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The Heart of the Jedi
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2021 12:53 pm    Post subject: The Heart of the Jedi Reply with quote

Just found out about this today. An unreleased Star Wars novel that has been privately released on a fan web site...

The Heart of the Jedi
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Whill
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PostPosted: Mon May 03, 2021 1:17 pm    Post subject: Re: The Heart of the Jedi Reply with quote

CRMcNeill wrote:
Just found out about this today. An unreleased Star Wars novel that has been privately released on a fan web site...

The Heart of the Jedi


Very interesting. I just read here about the background on this novel not being officially published. Although he didn't come out and say it, the female author gender pronoun used and timeline works out for the novel that replaced his being The Truce at Bakura by Kathy Tyers. It seems the main party screwing him over was Bantam Spectra who just chose her instead of him, but it looks like that may not have happened if this guy had had an agent. I do still feel bad for the guy because being a Star Wars author can and does puts them on the top selling list and change careers. I probably won't ever read The Heart of the Jedi because The Truce at Bakura wasn't that great and there are several other SW novels on my reading list.

It was interesting to read, "the Imperial Remnant fights on until the long-silent Imperial Senate rises up to call for peace." The Imperial Senate has been "silent" because the Emperor permanently dissolved the council over 4 years prior. It seems like the author's concept was that the Senate reformed on its own after the death of the Emperor, in conflict with a High Admiral who wants power centralized under his control. In my personal canon's post-RotJ setting, the Empire eventually disintegrates into three Empires and a new Republic. One of the three Empires reinstates an Imperial Senate with former Vice Chancellor Mas Amedda appointed as Chancellor by that empire's Emperor.

And thanks for posting this for a personal reason too. I feel like I have been conflating author Kathy Tyers with author Karen Traviss, and this brought this into greater awareness. Damn dyslexia.
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Mon May 03, 2021 5:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dyslexics of the world, untie!
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Whill
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PostPosted: Mon May 03, 2021 5:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

CRMcNeill wrote:
Dyslexics of the world, untie!

Good one.
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Xain Arke
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PostPosted: Wed May 05, 2021 9:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have this book in my hand, haven't read it yet though as it only arrived today.

It's really nice to see an EU style book cover again, massive nostalgia vibes Smile

Anyone who wants this book should probably grab one ASAP as I suspect if and
when Disney find out they'll have it removed from sale.
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Wed May 05, 2021 10:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Honestly, the opening chapter was somewhat off-putting. The author screwed up on basic terminology (yards instead of meters, and grappling beams instead of tractor beams), and it’s hard to picture the Alliance risking Luke, Leia and Han on something as high-risk/middling reward as a boarding action against a relatively minor capital ship.
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Xain Arke
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PostPosted: Wed May 05, 2021 1:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I can understand that CRMcNeill, it is an EU novel though, which were always somewhat hit and miss Smile

Haven't read the Heart of the Jedi yet, so I'm going in cold and can't make a judgement on the quality or accuracy
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Whill
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PostPosted: Thu May 06, 2021 2:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Xain Arke wrote:
I have this book in my hand, haven't read it yet though as it only arrived today.

It's really nice to see an EU style book cover again, massive nostalgia vibes Smile

Anyone who wants this book should probably grab one ASAP as I suspect if and
when Disney find out they'll have it removed from sale.

I'm missing something here. I don't see any discussion above about being able to buy a copy of this. I thought this was an author-released unpublished novel which amounts to it being effectively fan fiction, which can be shared publicly for free.

My first question is, is that the case? Or was this manuscript bootlegged and put up without the author's permission?

Was this link to buy a printed copy on the website linked in this thread? Who is making money off of this?

Thank you.
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Xain Arke
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PostPosted: Thu May 06, 2021 5:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't know about the legalities of the web release, but you can buy the physical book on Amazon, Whill. The vendor says they are not making profit,
all the money is going to printing the books.

Edit: have removed the link as the novel has been taken off of Amazon


Last edited by Xain Arke on Sun May 09, 2021 10:34 pm; edited 1 time in total
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PostPosted: Thu May 06, 2021 9:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks, Xain. That somewhat clarifies things. I quote from the Amazon page:

Quote:
The Heart of the Jedi, Kenneth C. Flint's lost Star Wars novel, commissioned and approved by Lucasfilm, and set to be released in 1993, disappeared without a trace. For many years fans wondered what became of the book and why it was never published, and so it was chalked up to yet another tragic "lostworlds" story that no one would ever get to read or enjoy... or so we thought!

Kenneth C. Flint's complete novel The Heart of the Jedi has at last been unearthed! Published on StarWarsTimeline.net, it has been edited to fit into the existing Expanded Universe, taking place a short time after The Truce at Bakura and the end of issue #107 of the Marvel series, but before the X-Wing comic-book series.

Reprinted here in paperback for the first time, this is a non-profit listing for private collectors only.

