Details and Excerpt from Claudia Gray’s Novel Bloodline!

BloodlineStar Wars: Bloodline, written by Claudia Gray is a follow-up novel to Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath. The story takes place 6 years before The Force Awakens and will feature characters from the new movie. Read on for a small excerpt from the book.

 

 

From USA Today:

Leia (played by Carrie Fisher in the movies) is professionally at a good place, as a senator and leader in a peaceful New Republic decades after the fall of Vader and the Emperor’s stranglehold on the galaxy. However, Gray says that a new generation doesn’t remember the lessons of the Rebellion or recognize the wrongs of the Empire, and Leia begins to see the cracks in the foundation that could lead to a dangerous future for the galaxy.

Family is a major theme overall in the Star Wars films and it plays a key role in one of the book’s most significant events, “one that has pretty far-reaching repercussions for several characters,” Gray says. “However, this novel isn’t fundamentally about Leia as a wife, sister or mom; this is about the role she’s created for herself since the fall of the Empire, and the one she takes up by the time of (The Force Awakens).”
Leia

Some characters from the recent film make an appearance in Bloodline, though Gray is introducing a lot of new players. The most important is Ransolm Casterfo, a guy Gray describes as “an ambitious young senator who’s Leia’s political opposite in virtually every way. He even collects artifacts from the Empire, like pro-Palpatine banners, pieces of armor, and so on.”

Gray sets the scene for the excerpt with Leia as one of the guests at “an early morning meeting that may seem to be one more day in politics, but is actually to talk over a critical decision about the galaxy’s future. She thinks this will be another day of policy discussions until she receives an ominous warning.”

Claudia-Gray
Claudia Gray

The novel is scheduled for a release on May 3, 2016.

 

Read an excerpt from Chapter 13 of ‘Star Wars: Bloodline:

An entire generation has prospered during an era of peace. The New Republic, governed by the Galactic Senate on Hosnian Prime, has held power for more than two decades. Yet conflict has begun to take shape within the Senate. As political gridlock threatens to cripple the fledgling democracy, the quarrels of the New Republic will soon radiate throughout the galaxy. . .

The conference building of the New Republic senatorial complex contained multiple rooms appropriate for every kind of auxiliary function imaginable, from memorial concerts to awards ceremonies. Leia Organa and Tai-Lin Garr headed toward one of the smallest banquet rooms. The breakfast meeting had been organized by Varish Vicly, who couldn’t imagine a bad time for a party.

Varish came loping toward them now on all fours. “There you are! I was worried you’d be late.”

“We’re still early,” Leia protested as both she and Tai-Lin were wrapped in quick, long-limbed hugs.

“Yes, but I worry. You know how these guys get.”

 

For the full excerpt go to USA Today

 

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Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.Born on April 24, 1980.

83 thoughts on “Details and Excerpt from Claudia Gray’s Novel Bloodline!

  • February 4, 2016 at 3:21 pm
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    I hope we get some more books set between ROTJ and TFA. Coolest time period.

    • February 4, 2016 at 4:48 pm
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      Definitely.

    • February 4, 2016 at 5:04 pm
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      We will. It’s a complete mystery at this point. I imagine they’ll want to keep it that way somewhat until Ep 8 and 9 are out.

      • February 4, 2016 at 5:19 pm
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        And then they’ll go nuts with the books and comics set during that period. It’s too lucrative an opportunity to pass up.

    • February 4, 2016 at 6:51 pm
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      I am also hoping for some story of things that happened between ESB and ROTJ.

      • February 4, 2016 at 7:03 pm
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        I’m hoping for that as well. I’m actually hoping that the ongoing Star Wars and Darth Vader series tell the story in between TESB and ROTJ. That way we can see how Vader’s failure to capture Luke on Bespin has affected him and we can see how Luke becomes the Jedi Knight we see in ROTJ amongst other things.

        • February 4, 2016 at 7:28 pm
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          I’m kinda hoping they basically retcon Shadows of the Empire (at least the good parts). Prince Xizor was a cool character and he fits in nicely with the new canon. Not sure how I feel about Dash, though…

          • February 4, 2016 at 7:34 pm
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            I LOVE Dash. Don’t insult the great Alderaanian.

          • February 4, 2016 at 7:40 pm
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            I love Shadows of the Empire so I’d be cool with that being brought into the new canon. I’d be fine with a new take on that time period as well, though.

