Myri Antilles short story by Karen Miller in Star Wars Insider #135

Young Myri Antilles

Fans of the Antilles clan and of the X-Wing novels will be getting a little more fun inside the pages of Star Wars Insider #135 as author Karen Miller (Wild Space, Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth & Siege) will be delivering a story






The intelligence agent and card-karkarodon daughter of Wedge and Iella Antilles takes center stage in this piece of original fiction.  A member of Wraith Squadron, Myri Antilles should also feature prominently in the upcoming X-Wing: Mercy Kill novel by Aaron Allston.

I can't wait until Donoslane Excursions brings me a copy of SW Insider #135 so I can check out this new story.

A Fundraiser by Author Jim C. Hines for Sexual Assault Awareness Month

In a departure from our usual silliness, let me bring to your attention a real cool giveaway being organized by fantasy author Jim C. Hines to benefit Rape Crisis Centers.

The sad fact of our society and the world is that rape is far to common of a crime.  If you haven't been a victim of this crime or known someone who has been a victim then it may be hard to understand just how profound an impact this horrific crime can have on some-one's life.  Rape is a violation that victims will never be able to forget and must live with the rest of their lives.  As horrible is the crime is however, it is important to remember that there is hope and healing is possible.  To the parents out there, please raise your boys right, to the men out there please act like real men, protect and honor women do not hurt them.

April is sexual assault awareness month, so please take time, donate if you can or help in one of the many ways large or small that you can to help reduce sexual assaults in this country and to help victims of sexual assault find healing and justice.

Below is the complete post regarding the giveaway hosted by author Jim C. Hines from his website.

"Fundraising for Rape Crisis Centers 

April is sexual assault awareness month. 

This is something that’s very important to me. I’ve written a fair amount about rape over the years, but a lot of it comes down to:
Rape is a horribly common crime. 

As a society, we tend to punish victims while excusing or defending many perpetrators of rape
While the individual rapist is always responsible for his (or her) crimes, there are cultural/societal reasons rape continues at such a frequent rate
Survivors of rape deserve support, no matter what. 

For several years, I’ve run a fundraiser and given out signed books to encourage people to donate to rape crisis centers. In the past, I’ve given out autographed books to people who donate, but this year I wanted to go even bigger. So I’ve talked to some author friends, and the net result is that you could win a lot more books this year, depending on how much money we raise. 

I’ll post a running total here throughout the month. The more money we raise, the more prizes I’ll throw into the pot. Right now, we’re covered through $3000 with a total of seventeen incredible, autographed books. If we raise more money, then I’ll just have to round up more authors and prizes. 

TOTAL RAISED AS OF 4/11/2012: $473 

The prizes so far and the amount we have to raise to add them to the giveaway are as follows:
$0 - An ARC of Libriomancer, by Jim C. Hines
$250 - Blue Magic, by Alyx Dellamonica
$500 - The Unexpected Miss Bennet, by Patrice Sarath
$750 - A book from Anton Strout (an ARC of Alchemystic or, if the ARCs aren’t ready, a copy of Dead to Me)
$1000 - Of Blood and Honey & And Blue Skies from Pain by Stina Leicht
$1250 - A Magic of Twilight (hardcover) from S.L. Farrell
$1500 - Range of Ghosts, by Elizabeth Bear
$1750 - The Cloud Roads and The Serpent Sea, by Martha Wells
$2000 - Hardcovers of Twilight’s Dawn and Bridge of Dreams, by Anne Bishop
$2500 - With Fate Conspire & an ARC of A Natural History of Dragons, by Marie Brennan
$3000 - The Vineart Trilogy (hardcover) by Laura Anne Gilman
$3500 - ??? 

Thanks so much to all of the authors who offered books! 

The rules:
You can donate to your local rape crisis center, or if you prefer, to an organization like RAINN. Most places will take donations online.
To enter, send an e-mail to endrape@jimchines.com.
Let me know how much you donated so I can update the total. You can donate any amount, from $1 to $10,000 or more.
If you donate at least $50, please include some sort of documentation (e-mail or electronic receipt, something like that).
Make sure to include your mailing address!
Now, Michigan law prohibits unlicensed raffles, meaning I can’t require donations to enter. Therefore, if you can’t donate anything at all, you can still e-mail me to enter the giveaway. But for those who can, please try to give at least a few bucks. 

Winners will be selected at random on May 1. If there are particular books you’d like, please mention them in your e-mail, in order of priority. But I can’t guarantee anything. I’m planning to pick winners and prizes like so: 

Randomly draw winner #1. If they asked for a specific book, that’s what they win. Otherwise, they get the first one on the list (Libriomancer). 

