The Last Jedi novelization won’t be out until March

The Last Jedi novelization by Jason Fry has been scheduled for a March 6, 2018 release in both hardcover and eBook. This is a bit of a departure from the novelizations for The Force Awakens and Rogue One, both of which came out as eBooks on the film release dates, followed by a hardcover a few weeks later. Maybe the rush wasn’t worth the result?

The Last Jedi will be in theaters December 15, 2017.

Despite the two-pronged release, The Force Awakens novelization managed to become the first Star Wars novel to hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in several years.

SDCC: Jason Fry is writing the The Last Jedi novelization, and other fiction news

A whole heap of Star Wars book news has come out of San Diego Comic-Con, some expected, some not. (This is all in addition to what we heard the other day!) Most are, naturally, tie-ins to The Last Jedi. We learned that longtime Star Wars writer Jason Fry is writing the Del Rey novelization of the film. Franchise newcomer Elizabeth Wein is writing Cobalt Squadron, “the harrowing story of the courageous bomber pilots and technicians of Cobalt Squadron.” The novel for young readers will feature Rose and Paige Tico.

Continue reading “SDCC: Jason Fry is writing the The Last Jedi novelization, and other fiction news”

Del Rey’s 40th Anniversary offering is a new anthology

Del Rey will be celebrating the 40th Anniversary of A New Hope with From a Certain Point of View, a new anthology that will feature 40 stories from the viewpoints of the movie’s minor characters.

Coming in October in an oversized hardcover, the anthology will feature more than 40 authors, including both established Star Wars writers (Chuck Wendig, John Jackson Miller, Gary Whitta) and those new to the franchise (Meg Cabot, Ken Liu, Nnedi Okorafor.) All the authors are donating their proceeds to the charity First Book.

The book will be out in October and is available for preorder now.

Star Wars Story Talk: Salt Lake Comic Con, Aliens of the Galaxy, & Year by Year

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Time for a new colossal-sized episode of Star Wars Story Talk as Yowie the Skunk, Baby Jawa, and I cover the latest in Star Wars stories, and we have a lot to talk about: a few recent Star Wars events and check out not one, not two, but three Star Wars books! I give a recap of all the Star Wars goings-on at Salt Lake Comic Con, held at the beginning of September, plus talk a bit on Star Wars Day at the San Diego Padres, and dive into three books: the newest Star Wars Little Golden Book: I Am a Princess, and Star Wars: Aliens of the Galaxy by Jason Fry and the newly released Star Wars Year by Year: A Visual History, Updated and Expanded Edition by Pablo Hidalgo. Plus an update on Wear Star Wars Every Day and a triple dose of Baby Jawa fun time! Continue reading “Star Wars Story Talk: Salt Lake Comic Con, Aliens of the Galaxy, & Year by Year”

EUbits: Tom Veitch on Dark Empire, LFL’s Rayne Roberts

de-trilogyAn interview with Dark Empire writer Tom Veitch sheds some new light on the early ’90s Star Wars literature revival, including just how much input George Lucas had and how DE and Heir to the Empire somehow ended up in the same continuity.

→ The Lucasfilm Story Group’s Rayne Roberts recently appeared on the Black Nerd Girls podcast, where she talks about The Force Awakens, Star Wars lit, and even dodges a Rogue One question.

→ At StarWars.com, our own James interviews Jason Fry about Aliens of the Galaxy, a new guidebook for younger readers.

→ Timothy Zahn was named Grandmaster at the tenth annual Scribe awards for media tie-ins.

→ Jay Shah unpacks the Thrawn ‘mystique’ for Eleven-ThirtyEight.

Video: Unboxing Star Wars: TFA Incredible Cross-Sections, new OT Graphic Novel, & Rebels

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This time on Unboxing Star Wars, Baby Jawa, Yowie, and I check out one recent book and one brand new book, and two recent episodes of Star Wars Rebels. First we review The Force Awakens: Incredible Cross-Sections, illustrated by Kemp Remillard and written by Jason Fry from DK Publishing. Then we check out the new original trilogy comic adaptation for kids, Star Wars: The Original Trilogy – A Graphic Novel, scripted by Alessandro Ferrari, out today from Disney Lucasfilm Press. Finally we chat Rebels with a look at the past two episodes, Hera’s family reunion in ‘Homecoming’ and unlikely allies Zeb and Kallus in ‘The Honorable Ones.’ Plus we get a new Wookiee to play with!


Quick reviews
The Force Awakens: Incredible Cross-Sections – Thumbs-up! Great look at the vessels and vehicles of the new movie.
The Original Trilogy – A Graphic Novel – Okay for intended audience (ages 9-12), but cuts out a bit too much of the story for my tastes – keeps the plot, but loses flavor.
‘Homecoming’ – Thumbs-up! Great to return to Ryloth, connecting Hera to her father, a Clone Wars legend.
‘The Honorable Ones’ – Thumbs-up! Putting Zeb and Kallus into a survival situation shows them both off in new lights

Get more info on Wear Star Wars Every Day or make a donation at GoFundMe.

