My Entertainment Update for May 2025

Hello friends! It’s been a busy month with books and shows, so let’s get started.

(Please be awere there are SPOILERS for everything I talk about below.)

The Acolyte: Wayseeker, by Justina Ireland. Despite the mixed reactions to The Acolyte, I’m one of the people who enjoyed it and was looking forward to this novel featuring Vernestra Rwoh and Jedi Knight Indara. And though it wasn’t particularly a page-turner, nor did it add anything of interest to the current lore, I enjoyed the book for its character insights and some information on what became of some other characters during the High Republic. The book takes place maybe 15-20 years before The Acolyte, but decades after the time of the High Republic books. Vernestra is closing in on 100 years old (she was 15-20 during the Nihil conflict in the books) and Indara is a youngish Jedi Knight, about late twenties.

The plot involves the illegal manufacture of nullifiers, bracelet-like devices that can power down a lightsaber or blasters (different from cortosis, which we saw in The Acolyte). Vernestra Rwoh, who has been a Wayseeker for the past ten years (a Jedi who spreads the Light of the Force on their own, outside of the Order itself), has been called back to the Order to investigate the problem. They send Indara to fetch her back, and it takes a while for the two Jedi to like and understand each other. Indara is a capable Jedi but has been isolated in the Archives for over a year since a mission gone wrong damaged her confidence. Vernestra has been on her own for quite some time, and is a bit cynical about the Order, believing it has gotten too involved in Senate business. Her cynicism shocks Indara, but she is still loyal to the Order, and the two investigate a lead concerning a murdered Senator.

They eventually track down the manufacturer of the nullifiers, Nillson, the spice-addicted son of a wealthy planetary leader, but it’s how they get there and the little details along the way that interested me. Vernestra has, since her youth, had Force visions during hyperspace, and that has only gotten more intense as she’s gotten older. As she travels with Indara, she has Force visions of her former master, Stellan Gios, who gives her clues, advice, and warnings along the way. As they pursue a wayward scientist, they visit Avon Starros’ son, Felix, and we learn that Avon had passed away several years ago. It was the same with Imri Cantaros, Vernestra’s first Padawan, who had become a Jedi Philosopher. Vernestra had holos of both Avon and Imri, as well as of Stellan, on her ship (named the Cantaros). Indara wondered if these holos were examples of attachment, but Vernestra explained that fondness and remembrance was not obsession and did not constitute attachment.

During their investigation they found help in Ty Yorick, another figure from the High Republic. Ty showed up mostly in the comics, but she did make an appearance in The Rising Storm. She had left the Order and become a “monster hunter” and at some point, rejoined the Jedi until retirement; now she was quite old and used a repulsor chair, although still quite capable.

There are a few other cameos I liked: Yaddle, in particular, and members of the High Council, including Yoda, of course, and Oppo Rancisis. Vernestra, whose chapters are in the first person (while Indara’s are in the third person), briefly mentions a former Padawan that had gone awry; we’re to assume that this is Qimir from the Acolyte. I’m dying for more information about that story, but we don’t get much here; I’m hoping we’ll get another book or maybe comic that covers that painful incident in Vernestra’s life.

Anyway, they finally catch up with Nillson; he gets killed and the nullifiers are destroyed. Indara decides she wants to become a Wayseeker, and I assume she does for a time, although she’s back in the Order in the flashbacks in The Acolyte. Vernestra stays on Coruscant, putting an office for herself in the Senate building, as a liaison between the Order and the Senate. She feels the two entities are getting too intertwined, and this way she can keep an eye on their interactions. This is the Vernestra we see in The Acolyte, and it seems to make a bit more sense now.

Anyway, if you enjoyed The Acolyte, I think you’ll like this book. I do hope we get more books in this era, with Vernestra, Qimir’s story, perhaps Plagueis, a mention of a young Palpatine, leading up to the Prequels? I’d love it!

A Valiant Vow, by Justina Ireland. Yes, Justina Ireland published TWO books in May on the same day! But they’re both fairly short, so maybe not so overwhelming as we might think? And slightly connected, in that this one focuses on Imri Cantaros, Vernestra’s first Padawan.

This is the final middle-grade book of the High Republic, and though it was fairly short and the plot simple, it did hit some emotional spots. Imri has been on the planet Aricho with fellow Jedi Knight Yacek Sparkburn at the Jedi Outpost there. There had been some doings in a comic book story that I have not read, mainly that Imri and friends helped the people on Aricho fend off the Nihil. He liked it enough to stay there, teaching younglings and basically living a very simple, contented life. He had lost his lightsaber some time ago but doesn’t feel any need to replace it, feeling the Force is all he needs.

But then the President of Aricho asks Imri and Yacek to investigate several ships that had crashed on the planet, and they discover that they had been attacked by scav droids, a leftover of the Nihil attack. Then the President goes missing, and things get a little complicated as they find out she’s been making deals with the Hutts for the planet’s glaka root.

In the meantime, Zenny Greylark, the daughter of a Senator, and youngling Tep-Tep make their way to Aricho to help their friend Churo, a young Hutt that broke away from his criminal family to study plant science. He and his scientist mentor have gone to Aricho to study glaka root but got attacked by the scav droids. Churo sent out a message for help before they crashed, and Tep-Tep managed to hear it at the Temple.

Anyway, all the friends are reunited on Aricho and have to deal with angry Hutts, scav droids, and the Blight, which is spreading fast on the planet. Churo manages to broker a deal between the Jedi and the Hutts, as it’s his sister that has come to the planet; Zenny and the Jedi deal with the scav droids; and everyone gets evacuated before the Blight can take over, as well as before a huge storm descends on them. Zenny and her sister find their missing Dad, and Tep-Tep becomes Imri’s Padawan. It’s all very sweet and satisfying, and I have to say that Churo is one of my favorite middle-grade characters (honestly, there aren’t many, lol, considering the age group we’re talking about, but this guy is seriously sweet).

A solid last entry in the middle-grade category, following the last YA book Into the Light; now all we’re waiting for is the last adult book, Trials of the Jedi, which comes out next month. Can’t wait to see how it all wraps up!

Tales of the Underworld. I’ve really enjoyed the Tales Of series, after Tales of the Jedi and Tales of the Empire. I was kind of hoping for Tales of the Rebellion or something, and I was a bit underwhelmed when I heard about Tales of the Underworld. Ventress, sure, I was interested in, but Cad Bane? Meh, not so much.

But ironically, it was Bane’s stories that I enjoyed more than Ventress’s. I did like the Ventress arc, but I still have questions, lol. It was the Bane arc that really hit me emotionally. Not so much Bane himself (the jerk), but the other characters. His friend Niro, who grew up under the same conditions as Bane (or Coby, as he’s called), but took a different route. He bettered himself, bettered the community he lived in, did the right thing. In cleaning up his city, he killed Lazlo, Bane’s mentor, and so of course Bane had to get revenge. Niro took up with Bane’s old girlfriend, who turned out to be pregnant with Bane’s child, so he ended up raising his friend’s kid. It’s all very soapy, lol, and I kind of like it.

