Inferno Squad by Christie Golden

[Raesene]

Inferno Squad is an upcoming novel by Christie Golden.

Takes place after Rogue One and focuses on Imperial special forces trying to destroy the remnants of Saw Gerrera's rebels.

I'm looking forward to it, we haven't had a book/comic since from the Imperial POV since the X-Wing comic Making of Baron Fel (or did I miss some good ones ?) came out.

I just hope they don't let the protagonists defect to the Alliance at the end of the book. The last sentence of the preview mentions that the squad has to find out how far they will go to ensure the safety of the Empire, that could mean both ways.

[RogueIce]

I'm looking forward to it, we haven't had a book/comic since from the Imperial POV since the X-Wing comic Making of Baron Fel (or did I miss some good ones ?) came out.

From back in Legends, we had Star Wars: Empire which had a bunch from the Imperial POV. In the New Canon, there's the Vader series from Marvel.

[Reyvan]

For new canon there's Lost Stars. One of the main characters defects early on, the the other remains an imperial until the end of the book.

[Shroom Man 777]

I hope it shows how Saw's best friend, BOR GULLET, took up the mantle after Saw and ends with the Imperials getting their heads cut off live on the holonet.

[Adam Reynolds]

For new canon there's Lost Stars. One of the main characters defects early on, the the other remains an imperial until the end of the book.

That actually was a fairly interesting look at how a character could serve the Empire even as she saw that it was increasing corrupt. She ultimately crashed her star destroyer into Jakku to prevent the Alliance from capturing it, even as she knew that the cause was now pointless.

What was ironic about the two characters in that story is that the Rebel defector was naturally cynical but had a hatred of bullies due to his father's abusive nature, and refused to serve the Empire after Alderaan. The Imperial loyalist was the idealist who believed that she could make the galaxy a better place. The one who believed that the world was closer to black and white ended up serving black without realizing it, while the one who believed that it was about shades of grey naturally chose the lightest shade. There might be something of a lesson in that.

Another amusing if rather sad character was the Alderaanian officer who was virtually insane justifying the Empire, the fact that Leia was a Rebel agent, and the destruction of Alderaan. The book was also notable in that a fairly significant character died on the Death Star, and the Imperial loyalist partially served out of a desire to avenger her friend's death.

Though it has to be one of the most minimalist sources I have ever seen, implying that the Battle of Endor was somehow the majority of the Imperial fleet. Though I suppose that could be argued to be about loyalty rather than total numbers. The main characters were graduates of the academy at Coruscant, and were presumably assumed to be the most loyal(even if two out of six main characters defect).

I hope it shows how Saw's best friend, BOR GULLET, took up the mantle after Saw and ends with the Imperials getting their heads cut off live on the holonet.

Is there a meaning to BOR GULLET?

[Shroom Man 777]

Bor Gullet can feel your thoughts. No lie is safe.

Bor Gullet will know the truth. The unfortunate side-effect is that one tends to lose one's mind.

[Lord Revan]

Imperial perspective is a difficult one to execute because if you don't want to be the imperials "too good" or the rebels "too evil", but on the other hand you might not want to make the imperials too evil either, it's a balancing act.

I'd say that good story from an imperial PoV would cast imperial actions as "what needs to be done" at least from the point of view the imperial characters (it can be left to the audience to deside if they agree with that) while rebels actions would be seen as "pointless anarchy" or "trying to hold on to flawed systems of the sake of nostalgia" more pitiful then outright evil.

[Lord Revan]

I hope it shows how Saw's best friend, BOR GULLET, took up the mantle after Saw and ends with the Imperials getting their heads cut off live on the holonet.

Is there a meaning to BOR GULLET?

Bor Gullet was rather freaky looking alien from Rogue One that was part of Saw's Partisans, the line Shroom quoted is Saw decribing Bor Gullet to his prisoner (a defected imperial cargo pilot)

[Shroom Man 777]

In my opinion Bor Gullet is no mere monstrosity as what humanist bigot Imperialist stooges would assume, instead Bor Gullet is a sensitive soul and a kindred spirit to Saw Gerrera... his one truest friend and a pivotal role in the post-Endor revolutions, most especially the street battles in Coruscant wherein, after the Palpatinists brutally put down those street protesters celebrating Palpatine's demise, the Gerrerists made their move and overwhelmed the Imperialists and began the mass execution of war criminals, Palpatinists and other collaborator filth... with trials held by Bor Gullet to justly and fairly determine the truly guilty!

[Tiriol]

In my opinion Bor Gullet is no mere monstrosity as what humanist bigot Imperialist stooges would assume, instead Bor Gullet is a sensitive soul and a kindred spirit to Saw Gerrera... his one truest friend and a pivotal role in the post-Endor revolutions, most especially the street battles in Coruscant wherein, after the Palpatinists brutally put down those street protesters celebrating Palpatine's demise, the Gerrerists made their move and overwhelmed the Imperialists and began the mass execution of war criminals, Palpatinists and other collaborator filth... with trials held by Bor Gullet to justly and fairly determine the truly guilty!

Oh dear Lord, it is posts like this why SDNet would need a like button. Especially since every time I see Bor Gullet written I hear Saw Gerrera's voice. And now it's coming out of Shroomie's anime girl avatar.

