OL, opening the big can of Sarlaccs. Any recommendations for good inspirational fiction for EotE?

Novels, short stories, graphic novels, what ever...

What's good and why? What is terrible and why?

Could be Star Wars or non-Star Wars

Scoundrels by Timothy Zahn sounds like it could hit on a lot of what EotE is going for. I haven't read it myself yet, but Zahn tends to be pretty good and its been rated pretty well. He is mainly known for the Thrawn trilogy which is also really good.

I have thus far really enjoyed the Legacy series of comics by Dark Horse (Legacy II is currently under way and I hope it wraps up before Marvel takes the lisence over again.)

Not strictly reading, but the Firefly series, both TV and comics, is pretty darn good.

The Discworld series for adding a dash of humor and tropes into your games. Rincewind and the Watch sub-series being my favorites.

I always take Star Wars books with the Caveat that these are not high literature books. I'm not expecting Joyce, or Faulkner or Eco here, just stories I can enjoy. Junk food for the brain.

With that warning, I would recommend for this setting Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina, Tales from Jabba's Palace. The Han Solo Trilogy is another possibility. It might put you in a seedy spice smuggling kind of mood and give you good ideas for how obligations can come into play. I haven't read Scoundrels yet, but it is probably good Zahn is a good choice usually and judging by the blurb it sounds like it could be a lot of fun to read.

On that note Zahn's Allegiance and Choices of One might be good to pick up for the AoR setting if you were in the mood.

I'm reading Shadow Games right now. It's certainly Edge-themed (as compared to much of the Star Wars EU that is Jedi-themed). I'm about one third of the way through the book, and so far, so good.

Scoundrels was good. I've always liked the Brian Daley Han Solo novels which honestly read like really thorough game modules.

People laugh at me but I'm telling you, old A team show plots make great basic ideas for sessions.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084967/episodes?season=1&ref_=tt_eps_sn_1

Read those synopses and tell me they aren't good basic session ideas for EoE.

I forgot about the Han Solo Trilogy! That was a fun read. Also I remember Lando Calrissian had a book series too that would do well too.

Just finished Allegiance. Definitely worth a read and some useful bits for EotE as well as AoR.

Keep the suggestions coming.

Read yourself some Elmore Leonard. Pretty much all his stories are about criminals or the people that deal with them, and there's loads of inspiration for your own law enforcements and outlaws (organized and otherwise). Leonard is great at writing believable criminals, in that a lot of them are dumbasses, or have anger-management issues, etc. Antagonists don't have to only be moustache-twirling Hans Gruber-types, or inscrutable, all-powerful Godfather-types.

I also agree with checking out Scoundrels. I powered through it a couple of weeks ago and it was encouraging as a new GM. It also had a lot of good fluff and party interaction that I could see transferring over to the game very easily.

With regards to non-book reference material, the clone wars tv show is very good for visualizing different aspects of the Star Wars universe. It's been a very entertaining watch, too.

Firefly. EotE is very much Firefly, set in Episode IV.

Makes my inner fanboy explode with happiness.

For a non-Force heavy Age of Rebellion/EotE series I highly recommend Wraith Squadron series of books. It is filled with much humor and a lot of drama. Unfortunately the author passed away this year Aaron Allston. Yub, yub commander yub yub.

It depends on the time frame you are looking for because EotE may be set a little after the Battle of Yavin (ABY) you could read several series.

There are actually 2 Han Solo trilogies and a Lando Calirissian one as well all of which occur BBY (before Battle of Yavin). The Tales someone recommended are also good though I recommend New Republic as well and the Tales are all short stories so you can pick and choose. If you want the Dark Horse comic line is also very good. I recommend Legacy, Bounty Hunter comics (there are several so you will have to look around), Boba Fett comic series (yep he got one), Crimson Empire 1 and 2, and finally Shadows of the Empire 1 and 2.

If you are after the Battle of Endor I recommend the New Jedi series (teen novels as well as full) because you have lots of material there. Thrawn trilogy and then the later duology as I like to call it that came out later by Zahn. Finally there is the Rogue squadron (and in part the Wraith Squadron I recommended first) written by Stackpole who is a decent writer as well in my opinion. I avoided anything shortly before and after the Yuuzahn Vong War with the exception of Legacy comics.

Hope this helps

Oh wow, I somehow didn't hear about Aaron Allstons passing. That is tragic that he died so young.

I always enjoyed his books, and I agree that the X-Wing books would also be good reference material. Perhaps I should read them again too!

For Edge of the Empire I recommend Scoundrels, Shadow Games, both Han Solo Trilogies, and Tales from Jabba's Palace I don't recommend the Lando Calrissian Adventures at all. They were so horrible I stopped reading the EU novels for about 4 years after reading them.

For Age of Rebellion the first seven X-Wing novels, Allegiance, and Choices of One, plus maybe the Empire and Rebellion trilogy. The era is right but I haven't read them yet.

Old Mission Impossible TV show plot lines. Some are decent and provide some inspiration.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060009/episodes?season=1&ref_=tt_eps_sn_1

Old Kung Fu plot lines, good for the wandering Force Exile.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068093/episodes?season=1

The Mavericks, great for the Scoundrel gambler at your table.

http://www.tv.com/shows/maverick/episodes/