Jeff Diamond’s Comments (group member since Jan 27, 2010)

Jeff Diamond’s comments from the The Expanded Universe group.

Hello, all.

Your friendly neighborhood Grand Moff here to address a concern that has made its way to me. I got this message:

Just wondering what the official stance of the group is in regards to piracy of the Star Wars books? Not the discussion of the merits of either sides, but if it is allowed for someone to come onsite and say "I have books, email me and I'll send them to you."

I'm going to split this question into two parts. The first thing being the difference between lending/borrowing and piracy.

Friends lend and borrow books all the time. I've done it, and I'm willing to bet almost all of us have. From a public/school library if not from another person. But the ownership of that book doesn't change. One person owns it, and (I would think) expects it returned at some point. Piracy is unauthorized/illegal transfer of goods--books, in this case.

So as it applies to the group: I can't stop you from lending or borrowing books, and I wouldn't want to if I could. That's how authors like me get noticed. Word of mouth. That I-borrowed-this-and-found-it-cheap-at-the-bookstore day, and you plunk down 5.99 for my paperback. Lending is good.

Now onto what piracy means for the group. This isn't good, folks. If you are trying to sell someone your old collection of books, fine. But if copyrighted material (or links to it) show up, the content will be removed and the person who posted it will be banned. Here's a good rule of thumb: if the publisher is charging money for it, you need to pay for ownership. Clear enough?

**Addendum: This rule applies in reverse, as well. If you show up and ask for people to send you books irrespective of copyright, the same consequences will apply.

I never did the step-up thing. I more or less jumped right in on them, and you can get a feel for the characters in the stories themselves. But enjoy them! Kevin J. Anderson is a great author, and makes the characters interesting. It's like a piece of art: the later books paint a picture of the character, but he and Rebecca Moesta put out the canvas and prepare all the paints that are used later.

Just don't get scared off in the middle of New Jedi Order. It gets slow, but it's worth it!

A live-action TV show could be quite good. If they put the effort into it like the folks that do The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones, then it has potential. I don't know what exactly the episodes would be about, but as long as they don't get too hero-centric I'd be fine with it.

As for the money problems... at $1 million per episode and total control over the project, I would imagine that's asking a lot of any studio. Seeing as how George had a hard time getting any funding for Red Tails, I kind of doubt anybody would be willing to invest very much in a new Star Wars show at this point. Sad, but probably a reality.

That's an interesting idea. Sounds like a ton of work, but kudos on going for it! I agree with Derrick, though. If my boy wants to watch ROTJ before ESB, that's a big no-no. Not saying you'd make that big a mistake, but to me, it would be as much fun to find out how the stories started growing and meshing together. Chronologically it would read more like a broad, sweeping history of awesomeness.

I'm torn as well.

Implionlord wrote: "How about "star wars fans""

It's ingenious in its simplicity...

And yes, William. The 501st Legion/Vader's Fist is another group. Not necessarily just a fan club, but dedicated to costuming specifically. I should know. I'm a stormtrooper with them. :)

Speaking of the Dark Times period and Rebellion, does anybody know of any good books that have to do with the Galactic Civil War but don't necessarily have to do with the core characters? I know about Coruscant Nights, but I haven't read it.

I'm going to pipe in again finally. I agree with James on this. While you could jump into the middle of NJO, you could also move to a different country with nowhere to live like I did. But I wouldn't recommend it. Vector Prime is a good place to start. The entire arc of NJO is long, but when you look back at it after you're done it's totally worth it. But it is a slog.

Sweet! Thanks for letting us know!

I think that the problem starts with the fact that the people who make TCW haven't read the books. Therefore, they don't know what Mandalore is like. Either that, or they don't care. I prefer to give them the benefit of the doubt in this case, though. It's better to plead ignorance than apathy.

P.S. I like the comment about Republic Propoganda. It has always struck me as sounding like a WWII era newsreel, and I have never liked how the Separatists always lose to some grand scheme by Anakin and . . . his padawan. But this makes sense.

Kyle wrote: "For the beginner I'd find an author you like then pick a setting or specific book from there."

(resurrecting an old thread...)

This is good advice. Back when I really started into the EU, I wanted to know what happened right after ROTJ, so I picked up The Truce at Bakura. Your personal interests will be the best guide, young padawan.

The Rise of Darth Vader or Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

They both seem to capture the emotions that are driving this point in SW history.

Dash wrote: "Noah, your faith in Lucas is admirable - but very likely misplaced. The TCW crew has their share of the blame, but George has never rubber-stamped anything else in the past."

What the Lucas wants, the Lucas gets.

sneezer wrote: "Ya know, I think that's one of the (very many) great things about Star Wars ...you *can* like the evil guys. IMO this isn't really so in Star Trek (or BSG or Firefly or...)."

True. But in these, I don't think the antagonists are as developed as in Star Wars. Plus, you don't have your main villain turn back to the good guys at the end. With the strong connection to all those archetypal stories, I think it's a foregone conclusion to say that Star Wars is the best. Plus, it's true that the EU has added a lot on top of what was initially in the films.

Now that I've said that, I can tell that I wandered off topic. If anybody wants to continue this, we can start a new thread . . .

I guess I was lucky about this. Last summer, I lived in Japan for two months, and since I was reading the library's copy of Star by Star, I was kind of forced to take a break. After that, I've been kind of slow. But recently, I've sped up. I think my favorite book in the whole series is The Final Prophecy. I think it really makes it feel like things are getting close to the end, and it really ratchets up the intensity. I'm about halfway through The Unifying Force, and I think that The Final Prophecy will be overtaken by the time I'm done.

Michael wrote: "Actually, Remi, find the era that interests you and start there."

Good advice. My reading has skipped around a lot, but lately I have become more of an "I'm almost done with NJO, and I'm not stopping for anything" kind of person.

Another thing you could do is to look into a series, and ask around if there is anything that you should read before it. That's why I'm reading NJO. I was told that in order to read Legacy, I should read Dark Nest, and Dark Nest is set up fairly well by NJO. I figured that since I would end up reading it anyway, I'd go for it.

With the success of the Darth Bane books, do you think he'll be booked to do more than one?

Rebel Alliance is good, but what about those of us who kind of prefer the evil guys? I guess we could say Stormtroopers, but then we get into the confusion about WWII Germany. That is if anybody knows anything about history. . . maybe it's not a problem, after all.

I didn'teven realize that they had a podcast. Thank you "deleted member"!

Depressing that I haven't gotten on here in so long. . .

Could it be because those aren't published by Del Rey?