#too many Jason fans already just think of Rose as a Jason supporting character but she has so much other history it’s ridiculous!!

[disco-troy]

Me: I like the idea of Jason and Rose being friends in theory, and their banter can be fun, but given Jason’s track record I don’t want her to get Jason-supportive-cast-ified where all of a sudden all her important relationships are erased so her whole character revolves around Jason.

Now that lobdell is gone you guys can be normal about Jason’s supportive cast right? Let them keep their other relationships?

Dc:

[charmedtheselfproclaimedking]

Charmed Again: Season 3 (Charmed Fanfic)

Episode 5 - The Charmed Bride: A Valentine’s Day Special

Warnings: I don’t own the rights to any of the characters from the hit TV show “Charmed” or the storylines related to the show those rights belong to original creator Constance M Burge.

15+ Moderate/Graphic Displays of Violence, Sexual Innuendos, Witchcraft and Potentially Triggering Scenes.

Many Years Ago

Melinda Halliwell was walking down the first floor hallway of the Halliwell Manor looking for her eight year old daughter Pan when she noticed her bedroom door open and upon investigation found her little girl stood there trying on her wedding dress from her wedding to her ex-husband Luke Adams.

“Pandora Paige Halliwell what are you doing?” Melinda laughed at her daughter as she walked into her bedroom.

“I didn’t mean to pinch your dress mum it just kind of called out to me and I couldn’t help myself.” An eight-year-old Pan cutely lied while she climbed out of a wedding dress far too big for a child and sat down on the edge of her mother’s bed. “I just wanted to see if I looked as beautiful as you mummy.”

“Well as you can see, you’re too small and too young to be trying or even thinking about wedding days just yet.” Melinda told her as she sat down next to her daughter and cuddled into the eight-year-old. “But when your day comes, I can promise you that you will be the most beautiful bride in the whole wide world.”

“I hope my husband makes me as happy as daddy used to make you.” Little Pan hoped.

“You’re a smart kid Pan I’m sure whoever you wind up with whether it be a bride or groom you will be the happiest bride out there because you’ll choose wisely even more wisely than me.” Melinda said sincerely to her daughter.

Many Years Later

A teenage Lacey and Drake walked down the school corridors of their local high school within San Francisco just like they did every school day longing for the days school would be over, they’d grow up and be parent free never knowing then the tragedies that awaited them in the future.

“I’m telling your dad is going to be super cool to find out your dating a girl I mean at least he can ease off with the pregnancy lectures besides he’s super supportive of Jake and me.” Drake told a nervous Lacey who planned to come out to her father after school.

“Yeah well Jake didn’t break the news to dad until he brought you home one night which is super not fair because you’ve always been my dad’s favorite non-child.” Lacey argued with her best-friend. “I doubt he’s going to be too chill unless I take Wonder Woman herself home with me.”

“Please Wonder Woman is way too old for you your dad would just flip about the age difference.” Drake joked.

After a pep talk from her best-friend and a long school day Lacey returned home that day to find her father Eric and her brother Jake sat on the couch in the living room of their family home watching some cheesy sitcom and laughing away to themselves until Lacey switched the television off and sat down between them.

“So, I’m just going to come straight out with it…dad I’m a lesbian.” Lacey admitted to her father and brother at the same time, feeling freed by the words she had just said.

“Darling don’t be so stupid,” Eric laughed as hugged his daughter. “I’ve known you were into girls long before you even knew. Good on you for finally admitting it to yourself must’ve taken a lot kid.”

“Yeah good for you sister even if it wasn’t exactly a secret.” Jake joked with his sister.

“Your mother used to always say sexuality is a spectrum or is like a spectrum I can’t remember it word for word but the point is in this household it don’t matter what your orientation, ethnicity or sex is as long as you’re a good person.” Eric told both his children. “Although if you date crappy people, I’m going to tell you their crappy whether use like it or not.”

“So, sis, have you got yourself a girlfriend yet?” Jake asked Lacey.

“No.” Lacey blushed. “Can we please change the subject now?”

“You should totally get your brother to set you up he’s got good taste in people I mean just look at his boyfriend.” Eric suggested to his daughter instantly making her eyes roll.

“Do you have to be Drake’s number one cheerleader all the time?” Lacey mocked her father. “Next you’ll be telling me it’s a shame he hasn’t got a sister or cousin for me to date.”

“Don’t think I haven’t asked him already but sadly no family members that are of age to date you.” Eric teased his daughter.

The Day Before Valentine’s Day

Drake was walking down the main hallway of magic school when he suddenly saw Cole from a distance holding a bouquet of roses and a heart shaped box of what Drake could only presume was chocolates and considering Cole was closer to Drake’s office than he was he had no choice but to dart for Dermot’s office and run in there in a bid to avoid his friend he shared a kiss with before realizing he just walked into the office of a headmaster he had shared a kiss with.

“Now whose busting into whose office?” Dermot asked Drake while sitting behind his desk as Drake burst into his office, slamming the door closed behind him.

“Yeah I wasn’t really thinking I was too busy in avoidance mode to remember I’m also avoiding you.” Drake replied a little too honestly. “No offense meant of course.”

“Don’t worry only a little offense taken,” Dermot joked as he stood up from his chair. “I did figure you were avoiding me but who else are you avoiding?”

“My former demonic best friend who betrayed me only for me to start becoming his friend again until…well until that got complicated too.” Drake admitted to the headmaster of magic school.

“Your life in general seems complicated.” Dermot told him.

“Fair point.” Drake agreed.

“While you’re here I have a little card, I was going to give you…” Dermot began to say.

“I swear if it’s a valentine’s card I will vanquish you!” Drake snapped at his boss.

“Fair enough,” Dermot laughed at Drake’s reaction. “So, do you want to talk about what happened between us or keep avoiding?”

“Keep avoiding.” Drake joked for a moment before realizing Drake look unimpressed. “Here’s the thing I was still getting over my ex who was a great guy until he lied to me, brainwashed me and then left me to become an elder although in his defense I was kind of dead at the time. Then Cole came along and I clearly transferred my feelings to nearest standby got rejected and realized we were better off as friends until he back-stabbed me and then along comes you who I really hate or at least did hate until that kiss and now I’m all kinds of confused and desperate to keep avoiding.”

“Hold up elder Jason Quinn brainwashed you?” Dermot continued to laugh at Drake’s expense making Drake laugh along with him. “God your love life really is a train wreck.”

“Yeah and I haven’t even told you about my first ex who wound up in jail for murdering my parents.” Drake couldn’t help but laugh as his reckless love life. “Then there was this demonic strip club owner who I wound up getting pregnant which actually turned out to me my most successful relationship considering I got Lilah out of my dalliances with Cindy.”

“So, I’m guessing a lifetime of that doesn’t make you the biggest valentines day fan?” Dermot asked him.

“You could say that yeah.” Drake replied.

Raven walked into her office at Halliwell and Turner only to be left shocked to see a trail of roses leading to her desk with a luxurious box of chocolates and a card within a red envelope placed on her desk as she walked into the room only to hear a knock on the door to find Paul stood there with a bouquet of beautiful and colorful flowers.

“Wow, this is totally unexpected!” Raven said as Paul walked over to her and handed her the flowers before kissing her. “You realize Valentine’s Day is still a day, away right?”

“True but considering my sister’s getting married on Valentine’s Day even the cupids themselves better be on holiday this year because Pan Halliwell and Lacey Morgan are about to make it their day.” Paul joked. “Speaking of which I need a plus one for the wedding if you fancy being my date?”

“Well I was given my own invite but I’m sure I can slum it as your plus one.” Raven replied before giving her boyfriend and business partner another kiss. “The flowers are lovely thank you.”

“I figured we could do something nice for lunch as well I booked us a table at Quake I’d say dinner but I think Drake’s plotting something for tonight and considering we missed his last plans I’m going to make sure not to miss this one.” Paul revealed to Raven.

“How are the soon to be brides?” Raven wondered. “I can’t wait for a lovely wedding and on Valentine’s Day too it’s just the thing to lift the mood around here.”

“Careful now we try not to try and jinx ourselves in this family.” Paul joked.

The soon to be brides Pan and Lacey found themselves sitting on the couch in the living room of the Halliwell Manor cuddled up together under a thick blanket while watching a cheesy romance movie on the television which was quickly interrupted when Drake blink in front of them both interrupting their movie time.

“This is totally not acceptable it’s one day before the wedding and the two of you are sat here watching god knows what.” Drake said to them both before switching off the television. “You both have separate hens’ nights to start preparing emphasis on the plural use there because we’re going traditional and separating you two until the big day.”

“I thought you understood it when we said no to any hen nights let alone two?” Lacey asked him.

“Well that’s on you for being foolish enough to believe I’d just settle with a no I never settle for anything.” Drake told his best-friend. “You have plenty of time to be old and boring after the wedding tonight’s about fun and I’m going to make you both have some even if it involves kidnapping use both.”

“I guess we have no choice then.” Pan said to Lacey while smiling at her soon to be bride.

Before Lacey could respond to Drake’s demands the three of them were interrupted by a knock at the door which instantly made Drake smile knowing who was at the door.

“Well this is your house too Lacey get off your butt and answer the door!” Drake ordered Lacey.

“When the hell did you get so bossy?” Lacey asked as she stood up from the sofa and began walking towards the foyer. “I’m only going because you’re clearly a man on a mission today and I have no interest in going up against that.”

Lacey continued walking through the foyer of the Halliwell home and walked straight towards the door only to be left completely shell shocked when she opened the door to find her brother Jake stood in the doorstep.

“Jake,” Lacey said with excitement. “What are you doing here?”

“I figured to stop being a bitch and risk getting locked up so I can see my little sister get hitched.” Jake revealed before hugging his sister.

“I’m so happy you came around I thought I was never going to see you again.” Lacey squealed as she was overcome with joy. “I’m so happy your back! I’m so happy you’ll be here for my wedding I’ve missed you so damn much.”

Meanwhile back in the living room Pan’s suspicion over Drake’s scheming smiles only managed to grow after overhearing her fiancé screaming with joy from the front door of the family home.

