male from Agamar)
• Lieutenant Atril Tabanne (human female from Coruscant)
• Dorset Konnair (human female from Coruscant)
• Tetengo Noor (human male from Churba)

Zsinj’s Forces

• Warlord Zsinj (human male from Fondor)
• Admiral Apwar Trigit (human male from Coruscant)
• Captain Zurel Darillian (human male from Coruscant)
• Lieutenant Gara Petothel (human female from Coruscant)

Publisher’s synopsis

They are the galaxy’s most elite fighting force. And as the battle against the Empire rages, the X-wing fighters risk life and machine to protect the Rebel Alliance. Now they must go on a daring undercover mission–as the crew of an Imperial warship.

It is Wedge Antilles’ boldest creation: a covert-action unit of X-wing fighters, its pilots drawn from the dregs of other units, castoffs and rejects given one last chance. But before the new pilots can complete their training, the squadron’s base is attacked by former Imperial admiral Trigit, and Wraith Squadron is forced to swing into action–taking over an Imperial warship and impersonating its crew. The mission: to gain vital intelligence about Trigit’s secret weapons, to sabotage the admiral’s plans, and to lure him into an Alliance trap. But the high-stakes gamble pits Wraith Squadron’s ragtag renegades against the Empire’s most brilliant master of guile and deception.

Are they up to the challenge?

If not, the penalty is instant death.

Why is this a good gateway book? Why does it “matter” to Star Wars?

One of keys to Wraith Squadron’s appeal is that it takes one beloved aspect of the Star Wars films –– the starfighter combat –– and expands upon that group dynamic, the ship-based challenges, and the space-related perils to provide readers with a more nuanced and detailed story of risky dogfights and flashy maneuvers. While movie audiences got a glimpse of cockpit banter between Luke, Biggs, Wedge, and a handful of other pilots, X-Wing: Wraith Squadron takes that teamwork to a whole new level. All of the X-Wing books include banter, practical jokes, and camaraderie, but in Wraith Squadron, Wedge Antilles’ unit consists of pilots with an unprecedented level of diversity in their personal histories. From Admiral Ackbar’s niece Jesmin to the Gamorrean Voort “Piggy” daBinring to former child actor Garik “Face” Loran, Wraith Squadron is the definition of a motley crew.

The theme of underdogs fighting against The Man is certainly not new in the Star Wars universe. But the fact that the Rebel Alliance was all about a rogues’ gallery of heroes does nothing to diminish the unique ways in which Aaron Allston plays the Wraiths, with their sharply contrasting personalities, off of each other. It’s a testament to how much he makes you care about these characters that you even start to look forward to dialog from their astromech units. (Between Chunky, Gadget, Shiner, and Vape, there’s no shortage of droid-related humor when these dedicated robots converse with their headstrong and mischievous pilots.)

What’s more, Wraith Squadron’s villains –– like Warlord Zsinj and Admiral Trigit of the Imperial Navy –– fit into the saga so well that they could have been ripped from the deleted scenes of the Original Trilogy. To be sure, their personalities –– defined by arrogance, traditionalism, and disdain for the New Republic –– extend the films’ good-versus-evil dynamic onto the page. But these villains also mix in an element that was fleeting in the movies: Imperial officers’ reactions to what the good guys are doing. Remember the Imperial captain in The Empire Strikes Back who responded to the Rebels launching their transports by saying, “Good, our first catch of the day”? Aaron Allston seized on that hard-to-define vibe and transplanted it into Wraith Squadron. Because this book in particular takes the series’ space combat dynamic to a new level with its decidedly less disciplined cast of characters, Zsinj and Trigit’s reactions to their opponents’ strategies are particularly rewarding to read.

This book also fits nicely into the growing post-Return of the Jedi era by depicting the fledgling New Republic’s campaign against Imperial warlords and admirals who survived the Battle of Endor and chose not to surrender. While most of the Grand Admirals have been defeated by the time the book begins, Zsinj and Trigit’s continuing threats underscore that the publishing segment known as the New Republic era is a period of turmoil and transition. The patchwork nature of Wedge and his squadron –– a veritable rogue’s gallery of pilots –– is a perfect metaphor for the ways in which “the good guys” are changing.

