Club Jade

Gambit: Siege. The official site has brewed up the summary for Karen Miller’s final Clone Wars novel. Beware of spoilers: The book is a direct sequel to next month’s Gambit: Stealth.

And in other previews… Teasing the next installment of John Jackson Miller’s Lost Tribe of the Sith, coming February 10th.

Gaming, sort of. Artist Terese Nielsen talks to StarWars.com about her character portraits for WOTC’s latest miniature line.

Interview. Jason Fry talks Atlas with Gelf Magazine.

Namesake corner. Neat Mara Jade drawing.

Today brings our first novel of the new year: Paul S. Kemp’s Crosscurrent. Kemp’s been much in demand lately: There are interviews at TheForce.Net, swbooks.co.uk and in French at Star Wars Universe. Early reviews of the book have popped up at Flames Rising, DaveBrendon’s and Team Preston.

Don’t worry, comic fans, there’s something for you, too: Legacy #44 will be in comic shops on Wednesday.

While talking to MTV News, Harrsion Ford dished up a little talk about the fifth Indiana Jones film, but doesn’t elaborate much on George Lucas’ “crazy but good” idea for a new adventure, and concedes that his Extraordinary Measures co-star Brendan Fraser would probably have his Rick O’Connell character from The Mummy franchise beat Indiana Jones to the treasure nowadays.

Variety reports that Paramount released that the next Star Trek film will have its release on June 29, 2012. While J. J. Abrams will be producing, no word yet on whether he will be directing, or just adding lens flare effects. John Cho reports to IGN Movies that he’s hoping for some Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan in the sequel, which could either be Star Trek 2, or Star Trek 12 depending on how you count. Meanwhile SciFiWire finds some Trek fans in Seattle use body paint to make Trek uniforms (warning: NSFW). Maybe they could wear some Star Trek wetsuits.

George’s zen. George Lucas gave a resounding “whatever” to the whole PT vs. OT matter the other night, and apparently a grown man acting like an adult about the subject is something shocking. Oh, internet. (If only he’d worn that ‘Han Shots First’ shirt!) Also, he was on NPR’s Fresh Air.

Another shocker. PC Zone asked Mark Hamill why he’s never voiced Luke Skywalker in a video game. Turns out? He’s never been asked. But then, hasn’t the quality and cachet of video games grown quite a bit since the last time (ever?) LucasArts did anything that featured Luke as more than a cameo…?

Presented without comment. Christopher Lee is making a symphonic metal concept album.

Random housekeeping. With two months to release date, Random House has put out an excerpt from Karen Miller’s Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth. In other news, Fate of the Jedi: Backlash has been moved back to the original release date of March 9.

Interviews. Paul S. Kemp talks Star Wars and Forgotten Realms with Stomping on Yeti, while Knights of the Old Republic’s John Jackson Miller is over at CBR.

Comics. StarWars.com has an excerpt from Dan Wallace’s Insider article about Dark Horse bringing back Star Wars comics. (The very same article from which the ‘prequel infinities’ confusion arose from. Turned out that the article is a multi-parter and the next installment will include the original Infinities and the prequel era.)

Bitchin’ 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.

TheForce.Net talks at length with Dark Horse editor Randy Stradley about Star Wars, comics and the always ‘popular’ issues of continuity and canon. I particularly like this bit:

But, writers, know this: I am not interested in “stories” that plug or explain holes in existing continuity. Your goal is to tell a tale that moves, inspires, challenges, or at the very least entertains the readers, not to fill in perceived omissions or pave over “errors.”

And is that a vague confirmation that John Jackson Miller is working on another Star Wars comic I see? Head on over to speculate for yourself.

Star Wars: In Concert has continued to wind its way through the country, leaving lots of local press coverage in its wake: Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City. Dallas, Tulsa, Houston, Tampa, Philadelphia, and Charlotte. (Anthony Daniels was no slouch either.) And don’t forget Paula’s review!

The show will be in New Haven on Tuesday, and Toledo got an early jump on things by profiling the 15-year-old fan who won their prize pack. And there are a couple chances to win tickets for Detroit, Toronto, and New York.

(Picture from Cowboys Stadium by ThornMonkey)

There’s been a flurry of interviews with Expanded Universe folks coming out in the last few weeks. Joe Schreiber of Death Troopers fame is the man of the hour, appearing at StarWars.com and LAist. But he’s not the only one: There’s Leland Chee, Aaron Allston, and Abel G Peña, too.

As Star Wars: In Concert rolls along (Los Angeles and San Jose last week,) the press has caught wind and treated us to a few articles and the traditional oh-so-inspired headline choices. So far, the biggest treatment is out of Denver, which uses the concert tour as a hinge to play the dueling franchise game. With infographics! It’s familiar territory but one can’t help but appreciate the enthusiasm.

You can expect the expected (twice) from the San Jose Mercury News, while the Sacramento Press plays it safe. Next up is the northwest, where the Seattle Times and The Oregonian both offer interviews with Anthony Daniels. (The San Francisco Chronicle also nabbed him – on their baby blog? ) Don’t expect much from the east coast or midwest yet (it’s football season,) but Toledo and Cleveland have nods.

Of course CNN, being CNN, got George.