“What exactly did you do?” Pan asked as she stood up from the couch to face her nephew.

“I may have cast the tiniest acceptance spell on Jake to help him get over his beef and get him here for the wedding.” Drake revealed to his aunt.

“You seriously cast a spell on a guy whose life was ruined by magic.” Pan laughed nervously. “That’s going to end well.”

“Okay you and I both know when it comes to a little personal gain here and there, we’re both willing to take the risk besides am I really a Halliwell if I don’t interfere like the rest of you?” Drake joked.

Jake and Lacey walked into the living room hugging each other just before Pan had any chance of arguing with her nephew over his recent meddling but Drake was far from out of the woods yet as he found himself face to face with his first love who he wrongly accused of murdering his parents.

“Hi Drake, it’s good to see you again.” Jake said to him awkwardly.

“Hey, it’s good to see you too.” Drake replied sincerely although equally as awkwardly.

“So, what are these plans then? I must admit you play an unfair but highly good game.” Lacey said to Drake, happy to be reunited with her brother.

“Pan’s hen night is taking place in P3 where I’ve got Paul working on the finishes touched to the night and Lacey’s hen night will take place in Devilish Delights which will re-open for one night thanks to Cindy giving me the all clear to use the strip club.” Drake revealed to the room.

“Wait a strip club…how do you know people that own a strip club?” Jake asked his former boyfriend.

“I used to be a stripper there before becoming a cop then I briefly returned to stripping and now I’m a guidance counselor telling students not to strip for a living some people call it the circle of life.” Drake informed him.

“Well nothing in your life has ever not been complicated.” Jake joked.

“You have no idea!” Drake laughed.

Drake blinked into P3 to find the beautiful valentines themed decorations all hung up around the club and his father Paul sat at the bar counter drinking from a bottle of whisky.

“Well I’ll give you something you’ve got quite the hand for decorations I guess I know where I get it from.” Drake told his father as he walked and sat down next to him before stealing the bottle of whisky from his hands. “However, it’s missing a little something…”

Drake waved his hand along the bar counter blinking plates of food onto the surface much to Paul’s amusement.

“I’m really going to have to discuss personal gain with you at some point Drake.”  Paul told his son.

“Personal what now?” Drake joked with his father before taking a drink from the bottle of whiskey and handing it back to Paul. “I managed to convince Raven to take Lilah for the night which really means Raven, and more than likely Cole are babysitting I would’ve asked him myself but…”

“He kissed you before your new boss kissed you and you’re all kinds of confused.” Paul interrupted his son. “What is it with you and your bosses anyway?”

“If Lacey wasn’t already dead, I’d kill the little blabber.” Drake moaned. “Well anyone Lilah’s sorted for tonight which means this baby daddy can’t get as drunk as he wants too.”

“Now that sounds like I showed up just in time for a great night.” Quinn said with enthusiasm as he orbed into the club. “Hi guys!”

“Quinn it’s been far too long.” Paul replied with a smile as he stood up from his chair and hugged his former white lighter. “I’m so glad you can make it tonight.”

“Yeah it’s really good you could make it.” Drake agreed with a forced smile as he had now seen four people, he had shared kisses with in one day.

“I couldn’t miss Pan’s wedding I mean you guys are like family to me and I’ve always rooted for them two to make it down the aisle.” Quinn told both father and son.

“Drake’s decided to split the brides up for separate hen nights, so we’ll only be seeing Pan tonight.” Paul told Quinn before turning to ask Drake. “Are you sure planning two hen nights isn’t too much for you?”

“My mother was a party planning extraordinaire I learned everything I know from her in fact she’d be in her element right now.” Drake admitted. “She just loved valentines’ day too it was the one day in a year where dad was the one who went all out and boy, he did it in style. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a couple more suited for each other until Lacey and Pan.”

“I love when you share happy stories from your past you always seem so happy when telling them.” Paul said as he hugged his son.

“Okay enough of the mushy stuff I have parties to attend to.” Drake replied before blinking out of sight.

Lacey and Jake walked into Devilish Delights to find the entire club decked out with valentines themed decorations and a large table on the stage filled with all kinds of different food.

“I’m guessing Drake got a deal on Valentine’s decorations.” Jake joked.

“Oh, I highly doubt he paid for any of this.” Lacey laughed. “Somebody really needs to discuss personal gain with that one.”

“You mean all this was done by magic?” Jake asked as he looked around the club amazed. “Drake sure has changed since our high school days.”

“We’ve all changed since high school to be fair and all for the better.” Lacey told her brother as they sat down at a table together.

“I guess this means it’s just the two of us tonight?” Jake wondered before his and Lacey’s father suddenly appeared in front of them as if from out of nowhere.

“Dad...” Lacey and Jake said in unison before standing up from the chairs and rushing over to hug their father.

“Quinn I wasn’t expecting you to be here!” Pan said with excitement in her voice as she walked into P3 to find Paul and Quinn stood by the bar before she walked over to them both and gave her former white lighter a hug. “I’m so glad you’re here my wedding wouldn’t have been the same without you.”

“I’m guessing it’s just a party of three then considering Drake will no doubt be attending his best friend’s hen night.” Paul told them both before all three of them were left stunned when Piper and Melinda appeared from out of nowhere.

“Well in that case there’s more than enough space for another two to add to the party.” Melinda said to them before rushing over to hug her two children Paul and Pan. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

“And let’s not forget who you’re really excited to see.” Piper announced before going over to join Melinda, Paul and Pan’s group hug as she pulled Quinn in to join in on the hugging.

“I guess Drake really does know how to plan things perfectly.” Paul said with a smile as the group hug broke off.

“There is nothing in this world that would stop us from being there at your wedding.” Piper told her granddaughter Pan. “We tried to push the elders to let us all come down, but they don’t go for it.”

Suddenly artist Avril Lavigne blinked on stage along with her band and their equipment much to everyone in P3’s surprise.

“Okay now that’s a slightly impressive yet highly problematic use of magic right there.” Piper said to Pan, and Paul as Avril and her band began to set up to play for them. “Have you even mentioned personal gain to Drake?”

“Yeah I just kind of said it like it was more of a suggestion than a necessity but don’t worry grams I’m sure Avril Lavigne or her band won’t remember any of this come tomorrow.” Pan replied to her.

“I hope I’m not interrupting family night I just thought I’d pop in to make sure everything’s running along smoothly.” Drake said after blinking into Devilish Delights to find Eric, Lacey and Jake stood at the bar only for Eric to quickly meet him with a hug.

“You’ve always been a part of this family Drake.” Eric told him while continuing to hug Drake tighter. “You’ve done a great job tonight now enjoy it with us.”

“Yeah my hen night isn’t complete without my best friend.” Lacey said to Drake after he broke off his hug with her dad.

“You’ve done a really good job tonight.” Jake congratulated Drake.

“You really have,” Lacey agreed as she hugged into her father once again. “This is already the best hen night a girl could ever ask for.”

“Yeah well it’s only fair that after all magic has cost you all that it gives you a little something back.” Drake told his best friend Lacey. “After all you’ve been through and knowing you all these years it really is a true pleasure getting to see you watch the woman you love tomorrow.”

“Look at you all emotion forward and everything.” Lacey laughed before breaking away from her dad to hug her best friend. “You’ve come such a long way too and I’m glad we did it together like we always have.”

Artist Avril Lavigne stood on stage with her band at P3 performing her song it was in me while Pan, Paul, Piper, Quinn and Melinda sat within the family booth each holding drinks in their hands and enjoying some quality family time as the night before Pan and Lacey’s valentine wedding drew closer and closer to an end.

“I can’t believe my daughter is getting married tomorrow and to angel just like you mum.” Melinda happily gushed to her mother Piper while the others mumbling amongst themselves.

“I can believe it in fact I’m surprised it took them this long, but nothing is ever easy in this family.” Piper replied to her daughter before raising her glass, grabbing everyone’s attention to make a toast. “Here’s to a couple who couldn’t be anymore suited for each other and a valentine wedding that is truly going to be magical.”

“Yeah and to Pan and Lacey hopefully finding the perfect home.” Quinn let slip while everyone raised their glasses to toast to Pan and Lacey leaving Paul shocked and very unamused. “Oh, which wasn’t going to be revealed until after they found somewhere.”

“Your planning on moving out?” Paul asked his sister, clearly not liking the idea of no longer living with his little sister.

“You guys have lived together forever but now is a time for you all to start a new chapter in your lives son.” Melinda told Paul, trying to defend her daughter’s decision. “You’ve made your own little family and now it’s Pan’s turn to do the same with Lacey.”

“I was going to tell you once we found somewhere but I guess now it’s out.” Pan admitted to her brother. “It’s not like you’re going to be alone I mean Drake and Lilah will still be living with you.”

“I know Pan it’s just you and I have always lived together we’ve always done everything together and it’s going to be weird living in a home you no longer live in.” Paul replied to her. “You’re more than just my little sister you’re my best friend.”

“I’m going to miss you too you, big idiot but it’s not like we’re not still going to see each other all the time.” Pan said as she pulled her brother in for a hug. “And you’ll always be my best friend that will never change.”

As the hours passed on the night before Valentine’s Day Drake, Jake, Lacey and Eric had found themselves sat around a table within an otherwise empty Devilish Delights the foursome continued to laugh and reminisce while keeping the beers and shots flowing throughout the night.

“Between Lacey trying on my suits when she was a kid and Jake always breaking into his mother’s shoe collection, we literally had to get really good at hiding things from them.” Eric laughed.

“Yeah well I guess I was going through an experimental stage back then.” Jake blushed before looking over at Drake as the two shared a smile with each other.

“I’m still a solid fan of suits I just have better taste in them now no offense dad.” Lacey teased her father.

“Talking about offenses.” Drake said before waving his hand blinking a large ton of paperwork onto their table.

“What is all that?” Jake asked him, while Lacey and Eric both look equally as confused as Jake himself.

