Farewell to the Expanded Universe That Was

Earlier this month a new era of the Star Wars Expanded Universe was officially launched with the release of A New Dawn, the first Star Wars book to come out with the approval of the Lucasfilm Story Group. Earlier Star Wars books have been being printed under the new Legends banner for a few months now and the final comic set in the Expanded Universe That Was has also come and gone, but this book makes the start of the new Expanded Universe, one that does not share the history and continuity of the one I and so many others had come to know so well.

When it was announced that there would be no new stories in the Expanded Universe That Was and that a separate "Legends" banner would be created, I didn't feel overly emotional. It had felt like an inevitability since the announcement that Disney had purchased Lucasfilm. I had had time to get used to the idea and, in some ways, the announcement had made me glad. The Expanded Universe had been a mess for some time at that point and I had stopped following the new books going forward all the way back during the New Jedi Order, only picking up new Star Wars books by my favorite authors and ignoring the megaseries. I had been prepared for a continuity reset for over a decade. And then earlier this year I read Troy Denning's Crucible. If I hadn't been ready for a do-over before I sure would've been by the time I finished that book.

And yet now I feel a sense of loss, one that I did not feel at any of the announcements. The Expanded Universe I've known and read and discussed and researched my whole life is ended. There will be no more stories beyond fanfiction set in it, at least not for a long time. The characters I've grown so attached to may never appear in official material again and, if they do, they won't have the history and backstory I've come to know. And the lore and history of the entire universe has been wiped clean.

That is the part that caught me the most off guard. I had braced myself for the stories to stop being canon, heck, even approved of it. I had prepared myself for the absence of my favorite characters in the new stories. But the lore. The erasing of the lore was not something I thought about or prepared myself for. I did not realize how much that lore and history meant to me until about a month ago, when the timeline of the Republic and its wars with the Sith came up in several conversations with my brother.

 None of that extensive history matters anymore. None of it applies to the new stories going forward.

I never realized how much that history meant to me, but of course I'm attached to it. How could I not be? That lore was one of the first things I became attached to in the Expanded Universe, back when little me read and reread my brother's copy of The Essential Guide to Characters and learning about characters who lived thousands of years before the movies. That lore, that history, that was part of my Star Wars. It was the backdrop to the way I perceived Star Wars as a franchise. And those characters and those stories I had braced to bod farewell...they're a part of my Star Wars too. Even while I know and acknowledge that it's all fiction and I can think of it and arrange it however I want to in my head, the reality of there being no more official stories set in that timeline is tough to deal with.

I really do miss the Expanded Universe. I'm going to keep missing the Expanded Universe. The books remain on my shelves and their impact on me in not undone, but the knowledge that the Expanded Universe That Was and all of its history, all of its lore, all of its stories and characters will have such little impact on the new stories that come out hurts. But since I realized that I've been coming to accept that.

I'm saddened by the loss of all of that, but you know what? I'm also hopeful. New lore and history are going to be built! New characters and worlds! And the old stuff hasn't been destroyed, even if it no longer applies to things going forward. That story is over but we can still explore it and discuss it. We can still enjoy the stories that have been told before and the world that has been built by them, even as no more is added to it.

I have not yet read A New Dawn, but I fully intend to. It won't be part of what's been my Star Wars up until this point, but it will hopefully become part of my Star Wars in the future.

Star Wars Crucible: I Have Made a Terrible Mistake

I am very behind in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Chronologically, the only book I have read that is set after the New Jedi Order is X-Wing: Mercy Kill. That is one book in the primarily focused on time period of the galaxy in over ten years.

Until now.

Recently I liveblogged my reading of Troy Denning's Star Wars: Crucible, the book that was meant to be the final adventure of the main trio of the Star Wars books before handing the main focus of the series off to the younger generation. A few days later it was announced that the Star Wars Expanded Universe is getting a fresh start and the previous books would now be "Star Wars Legends." This effectively makes Crucible not only the final adventure of Luke, Leia, and Han but also the final book in the timeline of the Expanded Universe as we know it (not including the Legacy comics, which are kind of their own thing).

This was not a good sendoff book, either for the Big Three much less the EU as a whole. I did not find it to be a good book in general. Before getting into the issue that really stood out to me as a poor way to end this universe that I am rather attached to, a quick rundown on some of my thoughts about the pros and cons of this book. There will be spoilers.

Fiction Friday: Two and a Half Weeks Until Midnight Blue-Light Special!

