Lucasfilm Unveils First New EU Star Wars Novels

[Andy of Comix Inc]

It seems really short sighted to start up the Expanded Universe fresh without actually waiting for fan reaction to the new Star Wars. I mean, like... an Expanded Universe is only useful if it's a universe people want expanding; if they're in a place they want to explore more of. The original three films did that successfully. The prequels did it successfully (they were awful films, but had enough ideas in them to let people's imaginations fill in blanks, in particular mentioning that there were thousands of years more backstory to be explored). The new films...? We don't know how much or how little we'll want an Expanded Universe around them.

Is Abrams good at teasing for more information? He's great at trailers and hype, but for actual films? Are any of his films so dense that people want side-stories? And I don't mean questions - he's great at asking questions, like "what the hell is this" and "what am I doing here". That's fine. But... yeah. I dunno.

It all seems to be too much for the sake of too much. My fingers aren't crossed and they'll likely remain so for a long, long time.

 

[ricree]

I'm not really surprised or disappointed that they're rebooting so soon. People like Star Wars books, they sell. It's hardly surprising that Disney wants to cash in on that.

But those covers, those titles? Is it possible to get any more generic?

It's one thing for them to set aside the EU. I get that. Even though it's filled with a lot of good and beloved stories, there is also a ton of cruft. There's a lot to be said for a fresh start, and I don't begrudge them that. But if they're going to replace those stories with a bunch of bland paint-by-numbers tie-ins, I'll be a touch put out.

Edit:
That said, the author lineup doesn't look too bad. And at least one of them has written a Star Wars book that I've heard has been well regarded (John Jackson Miller's Kenobi).

 

[Ieyke]

And so comes to pass the hilariously merciless invalidation of years and years of fan fiction, as it was foretold long long ago.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Heir to the Jedi's cover looks crap.

I do wonder why they had to dis-continuity everything. I understand getting ride of EU stuff past New Hope, but to replace everything pre-Hope seems to be creating more work that people won't care about. That said, I'm interested by the Tarkin book.

Continuity issues for one. With so many books, keeping up with the continuity was staggering and a lot of the older books contradicted a lot of the other stories. So much so I've had to compile a fanon timeline and decide which books were too much bullshit.
Unfortunately this makes the Michael A. Stackpole and Aaron Allston X-Wing series defunct and non-canon, which sucks because they were two of the best writers of the series aside from Timothy Zahn, Karen Traviss, James Luceno and Troy Denning.

RIP: Admiral Thrawn, Pellaeon, Jacen, Jaina and Anakin Solo, Mara Jade, Talon Karrde, Corran Horn, Tycho Celchu, Gavin Darklighter, Asyr Sei'lar, Pash and Airen Cracken, Nawara Ven, Rhysati Ynr, Inyri Forge, Hohass "Runt" Ekwesh, Piggy SaBinring, Face Loran, Kell Tanier, Lara Nostil/Kierney Slane, Myn Donos, the Noghri, Jorus C'boath, Baron Soontir Fel, Jag Fel and many many other characters I can't remember but still love.

 

[Rag Doll]

I heard about the Death of EU yesterday. I haven't read a Star Wars novel in years, not since I was a teenager borrowing from the local library.

And I am not happy, not one bit.

I barely remember the plots or the characters, but I DO remember the books being pretty good. Yeah, they are just stories, but just flat out negating EVERYTHING... hundreds of books and stories delegated to something that didn't happen, and something that's going to be done again...

My biggest worry is, that the new EU will have to be based on the new movies, which diminishes the creative freedom that the writers originally had, since they were marketting to a proportionally small and devoted fanbase. Now, the new movies are going to be replacing the old post-return of the Jedi time-period, so certain things might be constrained because of the narrative differences a multi-million dollar film has to a large series of books.

How many kids will Laya and Han have? 3 siblings in addition to the other characters in the new films might be sacked to streamline the cast. if they do re-introduce Mara Jade, what's her personality going to be? she clearly won't have the time to build up the same kind of character backround and personality she had in EU, so she will have to start out as a regular bad-ass action girl. That would make pretty much a standard love-interest and it's all downhill from there...

...or they might just be too afraid to use too many strong female protagonists in fear of "alienating the fan-base" and scrap the character alltogether.

 

[ricree]

The one positive thing I can say is that they've put together a decent set of authors, most of whom have worked with the EU before. James Luceno's Darth Plagueis, in particular, was one of the better EU books in recent years.

Not nearly as good as seeing Zahn or Stackpole in the lineup, but it does give me hope that they aren't just going to take it in some awful new direction.