As I said, I liked Ventress’s arc, especially the dynamic between Ventress and Lyco, but the episodes weren’t particularly interesting to me. They finally made it to the Path, but Ventress didn’t go with Lyco. Of course, I wanted to see a reunion with Quinlan, but for some reason, she ran away. Why? I’ve seen the explanation that she didn’t feel like she’d earned it, that she needed to do more to atone for her past. I don’t buy it. The woman DIED for Quinlan. What else does a girl have to do, geez. No, I think it’s because she knew it was a condition of her resurrection. Mother Talzin did say that in order to come back, she’d have to “give up her heart’s desire.” Maybe she thought if she met up with him, she’d die again? Or he would? As I said, I have questions, lol. But I’m hoping we see more of Ventress in future projects that may answer them.

The Book of M, by Peng Shepard. I noticed this book when it came out several years ago and put it on my mental list. I finally found it at a library sale for a buck, lol, so it was time to read it. Here’s a blurb:

WHAT WOULD YOU GIVE UP TO REMEMBER?

Set in a dangerous near future world, The Book of M tells the captivating story of a group of ordinary people caught in an extraordinary catastrophe who risk everything to save the ones they love. It is a sweeping debut that illuminates the power that memories have not only on the heart, but on the world itself.

One afternoon at an outdoor market in India, a man’s shadow disappears—an occurrence science cannot explain. He is only the first. The phenomenon spreads like a plague, and while those afflicted gain a strange new power, it comes at a horrible price: the loss of all their memories.

Ory and his wife Max have escaped the Forgetting so far by hiding in an abandoned hotel deep in the woods. Their new life feels almost normal, until one day Max’s shadow disappears too.

Knowing that the more she forgets, the more dangerous she will become to Ory, Max runs away. But Ory refuses to give up the time they have left together. Desperate to find Max before her memory disappears completely, he follows her trail across a perilous, unrecognizable world, braving the threat of roaming bandits, the call to a new war being waged on the ruins of the capital, and the rise of a sinister cult that worships the shadowless.

As they journey, each searches for answers: for Ory, about love, about survival, about hope; and for Max, about a new force growing in the south that may hold the cure.

Like The Passage and Station Eleven, this haunting, thought-provoking, and beautiful novel explores fundamental questions of memory, connection, and what it means to be human in a world turned upside down.

I really enjoyed this book; its premise was original and had me turning the pages to see what would happen. Definitely worth the dollar I paid, lol.

The Last of Us, Seasons 1 & 2. When I heard about this series based on a video game, it sounded pretty interesting–mushroom zombies! I’m in, lol. But I didn’t have HBO at the time and figured I’d wait a bit. I saw that the first season was available on Youtube, so I bought it and dived right in.

And holy fungal infection, this show! I binged it in days, and then realized Season 2 was wrapping up that very weekend, so I had to bundle HBO Max with my Disney/Hulu subscription to watch it, ‘cuz I wasn’t gonna wait, lol.

I’m not a gamer, so I’m not familiar with the game, but the show is outstanding. Ultra-violent, predictably, but deeply emotional and morally intriguing. The premise is that the cordyceps mushroom has found a way to infect humans, taking over the brain and controlling their actions, with fungus growing out of their heads and bodies. It’s even creepier when you know that cordyceps already does this in real life in insects, which is horrifying enough. Anyway, the Outbreak occurs, and everything goes south. The story takes place mostly twenty years later. There are quarantine zones in the major cities, ruled by FEDRA, an outbranch of the federal government that has turned quite fascist in trying to keep control. A group called the Fireflies is in opposition to FEDRA.

Joel is emotionally distant after the death of his daughter early on in the Outbreak; it took protecting Ellie to open him up and find a purpose in life again. Season One is Joel trying to get Ellie to the doctor in Salt Lake City who may be able to make a cure, as Ellie is immune. They encounter all manner of obstacles, and it always ends with blood and death, but they make it. But to make the cure, Ellie has to die. Joel was having none of it. When he walked through that hospital killing everyone he encountered, it was brutal, but I don’t blame him for it. Look, I’m gonna say it, I love my kid more than all of humanity put together, so I would have done the same.

Of course, there’s a price to be paid. That’s what Season Two is all about. Joel knew he would probably pay the price someday, so when the doctor’s daughter, Abby, comes along for revenge, he doesn’t beg, plead, or explain. He accepts it with a nod; but Abby wants to make him suffer, and he does. Ellie witnesses some of it, and when it’s over and Joel is dead, she plans her own revenge, going to Seattle with her girlfriend Dina to find Abby. They find themselves in the middle of a war between the Fireflies (Abby’s group) and a strange cult they call the Scars. Their war is brutal and bloody, filled with bitterness and hatred; who knows who started it or why, and it doesn’t really matter.

And so you can’t help but contrast that with Ellie’s need for revenge. Yes, Joel’s death was awful, and she’ll never get over it. But Abby feels the same way about her father. The revenge killings could go on and on forever, starting a war between the two communities, between Seattle and Jackson. And how does that help humanity? It doesn’t, of course. Should Joel have allowed the doctor to kill Ellie for a cure? Maybe. Probably. But he killed for love. Abby killed for revenge, but it was also for love for her father. Yet, Joel’s death didn’t bring him back. It just started a chain of death that, at the end of Season 2, leaves Ellie devastated at killing a pregnant woman, the death of her friend Jesse, and who knows who else.

This show just gutted me in so many ways. The evolution of Joel and Ellie’s relationship in Season One, and Ellie’s sense of betrayal in Season Two, is the emotional backbone of the series. The little side-trip with Bill and Frank was touching and sweet; the flashbacks with Joel giving Ellie her birthday presents were heart-wrenching (Joel forgot his daughter’s cake on her birthday before the Outbreak; he never forgot Ellie’s cake in Jackson). Joel and Ellie’s tear-soaked conversation on the porch the night before he died made me shed a tear or two.

And oh, yeah, mushroom zombies! Lol. The fact that they’re evolving, getting “smart” and sneaky, and spreading the spores through the air, bodes for some more scariness in the future. Anyway, now I’m sad I have to wait, probably a year or two, for Season 3.

So I think this post has gone on long enough, so I’ll share my latest drawings in a separate post. (And I’m still working on my Andor thoughts, too).

What’s been entertaining you lately? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!

More of my drawings

My Update turned out to be pretty long, so I thought I’d put my drawings in a separate post again. Here’s my latest drawings of Andor characters:

I took a little break from Star Wars characters and drew some random models I found on Pinterest:

I wanted to practice glasses, but they came out weirdly shaped, lol.