I'm currently packing for an international flight, so today, let's talk about the upcoming release I'm most looking forward to: Midnight Blue-Light Special, book 2 of the Incryptid series by Seanan McGuire, to be released on March 5.  Seanan McGuire is quite clearly one of my favorite authors at this point (I'll probably discuss that in greater detail some other time) and last March I brought the first Incryptid book, Discount Armageddon, with me to a conference to read between (or in boring) panels.  It was fantastic.  I love McGuire's fun characters and detailed world building and that first Incryptid book went above and beyond my expectations, also revealing McGuire's willingness to research all sorts of weird biology things for her books.  If book 2 is anything like the first book, I will enjoy it immensely.  I'm looking forward to picking this book up as soon as the closest bookstore gets it in.

Fiction Friday: Read Mageworlds Already

This first Fiction Friday will need to be short due to unforeseen events, so I'll get straight to the point: if you like space opera and/or the Star Wars: X-wing novels, you need to read the Mageworlds books by James D. MacDonald and Debra Doyle and if you have an e-reader you have no excuse not to.  If you like science fiction and fun, you should read at least the first three books (Price of the Stars, Starpilot's Grave, and By Honor Betray'd, respectively).  The characters are interesting and likable, the setting is well-built, the story is fantastic, and why are you still reading this when you could be reading about Beka shooting bad guys in the face.

If you need to hear more about the series to read it for some reason, here's an article at Tosche Station about the fantastic that is Mageworlds.  This is not the last  you will here from me about these books.  

Now go read some fun sci-fi.  That is what weekends are for.

I'll just collapse over here.

Book Review: In Hero Years I'm Dead by Michael Stackpole

 Despite the title of this post, I'm still not dead.  I am, however, working quite a bit and I have been able to read quite a bit in my job.  As such, here's a book review I just wrote on Goodreads for a superhero noir book by the fabulous Michael A. Stackpole:

In Hero Years... I"m Dead by Michael A. Stackpole

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I wish this was the first book of a series.  Stackpole builds such a vivid world and such intriguing characters that I cannot help but want to spend more time with them and explore them further.  Don't take this to mean that the book's conclusion is unsatisfying in any way, though, or that the characters are not fleshed out; both the male and female superheroes (of which there are many) develop over the course of the story and Stackpole works the surreal plot and character twists superhero comics fantastically into his very human story of a man trying to find meaning after losing twenty years.  If you like superheroes or are in anyway intrigued by the concept of them, or if you enjoyed Stackpole's books I, Jedi or Once a Hero you should check out this book.

Now, if only he wrote a sequel about Vixen...



View all my reviews

Favorites of 2011

Hello there, Internet.  It's been a while.

Since we last spoke, I had surgery, discovered that I did not have a nasty, life-changing disease, moved to another country while still recovering from aforementioned surgery, began graduate school, and discovered the joys of David Weber's Honor Harrington books.  Oh, and a universe was destroyed and remade, but we'll save that discussion for another time when I can discuss it more fully.

Anyway, as it is not yet February, a quick post about some of my personal favorites of the year 2011 seems appropriate.  Let us begin!

• Favorite Album of 2011: Something Fierce by Marian Call.  (Available for listening and purchase here).  I love this album.  I really, really do.  Marian Call is an Anchorage based singer/songwriter (which may or may not make me biased) with a folk/ blues style.  This album flows very well and has a variety of sort of song in it.  Some of my favorite songs from it: "Coffee by Numbers," "E.S.B," "Dear Mister Darcy," and "Anchorage."  And let me add, this was a year in which both Kamelot and Nightwish came out with great new albums.  Two of my favorite bands.  And this one was my favorite.
• Favorite Book of 2011: Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson.
  
    First off, let me say that a lot of amazing books in series that I love came out this year: Goliath by Scott Westerfeld, One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire, I Shall Wear Midnight (paperback) by Terry Pratchett, Across the Great Barrier by Patricia C. Wrede, multiple books by Timothy Zahn... I highly recommend all of those as well as this one.  They made this a tough choice.  Go read them.  This is an incredibly fun book.  Set three hundred years after the conclusion of the Mistborn trilogy, Alloy of Law has a Western-adventure-meets-steampunk-meets-magic feel and requires no previous knowledge of the world.  If you are familiar with any of Sanderson's previous works, you know that the world is going to be well thought out, and this book doesn't disappoint.  Nor does it disappoint with interesting characters.  This book must be read by every fantasy fan.  Every.  Single.  One.  Happily, there is plenty of material for sequels, so hopefully we'll see more.
• Favorite Superhero Film of 2011: Captain America: The First Avenger.  Like good books and good albums, several good superhero movies came out last year.  My runner-up is probably Thor, but Cap, silly scenes included, was my personal favorite.  Chris Evans did an amazing job and this was a really well made movie.
• Favorite Video Game of 2011: Portal 2.  Portal was an amazing puzzle game with an unexpectedly dark plot and background and this sequel is a great follow up.  While Aperture Science's benign facade is gone from the very beginning of this game, there are still secrets to uncover and witty robots to face.  And a great ending.
• Favorite Anime of 2011: My Ordinary Life

  

  Super-geniuses drink milk!

