Tag: star wars
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Con Report: Farpoint 2023
Last weekend I attended Farpoint, a pop culture convention local to the Baltimore area, as a panelist and presenter on the writing and fandom tracks! As I explained to a handful of authors that I met for the first time during the event, I don’t generally attend conventions for the…
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LEGO Build Report: The Child
You know by now that I’m a “ships and buildings” sort of girl, in the types of LEGO sets that I buy for myself. That doesn’t mean I’ll stick my nose up when friends gift me sets they’ll think I enjoy. In this case, I received a combined Christmas/birthday gift…
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LEGO Build Report: The Razor Crest
Remember when I built my new typewriter LEGO set over the holidays? The spouse joined me to build one of his own! Though I am currently the uncontested LEGO aficionado in our household, he grew up building them, and we have an agreement that certain sets we purchase will be…
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Farpoint 2021 Schedule
Farpoint 2020 was the last event I attended in person before the world went bonkers. Alas, like so many other conventions, it is being held online this year. I’m pleased to participate in three panels from the comfort of my own home, but you know I’ll miss seeing all of…
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Review: Bloodline (Star Wars) by Claudia Gray
This book is an exciting political thriller that just happens to take place in the Star Wars universe starring both new and familiar faces. It includes plenty of intrigue, instances of excitement, and brief moments of lovely characterization. And while it features half a dozen point of view characters, the…
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Build Report: LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar 2018
I had so much fun with the LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar in 2017 that I had to do it again! Below is a quick summary of all the cool things I added to my collection. LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar 2018 (75213) — 307 pieces First, the holiday-themed…
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Build Report: BTL-A4 Y-Wing Starfighter
Just because I’m behind schedule with all of my writing projects doesn’t mean I will deprive myself of a reward when I do get something done! To celebrate submitting my fifth novel to my editor, I built this year’s special Star Wars set, the Y-Wing Starfighter. The Y-Wing is not…
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Build Report: BB-8
There was no reason for me to buy this year’s special Star Wars Day LEGO set, but that didn’t stop me! While the awesome Y-Wing Starfighter set is waiting patiently in my “to be built” pile (dwarfed only by my “to be read” pile), I couldn’t resist putting together this…
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Build Report: Star Wars Arrowhead
To celebrate completing revisions on my fourth novel, Steel Time, and sending it off to my publisher for layout, I took a break before jumping into my next major project (revisions to book 5, Steel Shadows) by building the awesome set I received from my littlest sister last Christmas. The…
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Build Report: First Order Stormtrooper
Since I built the Parisian Restaurant over the holidays, I couldn’t really justify putting together another massive LEGO set so soon, even though I wanted to do something to celebrate completing the first draft of my most recent novel. Luckily, my sister- and brother-in-law gave me this weird dude for…
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Review: Before the Awakening (Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens) by Greg Rucka
Finn’s story: This story, while well-written in the technical sense, was by far the weakest of this trio. If not for my husband encouraging me onward, I might have put the entire book down. I understand that the book was released before the film, and that the authors don’t necessarily…
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Review: The Weapon of a Jedi (Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens) by Jason Fry
This book boiled down to “Just how did Luke get so good at using a lightsaber, anyway?” Which is an important question to ask, in the continuity between the films A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Unfortunately, the reality of the the limitations established in the Star Wars…
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Review: Smuggler’s Run (Star Wars: Journey to the Force Awakens) by Greg Rucka
This young adult novel was a well-written and well-crafted story set between two of the films in the original Star Wars trilogy. All of the battle scenes, whether shoot-outs on ground or ship-to-ship battles in space, were dramatic and clearly written. The plot flowed at a good pace. Unfortunately, I…
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Build Report: 2017 Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar
I honestly can’t remember the last time I had an advent calendar as a kid. I have vague memories of the ones with cheap chocolate in middle school, which is when my littlest sister was a toddler. Now that I’m an adult, for various definitions of the word, it was…
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Review: Moving Target (Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens) by Cecil Castellucci & Jason Fry
This was an excellent Star Wars young adult novel that succeeds at showing realistic decisions that must be made in war, and how people involved in those wars end up making essential decisions regardless of how much power or authority they might have. I also appreciated that Princess Leia is…
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Review: Shattered Empire (Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens) by Greg Rucka
One of my biggest pet peeves about most war movies is how the characters celebrate at the end of a big battle as if everything is going to be easy from there on out. This graphic novel shows how the opposite is the case and does an excellent job of…
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REVIEW: A NEW DAWN (Star Wars) by John Jackson Miller
Let’s get one thing out of the way first. Star Wars Rebels is a kid’s show. A New Dawn is not a kid’s book, which was a surprise and provided a bit of interesting cognizant dissonance while I read it. It is not necessary to be familiar with both to enjoy…