EUbits: Canon, continuity, and all that jazz (again.)

Let’s do the time warp again. Over at Tosche Station, Brian is the latest to weigh in on continuity and perspective in the Expanded Universe. If you’re with us in just shrugging at the latest Clone Wars kerfuffle (which Brian references – but he spends more time on Sword of the Jedi and Brian Wood’s Star Wars comic) you’ll enjoy it. If not… Well. I’ve already said my bit on all this.

Upcoming. Knights’ Archive spotted a brief blurb for Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void. (I’m a little surprised to see it’s a hardback, though I’m honestly not sure if we knew that already.) Also interesting is that Dark Horse is collecting the three Infinities mini-series into an omnibus… I’m hoping this will lead to one (or two) that collect all the best (funny!) bits of Star Wars Tales.

The blogside. Over at the StarWars.com blog, J.W. Rinzler talks about laying out The Making of Return of the Jedi, Tim Zahn shares some of his memorable experiences with books, and Daniel Wallace shares endnotes for the Book of Sith.

Reviews. EUCantina and Lightsaber Rattling take a look at The Essential Reader’s Companion.

Nonfiction. Matt Staggs reveals some of what Camille Paglia has to say about George Lucas in her upcoming book, Glittering Images.

EUbits: Delving into Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse, again

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.

EUbits: Revan can’t wait, Facebook chats, and Book of the Sith

Something something Sith. Flavor-of-the-month The Old Republic: Revan was everywhere last week – in fact, I daresay we have shortage of other Expanded Universe news, which makes this the shortest roundup I’ve done in a while.

There’s an interview with Drew Karpyshyn at Barnes and Noble, new excerpts at Random House and Entertainment Weekly, and Pete of Lightsaber Rattling will be giving away a copy when he reaches 500 followers on Twitter. The book still isn’t coming out until the 15th.

Chats. TFN has recapped the Facebook talk with Ryder Windham and Pete Vilmur, while another with Paul S. Kemp has been scheduled for Wednesday.

Same line, different Sith. Dan Wallace reveals a bit about the Book of the Sith on his blog.

Exclusive interview: Daniel Wallace on Book of Sith and The Jedi Path

When it comes to increasing our knowledge of topics in the Star Wars universe in entertaining ways, Daniel Wallace is a master. His works include several of the most well-regarded reference books, including The Essential Atlas, The New Essential Guide to Characters, and The New Essential Chronology. His articles and stories have appeared in the full gamut of magazines, from the Adventure Journal to Star Wars Gamer and the Star Wars Insider.

Last year, we were blown away by The Jedi Path, which he wrote as an in-universe guidebook for Jedi students. With the The Jedi Path being re-released this September, and his new work, Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side coming out in February 2012 in a deluxe vault edition, Daniel took the time to answer some questions for Club Jade about the upcoming Book of Sith, which was first announced at Comic-Con this year and had major details released today, and the new version of The Jedi Path.

Continue reading “Exclusive interview: Daniel Wallace on Book of Sith and The Jedi Path

Details for Wallace’s Book of Sith revealed

With New York Comic Con just around the corner, details of Daniel Wallace’s Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side have emerged. From the press release:

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…. Fragments of five essential dark side texts were passed among numerous Sith and Jedi—Darth Sidious, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Asajj Ventress, Mace Windu, Quinlan Vos, and others—who added their comments to the pages. Through the years, Darth Sidious pilfered and secreted away these texts, along with various objects created by his most powerful predecessors. Using this collected knowledge, the Emperor wrote his own manifesto, a sixth text, as well as a preface for the compilation. Each original text sheds light on the plots, exploits, and philosophy of the infamous Sith Order.

It also includes images of the case. The ‘artifacts’ include “a scrap of a Sith burial shroud, a battle map from the Great Galactic War, a diagram of Palpatine’s master plan, an Empire propaganda poster, and a note from Luke Skywalker.”

The release of the book has been pushed back a tad, to February 10. Check out our exclusive interview with Daniel Wallace on Book of Sith!

EUbits: Scourge cover, Mitchell leaves Del Rey

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.

EUbits: Defunct Mara fansite brings back interviews with authors and artists

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.

EUbits: Drew Karpyshyn takes on Darth Revan

Revan will be Karpyshyn’s Old Republic novel. The third novel tie-in to Bioware’s Old Republic MMO will feature the Sith Lord from Knights of the Old Republic, SWTOR.com announced today. Other characters from the KOTOR games, including Canderous, T3-M4, the Exile and Bastila Shan, will also appear.

Upcoming. Dan Wallace is currently working on an updated Essential Guide to Characters.

Art books. Abrams will follow up last year’s Star Wars Visions with Star Wars Art: Comics.

Interview. Sci-Fi block talks to comic writer Tom Taylor.

Opinion Lightsaber Rattling makes a point for Star Wars eBooks.

EUbits: When the Sith are away…

Sith check. Paul S. Kemp’s Old Republic novel, Decieved, drops two weeks from today, so naturally there’s a book trailer.

Kemp has been making the rounds: He appeared on TOR-Talk and an interview with Fictional Frontiers will surely be appearing soonish. And those audiobooks he was giving away last time? The winners are up.

Weird facts. Who’s written the most Star Wars (adult) novels? The answer may surprise you.

Recently… John Jackson Miller has Knight Errant novel answers.

Details, details. Dan Wallace on how the trade paperback Jedi Path will differ from the fancy box version. The answers will… Probably not surprise you.

Interview. There’s not a whole lot of Star Wars talk here , but if anyone deserves a link without that pesky fact, it’s our pal Mike Stackpole.