Podcast appearances and mentions of Timothy Zahn

May the Fortnite Drop with you fanoners! A long time ago in a discontinued timeline, Luke, han and Leia find themselves embroiled in a fight against the Empire's best tatictian.This is our review of Heir to The Empire by Timothy Zahn.

Today we discuss Fool's Bargain, a novella prequel to Survivor's Quest. The Empire of the Hand has come to Kariek to capure the Warlord, but some of the soldiers wonder why they are trying to capture him and not just destroy the fortress he's hiding in.

Le sort classique de l'antagoniste des genres populaires est la mort, parfois graphique et même satisfaisante. Mais est-ce une nécessité absolue ? Que cela véhicule-t-il, peut-on jouer à imaginer d'autres dénouements ? Lionel évoque les liens de ce traitement avec une vision peut-être simpliste de la dynamique historique, et antique de la justice, même s'il rappelle que narrativement, cela demeure satisfaisant ; néanmoins, il est intéressant d'y réfléchir. Estelle aborde les résonances symboliques de l'hubris, et développe la question de la question de l'après-victoire, assez peu traitée et souvent occultée dans les récits, et pourtant capitale dans la représentaiton d'un monde. Mélanie donne des références d'alternatives aux morts de méchants, de jeux sur le motif pris comme une diversion et non une fin, et rappelle que la mythologie est une excellente source de sorts pires que la mort. Références citées - James Bond, personnage créé par Ian Fleming - Dead Zone, roman de Stephen King - Star Wars, licence créée par George Lucas - Indiana Jones, personnage créé par George Lucas et Steven Spielberg - Furiosa, fim de George Miller - Conan le barbare, personnage créé par Robert E. Howard - Babylon 5, série de Joe Michael Straczynski - L'Héritier de l'Empire, premier tome de La Croisade noire du Jedi fou, de Timothy Zahn

One of the most dangerous threats from Star Wars' Legends has had an interesting history after his initial introduction in Timothy Zahn's trilogy/. From the page to animation to live action, the Chiss known as Grand Admiral Member-Berries... errr... THRAWN has had a lasting impact on fans young and old.Join the WOTS crew as we dive into our Character Counts discussion focused on the only Imperial commander to ever say no to both Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader and walk away unscathed..

In this week's episode, we take a look at four different ebook formatting tools for indie authors. We also discuss the phenomenon of Star Wars day. This coupon code will get you 25% off the ebook of Malison: The Complete Series at my Payhip store: MALISON25 The coupon code is valid through June 3, 2025. So if you need a new book for spring, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates   Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 251 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is May 9, 2025, and today we are looking at ebook formatting tools. Before we get into our main topic, we'll have Coupon of the Week, a progress update at my current writing and audiobook projects, and then Question of the Week. We'll also close out the show with a preview of my new audiobook Ghost in the Assembly (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy).   This week's coupon code will get you 25% off the ebook of Malison: The Complete Series at my Payhip store, and that is MALISON25. As always, we'll have the coupon code and the links in the show notes for this episode. This coupon code is valid through June the 3, 2025. So if you need a new ebook for spring, we have got you covered. Now here's where I'm at with my current writing projects. I am 87,000 words into Ghost in the Corruption and I'm hoping to hit 90,000 words by the end of today. So if all goes well, I will finish it up later this week and then begin editing. I am also 9,000 words into what my next project will be, which is Shield of Power, the final book in The Shield War series. I'm also 91,000 words into Stealth and Spells Online: Final Quest, and that will be my main project after Shield of Power is finished. So my writing goals for the next couple months will be Ghost in the Corruption, Shield of Power, Stealth and Spells Online: Final Quest, and then the final book in The Ghost Armor series (the title of which I should really decide since I'm getting close to being finished with the fifth book).   In audiobook news, recording of Ghost in the Assembly (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) is finished. That should be turning up on all the various audiobook stores before too much longer. Shield of Deception (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) is finished and available at all the audio stores: Audible, Apple, Google Play, Spotify, Chirp, and all the others. You can get that right now. Brad should be starting a recording of Shield of Battle sometime in the second half of May, if all goes well. So that is where I'm at with my current writing projects.   00:02:09 Question of the Week   And now let's move on to Question of the Week. Question of the Week is intended to inspire enjoyable discussions of interesting topics. This week's question: what is your favorite Star Wars? The inspiration for this question is the fact that May the Fourth has become Star Wars Day (in a very tongue in cheek manner). And as you might expect, we had a variety of responses to this question. Justin says: I have not seen any Star Wars TV series, but your other choices are mine as well. I have the Trawn Trilogy in the box set and got a PC joystick just for playing TIE Fighter again. Jonathan D. says: Empire Strikes Back is still the best film. I cannot get into the Disney canon after they destroyed the Expanded Universe. I watched The Force Awakens and that killed any interest in watching Disney Star Wars for me. Books is either Heir to the Empire Trilogy or the Darth Bain trilogy. A well done film adaptation of the Darth Bain books would be the only thing that would make me want to watch any new films. Video games would have to be Knight of the Old Republic 1 or 2, with Jedi Academy coming in third. The original Battlefront games were also great.   John Paul says: Loved the Mandalorian and the Book of Boba Fett, especially when they had the characters from each other's show guest starring in them. I saw somewhere they aren't making another series, but [there] was talk about a TV movie to finish it off, but [they are] now showing Series 4 on IBMD with no date. I grew up with the original trilogy though some of the later films are good, especially the special effects, though Jar Jar Binks spoiled the first three movies. Maybe they should reedit the character out since Lucas has spent some money on adding new effects to the trilogy to bring in line with the new movies. Skeleton Crew made me think of the movie Flight of the Navigator with Star Wars added, so I enjoyed that even though it's mainly for kids. I have fond memories of Space Invaders with the sidekick from the original Fall Guy TV show. Again, made for kids though adults can enjoy if they watch tongue in cheek.   Andrew says: There are only three Star Wars movies, of which Empire Strikes Back is my favorite. I really enjoyed Mandalorian Season One. Now Star Wars is dead to me, except for lightsaber battle videos. I really like the Princess Bride Battles. I played TIE Fighter, Dark Forces, and Knights of the Old Republic.   Tom says: Favorite film, Rogue One. With you on Mandalorian Season Two as favorite TV show. Favorite game, Rogue Squadron.   Tracy says: My favorite was Return of the Jedi.   Jenny says: Thrawn Trilogy for sure! Dark Forces was my very first computer game, so it's always going to hold a special place in my heart.   William says: The unofficial remasters of the original trilogy from preserved reels are a godsend.   MG says: Knights of the Old Republic was quite good and Knights of the Old Republic 2.   John K. says: I'm a grim dark sort of guy. Really liked Rogue One but it's slightly edged out by the original Episode IV. I absolutely love Andor but honestly, have not hated anything. Enjoyed them all. I was a nut for the original X-Wing game. Got good enough to one shot TIE Fighters with one quad shot and rarely missed and learned how to solo Star Destroyers pretty easily, though it would take forever. Having played the game that John K. is talking about, I can agree with him that you could take down Star Destroyers in your X-Wing if you knew what you were doing, but it really would take forever.   Dave says: Book wise, I really enjoyed the Thrawn books by Timothy Zahn, also the X-Wing series by Michael A. Stackpole was a personal favorite.   And finally Michael says: I agree on Empire Strikes Back though as a kid, I disliked the lack of upbeat movie. Also really liked the Solo movie. I confess I found the Thrawn books underwhelming, though the original Star Wars novelization is pretty good. And finally, I got to agree on TIE Fighter, such great game. Also, I have a soft spot for Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2.   For myself, I would have to break it down into four categories because Star Wars media covers so many different formats now. For favorite movie, I would say Empire Strikes Back, with Return of the Jedi as the runner up. For the favorite TV series, Season 2 of The Mandalorian. For my favorite book, The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn, with Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover, Darth Plagueis by James Luceno, and The Darth Bane Trilogy by Drew Karpyshyn coming in as strong runners up. Seriously, if you're listening to this podcast, you probably enjoy reading books, so these five are definitely worth your time.   For my favorite video games, I would say TIE Fighter, with Knights of the Old Republic as a very close runner-up. But TIE Fighter was definitely my favorite. In the game, you play as an Imperial pilot, and the designers had the clever idea of making the Empire sympathetic by having the player spend most of the missions hunting ruthless pirates, suppressing alien civil wars, and fighting renegade Imperial warlords who are trying to overthrow the Emperor. In the last two expansion packs for the game, the player is flying as Grand Admiral Thrawn's elite pilot against the renegade Grand Admiral Zaarin, and finally defeating Zaarin after like forty missions was VERY satisfying.   So those are my favorite Star Wars media items. As we can see.  there is quite a range of opinion in the answer to that question.   00:06:54 Main Topic: Ebook Formatting Tools   Now let's move on to our main topic, which is ebook formatting tools. And this is an important thing for indie authors to discuss because if you do want to self-publish your books, it is one of those foundational skills you have to master. You need to know what kind of file format the platforms you're publishing to you take and how to produce it. Now this is something you can hire out but you really, really shouldn't in my opinion, especially because some ebook formatting services charge as much as $2,000 to turn a Word document into files ready to upload for ebook stores. Considering that it is something you can easily do yourself with free tools and a little bit of practice, spending any amount of money on it is probably a waste. I mean, there's a difference between the kind of intricate formatting you would need for say, a full color medical textbook with illustrations and a 60,000 word romance novel. Fortunately, all the major software programs are nowhere near as expensive as $2,000 a book and don't have as much of a learning curve as you might expect. Both video and written tutorials are plentiful for all of these options, making it easy to learn at your own pace. Today we're going to go over four software options for formatting ebooks and discuss their pros, cons, and the best uses for them. Although some of these products have word processing functionality and other features built in, today we'll focus on just the ebook formatting part of the software. #1: The first option we will look at is Atticus. Atticus is from the same company that makes Publisher Rocket, which is a software program I've spoken of very favorably of on the show over the years. The company has made an effort to understand the needs of authors over the years and added new features to Publisher Rocket consistently as time went on. The company Kindlepreneur has also made significant enhancements to Atticus since it launched. As of the time of this recording, it is a one-time purchase option that has free ongoing updates and the current cost is $147 (in United States dollars). Expensive, but the founder of the company Dave Chesson has said frequently he doesn't like software subscriptions. So hopefully this will continue to be a one-time fee and not become a subscription thing.   So here are the pros to using Atticus. It is less expensive than Vellum and has the same features. It works on operating systems other than Mac. In theory, since it has a web client, it can work on any platform. Reviewers say it is very pleasant to use and those who want a lot of customization options are generally happy with it and it has a nice tool for creating and reusing the template for things like author bios or link pages.   The con is that it does require an Internet connection to use and you have to have a computer connected to the Internet. Some people also prefer not to have their work stored in the cloud like Atticus does. Some users report slowness while opening or closing or when saving a file, especially if it's a book with a high word account. Because of the online requirement, there can be issues related to syncing. It does not support .mobi as a file export option. However, that's not a big deal anymore because Amazon is officially phasing out the .mobi file extension and is requiring people to use .epub. So this is not a major point and it's only for people who have a customer base with very old e-readers that can't handle .epub.   And finally, Atticus does not offer a free trial period if you just want to try it out, but does offer a refund within the first 30 days if you try it and decide that you don't like it. So what users would find Atticus the best? It's probably best for PC or Linux users who don't want a Mac and also want to have lots of fine control of your formatting or customizing your layout. Atticus is also heavily built around collaboration, where different people can work on the same file. So if you do work with a team (and many indie authors do) or are co-writing a book, then Atticus might be a good tool for you to use.   #2: The second program we're going to look at is called Vellum.  Vellum has been seen as the default option for ebook formatting for a lot of writers for a while now. As of the time of recording, there is a one-time purchase option that has free ongoing updates. The current cost is $199 for the ebook only version or $249 for the version that includes paperbacks. Vellum has gone on sale occasionally in the past, usually for Cyber Monday in November. The pros for Vellum are that many reviewers consider it the best option for ebook formatting and say it delivers professional results without too much work and a minimal learning curve. Vellum lets you try out the software for free, but you won't be able to export the files you're publishing until the software is purchased. Like Atticus, it offers a 30 day window for a refund.   Vellum is not cloud-based software and it can be used offline. So if you are, for instance, working on a laptop on the road with spotty internet connectivity, this can be a lifesaver. Now for the cons and the biggest con is a big one- that Vellum is Macintosh only. You need to have a Mac to use it and it is not currently available for Windows and Linux. The developers have said that presently they have no plans to port it to either Windows or Linux. It will also not work on iOS, so that means you can't run it on your iPad or your iPhone. You can in theory use it on a PC with a Mac OS virtual machine, but people have reported very mixed success with that. The other con is that it is the most expensive option. So the users this is best for I think would be if you already have a Mac or you are willing to buy a Mac for just one piece of software. #3: The third software program we're going to look at is called Jutoh. Jutoh is a labor of love, mainly created by two people in the UK and has been around for a long, long time. As of the time of this recording, there is a one-time purchase option that costs $45 (US dollars) and a Plus version for $90 that supports some additional features. It currently offers a free trial that you can download and install, but functionality is limited in the trial version. The pros of Jutoh is that it works on Windows, Mac, and most versions of Linux. It is not cloud-based software/is local to your computer. It does not need a constant Internet connection to function. Reviewers frequently praised how responsive their customer support is and of the paid options we are discussing, it will be the least expensive of all of them. The cons are the interface is a bit dated. It does kind of look like something from the early 2000s in terms of the buttons and where they are. Because of that, it can be more difficult for some users to use than Atticus or Vellum. It does not create PDFs or print ready files, so you would not be able to use it to format your files for print books, which is something both Atticus and Vellum offer. I think this is best used for users who want a less expensive option than Atticus or Vellum or a PC user who wants a non-cloud based option.   #4: The fourth and final program we're going to look at is called Kindle Create. And as of this recording, it is the only one of these four options that is free. It is a free download. This software is created and maintained by Amazon. The pro? It's free and you can use the .epubs it creates to upload your books onto other platforms. Just because you've made your ebook in Amazon Create, that doesn't mean you can't use the file for Barnes & Noble and Kobo and Apple and so forth. You can go ahead and do that. However, because it is free software, there are quite a few cons to it. The functionality is pretty limited and only a few fonts are available. It is not good with complex layouts and Amazon's own documentation recommends not using it for books with tables, footnotes, or complex text formatting.   The program doesn't handle edits well. There are people who write books in Vellum even though the developers don't exactly recommend that. And Atticus is designed to have books written in it. However, Kindle Create definitely cannot handle that very well. Windows and Mac are supported, but you can't install it on Linux. Kindle Create no longer supports .mobi as a file export option since Amazon is moving away from that option and most other vendors haven't used it ever. That is a minor point.   I think Kindle Create is best used by users who are just starting out and don't have much in the way of budget and have books that don't require a lot of complex formatting. Kindle Create is actually quite good for novels because novels in general don't have a lot of complex formatting and because it's free, it has a little bit of a steeper learning curve, but that can be advantageous as well.   So looking at those four options, what do I use and why? Well, for the first seven or so years I was self-publishing, I didn't use any of these. I used a program called Sigil, which is an .epub editor. And if Kindle Create has a high learning curve, Sigil's is much higher because you're essentially editing the raw guts of the .epub file.   I was content using that for a number of years, but what I needed was a program that would make uploading print books and formatting print books much easier because at the time I was using Create Space and Create Space required a specialized Word template that was just an enormous headache to use. And the reason that many of the Frostborn books have exactly 24 chapters is because I had a template that worked really well with 24 chapters for print books and I wasn't going to mess that up by trying to add a chapter or have one fewer chapter. So for some of the Frostborn books, I made sure there were 24 chapters.   Obviously this was not a tenable situation for the print books, even though I was happy using Sigil for the eBooks. So I eventually heard good things about Vellum. In 2018 (I believe) I got a used Mac and installed Vellum and started using that for print books. I was much happier with that.   Because the books looked so good in print, I eventually switched over to using Vellum for formatting my ebooks as well and I've been using that ever since. So my main ebook format writing program (as of May 9, 2025) is Vellum and I have a Mac specifically for that purpose. However, I also has high praise to say about Jutoh. I got started using Jutoh because for a while, Smashwords required you to upload a book using a specialized Word format. They didn't accept .epubs for the longest time and formatting a book in that proper Word format for Smashwords was a large headache, I have to admit. I never managed to get it automated quite right. And I had frequent problems with Smashwords rejecting the Word document I uploaded and so forth. Eventually, I discovered that Jutoh also had an export option for creating Smashwords-friendly Word documents. So I tried it out and that was just a godsend, I have to admit. It saved me so much time. So for about seven years as well, I used Jutoh for Smashwords formatting. However, in 2024 after Smashwords was acquired by Draft 2 Digital and the two companies became more and more merged, Smashwords changed and now accepts properly formatted .epubs. They don't do that specialized Word document thing anymore, which has made it much easier to upload files to Smashwords, I must say. But that also means that I've used Jutoh less and less in favor of Vellum because I no longer need those specially formatted Word documents. However, I do have nothing but positive things to say about Jutoh; it is a very good program. If you don't want to shell out the $249 for Vellum or if you don't have a Mac, I think Jutoh is an excellent option for you to use. I have never actually used Atticus, but it's popular enough that I wanted to talk about it on this show. I do know a lot of people who have used it to good effect. Just bear in mind the pros and cons we mentioned. And as for Kindle Create, there's nothing wrong with it. I think it's good starting point, especially if you're just starting out and want to format your book without paying a lot of money or having to pay $2,000 to someone on the Internet to do it. I do think it's a good starting point, even though it's very basic and for your first couple of books, it would be good. But as you get more experienced and want to branch into things like print books, you'll probably want a program with greater functionality like Jutoh, Vellum, or Atticus. So myself, I use mostly Vellum (with Jutoh occasionally), and that is what I use for ebook formatting.   So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes at https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave your review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.   00:19:53 Audiobook Excerpt   And now we'll close out the show with a short excerpt from Ghost In the Assembly, as narrated by Hollis McCarthy. [Remainder of podcast is audiobook except]

