Those who follow me here and elsewhere will know that I haven’t pulled my punches when it comes to criticizing modern Star Wars. Problems range from a lack of creativity to Mary Sue characters, to diversity being the focus, to the apparent need to give literally EVERYTHING its own spin-off or backstory, even when totally unnecessary.Continue reading “Book Review: Star Wars: Thrawn, by Timothy Zahn”
Tag Archives: Star Wars
Going Full Space Opera: The Galaxy Ascendant
There have been a couple of very interesting, and, for me, relevant articles made over the last day or so, on the topic of space opera. Of most relevance is a post by Bradford C. Walker, regarding what he is looking for when he ventures into the realm of space opera. Of particular note, isContinue reading “Going Full Space Opera: The Galaxy Ascendant”
Alien Lives Matter: Introducing the Burroughs Test
I was recently made aware of this excellent post over at SuperversiveSF by Nate Winchester (thanks to Rawle Nyanzi for bringing it to my attention.) In the article, Nate addresses the “current year” issue of “representation” in fiction, that being where people on the Left, primarily SJWs, make the “diversity” of a film’s cast aContinue reading “Alien Lives Matter: Introducing the Burroughs Test”
Writing Non-Human Characters Part 2: Pitfalls to Avoid
Now that I’ve hopefully made the case for writing non-human characters in the first place, we can move on to the actual creative process. And I figured best to get the negative parts of it out of the way first, hence pitfalls. I will preface this by saying that while the pitfalls I will discussContinue reading “Writing Non-Human Characters Part 2: Pitfalls to Avoid”
Phasma: Star Wars Shows it Doesn’t Know How to Explore its Characters or What Fans Want
I have a few quick thoughts, stemming from the recent release of Phasma, a standalone book detailing the backstory of the iconic Star Wars character Captain Phasma–oh wait, no, she was just an over-hyped character that did nothing in the movie and was put in the movie to sell toys and as a means to push aContinue reading “Phasma: Star Wars Shows it Doesn’t Know How to Explore its Characters or What Fans Want”
Why I Write Space Opera, and Why it’s Awesome
The question, “Why do you write [insert genre, type of story]?” is one that writers can be certain someone will as at one point or another. So, I think I’ll get the jump on that question, or at least on one of my answers, as I also write fantasy, and plan to write historical fantasyContinue reading “Why I Write Space Opera, and Why it’s Awesome”
PulpFail
Brian Niemeier recently put up an excellent post on his website, in which he discusses the reasons pulp historian and author of Appendix N, Jeffro Johnson, gave for why Rogue One: A Star Wars Story failed to meet the pulp tone and standards of the original trilogy. Many of these issues are similar to the ones I hadContinue reading “PulpFail”
The Reformation of Star Wars
This is technically a share of a share, but I saw the original post through Nick Cole’s site, so it followed that I should link to his page. The post which he shared is actually a review of Galaxy’s Edge: Galactic Outlaws, the second book in the Galaxy’s Edge series, written by Nick Cole andContinue reading “The Reformation of Star Wars”
It’s #SpaceOperaWeek, but Where are the Aliens?
So, Tor.com decided that this week is Space Opera Week (#SpaceOperaWeek on Twitter), though thus far it seems that I and a few other fellow members of the #PulpRevolution have been dominating the hashtag, though that may be unsurprising, as Tor is using contributors who aren’t fans of the genre. Jon Del Arroz, author ofContinue reading “It’s #SpaceOperaWeek, but Where are the Aliens?”
Don’t Skimp on the Action!
Check out this excellent post by Bradford C. Walker, on the topic of the lack of capital ship engagements in Star Wars (and other sci-fi) space battle scenes. It’s something I’d love to see more of, as well. Rogue One had a bit of it, and as Bradford mentions, the Clone Wars show had some good fleetContinue reading “Don’t Skimp on the Action!”
Writing, Ascendant 