 

[exobook]

It seems really short sighted to start up the Expanded Universe fresh without actually waiting for fan reaction to the new Star Wars. I mean, like... an Expanded Universe is only useful if it's a universe people want expanding; if they're in a place they want to explore more of. The original three films did that successfully. The prequels did it successfully (they were awful films, but had enough ideas in them to let people's imaginations fill in blanks, in particular mentioning that there were thousands of years more backstory to be explored). The new films...? We don't know how much or how little we'll want an Expanded Universe around them.

I suppose its both a good and a bad idea. On one level its letting fans know now how the new films/universe are going to go in terms of continuity or in other words: Does the Imperial Remnants happen? That's all these books need to do and if the fans react poorly they can always make a saving throw late on down the line. On the other hand it does spoil any mystery about how the new films are going to do it.

 

[The Bucket]

My favorite thing about this is how Lucasfilm has no idea what to do with The Old Republic and have been skirting around the issue. Its tied up with a huge amount of EU material, and more than qualifies for non canon-inity, but they dont want to bite the arm of the guys who have the exclusive rights to Star Wars games by making their multi million MMO 'not real'

 

[Hiramas]

If I were the guy who is in charge of alining the new timeline: I would keep the grand strokes of the Old Republic. The Rise and Fall of Sith Empires, Darth Bane and so on. They are a good baseline and while not every bit of content is good, a lot of it is and as The Bucket said, it gets money at the moment.
To everything beyond RotJ, i would say kill it. Its hard, but necessary for the story to go on.
BUT choose a few characters that either will be coming back in a new way or stay in their old. Hell, make Thrawn, Paelleon and Karde Movie Characters. Mara Jade could come up, as long as it is not a new Anakin/Padme debacle.
The definitly should keep a few cornerstones of the EU after the movies, the really good stuff, the stuff people like. Paint Christop Waltz blue, he could pull a Thrawn maybe...

I hope the people who do this will choose wisely. But it is the right step at this point. Better than to suffer endless discussions about first and second tier canon and stuff.

 

[Scentedwiind]

Beleive it or not, I consider Grand Moff Tarkin my favorite Star Wars side character.

That man is a boss http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRY0cs26Zvo

A true gentleman as well.

 

[Ieyke]

double post

 

[Ieyke]

Nevermind

 

[Ukomba]

Knight. Paul S. Kemp's Lords of the Sith highlights Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, with a cover heavily implying they're about to go Force Unleashed on their enemies.

They're about to suck and become a complete joke on their enemies?

Sereiously though, who is this for? This move will just annoy the eu fans, and people not into the eu aren't going to read them. As bad as the prequels were, they didn't pull this "one more day" crap ep 7 is causing.

 

[Mangod]

Grand Moff Tarkin? Cool. Now just make me a book about the life of Admiral Piett and we'll be good, ok Disney?

 

[Ellie O'Daire]

Cautiously optimistic seeing Luceno involved. He was one of the better writers when it came to tying up loose cannons. If there's an author I trust to keep as much of the "old" universe as possible, it's him. Heck, Darth Plagueis is a masterpiece of weaving together the disjointed continuity between Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. It even references the Jango Fett game that was never acknowledged anywhere else.

*checks to see if Bounty Hunter is on Steam*

Edit: it isn't.

 

[leviticusd]

Cautiously optimistic seeing Luceno involved. He was one of the better writers when it came to tying up loose cannons. If there's an author I trust to keep as much of the "old" universe as possible, it's him. Heck, Darth Plagueis is a masterpiece of weaving together the disjointed continuity between Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. It even references the Jango Fett game that was never acknowledged anywhere else.

I Agree with this. I wish he was writing a book after the original trilogy however and then we would really get some insight on how much (if any) the authors would be willing to take old stuff into the new.

I just read his bio on the wookiepedia and he really was one of the main authors responsible for maintaining the consistency in the EU. He was the coordinating author for all the Yuuzhan Vong series. Every script needed to be submitted to him for review and fact checking. They then turned to him to end the series because he was the one that knew more about the EU than any other author involved. I'm personally not a fan of that series, BUT the Yuuzhan Vong wasn't his idea. He was just trying to keep things coordinated.

I really wonder how this affect him. Honestly, they pretty much just told him, much like us, that his past work in now for naught. I'd love to hear his opinion on it...though since he is still being paid to write, he's got to play nice. Maybe interviews with Zahn or Kevin J. Anderson's whose novels really shaped the Post-RotJ Univers would be more interesting.

He's writing a timeframe where he can compartmentalize the post RotJ story, but I will be reading his new book with a keen interest and keep an eye on interviews he does for any clues to how much influence they might still have.