Club Jade

Fate of the Jedi. If you haven’t finished Apocalypse yet, don’t click any of the links in this section, because they are chock-full of spoilers! Over at Lightsaber Rattling, Pete Morrison takes a look at the state of the Expanded Universe post-Fate of the Jedi. (Always-relevant musical interlude: Where do we go from here?)

There are also some new reviews from The Galactic Drift, Fantasy & SciFi Lovin’, and The EU, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Also, if you’re in the mood for some snark, I live-tweeted my reading of the book, and then rambled at length about it on my Livejournal. My review, in brief: Meh.

Namesake corner A custom Clone Wars style Mara Jade action figure! I’ve made no secret of not being a fan of the style, but this is pretty nifty, I must admit. And she doesn’t look like Giada DeLaurentiis!

Author talk. Dan Wallace posts his endnotes for the Book of Sith.

Excerpts. A mini for Jeff Grubb’s Scourge. It’s our next new novel release, coming April in paperback.

Gaming. One of our readers, Annalee, has a good write-up at the Geek Feminism blog on issues in The Old Republic.

Comics. James gives a thumbs up to the twists in Agent of the Empire: Iron Eclipse #4, and Zayne digging himself in deep in Knights of the Old Republic: War #3.

@verojecsguard We are working on a Mara Jade t-shirt for Celebration!

— Her Universe (@HerUniverse) February 20, 2012

It looks likely! We first heard that it was in the pipeline back in 2010 (Ashley Eckstein admitted a little later she had spoke too soon.) I’m hoping it pans out for the con, and I even promise I won’t get too mad if there’s a catsuit.

UPDATE! When I tweeted this post, Ashley replied with a key detail: The artist!

@clubjade The amazing @catstaggs is working on our Mara Jade shirt :o) Send both of us your thoughts if you have any!

— Her Universe (@HerUniverse) February 20, 2012

Staggs has a 2010 commission of Mara on her Deviantart page.

In the meantime… The shirt Erin is wearing above is Mara Jade Nouveau from Mighty Fine, and it does appear to be an authorized product.

In other Her Universe news, Ashley has a new interview with Nerdist News.

Toy Fair is going on this weekend, and according to multiple reports, Jedi Master Mara Jade Skywalker was voted the Fan Choice figure. (You might remember the contest from last fall.) Unfortunately for those of us hoping to finally get a Mara figure without that blasted catsuit…

#StarWars Fans’ Choice tidbit: Mara Jade Skywalker will use Adam Hughes artwork as a start. #hotness

— Imperial Holcron (@ImpHolocron) February 11, 2012

Yeah. That artwork. (Again?) Sigh. I’m not hearing anything about a a prototype yet, but as always, we’ll have an eye out for updates.

The other Star Wars talker of Toy Fair? A Jar Jar in Carbonite figure will be a SDCC 2012 exclusive. Teehee.

UPDATED! StarWars.com has posted photos of Hasbro’s Toy Fair offerings, and sure enough, there’s no sign of Mara. (Though there is some nice Clone Wars stuff, if that’s your thing.) Needless to say, we’ll be watching Hasbro’s presentations through summer con season with great interest.

Hasbro and the Star Wars Insider have teamed up for yet another Fan’s Choice poll to pick a character to be added to the action figure line. The EU selections in this round includes several classic EU folks: Gilad Pellaeon, Joruus C’baoth, Guri, and Mara Jade Skywalker. Cast your vote today!

The much-maligned Choices of One cover is getting a whole new look for paperback.

The new cover still features Mara Jade, and while it does look a little like something from a video game, it looks more like actual cover art than a particularly awkward screenshot. (And slightly anime-flavored? Bonus: Sleeves!) In any case, I’ll give this a hearty UPGRADE. (more…)

TheForce.Net recorded the ‘Ask the Authors’ panel at the con, held last weekend in Irving, Texas. The first part is above – head below the cut for the rest. (more…)

First look. Suvudu revealed the cover for Jeff Grubb’s Scourge today. Yet another generic musclebound dude with a lightsaber, ho-hum. But given it’s a book featuring an all-new character and Hutts, I’m clearly not the target market here. Still, let’s hope it looks better on the actual book.

Staffing. Editor Betsy Mitchell, who’s been with the Star Wars novels since their rebirth in the early 90′s at Bantam, is leaving Del Rey. New hire Frank Parisi is taking over Star Wars and other tie-ins.

Hey! We know that guy! Dan Wallace in the St. Petersburg Times.

Casting games. Suvudu has the ‘winners’ of their attempts to cast Heir to the Empire. The less I say the better.

Excerpts. A new one for Riptide.

Reviews. James reviews Jedi: The Dark Side #5 and Knight Errant: Deluge #2 at Big Shiny Robot.

Namesake corner. Still no Mara Jade tee from Her Universe, but at least you can grab a fan-made one.

Namesake corner. The Mara fan site Jade Crusades folded a few years back, but creator Mazzic has resurrected the site’s interviews with several authors and artists who shaped Mara, including Tim Zahn, Mike Stackpole and Drew Struzan.

The Jedi Path. With the standalone edition out now, Daniel Wallace reveals five steps to becoming a Jedi Knight. Meanwhile, here’s a review.

Knight Errant. Dave Marshall gives fans a glimpse of the series’ ships. I like how the giant hyperspace rings are an obvious precursor to to the smaller versions we saw in the prequels.

History. This is old news for many of us, but io9 has a nice post on how Star Wars saved comics.

Reviews. James is at it again over at Big Shiny Robot, giving his take on Invasion: Revelations #3, and The Old Republic: The Lost Suns #4.

It’s time! Timothy Zahn’s Choices of One is in stores Tuesday. In the meantime, you can read 50 pages of the book. Or, read Tim comparing Star Wars to chocolate, about five real women warriors, and Naci’s top ten Mara Jade moments.

And because it never rains when it can pour, there are comics for Wednesday. Jedi: The Dark Side #3, The Old Republic: Lost Suns, and Clone Wars: The Starcrusher Trap will all be waiting in your local comic store.

Fate of the Jedi. The seventh of John Jackson Miller’s Lost Tribe of the Sith ebooks, Pantheon, was released today. It features an except of the next Fate of the Jedi book, Golden’s Ascension, which was also the subject of the last mini-except on Facebook. Ascension will be out August 9.

Upcoming. Announced last week, The Millennium Falcon Owners’ Workshop Manual by Ryder Windham with Chris Trevas and Chris Reiff on art. Currently scheduled for a February 2012 release.

SDCC. Del Rey will be giving out Revan masks in San Diego this weekend. (Revan masks? Really?) I seem to recall them promising that the book’s cover would revealed at the con, so there’s that, too.

Excerpt. The official site has a PDF except of Paul S. Kemp’s Riptide, which is due in October. The cover painting is up on eBay… I never would have guessed it was Dave Seeley, but it does look a little better here. (He also has Blood Oath and Mindor up.)

Namesake corner. I have a Choices of One post coming up, but for now, just know that Mara took the top two spots in the Expanded Universe category of Rebelscum’s Hasbro wishlist poll.