StarWars.com confirms Williams’ Old Republic novel

Sean Williams’ The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance will indeed be a July hardcover. (Though I suspect that date may still be subject to change pending word on the release of the actual game.) But that’s not the only upcoming Expanded Universe work set in the era: The site has announced another Old Republic novel from Paul S. Kemp and a StarWars.com short story from Threat of Peace scribe Rob Chestney.

UPDATE: Kemp has confirmed that his TOR novel is not the Crosscurrent sequel. Given that Crosscurrent sounds like it’s going to playing with timelines, I’m not sure whether this is the Crosscurrent sequel” Kemp announced a few months ago or a third Star Wars book from him… With things still in the “the early planning stages” it could very well be either. But on a more solid note, an excerpt from Crosscurrent did surface today.

From April Fools to reality: NYT explores origins of Thinkgeek’s tauntaun sleeping bag

ThinkGeek's Tauntaun sleeping bagThinkgeek and their tauntaun sleeping bag has made the mainstream: A profile in The New York Times.

Mostly a retailer, ThinkGeek does very little licensing and manufacturing, and its attempts to get a meeting with Lucasfilm to work out the rights to make the sleeping bag went nowhere. “We’d really pretty much given up,” Ty Liotta, the company’s senior merchandiser, said. “We decided: ‘We’re not doing anything else with this, and it’s funny. Let’s make it an April Fools’ product.’ ”

And an internet phenomenon was born…

Santa Maul has awakened! He wants a doughnut.

Santa Maul's Holiday Gift GuideSanta Maul gave his Black Friday spiel last year, and he’s particularly cranky today, so will just get to it. Remember, the more shopping you do, the more websites Santa Maul gets to crash, and the happier he will become. Also, now he is on Twitter, where he will be posting any further deals he finds today.

In conclusion, humor.

The Clone Wars: ‘Legacy of Terror’ leaves a legacy of reviews

When defending against Geonosian zombies, the lightsaber is mightier than the blaster. When reviewing Geonosian zombies, the pen (or the keyboard) is still mightier than the saber. Here’s what survivors of the great bug zombie attack of Star Wars – The Clone Wars: ‘Legacy of Terror’ are saying:

  • MTV Movies blog calls it, and the whole Geonosian story arc, exceptional, enjoying the new queen as a villain.
  • BigShinyRobot enjoyed it as well, though calls it the weakest in the Geonosis arc so far, and points out the similarities betweeen the Geonosian queen and the queen from Aliens
  • IGN gives it a 9 out of 10, relishing in the whole zombie aspect, and liking the banter between Obi-wan and Anakin.
  • TFN calls it light on plot but heavy on other redeeming elements, such as focusing on the different Jedi approaches, and the ick factor.
  • Joseph Lewis cheers for some genuinely heroic moments, and the lack of the annoying sidekick characters.

Was I just expecting too much of a Geonosian zombie storyline in my review? (Tune in later today to read it.) After all, while I enjoyed Death Troopers, I wished it were a bit more zombie horror-ific.

The fandom minute is not celebrating an Ewokiversary

eat or be eatenBitchin’ Endor. You’re sure to get a kick out of today’s most famous Star Wars eBay listing, i hate this stupid ewok. On that note, this is apparently the 25th anniversary of the debut of the first Ewok movie, Caravan of Courage. I’m sure everyone was all waiting breathlessly for that one back in the day.

Celeb fans. Bonnie talks Star Wars (and The Guild and Dr. Horrible and such) with geek of note Felicia Day.

Contests. Hasbro has picked the winner of their diorama contest.

Charity. The Seattle Area Lucasfilm Artifact Collectors Club, aka SARLACC, are selling a collectible lapel pin to raise money for cancer research.

What. Device to subdue rampaging elephants inspired by Empire Strikes Back? Sure, why not.

New video game announcement coming Dec. 12

Spike will be giving the scoop at their Video Game Awards, thus giving people an actual reason to watch a video game award show. Nice racket. (Chances are this isn’t to do with The Old Republic, since it’s already announced and they’d be fools not to milk the existing buzz: Battlefront 3, maybe? Your guesses are doubtless better than mine.)