Patricia C. Wrede was the guest of honor at Conjecture, a sci-fi/fantasy convention in San Diego, this past weekend. While known more for her young adult fantasy work (including The Enchanted Forest Chronicles and Frontier Magic series), Wrede is also the author of the middle school novelizations of the three prequel movies (from Scholastic). As part of Star Wars Reads Day, she and voice actor Mark Biagi performed a reading of different scenes from her junior novelizations. I got a chance to chat with Wrede about getting into the heads of Amidala and other prequel characters as well as other aspects of writing the novel adaptations for movies that weren’t complete at the time she was writing. She also discusses her most recent Frontier Magic novel, The Far West, the conclusion of a tale of magic in frontier America.
As a panelist at Conjecture, I got to moderate a panel entitled “What Didn’t George Lucas Steal?”, with Patricia Wrede, David Brin (of Star Wars On Trial), and Donna Keeley. While we started on topic about original concepts in the Star Wars films (and whether original ideas in storytelling even matters), we soon moved into the usual dissection of the saga, with Brin serving up his usual gripes against the moral lessons of Star Wars and George Lucas. Wrede had some good counters when examining the parallels between Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi, and Keeley broke down how haters of “Do or do not. There is no try.” are missing the context.
StarWars.com offers a first look at Rebel Force: Uprising, but the real news here is that it will be the last book of the series. I remember hearing at one point that the series was planned for ten books, but can’t find any official confirmation. They didn’t quite seem to take off with the fandom, so can’t say I’m too surprised…
We’re still waiting on word of Sean William’s The Old Republic novel – as yet, Sue Rostoni is “unable to either confirm nor deny.” (Don’t panic: That’s pretty standard.) Though audio versions have shown up on RandomHouse.com.
Both StarWars.com and Rebelscum are covering the reveals heavily… I can’t even begin to catch up at this point! Above, a Dagobah Frog Habitat from Uncle Milton, another ‘Seriously?’ item from the brains behind the Force Trainer.
A fan at TFN discovered a listing for a Luke Skywalker bio by Ryder Windham on Amazon, due out in September. And while we haven’t any official confirmation, previous sightings have been known to follow through.
Upcoming:Amazon.co.uk is saying that newcomer Alex Wheeler is penning Scholastic’s Rebel Force series. Google doesn’t pull up any likely suspects and it is Amazon, so don’t assume this is for real yet – though if it is, my guess would be that ‘Alex Wheeler’ is somebody’s brand-new pen name. But remember, we still have yet to see any official announcement of this series to begin with, so nothing is certain. (via)
It is a critical moment in the struggle between the Rebels and the Empire: the Force itself hangs in the balance, and all the hopes of the galaxy depend on the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, and a host of other heroes….
Scholastic moving away from the prequels? I’ll believe it… eventually.
Grosset & Dunlap will be the primary licensee for children’s formats including junior novelizations, 8x8s, readers, movie photo books and activity books, starting with movie tie-ins this summer—the on-sale date for all books and merchandise is July 26—followed by TV-based titles in the fall. Other juvenile licensees include DK for sticker books, Visual Guides and DK Readers and Dalmatian for coloring and activity books. For older readers, Random House’s Del Rey imprint will publish one movie and four TV novelizations, and Dark Horse will release monthly comics and digest-size graphic novels. An “Art Of” title is expected as well.
Meanwhile, classic Star Wars publishing will continue; Scholastic will introduce a new series next year.
Paul over at TFN speculates that the Traviss and Miller mystery books may be the first wave of novelizations.
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As a panelist at Conjecture, I got to moderate a panel entitled “What Didn’t George Lucas Steal?”, with Patricia Wrede, David Brin (of Star Wars On Trial), and Donna Keeley. While we started on topic about original concepts in the Star Wars films (and whether original ideas in storytelling even matters), we soon moved into the usual dissection of the saga, with Brin serving up his usual gripes against the moral lessons of Star Wars and George Lucas. Wrede had some good counters when examining the parallels between Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi, and Keeley broke down how haters of “Do or do not. There is no try.” are missing the context. 
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