2015 Publishing Retrospective: A Galaxy of Possibilities: Representation and Storytelling in Star Wars

Star Wars has had a significant place in my nonfiction and academic work for many years, so publishing a collection of essays about different parts of the franchise was a natural choice.

I released a New Revised Edition of this book in both Kindle and Print last Fall, with extra chapters and updated content.

Cover designed by Jennifer A. Miller.

Table of Contents

• Introduction: Why Representation Matters and Why Star Wars has a Role to Play
• Chapter 1: Star Wars Rebels: A New Text to Link the Old
• Chapter 2 : Lando Calrissian : Iconic Scoundrel
• Chapter 3: Star Wars’ Jedi Younglings: A Benevolent but Controversial Education System
• Chapter 4: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II – A Milestone for Star Wars Female Characters
• Chapter 5: Mara Jade: Pillar of the Star Wars Expanded Universe
• Chapter 6 : Female Wizards: Jocasta Nu and Kreia
• Chapter 7: Tenel Ka: Negotiating Acquired Disability
• Chapter 8: Nala: The Missing Link between Disney Princesses and Leia Organa

Book Links (Kindle and Paperback)

Amazon USA – Amazon UK – Amazon Canada – Amazon Australia

Goodreads Page

Author Interviews

• October 2015: Meet Natacha Guyot: A Galaxy of Possibilities: Representation and Storytelling in Star Wars (Lisa M. Collins)
• September 2015: Interview with Author Natacha Guyot (Sacha Black)
• September 2015: Interview of Natacha Guyot: Author, Star Wars Fan, and Comparative Geek! (Comparative Geeks)
• May 2015: Star Wars Day: Free eBook by Natacha Guyot, Plus Interview (The Wookiee Gunner)

Book Reviews

• July 2015: Kat Clements Reviews A Galaxy of Possibilities (Nerd In The Brain) – Original Edition

Guest Posts

• September 2015: New Revised Edition #Book Release: A Galaxy of Possibilities: Representation and Storytelling in Star Wars
• August 2015: Star Wars Saturday: Representation Matters (and a Book Announcement)

Free #Kindle Days (Dec 17-19) for ‘A Galaxy of Possibilities: Representation and Storytelling in #StarWars’

In honor of the release of the new Star Wars movie, I am offering A Galaxy of Possibilities: Representation and Storytelling in Star Wars (New Revised Edition) for free on Kindle from December 17 to December 19.

Table of Contents

• Introduction: Why Representation Matters and Why Star Wars has a Role to Play
• Chapter 1: Star Wars Rebels: A New Text to Link the Old
• Chapter 2 : Lando Calrissian : Iconic Scoundrel
• Chapter 3: Star Wars’ Jedi Younglings: A Benevolent but Controversial Education System
• Chapter 4: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II – A Milestone for Star Wars Female Characters
• Chapter 5: Mara Jade: Pillar of the Star Wars Expanded Universe
• Chapter 6 : Female Wizards: Jocasta Nu and Kreia
• Chapter 7: Tenel Ka: Negotiating Acquired Disability
• Chapter 8: Nala: The Missing Link between Disney Princesses and Leia Organa

You can find more information on the book on this page, and below are some of the Amazon links:

Amazon USA – Amazon UK – Amazon Canada – Amazon Australia

Happy reading!

Cover designed by Jennifer A. Miller.

Announcing Free Kindle Days (Dec 17-19) for A Galaxy of Possibilities: Representation and Storytelling in Star Wars

 

In honor of the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I have decided to offer the Kindle version of A Galaxy of Possibilities: Representation and Storytelling in Star Wars (New Revised Edition) for free from December 17 to December 19.

Table of Contents

• Introduction: Why Representation Matters and Why Star Wars has a Role to Play
• Chapter 1: Star Wars Rebels: A New Text to Link the Old
• Chapter 2 : Lando Calrissian : Iconic Scoundrel
• Chapter 3: Star Wars’ Jedi Younglings: A Benevolent but Controversial Education System
• Chapter 4: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II – A Milestone for Star Wars Female Characters
• Chapter 5: Mara Jade: Pillar of the Star Wars Expanded Universe
• Chapter 6 : Female Wizards: Jocasta Nu and Kreia
• Chapter 7: Tenel Ka: Negotiating Acquired Disability
• Chapter 8: Nala: The Missing Link between Disney Princesses and Leia Organa

You can find further information on the book, including author interviews and reviews on the book’s page.