If you’re looking for an easy gateway into the Star Wars Expanded Universe, you might want to start with Aaron Allston’s X-Wing: Wraith Squadron. Within its pages, established characters and fresh faces join forces in a fun and exciting story that helps chronicle the New Republic’s transition from dark-horse freedom-fighting group to galactic government.

————————————————————————————————

Railsea by China Mieville
9780345524522
Del Rey Hardcover – 5/15/2012

On board the moletrain Medes, Sham Yes ap Soorap watches in awe as he witnesses his first moldywarpe hunt: the giant mole bursting from the earth, the harpoonists targeting their prey, the battle resulting in one’s death and the other’s glory. But no matter how spectacular it is, Sham can’t shake the sense that there is more to life than traveling the endless rails of the railsea–even if his captain can think only of the hunt for the ivory-coloured mole she’s been chasing since it took her arm all those years ago. When they come across a wrecked train, at first it’s a welcome distraction. But what Sham finds in the derelict—a series of pictures hinting at something, somewhere, that should be impossible—leads to considerably more than he’d bargained for. Soon he’s hunted on all sides, by pirates, trainsfolk, monsters and salvage-scrabblers. And it might not be just Sham’s life that’s about to change. It could be the whole of the railsea.

From China Miéville comes a novel for readers of all ages, a gripping and brilliantly imagined take on Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick that confirms his status as “the most original and talented voice to appear in several years.” (Science Fiction Chronicle)

————————————————————————————————

 Battleship (Movie Tie-in Edition) by Peter David
9780345535375
Del Rey Paperback – 4/24/2012

During a routine naval drill at Pearl Harbor, American forces detect a ship of unknown origins that’s crashed in the Pacific Ocean. Lieutenant Alex Hopper, an officer aboard the USS John Paul Jones, is ordered to investigate the ominous-looking vessel—which turns out to be part of an armada of ships that are stronger and faster than any on Earth. And that’s when the Navy’s radar goes down. Ambushed by a ravenous enemy they cannot see, a small U.S. fleet makes their last stand on the open ocean, armed with little more than their instincts, to defend their lives—and the world as we know it.
 
The official novel of the blockbuster film!
Based on the screenplay by Erich Hoeber and Jon Hoeber

————————————————————————————————

Star Wars: Scourge by Jeff Grubb
9780345511225
LucasBooks Paperback – 4/24/2012

In the heart of crime-ridden Hutt Space, a Jedi Scholar searches for justice.
 
While trying to obtain the coordinates of a secret, peril-packed, but potentially beneficial trade route, a novice Jedi is killed—and the motive for his murder remains shrouded in mystery. Now his former Master, Jedi archivist Mander Zuma, wants answers, even as he fights to erase doubts about his own abilities as a Jedi. What Mander gets is immersion into the perilous underworld of the Hutts as he struggles to stay one step ahead in a game of smugglers, killers, and crime lords bent on total control.

————————————————————————————————

Tricked (The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book Four) by Kevin Hearne
9780345533623
Del Rey Paperback – 4/24/2012

Druid Atticus O’Sullivan hasn’t stayed alive for more than two millennia without a fair bit of Celtic cunning. So when vengeful thunder gods come Norse by Southwest looking for payback, Atticus, with a little help from the Navajo trickster god Coyote, lets them think that they’ve chopped up his body in the Arizona desert.

But the mischievous Coyote is not above a little sleight of paw, and Atticus soon finds that he’s been duped into battling bloodthirsty desert shapeshifters called skinwalkers. Just when the Druid thinks he’s got a handle on all the duplicity, betrayal comes from an unlikely source. If Atticus survives this time, he vows he won’t be fooled again. Famous last words.

————————————————————————————————

Fable: Jack of Blades (Short Story) by Peter David
9780345539403
Del Rey eBook – 5/22/2012  

Finally, the people of Albion are safe. Jack of Blades, the supernatural terror, has been slayed . . . or at least, that’s what they’ve been told. But the residents of Oddwood know that Jack is alive and well. Leading a small force of mercenaries, Jack has enslaved the townsfolk and is enjoying a life of luxury—until an unassuming young man arrives on the scene, inadvertently thwarting Jack at every step. Living up to his merciless reputation, Jack of Blades decides upon a suitable punishment: throwing the newcomer into a cage with a flesh-eating Balverine. Little does Jack realize that he’s dealing with a wild card—and a shocking twist to the Fable™ saga.
 
