Three Top Star Wars Book Covers (Out of Books I Own)

What happens when you combine the end of a planned break with a computer's decision to stop working?  Apparently an even longer break concluding in the use of someone else's computer with an unfamiliar OS and an unfamiliar browser.  Without dwelling too much on the details, I've recently had the ....pleasure to discover this first hand.  Thus this is is the first of this week's multiple updates.

.... Anyway!  Timothy Zahn's latest Star Wars book Choices of One was released not long ago and, being the massive Zahn fan that I am, I eagerly snagged a copy from the book store.  However, doing so forced me to come face-to-face with something I knew was coming.  I had scene the press releases for the book.  I knew it was a victim to the horror that has been plaguing Star Wars books both good and bad since Heir to the Empire hit the shelves twenty years ago: terrible covers.

Help! A computer game ate Mara! 

There a few problems I have with this cover, but, honestly, it's far from the worst cover a Star Wars book has had to bear.  There are without a doubt far more terrible than good covers and even more blandly mediocre covers.   Instead of wading through the slew of book covers that repel people from Star Wars books, let's look at some of the better art that has graced these books.  This list is in no particular order and is restricted to books I own, largely because of the shear number of Star Wars books ad the fact that it's much easier to look through the books I own.

• I, Jedi by Michael A. Stackpole, published by Bantam Spectra, 1998.

One of the major problems with Star Wars book covers from the '90s is the reliance on stills from the movies.  They would often be a hodgepodge of characters painted straight from the stills onto a generic background.  If there were any characters on the cover that weren't from the films, they had a flat look due to the lack of photo reference and were often shoved to the Unknown Regions of the cover.  This cover does not do that at all.  The central figure is Corran Horn, a character first appearing in the X-Wing book series and the viewpoint character of this novel, shown here in disguise as Keiran Halcyon.  While there is a close up of Luke's face, it's very clearly in the background.  The cover has a sense of cohesion that was rare for Star Wars covers of the day and, most shocking of all, Corran is well-painted.  When I think of Corran, I picture this cover.

• X-Wing: Iron Fist by Aaron Allston, published by Bantam Spectra, 1998.

Ah, the X-Wing books, the bastion of light and hope during the time of poorly painted character stills.  While I, Jedi deviated from other covers of its time by focusing on the original character, the X-Wing books took a different route, choosing instead to shown no characters and to focus on vehicles, most notably snub fighters.  Each cover in the series depicts one scene from the books with some difference and each cover each has a sense of both cohesion and drama.  As the covers are all excellent and rather similar, I chose Iron Fist to represent the nine-book series because it's my favorite of the covers.

• Allegiance by Timothy Zahn, published by Del Rey, 2007.

And now for the last of my short list, the real reason I was so disappointed with the cover of Choices of One.  Choices of One is the sequel to Allegiance, the cover of which I actually like.  While most of Del Rey's Star Wars books carry blandly unmemorable covers featuring heavily photoshopped characters for that mass-produced look, this cover combines CGI with brush strokes (either real or generated) to give the stormtroopers a rough feel.  However, this is only effective because they are storm troopers; put someone without armor on this cover and you get another mediocre photoshopped image with added element of it looking like a screenshot from a seven-year-old computer game.  Thus, the Choices of  One cover.

That is my subjective little list of the top three covers for Star Wars book I own.  Please comment and let me know how you agree and/or disagree and what other books you think have good covers.

Next time: Ryorin discusses comics and reboots.  Again.

The End of an Era and an Animated Gift

Tomorrow, May 21, 2011 A.D., will be the end of an era.

Tomorrow, things will change forever.

Tomorrow I graduate.

...oh, and apparently it's the Rapture, too.

Anyway, since I'll be using my amazing new powers as a Bachelor of Arts to fight off the apocalypse,* I will not be writing a normal post this weekend.  So, to celebrate my graduating, here are some links for watching free and legal anime!  Sadly, I can't guarantee that these links will work outside of the U.S., but if I find any I'll do my best to post them.

Funimation: Full episodes of anime licensed by Funimation; I think most of the videos are dubbed in English, but there are also some in Japanese with English subtitles.

Viz Anime: Full episodes of anime licensed by Viz; also a mix of subtitled and dubbed videos.  I recommend Cross Game, if you don't mind something a little slower than most licensed anime.

Crunchyroll: Full episodes of a variety of shows, mostly in Japanese with English subtitles, but with some English dubbing as well.  They also have some Korean live-action dramas, if your into that.

And, because I'm feeling so generous:

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episodes 1 -19 at Marvel.com!  Yes, I know this isn't an anime, but it is a fun show about superheroes that you can watch the first nineteen episodes of legally and for free.  That just needs to be shared.