      • February 4, 2016 at 8:31 pm
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        There is one already out. Moving Targets.

      • February 5, 2016 at 1:18 pm
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        recanonize SOTE! #dashrendarisalive

    • February 5, 2016 at 3:07 pm
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      We have the two remaining books in the Aftermath series, which have a chance to be better when they take the negative feedback about the first into consideration. I’d also assume from the original title of “New Republic: Bloodline”, which was assuredly sliced in half for being terribly awkward, that they plan to do other “New Republic” era novels, whether they’re called that or not…

  • February 4, 2016 at 3:25 pm
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    I wonder if Ransolm Casterfo was on Hosnian Prime when it got atomized.

    • February 4, 2016 at 4:27 pm
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      Wonder if he is Benicio Del Toro’s character for Ep VIII…

      • February 4, 2016 at 5:12 pm
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        that would make a lot of sense

        • February 4, 2016 at 5:22 pm
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          Except that del Toro isn’t young. It’ll more likely be someone who is sort of a flipside of the young Leia.

          • February 4, 2016 at 5:52 pm
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            it’s only set 6 years before The Force Awakens

          • February 4, 2016 at 5:57 pm
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            Meaning what?

          • February 4, 2016 at 6:04 pm
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            you said young Leia… at the time this book is set then she’s in her 50s

          • February 4, 2016 at 6:12 pm
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            And by “young Leia” I meant Leia when we first met her. Y’know, back when she was young. That’s why I qualified my statement by including the phrase “the young Leia.”

      • February 4, 2016 at 6:27 pm
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        He’s ten years younger than Carrie Fisher, so its workable, but I hope they don’t go that route as he’s already collecting stuff in the MCU.

      • February 4, 2016 at 7:04 pm
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        Unfortunately they have already shown/said that they will not debut movie characters in books/comics ect. But who knows maybe they will soften on that stance.

        • February 4, 2016 at 8:40 pm
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          When/where was this said? I don’t doubt you, I just hadn’t heard/read this.

        • February 5, 2016 at 12:27 am
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          BS They have Poe’s comic series

          • February 5, 2016 at 2:04 am
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            Poe debuted in TFA.

  • February 4, 2016 at 4:11 pm
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    Yay! A book about Leia! Great cover!

  • February 4, 2016 at 4:18 pm
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    Will emo-teen Ben Solo be shown massacring Uncle Luke’s crib + students?

    • February 4, 2016 at 5:03 pm
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      I sure hope we see either a pre-purge Kylo, or get some new light on when/how it all went down.

      • February 4, 2016 at 5:15 pm
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        The timeframe is wrong for the former, but I don’t see how they can avoid referencing what happened.

        • February 4, 2016 at 5:21 pm
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          Do we know for a fact when it happened relative to TFA? Everything I’ve seen has been vague about the timing. It could have been 2 years, it could have been 10 years or more.

          • February 4, 2016 at 5:36 pm
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            Kylo is supposed to be 29 or 30 (that’s straight from Pablo Hidalgo), and you combine that with other evidence to place the time of his fall at roughly fifteen years before TFA. It’s obvious Han and Chewie had been gone for more than two years, and the same is true for Luke.

          • February 4, 2016 at 7:25 pm
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            That sounds about right, but what evidence is there for a 15-year-old Kylo going full Vader? I haven’t seen anything to places it that precisely. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was only 5-10 years before TFA. Unless you take the “boy” reference at face value and assume he was less than 18 at the time of the purge.

          • February 4, 2016 at 7:29 pm
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            Snoke cameo….or (seriously) GTFO. C’mon – like just a morsel, a cutscene, anything!

        • February 4, 2016 at 6:38 pm
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          Yes that’s what I want to see the most. Ben solo transforming into Kylo ren and the slaughter of Lukes Jedi academy. Maybe the Knights of ren were a group of the students that wanted to join the dark side. Also can’t wait to see snokes backstory.

          • February 4, 2016 at 7:02 pm
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            I like what you’re saying here but, be careful because this is prequel-ish territory and we all know how a small majority feel about that. Lol

          • February 4, 2016 at 7:06 pm
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            “Small majority”? What?