© 2012 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Microsoft, Fable, Lionhead, the Lionhead logo, Xbox, and the Xbox logo are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.

————————————————————————————————

Fable: Reaver (Short Story) by Peter David
9780345539380
Del Rey eBook – 5/2/2012

Captain Dread has made a deal with the port cities: They pay him for protection, and he doesn’t raid them. It’s a neat and tidy arrangement, all agree, except for one man, Reaver, the daring outlaw blessed with eternal youth, who refuses to cede his hometown of Bloodstone. After Reaver sends back one too many heads in a duffel bag, Dread decides to take matters into his own hands. To his surprise, Reaver surrenders willingly. But Dread’s new prisoner is no coward. It’s all part of Reaver’s unbelievably bold—and bloody—plan, which ultimately pits pirate against pirate in an explosive showdown that will live forever in the legendary world of Fable™.
 
© 2012 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Microsoft, Fable, Lionhead, the Lionhead logo, Xbox, and the Xbox logo are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.

————————————————————————————————

Check out these backlist titles making their electronic debut this month! 

Lord Foul’s Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson
9780307818652
Del Rey eBook – 5/16/2012

Power That Preserves by Stephen R. Donaldson
9780307818669 
Del Rey eBook – 5/16/2012 

The Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn
9780307822437
Spectra eBook – 5/23/2012 

The Illearth War by Stephen R. Donaldson
9780307818676
Del Rey eBook – 5/16/2012

In the Star Wars Expanded Universe where the books and comics present one continuous canon, this question pops up with regularity. I’m always interested to see how fans answer it. It’s natural to want to pitch our personal favorites in response, but not everyone who’s asking is going to have the same tastes. So when I’m presented with that question by a curious potential fan, I try to return a question to him or her before considering my response – What is it that you like?

In his recent interview with the ForceCast, Frank Parisi talked about creating gateways into the Expanded Universe. I believe that the key, if you really want to suck someone into the fandom, is to give the person the flavor they prefer the most first. For instance, what if I’m talking to a friend who mentions, “I really love The Godfather”? Well, the Galaxy Far Far Away has something that just might float their gangster-loving boat. That’s when the lightsaber of an idea would ignite in my head and I’d say, “How about you give this new book Scourge a try?”

I’ve been turned on to books or television shows I might not have chosen on my own based on recommendations from sources varying from personal friends to online personalities. Recently, The Hunger Games books and The Legend of Korra television show come to mind. I trusted the judgment of the people who recommended them to me. As a blogger, creating that kind of trust with my own audience is very important.

Over the past year, after answering many tweets and emails with that daunting question of where to start reading the Star Wars Expanded Universe, I put together a little cheat sheet. My selections come in part from my own sensibilities, but all of these books are well regarded by a broad spectrum of fans. I’ve also found that one-shots or duologies are much less imposing as a place to begin. If one or two characters grab their attention, though, readers are often hooked. For each of my selections, I’ve tried to give a frame of reference – if you like this franchise or genre or movie, then you’d probably like that book.

So below are my fangirl suggestions. I’m always happy to answer the question directly on Twitter or at FANgirl Zone on Facebook, too.

****

Are movie novelizations your thing? Then you can’t miss Revenge of the Sith. Author Matt Stover sat down with George Lucas to get a peek inside the characters’ heads. This is one of the very best novels in the entire Expanded Universe, and it expands on the film in brilliant and unexpected ways.

Do you like romance? Are Han and Leia your dream team? If you were wondering how the pair finally tied the knot, read The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton. Sure, parts of it are a little cheesy, but that’s to be expected in a space opera romance. Or if you’d prefer to read about them as newlyweds, I suggest Tatooine Ghost by Troy Denning.