An interesting facial expression to try.

Closed eyes are a lot easier than open ones to draw, lol.

I’ll be working on a combination of Star Wars characters and random people, so stay tuned for more!

My Entertainment Update for April 2025

Hello friends! I’m a bit late with the update, but I wanted to wait until Andor was finished so I could comment on the show as a whole. But now I have so many thoughts I think I’ll do a separate post on Andor, so stay tuned. Until then:

Into the Light, by Claudia Gray. This is the final YA novel of the High Republic series, and Claudia Gray got a chance to focus on Reath Silas, the character she began with in Into the Dark. Reath has grown up quite a bit since his debut as a Padawan, and now as a Knight is leading a mission to Kashyyyk to investigate the Blight. Unfortunately, a patch of the force-eating blight has been found on the Wookiees’ home world, and since Reath has been involved in trying to find a way to eradicate it, he brings a team that includes Avon Starros, two Wookie Jedi–Burryaga and Kelnacca (from the Acolyte)–a Padawan named Amadeo, and Reath’s former Master, Cohmac.

Infiltrating the group is Nan, a Nihil member Reath met in Into the Dark, who now claims she has left the Nihil and wants to help the Jedi find renegade Nihil scientist Dr. Mkampa, who has also gone to Kashyyk for her own nefarious purposes. Also along for the ride is Azlin Rell, the former Jedi from the second phase of the High Republic who has fallen to the dark side. He’s no Sith, of course; he’s just been consumed by the dark side since a run-in with a Nameless. He’s been around for over a hundred years, his life sustained by the dark side, and he’s, well, a little crazy, lol. But Reath seems to think he can be of some help.

In trying to fight the Blight and Dr. Mkampa, the group discover a deeply-held Wookie secret: the white wroshyr tree grove that has held back a dark-side object for millennia. It turns out to be a Stormseed, which spreads the dark side to everything around it, and the trees have used all of their Light in the Force to hold it back. The Stormseed is also the object that Dr. Mkampa has been looking for.

All of these elements come into play in the climax of the book, and while I don’t think this is one of the best books to come out of the High Republic, I’ve always loved Reath and enjoyed it immensely.

Other books I’ve read this past month:

The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon. For the sake of getting this darned post out, I’m going to just put some Amazon blurbs about these books here:

Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.

Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.

The Mercies, by Kiran Millwood Hargrave.

After the men in an Arctic Norwegian town are wiped out, the women must survive a sinister threat in this “perfectly told” 1600s parable of “a world gone mad” (Adriana Trigiani).

Finnmark, Norway, 1617. Twenty-year-old Maren Magnusdatter stands on the craggy coast, watching the sea break into a sudden and reckless storm. Forty fishermen, including her brother and father, are drowned and left broken on the rocks below. With the menfolk wiped out, the women of the tiny Arctic town of Vardø must fend for themselves.

Three years later, a stranger arrives on their shore. Absalom Cornet comes from Scotland, where he burned witches in the northern isles. He brings with him his young Norwegian wife, Ursa, who is both heady with her husband’s authority and terrified by it. In Vardø, and in Maren, Ursa sees something she has never seen before: independent women. But Absalom sees only a place untouched by God, and flooded with a mighty evil.

As Maren and Ursa are drawn to one another in ways that surprise them both, the island begins to close in on them, with Absalom’s iron rule threatening Vardø’s very existence. Inspired by the real events of the Vardø storm and the 1621 witch trials, The Mercies is a story of love, evil, and obsession, set at the edge of civilization.

Both of these were excellent books and inspired by real events. Highly recommended if you like historical and/or women’s fiction.

Announcements: Between Celebration Japan and May the Fourth, we got a few exciting announcements for future projects.

As far as movies go (besides the ones we already know about, like The Mandalorian and Grogu and the Rey movie, etc.), there’s one in the works called Starfighter with Ryan Gosling starring. Sounds like it might be a pilot movie that replaces Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron idea that was announced a few years ago. Anyway, with Ryan Gosling on board, I’m in.

We’ve all been waiting for a new animated series, and now we’re going to get Maul: Shadow Lord. Not really what I was expecting or wanting, but okay. I think it starts shortly after the Empire takes over, but I’m really interested in his dealings with Crimson Dawn and Q’ira, how he got to Malachor, later stuff like that. Hopefully we’ll get some answers. Even though I’m not super-excited, I’ve learned to wait and see and be prepared to love it. When The Bad Batch was announced, I thought “Them? Why?” Same with Andor. And I’ve come to love both of them and believe that they’re some of the best Star Wars out there.

Also announced was Season 3 of Visions, coming out in October. I’ve really enjoyed Visions and am looking forward to another season. Visions is fun because creators can play around with Star Wars and follow their own, well, visions of what it could without worrying about “canon” and all that. With both Seasons 1 and 2, there are some episodes that I absolutely loved, and some that didn’t resonate with me all that much. And that’s all right; it’s just interesting to see what these anime creators come up with.

As far as books go, we’ve got two new announcements:

The Last Order, by Kwame Mbalia (no cover yet), which comes out in October 2025, is a post-sequel book (finally!) with Finn and Jannah. Apparently, they come across some kids who had been kidnapped by the First Order, which I imagine triggers memories of their own childhood and time as stormtroopers. I’m looking forward to this one, as I’ve been starved for post-sequel material.

The other book is Master of Evil, which I believe focuses on Vader and his pursuit of the dark arts that bring back the dead (he presumably has Padme in mind). I feel like there’s so much Vader stuff out there, why do we need this, but okay, I’ll check it out. It’s by Adam Christopher, who wrote the excellent Shadow of the Sith, so I have hope that I’ll like it indeed. It comes out in November of 2025.

So here’s my latest Star Wars drawings (All Andor characters, as I’ve been watching and loving the show):

I’m pretty happy with Dedra here, despite her weird neck roll, lol.

Bix came out all right, even though the eye on the right is a bit wonky.

This is my favorite of the bunch. And one of my favorite characters. (I spelled his name wrong, though, lol).

Syril didn’t come out as well as I’d hoped.

I think Kino Loy came out well. I’m getting better at beards!

I’ve got more Andor character drawings in the works, and I’ll share them with you next month.

So what’s been entertaining you? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!

More of My Star Wars Fan Art

Hello friends! I thought I’d share some more of my drawings in a separate post instead of waiting until next month’s catch-up post. I just have so many! And there will be more next month, too, lol (fair warning!). So here goes:

Our pirate queen, Phee. This girl’s hair was quite the challenge. This is the last of the animated characters I’ll do for a while since I’d rather work on real people in photos.

This is my fourth attempt at Padme, and I just can’t seem to capture her to my satisfaction. But this one is passable. The shadows from graphite don’t show up in these photos and I didn’t think to add charcoal until after this one.

