Showing posts with label gift idea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gift idea. Show all posts

12/09/2011

Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina (Star Wars) Review

Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina (Star Wars)
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"Mos Eisley Spaceport," says Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker as they stand on a mesa overlooking the Tatooine metropolis in a transition scene in Episode IV. "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be careful."
Of all the many eye-catching and memorable sequences in Star Wars (aka Episode IV: A New Hope), the fateful meeting between Luke Skywalker, Ben Kenobi, and a pair of smugglers with a starship for hire is perhaps the most intriguing. It's not only important dramatically or even as far as the change in the film's pacing goes (from this point on, there will be chases, shootouts, rescues, and battles), it's also visually intriguing. The dim lighting, the tense atmosphere, all those aliens, and, of course, that funky cantina band playing Benny Goodman-like tunes.
Of course, in the film, the focus was on Kenobi, Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca as they negotiated a charter flight to Alderaan. But there were others in the cantina that day on Tatooine...many other minor players and eyewitnesses on that fateful day. Who were they? What about their stories? What were some of them doing in Chalmun the Wookiee's Mos Eisley speakeasy?
Star Wars: Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, edited by novelist Kevin J. Anderson (The Jedi Academy Trilogy), is a collection of 16 original short stories set during and after the events depicted in Star Wars: A New Hope. Within such stories as Kathy Tyers "We Don't Do Weddings: The Band's Tale" there are little tidbits of heretofore unknown data that add depth and nuance to the scene in the film. Want to know the name of the cantina band? (It's Figrin Da'n and the Modal Nodes). What are those two women who look like twins doing in the cantina? (I'm not giving any more free info away here...read Timothy Zahn's "Hammertong" to find out.) All 16 stories are well-written and move almost as fast as the Millennium Falcon, and they all seem to fit into the Star Wars storyline without feeling, well, forced.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this anthology was discovering that authors better known for writing about the Star Trek universe also moonlight in the Star Wars Galaxy. A.C. Crispin, who has written such Trek classics as Yesterday's Son contributed "Play It Again, Figrin Da'n: The Tale of Muftak and Kabe," while Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens wrote "One Last Night in the Mos Eisley Cantina: The Tale of the Wolfman and the Lamproid." Reading these stories and marveling at how they captured the essence of George Lucas' "galaxy far, far away," I realized that they are not only good writers of Star Trek fiction, but they are good writers, period.

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Sixteen stories from the most infamous cantina in the universe...by some of today's leading writers of science fiction.In a far corner of the universe, on the small desert planet of Tatooine, there is a dark, nic-i-tain-filled cantina where you can down your favorite intoxicant while listening to the best jazz riffs in the universe. But beware your fellow denizens of this pangalactic watering hole, for they are cutthroats and cutpurses, assassins and troopers, humans and aliens, gangsters and thieves....Featuring original stories by:Kevin J. Anderson * Doug Beason * M. Shayne Bell * David Bischoff * A.C.Crispin * Kenneth C. Flint * Barbara Hambly * Rebecca Moesta * Daniel KeysMoran * Jerry Oltion * Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens * Jennifer Roberson* Kathy Tyers * Tom Veitch & Martha Veitch * Dave Wolverton * TimothyZahn