“To save you having to read all the boring paperwork it’s basically a record declaring that all charges made against you have been completely wiped from your record.” Drake revealed to him. “I know it’s far too late to try and bring all those years you spent in jail or on the run back to you but I figured it was about time you stopped running and could call this city your home again.”

“I don’t know what to say.” Jake said while stunned by Drake’s actions.

“It included various spells a father who’s a lawyer for the legal stuff and a few elders who tolerate me to lend me some fairy dust in order to get everything all wiped including memories all except from the inner circle of course but you Jake Morgan are now and free man.” Drake explained to his first love before waving his hand making a folder appear on top of the paperwork. “And that is an application for San Francisco Police Department so that if you want to continue your family’s legacy like you wanted to all those years ago you can feel free to go ahead.”

“I think Pan may have actually been bet as the super witch around here.” Lacey joked before turning to look at her brother. “I’m so happy for you to finally be free I’m just sorry it took this long and sorry all this happened to you in the first place.”

As the night before the big day was close to coming to an end Piper and Melinda had found themselves having to assist a very drunk Pan and Paul home to the Halliwell Manor before throwing the passed out siblings onto the couch in the living room and throwing a blanket over them both.

“I can’t help but feel like we’re forgetting something or someone.” Melinda said to her mother while watching over her sleeping children.

“Not that I can think…damn.” Piper began to say before realizing they had left Quinn asleep at P3. “Quinn, we forgot Quinn oh well I’m sure he’ll be fine crashing at P3 until morning.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine.” Melinda laughed while continuing to watch her son and daughter sleep. “I just can’t believe how much they’ve grown I just wish Patience could be here too for Pan’s big day but that would be far too complicated to try and explain to everybody.”

“Yeah besides poor Patty is still adjusting to the after life and telling them their sister was so close all this time only to have recently died would only torture them as much as it did us.” Piper replied to her daughter. “I’m just glad at least one of my grandchildren gets to have a happy ending and I hope both Paul and Drake will follow Pan’s path towards happiness for themselves too.”

“Grams I’m sorry I didn’t make it tonight, but I got carried away reminiscing with the others.” Drake said after blinking into the living room before rushing over to Piper to give her a hug. “I always love it when you swing by for a visit…well nowadays I do anyway.”

“It’s good to see you too Drake I’m so proud of all you’ve done tonight.” Piper told him. “And all you’ve came through recently speaking of which where is my darling great-great granddaughter?”

“Cole’s sister Raven is babysitting her tonight you’ll get to see Lilah at the wedding and just wait till you see this adorable dress Pan picked out for her.” Drake replied to his grams.

“It’s nice to see you again…well for the first-time face to face.” Melinda said to her grandson who immediately looked awkwardly at her.

“Thanks,” Drake forced himself to say to his father’s mother before returning all his attention back to Piper. “Listen I’m actually pretty tired and I’m planning on getting up extra early tomorrow so I can squeeze in some quality time with Lilah before Pan and Lacey’s wedding, so I’ll see you in the morning.”

Drake quickly gave Piper another hug before blinking out of sight clearly in a rush to get away from his grandmother Melinda as quickly as possible.

“He still hates me for convincing Paul to give him up, doesn’t he?” Melinda asked her mother, already knowing the answer was yes.

“Drake will come around it just takes him time he’s stubborn like his father but he’s also good a big heart like his father too.” Piper told her daughter.

Valentine’s Day

Drake walked into the dining room of his family home still in his pajamas to find Cole sat at the table in a smart suit with Drake’s daughter Lilah on his lap who was wearing a pretty pink dress and looked so beyond adorable that Drake’s face instantly lit up as he walked over to them both and took his daughter in his arms for some cuddles and kisses.

“Daddy missed you so much last night.” Drake told his daughter before looking at Cole. “Thanks for bringing her over.”

“Of course, you know I always have time for my main girl.” Cole said as he stood up to face Drake. “Listen Drake about our kiss…”

“Shouldn’t have happened just like the time when I shouldn’t have kissed you because you were right, we’re friends and we don’t need to complicate things between us.” Drake butted in. “I hope you’re okay with that?”

“Oh, thank god,” Cole breathed a sigh of relief. “Not that I wasn’t tempted to complicate things because trust me I was I even went out and got you a valentine gift out of a moment of weakness before realizing that’s not what I wanted for us. We’re a good team the way we are, or we were before we complicated everything, and I’d like to go back to no complications.”

“Yeah I’d really like that,” Drake said sincerely. “I’ve missed our friendship and I’d like to try uncomplicating my life just a little.”

“Tell Pan and Lacey I wish them all the best, but I can’t stay today I’ve got to leave the city for a while for reasons I can’t explain right now.” Cole told his friend before kissing Lilah on the forehead and then kissing Drake’s before shimmering away.

“Well that’s one less complication now I’ve just got to put up with the other three today and I’m golden.” Drake told his daughter before Piper walked in from the kitchen.

“I’m so glad you didn’t make the same mistake as my sister and married that guy.” Piper said to Drake.

“He’s a changed man from those days.” Drake defended his friend. “He’s just not the one for me.”

“You’re so willing to give him so many chances why not try giving Melinda one?” Piper suggested to her great-grandson before walking over and taking Lilah into her arms. “She only wants to get to know you and try make up for her mistakes.”

“Fine I’ll give the woman a chance but no promises…” Drake sighed.

Piper, Drake, Melinda and Raven stood within the front row of chairs in the sun-room of the family home which was perfectly decorated in red and white wedding decorations symbolizing a valentines style wedding while artist Kelly Clarkson and her band stood to the side of a beautiful altar made of white and red roses as Quinn and Leo Wyatt orbed into the room to stand next to Piper.

“I didn’t think they’d let you come for this,” Piper said with a smile before kissing her husband. “Pan’s going to be so happy you could make it.”

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” Leo replied to his wife.

“Hi, I’m Drake I’m your…” Drake began to introduce himself to Leo before Leo rushed over to hug his great-grandson.

“I know who you are I’m glad to meet you.” Leo told him before breaking of his hug with his great-grandson.

Kelly Clarkson began singing an acoustic version of her hit single my life would suck without you as Lacey walked into the sun-room wearing a beautiful wedding dress with her brother Jake on one arm and her father Eric on the other arm as she walked down the aisle before reaching the altar as Eric and Jake went to stand within the second row of chairs among the family.

Moments later Pan was the next beautiful and blushing bride to walk into the sun-room wearing an equally beautiful wedding dress with her brother Paul on her arm as the song continued while the two of them walked down the aisle before Paul gave his sister a kiss on the cheek as he left her at the altar with Lacey and walked over to hug his grandfather Leo before the family sat down ready to watch Pan Halliwell and Lacey Morgan get married as the original grams and Pan’s great-great grandmother Penny Halliwell appeared in front of the two brides ready to marry them.

“You look stunning Mrs Morgan.” Lacey told her future wife while grabbing a hold of Pan’s hands.

“As do you Mrs Halliwell.” Pan responded with love for her future wife glowing from her.

The family watched as the two brides became two wives on valentine’s day marking the start of a beautiful marriage between Pan Morgan-Halliwell and Lacey Morgan-Halliwell.

“We’ve been through a lot both together and alone and I have never been happier than when you are with me getting through the many storms in our lives.” Pan said during her vows to Lacey. “I knew I loved you from the first moment we met, and I know I’m going to love you until my last breath and long after that. Even in death I my spirit will go on to love you for all of eternity.”

“I never thought I’d ever meet someone who could well and truly complete me in ways I never thought possible.” Lacey said during her vows to Pan. “I vow to make you the most important person always and to never forget how much I love you for as long as we both shall live and I’m kind of living or not living until the end of time.”

“I do!” Mrs and Mrs Morgan-Halliwell both declared before sharing a kiss as the entire room cheered on the two blushing brides with glee.

[nokomiss]

So I've had a few days to process the Magicians season finale and basically I've come to the conclusion that:

a.) They actually killed off Quentin Like That, did their cast and crew dirty Like That, treated their fans Like That, and thought that the plotting of that story was actually decent, which, loooool.

b.) They are clumsily attempting to pull a Jon Snow, where they want everyone to believe Quentin is dead, but will bring him back at some point in the future.

If it's option A, it's supremely gross. Everyone has listed the reasons already -- the killing the 'white male protagonist' to show how edgy and subversive your show is? Gross. If you've written a show where you have a generic white male protagonist, that's the failure of the writing. And if you've written a show where the protagonist is canonically linked romantically to both women and men (even if you don't put a label on it) and is ALSO explicitly shown to mentally ill and suicidal, and you think the best solution to that is to have them heroically commit suicide, after a season of buildup to a romantic climax with a male character, and have no resolution to that?  Gross. The self-congratulatory attitude of the showrunners is really what made this such a betrayal.

AND then there's option B.

Option B was something I kept thinking about shortly after hearing about the 'oh it's permanent' thing, and then one of the actor's tweets mentioned GoT, which isn't evidence at all but does open the door for the comparison.  I'm going to speak here as a longtime ASOIAF fan/GoT viewer. (I have my own issues with Game of Thrones as a TV show that I won't get into here, but suffice to say I love it but don't view it with rose-colored glasses.)  The reason the Jon Snow thing worked and no one revolted? Was that it was earned. Jon Snow was a central character, but not the central character; GoT has a huge cast, multiple storylines, and if one character dies, even a beloved one, there's plenty of story remaining and, vitally, plenty of bonds to hold the remaining characters together. And, possibly most importantly, it was consistent with the show’s own internal rulebook.

Quentin is the emotional heart of the Magicians -- even the show itself explicitly brings his love of magic and his love of Fillory as the beating heart of the story.  Ripping that away, to use a metaphor from the show itself, will be like when Julia was severed from her soul -- still present, but missing a vital piece.  And the show has a long history of characters fighting against death, and finding ways to cheat it. It’s not a tragedy. It’s a very different kind of tale.

I have a lot - a LOT - of feelings about this, so I’m going to put them under a read more. Some spoilers for GoT ahead, and a lot of feelings about earned narratives, storytelling, characters, hope and betrayal.