[Galvatron]

Didn't Bor Gullet kinda die when the Death Star destroyed Jedha City? Or was he saved at the last minute by Dash Rendar?

[Shroom Man 777]

Some of the Gerrerists seemed to have made escapes... on screen we see some alighting on their spacecraft.

Maybe Dash Rendar was involved too!

[Ender]

Imperial perspective is a difficult one to execute because if you don't want to be the imperials "too good" or the rebels "too evil", but on the other hand you might not want to make the imperials too evil either, it's a balancing act.

I'd say that good story from an imperial PoV would cast imperial actions as "what needs to be done" at least from the point of view the imperial characters (it can be left to the audience to deside if they agree with that) while rebels actions would be seen as "pointless anarchy" or "trying to hold on to flawed systems of the sake of nostalgia" more pitiful then outright evil.

Plenty of books have successfully executed what a good Imperial POV could be - the creeping horror and continued corruption of the protagonist until they are left a monstrous beast of a person. Hell, a ton have been done starting from the perspective of "I'm bad".

No need to be a balancing act. It probably does lean more in the horror genre they previous SW books have allowed, but even that is not necessary, if you are willing to toss in some political commentary into it.

[Lord Revan]

Imperial perspective is a difficult one to execute because if you don't want to be the imperials "too good" or the rebels "too evil", but on the other hand you might not want to make the imperials too evil either, it's a balancing act.

I'd say that good story from an imperial PoV would cast imperial actions as "what needs to be done" at least from the point of view the imperial characters (it can be left to the audience to deside if they agree with that) while rebels actions would be seen as "pointless anarchy" or "trying to hold on to flawed systems of the sake of nostalgia" more pitiful then outright evil.

Plenty of books have successfully executed what a good Imperial POV could be - the creeping horror and continued corruption of the protagonist until they are left a monstrous beast of a person. Hell, a ton have been done starting from the perspective of "I'm bad".

No need to be a balancing act. It probably does lean more in the horror genre they previous SW books have allowed, but even that is not necessary, if you are willing to toss in some political commentary into it.

You talking about legendaries novels or books in general as the SW franchice does put limits on to what's possible. You can't have a truly horrible protagonist in a SW novel at least not obviously so.

[Shroom Man 777]

Uh, haven't they done books in Maul's perspective?

[Crazedwraith]

Uh, haven't they done books in Maul's perspective?

It was half Maul and half the doomed people he was chasing before TPM. The latter got a lot bigger half iirc.

[Lord Revan]

Yeah Maul himself got relatively little "screentime", I can't even remember if there was any scenes that truly were from his viewpoint or just showing us what he doing at that point, I borrowed that book from library ages ago so I can't remember it so clearly. The droid that survived from the people Maul was chasing showed up in later novels though.

[Galvatron]

There's a new five-issue comic series about Darth Maul that just started as well. So far it's set just prior to TPM...

[Adam Reynolds]

Yeah Maul himself got relatively little "screentime", I can't even remember if there was any scenes that truly were from his viewpoint or just showing us what he doing at that point, I borrowed that book from library ages ago so I can't remember it so clearly. The droid that survived from the people Maul was chasing showed up in later novels though.

There were several sections from his perspective, notably it portrayed him as rather arrogant. Too bad TPM didn't show that at all.

[Shroom Man 777]

Going two on one against Jedi's pretty arrogant. But I get what you mean...

[Captain Seafort]

Going two on one against Jedi's pretty arrogant.

One man's arrogance is another's justified self-confidence, and until he got cocky right at the last moment, Maul's performance pointed towards the latter.

[Ender]

Imperial perspective is a difficult one to execute because if you don't want to be the imperials "too good" or the rebels "too evil", but on the other hand you might not want to make the imperials too evil either, it's a balancing act.

I'd say that good story from an imperial PoV would cast imperial actions as "what needs to be done" at least from the point of view the imperial characters (it can be left to the audience to deside if they agree with that) while rebels actions would be seen as "pointless anarchy" or "trying to hold on to flawed systems of the sake of nostalgia" more pitiful then outright evil.

Plenty of books have successfully executed what a good Imperial POV could be - the creeping horror and continued corruption of the protagonist until they are left a monstrous beast of a person. Hell, a ton have been done starting from the perspective of "I'm bad".

No need to be a balancing act. It probably does lean more in the horror genre they previous SW books have allowed, but even that is not necessary, if you are willing to toss in some political commentary into it.

You talking about legendaries novels or books in general as the SW franchice does put limits on to what's possible. You can't have a truly horrible protagonist in a SW novel at least not obviously so.

Books in general.

But it is still pretty doable even under the Disney constraints. I mean as Norman Spinrad showed with The Iron Dream, most milSF is just a hair away from outright Nazism. It is disgustingly easy to fit that sort of thing within the DIsney framework. Be self aware about it like Old Man's War by John Scalzi - he is pretty overt from the get go about the Colonial Union being bad if you watch word choice, around chapters 10/11/12 it becomes undeniable that they are the baddies.

If you want to go into books in general, there are plenty that you could do a Find-Replace for key words and convert over the Star Wars that are self aware enough to be doing the POV of the oppressor without valorizing their actions.