The downloadable PDF is freely available here: http://www.starwarstimeline.net/The%20Heart%20of%20the%20Jedi.htm

Find other books by Kenneth Flint at: http://www.amazon.com/Kenneth-C.-Flint/e/B001HPFIWC

•••

Note: I'd like to clear a few things up.
This is an unofficial fan printing of an unofficial fan story. IE: Bootleg Fanfiction.
Disney owns Star Wars©, not The Heart of the Jedi.
I am not making money off this venture. This is being printed AT COST only. The price paid is merely to Amazon for printing charges.
There was a fan printing briefly available in 2015. I, and most others, missed that one.
Some time ago, I decided I wanted a copy of "The Heart of the Jedi" for my bookshelf. I put it on Amazon, ordered my copy, and was done. Then, quite frankly, I forgot about it.
The increase in copies sold has lead to a few rumors. I'd like to address some of them:

I am not Ken Flint.
I am not Joe Bongiorno.
I do not know either of them.
I am not affiliated with Disney.
This book is not outselling Disney Star Wars. The way the Amazon Ranking algorithm works is based on sales per hour, not lifetime sales.
I am not Timothy Zahn. I know him. He is an amazing mentor and an inspiration to me. I would never try and sabotage his work or steal his thunder. Everyone go buy Thrawn.
EU fans, stop trying to stick a thumb in Disney's eye. We're not going to change anything.
Disney fans, just ignore the EU fans and let them have their silly little book. Stop tattling to Disney.
Finally, I would like to publicly apologize to Ken for any appearance that I might be stealing his work. That was not the intent. They are both wonderful people who have done nothing wrong. I hope you will continue to support them in their work.


--A Star Wars Fan


So it would seem that the author did indeed share his work for free online, then some rando who will only identify himself as "A Star Wars Fan" copied the online book and took part in an Amazon POD program. I find this whole thing to be quite hilarious...

"I am not Timothy Zahn." Um, no one thought you were Zahn, rando.

"I would like to publicly apologize to Ken for any appearance that I might be stealing his work." Well you can't steal something that was given freely. But that doesn't necessarily mean you are free to sell it.

"This is an unofficial fan printing of an unofficial fan story. IE: Bootleg Fanfiction." He said it himself! Bootleg.

"Disney fans, just ignore the EU fans and let them have their silly little book. Stop tattling to Disney." Fans already had the book, online since 2005. This is a hilarious public admission of guilt. He literally went the 'stop snitching' route.

I do believe that he actually is only selling it at the Amazon POD cost, because he has been so self-incriminatingly forthright about everything else. Here's the thing. This rando may not be making any money off this, but you know damn well that Amazon doesn't offer any nonprofit POD service, meaning, Amazon has profit margins built in to their POD cost. So it would seem to me that Amazon is unwittingly making money off of an unlicensed Star Wars product. This is why Lulu cancelled the Adventurer's Journal from being a public print project - They cited a policy of not printing unlicensed Lucasfilm IP (because Lulu makes profit off of all print projects). The AJ is clearly a fan work. This big difference here is, this presents the illusion that it is a licensed work. You don't get any of the above text without clicking on the "Read more" link under the plot blurb. And the mere fact that this is on Amazon makes it seem legit. We had a total solar eclipse back in 2017 and tons of sellers got on Amazon and sold fake eclipse eyewear. Eventually, Amazon figured it out and cracked down. NASA published an exclusively list of all real eye protection brands to try to help people not ruin their vision.

To quote one my favorite movies, "He ain't all there. Is he?" Yeah, I do think that once Amazon figures out what they are doing, they will take this down. FYI, the bootleg policy states we should not share links to bootlegged material.
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PostPosted: Thu May 06, 2021 9:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

CRMcNeill wrote:
Honestly, the opening chapter was somewhat off-putting. The author screwed up on basic terminology (yards instead of meters, and grappling beams instead of tractor beams), and it’s hard to picture the Alliance risking Luke, Leia and Han on something as high-risk/middling reward as a boarding action against a relatively minor capital ship.

Grappling beams, lol. If this manuscript had gone forward I have to presume that an editor would have caught that stuff and corrected it. It would have been funny if the author just changed any correct references to incorrect ones and tried to get some publisher to publish it as a generic space opera adventure.
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Xain Arke
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PostPosted: Fri May 07, 2021 7:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whill wrote:
Grappling beams, lol. If this manuscript had gone forward I have to presume that an editor would have caught that stuff and corrected it. It would have been funny if the author just changed any correct references to incorrect ones and tried to get some publisher to publish it as a generic space opera adventure.


Isn't Grappling Beam for Tractor Beam just like Laser Sword for Lightsaber?...
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Fri May 07, 2021 10:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think if it had been used in dialogue, it could be passed off as a slang term, but when it's the narrator, it feels off. Star Wars has tractor beams, not grappling beams.
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Xain Arke
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PostPosted: Fri May 07, 2021 1:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

CRMcNeill wrote:
I think if it had been used in dialogue, it could be passed off as a slang term, but when it's the narrator, it feels off. Star Wars has tractor beams, not grappling beams.


I'm not sure I see the difference personally, aren't the Star Wars tales being narrated by someone in universe anyway?
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Fri May 07, 2021 2:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Xain Arke wrote:
I'm not sure I see the difference personally, aren't the Star Wars tales being narrated by someone in universe anyway?

Apart from I, Jedi, all the Star Wars novels are written from the traditional anonymous narrator perspective, who is not one of the named characters. If the term had been used in a quote by one of the characters - as in, “ready the grappling beams,” ordered the captain - that would still be weird, but at least conceivably in the same realm as Anakin calling a lightsaber a “laser sword”. But when it’s the “anonymous narrator”, it’s expected that they’ll use the commonly accepted terminology of the setting.
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