Club Jade

This weekend is the first major con of the year, New York Comic Con. Steve Sansweet and “some famous—maybe infamous—guests” will be there to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Phantom Menace, along with folks from Del Rey, Dark Horse and Robot Chicken. And for The Clone Wars fans, the official site promises “an exclusive sneak peek of something very special.”

The Beat has the schedule of Dark Horse events, including a Star Wars panel and several signings on Saturday. And Star Wars is certain to come up at the Random House panel later (?) that day.

In other event news, dates were announced for Disney’s Star Wars Weekends last week.

Photo from NYCC ’08 by elorgwhee on Flickr. All hail Creative Commons!

Random House is among the publishers doing some housecleaning and restructuring right now. I’m not seeing Del Rey get any mentions, even in the blogs, but the Star Wars line is a massive cash cow, so maybe the folks there will weather it out. (Wizards of the Coast, however…)

But my point: I’m going to echo Scalzi and say that now is a good time to go buy some stuff that doesn’t have the safety net of a massive franchise and a 4-year contract, i.e. all those other books. Remember, science fiction and fantasy is a niche market, and thus likely to get caught up in cuts along the bottom line. So go out and support your favorites: Every paperback helps, and the bookstores aren’t doing that hot, either.

UPDATE: Scalzi is having a suggest-a-thon.

I realize that I am in the minority here, but I’ve always thought that getting books signed by their author is rather pointless. So I really don’t understand why anyone would want to bother getting an edition of a Star Wars novel with a personalized dedication page. (At least they’re not offering to do a find-and-replace with [insert character here]?) I suppose it makes sense for gifts, and it’s getting be that season… But still. Oh well: Whatever floats your boat.

The response to our Fate of the Jedi poll was pretty clear: Most of you (58%) are sure to be reading it, 24% are waiting to hear more before you decide, and only 19% have given up entirely (and/or were never big EU readers to begin with.) I’ll make a pretty pie chart after we finish our latest poll, though: Which of the other upcoming novels tickle your fancy the most? Vote below the cut or on the sidebar. (more…)

Well, after starting an avalanche of reveals last week, StarWars.com gives us a lowdown of the new publishing contract (so far.) Some of it we already know: Fate of the Jedi, Blood Oath, The Clone Wars. As for reveals…

• Blood Oath features… Zekk! Still not dead.

• Christie Golden’s Star Wars debut in summer ’09 will be titled Fate of the Jedi: Enigma.
• Karen Traviss’ Imperial Commando series will be in paperback, and the first book is 501st, also due next summer.
• Winter ’09 brings another (horror!?!) standalone from a new author, Joe Schreiber.
• And a guide to Vader published by Becker & Mayer, who handled last year’s Vault.
• Drew Karpyshyn’s third Bane novel (hardcover, natch) will appear in early 2010, as will Kemp’s standalone.
  
• Fall 2010 bring a Star Wars craft book by Bonnie Burton.

• And another new-to-us author, Alex Irvine, tackles the ancient Jedi.
• For 2011 expect Traviss’ Boba Fett standalone in paperback.
• And another PB from Michael Reaves and Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff.

• Order 66: StarWars.com has an except; Karen Traviss writes about finishing up the series on her blog.

• Comics: Remember the Ultimate Star Wars Graphic Novel Library? Well, it appears to have been canceled.
• Publishing: Learn a little more about what’s going on behind-the-scenes at Random House with Sarah Weinman’s Publishing Imprint Report Card.

The contract renewal we’ve all been expecting has finally been announced, (45 books: 35 novels!) along with the Fate of the Jedi series which has been burning up all the rumor mills. Aaron Allston, Troy Denning, and SW newcomer Christie Golden will be handling author duties on the post-LOTF series, but perhaps the biggest surprise here is that it will be entirely in hardcover. The first book, Allston’s Outcast, will be out in April.

Also name-dropped is The Making of The Empire Strikes Back coming in 2010, though whether it’s a reprint or reworking of previous material we’ve yet to learn.

There’s no mention of several other projects we’re awaiting official word on, like Cunningham’s Blood Oath or Traviss’ Fett standalone, but further Essential Guides are mentioned.

Nothing specific, of course – but another comic project? Vector should end in December, so 2009 is primed for… Something. I’m not even going to begin to guess, but I hope it’s not something Clone Wars.

At some point in the near future, I hope, I will be able to remove the tape from my fingers and actually type you more complete information about what’s coming up. Just be assured that the unmentionable 9-book series rumor is not the only stew on the stove. There will be ample side-dishes and a few chocolate sprinkles here and there. Plus, Dark Horse is brewing something as well, something that I am very excited about….

I suspect the reason we’ve been waiting so long for a contract announcement is because they want to reveal a full slate of new releases along with it…

With a month and a day to the first street date, LucasBooks and Del Rey have issued the press release, and now we know that five novels are coming! Karen Traviss and Karen Miller are the only authors named: no word on who, if anyone, will be joining them, or if the books are actual novelizations or side-stories… Though the plot description sounds familiar enough. In any case, we’re certain to get a lot more background on the Clone Wars.

Not an official announcement, and not really a huge surprise either given what we’ve been finding on RandomHouse.com, but Rebelscum is saying that Star Wars Action News is reporting (I can’t find it on their site, and life is too short for podcasts. It’s on their message boards.) that someone at Del Rey confirmed that they did renew their contract with Lucasfilm.

We’ll no doubt get additional details when the official announcement is made… Hopefully soon.