I like this one of Osha, even though her nose is off, and her eyes are a bit too far apart, and I didn’t quite nail her expression. Hair is a win, though, lol.

I feel like I made some kind of breakthrough with this one and I’m proud of it. My Lukes tend to look like Justin Bieber, lol, and maybe this one does a little. Doing better with shading.

Poe looks a bit cross-eyed here, lol. The eyes are the hardest to do and make or break a portrait, imo.

I’ve always had good luck with Obi-Wan and I really like this one.

I had such high hopes for this one, lol, but it didn’t quite pan out. Right eye’s a bit wonky. A lot of dark shadows in this one (appropriately) but didn’t quite work out.

With Andor S2 coming up soon I wanted to work on some characters from that show. Pleased with Cassian here.

I’ll post again when I have another handful of drawings; I seem to be doing one every couple of days. I’m starting a drawing class this Thursday (general drawing, not portraits specifically, should be fun) so we’ll see. Hope you enjoyed this post!

My Entertainment Update for March 2025

Hello friends, happy Spring! Here’s what I’ve been up to for the last month or so:

Reign of the Empire: Mask of Fear, by Alexander Freed. If you like the political maneuverings of Andor, you’ll like this book. It takes place mere weeks after Order 66, when Palpatine takes control and declares himself Emperor. It focuses on Mon Mothma and Bail Organa, mostly, with some Saw Gerrera and a new character called Soujen. Mon Mothma is determined to curtail the Emperor’s power by legislation and keeping the Senate relevant in this new Empire (I know, good luck with that, Mon). Bail, meanwhile, is obsessed with what happened to the Jedi and is convinced that if the truth about their slaughter was known, it would ruin Palpatine (again, good luck with that, Bail). The two central figures of the Rebellion are not seeing eye to eye at this point. Saw is just out doing his thing when he and his group discover Soujen, a Separatist soldier who had been put in hibernation before the war ended as a contingency plan. Soujen has been surgically altered with implants to make him into a deadly warrior, and when he wakes his only thought is to continue the war against the Republic. When he’s apprised of the new situation, he still wants to continue his mission somehow and bides his time with Saw.

It’s a big, dense, political book but I didn’t find it hard to get through at all. Both Mon and Bail need to come to terms with how they deal with this new Empire–Mon figures out just how little power she has as a Senator but decides to continue to persevere anyway; Bail learns that he has to let the Jedi go in order to move forward; Saw continues to do what Saw does best: sow chaos; and Soujen finds that he’s obsolete in this new world order.

I’m eager to see what the next book in this series will offer, which will be written by Rebecca Roanhorse (who wrote Resistance Reborn, a favorite of mine) though I don’t think we have a release date for that yet. Can’t wait, though!

The Clone Wars: Gambit: Stealth, by Karen Miller. I started this one on my e-reader (a new Nook from B&N). It’s the first book in a duology, and I found the second hard copy book in my local comic store. I’ve read Karen Miller before (Wild Space, with Obi-Wan and Bail Organa) and I quickly realized why her writing style is slightly annoying: the characters are always arguing, quibbling, contradicting, and otherwise getting on each other’s nerves. And I mean ALWAYS. I get that there needs to be tension in a book, and between characters, but this goes above and beyond, like badly written fan-fiction, lol. Aside from that, her stories are usually pretty interesting. In this one, Obi-Wan and Anakin are sent on a clandestine mission to a planet called Lanteeb to find out if the Separatists are making a bioweapon there. I’m about halfway through, and besides the annoying arguments, it’s a pretty good book so far. I’ll report back next month.

Upcoming: I’m waiting for my copy of Into the Light by Claudia Gray, the next High Republic novel in the final wave of books. I should be getting it tomorrow, and I can’t wait! I’ll have my thoughts on that one next month.

Tales of the Underworld. On May the fourth, we’ll be getting Tales of the Underworld, focusing on Asajj Ventress and Cad Bane. I was hoping we’d get more Tales in this series, and while these characters are unexpected, they’re not unwelcome. Especially Ventress; with her appearance in the Bad Batch, I wanted more of her story: how she survived, what she’s been up to, how she’s atoning for her Sith ways, etc. And where’s Quinlan Voss??? So many unanswered questions, lol. Bane I’m not so interested in, but I’ll take it, and it all looks very exciting.

Drawings: Since March was Women’s History Month, I decided to draw the women from Star Wars. I have a few more in my sketchbook, but I’ll share those next month.

Now I can get back to some of the boys, lol. It’s been really fun learning how to draw portraits and I think with each one I get a bit better at it. It’s also been good for my mental health, as I get so absorbed I forget everything else (I’m in the US, so…yeah, there’s that, lol). Eager to share more sketches with you!

What’s been entertaining you? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!

My Star Wars Entertainment Update for February 2025

Thrawn: Alliances, by Timothey Zahn. I love Thrawn as a character, particularly in Rebels and the Ahsoka show, but I’ve never been a big fan of the books. I just don’t have the patience for his Sherlock Homes-style exposition that makes my eyes glaze over. I thought I’d try this one, though, because the premise seemed interesting: Thrawn and Darth Vader have a mission together, and it flashes back to when Thrawn met Anakin Skywalker and they did a mission together as well. Put Padme in there, too, and I’m intrigued enough to check it out. There was still plenty of tedious Thrawning, but was just interesting enough to get me through it.

The Emperor sends Thrawn and Vader on a mission to investigate a big disturbance in the Force he’s feeling. The flashbacks deal with Padme going to Batuu to meet up with one of her handmaidens who’s discovered something important. She turns up dead, though, and Padme investigates a Separatist factory on a planet called Mokijve. Anakin hasn’t heard from Padme and goes to investigate her whereabouts and encounters Thrawn, whose mission on behalf of the Chiss is a bit vague. They decide to work together, however, to find Padme.

Meanwhile, Thrawn and Vader inevitably clash, as their leadership styles are decidedly different. Vader is constantly questioning Thrawn’s loyalty to the Emperor and the Empire. It becomes quite clear that Thrawn–naturally–has figured out that Vader was once Anakin Skywalker, and he walks that tightrope for most of the book. They deal with a group of Grysk (enemies to the Chiss in the Unknown Regions) who are, it is revealed, kidnapping female Chiss children who are Force-sensitive. These children are what allow the Chiss to travel across space, as they have no hyperdrive navigational systems. Ironically, they are called “Skywalkers.”

Anakin, Padme, and Thrawn find that the Separatists are manufacturing droids and clone armor with cortosis, which are impervious to blasterfire, as well as lightsabers. They work together to destroy the factory, and Thrawn gets the intel on something or other he’s after for the Chiss (he takes some piece of equipment, idk, lol). Vader and Thrawn retrieve the Chiss girls and come to some sort of stalemate and truce, as well as mutual respect.

The book was fairly entertaining, but I doubt I’ll read any other Thrawn book. I’ll take my Thrawn in animation and live-action.

