EUbits: Celebrating the ‘regular’ people, Apocalypse page count, peek at Stover’s Insider short

Listage. Lane over at Roqoo Depot gives the regular folks of the GFFA their due with his list of the top ten non-Force sensitive Expanded Universe characters.

Fate of the Jedi. Lightsaber Rattling reports on Troy Denning’s comments about the likely Apocalypse page count.

Short stories. Get a peek – though not a particularly readable one – at Matthew Stover’s Insider short story, ‘The Tenebrous Way.’

Interview. Writer John Ostrander talks Agent of the Empire with Nerd World News.

Artists. Five contributers to Star Wars Art: Comics share their thoughts on the franchise and comics at CBR.

Excerpts. Two more from Darth Plagueisa mini on Facebook, and a larger one at Random House’s online catalog.

Pretties.Concept art from Genndy Tartakovsky’s traditionally animated Clone Wars cartoon. It graced Cartoon Network in the gap between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, and I’m sad to hear that the DVDs have apparently gone out of print, because it was an amazing series of shorts.

EUbits: Two new-to-us authors bringing Han, Chewie and the Falcon to Insider; Gear up for Kemp’s Riptide

Short stories. Two brand-new authors have a story coming to the Insider in January. David J. Williams and Mark Williams’ ‘Maze Run’ is a “classic Han & Chewie adventure aboard the Millennium Falcon,” to tie into the release of The Millennium Falcon Owner’s Workshop Manual. Fittingly, the ship is “the star of the story.” Will we see the Williams doing anything more lengthy for the franchise?

Riptide. With Paul S. Kemp’s latest only weeks away, Suvudu has a excerpt, while Kemp himself is doing an e-signing.

More excerpts… This week’s Facebook mini-excerpt is from Drew Karpshyn’s Revan; There’s another from the audiobook as well.

Fate of the Jedi. The manuscript for the final book, Troy Denning’s Apocalypse, is in the hands of Del Rey. In case you were wondering.

Press. Timothy Zahn in the Lansing City Pulse.

EUbits: New Stover story coming to Insider

Short stories. Del Rey editor David Pomerico broke the news on Facebook yesterday: Matthew Stover’s ‘The Tenebrous Way’ will be December’s addition to the ever-growing pile of shorts making the Star Wars Insider.

The story will tie into James Luceno’s Darth Plagueis, which is due out December 27.

Blurbs. Knights Archive was first to spot the synopsis for The Millennium Falcon Owner’s Workshop Manual.

Poll. Again on Facebook, the Del Rey folks want to know which of the remaining 2011 releases you’re looking most forward to. At the moment it’s pretty close between Heir to the Empire 20th Anniversary Edition and Darth Plagueis.

Random. Since the latest Fate of the Jedi is hanging out on the bestseller list with his new novel, The New York Times asked author Lev Grossman about Star Wars. (This belongs in a different roundup entirely, but: Grossman just won the Campbell.)

EUbits: The Clone Wars taking Dark Horse’s Slaves of the Republic to the screen

Adaptions. On the Dark Horse boards, editor Randy Stradley says that The Clone Wars comic book storyline Slaves of the Republic is being adapted for the show. Could that be the slave storyline the season 4 trailer hints strongly at? The comic was scripted by The Clone Wars’ then-head writer Henry Gilroy.

And yes, that is the one brought us Ahsoka in a slave girl outfit. Maybe that bit won’t make the cut.

Fate of the Jedi. Christie Golden’s Ascension will debut at #7 on the New York Times’ bestseller list, Del Rey tweeted this morning.

Short stories. A new story from Paul S. Kemp, ‘A Fair Trade,’ will appear in the October issue of Star Wars Insider. It will feature characters from Riptide.

People. Republic and Legacy artist Jan Duursema now has a Facebook fan page.