We jump back in time and discuss Outboud Flight. Jorus C'baoth is determined to get Outbound Flight off the ground, while Palpatine plans to destroy it and all the Jedi on board. In the Unknown Regions, Jorj Car'das comes into contact with an unknown species, the Chiss. The group he meets is led by a young commander named Thrawn. And for some reason, Obi-Wan and Anakin are in this book for the first two-thirds of it.

Jeremy Comeaux interviews Timothy Zahn, on The Icarus Coda and the complete series of Icarus books; and One Jump Ahead by Mark L. Van Name, Part 8. View the podcast in video form at https://www.baen.com/podcastfiles/mp3/https://rumble.com/embed/v6pgvpl/?pub=1jib3s and the Baen YouTube Channel.

Today we start discussing Tales from the Empire with First Contact. Talon Karrde is investigating a safari on Varonat. The safari is run by Gamgalon, a Krish who Karrde knows is up to something. While there, he meets a young hyperdrive mechanic with red hair who instantly makes an impression on him.

When Marvel let their license to produce Star Wars comics lapse in 1986, Return of the Jedi was three years in the rear-view mirror and it seemed possible there would never be any further installments in the franchise. But Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy's 1991 miniseries Dark Empire would begin Dark Horse Comics' 23-year run of Star Wars comics and help launch the Expanded Universe. Set six years after the Battle of Endor, Dark Empire sees Luke Skywalker tempted to the Dark Side by the newly revived Emperor, Han Solo and Leia Organa fleeing bounty hunters, and a new Imperial doomsday weapon threatening the galaxy. We'll look at the long and rocky development of the series, how involved (or not) Lucasfilm was in the story, and how it compares to its prose sister project, Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy. This is the only podcast where you can hear two grown men arguing (politely) about Star Wars!Support the podcast at patreon.com/ironageofcomics

