Here’s a critique challenge:

Post the opening line to your WIP.

Drop it into the comments below. Note that by doing so, you open yourself up to some criticism — but you are also free to discuss other opening lines, too. (And it’s also worth noting that an opening line is in no way the end-all, be-all of a story. While we often like to have perfect opening lines, sometimes it’s more about a perfect opening paragraph or an elegant first page.)

Either way, if you want to play, go to the comments, leave behind your opening line for some constructive criticism. (And those offering criticism — please keep it constructive, thank you.)

[that’s some Mister Bones fan-art from E.V. Kwun — @geektrooper]

Some quick bits. Ready, steady, go:

First, Paste Magazine interviews me about Zer0es and Aftermath.

Then, Omnivoracious reviews Aftermath:

Aftermath has a challenging job: tell an exhilarating, page-turning tale centered on a handful of people on a remote world, while exposing the tectonic shifts in government and alliances among the galaxy’s population as the New Republic solidifies its wins. Interludes within the main storyline give the reader glimpses of familiar faces—Han Solo and Chewbacca, Mon Mothma, Admiral Ackbar—who are striving to make the New Republic something other than yet another government everyone will grow to hate. But the real fun is in Norra’s adrenaline-scorching adventures and in searching for clues about what will happen over the next thirty years during the galaxy’s journey to The Force Awakens.

I devoured Star Wars: Aftermath while on vacation in a lovely European country whose charms really should have torn me away from this book but rarely did. Whether you’re a Star Wars expert who immediately knows the difference between mynocks and Mandalorians or you’re a sci-fi reader looking for a good military yarn, Aftermath fires on all cylinders.

A Tosche Station, an English professor tackles the book from the perspective of whether the complaints that it’s “poorly-written” hold up  (and she has some thoughts on present tense, too):

This book is about war, pure and simple.  And though glorious as war may seem when viewed through the lens of the Star Wars movies, nothing could be further from the truth, and Wendig takes that on.  This book literally is the aftermath of the Death Star’s destruction, complete with the chaos and upheaval throughout the galaxy.

Past tense is, by its very nature, distancing.  It removes the reader from the action, no matter how well written.  Present tense, on the other hand, provides a sense of immediacy to the action, plunging the reader into the events taking place.  The present tense gives the reader the sense that this is happening right now, rather than a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.  As the characters live through the events taking place, so do the readers.

Coffee with Kenobi reads and reviews the book:

Aftermath features myriad moments that are ripe for discussion (It’s worth mentioning that Wendig writes a wonderful Han Solo/Chewbacca moment that will leave you breathless), and may leave the reader with varying degrees of satisfaction. This was not the novel I was expecting, but it is certainly the novel I had a hard time putting down. It’s a paradoxical novel that provides hope and optimism for what is to come, while also providing the reader with a dystopian sensation that is slightly unusual for Star Wars. It’s a unique, fascinating, unorthodox novel, and after reading it, I am more glad for the news that it is part one of a trilogy than initially thought. If you like to have your conventions challenged, Aftermath is the Star Wars novel for you.

SFCrowsNest reviews it:

There’s a brevity in his prose and an immediacy that is suitable for this quick picture of a galaxy at a turning point. The literary equivalent of a rolling news channel. He writes his central characters well, too, with the relationship between Norra and her son being a particular highlight. I predict there’s one non-human character that readers will love, too.

If you were expecting the continued adventures of Han, Chewie, Luke and Leia then this novel will come as a disappointment, but if you’re keen to see what happens to the galaxy when structures of control have been destroyed and new alliances and opportunities are found, ‘Aftermath’ does a good job of showing how that might happen.

Fantasy Faction talks it up:

Chuck has kept the spirit of the original Star Wars movies – that cheesiness and goofiness we all loved so much – but at the same time made sure there is enough realism and grittiness so that it appeals to the tastes of readers today.

SF Book Reviews reviews the novel:

There is plenty of fast paced action sequences, speeder bikes, shoot-outs and such, including a scene where our rebel fighter encounters a Rodian and shoots first, an amusing touch for those who know their Star Wars (There are a few nods like this throughout the book). Wendig manages to capture the alien-ness that marks the strange Star Wars creatures but my favorite is the B1 Battle Droid (those annoying Robots in episode 1 which say “roger roger”) “Mr Bones” which has been re-engineered by Temmin as a kick-ass killing machine. He also manages to keep a family friendly approach too without this affecting his unique, charming voice.

