joysweeper: (Default)
Sometimes I wonder if I'm secretly a masochist.  Apparently I like it when fiction makes me cry, as long as it's not tears of rage.

"Yoda: Dark Rendezvous" has a good example that's getting me to tear up weeks after a reread when I think too much about part of it.  Scout is the nickname of a young Padawan who's very determined but weak in the Force, who lost a Master early in the Clone Wars.  Yoda got a knight named Maruk to take her on as his Padawan, but Maruk's not happy about it because he thinks she'll get killed.  He keeps her at arm's length, trying not to call her by her nickname, and reflects that he does like her but doesn't want to get attached.

Then Ventress walks onto the scene with some assassin droids, and Maruk might have beaten her if he'd fallen to the Dark Side, but realized what he was doing and became mortally wounded.  Ventress leaves, and Scout realizes that he's not quite dead when he gasps her nickname.

He was smiling. She didn't think she'd ever seen him smile before. Tears welled up inside Scout. "Don't try to talk. It will be all right, Master. Master Yoda will be here soon to take care of you." Tears dropped from her eyes onto his shattered chest. There was a long hitch in his breathing. His eyes closed. "Master Maruk? Master Maruk! Don't go," Scout cried. "Don't leave me!"
His eyes opened, and he smiled again. "Never...," he whispered. "... my Padawan."
His eyes closed, and he was gone.

And I keep going back to it.
joysweeper: (Default)
Still love the Thrawn Trilogy.

If this isn't my favorite portrayal of Luke, he's damn close. Wanting to do what's right, always struggling to turn that sentiment into reality, all empathy and fragility and bigheartedness but when he stand up he stands up...  argh.

I liked him in Stover's novel too, don't get me wrong.  But that Luke was a Stover creature.  Still striving to do the right thing, but weary and kind of tired and not at all inexperienced and optimistic like Zahn's version.  I can accept Stover's Luke as an older man, but at the age he is in that novel...

Eh, that's the style.
joysweeper: (Default)
Rereading Heir to the Empire.  Again.

I adore this trilogy, seriously.  It's distinctly possible that I have a girlcrush on Grand Admiral Thrawn.  Mm.  There was a book out at Dawn Treader that unofficially summed up and compared the novels.  It said that Thrawn was admirable for being a bad guy without being evil.  Amoral, not immoral.  This is true.

Love, love, love the scene where Pellaeon brings him a report that the Millennium Falcon and the Lady Luck connected for a couple minutes, then parted and went separate ways, and not only did Thrawn know who went to what ship and where, he was able to explain his reasoning.

But I love just about everyone in the trilogy.  Everyone's constantly thinking and changing their plans and guh, how people keep parting and coming together again.

Youtube Spam )
joysweeper: (Default)
I just reread Death Star for the... I think third time.

Still a good book.  I like the many-slices-of-life style.  These authors - I don't care for them apart.  Perry wrote Shadows of the Empire, which while entertaining and with its good parts, I thought had a serious fixation on a villain who wasn't nearly as cool as he wanted us to think, and Darth Vader was really not as monstrous as he should be.  Actually, in comparison he barely came off as villainous at all.  Reaves, meanwhile, wrote Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter and the Coruscant Nights Trilogy, neither of which struck me as terribly compelling.  And I didn't like most of the characters in either.

But together?  They've also written the Medstar Duology, which I really enjoyed.  It's incredibly detail-heavy and also involved a many-slices-of-life style, with a huge cast, though there was more of a sense that there was an actual antagonist in that one, and not just at the end.  Really promotes the idea that this is a lived-in universe, with a lot of strange things that the inhabitants take for granted.

One character carries over from the duology to Death Star, that being Kornell "Uli" Divini.  He was nineteen then, a surgical prodigy, and by this point he's been ground down and wore out over the past twenty years, never allowed to leave the service.  He's much more bitter about his circumstances, yet he's very professional with his patients and always willing to do his best on them.  Also, it seems like he's harbored a secret fascination with Bariss Offee, and he wrestles with it, and sees her in Princess Leia.  I love him.

The book is driven entirely by its characters.  Not just Uli - we have Celot Ratua Dil, a Zelosian smuggler sent to the prison planet Despayre(now there's a name); Teela Karz, a Mirilian architect also sent to Despayre as a political prisoner; Villian Dance, a Corellian pilot always looking to improve himself; Memah Roothes, a Twi'lek bartender; Rodo, her bouncer; Atour Riten, an old archivist; Tenn Graneet, the head gunner; Nova Stihl, a Force-Sensitive guard who teaches self-defense; Admiral Motti; Grand Moff Tarkin; and Darth Vader.

Those are the viewpoint charries, anyway.  I suppose it can be confusing if you can't keep everyone straight.
joysweeper: (Default)
I dreamed that I was going to try to RP Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, and I argued that this was possible because he was the viewpoint character in The Andalite Chronicles and in one main sequence book.  (The second part's not true.)  Then apparently I dreamed the book.  Something or other post-series, Elfangor knew what had happened and was apparently alive, and got sent back in time to posses his brother Ax.

