From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View: Book 2 of 2
Multiple Authors and Narrators
Publisher: Del Rey | Random House Audio
Release date: November 11, 2020

Just in time for the 40th anniversary of the greatest science fiction film ever made (sure, that’s arguable, but I’ll gladly argue it) and the greatest sequel ever made (again, arguable, but I’ll still argue it), The Empire Strikes Back, comes a collection of stories of those characters who either never saw any screen time, saw so little that few remember them, or, as you’ll see in this book and review, couldn’t communicate their stories in Earth-bound languages until now. That book? From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back (Star Wars), the companion book to that which was written with the same purpose for the previous film.

Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Spark of the Resistance

Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
Written by Justina Ireland
Narrated by Jessica Almasy
Publisher: Disney Lucasfilm Press | Listening Library
Release date: October 4, 2019

In the aftermath of their defeat at the hands of the First Order on Crait that has left them with enough crew to populate the Millennium Falcon and not much else, the Resistance is scrambling to re-group while simultaneously attempting to shore up their forces through recruitment. Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Spark of the Resistance highlights one such mission in which the crew of the Falcon receives a distress call from the planet Minfar. Despite orders to the contrary, they head out and are met by the Zixon, to whom they swear they will protect from the First Order who are also on the planet. Our heroes, however, must balance the importance of keeping their word and protecting the Zixon while also knowing that they are shirking direct orders.

Alien Archives: Eighteen Stories of Extraterrestrial Encounters
Paperback | Kindle
Written by Robert Silverberg
Publisher: Three Rooms Press
Release date: October 29, 2019

Alien Archives: Eighteen Stories of Extraterrestrial Encounters is a career-spanning collection highlighting some of the best science fiction short stories and novellas from celebrated author Robert Silverberg. With all-new forwards from the author himself, readers are given greater insight into the motivations and process behind each story.

There is quite the variety of tales being told here, too. Some of these stories are humorous slices of life while others trend to darker tales of survival. Some are told from an alien point of view while others focus on the human beings affected by their encounters. But, despite these differences in style and theme, all the stories are believably written with sympathetic protagonists with whom you can easily relate, regardless of species.

In the Hall with the Knife
Hardcover | Kindle
A Clue Mystery: Book 1
Written by Diana Peterfreund
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
Release date: October 8, 2019

A storm is raging both outside and in Maine’s elite Blackbrook Academy. The outside storm is threatening to cut off the island-bound Academy from the mainland stranding what few students were not already evacuated. The one inside is much worse. Among the remaining nine students and one staff member could be a cold-blooded murderer, one who just killed Headmaster Boddy… with a knife… in the hall…

Sound a lot like the classic game of Clue? That’s because it is. In the Hall with the Knife is the start of a brand new book series for young adults based on the board game. We have a lot of the classic characters here — although their titles may be different because they’re boarding school aged and not the adults to which we’re accustomed — such as Peacock, Green, Mustard, Plum, Scarlet, White, and Boddy (the original victim). But for those of us still playing our old childhood copies of the board game who may not be accustomed to recent developments, what you must realize is that Mrs. White is no longer a playable character in the game. She was retired in 2016 and replaced with Dr. Orchid McKee. While Mrs. White is still in this book, she’s a background character playing the role of house mom in Tudor House where a vast majority of this story is set. Orchid is part of the book as well as a student who, like all the rest, has motive.

Bury the Lede
Paperback | Kindle/comiXology
Written by Gaby Dunn
Illustrated by Claire Roe with Miquel Muerto
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Release date: October 8, 2019

In Bury the Lede, Madison Jackson is an intern with the Lede, the top newspaper in Boston struggling to garner the attention she needs to turn her internship into a coveted full-time reporting gig. So when she’s invited along to the scene of a homicide with fellow Lede reporter Lexington “Lexi” Ford, she sees this as her opportunity and jumps at it.

The case revolves around the murder of a high-powered Boston man and his son by his socialite wife Dahlia Kennedy. Behind bars, no one has managed to get her to talk. So, on a desperate whim, Lexi sends in Madison… and the gamble pays off… the alleged murderess is now talking, but not necessarily the story that Kennedy and Lexi were expecting. To make matters even more complicated, Dahlia will now only talk to Madison, making the young intern a focal point of the investigation as opposed to the person reporting it, a position reporters never want to be in at any point.