Randomly draw winner #2. If they asked for a specific book and it’s available, that’s what they win. Otherwise, they get whatever’s next on the list.
And so on and so forth, until all the prizes have homes.
I hope that’s clear. If anyone has questions, please let me know.
Finally, I’d very much appreciate it if people could spread the word about the fundraiser and giveaway."

LINK to Jim C. Hines' Website

For more information on rape victim resources and sexual assault please visit the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) and the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN).

What is Clone Wars Writer Brent Friedman up to for Lucasfilm?

Fans of Star Wars: The Clone Wars may not necessarily recognize the name of Brent Friedman, he was the writer for the Season Four Obi-Wan undercover arc. Episodes 4.07-4.10: Deception, Friends and Enemies, The Box, and Crisis on Naboo.  Mr. Friedman is currently a Staff Writer on TCW and recently flew into San Francisco on what was presumably a Star Wars related secret mission.  Let the speculation begin.

Recently on March 25 Mr. Friedman mentioned on his Twitter feed (@BFree63) that:

"Just flew into San Fran on classified business. I'd tell you my secret assignment but then I'd have to kill you..."

We can assume that he was visiting the Presidio (Lucasfilm's SF headquarters) because Starwars.com Editor/Writer Bonnie Burton (@bonniegrrl) tweeted:

"@BFree63: Nice seeing ya in person today! You're much taller than your Twitter avatar!"

Tricia Barr (@fangirlcantina) from Fan Girl Cantina commented on Mr. Friedman's "classified business" in the flowing exchange:

"@BFree63 I'm beginning to see a pattern here...you're such a tease. Enjoy San Fran, such a beautiful city."

"@fangirlcantina Thanks! But guilty as charged. Soon enough, tho, this secret mission will come to light and there will be much rejoicing."

"@fangirlcantina @PeteMorrisonLR There shall be Yub Nub when all is revealed."

It appears that Mr. Friedman was only in SF for a few days as he tweeted this on the 27th:

"Dear SanFran, hate to meet and run but I'll be back soon. Thank you for tasty sushi, entrepreneurial homeless and Starbucks on every corner."

I promise there is a point to this and not some Batman-esque cyber-stalking.

It doesn't sound like this was the typical TCW writers conference that we have seen take place at Skywalker Ranch.  While it could be a TCW related meeting, perhaps it is something else entirely.  Could it be a consultation for a new TCW spin-off cartoon?  Perhaps Mr. Friedman is being brought aboard to work on the Live Action Series, or perhaps it is something to do with a video game.

Mr. Friedman has a diverse creative background as exemplified by his LinkIn public profile.

Current: 

Co-Founder at Rainspark Labs

Creative Consultant at 343 Studios

Staff Writer at Lucasfilm

Writer/producer at Schizophrenic Thinking, Inc.

Past:

VP of Technology at Mass Hysteria

Owner at Electric Farm Entertainment

Creative Consultant at Zynga

Creative Consultant at ngmoco:)

Creative Consultant at Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC

Creative Consultant at Electronic Arts Los Angeles

 I wonder if Lucasfilm may be developing a web based series of Star Wars storytelling.  I suppose we will have to wait to find out and your guess is as good as mine to what this will end up being.

Happy Easter from LR

                     HAPPY EASTER

Google's Project Glass: Delivering a Heads-Up-Display even an ARC would be jealous of

Star Wars has always been at the forefront of tech.  Not only did the datapad exist many years before Steve Jobs got the bright idea for the iPad, but now Google is set to produce a glasses based heads-up-display that seems very much like the device described in the Star Wars Expanded Universe and used from all your favorite helmet wearing heroes and villains.  Stormtroopers, Clone Troopers, Clone Commandos, Mandalorians and Bounty Hunters alike use this technology in the galaxy far, far away.

The New York Times first wrote about the glasses in late February, describing an augmented-reality display that would sit over the eye and run on the Android mobile platform.
A video released by Google on Wednesday, which can be seen below, showed potential uses for Project Glass. A man wanders around the streets of New York City, communicating with friends, seeing maps and information, and snapping pictures. It concludes with him video-chatting with a girlfriend as the sun sets over the city. All of this is seen through the augmented-reality glasses.

One of my favorite book series is the Republic/Imperial Commando series written by Karen Traviss.  On of the key aspects of these military focused books is the "kit" that the Advance Recon Commandos are outfitted in and their use of the HUDs.

Some of the more distractable among the populace my find what Google is working on to be sensory overload, but I cannot wait to get my eyeballs on the new Google Project Glass display. I for one am ready for augmented reality.

SOURCE: NY Times Bits Blog