Just tossing this out there: If you like Star Wars, look into the Japanese novel/anime series 'The Legend of Galactic Heroes.' It's a more mature and thoughtful take on the basic Republic vs Empire space opera format, kind of like if GRRM wrote Star Wars.

I am so tired of living in interesting times.

Ah, yes. Waking up with inexplicable lower back pain and no idea what caused it. Gee, getting older is so much fun. Sigh.

Wow, signing up for this I got hit by the most confusing Capcha I've ever seen. I'm pretty sure they've become pointless when a human has to take multiple tries just to figure out what the prompt wants.