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12/05/2011

Tales of the Bounty Hunters (Star Wars) (Book 3) Review

Tales of the Bounty Hunters (Star Wars) (Book 3)
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Every heroic saga, whether it is Tolkien's Lord of the Rings or George Lucas' Star Wars series, succeeds or fails on the cunning and sheer "stage presence" of the antagonists faced by the heroes of the story. Let's face it, Lord Darth Vader is more imposing, and more interesting, than Luke Skywalker, the farmboy-turned-Jedi Knight who, by the way, is also Vader's offspring. The fact that Vader was so obviously evil and menacing in the first two Episodes of the Classic Trilogy had already made him one of the most popular movie villains; the revelation that the Dark Lord had once been Anakin Skywalker made him even more interesting, and by extension, Luke also became more complex and heroic.
Star Wars also has a secondary set of villains that dwells in the shadowy corners under the metal and plastic surfaces of the Galactic Empire: the bounty hunters. Every Star Wars film, including Episode I: The Phantom Menace, has a scene with at least one of these amoral, relentless, and resourceful villains, but their role as foils to the Heroes of the Rebellion came to the fore in Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. In this perennial fan favorite, both Lord Vader and crime boss Jabba the Hutt hire a diverse group of bounty hunters in an all-hands effort to capture the Millennium Falcon, her captain Han Solo, and all his companions, including Luke Skywalker.
Although the film only showed this band of ruffians only in one scene that takes place aboard Vader's flagship, Star Wars: Tales of the Bounty Hunters fleshes out this particular part of the saga with five short stories compiled and edited by Kevin J. Anderson (The Jedi Academy Trilogy).
Readers of Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina will recognize all five contributors, including Anderson, whose "Therefore I Am: The Tale of IG-88" adds depth and menace to an assassin droid seen only for a flash in the Vader's flagship scene in Episode V. Think of this story as "The Terminator Meets Star Wars," with a frighteningly self-aware droid that "comes alive," overwhelms its puny human creators, and begins to devise a plan to conquer the galaxy itself. (Readers will notice that parts of this story will not only be echoed in Kathy Tyers' "The Prize Pelt: The Tale of Bossk," but also in Dark Horse Comics' adaptation of Shadows of the Empire.")
Of course, "The Last One Standing: The Tale of Boba Fett," by Daniel Keys Moran, features the Star Wars galaxy's most famous -- or infamous -- bounty hunter. Although its status as an "origins of" story is now rather questionable, since readers now know the genesis of Boba Fett, the story is well-written and captures the nuances of its protagonist. Of the five stories in the anthology, this one covers nearly three decades of Fett's "career," including the bounty hunter's long-standing and relentless pursuit of smuggler-turned-Rebel-Hero Han Solo, not only for Vader and Jabba, but for other crime lords as well. (Star Wars artists working on 2002's Episode II: Attack of the Clones may have had this and other Boba Fett "origin myth" stories when they decided on the design for the clone troopers; Fett supposedly had been a stormtrooper before switching over to bounty hunting; the design of the clone trooper armor was an homage to this notion.)
This anthology, like the others in the Tales series, is entertaining, especially for fans of the original film trilogy who want to know more about those hissable and fearsome villains...the bounty hunters.

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9/05/2011

Shatterpoint (Star Wars: Clone Wars) Review

Shatterpoint (Star Wars: Clone Wars)
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This novel blew me away. I was reluctant to read it at first, since I usually rely on my pre-existing emotional attachment to the classic or NJO-era characters to buoy my interest in Star Wars books. I'm not a big fan of the prequels, and I had always thought of Mace Windu as basically a cameo role for Samuel L. Jackson in the movies.
After only the first chapter of Shatterpoint, I found myself revising a lot of my opinions and preconceptions--about the book, the main character, the Jedi, the Force, and the Star Wars universe as a whole. Stover's stream-of-consciousness writing style grabbed my attention right away and pulled me emotionally into the plot. I often forgot that I was even reading--the narrative was so frank and immediate that I felt like I was there, in the story. The style alone could have kept me turning pages chapter after chapter. The plot and the details through which it plays out, however, are at least as engrossing and fresh. This is an unflinching tale of war that has more in common with the hellishness of Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad) or The Things They Carried (Tim O'Brien) than with other Star Wars books. Through its gruesome reality and constant sense of nervous anticipation, the novel examines the behavior of people under extreme stress and pressure. In the process, it forces a reevaluation of the psychology and purpose of the Jedi. The implications of this reevaluation beautifully weave together the events of the prequels, classic trilogy, and New Jedi Order.
In the end, this is the most satisfying Star Wars book I have yet read. I would recommend it to fans of any eraof Star Wars, and equally to those who read the books for the action, the characters, or to better understand the Force and/or the morality of being a Jedi. Personally, I'll be looking for more Matthew Stover books.

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9/02/2011

Star Wars: A Scanimation Book: Iconic Scenes from a Galaxy Far, Far Away... Review

Star Wars: A Scanimation Book: Iconic Scenes from a Galaxy Far, Far Away...
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I've always been intrigued and impressed by the Scanimation line of animated picture books. Their lo-fi eye candy is especially compelling in todays increasingly digital world. As soon as I saw the Star Wars edition today, I bought it on the spot at a local bookstore. After I signed my slip I realized I was so blown away by the product I forgot to check the price before I bought it.
Like all Scanimation books, the pictures are small in scope but big on animation. the animation is provided by alternating bands of tint, a very cool effect. Even the presence of several (3 or 4) scenes from the most recent three movies did not detract significantly from my enjoyment.
An excellent book for any fan of any of the three movies, or pop-up/childrens book collectors.

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