Jon Snow's death didn't come out of the blue, either. The tensions and discontent in the Night's Watch were building until there was only one real possible outcome to the situation, and it made sense within context that his brothers would turn on him.  Quentin's death, as part of a really ham-handed finale, was not earned? It didn't have any build-up or gravitas. You had a character who had been depressed, put in to an awful situation with the possessed body of his ex-love, found the fire within him to fight against the Monster, and then... instead of any logical emotional arc, they had him hook up with an ex and go on the most deux ex machina quest I can remember on the show, and then kill himself over a forgettable villain. All the campfire sing-alongs in the world can't make up for the emotional momentum they lost when they took away Quentin's spine.

 When they took away his heart.

And -- here's the thing -- both of these series are based on books. And you know what? In ASOIAF, in canon right now, the last thing to happen to Jon Snow was to die bleeding out in the snow. And yet, when he died on screen, and Kit Harrington spent a year telling everyone he was done with the show, everyone still knew that Jon Snow would return. It made narrative sense.  I've honestly only read the first Magicians book, but I did read the summaries of the later two, and Quentin doesn't die. Quentin is given an ending filled with hope.

And the reason I keep coming back to the 'maybe they're doing a Jon Snow' is that his death? in that manner? Just does not make any sort of narrative sense.  Probably (undoubtedly) it's just me trying to see meaning where there is none, trying to optimistically think that the showrunners had more care for their own story than they do. But Quentin dying with no emotional fulfillment with Eliot, after a full season of fighting to save him, of being dragged through hell by the Monster, makes no sense. If they'd had the two speak at all, conclude their plotline, I would have accepted the death much more calmly. At least there would be emotional catharsis, even if plot wise I was left frustrated.

Because, here's the thing. When I read that the show had been renewed for Season 5 before Season 4 even aired, I immediately figured that it was a two-season story arc. When Season 4 was so slow to solve the Monster plot, it seemed obvious to me that they were planning on dealing with the repercussions with Season 5.  Probably -- again -- that was me putting way, way too much faith in the writers of the show.  But there are just so many dangling plotlines, and things that were dealt with so  clumsily that they might well have never been addressed at all -- the library, the hedge witches, the magic rations, the old gods, Fillory's issues, really almost EVERYTHING from the season except for getting the Monster out of Eliot's body, and even that failed to address why his growing humanity was even a THING -- that they apparently decided no one would notice because of the Shock and Subversiveness of killing Quentin.  I went into the finale with the absolute lowest of bars, because I could see there was no possible way of wrapping up everything, and I totally expected a To Be Continued at the end. Somehow they still managed to disappoint.

And that doesn’t even begin to address how they treated the other characters.  Kady, reducing herself to just Penny’s girlfriend. Alice’s own character growth stunted to shove her back into what had already been shown as a failed relationship.  Margo, beautiful fierce Margo, abandoning her own plan to save her own best friend because… she liked a dude? And had already solved the fish-issue with her fairy eye?  Penny23, reduced to just a puppy trailing after Julia, even though he had telepathy and was a traveler?  Julia, with her choices concerning her body and entire existence stolen from her again. (because a telepath couldn’t talk to her????)  Fen, totally ignored for the finale? Eliot, never getting his chance to be brave?

That doesn’t exactly inspire a lot of faith for them to make a shift to a show that focuses on diverse characters, when this is how they treat them.

Where does that leave me? With a bad taste in my mouth either way, basically.  I told a friend before the finale that "It's a universe where magic exists! They can fix things!" and it's so simple to canonically bring someone back.  All the writer's talk about realism is ridiculous, this is a show that thrives on the ridiculous and the absurd.  Even if Jason Ralph chose to not return, that doesn't mean Quentin can't. It's very in-the-box thinking if so -- I could think offhand of a half-dozen ways for him to return in a different body, hell, make it a POC one if they're actually that worried about having a White Male Protagonist -- but ultimately I felt most betrayed because this death was not emotionally EARNED by the writers.  It is lazy. It is banal.

And it's ultimately incredibly tone-deaf.  Sci-fi and fantasy stories offer escapism, and when the real world looks like it does now, literally no one wants their dumb show about magic grad school to be about death and despair. The message the fans look for is one of hope. Quentin as a character offered hope -- you could struggle with depression and still find the  beauty of all life, you could find yourself in a magical land, you could find love and friendship and bravery within you that you never realized. That you didn't have to be the hero to be important. So if his death is permanent, like the writers claim -- and at  this point I have literally no faith in them whatsoever -- then it's an incredible waste of what could have been a beautiful and groundbreaking story.  

And if they're toying with the fans... it's misguided, and just frankly has not been earned in the way they think it has, and frankly means they're blind to their own storytelling faults. It's downright mean, and I'm not sure that I would be willing to support their show even if they brought Quentin back, knowing how little they thought of their fans.

[son-of-alderaan]

Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Expanded Edition author on creating new scenes, reimagining Luke Skywalker's life, and working with Rian Johnson

Exclusive: The Independent spoke with Jason Fry, author of the book adaptation of Episode XIII

With Star Wars: The Last Jedi having been playing in cinemas for months, fans of the science fiction saga have examined every frame, debated Luke Skywalker’s fate, and questioned what Rian Johnson would have added to the already lengthy eighth episode.

Thanks to the release of the novel adaptation The Last Jedi: Expanded Edition, fans have even more material to pore over. Written by Jason Fry — a frequent Star Wars author — the book includes multiple now-canon scenes, ranging from Han Solo’s funeral to a conversation between sisters Rose and Paige Tico.

The Independent caught up with Fry over email to discuss the new book, working with director/writer Rian Johnson, and dreaming up Luke Skywalker’s alternative life. Here’s our Q&A.

First off, I was wondering how much you talked to director Rian Johnson when writing? Or were you mainly working from a script? What was his input like?

Rian and I sat down at Skywalker Ranch in late July and talked for a couple of hours. We talked about the characters, their relationships, and where they were emotionally at key points in the story, and he gave me insight into how he saw new characters such as Rose and Holdo, and what he’d tried to accomplish with them on film.

We also talked about what he’d cut from the movie and why – that was a very helpful guide for me as I tried to work through deleted scenes, additional dialogue and beats that I might want to present in the novelization. It was important to learn, for instance, that one scene had been cut for running time while another one got excised because Rian wondered if a character’s emotional arc was clear enough in it.

I felt lucky to be able to have a conversation like that at all, and even luckier because Rian was the writer as well as the director. He was aware of some of the challenges I faced in this novelization and was generous about helping me brainstorm them a bit. For instance, there are storytelling elements of The Last Jedi that depend on the visual language of film, such as the Rashomon-style flashbacks to what happened between Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren, and the visual surprise of the reveal after Rey’s experience in the mirror cave – the voiceover lets us know she’s telling her story to someone, but we’re surprised to discover it’s Kylo. How to recreate the surprise of that scene in print was one of the biggest challenges in the book.

The best advice Rian gave me, though, was about tone. He talked about how he’d worked to ensure a sense of fun and adventure in the movie even when it was dealing with tragic events and weighty subjects – the way he put it was “lift, not drag.” I returned to those three words over and over while writing, and tried to leaven the novelisation with fun observations, dialogue and descriptions.

I tried not to bug him too often after our sitdown, though he very kindly made himself available if I had any questions. First he had a movie to finish, and then I figured he really, really deserved a break. But that first conversation had been so productive that I didn’t really need to bug him.

There are many scenes here that never made it into the film - were they primarily your ideas or from Rian?

It was a mix. Before my conversation with Rian I read through six or seven different versions of the script in Lucasfilm’s offices, jotting down scenes and additional dialogue that I thought would enrich and deepen the story.

I’d also drawn up a wish list of extra scenes that hadn’t appeared in any of the scripts. That list included things I wanted to see and ideas that emerged from conversations with my editors. I really wanted to start with Luke before Rey’s arrival, for example, because I saw that as a way to get into his head in a way I knew would be hard to do in the main story, where Rey was the protagonist and Luke was a mystery she was trying to solve. My editor Elizabeth Schaefer and I both agreed we wanted to see Han Solo’s funeral. And I really wanted to have a quiet moment with Rey after the fight with Kylo, a beat that would give us a sense of what she’d learned and how her relationship with the Force had changed.

Before sitting down to write I made a big spreadsheet of the movie’s scenes, including deleted ones and proposed new ones, along with notes about additional dialogue we could use and places we might want to try something different – a minor character’s point of view or a bit of well-chosen lore, for instance. That work yielded a blueprint not just for my book but also for some other projects – we agreed some deleted scenes were better reserved for my friend Michael Kogge’s junior novelisation, for instance.

That blueprint served us well, in part because it was a living document – we were almost to the printers when Michael Siglain and Jennifer Heddle of Lucasfilm Publishing asked for a scene with Leia Organa and Chewie alone in the Falcon’s cockpit, reacting to Luke’s death after their escape from Crait. I knew immediately that I really wanted to write that scene, and it’s one of my favourites in the book.

Whenever I had an idea for a new scene, though, I reminded myself that while I got to write the novelisation, the story was Rian’s. Any new material had to serve Rian’s story – changing that story or burying it in my own stuff was the opposite of what I’d been hired to do. That was a good check on authorial vanity.

How much freedom with the source material did you have? To create your own scenes etc?

Rian was incredibly generous from the start, telling me to use anything in those previous scripts that I thought might fit and trusting me with his story. And I had a big team of smart folks who helped me ensure that I was using that freedom to support the storytelling.

Was there anything you would have liked to have added that Lucasfilm did not allow?

We tried a few things that didn’t work, but it wasn’t that Lucasfilm didn’t allow them. Rather, I’d say the process worked the way I’d hoped it would.

We had placeholders in the “blueprint” for scenes featuring the pilots we saw flying with Poe Dameron in The Force Awakens, the ones who survived the raid on Starkiller Base but aren’t seen in The Last Jedi. We thought it would be fun to explore what mission they’d been given and how it was going. But as I was writing I realised that plotline couldn’t have a payoff. So I made a pre-emptive self-edit and never even wrote them.