  (also known as Nichijou and available for completely legal viewing here).  Based on the yonkoma comedy manga by Keiichi Araw, this is basically a slice of life series about people going about their normal lives in a world that's just a tad... completely bonkers.  This series has a unique sense of humor that may not suite everyone, but I say check it out in case it is your thing.  The animation style(s) are gorgeous and the ridiculousness (a seven-year-old mad scientist!  who acts like a real seven-year-old!) is fantastic.  This series is made of sparkles, rocket ships, and pure joy.  Runner-up series: Hanasaku Iroha.
• 
  Favorite Amazing Conclusion to a Long Running Manga Series of 2011: Fullmetal Alchemist volume 27.  Okay, this is practically cheating but I must mention it.  Fullmetal Alchemist is an amazing, amazing series and this is a wonderful conclusion to it.  If you like comics and/or fantasy, go read this series.  My favorite (non-spoilery) part of this volume: the train station scene.  It's just so perfect.

 That's all for now!  Have some favorites of your own to share?  Feel free to leave a comment!

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.

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!

Geeky News: Return of Wraith Squadron!

Quick bit of news that has filled me with utter joy: Wraith Squadron is back!  Aaron Allston is going to write another X-wing book focusing on the Wraiths and Del Rey is aiming for a 2012 release date.

This news fills me with glee.  The X-wing books are the reason that Stackpole and Allston are two of my favorite Star Wars authors, and the Wraith books are some of my favorite in the series.  Currently my only question about this book is when it will be set, but I'll be happy no matter what the answer.

Add this to the news that Timothy Zahn, my other favorite Star Wars author, is writing a sequel to Allegiance that's slated to come out next year, and Ryorin is a very, very happy geek.

I'm going to go do a few back-flips and burst into the Ewok celebration song now, if you don't mind.

SHE LIVES! or What Ryorin Has Been Up To

I seem to have fallen into The Pit Of No Posts again since returning to the U.S.  I have been catching up on wide variety of excellent books and television, as well as the whole of life as general, but I haven't forgotten the Computer Cosmos (or the wonder of bullet points) completely.  Here are a few plots to conquer the world things that I have planned for the foreseeable future:

• I have been reading the books from the Jawas Read Too! Summer of Series Reading Challenge, as mentioned here, I just haven't been doing so well on the discussion part.  I shall shortly post some thoughts on June and July's series.  There will be one post per series, hopefully going up within the next few days.
• I am still planning on rambling on about Captain Britain and MI13 as mentioned here.  It will be up before the Hugo winners are announced.  Really.  I just need to reread it a few more times... yeah...
• The two Syfy shows Warehouse 13 and Eureka are having crossover episodes this week.  This may cause me to be a bit more distracted, but hopefully I'll be able to work my way out of my happy daze and post a bit about it.

I am planning on more posts than the ones listed so far, but there is other writing that I've finally had a chance to do, so hopefully I'll be able to strike a balance where I'm doing a bit of both kinds of writing, but that may not be soon, so posts may be a bit short for a while.  While I will be doing my best to pull myself out of The Pit, I would greatly appreciate any ladders anyone feels like throwing me in the form of comments.

Hopefully my next post will be written when I'm less tired and can think of more bullet points.  Or at least have the energy to comment on Ryan Reynolds costume in the Green Lantern movie:

 ...but then again, everyone else seems to have covered it, so perhaps it's just as well I'm so out of it.

Jawa's Read Too Summer Series Challenge

 In case you've been wondering about the banners at the top and the left of the page, I signed up for the Jawas Read Too Summer Challenge.

The challenge is to read one series a month through the summer, and there will be discussion about the series every week.

Since I'm going to be busy in May reading New Jedi Order and catching-up on other books, I signed up for June, July, and August:

JUNE CHALLENGE: The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin

1. Wizard of Earthsea
2. The Tombs of Atua
3. The Farthest Shore

JULY CHALLENGE: Vatta's War by Elizabeth Moon

1. Trading in Danger
2. Marque and Reprisal
3. Engaging the Enemy
4. Command Decision
5. Victory Conditions

AUGUST CHALLENGE: Inda Quartet by Sherwood Smith

1. Inda
2. Fox
3. King's Shield
4. Treason's Shore

...Why, yes, I did copy-and-paste that list from the Jawas Read Too website.

Anyway, I'm really excited about this; I've been meaning to read Earthsea and to check-out Elizabeth Moon's books for a while now.  This looks like it'll be a lot of fun, and I encourage anyone with a smattering of interest and time to join in.  Here's the sign-up form.

Anyway, I need to finish packing.  Later!

It's Still Going!