Voicing Star Wars and Other Galaxies Long-time voice actor and book narrator Marc Thompson joins us to talk about his career voicing the Galaxy Far, Far Away and many other nerd universes as well. We talk about how he got his start with a MTV animated show called Daria, a spin off from Beavis and Butthead, and how that helped him spring into other work as well. Find out what Marc loves about Comic-Cons and why they are still so special to him. Find out what books in the Star Wars universe he just narrated and that you can soon listen to - oh, and don't miss his voicing Grand Admiral Thrawn in our episode - AMAZING! He discusses meeting Timothy Zahn and Lars Mikkelsen and tells us what Star Wars means to him and what his favorite Star Wars film is too. For more on Marc Thompson, please visit the following - Instagram - @captainehud_marcthompson_vo Facebook - Marc Thompson IMDb - Marc Thompson For more on our show partners - Bones Coffee - http://www.bonescoffee.com/FSFPOPCAST and use code FSFPOPCAST Idea Farm - www.ideafarm.store - use discount code FSF15 Level Up Sabers https://bit.ly/FSFLevelUpSabers Win free loot - sign up here - www.fsfpopcast.com/contact For more on our Show - Join our Patreon: https://patreon.com/fsfpopcast Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/cpry4fCDTq Visit our website: https://www.fsfpopcast.com FSF PopCast on BlueSky, Instagram, Threads, and Facebook - @fsfpopcast This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Voicing Star Wars and Other Galaxies Long-time voice actor and book narrator Marc Thompson joins us to talk about his career voicing the Galaxy Far, Far Away and many other nerd universes as well. We talk about how he got his start with a MTV animated show called Daria, a spin off from Beavis and Butthead, and how that helped him spring into other work as well. Find out what Marc loves about Comic-Cons and why they are still so special to him. Find out what books in the Star Wars universe he just narrated and that you can soon listen to - oh, and don't miss his voicing Grand Admiral Thrawn in our episode - AMAZING! He discusses meeting Timothy Zahn and Lars Mikkelsen and tells us what Star Wars means to him and what his favorite Star Wars film is too. For more on Marc Thompson, please visit the following - Instagram - @captainehud_marcthompson_vo Facebook - Marc Thompson IMDb - Marc Thompson For more on our show partners - Bones Coffee - http://www.bonescoffee.com/FSFPOPCAST and use code FSFPOPCAST Idea Farm - www.ideafarm.store - use discount code FSF15 Level Up Sabers https://bit.ly/FSFLevelUpSabers Win free loot - sign up here - www.fsfpopcast.com/contact For more on our Show - Join our Patreon: https://patreon.com/fsfpopcast Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/cpry4fCDTq Visit our website: https://www.fsfpopcast.com FSF PopCast on BlueSky, Instagram, Threads, and Facebook - @fsfpopcast This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Lately there are times it seems we're getting close to the end of our adventure through the Honorverse and then a little reminder like this happens: we're discussing the first book in another four-book story arc! In this episode we're talking about A Call to Duty, kicking off the Manticore Ascendant series. This novel was authored by David Weber, Timothy Zahn and Thomas Pope.You'll remember a while back we read a story by Timothy Zahn that took place early in the life of the Star Kingdom of Manticore, revolving around an interesting character named Travis Long. In this series of books we finally get to read the rest of Travis' story, beginning right here. We also get a very interesting glimpse into the early and formative years of the RMN—essentially watching Travis and the Navy grow up together.Travis' military life begins, almost in desperation as a group of his friends use him as an unknowing wheel man while committing a crime. Travis realizes too late that he's going to be guilty by association and takes refuge in an RMN recruiting office. The recruiter sees goodness and promise in Travis, revealed by his conscience, and signs him up for an enlistment. As we follow him through training and his initial time in the operational fleet, his story reveals a lot about Travis' ethical code, which is both a strength and a potential weakness in terms of his service. The Navy causes Travis to realize and then begin to deal with the fact that while there may be moral absolutes and certain black and white issues, much of the world operates in a very gray space where problems are more complicated than he expected. While he's still immature, certain leaders in his chain of command realize he shows potential to become a commissioned officer and is selected to become a “Mustang”.Your hosts rated A Call to Duty with a 5, 5 and another 5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 5 from your hosts.Once again, thank you for listening and to those of you who take the time to like and follow us on social media, share this podcast with others, and to even comment on our posts.Next, we're picking up the next book in this anthology set called A Call to Arms, where we get to see what happens next with Mr. Long. Without interruption, we get to continue to enjoy the masterful storytelling of David Weber, Timothy Zahn and Tom Pope. As always, be sure to grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time.You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.Now, let's be about it!

What A Piece of Junk Episode 162: Star Wars Nostalgia with the original Heir to the Empire trilogy!   Watch the video version on Fandom Podcast Network YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@FandomPodcastNetwork Listen to the audio podcast version here: https://fpnet.podbean.com/category/what-a-piece-of-junk-a-star-wars-podcast Picture this - it's 1991 and Star Wars has been out of the cultural spotlight for quite some time as the fervor over Star Wars: Return of the Jedi has died down and even the cartoons like Star Wars: Droids and Ewoks have been consigned to the history books. Is it really over for the Galaxy Far, Far Away? Maybe not...there's always A New Hope - and in May of 1991 that new hope took the form of a series of novels by acclaimed military sci-fi author Timothy Zahn who had penned his masterwork, the Heir to the Empire trilogy. This series of books gave us the first looks at now legendary Star Wars characters like Grand Admiral Thrawn and Mara Jade! Join the crew of the Drunken Gungan as they take a trip down memory lane to last century and the release of the books that saved Star Wars and still influence the stories of it today. What A Piece of Junk is THE podcast on the Fandom Podcast Network dedicated to covering everything Star Wars. From the original Star Wars trilogy movies, prequels, sequels, Legends canon, Disney's acquisition of Star Wars and its products, and all the fan favorite content out there, we have you covered. So please make sure to stop on over at your local cantina, grab a drink, cozy on up to your favorite alien (or droid), and get ready to talk Star Wars!   What A Piece Of Junk / Fandom Podcast Network Contact Information:   -What A Piece Of Junk a Star Wars Podcast audio podcast master feed: https://fpnet.podbean.com/category/what-a-piece-of-junk-a-star-wars-podcast… - What A Piece Of Junk a Star Wars Podcast Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/WhatAPieceOfJunk/ - Email: whatapieceofjunkpod@gmail.com - Twitter: @WhatWars   Fandom Podcast Network Social Media links.   - Fandom Podcast Network Audio Master Feed: https://fpnet.podbean.com/ (The FPNet is on Podbean app) - Instagram: @FandomPodcastNetwork  - Twitter: @FanPodNetwork - Fandom Podcast Network is on all major podcast platforms. - Facebook: Fandom Podcast Network: https://www.facebook.com/Fandompodcastnetwork/   Fandom Podcast Network Tee Public Store: Please support  the What A Piece Of Junk podcast and the Fandom Podcast Network by visiting our TeePublic store, while wearing your favorite show logos with pride! Tee Public Store: https://www.teepublic.com/user/fandompodcastnetwork

Now it's time to dive right into the third book in the Crown of Slaves series: Cauldron of Ghosts, co-authored by David Weber and Eric Flint. It won't be a surprise to any of our regular listeners, but this book ties to the previous book we covered based on publication order. That said, this is a particularly tight coupling as this book is often considered a literal and direct continuation of the story in Shadow of Freedom.As a result, we're still seeing events occurring in 1922 PD, now featuring our two super-spies: Victor Cachat and Anton Zilwicki and dealing with what's next for (and with) the Mesan Alignment. Furthermore, we're seeing the reality of the post-war alliance between Manticore and Haven. The reality of this alliance seems to still be almost unbelievable to leadership within the Mesan Alignment as this wasn't a part of what they were trying to orchestrate. It sure seems one lesson in this regard we can apply to the real world is the “law of unintended consequences.” This becomes acute as the new Manticoran-Havenite alliance strives to bring the Alignment out of its comfortable place in the shadows. The overall storyline link here is that our heroes Cachat and Zilwicki are running around on Mesa, trying to help reveal the Alignment. The book is definitely action-packed!Your hosts rated Cauldron of Ghosts with a 5, a 5 and an unusual 4.75 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 4.92 from your hosts.Once again, thank you for listening and to those of you who take the time to like and follow us on social media, share this podcast with others, and to even comment on our posts.Next, we're turning our attention to the Manticore Ascendant series, diving into the first book, A Call to Duty co-authored by David Weber and Timothy Zahn. This book and the associated series take us back to the early years of the Star Kingdom of Manticore and a character we were previously introduced to named Travis Long. We've been looking forward to this series! As always, be sure to grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time.You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.Now, let's be about it!

Welcome to the Youtini Canon Book Club! In this episode, Emmi and Hannah break down their thoughts on Thrawn by Timothy Zahn, the first book in the first Canon Thrawn trilogy. We get into Zahn's mastery over the character, the various iterations of Thrawn over the last few decades, and why we think this story's side characters are just as important as Thrawn himself. Pour yourself a cup of caf and enjoy!

For the 220th episode of the WhoDatJedi podcast, your hosts -- Aaron Svoboda (@aaronsvoboda.bsky.social), Alfredo Narvaez (@nolafredo.bsky.social) and Dave Gladow (@davegladow.bsky.social) -- dig into the legacy and lore of the original Thrawn trilogy, also sometimes called the "Heir to the Empire" trilogy. Timothy Zahn's trilogy made a lasting impression on the Star Wars universe in a myriad of ways, despite its falling into the non-canon zone deemed "legends." What are the books' strengths? And why should anyone go back and read something that isn't "official?" Let's dive in! Listen on Podbean, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Pandora, Tune In + Alexa, Amazon Music/Audible, iHeartRadio, and follow us on Bluesky, Twitter & Facebook!  If you like what you hear, be sure to click that follow button and leave us a positive review!  Read more of Fredo's musings here. Read more of Dave's musings here. Song credit: Far, Far Away (Star Wars Jazz), by the Swamp Donkeys Check them out on Apple Music! -- Related: Jon Watts & Chris Ford on 'Skeleton Crew' future

Hey there fellow travelers of the Jundland Wastes! After a little bit of deliberation and Jedi meditation, we are back behind the microphones to give you our thoughts about the final episode of The Skeleton Crew! Plus we chat a little bit about rumors of Padme making an appearance in the next season of Ahsoka and some news about Star Wars author Timothy Zahn. All of that and more on today's episode of The Traveling the Jundland Wastes Podcast.

On today's episode, Chris shares his thoughts on an early interaction between Grand Admiral Thrawn and Joruus C'baoth in Heir to the Empire a novel by Timothy Zahn. Their conversation reveals much about their personalities, how they view power, and what it means to be sovereign.  Chris also dives into the reality of hybrid work and how it relates to Joruus C'baoth!   Want more energy and essential vitamins for your day but want to limit your caffeine intake? Get 45% off the Magic Mind bundle with our link: https://www.magicmind.com/swlcjan.  