Some stuff did get a little further. I knew readers really wanted to know what Luke had been up to since Return of the Jedi – heck, that was a question that I wanted answered myself. So I wrote eight or nine brief scenes – my editor and I called them InterLukes – offering little glimpses of Luke during his decades of trying to understand the Force and his role within it. The InterLukes were fun and explored some cool ideas, but they kept dragging us away from what was already a pretty complex story. Elizabeth wrote me an apologetic email explaining that she didn’t think they belonged in the book and I think was relieved when I instantly agreed with her. I don’t think Lucasfilm ever saw the InterLukes – we knew they didn’t work, so out they went.

Perhaps the most interesting idea we had was to present an alternate version of Rose and Finn meeting the Master Codebreaker. In the first script I read, they find him singing in a cabaret and he enlists them to join a jewel heist, but then he gets captured in ignominious fashion and Rose and Finn are carted off to jail. It’s the same record-scratch moment we get in the film, but with a longer setup.

Rian and I both thought presenting the original version would be fun, and I liked shaking up fans’ expectations for a novelization. So the scene was written that way until the very final weekend of the project. But ultimately, the whole team decided that presenting an alternate version of a major scene was shaking up expectations too much, so we retreated to what you see on-screen.

I’d love to see that alternate scene find a home somewhere, but I think it was the right decision. And I’m glad we arrived at it the way we did: pushing things, then pulling back when we decided we’d gone a bit too far. As a writer, that was so much more fun than playing it safe and essentially transcribing the movie.

Which new scenes are you most proud of?

I loved writing that opening sequence with Luke – it’s a surprise, but one I think is justified once you understand what’s happening and how it echoes the story. I loved all the additional material I got to write for Leia, who’s a character who demands an author’s A-game. It was an honor (and a big responsibility) to be able to explore her connection with the Force, her almost superhuman sense of duty, and the emotional price she pays for that duty.

But lots of little things were fun too – I had a blast writing more rat-a-tat-tat dialogue for Rose and Finn, getting into C-3PO’s rather unique droid brain, and spotlighting characters we might not normally think of as characters at all, such as Poe’s X-wing and the Falcon.

The opening scene with Luke gives an extra sadness to Luke’s character. That must have been super fun to write, dreaming up an alternative future for such a beloved character?

Oh, absolutely!

(Warning: spoilers incoming!)

That was actually an idea I’d been kicking around since the days of the “Legends” books. I wanted to write a short story about a Luke who’d never left Tatooine, but lived out his life in relative peace and complete obscurity… with the reader slowly figuring out that meant evil had triumphed even though it hadn’t touched him. I wanted it to be horrifying, but in a very quiet way.

I couldn’t figure out how to pull it off, though – until I was wrestling with how to start the novelisation with Luke. And then it hit me that my old “quiet apocalypse” story was an interesting echo of what Luke’s done on Ahch-To – withdrawing from a galaxy that desperately needs him. That dovetailed with another idea I’d been playing with, which was that the Force should almost be a character in its own right in the novelisation.

Putting those things together yielded the idea of the Force trying to evade the defenses Luke has set up against it. How would it do that? A dream was the logical answer – dreams are when our defenses are down and our minds are most vulnerable.

And, yes, it gave me a first line that I knew would absolutely not be what readers were expecting. That’s always fun too!  

Many people found that the film’s version of Luke was not how they imagined him becoming when they were children. What are your opinions on how Luke turned out? Was that what you always thought was going to happen, or was Rian’s vision completely different?

I loved The Last Jedi. (And if people didn’t, that’s of course totally OK!) But I’d be the first to admit that it’s a challenging, sometimes confounding movie. Among other things, it explores learning from failure, finding self-reliance by discarding mentors, and what you do when your heroic plans go horribly awry. None of those things is what we expect to get when we sit down to see a big popcorn movie.

When I saw some of the negative reactions to the movie, I was surprised. But then I remembered that after I first read the script I’d needed some time to process it too. After some reflection I realized that while The Last Jedi feels initially like a deconstruction of heroic journeys, ultimately it’s a reaffirmation of them. Luke scoffs at Rey’s hope that he’d go out with a laser sword and face down the entire First Order, and in the end that’s exactly what he does. He refuses to train a new Jedi and ultimately does so rather effectively. The Resistance is reduced to almost nothing, but Leia says they have everything they need and that doesn’t feel empty or delusional.

It’s a story you need to sit with a while – that was true for me too. I hope that some of the more skeptical Star Wars fans have gone through the same process I did, this is the right time for them to reconsider the movie, and the novelization might be a way to wrestle with it some more.

To bring it back to Luke, one of my first thoughts after saying yes to the job was, “Oh my God, I’m going to write Luke Skywalker’s death scene.” That was … enormous. I mean, I saw A New Hope when I’d just turned eight years old. I’ve been devouring Luke Skywalker stories for four decades. And now that scene was my responsibility?

When I got to that point in the story the writing actually went pretty quickly – but only because I’d written that scene in my head 20 or 30 times already.

The Last Jedi: Expanded Edition by Jason Fry is published by Century. Out now. (x) 

[sinceileftyoublog]

Split Single Interview: The Grift Is On

Photo by Nathan Keay

BY JORDAN MAINZER

After five years, Jason Narducy’s got a lot to say. Amplificado (Inside Outside Records), the new third album from Split Single, his solo project with a rotating cast of musicians, was mostly written and recorded by June of 2019. Its themes of Trump-era urgent anger were only heightened by a global pandemic that exacerbated many of the issues that rose to the surface in an era of political turmoil. 

Since his second Split Single album, Metal Frames, came out, Narducy’s been nonstop touring and recording with Superchunk and Bob Mould, not to mention writing a musical, Verböten, named after and about his childhood punk rock band. Any free time’s been spent on canvassing for Democratic state legislature candidates, Narducy feeling like he needed to stay politically involved and motivated. There’s no more perfect soundtrack to his exhausted mind than Amplificado’s opener, titled and stylized “caPtAIN calamity’S crUde pRoCessiON”. The off-kilter, minute-long instrumental is less purposeful avant-garde experimentalism than 6th grade marching band practice with weird ringtones going off, as percussionist Dan Leu’s tempos change nonsensically and Narducy introduces tack piano and sound effects of cash registers. The song’s got a lot of hidden meaning, as Narducy would explain to me in a phone interview in early May, but from the surface, it’s most significant as a way to let the listener know that the rest of the record--for the most part quintessential Split Single power rock--was born from this place of confused chaos. 

Indeed, besides the opener and the honest, stark “Adrift”, Amplificado is big and burning. “Blood Break Ground” is a song about breaking out from oppression. “Condescension comes with a price / Tear away all lingering ties,” Narducy belts, with drummer Jon Wurster providing propulsive blasts and the other main bandmate here, none other than R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, on bass and backing vocals. “Stone Heart World” calls out GOP hypocrisy, self-described “pro-life” politicians who speak about “barefoot children holding on to desperate mothers” as “others” and “animals.” Lead single “(Nothing You Can Do) To End This Love” is just as pressing, but positive, a message of support for the LGBTQ+ community.

As much as Amplificado deals with serious issues, from the pandemic-addled depression and isolation-themed “Worry” to songs like “Blood Break Ground”--the guy behind “The Sexiest Elbows in Rock Music” hasn’t lost his sense of humor or storytelling. Narducy writes about a formative childhood experience with a music teacher on “Bitten by the Sound”, a character in dire straits on “Belly of Lead”, and a ditty about aging inspired by being yelled at by his dentist on “Mangled Tusk”. And maybe the funniest thing about the album is its bio, written by comedian Jon Glaser. (“It has always been a dream of mine to write a bio for the third album of a somewhat known indie band,” Glaser writes, as he then goes on to describe his lunch, nightmares, and video game playing that preceded him writing the actual few-sentence bio for the record.) If you’ve ever seen Narducy play, whether on one of his many lawn shows he did last summer through SPACE in Evanston or opening for Guided By Voices, you know he, too, is both earnest and genuinely hilarious.

Read my interview with Narducy about Amplificado below, edited for length and clarity. He’s got a sold out record release show tomorrow night at 7 PM at Sketchbook Brewing Co. in Skokie!

Since I Left You: When you were writing the lyrics to these songs, did they come instantly or were they workshopped? They feel very emotional and direct.

Jason Narducy: Sometimes they took a while. The song “Mangled Tusk”, the demo was called “Jangle Tusk” because the guitar part felt like jangle pop to me. It was just a working title. The drum beat on the demo, which we didn’t end up using on the record, was kind of like Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk. It reminded me what song it was, instead of calling it “Song Number 32″ or whatever. I was recording vocals, and “Jangle Tusk” was last, and the recording engineer at Electrical Audio, Taylor Hales, asked, “When do we get to work on ‘Jangle Tusk’?” And I responded, “I don’t know, I’m still working on lyrics on that one...you’ve never even heard it, why are you so excited to work on that one?” He said, “I love the title!” And I thought, “I’ll put some thought into that, but those two words aren’t conjuring that much imagery for me.” I really like the word “mangled,” and I had just gone through this ordeal with my teeth and having to wear a nightguard. [laughs] So I started writing lyrics about gnawing and the enamel chipping away. It’s a song about aging, in a way, but I got that stern talking-to from my dentist: “We made you a nightguard years ago and you didn’t wear it, we made you one four years ago and you didn’t wear it, we’ll make you another one and you have to wear this.” I said, “That’s all I have to hear! I’ll wear it every night.” Those lyrics just came based on an odd encouragement from the engineer that liked one other word. 

The process of writing is so strange. With “(Nothing You Can Do) To End This Love”, the lyrics came so fast, and I was just done. I might have written the bridge this year, but the verses and choruses are the heart of the song. There’s a song we recorded called “3/4″--again, a working title based on the time signature--but we couldn’t get lyrics to it, so it’s sitting on the curb, lonely, without words attached to it. Lyrics are last for me every time. “Belly of Lead”, I was recording the demo in my friend Grant [Sutton]’s house, Clampdown Studio. I didn’t have lyrics to the song, so I picked up a lyric book of Lead Belly’s songs, and I was reading random words off every page so I’d have something documented on the demo. From that, I came up with the word “Belly of Lead” and wrote a story based on someone who made poor decisions in their life, coming to the end, trying to write a letter to his son and others, saying goodbye.