The ending, when it comes is just superb and does what a book should, leave you wanting more – such as figuring out just who is really in charge of the remnants of the Empire.

Star Wars Aftermath almost makes up for that sweeping canon reset, a few more like this and Disney will be completely forgiven. A wonderful Star Wars adventure by a gifted author.

Simon McNeil reviews the book and also… well, reviews the reviews of the book, particularly looking at the negativity surrounding it. He sums up with (but you should read the whole thing):

1. I’m a fan of Wendig who hasn’t ever read Zahn, make of that what you will

2. The people who are trying to burn down Wendig’s book are jerks who smell like gamergating sad puppies

3. It’s obviously a star wars book

4. It’s a really good star wars story

5. It doesn’t matter that Luke Skywalker isn’t in it

6. Buy it.

7. No seriously buy it.

8. Right now.

9. Stop what you’re doing and buy this book.

10. Then read it.

And that’s all, folks.

Okay, first up, some administrative duties —

IT IS TIME TO NAME THE WINNER OF MY FAKE AFTERMATH SPOILERS CONTEST.

It was very hard to pick just one. So I have picked three. Those three are:

Ryan Allen:

Salacious Crumb, Jabba’s pet, indeed crawled maimed from the Sail Barge wreckage, going on to create a vast clone army of himself known as the Knights of Crumb.

Brandon Sparks:

Final Scene:

Wedge steps into his apartment on Rebel-occupied Coruscant. Weary from defeating the true villain (a 30-meter tall, weaponized Gonk droid piloted by the mind-controlled, reconstituted corpse of Jek Porkins), he tosses the keys to his X-Wing on the side table and reaches for the light switch.

The lights flicker, then fade.

Surprised, Wedge looks up to see a hooded figure standing across the room, silhouetted against the Coruscant cityscape. The figure speaks.

“Mr. Antilles, you’ve just stepped into a whole new galaxy. You just don’t know it yet.”

The figure turns and lowers the hood of his tattered Jedi robe, revealing a gleaming bald head and an eyepatch.

“My name is Mace Windu. I’m here to talk to you about the Lobot Initiative.”

Nick Nafpliotis:

Thrawn & Mara Jade make a cameo as nomads on Tatooine before being run over by a rogue podracer dubbed ‘The Canon.’

You three? EMAIL ME. Terribleminds at gmail dot com. Gimme your addresses, yeah?

Now.

Time for this week’s challenge.

It’s a simple one, and based off the fact that it’s been a very Star Wars-flavored week for me…

You should write 1000 words of space opera.

That’s it. Them’s the only rules. One genre. One story. Flash fiction. Normal rules apply: write it at your online space, link back here, due by next Friday (the 18th) by noon EST.

*makes lightsaber sounds*

*then runs around the room like an X-Wing*

*then explodes like the Death Star*

Hey, so, uhh.

I kinda didn’t think Star Wars: Aftermath was going to make list. In part because why would I assume that, and also in part because most books come out on Tuesday and this book came out on Friday and it was also a holiday weekend and, and, and.

Apparently, that was wrongo of me.

Because Aftermath debuted on both the New York Times list and the USA Today list at number four. Which is extra funny because it’s a pair of fours which is like Force and because my tweet wanting to be hired to write Star Wars in the first place was on September 4th and because the book then came out exactly one year later on September 4th and also because I actually apparently have the Force. *shoots lightning into the sky*

I continue to have people tell me that they really love the book and that they want action figures of Mr. Bones or want to hang out with Sinjir and it makes my heart sing because I’m hyper-geeked to have been able to ignite my own star in the sky of that universe. Good stuff.

Some more quick Aftermath-links for you:

Sci-Fi Now reviews the book, saying:

“Coupled with Wendig’s elegant prose, and you have a journey that is both breathtaking yet restrained, throwing you headlong into a story that reaches it’s crescendo at around the half-way point and maintains this pace throughout, while subsequently making it clear that all these events are just the beginning.

The clues for what lies ahead are there for those who want to look for them (especially during the intriguing final chapter), but for others this is Star Wars fiction at a high standard done well. The Force is strong in this one indeed.”

Drew McWeeny did a cool post at HitFix talking about the 11 things you might learn in Aftermath that links you up to the world of The Force Awakens.

The Mary Sue did a post about the, erm, fan outrage.

Ben Kuchera wrote a neat thing at Polygon about how his favorite thing about the books are the self-loathing totalitarians — an Empire in disarray and under the gun.