Comics: Legacy of Vader, and Ghost Agents. If you know me you know I’m not a huge comic book fan, but you also know I’m a huge Bad Batch fan. So when it was announced that there would be a comic run with the Batch, I knew I’d check them out. So I walked down to my local comic book shop and found the first issue. Kylo Ren is another special interest, so I thought I’d pick up the new one with him, too.

Ghost Agents takes place during the Clone Wars, so no Omega or Echo, just the original Batch. They’re sent on a mission by Mace Windu to find someone who stole a list of Republic secret agents. They descend into the lower levels of Coruscant and almost find the culprit but run into the bounty hunter Embo, who is also after the list. As a result, the suspect gets away. Stay tuned.

Legacy of Vader takes place between The Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker. Snoke is dead, and Kylo force-throws his corpse off the ship into space and tells Hux to make him a throne, lol. But even after killing his father and Snoke, he still feels trapped by the past, which includes Vader. He decides to go to Mustafar to…I’m not really sure, but he runs into Vader’s old assistant, Vanee, who is a head in a fish bowl with a robotic spider-like body. Kylo was going to kill him, too, but Vanee tells him that Vader was strong because of his past. Kylo is intrigued, and we’re left waiting until the next issue to see what sorts of stories Vanee tells him.

I’d never been to my local comic store, and it was a great little place with lots of comics and other things, too. I picked up a book–Clone Wars: Siege, by Karen Miller–while I was there, too. I would have stayed longer, but it was stifling in there and had to get out, lol. But I plan on returning to get the subsequent issues of these stories.

Non-Star Wars entertainments:

Pride and Prejudice (1995). I was rooting around in my new Hulu subscription and came upon this gem. It had been years since I last watched it and decided to indulge in it once again. This is the golden standard of Jane Austen adaptations and it truly is a delight.

Death Comes to Pemberley, by P.D. James. Since I was in an Austen kind of mood, I decided to read this one I had on my TBR pile, which I’d found in a free little library a few months ago. It takes place six years after the events of Pride and Prejudice. Preparations for Lady Anne’s ball at Pemberley is interrupted by tragedy: a murder has taken place on the Pemberley grounds. The victim is Captain Denny, a friend of Wickham’s. The prime suspect is Wickham himself, who, along with his wife Lydia, had been in the carriage with Denny on their way to dropping Lydia off–uninvited, of course–at Pemberley. When Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and a young lawyer named Alveston investigate, they find Wickham–quite drunk–bent over his friend proclaiming that he’d killed his best friend. What exactly happened that night is the central mystery as the book covers the inquest and trial of Wickham. If you like mysteries, as well as Austen and Regency England, this one’s for you.

As promised last month, here are my drawings for the rest of the Bad Batch:

I posted my drawings of Tech, Hunter, and Crosshair last month, so if you’d like to check those out, they’re here.

Here’s a bonus drawing of Ahsoka from the live-action show:

What’s been entertaining you lately? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!

My Entertainment Update for January 2025

Skeleton Crew. I really enjoyed this one. I thought this show about four kids getting lost in the Star Wars galaxy would be a bit kiddie, and it’s certainly appropriate for the whole family, but I was surprised by how much I liked it. It did take a few episodes to pull me in all the way, but once I was invested, I was all in.

The 80’s kids-on-bikes-having-adventures vibe made it fun, and although suburban Star Wars felt a bit jarring, it soon fell into classic Star Wars mode, with lots of cool aliens, pirates, and space action. The whole mystery surrounding At-Attin was cool, the kids were great, and Jude Law as Jod was fantastic. It wasn’t my favorite live-action show, but it was certainly enjoyable and I’m all for a Season 2, if it happens.

Last Shot, by Daniel Jose Older. I tried reading this book back when it first came out (it was one of the first crop of canon books that came out), but after a few chapters, I just couldn’t go on. This writer is terrible, I thought. I have no idea what’s going on. And I was sad, because I really wanted a Han and Lando adventure to enjoy. So I thought maybe I’d try again someday and I’m glad I waited this long, as I’m 1.) more familiar with Daniel Jose Older’s style from the High Republic, and 2.) more familiar with some other canon lore that is subtly referenced in the book, such as the Aftermath Trilogy, and the movie Solo (I hadn’t seen it yet). So, this time when I picked it up, it was much easier to get into and enjoy.

That’s not to say it was a great book, but it was fairly enjoyable. It takes place a few years after ROTJ, as Ben Solo is two years old at the time. Han feels distinctly out of place as a husband and father, so when Lando comes around demanding he help him with something, he’s ready to go. That something is finding out where the Phylanx Redux Transmitter is, as Lando had been attacked by a droid-like being who demanded he find it. See, the last person who had seen it was the owner of the Millenium Falcon, and this person thought it was Lando. But guess who it really was? And what, exactly, is a Phylanx Redux Transmitter? They don’t really know, but they figure they better find it.

So then we go back fifteen years when Lando and L-3 still have the Falcon and L-3 drags Lando on some secretive mission involving droids; then we go back ten years when Han, Chewie and Sanna Starros (I’m still a little fuzzy on who she is, but Leia had referred to her as Han’s “other wife.” Okay.) are on Takodana and Sanna convinces Han to help her with some score, going after a device that is very valuable to many different people. Then we go back twenty years to Utupau, where a doctor there is kidnapped by thugs, his friend is killed by other thugs along with many others, but there are plenty of droids around. He’s so traumatized that he decides droids are the superior beings, and outfits them with the limbs of dead people.

Confused yet? Yeah, me too, but I was determined to make it through this book. It shuffled between all these timelines, and we finally figure out the Phylanx is a device created by that Utupaun doctor that, once activated, will cause all the droids in the galaxy to turn on their masters. Yikes!

This book was sloppy, confusing, and I’m still not fond of Jose Older’s writing style (his HR books are usually my least favorite). BUT–I did like the banter between Han and Lando, seeing L-3 again, seeing little Ben Solo, and seeing Lando fall in love with a Twilek woman named Kaasha Bateeen. I’m assuming this is the mother of Lando’s child who got kidnapped, presumably by the First Order when she’s two years old (who we learn about in the book Shadow of the Sith). So ultimately, I am glad I read this book, but it’s easier to read if you’re familiar with other canon material.

Announcement: A Bad Batch Novel coming in August 2025!

I’m super-excited about this news, as some of you know I’m a huge Bad Batch fan. There are some upcoming comics with the BB (“Ghost Agent,” a Clone Wars mission story) but as I’m more of a book person, this is great news. Here’s the synopsis:

Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, and Omega gamble on a mission to help rebuild Pabu in this thrilling adventure for The Bad Batch.

A good soldier knows that life is all about change — whether it’s on or off the battlefield. Surviving, living, means adaptation. Hunter is well acquainted with this lesson. He’s on the run from the Empire, Echo’s off on a mission with Captain Rex, and Crosshair is . . . still Crosshair, but amidst all the change, Hunter still has Tech, Wrecker, and Omega.