Is Top Gun one of your favorites? Do you think the trench run was the best part of A New Hope? Ever wondered what it’s like to fly an X-wing? Pick up X-Wing: Starfighters of Adumar by fan-favorite author Aaron Allston. This is also one of the laugh-out-loud funniest books in the Expanded Universe.

Did you like frontline storytelling like M*A*S*H – assuming you’re old enough to know what that is – or medical practitioner procedurals? Do you like stories about side characters? Medstar I: Battle Surgeons and Medstar II: Jedi Healer by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry feature doctors and a female Jedi healer struggling to make a difference in the Clone Wars.

Are you a fan of the original Star Wars movies? Timothy Zahn set the high bar with the Thrawn trilogy, which some fans consider their Episodes VII, VIII and IX; the first book is Heir to the Empire. Allegiance, which takes place shortly after A New Hope, has Luke, Han, Leia, an intriguing squad of honor-bound stormtroopers, and Zahn’s signature strong female heroine, Mara Jade, in her days as the Emperor’s Hand. His latest Star Wars book, Choices of One, has a similar tale.

Would you prefer something from the prequel movie era? James Luceno’s Darth Plagueis shook the collective fandom mind with its carefully crafted exposure of the Sith machinations to take over the galaxy. If you think Mace Windu is the man, Shatterpoint digs into the Jedi Master’s backstory and Force philosophy. And if clones are more up your alley, Republic Commando: Hard Contact turns the troopers-beneath-the-armor into human beings.

Have you wondered about Han’s and Leia’s children, or had an inkling to taste-test the epic nineteen-book New Jedi Order but felt a little daunted about jumping in without knowing much about it? (Or wondered about that character Jaina Solo who FANgirl Blog won’t stop talking about?) Get Ylesia. It’s an ebook short story with a little romance, some Jedi swinging their lightsabers, a good sense of the Yuuzhan Vong villains of the series, and some fighter pilot action to top it off. You can find the story in print in the first book of Troy Denning’s Dark Nest trilogy, Dark Nest I: The Joiner King.

****

That’s my list. I hope it didn’t boggle the newbie mind too much. And, of course, if you have some others, please feel free to make suggestions in the comments.

What follows is the first half of my interview with Jeff Grubb. You can find the second half on TheForce.Net.

****

First of all, welcome to the Star Wars Expanded Universe! What’s your earliest Star Wars memory?

It was my sophomore year at Purdue University, at the Pizza Keg with a group of gamers, SF Fans, and SCA members. One of the group was talking about a new SF movie coming out next summer. He described it as a space opera, but it was the bad guys who wore the white armor.

Who’s your favorite character and what’s your favorite scene involving him/her?

From the movies? Definitely Han, for his amazing ability to leap into the middle of a situation and then realizing he was in over his head. The entire intercom conversation on the Death Star is a great example. (“We’re fine. We’re all fine here now, thank you. How are you?”) This has that moment where he believes – “Yes, this is going to work” before everything falls apart.

Did/do you collect Star Wars memorabilia?

“Collect” is a strong word. Let me say that I “accumulated” instead. I have a full run of the old Marvel Star Wars comics, and had some of the original Star Wars action figures (including a C3PO whose joints were painted over and so as a result had no points of articulation).

How familiar were you with the Expanded Universe before you got the contract for Scourge? What’s your favorite in-universe era?

I have been splanging off the Star Wars universe for years. I was involved with the Star Wars RPG from Wizards of the Coast (my Wookiee is named Whappamanga), wrote several projects for that game, and was one of the designers of WotC’s Star Wars miniature game. And my Lovely Bride has been playing the West End Star Wars RPG for half-past forever.

Favorite era? I am old-school. The Rebellion era is my favorite, followed by the New Jedi Order period.

Did you get any advice from other Star Wars authors as you were writing Scourge?

Troy Denning has been particularly helpful, and I want to thank him publicly for his help and advice. Both he and I are old TSR veterans, and have worked in a lot of shared worlds. Having dealt with the Star Wars universe deeply, he knew how things worked, and gave me a head’s up about what to expect when working with a classic license like Star Wars.

Why did you want to write a book that featured only new characters?