Chapter 29 of Star Wars: Dark Force Rising (1992) (EU: 9 ABY) by Timothy Zahn. Full Show NotesShare the online player for this episode## The Story So Far ##Grand Admiral Thrawn has been plotting the downfall of the Rebellion. Since his return from the Unknown Region, he has discovered the Emperor's Wayland Storehouse of technological prototypes. Taking ysalamiri from Myrkr, they discovered clone Jedi Joruus C'baoth and made an alliance; C'baoth's battle meditation to augment the Imperial warfront, in exchange for the capture of Force-sensitives Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa Solo. Thrawn claimed the technology held within Mount Tantiss and established a new Imperial military outpost.Warships are in short supply between the two factions, and with the re-emergence of the Katana Fleet, both superpowers race to find it. The New Republic joins forces with Karrde's Smugglers and Garm Bel Iblis's Rogue Rebel Faction in the final hours of the race. They arrive too late to claim the entire Katana Fleet, but manage to repel the Imperials from possessing the last fifteen ships (including the Flagship, the Katana itself) by ramming one of the dreadnaughts into Imperial Star Destroyer Peremptory. Thrawn and C'baoth's alliance has been an unsteady one, and at that critical point C'baoth used his unnerving Force-powers to coerce an audience to renegotiate their agreement, having forced Thrawn to send the now-destroyed Peremptory in his stead.## Chapter 29 ##Luke uses the Force to achieve the impossible task of locating Mara among the debris of the space battle. She is barely alive and rushed to a medical frigate by Karrde's people. Luke wonders why she was so important to save. Although already on his way back to the Katana, Han radios to hasten his return. They look down at the dead Imperial soldiers of the boarding party, suddenly understanding how the Empire plans to crew their new dreadnaught fleet.Elsewhere aboard the Chimaera, Thrawn and C'baoth bristle over their current alliance. To place himself in a position that he cannot be overlooked or discarded, C'baoth declares himself overseer of the Mount Tantiss Project: the Imperial Spaarti cloning operation.## Join Us ##Discuss with us on Discord or YouTubeSupport us on PatreonOur WebsiteSupport the show

For our New Years episode we have a special event that was Live at Twin Cities Con 2024 with John Jackson Miller and Timothy Zahn. The interview host is author Jeri Shepherd. We want to thank Twin Cities Con for having us. Be sure to check out Twin Cities Con and join them for their 2025 event at TwinCitiesCon.Com

Join the Idiots as they share MORE stories from their trip to Nashville for the #ICCCon (Imperial Commissary Collectors' Convention) in October 2024. We meet actors from the original Star Wars Trilogy such as Billy Dee Williams, Warwick Davis, Dermot Crowley, as well as actors who played Greedo, Gold Leader, Gammorean Guards, Admiral Ackbar, Wedge Antilles, and also prolific author and creator of Grand Admiral Thrawn, Timothy Zahn!

Chapter 28 of Star Wars: Dark Force Rising (1992) (EU: 9 ABY) by Timothy Zahn. Full Show NotesShare the online player for this episode## The Story So Far ##Grand Admiral Thrawn has an alliance with Joruus C'baoth. Multiple failed attempts by the Empire to capture Luke or Leia have left C'baoth impatient. Han and Lando discovered a Rebel splinter cell led by Garm Bel Iblis with six dreadnaughts of the Katana Fleet. He gave them the location of the dealer who sold them their ships, but Thrawn tracks them, extracting the contact first.Talon Karrde, freed from Imperial detainment by Luke and Mara, provides the location of the Katana Fleet to the New Republic. Fey'lya took command of the recovery mission, but anticipating the politicking, Karrde sent Mara and Leia to rally other teams.Upon arriving, Luke directed their team towards the flagship Katana. Fey'lya's ship Quenfis is not far behind. With the arrival of the Imperial Star Destroyer Judicator, and in a bout of verbal manoeuvring, Karrde has Fey'lya unknowingly announce his cold disposition of military lives. Captain Virgilio has him removed from command, deferring to Leia.The Chimaera is called for backup, but the untimely arrival of C'baoth forced Thrawn to send the Peremptory in their stead.## Chapter 28 ##Gold Squadron joins Rogue Squadron, commencing the Battle for the Katana Fleet. Wedge leads a partially-successful engagement against the boarding assult.Aboard the Katana, the defenders booby trapped the hallways leading out of the hangar and give ground to overwhelming Imperial numbers. Luke can sense something is amiss with the boarding party troopers. Through the Force, he senses their movements, so Luke and Han look for a way to slow their progress while Lando and Chewbacca fall back to the bridge.From aboard the Judicator, Captain Brandei is still waiting for Peremptory to support, but the tide of the battle is not looking fortuitous. As he orders the Judicator into combat range, Karrde's smugglers drop out of hyperspace behind them.With her specialist knowledge of Imperial hardware, Mara is able to blind the Star Destoryer, allowing the smugglers a free run at its underside. Mara radios with Karrde, morose in her assessment that a second Star Destroyer would spell disaster.Bel Iblis arrives unexpectedly, tipping the calculations in the New Republic's favour. Leia enthusiastically accepts his aid, and Bel Iblis uses the ion cannons of his dreadnaughts to enfeeble the Judicator. Having completed a sensor scan of the Fleet, Karrde points out that there are only fifteen of the original two-hundred-odd ships left.The Peremptory drops out of hyperspace, splitting the New Republic front, outgunned despite the six dreadnaughts from Bel Iblis. Mara is hit and forced to eject, her ejection in line with the ion bombardment. She loses all electronics, including life support, and blacks out.Back on the Katana, Luke senses Mara is lost, frustration building. He spaces the Stormtroopers by destroying the anteroom to the bridge. Luke champs at their lack of recourse. Han makes a last ditch effort to take remote control of the a single functional dreadnaught and uses it to ram into the Peremptory, sealing victory. Acknowledging defeat, Brandei orders the retreat.## Join Us ##Discuss with us on Discord or YouTubeSupport us on PatreonOur WebsiteSupport the show

Chapter 27 of Star Wars: Dark Force Rising (1992) (EU: 9 ABY) by Timothy Zahn.Full Show NotesShare this link to find your preferred podcast player## The Story So Far ##Karrde has been sitting on the location of the Katana Fleet for many years, waiting for the most profitable opportunity to sell this knowledge. Unwittingly betrayed by Mara Jade, Thrawn captured the smuggler to extract the coordinates.Even after the death of the Emperor, Mara is compelled to enact his revenge upon Skywalker, but he is the only person she could ask for help. She found him having  followed C'baoth's call. They clashed with the mad Jedi and left him unconscious at his castle. Together, they freed Karrde and set course for Coruscant.Thrawn has also been tracking a splinter faction lead by Garm Bel Iblis. Bel Iblis had acquired six of the Katana dreadnaughts, and after meeting with Han and Lando, gave them a contact for his supplier. Not careful enough, they were tracked by ship thief Niles Ferrier. The Empire intercepted and made away with the supplier.On Coruscant, Fey'lya stalled a full-blown recovery effort in favour of an investigatory team. Knowing that the clock is running down, Karrde sent Mara to regroup their organisation and had Leia commission a rogue team to arrive ahead of Fey'lya's hand-picked one.## Chapter 27 ##Luke, Han, Lando, Chewbacca, and Wedge arrive at the coordinates. Luke guided by the Force, directs the boarding party to the fleet's flagship and namesake, the Katana. Luke and Han lead one team to the bridge, while Lando and Chewbacca head another to engineering. The Katana is eerily pristine, but in spite of that, the sublight drives are inoperable, indicating a cumbersome recovery operation.Fey'lya, Karrde, and Leia arrive in the command suite aboard the Quenfis. From the bridge, Captain Virgilio hails Han to surrender and turn themselves into their custody. Han encourages Wedge to back down before cutting his own comm.It's at this moment that the Imperial Star Destroyer Judicator drops out of hyperspace, immediately launching their own boarding party. Rogue Squadron moves to engage, but Fey'lya demands Captain Virgilio to prepare to retreat. Before Leia can add her voice, Fey'lya cuts the intercom to the bridge and presses his authority; brandishing a blaster for emphasis.On the Katana, Han fires a single, deterring turbolaser lance before the batteries overload. Without recourse, they regroup towards the hangar to repel the incoming Imperials.Aboard Quenfis, Fey'lya admonishes Leia for her sentimentality for soldiers. Karrde drops a surreptitious message for Leia to turn on the intercom. She uses her Jedi powers to activate every comm unit while Karrde sets up Fey'lya to confess his political self-interest. With Fey'lya's cold denouncement of the lives of soldiers, Captain Virgilio orders the Quenfis to full battle readiness, and has him placed under guard.The Chimaera is waiting at a nearby staging area when it receives the engagement report from the Judicator. Before they can jump to assist, C'baoth arrives, demanding to speak with Thrawn. The Peremptory is ordered to go in the Chimaera's stead. Pellaeon and Thrawn share quiet concerns that C'baoth is becoming ungovernable.## Join Us ##Discuss with us on Discord or YouTubeSupport us on PatreonOur WebsiteSupport the show

Chapter 26 of Star Wars: Dark Force Rising (1992) (EU: 9 ABY) by Timothy Zahn.All links are available in this chapter's documentShare this link to find your preferred podcast player## The Story So Far ##The long-lost Katana Fleet has been rediscovered and claims the fleet will determine the temperature of the War for years to come. Years before as a navigator, Talon Karrde happened upon the fleet in deep space, but didn't suspect that Captain Hoffner also recognised their chance discovery.The New Republic is in disarray as political infighting is stoked by suspicious financial. Admiral Ackbar is placed under arrest, charged with treason, and his political rival, Borsk Fey'lya, has been actively chasing the political opening.Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade head to Coruscant with Karrde intending to reward the New Republic with his knowledge for liberating him from Imperial capture. But the Grand Admiral knows of an independent Corellian faction whom were sold six Katana dreadnaughts by Hoffner. Han and Lando, unknowingly tracked by Niles Ferrier. Han and Lando are barely able to escape with their lives as the Imperials bombard the luxury casino among the reefs of Pantalomin and extract Hoffner.Leia has made a covert embassy to the Noghri homeworld and uncovered the manipulations of the Empire to keep the Noghri people enslaved. She promised to return with haste, bringing materials they would need to expand their agriculture.## Chapter 26 ##With everyone at Coruscant, an emergency council meeting has been called; Mon Mothma, Fey'lya, Han, Leia, and Luke, in attendance as Karrde discusses the handover of the Katana Fleet. Despite multiple lines of evidence, Fey'lya is highly  resistant to the validity of the Dark Force. Leia raises the idea of sending an investigatory team to verify the authenticity of the intel. Without obvious objection, Fey'lya agrees to talk to Admiral Drayson and requisition an appropriate team to be sent in the morning.Karrde gives Leia a look before announcing his intention to retire for the night. Mon Mothma disbands the meeting and Han pursues Fey'lya into the halls, leaving Leia to follow Karrde. Han's conversation with Fey'lya is unsuccessful.In the guest quarters, Mara dwells on her waning vendetta. When Karrde returns, he gives one data card to Mara, instructing her to rendezvous with their group at the Katana Fleet; also requesting slicer Ghent sent to Coruscant.Leia arrives and Karrde requests a fast, long-ranged craft for Mara to take off-world; and he suggests another tech team leave before the official party. Karrde impresses Leia that his actions are not one of allegiance, but of gratitude and to ensure the continued independence of his group.Leia agrees, receiving a second data card and takes Mara to acquire a Y-wing. They work quickly through the night to muster another group headed by Han and Luke, accompanied by Wedge and Rogue Squadron. By morning, they are spaceward.The Bothan is outraged. He petitions Mon Mothma for an arrest warrant for Solo and Skywalker and declares himself head of the mission. Karrde agrees to have him along, but reminds him that until the Katana Fleet has been claimed, Karrde has authority over the fleet.## Join Us ##Discuss with us on Discord or YouTubeSupport us on PatreonOur WebsiteSupport the show