SILY: Was this your first time working with Mike Mills?

JN: I had opened up a show for his group The Baseball Project. I met him a number of times, the first time at the 40 Watt Club in Athens in 2006, when Jon and I were playing with Robert Pollard from Guided By Voices. Mike Mills was at that show, and Jon knew him--Jon actually recorded with R.E.M. on one of their Christmas singles. But he introduced me back in ‘06, and throughout the years, we’d run into each other at shows, or Scott McCaughey would be coming through. Just a lot of mutual friends. We always got along great. I didn’t expect him to say yes when I asked him to record. I felt like it was a longshot. I’m really grateful. I like him as a person and am a huge fan of his work with R.E.M.

SILY: What are some of the Easter eggs in the opening track’s title and aesthetic?

JN: There are a lot of layers, for it being a 1-minute instrumental. This [album] is my re-entry into doing Split Single work, since the last one came out in 2016. I write pretty consistently, so there were some songs I had the ideas down for already. But because I was so frustrated with the direction our country was going in, I kept putting down the guitar and thinking, “I can’t do this right now, I need to get out and do something.” I became very involved in this group called Sister District [Project], and I was doing postcard parties where I’d gather friends and others from the community and started working on state senate races across the country. It was very rewarding work. It provided some camaraderie with others who were wondering what the hell we could do. It also had an impact. I canvassed with a state senate candidate in Michigan, I wrote postcards for state senate races all across the country. Thankfully--and I think this has to do with the technological vetting Sister District does--all the candidates we worked for won. That was rewarding. It felt like I had an impact. I was also working on a musical about my very first band Verböten, and that took up a lot of time. Between Verböten and activism, my focus wasn’t on making another Split Single record. Plus Superchunk and Bob Mould were very busy making and touring records.

Back to the song: I wondered if there was a short audible message that I could make that was a little bit of a set up song. “Blood Break Ground” is such a gut punch, so how could I set this up after four and a half years? The sound of that marching band is sort of what I was feeling and hearing during those years. “That’s not supposed to be there: Why is there a tack piano in the marching band? This tempo isn’t right. Why is it slowing down now?” I put in an old cash register sound, so [it’s like] the grift is on. This is all about making money. If you look at the title, if you look at the letters in the title that are capitalized, it spells “PAIN IS UR CON”.

SILY: Sequencing-wise, you have “Adrift” as the emotional and personal centerpiece. It’s not outwardly political like the other songs. It’s also very downtempo. Did you consciously try to mix the album up in terms of tempo, aesthetic, and subject matter?

JN: There’s a defiance in the first three songs [after the opener]. I thought “Adrift” was a really strong song that kind of sounds like an album closer, but I didn’t want to put it last because I felt like it was too important. It was very difficult to figure out what would come after it, since it was so different. “Bitten by the Sound” has that long intro that builds up, so I thought it was a good transition. You can hear thematically how “Belly of Lead” is a completely different, not personal story, and [the album] closes with “Worry” and “Satellite”, which are very personal. Overall, the up-tempo songs are the ones I’m excited to play live. Besides “Adrift”, you could play all of them that way.

SILY: On “Belly of Lead”, you sing, “My word will make no difference.” Your experience with Sister District Project was the antithesis of that sentiment, but was that line in any way referential to anxiety you had about speaking out?

JN: No, that was just the character [in the song]…in “95 Percent”, though, I addressed something I felt and that a lot of liberal-minded Americans feel, which is we’re very clear that we’re not 100% behind the ones we support. There are things I disagree with Barack Obama about. We’re not a part of a cult. I support equality and equity and true justice, not law and order justice, as the other side claims.

SILY: On “Bitten by the Sound”, you sing, “Sat in a classroom led by an old nun / Sister thought she knew all about rock n roll / But instant karma got the best of her / When she lied about holding Lennon’s hands in her own.” What’s the story behind that line?

JN: I had a music teacher that was a nun in 6th grade. She had a story about meeting John Lennon and holding his hands in hers and giving him advice. Even [as a] 6th grader, [I] looked around and thought, “She’s full of shit.” Now that I’m older, I think if you’re gonna want to impress people and make up some bullshit, why pick a famous person who just died who can’t back up the story? It was part of my childhood that affected my relationship with authority and trusting adults. Music was everything to me, so don’t fuck with that! Don’t make up a John Lennon story. In the song, I talk about that. I was 9 or 10 years old, and my mom lived on the South Side of Chicago, 53rd and Woodlawn, and we woke up one morning and looked out the window, and her car was sitting on brick. All 4 tires were stolen. I just didn’t even know that was a thing. Those are formidable years. You discover music and find solace and peace. Everything feels good with music when everything around you is shaken and uncertain.

SILY: I don’t know whether it’s the mixture of the Christianity and the rock history references, but I heard the line and could hear Craig Finn singing it.

JN: That’s funny. I should mention that I was not at a Catholic school, which is why it’s weird a nun was teaching a music class. That song not so much [musically]. I think the song “95 Percent” definitely has some Hold Steady in it. There’s something about The Hold Steady that’s unabashed, “We’re gonna play rock and roll.” It’s a cool thing. “Yeah, I’m gonna take a guitar solo here.” It’s not too-cool-for-school indie rock. “95 Percent” was influenced by Mac [McCaughan] from Superchunk, a little bit of Springsteen, a little Hold Steady. Just need to add a girl’s name, and it would be very Hold Steady.

SILY: Were there any other prominent or newfound influences on this record?

JN: “Adrift” is so different for me. I learned this from Bob Mould: He writes way more songs than the record needs. You never know. A number of times, he’ll have a song that he thinks should be a B-side, and I’ll raise my hand and say, “I think that should be on the record.” “Fire in the City” is an example of that. I was like, “This song is too good.” It ended up on Beauty & Ruin. We don’t always end up using it, but it’s a good influence. I went into this record and thought, “I have extra time--it can’t hurt to keep going.” I ended up going back to a power pop song that I don’t even know had a title. There was one part of it I really liked. I picked up an acoustic guitar and didn’t even have a pick near me. I strummed the chords with my thumb very quietly and slowly and “Adrift” just fell out. Words and everything, just super fast. I had never recorded a song that vulnerable, that personal, that dark. I don’t think I’ve recorded a song without a guitar pick either. You can hear my stomach growl at some point. 

It just so happened I got a text from Alison Chesley who was in Verbow with me, and I asked, “Can I send you a song? Can you put some cellos on here?” She came back with this beautiful arrangement and even a piano part. I think it really elevated it and made it a much more engaging song. That’s the first time Alison and I had recorded in 22 years.

SILY: I thought maybe the experience of looking back with Verböten inspired you to reach out to her. It’s funny that it was just a random text from her that started it.

JN: I think the musical influenced this record in two ways. Not that one. I wrote so many punk rock songs for Verböten, that it reminded me that I like it when I write up-tempo songs. I definitely pushed more high energy songs for the record. [And the other is] “Blood Break Ground” happened because I had to do so much revisiting of emotions from my childhood [for Verböten] that there were other parts of my childhood that I hadn’t addressed yet.

SILY: How did the album’s bio come about? Did you want Jon Glaser to write a legitimate bio, and he came back with something absurd instead?

JN: I mean, he’s a comedian. I know it’s the job of the publicist and the journalist to have as much information presented as possible, but I also think there’s value in not taking it too seriously.

SILY: What’s the inspiration behind the record title?

JN: The trauma of the Trump years combined with the incredible trauma of the pandemic, which will take a very long time for many of us to recover from. I feel like everything’s amplified. I thought about calling the record Amplified but found that there were a lot of other albums called that, and it was also a pretty basic word. So I thought, “What’s a little twist we can put on that?” A friend of mine, Alberto, is fluent in Spanish, so I asked him for the proper version of that word for this situation.

SILY: What about the cover art?

JN: That’s a Chicago artist named Yvonne Doll. I follow her on Instagram and have been friends with her for years. She’s a musician and a painter. That particular piece came up, and I couldn’t stop looking at it, so I asked whether we could use it for the artwork. Thankfully, she was cool with that. When I presented that and some other photos, the designer, [Chris Tillman], ran with that red theme.

SILY: How was the experience of playing lawn shows during the pandemic?

JN: It was incredible. I was so thankful to Jake [Samuels, Managing Partner and Talent Buyer] and SPACE for coming up with the concept and thankful that people were enthusiastic about doing them. I did about 53 of them last year. It sort of emotionally and financially saved me. I loved how creative it was. I could tell you so many crazy stories about different situations like planning for a rainstorm to come, a small crowd, a huge crowd where the cops showed up. It was great. I’m excited to do more of those. 

On Saturday, I played at Thalia Hall to a private show of 20 people. It was honestly euphoric. It was the first rock club show I had done since January 3, 2020 with Superchunk at the Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro. So many things that I hadn’t thought about, like setting up on a stage and the camaraderie with the crew and talking about different lighting setups and sound options, walking to the dressing room. It was incredible. It felt so good. Even for 20 people. And they were there to party. They weren’t just sitting down drinking wine. They were standing up, dancing, leaning up on the stage and screaming. It’s gonna take time, and it needs to be safe, but certainly with the outdoor shows, there are a lot of options being explored, and hopefully by the fall, there will be many more people vaccinated.

SILY: The album’s really up-tempo, as you’ve said. Have you thought about adapting these songs to a solo style of play?

JN: I think any of the songs besides the marching band one I could do live.

SILY: Anything you’ve been listening to, watching, or reading that’s caught your attention?

JN: Oh my god, there are so many new bands I’ve been listening to. New Pagans. There’s this band called Kestrels. It’s very 90′s, like if Built to Spill or Dinosaur Jr. had a baby. CONTROL TOP. I like the new Real Estate record. Sinai Vessel. I love that English band Shame. I think their new record’s really cool. Miss Grit. I get really inspired by newer artists. It’s something I spend a lot of time with.