(Note, if for some reason all this good news chafes you because of how much rage the book stirs in you, you may want to consult Molly Templeton’s AFTERMATH NERD RAGE bingo chart for ease of emotional use.)

Also, if you want a chance to win this and other books by other awesome authors, note that Kevin Hearne is having a contest drawing for those who donate to UNHCR before 9/20 — you may, in fact, win a copy of Aftermath that he has personally annotated (!). Go check out the details.

Finally, if you’re done the book and require another sci-fi read about a scrappy band of ragtag miscreants who go up against a giant Empire (this one being the United States government) to battle a deranged self-aware NSA surveillance system then — *clears throat* — might I gently point you toward Zer0es? *prod, prod*

You can sell books using social media.

You also can’t really sell books using social media.

The cat is both dead and alive.

Let me unpack this a little bit.

For quite some time, social media has been promoted by nearly everybody, including publishers, as a Very Good Way to SELL YOUR BOOKS. You have a Certified Platform. It is the place where you express your Authorial Brand. (My platform is cobbled together from the skulls of my enemies, and my brand looks like Calvin peeing on a tiny bigot.) Publishers say: YOU MUST TWEET. YOU MUST FACEYTALK. YOU MUST BLARGH ON THE BLOGS. Not-good publishers take this a step further and basically use an author’s social media presence — meaning, her brand and platform, or her “brandform,” if we’re into making up shitty corporate-speak — to sell the books instead of actually levying their own power as a publisher to do the same. (Note: if this is your publisher’s only marketing plan, please bill them for your time.)

And it has become quite understood across both traditional and indie publishing that This Is Now How You Sell Books. And that’s not entirely inaccurate.

But it is a little bit inaccurate.

You can, indeed, sell books on social media.

You can sell, depending on your outreach, 10s to 100s of copies of your books.

That’s not nothing. Every book sold is a pebble thrown into the water. And each pebble has the potential to make ripples that reach shores you had never previously reached. Word-of-mouth is the truest driver for selling your work, and where once our “circle of trust” in that regard was fairly small (and entirely IRL), it has grown much wider given our online networks. So, selling a book to even a single person has meaning. That person, if they like it, may go on and tell their friends (online and off) about the book. And they may tell their friends, and on and on.

Problem is, this is an effect with diminishing returns. You ping your social network a handful of times and after that, they start to feel besieged by the promotion. Here and there, “Hey, I have a book, and I want to speak earnestly about it?” That can work. But a constant barrage of LOOK BOOK LOOK BOOK HEY HEY HEY I WROTE A BOOK I WROTE A BOOK is you being a dog just wantonly humping legs. Maybe we’re not mad at you about it, but it’s still a little embarrassing for everyone involved. If you’re an author with a book out, it’s expected that you’ll advertise it, talk about it, and keep a little momentum going. But it’s also feared that you’ll become a nuisance with it, performing an action equivalent to hitting people in the throat with the damn thing.

So, to reiterate —

Social media can sell some books.

Publishers, however, don’t want to sell “some” books.

They want to sell all the books.

Selling 10s or 100s of copies is not enough to keep your publisher afloat, and it is not enough to justify your advance or their marketing budget (assuming that budget is more than just a shoebox full of bottlecaps and sadness). It will buy them and you too little whiskey.

No, your publisher wants to sell 1000s of copies.

So, how do you do that?

Mostly? You don’t.

The one aspect in your control here is the writing. You write the best book you can. Always and forever. Is this a guarantor of your success? Ha ha ha, fuck no. But it’s something, and at least you can feel good about the book you wrote. Writing a good book is not a prerequisite toward selling well, but it’s a noble, valuable start. Why, do you want to write a bad book? For shame.

Beyond that? Where do the sales come from?

It’s on your publisher.

The publisher has the means to push that book in ways that are both traditional and innovative — a variety of marketing and advertising efforts across the spectrum. Trade reviews and media attention and placement on tables and all that jazz is by and large up to your publisher and how much cachet and cash they have. Again, these things are not a guarantee for success, but remember how I said each book sold is a pebble thrown? Right, your publisher can throw a catapult full of pebbles. They have gatling guns capable of firing hundreds of pebbles a minute. Meanwhile, you just have your two hands. Your two ink-stained, Dorito-dusted hands.

Now, again, maybe you with your two hands can do better than your publisher.

But it’s less likely. Why is that?

Because success in writing and publisher is very frequently a game of luck.

