Behind the scenes with E.K. Johnston on writing Ahsoka

e-k-johnston-cropAhsoka by E.K. Johnston comes out today from Disney-Lucasfilm Press in hardcover, eBook and audio. It tells a great story that helps fill in some of the critical gaps between her departure from the Jedi Order in The Clone Wars and her appearance as the Rebel agent, Fulcrum, in Rebels.

In early September, author E.K. Johnston was a guest panelist at Salt Lake Comic Con, where she discussed her novel on two panels: “The Life and Times of Ahsoka Tano” (alongside Pablo Hidalgo, Amy Ratcliffe, and moderated by Bryan Young; panel available from Full of Sith) and “Star Wars Books: Writing the Force” (alongside Christie Golden, Cecil Castellucci, Matt Martin, and moderated by yours truly). Here is an abridged transcript of the panel, focusing on Johnston’s responses to the moderator prompts and panelist discussion as relating to writing the newest chapter in the story of Ahsoka Tano.

Here’s what Johnston had to say (trying to stay spoiler free) on the behind-the-scenes of writing Ahsoka: Continue reading “Behind the scenes with E.K. Johnston on writing Ahsoka”

Video: Ultimate Star Wars book tour with Adam Bray and Tricia Barr


To promote their new book, Ultimate Star Wars, DK Publishing has dispatched the four authors across the US on a book tour. I caught up with Tricia Barr and Adam Bray at their talk and signing at the Carlsbad Library in southern California, and ended up moderating the author talk at the library.


After the signing, I was able to sit down with Adam Bray to go more in depth about Ultimate Star Wars and some other upcoming projects. Catch the book tour when it comes to your area!

Interview: Star Wars Rebels’ Greg Weisman


Greg Weisman, one of the executive producers of the upcoming Rebels animated series, is also an author for the young adult audience with his series-starting Rain of the Ghosts, featuring a young teenager in the Caribbean who can see dead people. I had the opportunity to chat with Greg this past weekend at the Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore’s 21st Birthday Bash, and in this interview we discuss Rain of the Ghosts, the writing process for both print and animation, as well as his work on animated shows such as Young Justice, Gargoyles, and The Spectacular Spider-Man, including some of his own objectives and challenges for hitting a wider audience when creating a show and including diversity. While we couldn’t talk much about Rebels directly, he does provide some perspective for the show.

Thanks to Greg Weisman (Twitter: @Greg_Weisman) for the interview, and Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore for providing the venue. Check out Rain of the Ghosts, available now, and watch for the second book in the Rain series, Spirits of Ash and Foam, coming in July.

Interview: Joe Schreiber on Maul: Lockdown

Joe Schreiber.jpgWith Maul: Lockdown on sale this week, I had a chance to have author Joe Schreiber answer a few questions about his new novel. Joe was gracious enough to discuss the character of Maul and other aspects of Lockdown, including his collaboration with Jim Luceno to have it connect with Darth Plagueis. Having previously brought the living dead to Star Wars in Death Troopers and its prequel, Red Harvest, Schreiber is no stranger to the darker side of the galaxy far, far away.

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Interview: Ryder Windham on Death Star Owner’s Technical Manual

RyderWindham-Death-StarRyder Windham has written over fifty Star Wars books, across the spectrum from comics to junior books to hefty reference books. His latest book, the Death Star Owner’s Technical Manual, came out this week as a Haynes manual, and focuses on the saga’s favorite armored space station. Windham spoke with me about the new book, illustrated by Chris Reiff and Chris Trevas, who had worked previously with Windham on the Haynes Millennium Falcon Owner’s Technical Guide which came out in 2011. Here’s the interview with Ryder Windham about the new Death Star reference book:

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Interview: Michael Price on The Yoda Chronicles: Menace of the Sith

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With the second episode of LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles coming up on Cartoon Network on Wednesday, I had a chance to chat with Michael Price, the writer of the fun LEGO Star Wars specials, and see what’s in store for the audience this time. Mike’s a great guy, always willing to talk Star Wars and comedy, and this time, we’ve got some secrets for latest installment of LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles: “Menace of the Sith”. As announced in August, the new episode premieres on Cartoon Network on Wednesday, September 4 at 8 PM (ET/PT). Continue reading “Interview: Michael Price on The Yoda Chronicles: Menace of the Sith”

Interview: Randy Stradley & Douglas Wheatley on Dark Times

And you thought my con coverage was over! Here’s Randy Stradley, writer of Star Wars: Dark Times, and Douglas Wheatley, artist of Dark Times, discussing the start of the current arc, ‘A Spark Remains’. If you haven’t checked it out yet, Issue #1 came out in July, just before Comic-Con, and the second issue comes out today. While setting the stage for the activity in the first issue of ‘A Spark Remains’ (check out my review of #1 on Big Shiny Robot), the pair kept mum about the future of Jedi Dass Jennir and his friends, as well as other projects being worked on. Bonus: we get photobombed at the very end by a certain Sith voice actor.Dark Times: A Spark Remains #1

Interview: Kevin Hearne talks Star Wars and The Iron Druid Chronicles

Kevin_HearneKevin Hearne is the author of the upcoming Empire and Rebellion novel that centers on Luke Skywalker, which will be released after Martha Wells’ Razor’s Edge and James S. A. Corey’s Honor Among Thieves. At the end of July, Hearne joined his pal, first-time novelist Jason M. Hough, for the launch party for Hough’s book. I had a chance to chat with Hearne about Star Wars, his current series, The Iron Druid Chronicles, an urban fantasy series, and other stuff. Here’s the transcript of our interview:

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SDCC: Interview with J. W. Rinzler on The Making of Return of the Jedi and The Star Wars

On Saturday at Comic-Con, I had a chance to sit down with Lucasfilm’s J. W. Rinzler to discuss his upcoming works: The Making of Return of the Jedi, The Making of … ebooks with enhanced content, and The Star Wars, the eight-issue comic portraying the original draft screenplay of George Lucas for Star Wars. Big thanks to Mr. Rinzler for the interview, and Del Rey for their secret press room.