Category: Books

Disney figures out how to get a sequel for Rogue One.

It’s a book called… Inferno Squad. And I’ll allow it:

The Rebellion may have heroes like Jyn Erso and Luke Skywalker. But the Empire has Inferno Squad. After the humiliating theft of the Death Star plans and the resulting destruction of the battle station, the Empire is on the defensive. In response to this stunning defeat, the Imperial Navy has authorized the formation of an elite team of soldiers, known as Inferno Squad. Their mission: infiltrate and eliminate the remnants of Saw Gerrera’s Partisans. Following the death of their leader, the Partisans have carried on his extremist legacy, determined to thwart the Empire — no matter what the cost. Now, Inferno Squad must prove their status as the best of the best and take down the Partisans from within. But as the danger intensifies and the threat of discovery grows, how far will Inferno Squad go to ensure the safety of the Empire?

Continue reading Disney figures out how to get a sequel for Rogue One.

Check out DJ Butler’s Dei Brittanici.

It’s a prequel short story to Witchy Eye, which is coming out in a couple of weeks. Flintlock fantasy alternate history, if the phrase ‘necromancy Oliver Cromwell’ didn’t spell that out already.  I have the Advance Reader Copy on my phone, right next to the rest of the dang pile. Seriously, I should have started exercising years ago. It’s practically making me read/watch/listen to more stuff.

Moe Lane

*Pardon the pun? …Nope, I suspect that many of you will not.

Who is the science fiction equivalent of Tolkien and Lovecraft?

As in: love or hate JRR Tolkien as you please, but you may not ignore him when it comes to the fantasy genre. Venerate or despise HP Lovecraft for any number of reasons, but when we talk about horror we are ultimately using concepts and conceits that he defined and developed.  But if there’s a single figure of the science fiction field that similarly towers over the landscape, I do not know his or her name.  Bob Heinlein comes close. So does John Campbell, although that would have been more true thirty years ago.  Maybe Gene Roddenberry and George Lucas, combined. Other than that, though, I’m stumped.

Thoughts?

Book of the Week: The Warlock in Spite of Himself.

Christopher Stasheff’s The Warlock in Spite of Himself is an old classic of the pre-New Wave science fiction/fantasy* era, of course. In other news: Chris Stasheff is still, in fact, alive! Seriously, I thought that he must have passed a decade ago, or something. Here’s his website.

And so, adieu to Hidden Figures.

Moe Lane

*Psionics are fantasy, sorry.

I’m telling ya, the kid grows up to be Snoke.

That’s the only way this works.

The conclusion of a trilogy, mostly set between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, Empire’s End contains plenty of rewards for long-term fans. One of these is an interlude set on the planet of Naboo. A refugee boy named Mapo encounters a Gungan performing for kids on the streets, clowning around in a fountain twice a day while being studiously avoided by the grown-ups.

“Meesa Jar Jar,” says the clown when Mapo introduces himself.

Because we all know that Jar Jar was the secret Sith Lord setting the whole thing up, right?  Well, Darth Binks has just found himself a new apprentice.  Seriously, the chronology will fit.

OK, we’re apparently back to this ‘Cap as a Hydra agent’ bullshit.

…Look, just keep this contemptible nonsense out of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, OK?  Which would be the only Marvel comic that I still buy. Don’t make me give up that, too. And since I’m here to give out unsolicited advice anyway: the movies took Captain America, played said character absolutely as advertised, and without visible irony – and now Disney is sitting at the machine pressing the money button, and giggling as hundreds of millions of dollars comes tumbling out with each press.

MAYBE THE PRINT COMIC LINES SHOULD TAKE THE GORAM HINT.

Moe Lane

Coming in August: “Golden Age and Other Stories” by Naomi Novik.

“Golden Age and Other Stories” is, as you might suspect, set in Naomi Novik’s Napoleonic-war-with-dragons Temeraire series.  She’s done a bunch of short stories, set in a variety of settings and using different viewpoint characters – which will no doubt please whoever it is out there who is desperately trying to negotiate the roleplaying game rights.  Which there must be. It seems a no-brainer.

More info here. I’d order the leather-bound, signed copy, except that it’s a bit rich for my blood these days. Ach, well, the $25 version can be read just as easily.

Book of the Week: Hidden Figures.

My wife finally got around to reading Margot Lee Shetterly’s Hidden Figures – Christmas present, and one of the easier gift choices I’ve had to make, honestly – so now I’m reading it.  I’m enjoying it, thus far; it’s going to be interesting to see where the movie version combined, changed, and generally played around with events. Which has to happen: a movie has a different narrative flow than a book.

And so, adieu to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Book of the Week: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Well, really the entire Narnia chronicles – but I think that C.S. Lewis’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the best of a good series, and at some point I need to watch the movie.  Of course, I don’t need to tell any of you this already, do I?  The Narnia series retains its significance, even today:

Well, for given values of ‘today.’

And so, adieu to Wylding Hall. Continue reading Book of the Week: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.