I feel like my Star Wars fan status should be revoked.

At least, it should have been revoked for the last five years or so. Granted, I was busy with life, going through college and getting married and moving and such. But I've lately been inundated with Star Wars news because of the movie being in production, and I realized there's a lot of Star Wars stuff that I have missed. Star Wars has long been my favourite movie saga, though the prequels do leave a lot to be desired. I loved them as a kid/teen and I'm not going to throw that love entirely out the window, but I digress.

I used to be an avid reader of the Star Wars Expanded Universe (EU) novels. My father handed me a copy of Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn when I was eleven and I didn't look back. The Thrawn trilogy remains at the top of my book list, and I discovered a character who would quickly become my favourite character in any book/movie/game universe ever. Her name? Mara Jade. She never appears in the films, but she is honestly the best. I have cosplayed as her more times than I can count. And the last Star Wars book that I read was the one in which she was brutally killed. That was shortly after I started college, and I was so devastated that I basically quit Star Wars for a time. I just couldn't continue the Legacy of the Force series. I was literally heartbroken, and possibly more heartbroken than I've been in my life. Probably not but whatever.  I was so angry with the author, Karen Traviss, even though I know it wasn't really her decision completely. And I think Timothy Zahn was angry at his character being killed, so that makes me feel a tiny bit better. The fact remains that couldn't handle her death and it's taken me a long time to get back into the EU and various aspects of Star Wars.

But I'm back in now. I've played a few games, I've read a few novels, Scoundrels by Timothy Zahn being the one I'm currently reading, and I've been getting into the online world of fellow Star Wars fans. My favourite thing right now is a new podcast called Jedi Alliance. It began in August, and I'm in love with it. It has its really weird moments, but it's a solid 45 minutes of Star Wars nerdiness. I can't argue with it. They've got everything from random trivia to fan stuff to obscure parts of the universe to news on Episode VII. Ken Napzok and Maude Garret are hilarious, and the obvious dedication they have to such an incredible saga is fantastic. You can find it on iTunes and on YouTube.

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This was a hard post to write. Roll your eyes all you want, but I had to write it. This is my personal blog, and these are my thoughts. Star Wars has been central in my fangirl life and I'm finally admitting that I can move on. Though I'm still not *that* excited about Episode VII.