*Undergraduate degrees totally work like that.  So do apocalypses.

The Fantastic Adventures of H.G. Wells: A Warehouse 13 Spin Off in the Works

This past week marked the end of an era.  Stargate, the science fiction franchise that began as a spin-off to a movie and spawned North America's longest running science fiction television series came to an end on Monday with the last episode of Stargate Universe, the franchise' third live-action series.  While there will be no more Stargate in the foreseeable future (and the release of the Series 5 SG-1 action figures is even less likely now), there may still be some ray of joy in the the dark, Stargate-less future:

"Syfy Prepping 'Warehouse 13' Spinoff Centered on H.G. Wells Character (Exclusive)"

On Thursday, The Hollywood Reporter published an exclusive made of flowers, puppies, and steampunk Tesla guns.  While the franchise of my favorite live-action series of all time has ended, there's a chance that one of my favorite currently airing shows will get a spin off of its own and be the start of a quirky, steam-and-Tesla-powered franchise.  Not only that, but this spin-off would be centered around the amazing and complex character of H.G. Wells (portrayed by Jaime Murray), a morally ambiguous time-traveling, inventor-super-agent.  Who is a woman.

She's the one with the gun.  Note the lack of mustache.

In case you're wondering: yes, she is that H.G. Wells, but the "H" stands for Helena instead of Herbert and she leads an active life-style of inventing and crime-fighting.  No, really.  In the wonderfully wacky world of Warehouse, H.G. Wells' stories are written by her brother but based on her life and inventions.

The spin-off would follow Helena's crime-fighting adventures in the 1890's.  According to the article:

"In this incarnation, she would enlist the help of a mechanical engineer and utilize her relationship with the police commissioner to solve what appear to be unsolvable cases. Both the skills and style she employs will become the framework for the well-known stories of H.G. Wells, as written by her brother."

 I love this idea.  Last season, H.G.'s complexity, intelligence, back story, style, moral ambiguity, and jet-pack (as well as Murray's fantastic acting) made her one of my favorite characters in the series (I have twitter proof).  She was a good character, whose motivations you could never be completely sure you understood until the end.  She kept you guessing and was just fun to watch.

While this announcement about the development of a new series is more detailed than many initial press releases (Buffy, Spidey, I'm looking at you), that doesn't prevent me from speculating about it.  So, because I love bullet points, here's a list of questions about the spin-off:

WARNING: There may be spoilers about the second season of Warehouse 13, so you should go watch all of it now.  This post won't go anywhere.

Interview: Josh Uitvlugt of Just Add Water, Part 2 of 2

Previously on Ryorin's Ramblings, I talked to my friend and fellow student Josh Uitvlugt, creator of the science fiction webcomic Just Add Water (updating Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays) about  the creation of the comic, the characters, the many uses of paperclips, coffee versus tea, the evil mechanisms of squirrels, and his own thoughts on how science and science fiction should interact.

Josh was kind enough to provide a self-introduction:

"My name is Josh Uitvlugt, and I am the author of a webcomic called 'Just Add Water'.  I am having a lot of fun doing the comic, and it acts as a great outlet for the creativity that I am proud to have.  I am an engineer, and while that may conjure up ideas about people with a rigid application of rules and mathematics, engineering requires more creative input than almost any other occupation.  Creative problem solving is the very basis of engineering, and it is what defines me as a person.  I like to feel that the insight that I have to offer contributes to the world around me, and I hope that this interview will convince you that I can be an interesting person."

In this installment, Josh discusses time travel, Star Trek, his characters, superpowers, webcomics in general, webcomic-drama in specific, and the creation of his comic.

And now for the exciting conclusion!

Old Poll, New Poll, and May the Fourth

First off: Happy May Fourth, Day of Bad Star Wars puns!  Which is to say that StarWars.com has announced it "Star Wars Day" and is releasing information about the Star Wars Blu-ray set.  Because it's May the Fourth.  If you can't/don't want to dig through the official sight, Club Jade posted much of the info here.

My last poll asked which of this year's superhero movies you were most looking forward to, and the results were three votes for Captain America, one vote for Thor, and both Green Lantern and Green Hornet were unloved with zero votes.  I personally was most looking forward to Cap's movie, but I have to admit, I'm getting pretty excited about Thor coming out later this week.

The new poll asks your favorite "Star" franchises.  You may select more than one because, hey, I don't think I could choose between my favorite two.  Let me know which are your favorites in the comments or, if your favorites aren't listed, let me know what they are, why you love them, and why you consider them a "Star" franchise.  Just because I only listed science fiction franchises starting with "Star" doesn't there aren't others with legitimate claim to the designation.

