A Book under the Sun

Starfighters of Adumar was the ninth and last of the novel in the popular X-Wing series before the long lull in the series. With the launch of Mercy Kill , I went back to reread the novel and to get myself back into the seat of Rogue Squadron before I go ahead to read the latest installation of the series.  One-liner intro:  An engaging read of how pilots practice diplomacy - through aggressive negotiations! Best part:  A fresh departure from usual space fights; intriguing read on Wedge's love life; hilarious dialogues to entertain readers in between fights. Not-so-best part:  Unimpressive enemies; unimpressive tactics and strategies.

by Jeff Grubb The impression of a Jedi being someone brandishing a lightsaber and hurling Force this or that is hard set on most die hard's mind, especially if the aforementioned is a Jedi Master. A show of his mastery of the Force along with wise words to his apprentice are almost always expected from a Star Wars novel featuring such character.  So imagine my surprise when the presented protagonist was a Jedi Master who was anything but. Welcome to the world of Scourge .

by Joe Schreiber A long long time ago, there was a ship filled with the living dead in a galaxy far far away. The captivating story of a ship full of Imperial dead shambling around was novel in the sense that the popular sci-fi franchise never tried to accommodate horror elements into it. At least never did it seriously. That was Joe Schreiber's Death Troopers  (which was also another book shared in my previous article). But the fact that this horrifying disease of living dead only struck on a ship full of Imperial mortals raised an interesting question, one which will eventually surface sooner or later: what if those weren't your usual bunch of mortals? What if those were Force wielders? Well, zombies carrying lightsabers is really a sight to behold, isn't it? Whether Schreiber is a Jedi/Sith in disguise who can read minds or he has the foresight granted by the Force, he had came up with that story. The outcome: Red Harvest . And no, only Sith were affecte...

by Bill Slavicsek Flipping through the browning books on my bookshelf, I found this long buried guide to that galaxy far far away, reminding me of my long lost interest in Star Wars. A Guide to the Star Wars Universe  is a must have for die-hard fans like me in an era when internet is not as pervasive, and you just wanted to know a little bit more about that character or planet which you just read off the latest Star Wars novel.

by Joe Schreiber For those Star Wars fans out there, a forewarn to you all: this is not a new kind of stormtrooper... At first I thought it is, but picking up the book tells me that this is something new in that far, far away galaxy. What comes to mind when 'Star Wars' is mentioned? What is the most horrible thing that can be imagined? Darth Vader (aww, come on... you call that horrible!? he's adorable...)? Well, now you have something more horrible than that adorable asthmatic Sith Lord: Joe Schreiber (no, he is not another Sith Lord...) Imagine zombies roaming around in the Star Wars galaxy, and this is the outcome. The plot itself is nothing new: a ship met some malfunction, stalled in the middle of nowhere, met a ghost ship, entered and bring back unspeakable horrors (you know what it is), everyone become zombies, a few  protagonists  died, a few finally survived and left, blah blah blah... Well, at least that is the gist of it. Sounds familiar? If it does, that is...