ChronoRadio #16: Fans Do It For Free
A Review by Jay Mustered

In the latest edition of ChronoRadio (CR), Nathan P. Butler discusses fan works: fiction; films; and audio. Do some professional writers miss the ideas of Star Wars when writing? Do some fans do it better? Are fans filling in gaps in the continuity, or are we just trying to prove we can do a story better than the author?

As always, CR begins with Nathan's introduction of the current show and Teek's Ear News.

This edition's guests are Teague "Fig" Chrystie and Michael Sheridan.

Teague "Fig" Chrystie is a regular StarWarsFanworks.com contributor and fan film creator, who discusses games (computer and non), books (juvenile and adult), and continuity. He also discusses which fans could contribute meaningful tales. One of the interesting comments from Chrystie, to paraphrase, is that there are some good writers who don’t care about Star Wars; they just want to write about whatever "artsy" thing flits through their mind.

Michael Sheridan helps answer the question of "Why do fans create the things we do?" Sheridan, writer of The Logan Chronicles and creator of the Star Wars Myth and Magic website (sheridanrealm.com/starwars), discusses his website, The Logan Chronicles, his motivation, the reasons why he began working in fan audio, his reasons to write about stormtroopers, and fans feeling the need to fill in the gaps in the continuity. Should fans be working on established characters or new ones?

Next comes the fourth in the six-part series on storytelling, dealing with moral relativism, and using characters such as friends, family, coworkers to show the protagonists traits. What they say, how they say it, what is said about them, and making all of that come together in one cohesive package.

Next comes the review of Star Wars Infinities: Empire Strikes Back, and of course Nathan's end of the episode rant, or uhm, commentary: this episode features a rant about Dark Horse's message board and the maturity of the posters.

A good episode. The interviews are good. The storytelling segment was okay. Listening to Nathan's rant about bashing was the highlight of the show.