        • February 4, 2016 at 8:38 pm
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          Why do you think this? Many people have assumed that Kylo’s fall was around the same time as Rey being left on Jakku, but Pablo Hidalgo has hinted on twitter that that is an incorrect correlation. He has also hinted that Kylo’s fall was much more recent than 15 years prior. I think we WILL see his fall to the dark side in this novel, and everyone assuming it took place over a decade prior to TFA are all wrong.

          • February 4, 2016 at 8:43 pm
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            You honestly think something as important to this story as Kylo’s fall will be depicted in something as inconsequential as one of these books? That’d be like saving Luke and Vader’s Bespin duel for The Star Wars Holiday Special II.

          • February 4, 2016 at 10:06 pm
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            interesting….

          • February 5, 2016 at 3:05 pm
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            I also think the assumption that Kylo’s turn correlates to the purge against Luke’s Jedi academy is incorrect. Kylo is never specifically assigned blame for murdering the Jedi students. And just because he is currently the leader of the Knights of Ren does not mean he was when the massacre happened.

  • February 4, 2016 at 4:26 pm
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    “The most important is Ransolm Casterfo, a guy Gray describes as “an ambitious young senator who’s Leia’s political opposite in virtually every way. He even collects artifacts from the Empire, like pro-Palpatine banners, pieces of armor, and so on.”

    I do hope that’s not going to be Benicio del Toro character in VIII…..

    • February 4, 2016 at 5:13 pm
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      Given that del Toro is in his late forties, probably not.

      • February 4, 2016 at 6:15 pm
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        He’s about 10 years younger that Carrie, so he’s a young senator from Leia’s POV.

        • February 4, 2016 at 6:18 pm
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          I don’t know. No 56-year-olds think I’m young.

          • February 4, 2016 at 6:21 pm
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            I’ve been called young by 52 year olds, so I think its a case of different views.

          • February 4, 2016 at 6:37 pm
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            But the context of the story being told leads me to believe he’ll be closer in age to the First Order honchos we’ve seen. And making him sort of a “dark mirror” of ANH-era Leia will make for a nice contrast and give her someone with whom to butt serious heads.

          • February 4, 2016 at 6:54 pm
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            I agree that’s more likely, but a ten year gap still makes him a young Senator compared to Leia IMO.

          • February 4, 2016 at 7:37 pm
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            That’s true, but if you’re going approach it from the viewpoint of semantics, he’s described in the article as “young,” which has a much different connotation than “younger than Leia.”

          • February 4, 2016 at 7:51 pm
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            True. I don’t think they’ll use Benicio in that role tbh, it will be compared to the collector in MCU.

          • February 4, 2016 at 8:02 pm
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            Yep. I also don’t think they’ll introduce Benicio’s character in a book that’ll be read by only a small percentage of the people who’ll see the movie. That’s okay with someone like Snap Wexley, but doing it with a major character would be counterproductive. I know people keep expecting these sorts of transmedia connections, but Lucasfilm knows the movies will always be the biggest draw, and that audience takes precedence.

    • February 4, 2016 at 7:30 pm
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      Ransolm is a senator, so it’s likely he was killed when starkiller base destroyed Hosnian Prime.

      • February 4, 2016 at 7:48 pm
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        Unless he knew about Starkiller……

  • February 4, 2016 at 4:29 pm
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    I loved how it shows Leia in her Political element not too unlike her Real Mother Padme.

    • February 26, 2016 at 8:26 am
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      i never even noticed this.. padme was a political badass, especially in the clone wars

  • February 4, 2016 at 5:05 pm
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    This looks like a good book

  • February 4, 2016 at 5:42 pm
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    I couldn’t be more excited for this book. Leia is a great character and she couldn’t be in more capable hands in my opinion. Looking forward to some political intrigue and some ghosts from Leia’s past in this one.

  • February 4, 2016 at 6:09 pm
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    as long as ben solo is in this novel… i’m beyond excited.

  • February 4, 2016 at 6:43 pm
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    Very excited for this book! I hope it answers more questions than creating more questions.

  • February 4, 2016 at 7:10 pm
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    Totally psyched for this book, Claudia Gray is one of the best Star Wars authors to come around in a long time.

  • February 4, 2016 at 7:10 pm
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    I find it interesting that they changed the book’s name from “New Republic: Bloodline” to simply “Bloodline”. Because of this, the novelization of TFA now lists the novel with an incorrect title.

  • February 4, 2016 at 7:25 pm
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    Sweet, Let’s hope this washes the bad taste of Aftermath out of our mouths.