[imgoldielikehawn]

Just a dancer Pt 1

Hey guys!!! I couldn't go to sleep so I decided to finish up the first chapter to my NEW Jai Courtney FanFic

Let me know what you think!!! you guys are the best, no worries I'm not finihsed with Tough Love I just needed a change. I haven't decided how long this Fan Fic will be yet...  @kenzieam​ 

PLEASE REQUEST TO BE TAGGED

ENJOY and remember Jai=Bae...

Song: Too Many Daddies - Lucian Piane

Characters

Jai Courtney

Coraleiani  summers (WOC)

Lisa Bonet

Zoe Kravitz

Jason Momoa

It’s been a wild ride for the last four years. I haven’t seen my family in a long time but I know they support me from afar.  These are the same thoughts I’ve had since the first time I stepped on stage. I could hear the crowd of rowdy men and women from behind the curtain.  It echoed in my ears like the sound of a siren blaring down the street.  I welcome it, like a blanket on a snow day.  The curtain rose and I could see my sequined corset catch the lights.

“He wants to take me to breakfast

 He wants to show me his house

 He wants to meet me in London

He wants to drive me around

 I can't fix this problem of my

 Too many daddies and not enough time

One at a time boys”

  Three steps to the left… turn and smile at the crowd, leg up and gasp. Turn around shake my ass, half face the crowd right leg up smack my ass. Turn again dry hump the male dancer, who by the way is definitely gay.  Tip my hat, three steps to the center, drop into a split, flip forward hands in the air, lifted by male dancer walk together towards the center of the stage….

“He wants to lose in my corset

 He wants to buy me a ring

He wants to teach me to tango

He wants to do everything

 I got all of them standing in line

Too many daddies and not enough time

Too many daddies Too many daddies Too many daddies Too many daddies Too many daddies Too many daddies And not,

And not enough time”

  Off goes the corset, hold my tits up, act shocked, wink …. Lights go out.

The small venue erupted with cheers as the curtain came down. It was our last set of the night and I was exhausted. I always enjoyed preforming for the burlesque but it was almost all I had time for.  I was a full time performer straight out of college, Julliard for four years and then touring with a company. I loved all styles of dance but burlesque was my favorite. After changing out of costume I slid into my favorite pair of black jeans and tossed my curly hair in a bun on top of my head. I looked up as my best friend and her mother were coming to my vanity.

“You were amazing!” Zoe said. She was always calm on the big screen but in person she was hyper. Her mom Lisa was the complete opposite. She always spoke in a calm and soothing voice that had been calming my nerves at every dance recital since I was five years old. Lisa was the only reason I was able to attend Julliard. I’ve always called her mom and she’s never treated me any different than Zoe or her two other children.  “Very sexy” Lisa smiled.  “Thanks guys, I’m so glad you could make it” I said pulling my hoodie over my shoulders. It was winter time in LA and I planned to enjoy it while I could.

“I can’t believe you’re going on a world tour! I’m so jealous” Zoe teased as we started to walk to the back door.  “Neither can I, I’m nervous.” I frowned.

“You have nothing to be nervous about. How many nights do you have left here?” Lisa asked as we neared the car.  “I have two days left here and then it’s off to Australia” I smiled.  “Ugh I hate to see you go, that’s so far away from us” her mouth turned into a thin line.  “Oh mom, I’ll be back before you know it and I will facetime everyday” I hugged her and Zoe.  “Come by the house to get something to eat, it’s pretty late.” She got into the driver’s side of her car and Zoe and I got in mine. “Soooooooo, have you talked to your mom?” Zoë asked and I frowned. “Not really. What am I supposed to say…? “Hey mom I dance half naked for a living and I’m going on tour” I’m sure she’d just love that” she made a face of discomfort “Point taken, you’re going to have to tell her eventually.  “I know...” the remainder of the car ride was silent as I turned up the music. My mom is Lisa Bonet’s best friend Cree Summers; I didn’t know she was mother until I was five years old. When I was born my mother and father made an agreement, they were never married and my mother wasn’t ready to be a mother. I was to be raised by my father and kept  out of the spot light. Long story short the universe found out about me and I found out about her the end right?

No… my father did everything possible to shield me from it, but my mom was not giving up. After a lengthy court battle my father finally agreed to joint custody.  My father was still very adamant about me staying out of the spotlight and my mother  had also got on board. I shook the thoughts away as we pulled up to Zoe’s house. “Dads home, looks like he has a friend over” she said spotting the Motorcycle in the driveway.  I locked the car and followed her in. when I got to the door I could hear yelling coming from the living room. I looked at Zoe and raised my eyebrow.  She shrugged her shoulders and walked into the kitchen. I took off my jacket and poked my head into the living room to say hey to Zoe’s dad Jason.  Lisa remarried when Zoe and I were growing up after divorcing from her dad Lenny.  Jason was a big time actor himself and always a joy to be around.  “Hey!” I said loudly with a small wave.  “Cora! I didn’t know you were coming over!” Jason jumped up from the couch and pulled me from around the corner and into a bear hug. He was not a small man by far and in an instant I felt my back pop. “Jason.. Please” I gasped. “Whoops, it’s so good to see you!” he smiled sincerely.  He backed up and I noticed the other man who was on the couch standing behind him.

  I felt like I had been hit by a semi and I prayed it wasn’t written all over my face. Jason’s “Friend” was Jai Courtney. He was pretty much a staple in entertainment these days. I had seen him on several magazines and in several movies. I could feel my brain imploding. “Jai this is Coraleiani but we call her Cora for short” he gestured to me “Cora this is Jai” I nodded coolly and said “Hello”. His eyes seemed to sweep over my entire body, not that I was wearing anything revealing. He smiled and stepped forward holding out his hand for me to shake. I hesitantly walked up to him and placed my hand in his. “HI” he grinned. “Cora, come eat with us” Lisa called from the kitchen.  I pulled my hand back slowly as  my amber eyes ��remained glued to his fantastic blue ones. His gaze was intense, almost as if he demanded to be seen at all times. I realized that our hands weren’t joined but seemed to be hanging in the empty air. Jason cleared his throat and mine and Jai’s connection broke. “I’d better go” I said forcing my hand down to my side. I turned for the kitchen and ran smack into Lisa and Zoe.  I glared at both of them and walked into the kitchen. I sat down on the stool and Lisa and Zoe sat down beside and across from me. “Don’t” I said shoving the vegan pasta in my mouth that Lisa made.  “Oh my goodness, I thought you two were going to kiss” Zoe whispered. “Mhmmmm. If Jason hadn’t cleared his throat I’m sure they would have. Jai is a very attractive man.” Lisa smiled. “Mom, Zoe, drop it. I’m already embarrassed as is.” I dropped my fork on my plate and sighed. “Okay, but this isn’t going away. Jai is Jason’s best friend and you’re about to go to Australia” Lisa looked over at me and waggled her eyebrows. I just wanted to crawl under a rock and disappear. I finished dinner as fast as they’d allow and they walked me to the door. “Bye Coraleiani” Lisa hugged me at the door. I was trying to make a run for it  with what little shred of dignity I had left when I looked up and saw Jason and Jai outside by Jai’s Motorcycle. I took a breath and I swear I could feel Lisa and Zoe’s grins on the back of my neck. I walked to my car quickly and pulled off before I even turned on my music.

 JAI’S POV

 “You like what you see?” Jason smirked.  

“Who is she?” I stared after her black Chevy Impala.

“That’s Cora man, Cree’s daughter.” He grinned.

“Fuckin hell she grew up didn’t she?” I ran my fingers through my hair.

“Hey, she’s family. You can look but you can’t touch, Lisa will eat you alive” he crossed his arms.

“How old?” I asked ignoring his last statement.

“Same as Zoe, 28, I’m telling you leave her alone. She’s a dancer, went to college and everything. Works at the Shadow lounge down the block” his grin widened.

“That’s a strip club ain’t it?” I grinned back.

“Not exactly” he turned and walked away from.

“Really? You’re just going to walk away and leave me to wonder!” I called to Jason’s back. He waved over his shoulder. I frowned and hopped on my bike.

   JASONS POV

 I closed the door behind me and ran into my wife on the stairs. She was smiling. “What are you smiling about?” I adored my wife, I thought to myself.  “He’s enamored isn’t he?” she smiled crossing her arms. “How’d you know?” I sighed and walked up to take her into my arms. “The way he was staring, reminded me of how I stare at you” she wrapped her arms around my neck and then wrapped her legs around my waist. “Don’t worry I already told him she’s off limits” I carried her up the stairs. “I’m not worried. She likes him too. Just let things run their course” Lisa leaned forward and kissed me. “I Love you” she whispered.  “You better” I smiled kissing her again…

[shions-heart]

too lazy to read past like.. number four.. but i wanna know about your oc's!! do you have a lot? only a few? do they all exist in the same world? favorites? basic bios?? i love oc's!!!

thanks love

um, I have a lot, yeah. I’ve been writing original stories almost as long as I’ve been writing fan fiction. There’s, um, Carthonia, which is about a group of new settlers sent off a dying Earth in order to repopulate and colonize a planet they’ve named New Earth, but when they get caught in the debris of an exploding star, they’re thrown off course and land on a different planet, Carthonia, where they discover a lot of shady stuff is going on. The main character, Rose, is the one who discovers the horrible secret the Carthonian government is hiding, and she tries to rectify it.

The main characters in that are Rose, her medic brother Jasper, a nameless Carthonian boy, and the military faction’s second-in-command Jack. Looking back, though, I might make Jack a female character, so Rose isn’t the only one.

Carthonia was my first NaNoWriMo attempt, and though I did complete over 50k in the month, I never finished it.

putting the rest under read more cuz this is gonna be a lot, sorry

then there’s the Afaennon Trilogy. The first book, The Blind Traveler, was the NaNo book I completed and self-published, sold about 50 copies. I started the second book but didn’t get very far into it. I want to go back and revamp it all because I really thought the story was good, but we’ll see.