Chapter 25 of Star Wars: Dark Force Rising (1992) (EU: 9 ABY) by Timothy Zahn. All links are available in this chapter's documentShare this link to find your preferred podcast player## The Story So Far ##The long-lost Katana Fleet has been rediscovered and, at this critical period in the twilight of the Galactic Civil War, whoever claims the fleet will determine the temperature of the War for years to come. Han Solo and Lando Calrissian have met with an independent Corellian faction, whom were sold six of the Dark Force warships. Not willing to outright join the New Republic but understanding the tensions that exist, they give the location of their seller, a hapless gambler who frequents the underwater casino on Pantalomin.Niles Ferrier is a professional ship thief that has been lifting warships for the generous bounty offered by the Empire. He also has a contentious history with Lando. More recently, Lando has thwarted Ferrier from stealing Republic ships at Sluis Van, and was involved in pressuring Ferrier into facilitating a currency exchange at New Cov.After running afoul of Grand Admiral Thrawn, Ferrier and his crew are under threat of death to locate information on what the Admiral knows to be the Katana Fleet. Ferrier lures Han and Lando into a meeting in order to place a tracker on their craft.With Imperial Intelligence investigating a connection to smuggler Talon Karrde's past and Han and Lando's projected course from Ferrier, the Empire is confident they have triangulated where and who the hapless gambler is that knows the location of the Katana Fleet.## Chapter 25 ##Among the coral reefs of Pantalomin, Han and Lando have searched the eight exquisite gambling halls of Coral Vanda in search of the Senna's contact. As they are about to flog their professional prides to lure in a desperate gambler, they see one of Niles Ferrier's cigarras. It doesn't take any effort to spy the ship thief himself standing in a doorway and he signals for them to follow.High above, aboard Chimaera, Thrawn and Pallaeon oversee the bombardment of the coral reef to force the luxury cruiser to surface.As turbolaser fire rains into the surrounding water and the Vanda is thrown into disarray, Han is grabbed by Ferrier's Defel into a liquor storeroom and separated from Lando. Despite Han's attempt to bargain, Ferrier is adamant to let Lando be killed in the ensuing firefights and make good on his deal with the Empire. He leaves Han guarded by his Defel to close the deal. When the ship rocks again under the assault from above, Han shoves a crate at the Defel and ignites the alcohol that has been spilt everywhere. It is a short-lived distraction, but enough for him to escape.Han meets up with Lando who has found himself targeted by the many men Ferrier had planted around the ship. The odds are overwhelming, and they struggle with the reality of having been outmanoeuvred. With the mission in shambles, they abandon ship.From one escape pod among many bobbing on the ocean, Han and Lando watch the Imperials make away with their prize. It is of little consolation that they will be able to forewarn the Republic of the imminent threat.## Join Us ##Discuss with us on Discord or YouTubeSupport us on PatreonOur WebsiteSupport the show

Chapter 24 of Star Wars: Dark Force Rising (1992) (EU: 9 ABY) by Timothy Zahn.All links are available in this chapter's documentShare this link to find your preferred podcast player## The Story So Far ##Leia captured one of her attempted Noghri abductors on Kashyyyk. In the interrogation, the operative Khabarakh identified her as Lord Vader's heir. Leaning on his people's reverence for Vader, Leia offered Khabarakh his freedom in exchange for an embassy on his home planet.Leia, Chewbacca and C-3PO go to Endor in the Millenium Falcon. They transfer to Khabarakh's ship and he takes them to the devastated world of Honoghr. They try to avoid Imperial detection but Khabarakh's ship is confiscated. After analysis reveals Wookiee hair throughout the ship, Khabarakh is taken into Imperial custody for treason, then left in the capital of Nystao. The Imperial Grand Admiral mysteriously disappears, so Leia plans to break into Nystao and escape with Khabarakh.During her stay, the Khim'bar Maitrakh shares the history of the Noghri people and how they came to be in the service of the Empire after a calamitous space battle wreaks planet-wide ecological collapse. Chewbacca's estimations of the decontamination effort place the disaster at the height of the Galactic Civil War, and Leia feels guilt at the untold collateral damage caused by their struggle against the Empire.## Chapter 24 ##Leia is more-or-less prepared to steal Khabarakh out of Nystao. Leia is too busy to heed C-3PO's concerns over an unusually curious decon droid. The Maitrakh tells of when her fisrtsons were conscripted by the Empire, revealing that Khabarakh is not her third-born son, but her great-grandson; meaning the calamity happened during the Clone Wars almost half a century before! Indignant, Leia is determined to bring it directly before the Dynasts.She orders Chewbacca to test the khlom-grass. The Maitrakh leaves herself to send word ahead. They leave the village by speeder under the cover of night. A large congregation follws them from each village they pass.They are brought to the Grand Dukha. Dynast Vor'corkh is defiant to allow an alien interfering with their politics. Leia calls her lightsaber forth with the Force to demonstrate her authority as the mal'ary'ush. Dynast Ir'khaim and a supermajority of dissenters call to hear Leia's proclamations.Leia holds up the analysis of the supposed khlom-grass to show that they are genetic forgeries created by the Empire and that the decontamination effort a ruse.An overly-curious decon droid is skulking behind the Grand Dukha. Leia orders its capture in exchange for proof. The droid is no match for the Noghri hunters. She opens the droid to reveal an espionage droid and a tube of decon fluid. With one drop, the plant shrivels up, demonstrating the true function of the decon droids.Vindicated, the Dynasts agree to a cover story of Khabarakh's escape. Leia promises to return with more herbicide for the imitation khlom-grass. To save precious time season's end, Leia decides to return straight for Coruscant, intending to leave the Falcon in orbit around Endor. ## Join Us ##Discuss with us on Discord or YouTubeSupport us on PatreonOur WebsiteSupport the show

This week, we crack the spine on the final book of Timothy Zahn's franchise-extending Thrawn trilogy, and wow, what a doozy it is. The Dark Force is no longer Rising, it's risen, and that means the pedal is down and the plot is going full speed. Talon Karrde is meeting with smugglers. Luke bounces all across the galaxy. Lando's walking city is in ruins. Han and Leia's kids are here, and they have visitors, invited and otherwise? And Mara Jade? Well, she's wide awake and getting ready to do the things she does best: Pout and kill people. Support the show by going to Patreon.com/civilized! Next Time: The Last Command Ch. 11-18 Follow us on Bluesky   Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Ricardo Contreras (@a_cado_appears) Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)      

Chapter 23 of Star Wars: Dark Force Rising (1992) (EU: 9 ABY) by Timothy Zahn. All links are available in this chapter's documentShare this link to find your preferred podcast player## The Story So Far ##As the war drags on, both the Empire and New Republic are in need of warships. Before the Clone Wars, a fleet of two-hundred ships known as the Katana Fleet went missing in interstellar space. Smuggler Talon Karrde knows where to find them. Han Solo and Lando Calrissian have met with the leader of a Corellians. Even without convincing the faction to join the New Republic, they are given a new lead on the warships. They are on their way to Pantolomin, tailed by ship thief Niles Ferrier.Grand Admiral Thrawn has little respect for ex-Imperial Mara Jade. He tricked her into leading his flagship Chimaera to capture Karrde for interrogation. After being dismissed, Mara is determined to liberate Karrde with the help of Luke Skywalker, leveraging her hard-coded Imperial backdoor to query Skywalker's location and the Chimaera's flight schedule for the next few days.On Jormark, Luke Skywalker has been training with an old Jedi Master, Joruus C'baoth. Unknown to Luke, C'baoth is actually a clone of the original Jedi Master. When Mara arrives to ask for Luke's help under the protection of an ysalamir, C'baoth's oppression through the Force is uncovered. After a brief struggle, C'baoth is neutralised and left in his castle. Luke sends R2-D2 to Coruscant, while Mara and Luke head to Wistril to intercept the Chimaera during a resupply.Disguised as a supply ship, Mara and Luke infiltrate through to the detention centre and liberate Karrde. A report of a crashed Skipray Blastboat with a dead ysalamir alerts Thrawn to the possibility that they have been boarded, and after discovering Karrde's escape, he orders the Chimera on high alert.## Chapter 23 ##The turbolift stops as the Chimera goes on alert for intruders. Mara disables the other Imperials in the car and Luke cuts them out into the turbolift shaft. With Karrde, they make their way to find Mara a terminal to hamper their would-be captors.In the maintenance room, they discover that the central computer has been shut down. They neutralise a reconnaissance team and head back into the shafts. Based on their location, Karrde suggests they make their escape through the less-obvious starship deep storage area.From damage reports via comm that clearly indicate the weapon profile of a lightsaber, Thrawn knows that Skywalker is working with Mara Jade. Thrawn predicts that with Karrde in charge of the escape, and orders a squad of stormtroopers be sent to guard the Millenium Falcon in deep storage.Luke runs upon the Falcon and orders Karrde to commandeer it while he gets Mara back aboard. In a flurry, they make their escape, safely making the jump to Coruscant. Pellaeon is irate, but between the data from Imperial Intelligence digging into Karrde's past and Ferrier's report pointing to the Pantolomin system, Thrawn is confident that Karrde will stall the Republic's arrival to the Katana Fleet long enough for them to get there first.## Join Us ##Discuss with us on Discord or YouTubeSupport us on PatreonOur WebsiteSupport the show