And it seems that his small family might have finally found a safe place to land, far from the increasingly vigilant eyes of the Empire: Pabu. But their potential new island home is in desperate need of resources if there is any hope for the fledgling community to recover from a devastating sea wave. That’s where Phee Genoa, self-proclaimed liberator of treasures, comes in, with a couple of jobs she swears will get them the funds they need. Despite Hunter’s concern with Phee’s precarious plans, the rest of the crew is fine following her lead.

Things go wrong almost immediately, as Phee’s droid blows the crew’s cover at a high-stakes auction, and they barely make it out with the relic they’d been paid to acquire. Hunter insists they finish their first mission and deliver the relic before taking on more work, but Phee and the others push forward with a second job: ferrying a couple on the run, one of whom is due to give birth at any moment. Hunter worries what they’re risking, especially when their mysterious new passengers cling to lies and secrets that trace back to an Imperial Security Bureau officer hot on their trail.

As Hunter tries to get the crew back on a stable, safe path far, far away from anything to do with the Empire’s watchdogs, their overlapping missions only invite more danger and chaos. On the verge of failing both their desperate passengers and their community on Pabu, the Batch must remember that the only way they succeed, the only way they survive to fight another day, is by trusting each other.

I was kind of hoping for a post-finale story, but I’ll take this, as at least we have Tech back (and I’m hoping for a bit of Tech/Phee flirtation, lol). The drawback is no Echo or Crosshair. Also, I have to wait until August to read it. 😦 But I’m very happy it’s on the Star Wars book horizon.

So I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been getting back into drawing and practicing portraits, mostly because I want to draw Star Wars characters. I’ve made some progress, though I have a long way to go. I do like this Obi-Wan Kenobi drawing I did a little while ago:

Yes, the top of his head is not there, lol, as the photo reference cut it off and I didn’t dare fill it in at the time. And yes, that’s an envelope at the top covering up some comments for improvement I made. But otherwise, I like it. I drew a lot of other SW live-action characters, but I’m not particularly happy with them; I need to improve a bit before I share them.

However, I have been drawing some Bad Batch characters, as they’re animated and already 2D, so I thought I’d have an easier time with them. I wouldn’t say they were easier, but they did come out better than the live-action characters. Here’s what I have so far:

I’m happy with these. Omega is up next, as well as Wrecker and Echo. I’ll share those next month.

Lastly, here are some non-Star Wars books I’ve enjoyed lately:

Wool, by Hugh Howey.
The End of Men, by Christina Sweeney-Baird.
Future Home of the Living God, by Louise Erdrich.

That’s it this month. What’s been entertaining you? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!

Life Day Update

Hello friends, long time no blog!

I hope everyone had a happy Solstice/Christmas/Hannukah/Life Day. I’ve been taking a break from the blog for a few months, as I was busy taking care of my elderly Dad. He ended up getting pneumonia and sepsis and passed away at the end of November. Then I got sick for a few weeks. I’m just now feeling as if I’m getting back to “normal” and have missed the blog, so I thought I’d give a quick update.

I’ve been reading a lot of great non-Star Wars books* (see brief list at end of post), but I did read the latest High Republic novel, Tears of the Nameless, and I think it’s probably my favorite HR book so far. It focuses on Reath Silas, one of my favorite HR Jedi, and his quest to solve the Nameless problem. He gets help from a Padawan named Amadeo, and oh yeah, his old Master, Comahc Vitus returns with some vital information. I was thrilled to see Comahc return, as he had left the Order at the end of Midnight Horizon. Fantastic book.

Another SW book I read was the Mace Windu book The Glass Abyss. This one was…interesting. Mace has never been one of my favorite Jedi, but I do respect the guy. But I’ve always wanted to like him, as well. The Clone Wars went a long way in helping me with that; he was great whenever he made an appearance there. I tried reading Shatterpoint, the Legends book about Mace, but I just couldn’t get interested. I didn’t have much hope for this one, to be honest, since I saw that a lot of people didn’t really like it. But you know what? It wasn’t bad. It was definitely different for a Star Wars book, and especially different for a Mace story. But maybe that’s the point. Here, Mace goes to an Outer Rim planet at the behest of his now-dead friend, Qui Gon Jinn, who had a mission there several years ago. The people are under the thumb of two different crime lords who hold a tenuous balance there. He befriends a community who have a symbiotic sort of relationship with giant silkworms (!) and comes to deeply respect them. He also falls for the leader of these people, and it’s weird seeing Mace all romantic and stuff (once he realizes he’s in love, that is), lol. One of the villains is strange, as well, as he’s two different beings bonded as one, a Rodian and another humanoid species, named Chulok. The other crime boss is a giant insect. Yeah, very weird stuff, but I found it kind of entertaining. I also read it in the hospital while my dad was dying, so it holds some weird emotional heft with me. So yeah, I do like Mace now, lol.

In live-action news, I’m quite enjoying Skeleton Crew. It took a few episodes to really hook me, but I’m fully on board now. It’s a fun, weird, mysterious adventure and I can’t wait to see how this is going to turn out. I’m curious about Jod’s past (is he just a random Force-user, or a former Padawan who escaped Order 66?) and if he’ll come to use his Force powers for good instead of piracy; I’m also wondering about the whole At Attin thing and what’s going on there. And if any harm comes to our sweet Neel there will be hell to pay.

Star Wars things I’m looking forward to: there will be some Bad Batch comics in January, a Clone Wars adventure I think, and this will be a comic series I’ll need to have on my shelf. I’m also hearing rumors about a Bad Batch novel coming out in April or May? If so, I’ll be in Bad Batch heaven! I’m looking forward to the conclusion of The High Republic series with the last wave of books, and of course, Andor Season 2. I recently rewatched Season 1 and I’m totally ready for that great series to continue and conclude.

So instead of blogging and/or writing these past few months, I’ve gotten back into drawing, specifically, portrait drawing. I just needed to do something different, and I have this crazy dream of creating Star Wars fan art. If you know me, you know I LOVE Star Wars fan art, and I’ve often thought, You know, I want to do that too! So I’m going to. I’m still practicing my portrait skills, but once I feel ready, I’m going to start drawing Star Wars characters, and I will certainly share them here if I feel they’re any good, lol.

Anyway, hope everyone is well. Let me know what you’ve been up to, and what Star Wars things are making you happy right now in the comments!

* Here’s some great non-Star Wars books I’ve read lately:

The Madwoman Upstairs, by Catherine Lowell
The Essex Serpent, by Sarah Perry
A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
The Blue Hour, by Paula Hawkins
Once there Were Wolves, by Charlotte McConahy
Currently reading: Wool, by Hugh Howey

Entertainment Update for August 2024

The Immortalists, Chloe Benjamin. How would you live your life if you knew the day you were going to die? The four Gold siblings have to deal with this scenario, as they visit a fortune-teller when they are quite young (7-13) on a whim. Though they claim not to take it too seriously, the knowledge follows them throughout their lives and affects them in ways they cannot fathom as kids.

