FAQ

[colls]

I like Star Wars.
I like to read.
I thought I'd put the two together.

FAQThe format is not set in stone, but it's a starting point. We'll see how things go and adjust as needed.

Book of the Month
The bread and butter of any book club is wine the monthly book. Because once a month seems not-so-interactive online, I'm going to post this as a read-along. That means the book will be broken into roughly 4 parts and a post will be put up for the first quarter, the second quarter, etc.

The selected book will be announced approximately 1 week before the month starts so people can prepare.

Starting in late 2023, we are going to alternate months where one month we'll read a specific book and the next any book of a certain theme.

Comics
discontinued - if someone is interested in hosting comics posts, please let me know.

Quote Prompts
discontinued

Tumblr
https://swbookclub.tumblr.com (I don't update this, sorry!)

List of books read in this community:

(see community tags for dates, posts, and discussions)

Queen's Shadow by E.K. Johnston
Battlefront: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed
Dark Disciple by Christie Golden
Last Shot by Daniel José Older
Rogue Squadron (Star Wars: X-Wing #1) by Michael A. Stackpole
Razor's Edge (Star Wars: Empire and Rebellion #1) by Martha Wells
Kenobi by John Jackson Miller
Light of the Jedi (The High Republic) by Charles Soule
Resistance Reborn (Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) by Rebecca Roanhorse
Into the Dark (The High Republic) by Claudia Gray
Alphabet Squadron (Alphabet Squadron #1) by Alexander Freed
Heir to the Jedi by Kevin Hearne
Chaos Rising (Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy #1) by Timothy Zahn
Master and Apprentice by Claudia Gray
Maul: Lockdown by Joe Schreiber
Catalyst by James Luceno
Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor by Matthew Woodring Stover
Wraith Squadron (Star Wars: X-Wing #5) by Aaron Allston
Greater Good (Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy #2) by Timothy Zahn
Hard Contact (Star Wars: Republic Commando #1) by Karen Traviss
Allegiance by Timothy Zahn
The Princess and the Scoundrel by Beth Revis
Lesser Evil (Thrawn Ascendancy #3) by Timothy Zahn
The Rising Storm (The High Republic) by Cavan Scott
Shadow Fall (Alphabet Squadron #2) by Alexander Freed
The New Rebellion by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Revan (Star Wars: The Old Republic #1) by Drew Karpyshyn
Black Spire by Delilah S. Dawson
Into the Void by Tim Lebbon
Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston
Out of the Shadows by Justina Ireland
Victory's Price (Alphabet Squadron #3) by Alexander Freed
THEME: Published in the 00's
From a Certain Point of View (#1) by various authors
THEME: Book #1 of a series
Lost Stars by Claudia Gray
THEME: New Release (published in the 20's)
Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn
THEME: Non-Jedi protagonist
THEME: Comic
The Fallen Star (High Republic) by Claudia Gray
THEME: Audiobook
From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back by various authors
Rise of the Red Blade by Delilah S. Dawson
THEME: Film Novelization
Specter of the Past (The Hand of Thrawn Duology #1) by Timothy Zahn
Movie Madness (as in watching/discussing)
THEME: Any Legends book (published 1976-2014)
The Mask of Fear (Star Wars: Reign of the Empire, #1) by Alexander Freed
THEME: Comic
Children of the Jedi (The Callista Trilogy #1) by Barbara Hambly
THEME: Published in the 10's

Current:
December: Animated series (watching/discussing)

Next up:
January: Darth Plagueis by James Luceno


Please go to Book Suggestions & Themes to add your suggestions!

Comments

[pedanther]

For the comics, one thing I'd recommend is Kieron Gillen's run on the Darth Vader comic, which tells the story of what Vader was doing between the end of A New Hope and the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back. It goes into how he went from being somebody Tarkin could boss around to being in undisputed charge of the rebel hunt, and also into what happened after he learned that the rebels' new hotshot pilot was the son of Anakin Skywalker.

The paperback collection is five volumes -- Darth Vader: Book 1: Vader, Darth Vader: Book 2: Shadows and Secrets, Vader Down, Darth Vader: Book 3: The Shi-Torun War, and Darth Vader: Book 4: End of Games. The series is also available in the usual online places for comics.

[colls]

Thanks for the input!
I think this is the series that introduces Doctor Aphra, so it's one I'd certainly be interested in myself.