When I started on this book, I pitched a number of concepts to Del Rey. Some of them involved well-known characters, some used minor characters from the canon (Dexter Jettster is also a fave of mine), and some totally new characters. We settled on a story set in a familiar time and place, but with new characters.

Were there ever plans to include established Star Wars characters in cameo appearances?

No cameos in so many words (I just got an image of Han showing up, waving, then leaving). I like the idea that this is a big universe, and there are a lot of stories to be told. However, the iconic characters cast very long shadows, so their achievements and wisdom comes down through the years.

Thanks to Jeff Grubb for taking the time to answer my questions. His first EU novel, Star Wars: Scourge, is on sale now. You can check out the second half of this interview on TheForce.Net.

This week’s excerpt comes from Jeff Grubb’s STAR WARS: SCOURGE. The latest Star Wars adventure takes us deep into the dangerous world of the Hutts, where a vigilante Jedi searches for the criminal behind his friend’s untimely death. Read more below:

In the heart of crime-ridden Hutt-Space, a Jedi Scholar searches for justice.

While trying to obtain the coordinates of a secret, peril-packed, but potentially beneficial trade route, a novice Jedi is killed—and the motive for his murder remains shrouded in mystery. Now his former Master, Jedi archivist Mander Zuma, wants answers, even as he fights to erase doubts about his own abilities as a Jedi. What Mander gets is immersion into the perilous underworld of the Hutts as he struggles to stay one step ahead in a game of smugglers, killers, and crime lords bent on total control.

As always, feel free to give us feedback in the comments. Or let us know on Twitter via a direct message to our Twitter maven, Sarah Peed: www.twitter.com/delreyspectra. Or write on the wall of our Facebook page: Like us at www.facebook.com/delreyspectra

Please enjoy this excerpt of STAR WARS: SCOURGE, by Jeff Grubb, on sale April 24th!

STAR WARS: SCOURGE by Jeff Grubb, Excerpt

Can’t see the players above? Click on a link to listen/download: MP3 | OGG

Musical credits: Cellarscape
Executive Producer: Brennan Dye

 
ABOUT FICTIONAL FRONTIERS
Fictional Frontiers is the U.S.’s only weekly radio show dedicated to serious pop culture discussion. We broadcast each Monday from 5:00 to 6:00 PM EST on WNJC-1360 AM Philadelphia, and have listeners from across the United States and overseas via our live stream. For more information about us, visit our site here.

Find Fictional Frontiers on Facebook
Follow Fictional Frontiers on Twitter
Fictional Frontiers Show Archives

Like what you hear? Get it on the go:

• On iTunes
• On Feedburner
• On Miro

For me, this is summed up by the scene in A New Hope where the heroes get jumped by a dozen Stormtroopers on the Death Star: Han and Chewie, throwing realism to the wind, charge straight at them, screaming a war cry, and chase a vastly superior force of the Empire’s finest white-armored bad guys down the corridor in an all-out retreat. But then they careen headlong into an even bigger group of Stormtroopers, at which point Han and Chewie have to spin round on their heels and run away, their war-cry reduced to a panicked yell.

The Galaxy far, far away is a place where some kid with mystic abilities (aged nine or eighteen, depending on your favorite trilogy) hops aboard a space fighter plane he’s not been trained to fly, and sneaks in a torpedo shot that destroys the bad guys’ evil battle station. The laser pistols fire glowing energy bullets that are instantly understandable as the sci-fi equivalent of rounds from a cowboy’s Colt 45, but you’re only going to hurt your head if you try and find a sensible scientific explanation for why they work like that. The big guns on the space battleships thrust their dark muzzles out of heavy-lidded gunports like the cannons aboard pirate galleons.

A tribe of grinning little furballs slaughters a legion of the best high-tech sci-fi shock troops in the Empire – and that same Empire’s huge assault tanks are designed to look like war elephants, for the simple reason that elephant-shaped sci-fi tanks just look darn cool up there on the silver screen.

Even if we’re getting a little more serious, Star Wars is a place where a handful of outnumbered Rebels can take down a star-spanning dictatorship, armed with little more than hot-rod stunt planes and handguns, and where unblemished optimism and an ability to charm your way out of danger are essential parts of heroism.