EUbits: Zahn will have Heir bookplates for con season, Riptide mini-excerpt

Checking in with the Zahns. Since the anniversary edition of Heir to the Empire is coming out too late for summer con season, Del Rey has made Tim Zahn some bookplates to sign. (He’ll be at SDCC and Dragon*Con this year, among others.) Don’t count on getting any through the mail yet, though.

And don’t forget there’s a new Lando short story in the latest Insider, which is apparently arriving to subscribers now. (I don’t have mine yet, though. Look for it to show up in bookstores in a week or so.)

Mini-excerpt. Star Wars Books gave Facebook fans a quick peek at Paul S. Kemp’s Riptide yesterday.

Interviews Sean Williams talks about The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance at Suvudu.

Podcasts. The new Jedi Journals is out. Chris and Jay talk reboots and more.

EUbits: Fate of the Jedi tidbits, Zahn’s Insider short

Fate of the Jedi. in lieu of of a Heir to the Empire annotation yesterday, The Del Rey folks presented us with a mini-excerpt from Golden’s Ascension. It is indeed very mini. (Also, apparently we’ll be getting a look at the Apocalypse cover today.)

Short stories. Tim Zahn’s story ‘Buyer’s Market’ will appear in the next issue of the Insider. It’s about Lando “on the hunt for some rather exotic hardware” and is set between Return of the Jedi and Heir. The artwork is by Brian Rood. Also coming up in the Insider is a story by Michael Reaves and Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff.

Interviews. Del Rey’s Erich Schoeneweiss appears on the latest Fictional Frontiers.

Previews. StarWars.com has five pages from The Old Republic: The Lost Suns.

Lists. There are several facepalm moments for me in Geeks of Doom’s ten Star Wars novels worth checking out (Splinter of the Minds’ Eye? The New Rebellion?? Vector Prime???) but to each their own, I suppose.

Timothy Zahn is on Facebook, reveals Choices, Heir short tidbits

The man responsible for jump-started the Expanded Universe (and thus getting many of us in or back into fans) is now on Facebook! Believe it or not, it’s his first official page in… Ever! We’re happy to see him, so go forth and ‘Like!’

You can let him know who you’d like to see featured in a short story, provided Dark Force Rising and The Last Command get the annotation treatment…

In the comments, he reveals a little about the story that will be in the new Heir to the Empire: “The story in Heir (“Crisis of Faith”) does have Fel in it. The story also acts as a link between Choices of One and Heir to the Empire.” Also, “Pellaeon plays a major role” in Choices of One.

Out this week: Allies paperback, comics

The paperback reprint of the fifth Fate of the Jedi book, Christie Golden’s Allies, will be in bookstores tomorrow. (Be sure to check out Erika’s review when you’re done.) And while you’re buying, keep an eye out for Star Wars Insider #125, which features a brand-new Vestara Khai short story from Golden, ‘First Blood.’

Meanwhile, comic fans will have a few things waiting for them on Wednesday. Both Legacy: War #5 and Darth Vader and the Lost Command #4 made the shipping list.

StarWars.com also lists a few trades that may be making their way to the bookstores… But I wouldn’t count on seeing them in the comic shops until Diamond lists them.

William’s The Force Unleashed II up for tie-in award

The Force Unleashed II novelization by Sean Williams is a nominee for Best Speculative Original in the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers’ Fifth Annual Scribe Awards. (Shouldn’t it be in the adapted category?)

In his blog entry on the nomination, Williams also says that he’s working on a Star Wars short story – for the Insider, perhaps?

The Scribe Awards have previously nominated one Star Wars novel, Karen Miller’s The Clone Wars: Wild Space for Best Speculative Fiction Adapted (…it wasn’t adapted) in 2009, though the prize ultimately went to the novelization of Hellboy: The Golden Army. They also named Alan Dean Foster, who ghostwrote the original Star Wars novelization, a Grandmaster in 2008. Foster also wrote two Star Wars novels under his own name, 1978’s Splinter of the Mind’s Eye and 2002’s The Approaching Storm.