EUbits: Joe Schreiber teases Maul book, more Shakespeare’s Star Wars

Maul: LockdownUpcoming. Star Wars Bookworms attended a Star Wars Reads Day event with author Joe Schreiber, who revealed a few things about his next Star Wars book, Maul: Lockdown. They have the recording and an excerpt. (Not into audio? Check their tweets for some detail.) Lockdown will be out in January.

And it’s official: William Shakespeare’s Star Wars is getting two sequels, The Empire Striketh Back and William Shakespeare’s The Jedi Doth Return . The writing duties will again be handled by Ian Doescher and they’ll be out March 25 and July 1 next year.

The blogside. At the Star Wars Blog, Rich Handley and Abel G. Peña conclude their look at The Wheel. Tosche Station’s Bria has some thoughts on redemption in the recent EU. And Alexander Gaultier at Eleven-ThirtyEight has a case for starting over.

Licensees. Dark Horse has signed a distribution deal with Random House, reports Publisher’s Weekly. Given it’s a distribution deal, it’s not that exciting for our purposes, though if you don’t have a comic shop (which will still get their comics through Diamond) this may mean more Dark Horse in your bookstore.

Interviews. TheForce.net chats with J.W. Rinzler, The Wookiee Gunner has Jason Fry (plus a few other folks) and Star Wars Union talks to Zack Giallongo about Ewoks: Shadows of Endor

Reviews. The Star Wars #2 gets James on board.

First blurbs for Wells’ Leia novel and Kenobi; Release dates for the rest of Rebels

Luke, Leia and HanWe’ve got details this morning on the forthcoming Rebels series, most notably a brief blurb for Martha Wells’ still-untitled Leia novel:

Nebula Award finalist Martha Wells makes her Star Wars debut with a brand-new classic Star Wars: Rebels adventure starring Princess Leia and her new friends, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, in the time just after the destruction of the Death Star in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope!

Princess Leia Organa is on a mission for the Rebel Alliance when Imperial forces attack. Now she, Han, and Luke are on their own, working with pirates and dealing with traitors as they race the clock to protect the secrecy of a crucial meeting of Rebel conspirators!

The listing also gives us (presumably tentative) dates for the other books in the series: March 2014 for James S. A. Corey’s Han book and January 2015 for Kevin Hearn’s Luke novel. (via)

John Jackson Miller’s Kenobi also gets a blurb:

In this original novel set between the events of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV A New Hope, Obi-Wan Kenobi comes to the aid of the residents of Tatooine during his exile. But he struggles with his new mission when he realizes that protecting Luke Skywalker-the last hope of the galaxy-means setting aside his compassion and his Jedi warrior training, for the future of the galaxy lies not with Obi-Wan Kenobi, but with a mystical desert recluse known only by the name of Crazy Old Ben.

There’s also a listing for William Shakespeare’s Star Wars (with the cover and a few interior pages.)

Forsooth, a gimmick! William Shakespeare’s Star Wars is coming

Last night, Knights Archive spotted a new listing on Random House’s online catalog: William Shakespeare’s Star Wars by by Ian Doescher. It even has a summary:

May the verse be with you! Inspired by one of the greatest creative minds in the English language—and William Shakespeare—here is an officially licensed retelling of George Lucas’s epic Star Wars in the style of the immortal Bard of Avon. The saga of a wise (Jedi) knight and an evil (Sith) lord, of a beautiful princess held captive and a young hero coming of age, Star Wars abounds with all the valor and villainy of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. Reimagined in glorious iambic pentameter, William Shakespeare’s Star Wars will astound and edify learners and masters alike. Zounds! This is the book you’re looking for.

I find myself hoping the ‘mystery novel’ is something less gimmicky (does this even count as a novel?) but this does fit one basic parameter – we didn’t have a clue it was coming.

William Shakespeare’s Star Wars will be released as a trade paperback in August.