That, and true love always wins.

But what do you do when you’re writing a book that needs to describe the technicalities of how an Ewok defeats a Stormtrooper? You have to come up with straight-faced explanations that don’t seem completely crazy or compromise the inherent fun and lightness of the saga.

That’s the situation I found myself in when I was asked to co-write Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Warfare – a new guide to the warriors and weaponry of the Star Wars saga. Of course, I jumped at the chance, and thus, I became a sort of kilted Boba Fett sidekick to lead author Jason Fry’s baseball-bat-wielding Darth Vader.

And then I realized just what I’d gotten myself into.

How do you describe the technicalities of how an Ewok defeats a Stormtrooper?

Well, you have some fun doing it, for one thing. And for my inaugural blog post here on Suvudu, I wanted to share some of the fun I had working on this book, and some of the things that I learned about telling a story.

Let’s start with the Ewoks.

Jason took the lead. He gave them poisoned arrows, and emphasized how tripwires and pits with spikes in them can take out infantry patrols, just like they did in Vietnam. In Warfare, the defeat on Endor is told by a veteran Stormtrooper, still struggling with the psychological scars of death-by-cannibal-teddy-bear but the hard-core fans will also know something that the Stormtrooper doesn’t. The newsroom interviewer he’s talking to grew up as a space castaway in an Ewok tribe on Endor, in a 1980s TV special that reminds us just how innocent and exuberant Star Wars can be.

On one level, that reminds us that this is a story being told for fun. The trooper’s wild-eyed fear of cuddly teddy-bears is something that we should chuckle at a little. But perhaps it also adds subtext to the Stormtrooper’s angst – the shifty-eyed strangeness of recognizing that Endor is somewhere a little weird.

Is there something going on that works outside the normal rules of warfare, something subverting the expected triumph of technology and ruthless reason? How else do you explain that prickling feeling at the back of your armored collar, the sweat inside the padded brow of your helmet, when there’s nothing at all to see on your combat displays. Did you just imagine the distant screams and panicked chatter in your earphones?

The lenses of your eyepieces feel too narrow. Are your systems malfunctioning? You feel vulnerable, as you grip your shiny black space rifle, and take your next step down the narrow trail. White armor and smart black accoutrements don’t feel comfortable in the undergrowth of Endor.

And then you trip over the tripwire and get mobbed by a bunch of three-foot-tall bears with stone axes and pointy sticks.

And that is how freedom is reborn, with fireworks and that “Yub Nub” song.

The battle droids of the Prequels and the Clone Wars cartoon are another part of Star Wars that need a careful explanation. Clumsily inept war-robots that chatter away with bad jokes and fall apart when kicked can make us laugh – but how do you make any sort of sense of that? Building on existing explanations in other stories, Warfare plays up two ideas: cheap and inadequate personality-emulation software malfunctions and produces disturbingly comical behavior patterns, and Republic sabotage makes those pre-existing problems so much worse. There’s a marvelous accompanying illustration by John VanFleet that shows one battle droid accidentally shooting another, and a third holding its head in comical shame.

Just remember that there are still enough of them out there to march over a garrison of heroes, and bloodlessly slaughter every last one of them.

And what about the AT-ATs? They ended up being one of the most satisfying things I got to play with in the book. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed to me that designing your tanks to look like elephants might actually make a lot of sense, if you’re the Galactic Empire.

Maybe I was just going crazy?

But think about it for a moment. The tracks of conventional armored vehicles are complex and vulnerable. The hovering repulsor drives of Star Wars have built-in liabilities when it comes to deflector shields. Add to that the problem that laser guns can only shoot in straight lines, so the Empire’s vehicles needs to have them mounted really high up to be able to fire over obstacles. Then mix in a little nod to modern attempts to make transports where the crew compartments are protected from mine blasts. The end result is a description of the All-Terrain Assault Transport that makes it exactly the right machine to storm the Rebel base on Hoth.