The book is divided into four parts, one section for each of the Gold siblings: from Simon, the youngest (and the first to die at twenty of AIDS in 1982 San Francisco); to Klara, a magician who feels responsible for encouraging Simon to run away to that city; to Daniel whose idea it was to go to the fortune-teller in the first place; to Varya, the oldest and most skeptical, but who ends up living the longest and with the most serious consequences of all her losses.

The book engrossed me, and brought up questions of fate versus free will, of self-fulfilling prophecies, and how we deal with grief and loss. I, for one, would NOT want to know the date of my death if given the opportunity (this book goes a long way in convincing me of that, lol), but the siblings were kids when they found out and didn’t understand how profound such a revelation could be.

It’s an intriguing premise and I recommend it if you like literary books and family dynamic stories. Just be prepared for a lot of tragedy.

Binti Trilogy, Nnedi Okorafor. I was introduced to Nnedi Okorafor with her novel Who Fears Death? a few years ago, and I loved it. It was different than any fantasy I’d ever read, and that was when I discovered Afro-Futurism (science fiction/fantasy that is rooted in Black history and culture). Here’s a brief Amazon summary of the trilogy:

In her Hugo- and Nebula-winning novella, Nnedi Okorafor introduced us to Binti, a young Himba girl with the chance of a lifetime: to attend the prestigious Oomza University. Despite her family’s concerns, Binti’s talent for mathematics and her aptitude with astrolabes make her a prime candidate to undertake this interstellar journey.

But everything changes when the jellyfish-like Medusae attack Binti’s spaceship, leaving her the only survivor. Now, Binti must fend for herself, alone on a ship full of the beings who murdered her crew, with five days until she reaches her destination.

There is more to the history of the Medusae—and their war with the Khoush—than first meets the eye. If Binti is to survive this voyage and save the inhabitants of the unsuspecting planet that houses Oomza Uni, it will take all of her knowledge and talents to broker the peace.

But even if Binti achieves this remarkable feat, it’s not the end of her story. For this lone Himba woman, now bonded with a Medusa and forever changed by this bond, still must find a way to survive and thrive at Oomza University amid swirling interspecies biases. And eventually, she must return home to test the strength of the fragile peace she worked so hard to win.

The trilogy includes Binti, Binti: Home, and Binti: The Night Masquerade; the first two books are rather short novellas, and the third is closer to novel-length. The story drew me in right away with Binti’s unique cultural characteristics: Binti is good at “treeing”, which involves meditating through mental mathematics (!); she can also, through treeing, create energy currents through her fingers; she and her father are specialists in making “astrolabes,” which are like fancy futuristic cell phones that everyone carries around with them. The women of her tribe cover their flesh with a native red clay called otjize, and feel utterly naked without it. Binti journeys into space in a living spaceship called “First Fish.” There’s just some very cool world-building in these books.

Binti’s journey is ultimately a coming-of-age story, and an exploration of the adage that “you can never go home again.” All wrapped up in a science-fiction story that explores cultural prejudices and the futility of war. I loved it.

Beware the Nameless, by Zoraida Cordova. This is the second middle-grade book in Phase 3 of the High Republic and came out August 27th. I’ve only just begun reading it, but here’s a summary of the book from Amazon:

The fearsome Nihil continue to spread chaos inside the Occlusion Zone, aided by the mysterious creatures called the Nameless that feed on the Force itself. When the people of an embattled world plead for help with the Nihil threat, a team of both Republic Defense Coalition members and Jedi—including Ram Jomaram—is sent to their aid.

The team soon discovers that their ship contains four stowaways—Jedi younglings Kildo, TepTep, and Jamil, and Zenny Greylark, a senator’s daughter determined to find her sister. When a distress call comes in from a nearby planet, Jedi Master Adi-Li Carro agrees to take the stowaways to investigate. There, they will encounter a young Hutt on a mission, a stranger with mysterious motives, and the creatures they fear the most. . . .

I’ve always enjoyed the middle-grade books of the High Republic, but what I’m really waiting for is the second YA book, Tears of the Nameless, which features one of my favorite HR characters, Reath Silas. That one comes out on September 24th, and I’m looking forward to it.

D23: Skeleton Crew, Andor & Mandalorian & Grogu trailers. D23 gave us a few teaser trailers for some upcoming Star Wars content, the first of which will be Skeleton Crew, coming out on December 3rd. I think it will be fun, but probably not something I’ll rewatch on a regular basis. I do love Jude Law and am looking forward to seeing what he brings to the Star Wars universe.

It seems like we’ve been waiting forever for Andor Season Two, and it appears we’re finally getting it in 2025. I’ve been saving my Andor rewatch for just before Season 2 comes out, lol.

The Mandalorian and Grogu movie will apparently come out in 2026. I’ll be there with my popcorn.

Rings of Power Season Two trailer. I watched Season One of this series and really enjoyed it. I’m a fan of the books, as well as Peter Jackson’s movies, and the artistic choices of the show didn’t bother me a bit. I’m hoping to watch Season Two soon, but I’ve been having an issue with Amazon and need to get on the phone with them pronto, lol. I also need to rewatch Season One, as it’s been a while and I need a refresher.

Olympics obsession. This site is called Star Wars And Other Obsessions, and the Olympics this year turned out to be one of my surprising obsessions. I’ve never paid so much attention to the event as I have this time around; I think it’s because there were so many fascinating personalities coming out of it on social media.

My absolute favorite was Stephen Nedoroscik, or “Pommel Horse Guy.” A “specialist” on the USA men’s gymnastics team, his only event was pommel horse, and his routine won the team the bronze medal; he also won an individual bronze. Impressive enough, but it’s his humility and sweet nerd-boy personality that makes people love him. He’s become a social media star and will be on Dancing With The Stars next month (luckily it will be on Disney+ so I can check out his dance moves, lol.)

A couple of my Bad Batch Facebook groups likened him to Tech, and I can see that. Stephen is a mechanical engineering major who can solve a Rubik’s cube in 10 seconds and has those trademark goggles. But he smiles and laughs a lot more than our very serious clone, which is quite endearing.

Oh, and they likened Crosshair to this guy:

So many great performances, so many heart-warming stories. I just loved it. Bring on 2028!

What’s been entertaining you? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!

Entertainment Update for July 2024

Hello friends! I hope everyone is having a great summer (if it’s summer where you live!). I’m not a big fan of the heat, so I prefer being in air conditioning reading a good book, lol. And I’ve got a few to tell you about, but first:

(The Acolyte Spoiler Warning!!!)