[pedanther]

Yes, correct, it's where Doctor Aphra is introduced.

[colls]

How would you recommend structuring a read along for comics? If a novel is a month, would doing a volume per month be comparable? Would a volume per week make more sense? Should I look at doing an issue per post instead?

I'm trying to balance accessibility and knowing the size of our community is likely small to start out with.

[pedanther]

I didn't get around to replying to this sooner, so now I can just say: everything justanorthernlight has said is what I would have said if I'd been quicker.

[colls]

:D

[orangerful]

I was just coming into the comments to suggest Doctor Aphra hehe...

[colls]

LOL - I encountered her in A Certain Point of View and want more.

Sounds like we have our first 3 sets:
Vader
Poe
Doctor Aphra

kind of exciting!! :)

[justanorthernlight]

I second the above recommendation of the Kieron Gillen Darth Vader comics, and would add the Poe Dameron series by Charles Soule. It is collected in five volumes, the first four (Black Squadron, The Gathering Storm, Legend Lost, Legend Found) are set before The Force Awakens and follow Poe and his squadron's attempts to find Lor San Tekka, as well as other skirmishes with the First Order, and the fifth volume (The Spark and the Fire) is set during and after TFA and TLJ, and explains why Black Squadron wasn't around during The Last Jedi. Leia has a prominent role in it, and it has some interesting and engaging villains.

[colls]

Poe! ♥
Yes, that one intrigues me as well.

How would you recommend structuring a read along for comics? If a novel is a month, would doing a volume per month be comparable? Would a volume per week make more sense? Should I look at doing an issue per post instead?

I'm trying to balance accessibility and knowing the size of our community is likely small to start out with.

[justanorthernlight]

I think either a volume per month or a volume every other week is pretty reasonable, I find them to be much quicker reads than a novel. I could do a volume a week, but others might find it too fast.

Another idea could be to have two posts per month, one novel and one comic volume, spaced a few weeks apart, but I'm not sure if that is too much multi-tasking for some readers.

[colls]

Hm.
Well, we're doing a book in 4 parts because that keeps it from just being one post a month - that way people can "read along" in more manageable chunks (and not have to catch up an entire book when the post is made). I wonder if an issue at a time would make more sense? It's how they're initially released in most cases. I don't know if people will want to engage that much though.

And I'll also have to consider what I can keep up with as mod - LOL

Thank you for the input!

[justanorthernlight]

Ah, whoops, I misread the initial schedule.

For most of the multi-volume series each volume is six issues long (miniseries like Shattered Empire and the like tend to be 4-5 issues apiece), and could easily be broken up into two posts per volume/3 issues per post.

Personally I find individual issues really short and have a hard time staying invested, but if that's what works for you I'm willing to try!

[colls]

Oh no worries! I could've clarified better in the post.

And I agree, it's hard to stay engaged when the pace is too slow, and hard to keep up when the pace is too fast. LOL
I suspect the book is being drawn out too long, but wanted to give it a try as book-per-month is pretty common. Then let people weigh in after the first month. Having both a book and comic might make that work better.

So.... it sounds like for comics a volume at a time every 2-3 weeks would be a good place to start. I'll shoot for doing the Vader one starting mid-February.

Thanks again for all your input and for talking back and forth with me on this. I appreciate it!

[brokenmnemonic]

Humble Bundle has put up a big bundle of Star Wars books, particularly High Republic books, which could be good for future club reads? https://www.humblebundle.com/books/star-wars-legends-myths-and-high-republic-books?hmb_source=&hmb_medium=product_tile&hmb_campaign=mosaic_section_1_layout_index_1_layout_type_threes_tile_index_3_c_starwarslegendsmythsandhighrepublic_bookbundle

[colls]

Did you get the bundle sorted? I know in another post you mentioned you bought it but it was directing you to Kobo.

I've not bought it yet because most of the books I'd be interested in I already have or have already read. I am interested in how obtaining Kobo ebooks without a Kobo device might work out though.

[brokenmnemonic]

I haven't found a way of downloading copies of the books yet, but I can read them through the Kobo website. Which isn't a fantastic option, but it might be useful when I want to read a bit while I'm working from home. There is apparently a Kobo app for Android, so I could put the app on my phone, but my phone forever seems to be running out of space...