He convinced the others of this and plans were made, where he was secretly a little intimidated by the thought that these were the Animorphs pre-strange powers.  Cassie apparently had the ability to "remember the world", for example, whatever that means.  And there was a scene in a gas station convenience store about holding off some thugs and Jake's parents learned what he was, but they "already knew".

It was a longer dream, but I can't remember now.

Also, I'm skimming parts of Legacy Of The Force.  I hate a good eighty percent of it, but.  Wedge Antilles and his daughter Syal.  I love them like burning.

For example, in "Betrayal", Wedge breaks out of an (admittedly low-security and cushy) jail using a videogame, a tumbler of water, and a rolling chair.  This is awesome.

And a fanfic written for ladielazarus. )
joysweeper: (Default)
Rereading "Wraith Squadron" for the umpteenth time.  It's awesome.

Seriously, even though I don't have much dislike for Stackpole, Allston is just a vastly better writer.  The pace seems faster, more things are shown rather than told, there are no damn redshirts, and everyone is interesting!

Allston!Wedge Antilles is more irritable than Stackpole!Wedge.  It's interesting.
Youtube spam )
joysweeper: (Default)
Rereading "Shadows of the Empire", I found this passage from Leia's POV, when she's just woken from a dream/memory of Han getting frozen in carbonite.

She felt the emotions well, felt them threaten to spill out in tears, but she fought it.  She was Leia Organa, Princess of the Royal Family of Alderaan, elected to the Imperial Senate, a worker in the Alliance to Restore the Republic.  Alderaan was gone, destroyed by Vader and the Death Star; the Imperial Senate was disbanded; the Alliance was outmanned and outgunned ten thousand to one, but she was who she was.  She would not cry.

She would not cry.

She would get even.


I love Leia.  When she's not the damsel in distress, anyway.  I love when she's written as taking after her father more than Luke does.  Zahn writes her like that more than the others do.  She's got such righteous fury, but she keeps it controlled.
joysweeper: (Default)
I've been thinking about Tycho Celchu for a while, so why not?  Here they are, my Thoughts On Tycho.

Thoughts on a Character )

 Not the most organized thoughts, huh?  I was sure I had more on the subject.  Eh, mostly posts like these are for me anyway.
joysweeper: (Default)
I've been contemplating my Thoughts On Michael Stackpole for a while, so I figured I'd collect them.  He is, of course, the writer of five books in the X-Wing Series, I, Jedi, two books in the NJO, some short stories, and various novels that aren't part of the Star Wars EU.  I've read all of his SWEU work and some of his originals.

Thoughts on a writer. )

Teal deer?  Stackpole's not bad.  Allston definitely writes better, but you can read worse than Stackpole.
joysweeper: (Thrawn)
Sorry for more delay.  Now comes the conclusion.  I will take this last opportunity to say: Read the books!  They are awesome!  This is but a pale imitation!

Cel: "You sound as if you admired him, sir."
Wedge: "Admired him? Sure I did. He was a different sort of enemy."
Cel:
"Different from the Yuuzhan Vong, you mean, sir?"
Wedge:
"Different from the Vong, the Emperor, any other Grand Admiral--from anyone," Wedge replied.
Cel:
"What do you suppose Thrawn would make of the Yuuzhan Vong, sir?"
Wedge: "Ground Vong, probably--if he had a few examples of their art." - NJO: The Final Prophecy

Is this the end, or the beginning? )
So that's done.  Does anyone have Dark Empire?  Takes place a year after this.  It's supposed to be not very good, but I've never seen it, and I want to see Darkside!Luke.  And if anyone wants to post from Union, if you don't do it I will.  Eventually.
joysweeper: (Default)
Yesterday in the afternoon, Borders was selling the newest Pratchett, Unseen Academials, for half price, so I got it for thirteen dollars. In the evening I found a used bookstore in downtown Ann Arbor, not far from that The Gallery Project I went to. Much bigger than I thought it would be. It's called Dawn Treader Book Shop, and I spent forty-five dollars and fifty cents. Which, coincidentally, happened to be less than two dollars than what I was carrying on me. I found that interesting. If I'd bought any of those things that I'd really wanted but told myself weren't necessary, I wouldn't have had enough. Instead I bought exactly enough to be just barely able to pay.
Book geekery. )
Fortunately for my finances, I did have some more money at home. Still, I really shouldn't go back there for a while. Oy, where do I begin...