Remember that time I said "hey, guys! Book Love Affair's havin' a nifty lookin' book giveaway oh, wait, never mind"?  It turns out I was right the first time.  I double checked with the one who runs the blog, and it's going 'til May 8th, so you all still have a chance to win if you sign-up.

I corrected that other post (again), now go check out the giveaway if you haven't already.

So, this isn't about Girl Genius...

IMPORTANT NOTE: I was right the first time.  The Giveaway is still going on till May 8.  Feel free to join in!

... but Book Love Affair's having had a book giveaway (that's the link to it, by the way) to celebrate having 250 followers.  Two winners were randomly selected, yesterday (it ended early.  Twelve hours before I wrote this post.  Now I feel bad...)  There were ten books to choose from and one "other" option for when you signed up.  I picked Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire, because this review at Jawas Read Too made it look to cool not to look into; if I don't win I didn't win, but I'll probably buy the book anyway.  It looks that fun.

Anyway, next post really will be about Girl Genius, but I had to spread the joyous news of a free book opportunity, and sadly didn't realize it was too late until after this post... but, on the bright side, I got to share news about a nifty-looking book I just found out about and I learned to check other blogs more often, so it's not all bad!  Go, positive thinking!

Edit: this post has been altered due to the contest ending early.  As in, before I wrote this post.  Sorry... but that book still looks pretty darn interesting. 
2nd Edit:  I mixed up a tweet about a different book giveaway with one about the one mentioned here.  I'm not going to rewrite this post again, but I added the note at the top and will write another post about this... after the Girl Genius one.  Any way, I got conformation from Book Love Affair that the contest is indeed still going on before adding more notes to this post.

Once More into the Breech: Giving New Jedi Order Another Chance

I'm going to do it.

I'm going to give the "New Jedi Order" books another chance.

This is a big deal for me. I love Star Wars, Star Wars characters, and the Star Wars Expanded Universe, but I haven't been able to read any of the books set after "Young Jedi Knights" since I read "Star by Star" waaay back in middle school. Because I love the Star Wars characters and the Star Wars EU, I couldn't even finish "Star by Star." I was too upset, too enraged by what happened to one of my favorite characters, who had just gone through some amazing character development the book before. For years I couldn't talk about New Jedi Order, much less read it, without becoming extremely upset because of what happened to that one character in that one book.

I've gotten past that, now.

I've come to this decision thanks to this challenge put forth by the Fantastic Fangirls last year. It's not quite what they challenged their readers to do, as I had given the books a chance before, but it helped me realize that it's time to give up my grudge and stop making excuses.

"Star by Star" wasn't the only reason I stopped reading those books. Before I ever picked up "Vector Prime," I knew the series would make the Galaxy Far, Far Away a darker place, and since elementary school the thought of creatures like the Yuuzahn Vong (the antagonists of the NJO books) has freaked me out. But, knowing ahead of time the grim events taking place in my GFFA, I started reading the series anyway. And what made me stop was the fear of change.

New Jedi Order makes a point of drastic change in the beloved GFFA, something I was not prepared to face, despite my fore-knowledge of events. The reality of the fictional events caused me to retreat, and point to "inconsistent characterization" and "pointless death" and "a lack of hope" as the reasons for my withdrawal from the EU. "Inconsistent characterization," though, has been a problem in Star Wars books since long before NJO, and one of the defining characteristics of the Star Wars franchise has always been finding hope in the face of none. NJO is filled with changes, many for the worse for the characters I grew up loving, and these problems aren't solved in a book or three. They can no longer return to the status quo. There isn't the comforting knowledge of how things will be a few years in the future like there was when authors were filling the gap between the movies and Zahn's "Thrawn Trilogy." Things change, both for us and for the fictional characters we know and love. I need to face this.

Now, like back in middle school, I know what will happen. Despite limiting myself to the Star Wars books written before 1999 (excepting of the "Jedi Apprentice" series and books written by Timothy Zahn), I've been keeping up-to-date on the Star Wars galaxy via the internet, and I believe it's finally time to dive back in. My recent entrance into the Marvel Universe, in some ways so eerily similar to the EU, has helped to arm me for this battle. I want to read more stories about the worlds and characters I love. I want to watch the children I've read about for so long develop and mature into members of the new Jedi Order. I want to learn about the Chiss and the other races of the Unchartered Territories. Dang it, I want to be able to check out the intriguing-looking "Star Wars: Legacy" comics and know the backstory! I will allow the changes brought by the "New Jedi Order" and the "Legacy of the Force" isolate me from a galaxy I love no longer!

When I return to the U.S., I will confront my personal Sith of Geekdom and step into, what are for me, the Uncharted Territories of the Galaxy Far, Far Away.

Wish me luck and ask yourself, what have you been hiding from?