Chapter 22 of Star Wars: Dark Force Rising (1992) (EU: 9 ABY) by Timothy Zahn. All links are available in this chapter's documentShare this link to find your preferred podcast player## The Story So Far ##As Mara reclaimed one of Talon Karrde's impounded ships, she was captured by an Imperial Star Destroyer. Declaring herself to be the Emperor's Hand, she is taken to talk directly with Grand Admiral Thrawn. She offers a trade of Karrde's knowledge of a long-lost fleet of warships — the Katana Fleet — for organisation-wide immunity within Imperial space. Thrawn insincerely accepts the offer and sends Mara on her way with a tracker to locate Karrde and extract the information himself. He declared to Captain Pellaeon that Jade is a deserter, not worthy of the Empire. Talon Karrde was captured, awaiting torture for his information about the Katana Fleet. Deceived into being party to his capture, Mara Jade is loath to ask for the help of Luke Skywalker in freeing Karrde from Thrawn's flagship Chimaera. Her previous position as a direct agent of the Emperor still leaves her with permanent access into Imperial databases.## Chapter 22 ##Disguised as a cargo shuttle, Mara and Luke land aboard the Chimaera. After confirming they have a few hours before they will be released, Luke uses his lightsaber to cut through their own hull and the decking into the flight prep area.Luke steals three flight suits to blend in as they make their way to the detention area. While Mara leverages her backdoor access into the Star Destroyer's main computer, Luke makes his way through the garbage compactor to the detention level. Between the shift changes, Luke releases Karrde from his cell. Karrde is sleep-deprived but otherwise in fair condition to make the escape back through the garbage compactor. They meet back up with Mara and make it all the way to the elevator without being discovered. Mara suspects they have enough time to seal the hull of their stolen cargo shuttle before they get clearance to leave.On the bridge, Captain Pellaeon is overseeing the bridge deflector control overhaul as Thrawn walks in to hear a final report for the evening. A report from Endor prompts Thrawn to assign the appropriated Millenium Falcon to deep storage. Pellaeon shares another report from the surface where a dead ysalamir piques their interest. From the design of the ysalamir nutrient frame, Thrawn divines that they have been boarded. A call to the detention area confirms Karrde's escape and he orders a ship-wide lockdown — and suspecting that Mara possesses hardwired access codes, orders the shutdown of the Chimaera's main computer.## Join Us ##Discuss with us on Discord or YouTubeSupport us on PatreonOur WebsiteSupport the show

We return on this... historic... day... to wrap up the second entry in Timothy Zahn's franchise redefining Thrawn Trilogy. And when you hit the final third of a Star Wars story, you know what that means: Revelations! Compelling heart-to-heart confrontations! And, of course, a giant space battle to put a button on everything.  Will Thrawn take another L, or have his ships finally come in? NEXT TIME: The Last Command Ch. 1 - 10 Show Notes   Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Ricardo Contreras (@a_cado_appears) Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)  

Chapter 21 of Star Wars: Dark Force Rising (1992) (EU: 9 ABY) by Timothy Zahn.All links are available in this chapter's documentShare this link to find your preferred podcast player## The Story So Far ##Mara Jade's life as the Emperor's Hand was destroyed when Luke and Vader defeated the Emperor. She is still haunted by dreams of a violent assassination. Despite her mortal grudge against Skywalker, Mara was forced to help him escape Imperial capture on Myrkr.Thrawn tricked Mara into leading his flagship straight to Karrde's hiding place. While aboard, Mara used hardwired access codes to get information that would aid her in freeing Karrde and find the one person she thinks can help her: Skywalker.Luke has come to Jormark to submit to the teachings of a presumed Jedi Master, hoping to gain knowledge to help rebuild the Jedi Order. He both feels his own studies are incomplete, and is intimidated by the task of passing this knowledge on to a new generation of Jedi. Already, his efforts to teach Leia highlight the these difficulties. They both seem the target of multiple Imperial abductions and have been forced into the defensive.Master C'baoth is not the exemplary Jedi that he would have hoped to find, and Luke finds it hard to accept his philosophy. Under almost constant fatigue and after another disappointing instruction, Luke is sent by C'baoth to his chambers, so that the older Jedi may surreptitiously repel an inbound Mara.## Chapter 21 ##With the repulsorlift damaged, Mara stabilises the Skipray in a controlled glide. Activating the sublight drive at the last minute, she puts her craft down in the crags of the mountain, though not as close to the summit as she would have liked. She shoulders her ysalamir and begins to ascend the mountainside. She doesn't make it two metres before R2-D2 intercepts her in Luke's X-Wing. Sliding back down to the Skipray, she tells R2 that she has come to warn Luke of C'baoth's allegiance to the Empire, and the droid agrees to take her the rest of the way up.In a clearing at the edge of the mountaintop castle, the mad Jedi Master is waiting. C'baoth wants to keep Luke to himself, but Mara feels confident to take him under the protective bubble of her ysalamir and with C'baoth at blasterpoint. C'baoth boasts of his prophetic power, gloating that one day Mara will submit herself to him willingly.Allerted by a disturbance in the Force, Luke arrives. Luke doesn't seem to need convincing to help Mara in her quest to release Karrde. C'baoth dismisses Mara's intentions, belabouring the grand importance of his mentorship. Seeing Luke's tiredness, she moves closer — and as the bubble of the ysalamir's influence covers Luke, he awakens from the influence of the Jedi Masters.The mad Jedi lashes out to subdue his would-be mentees, but in the ensuing clash, Luke's X-wing is forgotten and R2-D2 uses the laser cannons to knock the Jedi Master unconscious. While Mara wants to execute the treacherous old Jedi, Luke stays her hand. He instead delivers the old man back to his castle, believing that he could one day be healed of his madness.Luke sends R2 back to Coruscant with his X-wing and journeys with Mara to infiltrate the Chimaera and free Talon Karrde.## Join Us ##Discuss with us on Discord or YouTubeSupport us on PatreonOur WebsiteSupport the show

Beginnings is the sixth (and second to last) book in the Worlds of Honor anthology set. It contains five short stories, penned by four talented authors: David Weber, Charles E. Gannon, Timothy Zahn, and Joelle Presby. Each of these stories brings us to interesting and important beginnings for many events that we've become familiar with in the Honorverse but have often gone with little or no explanation.This collection of writings comes in at 377 pages and was first published by Baen in June 2013.Charles E. Gannon brings the first story to us: By the Book.In this story we join the crew of Earth Union Customs Patrol ship Venerated Gaia commanded by Lieutenant Lee Strong in 250 PD. Their mission: board and recover a hijacked ship named Fragrant Blossom, a ship they've located and seized near the Sol System asteroid belt. Once the ship is captured and under their control, a series of non-standard events results in Lieutenant Strong coming into contact with an administrator working for the Outbound Operations Administration, a somewhat quiet and shadowy man named Perlenmann. Mr. Perlenmann seems to have been effectively benched professionally and is sent to his current post on Jupiter's moon Callisto, primarily due to what those holding (somewhat authoritarian) political power deemed to be his radical views. It's from this position of relative obscurity we learn that Mr. Perlenmann is an influential member of an organization plotting to bring the current political elite and their parties to their knees by causing an economic collapse across the Earth Union and Sol system. He recruits Lieutenant Strong to deliver the necessary computer program, causing a catastrophic collapse, which results in the related loss of power of the controlling political parties and the disintegration of the Earth Union. With the passage of time, the collapse is eventually referred to as the Economic Winter of 252 PD. When the economy recovered as a much freer and open economic system, it spawned powerful growth that enabled the remarkable beginning of the movement of humanity out of the Sol system and into the stars.Your hosts gave this story two ‘thumbs-up” and one “neutral” vote.Next we discussed Timothy Zahn's short story A Call to Arms. We move forward in time now, over a thousand years, to 1543 PD. Following the recovery from the Economic Winter of 252 and the subsequent expansion, we see a Solarian Axelrod Corporation plan unfolding to attack the Manticore System through the use of mercenaries. At the same time, we join a young Lieutenant Travis Long onboard the HMS Phoenix. When he writes up a subordinate for substandard performance, he finds himself the one who's in trouble and he's transferred to a different ship, the HMS Casey. It turns out the poor performer is from a politically and militarily powerful family. What appears to be bad news for Lieutenant Long turns into a blessing as the mercenaries arrive in the Manticoran system. Now confronting the enemy, his strength as a tactician shines as he's key in defeating the threat. The “misstep” while onboard the Phoenix quickly and quietly moves to the background as his new captain nominates him for the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal. He also learns a powerful lesson from Captain Heissman about being aware of and getting used to the existence of internal politics within the RMN.Of note, this story is the beginning of more time we'll spend with Lieutenant Travis Long. Our introduction to him here sets up seeing a lot more of him in the “Manticore Ascendant” series of novels, by the dynamic writing duo of David Weber and Timothy Zahn.This one received “thumbs-ups” from each of your hosts, with a bonus “two thumbs up” from Raul.Beauty and the Beast is the third...

The Rule of Two is first mentioned in The Phantom Menace. Master Yoda said "Always two there are. No more, no less. A master and an apprentice." It's origin begins more than a thousand years in the past... and that's where we begin our discussion. Enjoy! Thanks to Timothy Zahn for our intro! Thanks to Mike and Dale from It's True, All of It podcast for providing our intro song. Thanks to our commercial collaborators: Mike and Dale from ⁠It's True, All of It podcast⁠ Previous episodes we mentioned: Ep. 47 - Dark Side Planets! Ep. 128 - Palpatine Part 1 If you able to help the survivors of the devastating hurricanes Helene & Milton, please consider these trusted organizations: The Salvation Army Samaritan's Purse The American Red Cross We have t-shirts for sale! Please visit our Etsy store for our latests designs! Start a ConverSWation with us: converswations.com converswations on twitter converswations on facebook converswations on instagram converswations linktree We are proud founding members of the Red 5 Network

Chapter 20 of Star Wars: Dark Force Rising (1992) (EU: 9 ABY) by Timothy Zahn. All links are available in this chapter's documentShare this link to find your preferred podcast player## The Story So Far ##As the last of the Jedi and the first of the New Order, Luke is overwhelmed with the responsibility upon his shoulders. He faces expectations from the New Republic, the various peoples of the galaxy, and himself, under the shadow of the mythology of the Jedi. His sister is pregnant with twins, and so far his difficulties teaching her do not bode well for his future niece and nephew.C'baoth is the clone of a long-dead Jedi Master in the days of the Old Republic. He made a deal with Thrawn to assist the Empire in their military operations in exchange for the delivery of Force sensitives. During a skirmish over Nkllon, C'baoth contacts Luke, urging him to seek him out; unaware of C'baoth's true nature, Luke heeds the beckon but many setbacks delayed their meeting.Mara Jade is an ex-Imperial operative with a grudge against Skywalker; her Imperial career was tied entirely to the Emperor, and with his assassination her entire life crumbled. After years of struggle, she integrated with Karrde's smuggling organisation, becoming his protege after six months.Luke and Mara's worlds collide on Myrkr where they have to work together to avoid Imperial detection. She revealed to him her previous life as the Emperor's Hand and her deep-seated animosity for him.For having helped Skywalker escape the Imperials, Karrde's organisation must evade the Empire. Mara is intercepted and is taken to negotiate with Thrawn. She divulges that Karrde holds information about the location of a long-lost Katana Fleet. Thrawn tricks Mara into bringing the Empire down on Karrde's head, resulting in his capture. Thrawn offers Mara a position in his new Empire, but she is perturbed that Karrde might believe her to have betrayed him. She feigns a pledge of loyalty to Thrawn, but leaves to seek Skywalker to help free Karrde.After many incidents, Luke arrives on Jormark. On his way, he has encountered new expectations and responsibilities for a Jedi. C'baoth is not the exemplary Jedi that he would have hoped to find, but nevertheless submits himself to this seemingly senile Jedi's teachings.## Chapter 20 ##C'baoth and Luke give their council to the people of Jormark. C'baoth is dissatisfied with Luke's progress under his tutelage; they have some fundamental differences in point of view. C'baoth sees the universe as jealous and unwelcoming, while Luke has felt respected and hopeful. C'baoth seems suddenly overcome with exhaustion and sends Luke to retire for the evening.Mara awakes from her recurring nightmare of the Emperor's final moments as she exits hyperspace. During Mara's approach from orbit, she experiences an eerily similar sense of exhaustion herself. Remembering her flight trainer's warnings against inattention and fatigue, she chides her own carelessness.Or is it her carelessness?As she approaches her ysalamir at the back of the craft and finds herself beyond C'baoth's influence. On her final approach, her ship is pelted by rocks. Her repulsorlift is knocked out and the skipray plummets to the ground.## Join Us ##Discuss with us on Discord or YouTubeSupport us on PatreonOur WebsiteSupport the show