But if all that seems a little clever, one piece in Warfare that really recaptures the fun of the movies is Jason’s description of the Battle of Tanaab. This is the story behind that “little maneuver” that Lando Calrissian mentions in Return of the Jedi. The tale is told in Lando’s own words, and you can never be sure how much he’s elaborating the story with some fancy verbal flying, and maybe suppressing some of the less heroic details. But it’s a great story, and because it’s Lando’s voice, the narrative viewpoint feels exactly right for Star Wars.

Another thing that Warfare has to deal with is the rank badges worn by the Imperial officers in the movies. In a way, it’s a very logical system – the more important a character is to the camera, the fancier their decorations get. So Governor Tarkin has a huge multi-coloured insignia that looks like a set of medal ribbons. Admiral Piett gets a much bigger badge when he moves up one step in the command chain, so the viewer’s eye takes in his promotion at a glance. The guys who salute and have one line about tractor beams have some sort of small-to-mid-sized badge. And the officers who just walk along the corridors in the background have none at all.

But how do you put all that into a coherent system? There are several excellent, but contradictory, fan interpretations out there on the internet, but in the end, I went for something that tried to explain all the on-screen examples, and also incorporated every reference that I could find from the tie-in novels, comics, source books, and games. Even if it wasn’t the simplest of systems, I figured that fans might turn to the table in the book when they were trying to make sense of a title or insignia that seemed odd. You also never know when some once-mentioned rank from an obscure corner of the canon is going to show up again.

When Timothy Zahn revived some ranks from short stories written nearly twenty years ago in his novel Choices of One, I felt vindicated.

Then I read a few pages more, and I realized that Zahn had added a new rank that wasn’t among the ones I’d used. I had to quickly contact my editor with some last-minute changes to the table.

Then there are the little tricks that never quite got into the book. Close-support weapons like grenade launchers haven’t really appeared as much in Star Wars as they should, and it would have been fun to think of some good reason why not – but perhaps it’s just as well that we didn’t use some flat statement to justify their absence, when Republic troopers showed up recently with trench mortars in the Clone Wars TV series.

One other thing there wasn’t room for in the book was a close look at the classic “wave attack” massed-infantry tactic, where an artillery barrage is followed closely by a large force of infantry – so closely that troops in the lead ranks will get shredded by their own supporting fire, but so close because the artillery fire keeps the enemy trapped down in their dug-outs, unable to man their own defensive guns. When the artillery stops, the infantry rush straight into the enemy trenches in a brutally close-range hand-to-hand attack.

That sort of tactic would be useful to explain the survival of infantry armed with blades and spears in Star Wars. Imagine the slave janissaries of the Hutts or the Yuuzhan Vong being sent forward behind a massive turbolaser artillery bombardment, until they’re so close to the enemy that a knife is as effective as a blaster.

But maybe that’s a little visceral. So when playing it straight fails, you can always fall back on the simple trick of wordplay. This is something that I learned from reading Tim Zahn’s novels, back when I was in my middle teens. What you tell and don’t tell on the page can help you to swerve around potential incongruities in your storytelling, especially in a Galaxy with hyperdrives and swords.

For example, one of the noble Jedi Lords of the early Republic, Lord Farfalla, is a faun who travels the stars on a spacegoing wooden galleon. Now, he’s written that way for deliberate effect, because he’s also embroiled in a savage trench-warfare campaign that makes the Western Front look tame; but how do you present those details in a passing summary, in a way that doesn’t seem ridiculous?

For Warfare, I suggested calling him “half-Bothan”, something that I hope fans who know the comics will recognize as an acknowledgement of his odd appearance without tying down his origins too much. For his flying galleon, I provided what I thought was a decent explanation for a space warship made of timber, a sci-fi riff on a real-world idea: the great arctic exploration ships were built of flexible hardwood, because it could resist massive crushing pressures better than the rigidity of armored steel.

But what the text deliberately doesn’t mention is that Farfalla looks like Mr. Tumnus’s aristocratic cousin, and that his wooden spaceship has a keel and figurehead, a superstructure like something out of the Spanish Armada, and big medieval sails.

Some things, perhaps, are better left unsaid.

So, that’s how you try to write about all the crazy plans and lucky shots that are so essential to Star Wars. All of which, I suppose, doesn’t look that different from the bluff and dodge and wildly optimistic grin of the average Rebel Alliance soldier, as they dare to attack the seemingly unbeatable challenge of the Empire.