But it’s not purely random luck — this isn’t fucking Chutes and Ladders, man (by the way, FUCKING CHUTES is probably a porn site so I’m sure I’m going to get some great search term hits from that). This is a luck you can tweak. Luck you can add to. Every pebble thrown is (in RPG terms) a modifier to your Luck score. So when the time comes to roll your Luck, well, you get a shot at a more favorable outcome because of all your modifiers.

(For self-publishers, the same thing applies but with the simple reminder that you are more than an author — you are an author-publisher. That’s why I prefer that term, because now you’re doing double-duty. You still can’t count on PURE SOCIAL MEDIA to sell your book. You gotta get savvy. Creative. And if you can’t do that directly…? Then you hire people who can.)

So, social media sells books.

Just not as many as you want.

And more importantly, not as many as publishers might hope.

Now you’re asking:

What, then, is the missed opportunity? The one mentioned in the post’s title?

Social media is not great for authors selling books.

But it is an excellent way to make and cultivate professional connections — and, dare I say it, friendships. Listen, social media is a fucking gonzo great place to hang out with other writers, editors, artists. It’s an awesome place to meet agents, bloggers, booksellers, librarians, readers. It is a fundamental vortex of book-love. You can meet people telling stories across a wide variety of media: books, comics, movies, games. Just talking to folks — and being the best version of yourself when you do it — is another way to throw pebbles. But what you build here aren’t front-end sales. It’s a kind of personal infrastructure. People are awesome. And people make up the industry in which we hope to work. I don’t mean you should get on social media just as some crass promotional exercise — a way to “get work.” But it is a damn good way to meet like-minded folks and learn things from one another. That has huge professional and personal value.

Worry less about selling books online.

Worry more about being a COOL HUMAN meeting other COOL HUMANS.

That last one will take you far.

* * *

ZER0ES.

An Anonymous-style rabble rouser, an Arab spring hactivist, a black-hat hacker, an old-school cipherpunk, and an online troll are each offered a choice: go to prison or help protect the United States, putting their brains and skills to work for the government for one year.

But being a white-hat doesn’t always mean you work for the good guys. The would-be cyberspies discover that behind the scenes lurks a sinister NSA program, an artificial intelligence code-named Typhon, that has origins and an evolution both dangerous and disturbing. And if it’s not brought down, will soon be uncontrollable.

Out now from Harper Voyager.

Doylestown Bookshop| WORD| Joseph-Beth Booksellers| Murder by the Book

Powells | Indiebound | Amazon| B&N| iBooks| Google Play| Books-a-Million

So, hey, uhhh — *clears throat* — anything going on, you guys?

Any, ahhh, books come out recently?

*whistles*

OH THAT’S RIGHT

*orgasmic Yoda face*

A little book called STAR WARS: AFTERMATH came out.

Force Friday And The Launch Weekend

I flew down to DragonCon and the Decatur Bookfest for the weekend — both of which were amazing, by the way, and each the polar opposite of one another — and on Thursday night headed over to the Edgewood Barnes & Noble for an Aftermath launch event. There I got to connect with a passel of fans new and old, and meet rad folks from various corners of Star Wars fandom, and just generally have fun signing books and oh yeah maybe buying myself a remote control BB-8 and a Force Awakens LEGO Millennium Falcon. Ahem.

The launch continued through the weekend, and being at DragonCon for it was like being at Ground Zero for the Joyous Nerd Bomb. I had people come up to me randomly to get me to sign their book. I got to do a really rad Aftermath panel with bad-ass moderator Nanci Schwartz of Tosche Station fame. (Actually, all the folks from Tosche Station were a blast. Big ups to them for making me feel welcome and just generally being a hoot to hang with. Oh, and sorry, Bria, that I can’t tell you ANY SECRETS. Also Luke dies in the book seven times.) Did an interview with the awesome Bryan Young and also with bad-ass drinker-of-foe-tears Donna Dickens at HitFix. Sold out of the book at various places. It was overwhelming in the best way possible.

The online response has been exciting, too — so many folks tweeting at me or emailing me or FACEYBOOKING me about how much they dig it. It’s really nice to see because Star Wars is a beloved thing to me, and having a little acreage of actual canon to cultivate is a dream come true.

(For much of the weekend, actually, the book was the number one novel across all of Amazon. Which is completely head-breaking to me in the best way possible. I swoon. I swoon!)

I’m In The Papers, Ma

[note: a lot of the links below may involve spoilers big and small]

First off, it was surreal to be at my hotel in Decatur and look over at a USA Today — in print — and see my big dumb face staring back. I literally had a moment where I thought: am I stroking out? Did I eat some bad eggs or shrimp and now I’m tripping gonads? Am I staring at myself from inside a newspaper? Am I trapped inside the newspaper? Do I need to get myself out of the newspaper? I was ready to grab the paper and start ripping it up to free me from its prison.

