Club Jade

Star Wars Insider: Issue #127 hits the shelves this week, with Titan Magazines putting an overview online of its 100 pages. The cover article explains why Han Solo is still the man, and other features include a look at the new Star Tours attraction, an interview with Timothy Zahn, a look back at the radio dramas, and an extract from Drew Karpyshyn’s forthcoming The Old Republic: Revan novel.

Meanwhile, Del Rey announced on Facebook that a Darth Vader short story (not written by Haden Blackman) will be coming to an upcoming issue of the Insider.

Riptide: Just as Comic-con was getting going, Del Rey released a third mini excerpt from the upcoming novel Riptide by Paul S. Kemp.

LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace: After being broadcast over this past weekend on Cartoon Network, the animated LEGO Star Wars special will be coming to DVD and Blu-ray on September 16, coinciding with the Star Wars saga Blu-ray release. Also, Scholastic is putting out an adaptation for the kids of the show, sayeth Amazon. Stay tuned for our review of the hilarious adventure.

The team of The Jedi Path now invites readers to delve into the Dark Side with Book of Sith, coming from Becker & Mayer through Amazon Publishing in January 2012.

At Comic-Con International, Epic Ink (part of Becker & Mayer) is showcasing the amazing (and large) Star Wars: The Blueprints by J. W. Rinzler, in its first public appearance, but is also spreading the word about the upcoming project, Book of Sith. Don’t want to shell out $500 for Star Wars: The Blueprints? Maybe you can win a copy in Epic Ink’s Comic-Con Giveaway! Or just drool over it virtually with the trailer.

You’ll also want to check out the cover art for Drew Karpyshyn’s Revan novel:

And in other Comic-Con news, check out Swank-mo-tron’s review of the Star Wars Blu-ray experience at Comic-Con’s Preview Night.

Interviews, everywhere! There’s been an absolute plague of interviews lately. EUC talks to Lucasfilm Licensing’s Sue Rostoni, Podcaster Sohaib had Del Rey’s Shelly Shapiro on his show last week, and Roqoo Depot has Jedi: The Dark Side writer Scott Allie.

Blurbs. Drew Karpyshyn’s Revan novel gets a summary.

Fandom. Michael Falkner is breaking up with the ForceCast over their recent treatment of Expanded Universe fans.

Namesake corner. I’ve got two fairly minor Mara Jade bits today: io9 named her one of their 10 sexiest assassins. Naturally, it features fan art of both the badly photoshopped and naked body paint persuasions. (Sigh.) On the other hand, there’s a new namesake: A foal. She has a twin sister named after Princess Leia.

Interview. Paul S. Kemp’s Star Wars books so far have seemed to be fairly well received, but will we ever see him step up to write Luke, Han, Leia and the rest? In an interview with the Dearborn Press and Guide, Kemp says “I don’t think so.”

“Writers bring certain things to the table as part of the craft. Some are very good at plotting, some are gifted at prose, I think where I excel naturally is developing interesting, conflicted characters. To do that, I need a lot of room. It’s hard to do that with characters with so much history already behind them. It’s difficult for me to tell the kind of story I’d like to tell and have it star Luke, Han, Lando, and Leia, and their kids.”

The rest of the article echos much of what he said in a blog entry about getting started as a writer.

The Old Republic: Revan. Drew Karpyshyn has a brief Q&A on his site about the upcoming book – which, you may be happy to know, is already in the hands of Del Rey. The book is current scheduled for an October release.

Comics. Comic Book Resources interviews John Ostrander about the upcoming series Agent of the Empire. Also at CBR, six pages of Jedi: The Dark Side #1.

Art. If you’re a fan of the Hildebrandt’s artwork for Shadows of the Empire, you’ll want to check out this gallery by Paxton Holley on Flickr, which contains some shots of the models for the some of the paintings. (via mMathab)

Opinion Chris over at EUC has some suggestions for the various publishing eras.

Revan will be Karpyshyn’s Old Republic novel. The third novel tie-in to Bioware’s Old Republic MMO will feature the Sith Lord from Knights of the Old Republic, SWTOR.com announced today. Other characters from the KOTOR games, including Canderous, T3-M4, the Exile and Bastila Shan, will also appear.

Upcoming. Dan Wallace is currently working on an updated Essential Guide to Characters.

Art books. Abrams will follow up last year’s Star Wars Visions with Star Wars Art: Comics.

Interview. Sci-Fi block talks to comic writer Tom Taylor.

