Silver Linings and Moving Forward – Fangirls Find Their Voices

Over the last five days shock, anger, and disgust have been the predominant fandom emotions for many Expanded Universe fans, especially women. The silver lining is that airing the dirty laundry can become a positive point of change when it provides momentum for moving forward.

Read more

Mixed Messages – Time Travel, Dramatis Personae, and Mercenaries

In assessing the messages of a product or brand, I find myself observing the nuances through the lens of a professional roadway and signalization engineer. The crux of my job boils down to making sure that clear signals are given to drivers and pedestrians to avoid confusion. As someone who manages the message of my professional business, as well, last month I noticed a curious series of events related to the Star Wars Expanded Universe that highlighted how, at times, the messages being sent to the fans are at cross-purposes.

Read more

One Year and Counting

Today marks the one-year anniversary of FANgirl Blog. When the idea for this blog was originally conceived over the course of a series of conversations at Celebration V, I never envisioned it rising this quickly in readership or recognition. Looking back, I think that the blog’s specific message had been so underrepresented that it immediately found and captivated an audience. So what was that message? And how well have I done at staying true to my original intentions?

Read more

Luke Skywalker Must Die

I think killing Luke Skywalker in an Expanded Universe novel, and doing it in the near future – both in the real world and in-universe – is the perfect opportunity to revive the stagnating EU storyline, rebuild enthusiasm in the EU fanbase, and bring in a whole bunch of new fans to the EU in the process. To save the EU novels, Luke Skywalker must die. I hope you’ll hear me out on my reasons why.

Read more