The main characters in that were Anna, a princess whose family was killed and her kingdom taken over by an evil king; Luka, the blind Traveler who is also one of the Chosen Ones, the special few who still have magic; his sister Alyosha, who’s badass; and Misha, another Traveler who they meet on their journey to try and convince the other Chosen Ones under the evil king’s command to defect and join them in taking him down. (There’s also Sasha, Luka and Aly’s brother, and Alexei, from a fellow Traveler family, and Onion, Anna’s pet toad.)

There’s actually a LOT of characters in that one, but those are the main, main ones. I guess the main characters are Anna and Luka, if we’re going to be precise.

another, more recent one, is Haven, which is about the orphans of registered superheroes. Well, one orphan in particular. Rebekah Rodriguez aka Reb. Her parents and younger brother were killed by her evil uncle, and she doesn’t believe she has any abilities. Like in Sky High? But it’s really just that her PTSD suppressed them because she was the only survivor. She finds out that her brother is still alive but in the clutches of her uncle, so she formulates a rescue plan with her best friend Simon Nakamura aka Sy. He’s an empath and has the power of invisibility. He’s also dealing wth PTSD because he blames himself for his parents’ death. (Yes, this is the Sy I got my name from.)

There were other characters in my original plot-line, but I’ve since condensed it so the only other characters of note are Ryker, a cat burglar who has the abilities of an actual cat (like cat woman except male), can even turn into a cat, who Reb enlists his help in sneaking into her uncle’s headquarters, and Nadia, who can manipulate water, whose father works for Reb’s uncle but ends up helping them after they’re caught and locked up.

after that story (which I finished but then rewrote and now I need to rewrite again), came Mnemosyne, which I haven’t finished and need to revamp/rewrite too …

but in Mnemosyne it’s about four friends, once of which dies at the beginning, and the rest of the story is basically a flashback of the months leading up to the death. I’m thinking of rewriting it tho and making the death happen at the beginning and the rest of the story being these four friends attempting to cope with the death of their best friend and trying to move on, that way it ends on a more hopeful note, rather than a tragedy.

but the four main characters are Faith, a high-spirited, optimistic girl who’s bi and lives with her single mother and is basically the sunshine child of the group; Caleb, a half-Sioux, half-Irish gay foster kid who ran away from his abusive home and is now homeless but has known Faith since he first showed up in the town when he was 13 and she was kind to him so they’re best friends now, so close they’re practically siblings; Rae, a trans female who has non-accepting parents and a confused but loving little brother; she’s the newest member of the four who is still a little shy and self-conscious but since the others love her for who she is, she’s a lot more open and outgoing around them; and Jason, who’s black and whose father is filthy rich and owns half the town, who’s engaged to a woman named Paola, an arranged thing by his parents, who won’t accept the fact that their son is gay and in love with Caleb. He also has a sister named Juno, who’s very supportive and keeps trying to get Jason to stand up to their parents, but he’s very much a diplomat (tho Caleb just calls him a coward). Jason and Faith go way back to when they were little kids, so they were already best friends when Caleb showed up on the scene.

In the original story, it ended with Jason dying before he and Caleb got to say they loved each other, but tbh there are already too many sad gay stories. I’m not sure yet how I’m going to fix things, if I’m going to have Jason die at the beginning and have the story be Faith, Caleb, and Rae trying to pick themselves up and move on, or have Faith be the one to die at the beginning, and they have to try and move on without their sunshine, or have an as-of-yet-unnamed 5th friend be the one who dies, and it’s about the four of them struggling to pick themselves up and move on, helping each other, falling in love, making new friends that support them through it all, etc. 

so yeah, not sure yet how I’m gonna revamp that, but yeah.

EDIT: shit, I forgot about Alex and Jake. Yeah, there’s The Adventures of Alex and Jake, which I kinda want to make into a graphic novel. I think it’d be cool as a graphic novel . . . but yeah that’s about Alex, a genderfluid dmab vampire who’s isolated and cynical and protests that he’s lonely (and SUPER extra, takes the vampire thing much too literally), and Jake, a happy-go-lucky (at least on the outside), outgoing, optimistic, friendly, etc. werewolf. Alex takes in Jake after finding him wounded in the woods, and then gets caught up in the danger that follows him because a back of evil werewolves want him, and a group of Hunters, want to kill them both.

There’s also Abigail, Alex’s younger sister, who is the brains of the operation, who takes care of Alex and tries to convince him that he loves Jake, even though he continues to protest his growing feelings for the kid . . .

SO! yeah, I have plenty of stories with OCs that haven’t been written yet, but I figured I should just stick with the stories I already have that I’m gonna try to rewrite into something that’s actually publishable. I still really like all these ideas, but I haven’t worked on any of them in forever (I wrote Mnemosyne in May 2015, before I fell into anime hell).

As to my favorites … mmm I think Rose, the unnamed Carthonian boy, Luka, Sy, Jake, and Caleb are my favorites.

[esonetwork]

Book review: ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ tie-in novel expands the story

New Post has been published on https://esopodcast.com/book-review-star-wars-the-last-jedi-tie-in-novel-expands-the-story/

Book review: ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ tie-in novel expands the story

The latest Star Wars movie — “The Last Jedi” — certainly got fans talking; people are still debating all the plot twists and discussing the film’s implications for the franchise as a whole. It was also a somewhat divisive film, and if you weren’t a fan of the movie, the newly released tie-in novel, written by Jason Fry, probably won’t change your mind. However, if you’re like me and really enjoyed the movie, the book adds some interesting new details to the story.

Released in early March, the novel has been branded as an “expanded edition,” which is fitting because it really does read like an expanded version of the film. While most of the dialogue and story beats that you already know from the film are there, the book has additional scenes and interactions between the characters that flesh out the narrative.

While the Star Wars movie tie-ins have been a bit hit or miss, “The Last Jedi” ranks among the stronger ones. I still think the best is “Rogue One” by Alexander Freed, which added even more depth and emotion to the story and helped you get to know the characters better. Yet like I said before, if you enjoyed “The Last Jedi” and want an expanded version of the story, this is definitely worth a read.

I won’t go into a lot of detail about the themes or the plot, because you probably already know all that from watching the movie. Fans were definitely quite vocal about their feelings for this film, one way or another. 😉 I will say that “The Last Jedi’s” themes of failure, responsibility, and letting go of the past particularly resonated with me, since big-budget blockbusters are often hesitant to let their characters experience this much self-doubt and create plans that go this spectacularly awry (and actually do more harm than good). However, the willingness to explore failure — and how we grow and learn from it — made the story more powerful, at least for me, and I liked seeing all that further developed in the book.

I know some fans did not like Rose’s character, or the entire Canto Bight subplot in the movie; if you didn’t like those parts, you might initially be tempted to start backing away slowly when I say that these two things get quite a bit of expanding in the book. 😉 I personally don’t get the hate for Rose; even though she wasn’t necessarily a standout character for me, poor Rose doesn’t deserve to be compared to Jar Jar Binks. If you liked “The Last Jedi” overall but weren’t as much a fan of Rose, I recommend you give her a second chance. The book delves a lot more into her relationship with her sister and her partnership/tentative friendship with Finn. It explains more about why she thinks and acts the way she does.

You also get more insight into Finn’s actions, and the book really drives home his development from reluctant Resistance supporter to proud Rebel fighter. The book emphasizes how he joined the Resistance just because he cares about/wants to help Rey. Wanting to help Rey is definitely not a bad thing, but at least at the beginning, he doesn’t really care about the broader cause (a fact that frustrates the more idealistic Rose). Yet through his experiences with Rose, Finn sees that the Resistance really is a cause worth fighting — and dying — for. I would have liked to see a longer confrontation between him and Phasma, both in the book and in the movie, but if you bought the Blu-ray (or should I say, Blu-Rey? Sorry, couldn’t help myself with that one), there’s a nice deleted scene between those two.

I enjoyed getting to read more about Poe and his tense relationship with Vice Admiral Holdo. You can empathize with Poe’s frustration, even though we watch him make wrong decisions that ultimately have very serious consequences. I know I said I wouldn’t dive too deep into the themes here, but l liked how the story reflects on leadership and maturity. Poe has potential as a leader but learns to take that responsibility more seriously, especially when lives are on the line. He’s an interesting contrast to General Hux, who also gets a lot more development in the novel. I thought it was really interesting how General Hux basically gets a position of power due to his father, and the older ex-Imperial officers quietly resent him and question his leadership.

Overall, my favorite part of “The Last Jedi” film was seeing Luke’s journey and the unexpected connection between Rey and Kylo. I was kind of hoping the book would delve into that Rey/Kylo connection more than it ultimately did. I loved how the movie handled this, but the book didn’t necessarily add a whole lot more to what I’ve been referring to as their “Force Skype” sessions, for lack of a better term. 😉 I did really like how the book covered Kylo’s decision not to fire on the bridge of the Resistance ship where his mother was, and how the text jumps back and forth between Kylo and Leia’s perspectives in this part. I also liked how the book added more to the scene where Rey first arrives on Snoke’s flagship and then she and Kylo’s elevator ride up to Snoke’s throne room. You also get several pages from Snoke’s POV, fleshing out his backstory a little more.

I think the book is a nice companion to the movie, although I do have to mention that some of the scenes don’t transfer as well to print. Some examples are those Force Skype sessions I already referenced; Kylo and Rey’s falling out after killing Snoke; and Leia and Luke’s reunion in the bunker on Crait, in addition to a few others. For whatever reason, these moments just seem to work better visually. Part of it could be that when you read these scenes vs. watch them, you miss out on the actors’ expressions and tone of voice, which is often a big part of the impact. Maybe the author also tried a little too hard in a few places to stay true to the movie vs. doing something a little differently that would have worked better in print. In a few scenes it feels like Fry is simply transcribing events vs. reflecting on them.

Still, as I’ve mentioned many times before (perhaps too many?), 😉 I really loved “The Last Jedi” film and I’m glad I added the novel to my collection as well. I’m excited to see how the story wraps up in Episode IX!