Club Jade

TheForce.net has a brand-new interview with Tim Zahn, their first since 2000. He talks about Allegiance, Outbound Flight, his creative process, and of course, the ever-popular character deaths question.

The big news here may be that he’s writing a Terminator novel, From the Ashes, a prequel to next year’s Terminator Salvation movie.

• New cover from Japan, Timothy Zahn’s Allegiance, over at the Japanese cover gallery. There’s a new Last of the Jedi one up as well. Death Star expected soon, no word on LOTF… (via)

• Thrawn (and Ackbar) get a little love over at io9′s list of greatest space strategists.
• TFN reports that author Troy Denning will be on the Philadelphia-area radio show To Be Continued this Sunday.

SF Crowsnest interviews Timothy Zahn about Allegiance.

501st: Mark Fordham of Utah in Rob Walker’s ‘Consumed’ column in The New York Times.

Tim Zahn: His Allegiance book tour got coverage in The Oregonian and The Lexington Herald-Leader

Irate Wookiee: Our headbutting friend gets around – papers all over the world are picking up the story. I’m sure LFL is overjoyed.

On Tuesday, head out to the book store to pick up Timothy Zahn’s Allegiance, a standalone novel set between ANH and ESB. Check out the preview for an interview, tour dates, and an excerpt.

Also out tomorrow is Zahn’s Outbound Flight in paperback. Meanwhile, Wednesday brings Knights of the Old Republic #13.

These haven’t been confirmed by an official source yet, but there are dates for a Timothy Zahn Allegiance book tour on the TFN boards.

How is that possible? Three words: Advance Reader Copies. I don’t know how Jay Tomio of FantasyBookSpot.com got one of Zahn’s Allegiance, but we’ve got a rather overwritten review containing details (spoilers, even) that sound pretty likely.

Two week delay for the next Insider. Just as mine started coming in on time, too. But it looks like the issue contains some good stuff, including a peek at the The Making of Star Wars and an interview with Timothy Zahn about Allegiance.

Andrew Wheeler reads Allegiance. Really, that’s it, no spoilers or anything. But please, no one tell him about Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. That’s fandom’s little crackhead secret.

A summary of Timothy Zahn’s Allegiance was found by a TFN user on Amazon U.K. I wouldn’t put too much faith in it, as there are two listings for the book and the summary seems a rather rough rewording of the first look at the novel. And they have the movie placement wrong. But, for posterity:

A “Star Wars” novel set between the events of “Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi”, it features a younger Han, Leia, and Luke, as well as Mara Jade. Mara Jade, the Emperor’s Hand, is looking into the illicit financial affairs of a planetary governor, hoping to find evidence that he might be funding the Rebellion. Luke, Han, and Chewbacca are sent on a mission to help some rebel supporters. Leia is busy being a diplomat, trying to drum up support for the Rebel Alliance. And a band of 5 stormtroopers, on the run after refusing a direct order, finds itself in the strange position of doing good deeds…and perhaps even aiding the Rebellion. The paths of all of them will crisscross back and forth as they come closer and closer to meeting up with one another…but never quite managing to.

However, we do have something from an official source: Sue Rostoni posted an excerpt from Allegiance on the starwars.com boards today. Text beneath the cut, nothing all that spoilery, IMO.

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