iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

newjediorder.substack.com/p/xiii-traitor does traitor still hold up, twenty-four years later? you bet it does. in which i set out my stall for this being the most important - and probably best - Star Wars novel.

newjediorder.substack.com

XIII - TRAITOR

when will you learn that everything i tell you is the truth?

000

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

aye, they seem to be to held in high regard but i find them pedestrian in the extreme. i think allston is best when he's writing very tightly focused stories with a local scale - so EL1 plays to his strengths! his broader galaxy-spanning stuff misses the mark for me.

010

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

daily supernatural encounters character

010

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

there's only one chud in that series and he's on the cover of books 1, 8 and 9

021

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

one of many great NJO characters to sadly disappear from the face of the galaxy following the series

010

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

newjediorder.substack.com/p/xii-enemy-... in which we learn that wrapping up loose ends is not the same thing as moving the narrative forward. still, lord nyax is cool.

newjediorder.substack.com

XII - ENEMY LINES II: REBEL STAND

if it was, how would i ever know?

110

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

this is the best type of deep cut. anyone can find a character that nobody's heard of in, say, a newspaper strip from the 80s that was only published in the UK. to find a character nobody's heard of in a flagship comic series, at arguably the high point in the EU's popularity... sublime work.

110

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

This dude, Kh'aris Fenn, Shogar Tok, Volfe Karkko, the Morgukai, half the cast of Darth Maul... love the Jan Duursema grungy prequel rogues gallery.

000

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Kre'fey is a great character. Sucks how he just disappears after NJO.

010

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Aye, 'nuance' is not a word I'd associate with him. And yet! His performance here is inspired. But it's wall-to-wall great performances.

110

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Such an unreal series. The best to ever do it. And made me completely rethink Brian Blessed as an actor...

110

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Although I just learnt he's in one of the Darth Bane books so perhaps he's not as deep cut as I thought. I know him from the early 2000s RPG material!

020

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Now this one's a banger. Great deep cut. Love the Doug Alexander Gregory art from the og WotC RPG.

220

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

a great set of weird dudes. dorsk 81 / 82 gotta be up there too.

120

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

there's a significant subplot, filmed but cut, where she's working with other senators to foment resistance to palps... but cutting that from the film, knowing it leaves her with nothing, is a *choice*, right! The Ep3 novel does some good work with it, inc. it bringing her into tension with Anakin.

110

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

maybe they were hedging their bets ahead of ep3? but no excuse post '05. she's clearly very compelling but also thin and inconsistent on the screen - really crying out for something that makes sense of her as a character. interested in how Queen's Hope treats her cos boy, she is *so* passive in RotS

210

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

ah sorry, i meant her appearance in the ilum 'arc' of the tartakovsky clone wars. i don't know my filoni clone wars very well but from what i've watched they at least treat her as part of the core cast, unlike the 2003-05 multimedia project which is just... uninterested

110

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

for me it's one of the low points of the series - basically "what if padme wore a snow bunny suit and acted like emma peel?" than showing any interest in exploring *anything* about her character.

110

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

really striking that this is the first real attempt to explore padme as a character - it only took 20 years and a change in publishing regime. interested in how you found her episode in yr Clone Wars watch, which - i think - is her only meaningful appearance in the OG clone wars multimedia project

210

Reposted by rooty

sean guynes @guynes.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

I wrote an essay on something that's a bit outside what I normally read: a YA novel! Here I discuss the E.K. Johnston's novel QUEEN'S SHADOW, the first in a trilogy about Padmé. It's pretty good, a little thin, but it interesting wrestles with the limitations of Star Wars's critique of democracy.

seanguynes.com

Star Wars: Reading “Queen’s Shadow” by E.K. Johnston (Queen Trilogy 1)

On E.K. Johnston’s Queen’s Shadow, the first novel in a YA trilogy that recovers the story of Padmé for a feminist-minded audience and wrestles with the state of democracy.

1123

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

i love how throughout she thinks she's playing Tsavong Lah, but whenever we get his perspective he absolutely has her number. and then she inadvertently gets it right about the shapers causing his arm transplant to fail! great stuff.

120

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

it feels like it's gone from "let's not rush into this, and do something that will really set us apart from the EU", to running joke ("they're such good spies, they never get seen!"), to (i assume) holding fire for a film or show to get there first.

020

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

and interesting to observe the things they're actively resisting incorporating, like mara and, seemingly, bothans

120

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

it's fun to see where they've actively lifted from the EU ("here's grand admiral thrawn!"), and also where they've (unintentionally?) hit on the same plot points ("a solo kid turns dark!" "somehow palpatine returns!" "han and leia's marriage breaks down after a traumatic event!")

220

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

also interesting to reflect on the final paragraphs ten years later, when (imo) the promise of the story group EU has effectively been squandered -- partly by not being allowed to range beyond Rise of Skywalker, and partly by getting outflanked by the streaming offer.

120

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

i read yr chapter on my commute today; i liked your argument that printed works are undervalued in understanding of SW history. people forget these days but so much of the EU - especially the 90s stuff - escaped book-reader containment and became received knowledge amongst film fans

120

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

i plan to continue through Legacy of the Force (a series i remember less fondly, and where the organisation & construction of the series REALLY shapes the end product, often for the worse) but part of me is also keen to do High Republic and compare NJO to a modern take on transmedia Star Wars.

120

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

aye, i'm really enjoying your D&D series for much the same reason! it's easy to popcorn your way through this stuff; i'm finding it really worthwhile to spend time thinking about what each book is trying to do and say, and how this relates to the wider construction of the series

110

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

hey dude, thanks for the kind words! will check out your chapter - i've long wished there was more good writing about the EU out there...

120

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

for almost 25 years i've been deeply intrigued by the artwork for the apprentice, a short story set during the events of dark journey. did it live up to what i'd imagined? newjediorder.substack.com/p/interlude-...

newjediorder.substack.com

interlude: the apprentice

you asked me to be your apprentice. this is where it starts

000

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Haha, I've always seen her as "we have Baron Fel at home" but you're right, she's a blend of Fel and Tycho. I love how much of Rogue Squadron 3D is just the Stackpole books with the serial numbers filed off.

000

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

cooking today zwei. one of *the* great forgotten EU characters.

110

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

a salute to the jeedai! a salute of blood!

021

Reposted by rooty

Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Respect to Sid Meier but this is not the direction I wanted for the franchise

0155

rooty @rooty.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

better stand back cos i'm about to slash.... all my prices!

020

Reposted by rooty

Hourly Videogame Box Art @vgboxart.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

STAR WARS REBEL ASSAULT II

3346

Reposted by rooty

Supper Mario Broth @mariobrothblog.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

This in-store display for a 2019 line of official Mario clothing is possibly the most inaccurate Super Mario Bros. artwork ever used in an official capacity. Nearly every element of the image is either wrongly sized, misaligned, or placed in a nonsensical manner.

772464569