Opinion Lightsaber Rattling makes a point for Star Wars eBooks.

The Random House Fall catalog is out, and there’s a brief blurb at hand for the eighth Fate of the Jedi novel, Christie Golden’s Ascension. For the sake of politeness I’ll black-bar it (highlight to read) but it’s really, terribly vague. Have at it:

In this penultimate novel in the bestselling Fate of the Jedi series, Luke Skywalker, his son Ben, and the Sith girl Vestara are in hot pursuit of the dread power called Abeloth, who has joined forces with the Sith in a bid to take over the galaxy. The leadership of the government is uncertain, torn apart by power struggles and infiltrators, while the Sith have a terrible secret that could shake the Jedi Order to its core…

(Must admit I burst out laughing at ‘dread power’. Oh, Del Rey.)

Also taking up space in the catalog is Drew Karpyshyn’s Old Republic tie-in. We learn that the title will be announced April 15th and cover will be revealed at San Diego Comic-Con. Also, breaking news: “STAR WARS GAME TIE-IN NOVELS ARE POPULAR.” Oh, is that why they keep publishing them? I had no idea.

Ascension is due out August 16; The Karpyshyn is currently slated for October 18. (via)

Another Old Republic comic is coming. The new Insider contain news of a mini-series called The Lost Suns. Game writer Alexander Freed will be doing the writing honors, with the team from Blood of the Empire on art. Head on over to NJOE and/or Star Wars Universe for the full image and details.

This is the same issue that features Paul S. Kemp’s ‘The Third Lesson,‘ a Darth Malgus short story, so if you’re a fan of the era it’ll no doubt be worth picking up. On that note, Kemp is giving away a Deceived audiobook or two.

Also upcoming… Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff reveals a new tentative title for her and Reaves’ Coruscant Knights followup: The Last Jedi.

More on the Dark Side: Scott Allie talks more with MTV Geek about Qui-Gon Jinn’s adventures in the upcoming comic Star Wars: Jedi – The Dark Side. Without revealing whether Qui-Gon is the one to cross over to the dark side, Allie talks about developing a story about the Jedi’s imperfect judgment, with a plot that is flashbacked to in the YA books, and describes Qui-Gon’s role here as a “powerful Jedi out on the rim of the galaxy, angry and alone, like a hero from the Clint Eastwood western.”

Recent releases. John Jackson Miller has notes for Knight Errant.

Nonfiction. J. W. Rinzler tweets about a new Star Wars Art installment.

Learn something. In his latest blog entry, Drew Karpyshyn writes about how a book makes it from outline to novel.

Coming in the back way. A prequel fan’s review of Heir to the Empire. He liked it!

We got a number of schedule updates from Sue Rostoni today. There were a few notable delays – Riptide, Shadow Games and (sigh) Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse have all been pushed back a few months. There were also a number of additions: Drew Karpyshyn’s contribution to The Old Republic tie-ins set for October. Looking forward into 2012, Luceno’s Plagueis novel is up for January, and Allston’s new Wraith book for July.

We also got what is perhaps our first conformation that John Jackson Miller’s Lost Tribe of the Sith is set for print. Head on over to our book schedule for all the details.

Previews. They’ve finally stopped releasing Red Harvest chapters at eight. (The book comes out tomorrow.) Meanwhile, there are three chapters of The Old Republic: Deceived scattered around the internet. I suppose we’ll learn soon enough if this actually has any effects on sales.

Interviews. On that note, Paul S. Kemp talks Deceived at Darth Hater, while Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff chats with Knights Archive.

Reader. An analysis of The Jedi Path.

Also… Drew Karpyshyn has a new site.

This is a big week for releases, which I guess is understandable seeing as all we’ve had for the rest of the month is a reprint. Hunker down, kids: I got a lot to go through.

The biggest item (literally) is Daniel Wallace’s The Jedi Path, the wildly anticipated “in-universe artifact” that will teach you to be a Jedi. Or so they claim. (I am skeptical. Of course, that’s my job.) It does have a neat case, though. Also out on Tuesday is Drew Karpyshyn’s Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil in paperback.

Also of interest is The Art of Drew Struzan, which TFN has graciously reviewed.

As for Wednesday Dark Horse (or their printers) are making up for lost time with Blood Ties: A Tale of Jango and Boba Fett #2 and Invasion: Rescues #4, while those who prefer TPBs can pick up The Force Unleashed II adaption and the second volume of the A Long Time Ago… omnibus.