Chapter 19 of Star Wars: Dark Force Rising (1992) (EU: 9 ABY) by Timothy Zahn. The Story So FarMara Jade has held a personal grudge against Luke Skywalker for the assassination of Emperor Palpatine. As the Emperor's Hand, her entire life was destroyed along with the Second Death Star. Emotionally scarred and disposing of her past life, Mara struggled with her new life until joining Talon Karrde's smuggling group, hoping to utilise the resources of his enterprise to exact her revenge.The Empire has a tenuous alliance with Dark Jedi Joruus C'baoth; in exchange for his battle meditation, Grand Admiral Thrawn promises to capture and deliver Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa Solo. After crippling Skywalker's X-Wing, he is incidentally captured by Karrde and imprisoned on Myrkr. Escaping his confinement during an untimely Imperial visitation, both parties reluctantly work together to evade Imperial detection, culminating in a firefight.Weeks later as Mara reclaims one of Karrde's impounded ships, she is captured by an Imperial Star Destroyer. Declaring herself to be the Emperor's Hand, she is taken to talk directly with Thrawn. She offers a trade of Karrde's knowledge of a long-lost fleet of warships — the Katana Fleet — for organisation-wide immunity within Imperial space. Thrawn insincerely accepts the offer and sends Mara on her way with a tracker to locate Karrde and extract the information himself. He declared to Captain Pellaeon that Jade is a deserter, not worthy of the Empire.Chapter 19An uneasy feeling grips Karrde as he watches Mara return to their safehouse. Despite having given the all-clear, the Imperials are upon him without warning. He is surprised that his thoughts contain no animosity for Mara, only a slight satisfaction to understand more about her mysterious past.Aboard the Chimera, Mara is livid at having been deceived by Thrawn. Her anger gets the better of her, but Thrawn's Noghri bodyguard Rukh intercepts her assault. Still smouldering, she reaches out with the Force to choke him. All her rage cannot fuel the power necessary to close his airways. He stares her down, until she exhausts herself. Thrawn offers her two options, join Skywalker as Mad Jedi C'baoth's plaything, or accept an officer's position with his Empire. Thrawn warns that an Imperial officer hoping for her own command must not have split loyalties and as such must disown Karrde. Mara adopts a subservient posture and accepts; however, after she is dismissed, she resolves to find Skywalker and to ask for his help to free Karrde. Using the Emperor's backdoor to hack into a terminal, she retrieves information related to the cell block where Karrde is being held, the planned course for the Chimera for the next few days, and the  location of C'baoth. She logs off just in time and is taken back to the planet's surface.Mara is received by Karrde's Chief Aide Aves. Her ostensible betrayal leaves him ambivalent, but she manages to convince him to supply her with a ship and an ysalamir with a nutrient frame.Links, Share, and SupportDocumentation for this chapterCross platform link for this chapterDiscuss this chapter on Discord or YouTubeSupport us on PatreonOur WebsiteSupport the show

This is a limited release episode, to listen to our full library of bonus episodes, sign up for our Patreon for 3$ per month SPOILER ALERT In this bonus episode, Jordan and Christian continue going through the iconic Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn, In this one we cover the second instalment of the series, Dark Force Rising All the links to socials, merch and member sign ups and more! Become a patron and get access to the bonus episodes - https://doras.to/starlores

Chapter 18 of Star Wars: Dark Force Rising (1992) (EU: 9 ABY) by Timothy Zahn.The Story So FarDuring the war, debris from a space battle over Honoghr fell to the planet's surface, causing runaway ecological disasters. Darth Vader came to the Noghri people offering aid, gaining their trust and servitude. During the height of the Galactic Civil War, he passed off their service to Grand Admiral Thrawn, who now uses them to hunt for Leia Organa Solo.Now in the War's twilight, tensions between the Empire and New Republic grow as warships become in short supply. Several factions have claimed to rediscover the Katana Fleet. Han Solo and Lando Calrissian have met with a rogue Corellian group lead by Garm Bel Iblis. They are in possession of six of the Katana dreadnaughts, and Sena gives divulges the contact that supplied their group with their six Katana dreadnaughts. Han and Lando are following that lead to Pantolomin. Ferrier was captured by the Imperials and charged with finding the Corellian's dreadnaughts, later updated to pursue Han and Lando directly.A month earlier on Kashyyyk, Leia's pedigree was discovered by Khabarakh, and they arrange for Leia to undertake a solo embassy with his people on his homeworld. Leia leaves the Millennium Falcon in orbit around Endor to receive passage to Honoghr. While Leia remains hidden, Khabarakh's return is met with suspicion. Wookiee hair is found all through his ship, so he is placed under arrest. With the discovery of the Falcon over Endor, Thrawn leaves Honoghr to investigate.Chapter 18Looking over the Honoghr grasslands, Chewbacca gives his estimate that it has been eight years since the ecologically disastrous starship crash; the height of the Galactic Civil War. The recovery of Honoghr's arable land seems to always stay outpaced by Noghri population recovery.With the Grand Admiral's sudden vacation from Honoghr, Leia and Chewbacca plan to abscond. The complication remains that with Khabarakh held for public humiliation, a blade hangs over the heads of Clan Khim'bar and the Noghri people. Leia is scarred by guilt for the destruction of Alderaan and declares that she shall not let her actions come to harm the Noghri people.The Maitrakh's growing coldness thaws, and she agrees to accompany Leia in her escape to assist in liberating Khabarakh. Leia knows that should they fail, she alone would be captured alive.During their return to New Cov, Han and Lando make contact with Winter. She passes on an unencrypted message signed as “Luke” to meet planet-sdie on New Cov. The message, however, was left by Niles Ferrier.They barely disembark before they enter into a tense negotiation with the ship-thief; Ferrier offers to pool resources and intel to find The Dark Force, and he accidentally lets slip the name of the Imperial Grand Admiral. Lando believes Ferrier to be suspect and cuts the meeting. As they leave, Lando is proven right, finding a tracking device secured to their hull. On the ground, Ferrier confirms with his Wraith companion that a second beacon was placed somewhere it would not be found.Links, Share, and SupportDocumentation for this chapterCross platform link for this chapterDiscuss this chapter on Discord or YouTubeSupport us on PatreonOur WebsiteSupport the show

Joe and Mike take a look at a fascinating character study of one of Star Wars' most important characters: Grand Admiral Thrawn! In Jody Houser and Luke Ross' adaptation of the novel by Timothy Zahn, there's a unique challenge: condensing a novel into comic book format! Joe practices his best Lars Mikkelson impression, while Mike has a million questions about the Empire and its inner workings, just like Thrawn! Join us for a closer look at this fascinating character!

ICCC is a wonderful convention in the heart of Music City, Nashville, TN! Hear some interviews, walk the show floor, and listen to a panel with the great Timothy Zahn in our recap show! Topics Discussed Include: 1. Timothy Zahn Panel 2. Interviews with New Friends 3. Walking the Show Floor Support the show on Patreon - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/forceghostconversations⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you want to continue the conversation, please follow us at the following websites: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Merchandise

Chapter 17 of Star Wars: Dark Force Rising (1992) (EU: 9 ABY) by Timothy Zahn. The Story So FarIn the twilight of the Galactic Civil War, both sides are hurting for warships, and a fleet of long-lost dreadnaughts has been found; Talon Karrde believes he has uncovered the location of the Katana Fleet. He has been awaiting the opportunity to make his payday, but unknown to him someone else has started selling the ships to an independent Corellian faction.While waiting over Endor, Leia Organa Solo blacks out when she experiences a Force echo left by the death of the Emperor. She, Chewbacca, and C-3PO leave the Millennium Falcon over Endor to travel to the Noghri Homeworld with Khabarakh. She hopes to negotiate a truce by leveraging her pedigree as Darth Vader's daughter, the Noghri's original (and seemingly more honourable) master. The current Imperial leader, Grand Admiral Thrawn, loomed over Honoghr as a reminder of the Noghri's failure to yet capture Organa Solo. That was until Imperial Intelligence identified the Millennium Falcon over Endor.Mara Jade is an ex-Imperial high-level operative that was connected though the Force directly to the Emperor. After his death, she disappeared from Imperial space and eventually came under the employment of smuggler Talon Karrde. After reluctantly harbouring Luke Skywalker from the Imperials on Myrkr, the subterfuge culminated in a showdown to suppress Imperial intel reaching Thrawn, but the Grand Admiral is not lightly deceived. Karrde's entire operation was forced to go on the run.Chapter 17Mara collects Karrde's ship impounded from the Obrigado-Rae spaceport freed by Wedge on behalf of Han Solo. As she leaves, she is intercepted by a Star Destroyer. To avoid detainment, she dons her old Imperial demeanour, identifying herself with a high-level Imperial recognition code and demanding to be taken to the Grand Admiral himself. To her horror, their rendezvous is over Endor. In Thawn's chambers aboard the Chimera, Thrawn thoroughly verifies her previous identity as the Emperor's Hand. Dodging the question of her return to the Empire, Mara experiences a psychic echo of the Emperor, demanding that she kill Luke Skywalker. Thrawn seeks information about Skywalker's escape from the planet Myrkr, but Mara deflects again to offer information about the Katana Fleet in exchange for immunity. Mara overplays her hand and Thrawn reveals she was only one of many Hands. He grants her eight days to return with the location of the Dark Force. As the Millennium Falcon is brought aboard, Pellaeon and Thrawn discuss the reemergence of the Katana Fleet. They know it has been found independently by at least two parties. Thrawn has no interest in actually honouring Jade's offer, instead ordering the Chimaera to track her back to Karrde's hideout. In pursuit of the ex-Emperor's Hand, they reroute Niles Ferrier to track down Solo and Calrissian to interrupt the possible merger of the two Rebel groups.Links, Share, and SupportDocumentation for this chapterCross platform link for this chapterDiscuss this chapter on Discord, YouTube, or RedditSupport us on PatreonOur WebsiteSupport the show

