Out this week: TFU, O66, KOTOR

Stuff is sure to blow up real good in Tuesday’s releases. First off is the much-hyped game that has been impossible to avoid lately, The Force Unleashed. You can even pick it up tonight if the mood strikes. For those who prefer their ass-kicking without the baggage of required hardware, tomorrow also sees the release of the fourth and final Republic Commando novel, Order 66.

Meanwhile, comic fans can expect Knights of the Old Republic #33 on Wednesday.

Newsbits: Alan Dean Foster, Karen Traviss, Penny Arcade, RPG awards, Sith omnibus

Alan Dean Foster, IAMTW GrandmasterHonors: The International Association of Media Tie-in Writers has named Star Wars vet Alan Dean Foster their second Grandmaster. Foster was the first novelist to tackle the franchise, ghost-writing the novelization of Star Wars as well as (under his own name) the first original novel, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. He returned to the GFFA in 2002 with The Approaching Storm. (via)

Karen Traviss hints at future work

With the odd-day The Clone Wars release out and up, Del Rey has an excerpt from the book and an interview with Traviss, where she talks about the new book, her writing process, and briefly touches on some of her upcoming Star Wars work…

I’m continuing the Republic Commando series in Imperial Commando books. There are a few other SW books in the pipeline too, including a Boba Fett one.

Comics are also mentioned, but not whether they’re Star Wars or something else.

Karen Traviss on The Clone Wars

The author, whose first TCW book is due out in a matter of weeks, updated her website with a few words on the project:

CLONE WARS, the hardcover based on the movie – loosely based, so no griping that it’s different, because that’s the whole point – is out on July 26. Full of the gritty, off-message, character-testing, question-raising, grey-area, military-oriented stuff you’ve come to expect from me. And clones. Plenty of clones. And familiar characters from the movies that you won’t see quite the same way ever again.

In other news of interest for Traviss fans, Eos is offering her first Wess’har novel, City of Pearl, as a free download through August. (via)