The Acolyte, finale. I enjoyed every minute of this show, and while the finale left enough open for a possible Season 2 (which I very much would enjoy), it brings the series to a satisfying close. I won’t recount every scene here, but just give my thoughts on the finale as well as the show as a whole.

Everyone ends up back on Brendock, where all the trouble began. Osha has seen a vision of Mae killing Sol without a weapon. The fact that it turns out to be Osha herself is heartbreaking. I never thought about the Force choke as a possibility to the riddle of killing a Jedi without a weapon, but it seems obvious now. And the way Sol forgives her as he’s dying, with a tear rolling down his cheek and almost getting out “I love you,” is gut-wrenching.

And I love Sol, but let’s face it–he made a lot of mistakes in this show, lol. All the Jedi on Brendock did, except perhaps Kelnacca (yes, he used his claws on Torbin, but he wasn’t of his own mind and I consider him blameless). But the fact that at the end, despite everything, Sol doubles down on claiming he was “doing what he thought was right,” makes me wince. Oh, Sol. Maybe, but you didn’t do what a Jedi should do.

There’s been some complaints that this show paints the Jedi as “evil,” and that’s just not true. It simply shows that they’re fallible and make mistakes. Too many at this time, which leads to their downfall many years later. That was the whole point of the Prequels–the Jedi were blind to the evil right in front of them. That didn’t just happen overnight. This show goes a long way in showing how they got there.

Qimir was a fantastic villain, by the way (and puts the seductive back into the dark side, lol). Whether or not he knows about Plagueis lurking around the island is up in the air, but I think he does and is under his direct tutelage. And I think Plagueis will be very much interested in this Force-born individual for his immortality studies.

I thought the series was great, and like I said, hope there’s a Season 2 to answer our lingering questions: Whatever happened to Mother Koril (Nightsisters?)? Will Vernestra find her former Padawan Qimir (with the help of amnesiac Mae?) What ultimately happens to Osha and Qimir? With the recent announcement of two Acolyte-centric books coming out next year, I’m guessing we will eventually get a Season 2. So take that, haters!

Honor Among Thieves, by James S. A. Corey. This was a fun Legends book focusing on Han Solo and a mission he gets involved in not long after the Battle of Yavin. He’s sent to find a Rebel spy (for which he will be paid, thank you very much) and bring her back to the Rebel fleet. Said spy, Scarlet Hark, has other plans: she’s got intel on a new Imperial weapon based on an ancient alien technology and needs to get to the guy who’s going to sell the location of it to the highest bidder. The technology is a way to stop ships from going into hyperspace, essentially grounding them in their own star systems; whoever controls that technology can control what happens in the galaxy. Eventually, Han, Scarlet and Leia get to the location to either take control of it or destroy it if they must.

This was a fun adventure, and I liked that it was all from Han’s point of view. And of course, we get a little more insight into Han and Leia’s burgeoning relationship at this early stage. Luke was a peripheral character here, helping where he was needed and offering his sunny optimism at this point, but not much else. Chewie, too, was sidelined as he was always left behind in the Falcon to provide the last-minute rescue from sticky situations several times. But I loved that it was Han-centric, and how he seriously comes to question exactly why he’s hanging around these crazy Rebels.

The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire, by Dr. Chris Kempshall. While awaiting the next Star Wars book to come out, I figured I’d check this one out chronicling how the Empire came to be and its eventual fall. The author is an actual historian in real life, and here he writes in the voice of Beaumont Kin, a character played by Dominic Monahan in the sequels. Kin, a historian who had been studying Sith relics, joined the Resistance after The First Order destroyed Hosnian Prime. After the defeat of the First Order, he worked on this historical treatise, finding it extremely important to understand how totalitarian states arise and how to possibly prevent it from ever happening again. He focuses, of course, on Palpatine, but also on the nature of the Empire, its bureacracy and protocols. There’s even footnotes linking his subject to various sources, from surviving Imperial archives (many of which were destroyed) to speeches by Leia Organa, as well as personal conversations he had with her.

It’s interesting to read, because we the reader know so much more than the writer himself about events in this galaxy (we’ve seen all the movies and read all the books, you see, lol). He can only surmise certain things based on the evidence he has at hand, and it’s kind of fun to know what he can only guess at.

I’m only a few chapters in (and it’s a big book–500 pages), and I’ll probably read it here and there between other Star Wars books, so I probably won’t finish it any time soon. But I’ll let you know when I do and what I think about it.

Writing on Empty, by Natalie Goldberg. I’ve read most of Natalie Goldberg’s memoirs and writing books, even though I don’t write according to her method much anymore, but she was a huge influence on me back in the day. And I just like to keep up with what’s going on in her life. Here, she recounts how, during the Covid pandemic, she went through some writer’s block, though she doesn’t like to use that term. Nevertheless, she lost the will to write and had to find her way back somehow. Through friends, books, and a retreat in Oregon, she came to the conclusion that, despite the isolation, the emptiness and despair, the only thing you can do is to write through it and get to the other side.

Swift River, by Essie Chambers. I’m going to come right out and say that I read this book because I went to school with the author. I didn’t know her very well, but she was in one of my English classes, and at the time I thought, This girl is going places. And she did; she went on to get an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University and worked as a film and television executive. She was recently on the Today Show with Jenna Bush, who chose this, her debut novel, as a Read With Jenna pick.

Here’s the Amazon summary of the book:

It’s the summer of 1987 in Swift River, and Diamond Newberry is learning how to drive. Ever since her Pop disappeared seven years ago, she and her mother hitchhike everywhere they go. But that’s not the only reason Diamond stands out: she’s teased relentlessly about her weight, and since Pop’s been gone, she is the only Black person in all of Swift River. This summer, Ma is determined to declare Pop legally dead so that they can collect his life insurance money, get their house back from the bank, and finally move on.

But when Diamond receives a letter from a relative she’s never met, key elements of Pop’s life are uncovered, and she is introduced to two generations of African American Newberry women, whose lives span the 20th century and reveal a much larger picture of prejudice and abandonment, of love and devotion. As pieces of their shared past become clearer, Diamond gains a sense of her place in the world and in her family. But how will what she’s learned of the past change her future?

A story of first friendships, family secrets, and finding the courage to let go, Swift River is a sensational debut about how history shapes us and heralds the arrival of a major new literary talent.

I recognized part of my childhood in this book–the Western Massachusetts setting, the 80’s references, even the name drop of a common teacher we both had. But it’s more than a nostalgic trip to childhood; it’s about the black experience in the North (I learned about “sundown towns” in this book, which I had never heard of, where entire black communities left a town overnight because of prejudice and racism in the early part of the twentieth century). But mostly, it’s a coming-of-age story about a young woman who’s trying to find her place in the world. It’s a wonderful book that I won’t soon forget.

What’s been entertaining you lately? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!