EUbits: Star Wars books and comics at NYCC

New York Comic Con. The schedule for the October 11-14 con is up, and both EU panels are on Friday… both at noon? Star Wars Books features Jason Fry and Pablo Hidalgo, while Brian Wood & Dark Horse: From World’s End to the Galaxy’s Beginnings will be Brian Wood, Jeremy Atkins, Randy Stradley and Sierra Hahn.

Previews. EUCantina has a few pages from The Essential Reader’s Companion… (Which you can currently pre-order for $19.19 on Amazon.) Oh, and Paul S. Kemp still can’t talk about his duology.

Interviews. There were a lot of them. In text, EUCantina has Haden Blackman, Jedi News has Bill Slavicsek (old-timers will remember his Guide to the Star Wars Universe) and Fangirl talks to Del Rey’s summer intern, Tom Hoeler. In audio, Fictional Frontiers has Aaron Allston, while Jedi Journals caught up with Aaron and Drew Karpyshyn at CVI. And Roqoo Depot ties up their series of CVI video interviews with John Jackson Miller.

The blogside. Roqoo Depot thinks Crucible may bring Borsk Fey’lya back from the dead. Oh-kay.

Reviews. James reads Lost Tribe of the Sith: Spiral #2, Knight Errant: Escape #4, and Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison #5.

EUbits: Is July 16th the Crucible release date?

Street dates. Knights Archive spotted this release date for Troy Denning’s Crucible on the Random House Smart Archive. As it is put there by the publisher this could be the real release date… At the moment, anyway. The farther we are out from a release date, the more the things move around, but it might be worth penciling in.

Meet the new folks. Rebels authors Martha Wells and Kevin Hearne both spoke out publicly for the first time after the announcement of their new Star Wars project.

Star Wars Reads. Start planning for October 6th now, as StarWars.com has posted a location map for events through the U.S. A few authors have posted where they’ll be appearing already: Troy Denning, Dan Wallace and John Jackson Miller will be in Roseville, MN, while Pablo Hidalgo and Haden Blackman will appear in Corte Madera, CA, along with Aaron Allston, Drew Karpyshyn and Alexander Freed in Austin, TX. I suspect we’ll be hearing about more of these as the date approaches!

Comics. Skuldren from Roqoo Depot taped the ‘One Writer’s Approach to Star Wars’ panel at Celebration.

Detectiving! In all the hussle and bussle of live-tweeting Celebration, there’s not always time go back and find your sources. Thankfully, Pete did a little digging to find Paul Kemp’s tweet about his mystery duology.

Han slaps first: Best #StarWars and #SWEU tweets for the past week

Yup, it’s back, and we’re still recovering from April Fools… More serious (okay, mostly snarky) tweets beneath the cut, including J. W. Rinzler on Making of Return of the Jedi, Paul S. Kemp on carbonite, and more on parenting, programing, and Luke’s love life. Continue reading “Han slaps first: Best #StarWars and #SWEU tweets for the past week”

EUbits: Do we need George Lucas?

The blogside. With a title like ‘We Don’t Need George Lucas,’ the latest Action/Reaction over at EU Cantina was was bound to be controversial. Chris has some interesting points (yes, George Lucas worship does get out of hand from some aspects of fandom) but I don’t really agree with everything he says (I have no regrets on our coverage of Red Tails or Amanda Lucas) And course we’ve always had coverage of things outside the realm of Star Wars and the Expanded Universe. I’m not so fond of the ‘telling other people how to be a fan’ aspect, but it’s certainly an issue worth giving some thought.

Street date shuffle. In responses to a query about Paul S. Kemp’s duology, Frank Parisi says it’s “a very ambitious project” but the first book won’t be coming out this November as it was previously (tentatively) scheduled.

Excerpt. The latest mini-excerpt of Denning’s Apocalypse comes with bonus audio linkage.

Photoshoppery. What if Judy Blume wrote Star Wars books? (Bonus linkage.)

Review. James looks at Dark Times: Out of the Wilderness #4.

EUbits: Essential Reader’s Companion cover revealed

Cover art. Revealed on the official blog today is the finished cover for Pablo Hidalgo’s Essential Reader’s Companion. Clearly inspired by the Micheal Whelan piece used for the preliminary cover, the art was painted by Paul Youll.

Celebration VI. Del Rey has confirmed Aaron Allston, Troy Denning, Drew Karpyshyn, and John Jackson Miller will be at the con in August. And of course we already knew about Timothy Zahn.

Dawn of the Jedi. i09 has some interior pages and an interview on the upcoming series from John Ostrander and Jan Duursema, while Dark Horse gives us a look at some sketches.

The hype continues. On the off chance you haven’t heard of that Darth Plagueis book, there’s a trailer. Of course.

Chats. Author Paul S. Kemp did a Q&A with Reddit’s fantasy group the other day. There are a few questions about Star Wars scattered throughout.

Reviews. James takes a look at Knights of the Old Republic: War #1 and Agent of the Empire: Iron Eclipse #2.

Highlights of today’s chat with author Paul S. Kemp

The Star Wars Books Facebook page hosted a chat with author Paul S. Kemp this evening. Kemp is the author of last year’s Crosscurrent, The Old Republic: Deceived, and the just-released Riptide. Warning: This chat will contain some spoilers for all three of his books. I’ve tried to contain them to the last part here, but be warned: I might miss some, since I haven’t read any of them. Head beneath the cut to check it out the highlights. Continue reading “Highlights of today’s chat with author Paul S. Kemp”

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.

Out this week: Riptide, The People vs. George Lucas and Crimson Empire III

We’ve got quite the variety of things coming out this week. First up, on Tuesday, is the latest from Paul S. Kemp, Riptide. He regards it as his best Star Wars novel, and shares a bit more with Suvudu.

Also being released tomorrow is the DVD of the fan documentary The People vs. George Lucas, which should be an interesting watch.

And finally, Wednesday brings the long-awaited Crimson Empire III: Empire Lost #1. Have at it, fanboys.

EUbits: New excerpts for Darth Revan, Riptide, & Darth Plagueis

Plagueis the child? Today, Star Wars Books gives us the first in a series of mini-excerpts for James Luceno’s Darth Plagueis on Facebook. The Sith aren’t babysnatchers… most of the time.

On Stranger Tides: Paul Kemp dishes out a second excerpt, eight pages long, from Riptide, which comes out next week. If you missed the first excerpt, check it out on Suvudu.

Inside the Sith Empire: Random House has a good chunk of the first chapter of The Old Republic: Revan up on its site. Drew Karpyshyn’s novel about the character from the Knights of the Old Republic game comes out in November. If there’s one thing to be said about the Sith Empire, it’s that the trains run on time, so they must be doing something right.

Vader turns the page: At Suvudu, Eric Geller previews The Complete Vader with a video walkthrough of the book that looks at Darth Vader as both character and as pop culture icon.

Fate of the Jedi: In case you missed it, last week, Troy Denning has turned in his manscript for Apocalypse.

Comics: I’ve been busy reviewing the latest Star Wars comics over at Big Shiny Robot: Last week we had the awesome Invasion – Revelations #4, and the lackluster The Old Republic – The Lost Suns #5. This week, I take a peek at Knight Errant – Escape #3, and a The Clone Wars digest: Strange Allies.

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.