Silent Sunday – Sabriyya (SWTOR Scoundrel)

Silent Sunday – Alienora (SWTOR Gunslinger)

Silent Sunday – Lynmeira (SWTOR Jedi Shadow)

June Recap

Here are the highlights of this month’s blog content, in case you missed anything! Happy July!

Blog Series

• #ScifFi Women Interviews: Neelu Raut as June’s guest
• Fangirls Just Wanna Have Fun (Discussing the lighter side of fanfiction) by Rose B. Fischer – still ongoing
• Connecting Through Star Wars by Johnamarie Macias

New Weekly Feature

• The Digital Quill Answers

Feminist Friday Discussion

• Feminist Friday: A French Perspective on Sex Education and Birth Control

Contributions to Other Blogs

• Sourcerer: Star Wars Saturday: Favorite Video Games
• Sourcerer: Star Wars Saturday: Favorite Starships
• Comparative Geeks: Review – Star Wars The Old Republic: Shadow of Revan
• Comparative Geeks: Star Wars Rebels: Narrative Crossroads

Next Week on the Blog

June has been a  wonderful month for this blog and there is still more in store for the rest of the summer! See what is going to happen next week:

On Tuesday, Johnamarie Macias returns with the third and last installation of her series Connecting Through Star Wars.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Before Mako Came Yoko: Comparative Study of Pacific Rim and Yoko Tsuno, will be available for free on Kindle.

On Thursday, The Digital Quill Answers returns!

And if you missed it earlier this week, I wrote about Star Wars: The Old Republic on Comparative Geeks.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Photo Credit: Caspe Sparsoe.

Video Game Ramblings

I posted a couple of weeks ago about what I was up to in terms of gaming. I have made some progress, but I ended jumping into two other games, one I casually play and one I didn’t try before.

I have logged a few more hours in Dungeon Siege. While the graphics look their age, I have a lot of fun with it. I used to play countless hours of Torchlight, so this type of games are fun to play. And I can’t help it, I enjoy a female protagonist.

Source: Dungeon Siege Wiki.

The other RPG game I started has a male one though. I am not against playing a male character, but it really takes a compelling universe for me to have fun with it. It is a bit weird because I have no problem watching a movie/reading a book with a male lead. I am not exactly sure why it is so different with a video game, especially since I even write roleplaying male characters for the past years!

Anyway, this other game is Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – Ultimate Sith Edition, which I got from a friend. So far, I enjoy the gameplay a lot, though I am still very early in the game. The controls are good and wielding a lightsaber and using Force powers never get old. The only Star Wars game that made me love using blasters was The Old Republic.

To add to this, I also have my achiever side waking up and I have been spending time on Bejeweled 3 again. I was missing three Steam Achievements. I got one of them but the last two are annoying me for so far, they still escape my grasp! I will get them though. One day.

I also still want to pick up Mass Effect 2 again, because I was in love with the game, but I just haven’t been in the mood to do it. I have been listening to soundtracks from the game trilogy a lot though. It seems to make my writing muses extremely happy.

Video Game Review: Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

In Fall 2014, I started revisiting old games I hadn’t played in many years. One of them was Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. This Star Wars game series remains a favorite after all this time.

As always I played a female Jaden Korr. I didn’t remember how the colors were so gorgeous in the game. I had a blast going through the (easy) training and the missions. The gameplay is very intuitive in it and the lightsaber design, including in combat, is among the most gorgeous I have seen in all Star Wars games.

Another thing I loved was the interaction with well known characters from the universe, from Chewbacca to Luke Skywalker to Kyle Katarn. I like new characters and other eras of the Star Wars timeline, but the quip and exchange with famous characters was pretty awesome.

It is an easy (save for that mission where I have a heart attack every time because of this big sand slug!) game overall, but it isn’t a complete no brainer either. Visiting so many worlds is a treat as well. A classic game I very much recommend!