Interview: Josh Uitvlugt of Just Add Water, Part 1 of 2

As you can probably guess, I'm a big fan of both webcomics and science fiction.  A little while ago, I was able to interview my friend and fellow student Josh Uitvlugt, creator of the science fiction webcomic Just Add Water, which updates Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Josh was kind enough to provide us with an introduction:

Josh

"My name is Josh Uitvlugt, and I am the author of a webcomic called 'Just Add Water'.  I am having a lot of fun doing the comic, and it acts as a great outlet for the creativity that I am proud to have.  I am an engineer, and while that may conjure up ideas about people with a rigid application of rules and mathematics, engineering requires more creative input than almost any other occupation.  Creative problem solving is the very basis of engineering, and it is what defines me as a person.  I like to feel that the insight that I have to offer contributes to the world around me, and I hope that this interview will convince you that I can be an interesting person."

 Do to the interview's length, it will be posted in two parts.  In this installment, Josh discusses the creation of the comic, the characters, the many uses of paperclips, coffee versus tea, the evil mechanisms of squirrels, and his own thoughts on how science and science fiction should interact.

With out further ado, part one of the interview:

Women, Fantasy, and the New York Times: A Response to Bellafante

You may have heard of the now-infamous New York Times review of HBO's Game of Thrones, based on the fantasy series by George R.R. Martin.  If you haven't, here's the part that has been causing most of the righteous rage at reviewer Ginia Bellafante:

The true perversion, though, is the sense you get that all of this illicitness has been tossed in as a little something for the ladies, out of a justifiable fear, perhaps, that no woman alive would watch otherwise. While I do not doubt that there are women in the world who read books like Mr. Martin’s, I can honestly say that I have never met a single woman who has stood up in indignation at her book club and refused to read the latest from Lorrie Moore unless everyone agreed to “The Hobbit” first. “Game of Thrones” is boy fiction patronizingly turned out to reach the population’s other half.

 I was going to add italics to emphasize the extremely offensive bits, but that would be the entire paragraph.

There's not a lot I can add to the responses of Amy Ratcliffe of Geeks With Curves, Alina Pete of Weregeek, and George R. R. Martin himself, so let me just share my personal response:

Dear Ms. Bellafante,

No.

Sincerely,
A Woman Who Adores Fantasy

Things To Look Forward to in 2011

A lot of things are happening this year, so it seems appropriate to talk about them as my first post of 2011.  In no particular order, here are some of the geeky things I'm looking forward to in 2011:

• Lots of Superhero Movies: The Green Hornet came out in the US on January 12 and Thor, Green Lantern, and Captain America: The First Avenger are scheduled for release in May, June, and July respectively.  Hopefully all of them will go well, and chances are at least one will be good.
• The Last Harry Potter Film: Deathly Hallows Part One  was possibly my favorite Harry Potter adaptation yet, and I am looking forward to Part Two knocking my socks off.

• Not One, But Two New Zahn Books: Cobra Guardian, sequel to Cobra Alliance, and Star Wars: Choices of One, sequel to Allegiance are both set for release this year.  As I may have mentioned before, I'm a big fan of Timothy Zahn's books, both Star Wars and non, so I am happy.
• Heir to the Empire Strikes Back: Speaking of amazing books by Timothy Zahn, the twentieth anniversary re-release of Star Wars: Heir to the Empire comes out this June, with new cover art (at least for the jacket...), annotations and a new short story.
• More Full Metal Panic! Novel Translations: I love giant robots and I love humor, so naturally one of my favorite anime series is Full Metal Panic!, based on the novels by Shoji Gatoh.  After nearly three years, Tokyopop is finally translating the Ending Day By Day, the fourth Full Metal Panic novel.  This is the book that FMP's third anime season, The Second Raid, is based on.  Say what you will about Tokyopop's novel translations, I'll be happy to have this book available to read in English.
• The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya:  The anime film based on the fourth book in Nagaru Tanigawa's Haruhi Suzumiya series is set for a US release this spring.  I really enjoyed the book and the anime series, so the movie should be fun to see.
• Television Continues Being Fun: While Syfy has canceled SGU, the shows Warehouse 13, Sanctuary, and Eureka have all been renewed for their third, fourth, and fifth seasons, respectively.  Also, the psychic detective comedy Psych has been renewed for a sixth season, so I'll have a lot of TV to veg-out on, despite the sad lack of Stargate.
• Veteran's Day/ Remembrance Day: November 11, 2011.  AKA: 11/11/11  How can you not love that?

So, those are a few things I'm happily awaiting this year.  Happy slightly-early Year of the Rabbit, and may you have plenty of good things to look forward to!