Did it work? That’s the other great thing I’ve discovered about being an author – I have no idea. All I can do is ask you to read the book, and find out for yourself!

Recently when I was home for my dad’s birthday, I watched my brother play about five hours of Final Fantasy 8. I’m dead serious. I don’t actually like watching him play, but I literally have nothing else to do, so I just sit there as he talks to himself about his “game plan” and works his way up each level.

Despite how I feel about video games, watching video games, and not playing video games, I respect their millions of fans simply for the fact that they entertain me when I bored. As a gift to you, the gamer, I present you with free extended audiobook excerpts from the season’s most popular fantasy audiobooks including A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin (season 2 of the HBO hit premiered on April 1), Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Outcast by Aaron Allston (The final audiobook in the series Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse went on sale March 13), and Double Dexter by Jeff Lindsay. You can download them here.

Now entertain me!

By the time I got the book in my hands, fans had been treated to previews of some of the exceptional artwork. Teaser images from the Warfare guide were posted on the Star Wars Books Facebook page, io9.com, EUCantina, and FANgirl Blog to hint at what readers might expect (see gallery below as well). When I thumbed through the book itself, I was immediately struck by the beauty of the artwork and the layout. Little tidbits of prose grabbed my attention, too, as I continued my perusal. Author Jason Fry told me that he envisioned the book as “an exploration of war and how it had shaped the Star Wars galaxy, told from shifting points of view and using different techniques.” He definitely delivered. The combination of the art and prose really works, and the book is organized in a way that you can just sit down and read a section here or a chapter there and still really enjoy it.

Jason also described why he found the alternating in-universe POVs appealing as a means for presenting the narratives in the book:

I thought they would guard against what might otherwise have been a pretty grim or dry book, by letting me change up the tone and language. I also thought that tactic was a good way to freshen up material fans were very familiar with – Baron Fel’s biography is recounted by Wedge, a fellow pilot and Corellian, there’s an (in-universe) political bent to the accounts of Thrawn and Pellaeon, and so forth.

Jason picked some of my favorite parts to use as examples. The Fel biography was one of the first pieces of prose I stopped and read – when the fabulous artwork by Drew Baker of the Baron caught my attention. After finishing the biography I realized The Essential Guide to Warfare isn’t just meant to be an accounting of facts, but also an experience in glimpses of the stories of the men and women who fought in the wars. So if you like character studies and fleshed out back stories for organizations found in the movies and the Expanded Universe – have you ever wondered, for instance, about how the Trade Federation attained such influence in the galaxy that it could blockade Naboo? – then this book is going to be right up your alley.

Jason wasn’t only the book’s author, though – it’s apparent he also served as the field general who marshaled quite a bit of intel, interacted with his peers in various other service branches, and gave marching orders when necessary.

Leland Chee, Pablo Hidalgo, Tony Rowe, and others at Lucasfilm were really helpful in batting around ideas and getting down in the weeds with geeky stuff such as capital-ship classifications. And then there was crowd-sourcing – not just from fleet junkies on TheForce.Net, but also by reviewing talk pages on Wookieepedia. Talking about the book as a whole, the text is just part of a pretty gigantic collaboration. All props to Erich Schoeneweiss for that – his vision was critical as mine in shaping the book, plus he had a lot more balls, bowling pins and what-not to keep airborne. But I think Erich would say something similar about the big picture: If you don’t want to get lost, start with a good map.

Weaved in cleverly amid the character bios and narrative is quite a bit of useful, detailed information for all types of Star Wars fans. Whether you are trying to determine what insignia the Imperial officer you’re cosplaying should have, want to know more about TIE fighters or AT-AT walkers, need to find the full duty roster for Red Squadron, or are just curious what the color designations mean on the clones’ armor, it’s in this book. Pick up a copy, flip through the pages; between the art, the prose, and the cool trivia I’ll bet you can’t resist it. Then the next time a Star Wars marathon shows up on Spike TV, you’re definitely going to be able to impress your friends and loved ones with the things you learned between its covers.