Youtube spam )




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joysweeper: (Thrawn)
Mitth'raw'nuruodo: "There are too few idealists in this universe, Car'das. Too few people who strive always to see only the good in others. I wouldn't want to be responsible for crushing even one of them."
Jorj Car'das: " And besides, you rather liked all that unquestioning adulation coming your way?"
Mitth'raw'nuruodo: " All beings appreciate such admiration."
Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo and Jorj Car'das about Maris Ferasi[src]
Sorry about the delay, gentlebeings. I was working on my NaNo. So here's the first half of The Last Command. It's illustrated by Biukovic. While his art may not be as pretty or realistic as the art for Dark Force Rising, he's much better at rendering emotions and personality. This is f-locked for minor and rather pointless nudity, but it's SFW.We'll remind the Rebellion what war is all about. )


Next week: the conclusion.
joysweeper: (Default)
I finished watching Cosmos. Then I read Contact. It's left me rather melancholy.

Though it does appear that Sagan was a feminist. That's one of those things that I hope for from every author, and it was good to find here.

And damn it, just because Ellie found out that the man she called her father wasn't her bio-father doesn't mean she should stop calling him her dad when she finds out! It's not the genes alone! It's who raised you! Her bio-father was a jerk to her. I didn't like that bit at the end where she's all "oh, here I've been trying to figure out the secrets of the universe when something I've always held to be true was a lie!" Yeesh.

Youtube spam )
joysweeper: (Angry!)
"I have no qualms about accepting a useful idea merely because it wasn't my own."
―Thrawn
Here's the other half of Dark Force Rising.  First part was here.  You can probably tell that this time I have the book in hand.
Will you hear me? Or will you choose death? )

I just love this book.
joysweeper: (Default)

[joysweeper]
[User Picture]

[Link]

The Thrawn Trilogy: Dark Force Rising
" This one is constantly thinking, analyzing, strategizing. He showed no fear, but was curious, studying me in turn."
―Emperor Palpatine

Much better art now.

joysweeper: (Pilot)
joysweeper ([personal profile] joysweeper) wrote,
@ 2009-10-17 15:27:00
   
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Edit Entry  Edit Tags  Track This  Next Entry
   
The Thrawn Trilogy: Heir to the Empire
Five years after Endor and the death of the Emperor, the Empire was in bad shape. There had been successors who had ruled the Empire, or tried to. Pestage, the Tribune, Ysanne Isard. Under them it splintered, warlords like Teradoc and Zsinj splitting off on their own to fight them and the New Republic. The Empire just kept losing people and worlds, rarely if ever winning any important battles.

"I am Grand Admiral Thrawn. I have been away, but now I have returned. I know some of what has occurred. You will fill in the details of the rest when I come aboard. Rejoice, Captain, for the Empire will rise again." - A Grand Admiral Returns

We haven't been defeated, merely slowed down a bit. )
Next up is Dark Force Rising.
joysweeper: (Pilot)
Putting this here as well as on new scans_daily.  Because.


joysweeper ([personal profile] joysweeper) wrote,
@ 2009-10-15 21:18:00

The Thrawn Trilogy: Heir to the Empire
"It was just after four o'clock on November 6, 1989, and I was three days into writing my first novel for my new publisher, Bantam Books, when the phone rang. It was my agent. "Tim," he said after the usual pleasantries, "we have a very interesting offer here."" - Zahn
Read more... )


joysweeper: (Default)
I reread The Thrawn Trilogy and the Hand of Thrawn Duology recently.

Gush )
I'm forgetting something...  Oh, right.  It was sixty-six years from the Wright brothers to Apollo Eleven.  It's been forty years since Apollo Eleven.  This song gives me goosebumps.

Dragons.
Dragonadopters   DragonadoptersDragonadoptersDragonadopters


joysweeper: (Default)
Dragonadopters  



Surfing baxil's flist, finding this, deciding why not.  But putting a cut, 
because that is long and I dislike really long entries.  Why did the text change?  Stupid computer.


from http://megadude337.deviantart.com/art/Reposted-95830658


I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.

I am the prostitute working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman.

I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.

We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.

Read more... )
I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love.


Repost this if you believe homophobia is wrong.


I found L-space and the Annotated Pratchett File.  ...Where did the time go?  My spring break ends tomorrow!
joysweeper: (Default)
There's a site called obamicon.me which lets you take pictures and get them in dark blue, red, light blue, and yellowish, like that Obama poster.  I've been messing with it.

 

... There was another pic there, but it doesn't want to copypaste.  Fine.  (WTF, Firefox spellcheck?  "Doesn't" isn't a word?  Neither are "isn't" or "spellcheck"?  I'll grant you copypaste and WTF, but seriously.)

The dragon's at level thirty, so I have a second one.

Dragonadopters 

Terry Pratchett, I've found, is a really good writer.  So thanks TVTropes for plugging him until I had to try.  (First taste was free from the local library.)  I read Nation, and... wow.  Wow.  I also love a lot of the Discworld books.  The Guard ones in particular, but I seriously liked "The Truth" and the ones with Moist von Lipwig.  Apparently my passion is for detailed world-building, characters that I like, and strange and interesting cultures.

And this is where I can go to watch Avatar again.  I love that finale.

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