May the 4th Be With You! — Star Wars Books

Hey! There’s a new Star Wars trailer out! Check it out, along with all the Star Wars books that you can find at the Prairie State College Library.

My favorite is Luke Skywalker can’t read : and other geeky truths.

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Star Wars : Dark empire trilogy
by Veitch, Tom
GN VEI

Six years after the fall of the Empire in Return of the Jedi, the battle for the galaxy’s freedom rages on. The Empire has been mysteriously reborn under an unknown leader, wielding a new weapon of great power. Princess Leia and Han Solo struggle to hold together the New Republic while the galaxy’s savior, Luke Skywalker, fights an inner battle as he is drawn to the dark side, just as his father…

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Star wars: aftermath
by Wendig, Chuck
FIC WEN

As the Empire reels from its critical defeats at the Battle of Endor, the Rebel Alliance–now a fledgling New Republic–presses its advantage by hunting down the enemy’s scattered forces before they can regroup and retaliate. But above the remote planet Akiva, an ominous show of the enemy’s strength is unfolding. Out on a lone reconnaissance mission, pilot Wedge Antilles watches Imperial Star Destroyers gather like birds of prey circling for a kill, but he’s taken captive before he can report back to the New Republic leaders.

Meanwhile, on the planet’s surface, former rebel fighter Norra Wexley has returned to her native world–war weary, ready to reunite with her estranged son, and eager to build a new life in some distant place. But when Norra intercepts Wedge Antilles’s urgent distress call, she realizes her time as a freedom fighter is not yet over. What she doesn’t know is just how close the enemy is–or how decisive and dangerous her new mission will be.

Determined to preserve the Empire’s power, the surviving Imperial elite are converging on Akiva for a top-secret emergency summit–to consolidate their forces and rally for a counterstrike. But they haven’t reckoned on Norra and her newfound allies–her technical-genius son, a Zabrak bounty hunter, and a reprobate Imperial defector–who are prepared to do whatever they must to end the Empire’s oppressive reign once and for all.

Science Fiction and Fantasy. What is the Difference?

Applied Science and technology are central to the Science Fiction genre. Science Fiction is also called Speculative Fiction because it is written with the question in mind, “What if?” (Seed 2). Common settings are: Earth, near space, or the interior of the Earth, and narratives may emphasize historical or political events. Narratives may also be spiritual (Star Wars), and even didactic in some cases. Protagonists can be human or alien (Films: E.T. the Extraterrestrial and District 9.)

Science Fiction may be set in dystopian or utopian societies (Snowpiercer and The Hunger Games series.) Often, a narrative can begin with a utopian society that actually turns out to be dystopian for some of the characters involved (Films: Elysium, and After Earth.) Dystopian narratives can fall under the Post-Apocalyptic fiction genre (The Road), but there are differences still between Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic fiction (See Prairie State Library resources for further details.) Post-Apocalyptic fiction is usually set in a world after some catastrophic event.

On the other hand, Fantasy authors often construct worlds of their imagination (Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series.) Think dragons, fairies, and witches ( A Game of Thrones.) Fantasy can also include darker, more horrific characters such as orcs, vampires or werewolves (Interview with the Vampire and True Blood: The Sookie Stackhouse series.)

Both genres can include elements of the other, and rely heavily on the tension between the light and dark nature of existence.

Want to read from the Science Fiction or Fantasy genre? Want to use this as a research topic? Prairie State Library has the resources that you need!

Source: Seed, David. Science Fiction: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print.

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Nailer and his crew work to scavenge valuable parts from old oil-tankers run aground on the stretch of Gulf Coast known as Bright Sands Beach. The people of Bright Sands Beach know nothing but ship breaking and poverty. They often wonder if they’ll be able to scavenge enough to pay for their next meal and if the next storm will destroy the rough shacks along the beach they call home.

After a particularly big storm destroys the whole beach, Nailer finds a luxury ship run aground, but when he discovers the ship’s owner still alive, Nailer has to decide whether to look out for his own interests or to help this girl, who claims to be the ship’s very rich and powerful owner.

Check this Book Out! Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself by David Foster Wallace

When I think of summer, I think of road trips: Cruising down the highway with the radio blasting, stopping at every opportunity for gas station snacks, and long, meandering conversations with friends. A road trip is about the journey as much as the destination. So imagine the opportunity to road trip with an author you love, getting to know him in the intimacy of late night road conversations. That’s exactly what David Lipsky does over the course of a few days in the summer of 1996. He reports back on these conversations with David Foster Wallace in Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself, allowing us a personal view of a brilliant and complicated writer.

Stop by the library to check this book out, or any of the other great New Books on display!