Club Jade

Surprise audiobooks! A couple days ago, Zee Zee spotted audiobook listings on the Random House catalog for the first four Jedi Quest books: Way of the Apprentice, The Trail of the Jedi, The Dangerous Games and The Master of Disguise. All four are listed as $9.99 unabridged digital downloads with spring release dates.

Audiobooks years after the fact? Plus, the original books were published by Scholastic, which isn’t a Random House imprint, though the audio versions are listed under Random House’s Imagination Studios. (Del Rey’s Star Wars audiobooks are Random House Audio.) Lucasbooks is clearly trying something new here, but we’re still awaiting some kind of confirmation…

• Interviews, upcoming: NJOE wants your questions for Abel G. Peña, while Immortal Darkness is taking questions for Matt Stover and Kevin J. Anderson.

• Comics: Preview Legacy #31, aka the Vector conclusion.

Awards: Judy Blundell, better known to Star Wars fans as Jude Watson, author of the Jedi Apprentice, Jedi Quest, and Last of the Jedi series’ for Scholastic, has won the National Book Award for her novel What I Saw and How I Lied.

UPDATE: GalleyCat now has a video interview with Blundell.

• Interview: CloneWarz.net talks to Karen Miller, who drops a few Wild Space hints along the way.

• Comics: Preview Knights of the Old Republic #35.
• Humor: The life of Jacen Solo, in hilarious recap form.

For the third (final?) look at Japanese book covers, StarWars.com features the Clone Wars, Dark Nest, Jedi Quest and Last of the Jedi series.

The official site teases Jude Watson’s final Last of the Jedi novel, Reckoning. Look for the book in June, though I expect to see a ‘How will Ferus die?’ poll any minute now.

In other young reader news, there’s also the Indiana Jones Junior Novelizations.

Subscribers may (or may not) already have their copies, but everyone else can look for Star Wars Insider #99 in stores… I’ve also heard rumblings that Jude Watson’s latest Last of the Jedi novel, Master of Deception has been sighted on store shelves.

UPDATE: TOS has an excerpt from the Insider’s Jeremy Bulloch interview. And on that note, you might want to also pick up the latest issue of Toyfare.

After Jedi Apprentice came Jedi Quest. But what’s next for Jude Watson?

Scholastic announced a new kids’ series today. The 39 Clues is a series that will mix books, collectible cards, and online gaming. It’s all supposed to fit together like a giant puzzle.

The New York Times says this is Scholastic’s bid to follow up on their success as the U.S. publishers of Harry Potter. The books will be written by different authors (sound familiar, EU fans?) and Jude Watson is signed to write the fourth book, due out in July 2009.

Jude Watson’s ninth Last of the Jedi book heads to the unspoiled beauty of Alderaan. I believe this series will round out at ten books, so Ferus’ end may be nigh. Look for it in November.

Secret Weapon is the seventh Last of the Jedi book by Jude Watson. Sue Rostoni has recently confirmed that the series will run to ten books.

Not much you haven’t seen before. The second one seems to have some new folks on them. Folks I haven’t seen, anyway. Hey Yav, is Siri dead yet?

First Look at Last of the Jedi #4: Death on Naboo is up now. Appears to be pretty heavy on the Ferus action.

Meanwhile on the boards, Sue Rostoni said that we should be getting a peek at Aaron Allston’s Legacy of the Force: Betrayal within the next few weeks.