Then I calmed down and realized it was real and also holy shit.

(You can read the USA Today article here. It also features a new excerpt from the book.)

I also had an interview with Anthony Breznican about Aftermath and Zer0es. It was a real pleasure to do this interview and it’s really one of my favorites. Broken into three parts:

Part One: How Aftermath sets the stage for Force Awakens…

Part Two: Aftermath introduces a new gay character…

Part Three: Finding Han Solo…

Grantland did an interview and article about me and the book, too. Read that here.

And I guess I really made it because I have a book referenced in a Penny Arcade cartoon. (!!)

Blastr did “10 important things we learned from the new book, and hints about Force Awakens.”

And IGN offers “9 important new details from Star Wars Aftermath.”

Hollywood Reporter talks about how the book may tie into the new movie.\

From the Nerdist review:

“Wendig neatly captures the current states of the Empire and Rebel Alliance and does so through flawed, real, and nuanced characters. His writing gets you up close and personal with anyone we come in contact with, whether we spend chapters with them or only a few pages. Wendig does wonders with dialogue and voice and carving out space for everyone to breathe. Aftermath is a strong foot forward into unexplored territory and puts down just enough foundation that you can start picturing the Resistance and First Order of The Force Awakens taking shape.”

From the NY Daily News review:

“If the opening chapter of the Wendig’s “Aftermath” trilogy is any indication, the ‘Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ will be every bit as exciting as the movie.”

(also worth noting their comments on the droid character in the book)

“Rounding out the heroes is Mr. Bones, Temmin’s customized Battle Droid. This killing machine serves mostly as a deus ex machina, saving his allies from certain death… However, his scenes are always fun to read and many “Star Wars” fans will be reminded of HK-47 from the “Knights of the Old Republic” game and Triple-Zero from Marvel’s “Darth Vader” series. Bones is also one of the many clever shoutouts to the prequel era.”

From Den of Geek’s review:

“The four heroes work fantastically together, and have become some of my favorite characters in the new canon. They really seem to connect with one another: they hug, they laugh, they make maps out of household objects. Singer, whose job was torturing his own crewmates for information, flinches when he’s presented with a box of thermal detonators – he wasn’t a front-line soldier, after all. Their dynamic is fun and believable. Aftermath is also one of the most diverse books in the Star Wars oeuvre, showing characters of various races, genders, and sexual orientations…

…Aftermath is a wonderful addition to the expanded universe. It brings vivid characters and a strong writing style, and while I won’t be outlining them here in order to avoid spoilers, there are intriguing hints at where Star Wars stories could go next. The Star Wars universe is fresh and new again, and just as rich and mysterious as it always was.”

From Big Shiny Robot:

“The book itself is incredibly readable. I couldn’t put it down, I consumed it rapidly over the course of two days. My time was limited and I had many deadlines, but found myself setting things aside in order to read instead. It moves quickly and is structured like you’d imagine a “Star Wars” book should be.”

From Sci-Fi Bulletin:

“If you’ve not read a Chuck Wendig book before, the present tense third person POV style may come as a bit of a shock, but it’s absolutely right for the story that’s being told. As I’ve said elsewhere about his original fiction, Wendig’s writing is visceral, drawing you into the characters he creates, appealing to all your senses, the pacing matching the emotional temperature of the scene he’s presenting (and presenting is the right word). The original Star Wars movie used fairy tale tropes – farm boy, princess, wise old man etc. – but this story is more about what happens after the ‘happy ever after’, and it needs that realistic edge, so that you feel you know the people – bounty hunter, Rebel mother and rebel teenager, Imperial loyalty officer – and inhabit their feelings…

“Verdict: A highly readable, sharp continuation of the saga.”

From Star Wars Post:

“First and foremost, Aftermath is an engaging, fun, thought provoking ride that will keep you engaged and thirsting for more. To put it simply, it’s just plain great Star Wars. The tempo is suberb and the affection and attachment to the characters is real and complete. There are great personalities here and they feel like they belong in our galaxy far far away.”

From the Eloquent Page:

“Wendig has achieved an accomplishment I thought nigh on impossible. He has written a novel that has left me actively salivating for the next Star Wars movie. Well played, Mr. Wendig, well played. Turns out, thirty two years later, I haven’t changed a bit; I am still completely in thrall to my childhood favourites. If The Force Awakens manages to capture the same sense of adventure that is on display here, then the future of Star Wars is in safe hands.”