    • February 4, 2016 at 7:35 pm
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      I stopped reading Aftermath when Mon Mothma said they need to disband the military…I eventually finished it, but took me a few months to go back and finish it.

      • February 4, 2016 at 10:05 pm
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        Marc Thompson got me through AFTERMATH

        • February 4, 2016 at 11:18 pm
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          Yea, he and Jonathan Davis are awesome at reading Star Wars audiobooks, that’s for sure!

    • February 4, 2016 at 7:41 pm
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      Anything will be fine as long as I don’t see that prose style Wendig used. Smh

      • February 4, 2016 at 9:22 pm
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        That didn’t particularly bother me. None of these books are literary. I don’t expect Hemingway when I pick up a Star Wars novel. What bothered me (a lot) about Aftermath were the elements that pulled me out of the story and back into our world. Were they not playing Catan near the beginning? Ugh. The Alliance issued playing cards with high ranking, wanted Imperials? Double ugh. I know that’s a little thing to complain about, but it bugged me to no end. I was waiting for someone to log into SpaceBook from their portable device or something.

        I also had issue with Wendig himself intruding into the story. Why mention the Imperial officers’ “little hat” every other time one is mentioned? Let diminutive judgements like this come through the characters, not through the objective narrations.

        • February 5, 2016 at 12:18 am
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          Not to mention describing a character as having a moist charisma is just cringe-worthy. Wtf, I’ve never heard anyone described as moist in my life, unless the referral involves certain activities. Is the guy drunk, a sexual predator… ?

          • February 5, 2016 at 3:02 pm
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            I have no problem with that particular usage. If you are willing to accept it for what it is without making it weird, it gets the point across perfectly well….a charisma that’s a little too charismatic and thus subtly dripping extra charisma, like a smarmy politician.

  • February 4, 2016 at 8:25 pm
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    Super excited. I just really hope the author didn’t have to jump through many hoops to avoid spoiling bits of episode 8. It will feel odd if Snoke, ben, or luke aren’t mentioned.

  • February 4, 2016 at 8:27 pm
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    sounds good. just wish that we got something like this before the movie came out.

  • February 4, 2016 at 10:08 pm
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    wonder if any of the LOST STARS characters will have a part in this book. I can hope.

    • February 4, 2016 at 10:35 pm
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      unfortunately, no.

      • February 5, 2016 at 2:59 pm
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        We don’t know that specifically. Just because it’s not “about” them doesn’t mean they won’t appear in some fashion….

    • February 5, 2016 at 12:16 am
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      Yep….Leia. 🙂

  • February 4, 2016 at 10:56 pm
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    I think that warning may be the cause of her declaring the Resistance. Maybe the First Order in their first days – maybe not called that, back in the day – attacks the New Republic or something like that. But all I’m waiting for is some Ben Solo under Luke’s training, to be honest 😀

  • February 5, 2016 at 1:52 am
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    Does anyone honesty think anything from 1986 is considered mythical? The hardest part to swallow about this new continuity is thinking everyone in this galaxy suffers from advanced Ahlzhemiers.

    • February 5, 2016 at 3:57 am
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      That’s like asking why do we still getting into land wars in Asia?

      • February 5, 2016 at 10:16 am
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        People have zero say in whether they go to war or not though. It happens regardless of public opinion.

    • February 5, 2016 at 5:51 am
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      We are on a planet, they are on a galaxy…

      • February 5, 2016 at 10:19 am
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        I can still remember every holiday in 86 I celebrated as well as all the films I saw that year and most days of school. It may seem like an eternity to a teenager but not a grown ass adult past their 20’s.

        • February 5, 2016 at 4:19 pm
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          Do you know what happened In india in the last 20 years?

          • February 6, 2016 at 9:52 am
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            Depends what event you are talking about. Know any memebers of The Greatest Generation who forgot when D-Day was or any of your own regarding 9/11?

            Our media and technology us far less primitive than SW is, You honestly think asude from sheltered rubes like Rey that most if the galactic population would have a grade schooler’s concept of galactic politics?

  • February 19, 2016 at 6:59 pm
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    I’m looking forward to the book, Lost stars was brilliant and would really like to see what she does with this book. It will be great to find out some of the details of what happened after return of the jedi and aftermath, leading into the events of the force awakens

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