EUbits: FOTJ except, Sue updates, Knight Errant story

Hey, remember Fate of the Jedi? The site StarWarsBookExtras.com is offering an excerpt from Try Denning’s Vortex – Chapter 5, to be exact. The catch? You need to redeem a code. Or, just click this direct link to the PDF. (Thanks, EUC!) The cards with the code were available at C5 or in the Hyperspace member kit.

Details, details. We got a couple of updates from Sue Rostoni on the StarWars.com forums last week. I had asked if there was a chance or others joining Zahn to do annotations for the Heir to the Empire anniversary edition, and she wasn’t sure — but did say that Del Rey was looking into it. She did have a solid answer on the ETA for the next Lost Tribe of the Sith story: October 25th, aka next Monday. (Hopefully it’ll contain a different Vortex excerpt.)

Short story. Speaking of John Jackson Miller, StarWars.com has an original Knight Errant short story, ‘Influx.’

Shadow Games. Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff reveals the main cast for the novel-formerly-known-as-Holostar.

Really? The Star Wars Books page on Facebook is starting a Reader’s Club. Not a bad idea, in theory… But starting with The Bounty Hunter Wars? Really? Uh… Good luck.

Out this week: Making of ESB, Knight Errant

Two big releases this week! Coming up first, on Tuesday, is J.W. Rinzler’s eagerly anticipated The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, the follow-up to 2007’s The Making of Star Wars. I was lucky enough to find a copy early this weekend, and while I haven’t had a chance to do a proper read, I can say one thing: It is huge.

I suspect we’ll see a good deal of press on this, but so the biggies are Vanity Fair’s interviews with Rinzler and Jeremy Bulloch (Irvin Kershner coming soon.) Meanwhile, io9 has some tidbits out of NYCC.

The other new release that’s been getting a lot of buzz in fandom is Knight Errant #1 by KOTOR’s John Jackson Miller. Look for it in your comic store on Wednesday.

EUbits: The Jedi Path marches on; HttE 20th details

The Jedi Path. I have yet to see any copies in a brick-and-mortar store yet, but The Jedi Path has been dominating the news cycle. There are interviews with Daniel Wallace at TheForce.Net, and Geekdad, plus a feature on Amazon.com – which is probably your best bet for getting a copy right now.

More on Heir anniversary edition. First, Del Rey’s Suvudu blog confirms that Timothy Zahn is working on the annotations, while Sue Rostoni has confirmed that they are “looking into some variations of a special cover.”

Comics CBR has features/interviews on John Jackson Miller’s Knight Errant and Tom Taylor’s Blood Ties arc.

Columness. EUC’s latest columns are on zombies and Boba Fett. I am so clearly not the intended audience here. (She says with a resigned, sisterly affection.)

Two-for-one classic comic artists. The next Star Wars Insider will feature an exclusive Howard Chaykin cover and poster, while a Star Wars drawing by Jack Kirby surfaces on Twitter.

Brief blurb offers new hint at Knight Errant

I’m not sure how noteworthy this is to anyone who picked up the preview of the comic/novel at Celebration – and it’s much less detailed than what we saw at StarWars.com – but this new blurb does offer a new detail of John Jackson Miller’s Knight Errant novel.

A lone Jedi in Sith space dedicates her life to bringing down Sith rule, one act of sabotage at a time. A thousand years before Star Wars: A New Hope, the Republic is in a dark age and groups of Sith have taken over vast swaths of the galaxy. Hiding in one Sith hell-hole is Kerra Holt, a young Jedi working alone to destroy the Sith Masters. But what she doesn’t know is that she just might be the pawn of a powerful Sith Lord…

The Knight Errant comic book is due to start in October, with the novel coming in January.

EUbits: Upcoming from DK and Dark Horse

Upcoming. StarWars.com has a look at some of DK’s 2011 offerings, including Secrets of the Jedi, which sounds like a kid’s version of The Jedi Path. Also up are the December 2010 comics, including Knight Errant #3 and Legacy: War #1.

Interviews. Nathan P. Butler and Andrew Lupi talk to Shannon McRandle.

Column. EUC’s column this week, about death in the EU, is… gigantic.

Fanmade. A custom Mara Jade Mighty Mugg.

Celebration V book and comic news: Wraith Squadron, Fate of the Jedi, Crimson Empire 3 and more

Del Rey brought plenty to the table for Celebration, but the biggest EU news is without a doubt the reveal that Aaron Allston will be writing a brand-new Wraith Squadron novel. It’s too early for details, but expect a spring/summer 2012 release date.

We also learned that Thrawn will appear in Zahn’s Hand of Judgment, Drew Karpyshyn will be writing a third Old Republic novel, Jeff Grubb’s 2012 paperback will feature Hutts, and Han Solo will appear in the Dash Rendar/Holostar novel. And TFN reports that something is in the works for the 20th anniversary of Heir to the Empire, to which I say: Damn straight.

As for Fate of the Jedi, we learned that the final book will be titled Apocalypse. Cheery! Also addressed was the heightening of drama, Vestara’s role, and (sigh) the whole Jacen/Tahiri thing. Except, not really. (I do love the Mando quote, of course.)

Meanwhile, the comic fans got a surprise of their own: Crimson Empire III is a go, for real this time. The 6-issue series will begin in March with Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley scripting and Dave Dorman on covers.

Knight Errant got a big push, complete with a costumed representation, but if the EUC report is anything to go by it’s too soon for much of a reveal.

As for Legacy, there are currently no plans for anything after the War mini – Ostrander and Duursema will “will be working on something entirely different.”

The rest of the news rehashes much we’ve already heard, but a hardcover edition of Dark Empire will commemorate the comic’s twentieth anniversary. And the return of Dark Horse Presents may yield some Tales-like stories.

Also getting some love at the con (but not enough for their own entry) was The Force Unleashed (Yoda? Really? That Muppet needs a better agent.) and The Old Republic.

Quickly! Dispatches from San Diego Comic-Con

I suspect Pablo took this.San Diego Comic-Con is here, and StarWars.com has snapshots from Preview night. (Watch their Flickr for stuff from today/tonight.) Of special note for EU fans: The cover to John Jackson Miller’s Knight Errant novel. Newsflash: It snows.

The geek girls panel was this evening, but I’m not seeing any reports just yet… It did launch a hashtag, though.

EUbits: The Jedi Path falls to Earth in September; Your Imperial Commando is dead, son.

First look. The Jedi Path comes in a vault. What? Yeah. Or: “Passed down from Master to Padawan, the pages of this venerable text have been annotated by those who have held it, studied it, and lived its secrets.” Since we’re living in the real world, I like Dan Wallace’s explanation: ” It’s supposed to look like an in-universe artifact that fell through a rabbit hole from the galaxy far, far away.” It is an interesting concept, but mostly I just fear what the Jedi Church will make of it.

Hey hey hey, goodbye. Yes, it’s official: There will be no Imperial Commando 2. (It was probably a lose-lose sans Traviss anyway.)

Namesake corner. Sideshow is teasing about a Mara Jade figure again. They like the Adam Hughes painting! (Sigh.) At least she’s not doing laundry?

Comics! Preview the October solicitations, including Knight Errant #1. Which just so happens to be on the cover of August’s Previews.

Interview. Paul Kemp (Crosscurrent) on Fictional Frontiers