Chapter 16 of Star Wars: Dark Force Rising (1992) (EU: 9 ABY) by Timothy Zahn. The Story So FarThe Empire and New Republic are scrambling for warships. After a messy skirmish over Sluiss Van, the New Republic's fleet has been decimated. With unexplained cash being deposited into Admiral Ackbar's account on the day of the Imperial attack, Ackbar is under arrest on suspicion of treason. While investigating the Churba Section, Han Solo discover a rogue militia and are taken to an undisclosed world. Led by Garm Bel Iblis, his militia may have a common enemy in the Empire but Bel Iblis doesn't trust the New Republic, specifically the de facto leader Mon Mothma.While in the private quarters assigned to them, Lando claims that the upholstery is distinctly from the lost Katana Fleet. Were it true and they were able to persuade Bel Iblis to join the New Republic, the Katana Fleet may make all the difference in the New Republic's logistical struggle with the Empire.Leia Organa Solo has travelled to Honoghr with Noghri Khabarakh. Grand Admiral Thrawn is simultaneously planetside. Khabarakh's return has raised suspicions on his clan and Thrawn has taken him into custody.Chapter 16Han and Lando go back to investigate the headquarter lounge for confirmation that the furnishings of the Perigrine's Nest are indeed from the Katana Fleet. Lando completes his inspection just as Irenez returns. She marches them out of the lounge and to Sena in a waiting speeder. A terse discussion of intentions devolves into a frank plea for Han to encourage the New Republic to extend an invitation to Bel Iblis to rejoin. In a forgotten corner of history, Bel Iblis was actually a founding member of the Alliance to Restore the Republic but was shouldered out by Mon Mothma's charisma after the death of Bail Organa at the destruction of Alderaan. Scorned, he has been fighting his own private war since then. Their own operations had ceased almost three years earlier in preparation should Mon Mothma's hold over the New Republic become autocratic; something Han knows is not going to happen.Han and Lando offer an ultimatum: they will talk to the New Republic Council if Sena gives up information on the Katana Fleet. She tells them the location of the contact from whom they acquired their six ships on and agrees to convey them offworld. They make to leave, but Bel Iblis is already waiting for them on the landing platform. With understanding, his facade crumbles, leaving a hollow man. Han gives one last attempt to convince the Commander of his value should he join the New Republic. En route back to New Cov, Han shares with Lando his worries about Leia's mission.Over Honoghr, Pellaeon presents Thrawn with intel of the Millenium Falcon having been found over Endor. Together, they suspect that after extracting information from a captured Khabarakh, the Rebellion is using his release as a diversion to uncover information about the location of Mount Tantiss. Thrawn decides to leave Khabarakh on Honoghr to acquiesce the Noghri Elders to their traditions.Links, Share, and SupportDocumentation for this chapterCross platform link for this chapterDiscuss this chapter on Discord, YouTube, or RedditSupport us on PatreonOur WebsiteSupport the show

Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit trace their love for writing back to childhood. Hernandez recalls writing a Star Wars short story in fourth grade, inspired by Timothy Zahn's novels, such as the Thrawn trilogy. "I remember that moment as the first time that I really thought, oh, I really enjoy doing this. I like doing this. I think I can do this," he shares. "And that bug never really quit. It never really left me." Similarly, Samit grew up in a family of writers. "My mom's a writer. My dad has written some things. So there's always been like writing in my world," he explains. "And I always saw it as a thing that people do to express themselves. And yeah, when I was a kid, I loved writing stories, making up stories with my friends." Their partnership began at Brown University, where they discovered a shared taste in pop culture. "We started as best friends,  just hanging out in college talking about movies and TV and just pop culture that we love," Samit recalls. "We just had this bond where we had basically the same taste, everything he liked I liked, everything I liked he liked. We didn't really ever disagree on anything." This synchronicity laid the foundation for their future collaboration. Hernandez adds, "We were making each other's writing better. We were making each other's creative choices better. There are things that he's really, really good at that I'm not good at, at all." Want more? Steal my first book, Ink by the Barrel - Secrets From Prolific Writers right now for free. Simply head over to www.brockswinson.com to get your free digital download and audiobook. If you find value in the book, please share it with a friend as we're giving away 100,000 copies this year. It's based on hundreds of interviews here at Creative Principles.

Chapter 15 of Star Wars: Dark Force Rising (1992) (EU: 9 ABY) by Timothy Zahn. The Story So FarThe New Republic is in disarray after a messy skirmish over Sluiss Van. With unexplained cash being deposited into Admiral Ackbar's account on the day of the Imperial attack, Ackbar is under arrest on suspicion of treason. Bothan council member Borsk Fey'lya is taking great advantage of his political rival's misfortune. Han Solo takes it upon himself to investigate the Churba sector where the Bothans displayed unusual commitment during the Galactic Civil War, hoping to find evidence that Fey'lya may be framing Ackbar and clear his name.Han takes Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrisian to New Cov. Han spots and follows an aid to Fey'lya, and stumbles upon an unknown militia group apparently working in concert with the Bothans. Along with Lando, they are forced to escape as an Imperial tribute-raid flushes them out of the city. Han and Lando jump to hyperspace in lock-step with the militia, hitching a ride to an undisclosed world. There, the pair are introduced to the Commander, Garm Bel Iblis, a long assumed-dead Imperial senator and somewhat-of-an-icon of Han's childhood.Chapter 15Bel Iblis regales Han and Lando with the exploits of his militia, however Lando is in a less than generous mood. When Han notices that Lando is still on his first drink, a tense negotiation surfaces. They learn that Bel Iblis doesn't trust the development of the New Republic, suspicious that power has been too centralised around Mon Mothma.As Bel Iblis must attend to other matters, Han and Lando walk to prepared accommodation. Lando points out obvious falsehoods in Bel Iblis's claims; the base is not nearly as mobile or active as stated. Their bickering continues in their room where Lando makes an alarming discovery: the decore has been taken from what-could-only-be the lost Katana Fleet. They head back to the headquarters lounge to investigate further.Links, Share, and SupportDocumentation for this chapterCross platform link for this chapterDiscuss this chapter on Discord, YouTube, or RedditSupport us on PatreonOur WebsiteSupport the show

Bryan Young got to share the stage with Michael A. Stackpole, Timothy Zahn, Delilah S. Dawson, E.K. Johnston, and John Jackson Miller to talk about their history in the world of writing Star Wars and answering questions from the crowd. Recorded at Dragon Con 2024.

Cigar Nerds Podcast: Slay the Dragon 2024. It’s that time again, time to wrap up our adventures at Dragon Con 2024. In addition to our Dragon Tails, we sit down with prolific author Timothy Zahn, learn about planetary defense from Kelly Fast of Nasa, and dive into the history of monsters with Dr Emily Zarka. […]

Cigar Nerds Podcast: Slay the Dragon 2024. It’s that time again, time to wrap up our adventures at Dragon Con 2024. In addition to our Dragon Tails, we sit down with prolific author Timothy Zahn, learn about planetary defense from Kelly Fast of Nasa, and dive into the history of monsters with Dr Emily Zarka. […] The post Cigar Nerds Podcast Slay the Dragon 2024 appeared first on The ESO Network.

Our coverage continues on Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire, deeper into Thrawn's devious web of manipulation and galactic dominance. How do our trio of heroes fare, divided across the galaxy, facing down their own unique conflicts? Well, uhhh unfortunately kinda sauceless! And don't even get us started on the dinner plans!! Or, well, we do get started and talk about it at length--that's podcasting, baby!! And for those at home who hoped we'd listen to the audio books for more context: you're in luck! Did we fix our pronounciation of names as a result? Sure didn't!! Oh, and we also chat a little bit about Star Wars: Outlaws!   NEXT TIME: Heir to the Empire Chapters 23-32 Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Ricardo Contreras (@a_cado_appears) Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo) A More Civilized Age is an ad-free, listener supported podcast. If you like what we do, you can support us over at www.patreon.com/civilized to hear Q&As and more. Remember to send your questions into amorecivilizedage AT gmail DOT com.  

For a special edition of “Closer Look,” Rose Scott and the team head to downtown Atlanta for #Dragon Con 2024. The annual five-day event kicks off Thursday. It's one of the largest multi-media gatherings focusing on pop culture, gaming, comics, fantasy and more. Rose speaks with panelists about the ongoing debate: Star Wars vs Star Trek. We hear from fans and creators from both major franchises. We also discuss how comics and film reflect modern society and politics. Plus, Rose gives prizes for the best cosplay/costume! Guests include: Dragon Con spokesperson Jo Garland Steven Taylor, The Arthritis Foundation, the Official Charity Partner of Dragon Con Darrick Hargro, a writer and founder of 20th Place Media Carlton Hargro, a writer and founder of 20th Place Media Gerald L. Coleman, a philosopher, theologian, poet, and science fiction and fantasy author L. M. Davis, an Atlanta-based writer and director of “ The Last Days of Chocolate” Erin Macdonald, a science advisor for the Star Trek franchise Timothy Zahn, a Hugo Award-winning author of more than forty original science fiction novels Afua Richardson, an award-winning comic book Illustrator, musician, and writer best known for her work on “Black Panther World of Wakanda”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

PIVOT! With Natalie on a short medical leave, the crew here at AMCA has made a decision. We've revisited your requests for what non-mainline content we could cover and decided to cover the second place candidate for what became our KOTOR series. That's right: It's THRAWN TIME baby! (That's his catchphrase, right?) So join us as we kick off our run through the Timothy Zahn trilogy that ushered in the old EU. First up: A depressed Luke, a galactic government that fits in a high school classroom, an Alien with a cat-lizard boa, and a new (well, old) take on the Clone Wars. NEXT TIME: Heir to the Empire Chapters 11-22 Show Notes Hosted by Rob Zacny (@RobZacny) Featuring Alicia Acampora (@ali_west), Austin Walker (@austin_walker), and Natalie Watson (@nataliewatson) Produced by Ricardo Contreras (@a_cado_appears) Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Cover art by Xeecee (@xeeceevevo)  

This week on First Steps: A Star Wars Podcast, we READ a novel! Join us as we read "Thrawn" (2017) by Timothy Zahn. What does Andi think of this novel as their intro to this character?