The Dark Side

The book has also gotten some… interesting reviews.

A blogger at Allen West’s website has decried me and Paul S. Kemp somehow destroying America with our GAY STAR WARS. Something-something traditional values? I dunno. Probably don’t read it? But if you want a Do Not Link click to it, here you go.

And at Amazon, the book seems to have collected an astonishing number of one-star reviews — many of them arriving en masse, in a row, the first couple days of release. Obviously, some of that is simply that people don’t like the book. That happens with every book release.

Others have suggested that there may be a campaign by some Legends fangroups to “raid” the book’s reviews to tank its ranking with these one-star reviews — an interesting tactic that does indeed tank its actual review score, but not its sales ranking given that Amazon algorithms are interested not in the quality of the reviews but rather the attention that the reviews and the book get. (Meaning, a passel of negative reviews actually elevates the book’s overall sales ranking. Which in turn garners it more sales. Amazon reps have been clear with me on this point: buyers buy books with reviews, period. Not good reviews, not bad reviews. But rather: quantity of reviews impress buyers to make purchases. So, leaving a ton of bad reviews actually increases the book’s sales. Ironic, and not likely what anyone supporting such a campaign intends.)

Some of the reviews seem to take issue with my voice, some take issue with it being, erm, “SJW propaganda,” others still because I’m not Timothy Zahn and because I apparently hate the prequels and the EU. (Neither could be farther from the truth, mind you. We literally just watched some of the prequels last week, and the Zahn novels are three of my most beloved books.)

Jim C. Hines did a post unpacking some of this.

Michael Patrick Hicks took a look at what’s going on with those reviews, too.

Your mileage may vary.

As for my voice: I can’t do much about that. I’m me. My writing is my writing. I took a long time to find my voice and if it’s not your thing, I respect that. (That said, it also doesn’t make it “bad” writing, as some have suggested. It’s just not what you prefer, which is entirely okay.)

And some folks, too, I think may be disappointed that this does not… you know, ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS. I recognize that some readers will be picking this book up hoping it’s basically just a laundry list of details about what happens between this and the new movie. If you’re looking for that, I apologize. This book ain’t it. The principal three characters are only barely featured. (Heads up: Luke isn’t even in the book at all outside a mention or two.)

And on the idea of there being a campaign…

I’ll say only this — if the only reason you didn’t like the book or left a review like that is because of some kind of campaign against it based on the EU/Legends canon, I am sorry. Honestly. I get that it sucks that some of the stories you love will remain unconsidered and unfinished. That’s not awesome. I’m not really sure what else would’ve been an option in terms of carrying that forward, though I also don’t know that Disney has officially put Legends out to pasture in terms of no new content ever. I will say, though, if your love of the EU drives you to campaigns like this, or hate-tweeting me or hate-mailing me, you’ve stopped being a fan. That’s not what being a fan is. Loving something is fandom. Hate isn’t, or shouldn’t be, part of it. Fandom is about sharing awesome things with like-minded people. It isn’t about spreading hate and forming spiteful tribes. That’s heinous fuckery. Do not partake in heinous fuckery.

Oh, And The Gay Thing

And if you’re upset because I put gay characters and a gay protagonist in the book, I got nothing for you. Sorry, you squawking saurian — meteor’s coming. And it’s a fabulously gay Nyan Cat meteor with a rainbow trailing behind it and your mode of thought will be extinct. You’re not the Rebel Alliance. You’re not the good guys. You’re the fucking Empire, man. You’re the shitty, oppressive, totalitarian Empire. If you can imagine a world where Luke Skywalker would be irritated that there were gay people around him, you completely missed the point of Star Wars. It’s like trying to picture Jesus kicking lepers in the throat instead of curing them. Stop being the Empire. Join the Rebel Alliance. We have love and inclusion and great music and cute droids.

(By the way, the book also has an older woman, a mother, rescuing a man. So if that bothers you, you might wanna find a bunker for hunkering down. And I dunno if you noticed, but the three new protagonists of the movie consist of a woman, a black man, a Latino man. The bad guys all look like white guys, too. So many meteors. So little time to squawk at them.)

Anyway.

Aftermath’s out if you wanna check it out.

Two more books in the trilogy coming, too. Keep your grapes peeled.

Star Wars: Aftermath: Indiebound | Amazon | B&N | iBooks

(t-shirt image at the top by houseorgana)