As the Athena’s Daughters 2 Kickstarter went live last month, I was excited to support the next selection of female writers after the pleasure of being part of the first Athena’s Daughters. I lined up several interviews, one with editor Maggie Allen and another with writer Jordan Frederick. When I realized the Star Wars credentials of another Athena’s Daughters writer, Tish Pahl, author of several Star Wars short stories, I wanted to hear more.
Illustration for “Crow Bait and Switch” by Tish Pahl
In short, Tish Pahl is a lifelong Star Wars fangirl with a love of horses, herding dogs, and dinosaurs. Back in the Bantam era heyday of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, she interacted with Star Wars authors Timothy Zahn, Michael Stackpole, and Aaron Allston. In fact, those connections created the support system for her to write her Athena’s Daughters short story “Crow Bait and Switch.”
Kay joined me for an hour-long discussion on fandom, and our love of Star Wars books and the amazing female characters found in them. After the recording, Kay pointed out with some amusement that my path through fandom is in some ways Tish Pahl’s version 2.0. She is the Luke/Mara ‘shipper and my similar journey started a few years later as a Jaina/Jag ‘shipper.
I also learned that Club Jade represents an enormous and impactful identity in Star Wars. I am often in awe of how Tracy “Dunc” Duncan keeps the blog constantly fresh, especially given the ups and downs for female fans of the franchise right now. After hearing Tish talk, I imagine a band of geek friends united by Star Wars constantly at Dunc’s back, who are truly inspired by one of the greatest fictional characters in the Galaxy Far Far Away that never graced a movie screen. No matter what happens in the cinematic future, no one can take that away from Mara Jade and her fans.
I hope Star Wars recognizes how blessed they are to have these fans.
Join Tish Pahl, Kay, and me for a fun engaging conversation about storytelling and Star Wars history on this episode of Fangirl Chat. Many thanks to Rob Dehlinger for creating out Fangirl Chat opening theme.
Tish Pahl, along with Chris Cassidy, authored two Star Wars short stories for the Tales of the New Republic that featured Bechdel Test passing adventures. You can find her on Twitter Tish_OFW.
Kay is a contributor to FAN and host of Hyperspace Theories. You can find her on Twitter @Geek_Kay.
Please check out the Athena’s Daughters Kickstarter – $7 will get you an eBook and a ton of extras, and we have paperbooks and art prints and other things specially available. It runs until midnight on Thursday, January 15.
Tricia Barr’s novel, Wynde, won the 2014 Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Ebook. She was also part of Silence in the Library’s successful all-female creator science fiction and fantasy anthology Athena’s Daughters, which is available now. For excerpts and tales of her adventures in creating a fictional universe, hop over to TriciaBarr.com.
For updates on all things FANgirl follow @FANgirlcantina on Twitter or like FANgirl Zone on Facebook. At times she tries the Tumblr.