Note: Books provided for review by their respective publishers.

Today in The Force Awakens: Marvel announces Chuck Wendig-penned adaptation

tfa-comic-reyMarvel today announced (via Comic Book Resources) that they’re doing a 5-issue adaptation of The Force Awakens for June. Aftermath author Chuck Wendig is writing, with Luke Ross on art.

The first The Force Awakens comic, an ongoing featuring Poe Dameron, will launch in April.

Jedi News noticed that The Force Awakens Blu-ray is now listed as a three-disc set – two Blu-rays and one DVD – on Blu-ray.com. Everyone is still playing coy on the release date, but it’s probably April 5.

→ Co-producer Ben Rosenblatt talks to The Hollywood Reporter about the film’s final shot.

Jason Fry explains how General Hux’s father became part of his Rebels tie-in series, Servants of the Empire.

Variety looks into how ILM made Starkiller Base crumble. Spoiler: Computers.

Star Wars out this week: Some movie, I hear?

First and foremost, yes, we’re getting the first Star Wars movie in a decade this week – a lucky few (hundred? thousand?) tonight in Hollywood, and the rest of the world a few days later, depending on your location.

But for our purposes, let’s look at Wednesday first, which brings the Darth Vader Annual, Kanan #9, and the Legends Epic Collection: Infinities, because Marvel heard you’d like some alternate universe in your alternate universe.

Now Friday is when things get really interesting, as not only is there a movie, but a whole bunch of books as well. For fiction, there’s The Force Awakens novelization by Alan Dean Foster (eBook only – the hardcover isn’t out until January 5) and Before the Awakening by Greg Rucka. For reference, Pablo Hidalgo’s The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary, The Force Awakens Incredible Cross-Sections from Kemp Remillard and Jason Fry, and of course, The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Video: James reviews Moving Target and Salt Lake Comic Con

Moving Target - Salt Lake Comic Con

Yowie the Skunk, Baby Jawa, and Jawajames are back with another Unboxing Star Wars video! This time, we check out a BB-8 shirt, dive into the Journey to the Force Awakens book, Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure by Cecil Castellucci and Jason Fry, and also talk about what was cool in the world of Star Wars at Salt Lake Comic Con!


For more on how Cecil Castellucci developed the character of Leia in Moving Target, check back to her Force Friday author appearance.

Star Wars out this week: Force Friday edition

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We all know by now (hopefully) that this Friday, September 4th, is Force Friday, when a huge chunk of The Force Awakens merchandise is going to drop. And naturally, what we’re most excited about are the 5 novels in the Journey to The Force Awakens line.

But first, there are other things coming out this week. Tuesday brings season 1 of Rebels on Blu-ray and DVD. Shockingly, there are no comics coming on Wednesday. (Shattered Empire, Marvel’s entry into Journey, will be out later in the month.)

You’ll also be be seeing things like coloring and sticker books for Journey, but for our purposes, here are the standouts:

jtfa-aftermath-700From Del Rey, we have Star Wars newcomer Chuck Wendig tackling Aftermath, our first canon story set after Return of the Jedi. We know it stars Wedge Antilles and new character Norra Wexley, but not much more than that. First of a trilogy. An excerpt is available, though I wouldn’t be shocked to see another in the coming days.

Disney Lucasfilm Press has four novels total. Claudia Gray’s Lost Stars is a YA novel that follows two childhood friends, one who joins the Empire and one who becomes a Rebel. The last three are set during the original trilogy, one each for Luke, Leia and Han, though we’ve recently learned they all feature prologues (at least) set in The Force Awakens era. I’ve heard these described as both for young readers and as YA, but the presence of illustrations make me think it’s the former. Jason Fry’s The Weapon of a Jedi and Greg Rucka’s Smuggler’s Run are both set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, while Cecil Castellucci and Fry’s Moving Target is our first canon story to be set between Empire and Return of the Jedi.

A handful of reference books will also be out on Friday: Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know by Adam Bray, Cole Horton, Michael Kogge and Kerrie Dougherty and Benjamin Harper’s Ships of the Galaxy. Both are targeted to young readers, and we know that Ships, at least, has blueprints to TFA ships. We can also expect an assortment of things like sticker and coloring books, which may contain ‘new’ characters.

We’re expecting a lot of hints and small pieces in these books, but most of the heavy-hitting movie tie-ins will be out later. The Force Awakens novelization will be out on December 18 as an eBook, the same day as the film, with a hardcover edition to follow in January. We fully expect the traditional compliment of reference books – making of, concept art, etc – but those haven’t been formally announced yet. (Though are also expected in January at the very soonest.)