People's New Republic

ATTENTION: There was a horrible error during recording and there are about ten seconds missing from the audio in the first few minutes. We regret the error and our editor has been sent to Lusankya for conditioning. We're back to Michael A. Stackpole's X-Wing series (and thus once again joined by our X-Wing correspondent Hayley) to discuss 1996's The Krytos Trap! Does this book follow in the Stackpole tradition of goofy sci-fi romp with bizarre but well-meaning 90s liberal politics? Does Corran Horn continue to be the most competent, most handsome, most gifted fan fiction-ass protagonist? Absolutely. Also, Ethan might be colorblind. Topics include if the climax of this book is the stupidest thing we've encountered in all of Star Wars thus far, if the New Republic has to conduct a show trial to condemn an innocent blonde white man to satisfy the swarthy alien hordes, and the logistics of hiring fascist crime bosses to run your new government's militia. Content warnings include racism, torture, incarceration, and general physical violence. -- MEDIA -- 

We return to Michael P. Kube-McDowell's Black Fleet Crisis with 1996's Shield of Lies, which did not delight as much as its predecessor, but still gave us plenty to enjoy.  Topics include Farscape (1999-2003), Lobot being unable to meaningfully explain the difference between himself and a droid and why he has rights but droids don't, and the possibility of Disney making a recreation of Jabba's palace for tourists to visit. Content warnings include discussions of settler-colonialism, misogyny, imperialism, racism, and violence. -- MEDIA --

We're back to the X-Wing series with Michael A. Stackpole's 1996 sequel Wedge's Gamble. The Rogues have to capture Coruscant, a planet-sized city (that seems to be maybe the size of New York City) all by themselves. Like his last book, the writing is alright and he has some fun characters! His stuff is very readable! But can the readability and whimsy overcome the plot contrivances used to keep everyone within four or five blocks of each other? Topics include Stackpole's uncanny ability to give his shitty cop protagonist self-awareness of his shittiness right when it's most frustrating, a truly wild passage about Corran Horn's sexual relationship with his Selonian colleague, and how susceptible to Imperal propaganda Wedge Antilles of all people is. Content warnings include sexual assault, racism, misogyny, fatphobia, genocide, and general physical violence. -- MEDIA --

In the early 90s, Lucasfilm execs asked themselves "What if we could make all the money off of licensed products for a blockbuster movie but didn't have to pay for an actual movie?" Steve Perry's 1996 turd Shadows of the Empire is part of their answer to this question. On a sentence-to-sentence level, this may be the worst novel we've read for this show (yes, even worse than Kevin J. Anderson), and it's not much better on the structural level! Topics include why they needed another white man to stand in for Han Solo when Lando was literally right there, the motivation behind giving the sexy white lady assassin droid a "feminine shape," and the breathtaking racism that leads you to name your dark haired martial artist species the "Epicanthix." Content warnings include racism, misogyny, mentions of sexual assault, sex work, and violence. -- MEDIA --

We start another trilogy with Michael P. Kube-McDowell's 1996 banger Before the Storm. We all loved this one! It has everything: meaningful discussion about politics and the role of military intervention, devastating takedowns of Luke's fake-transcended mommy issues by Leia, and Lando being cool as shit. Topics include those, what Yoda would be like as a misogynistic fathers-rights podcaster, Han treating Chewbacca as a slave, and the too-near-for-comfort comparison between the actions of the Yevetha and the genocide Israel is committing in Palestine. Content warnings include slavery, settler-colonialism, the genocide in Palestine, misogyny, imperialism, and violence. -- MEDIA --