Master & Apprentice, Queen’s Shadow to have special editions at Celebration

Among today’s batch of Celebration exclusive reveals is our first look at the con editions of E.K. Johnston’s Queen’s Shadow and Claudia Gray’s Master & Apprentice. Del Rey has some details how to get M&A – you’ll need wristbands and it comes with an enamel pin – but we’re still waiting to hear on Queen’s Shadow. (Though I suspect that one will just be on sale at a booth.)

The standard edition of Queen’s Shadow was released earlier this month, but Master & Apprentice won’t be out until April 16 – meaning fans who pick it up at Celebration (April 11-15) will get it at most few days early.

We’re also starting to see the author panels on the schedule fill out with more details, in addition to the three general publishing panels, there are four dedicated spotlights: Timothy Zahn, Claudia Gray’s So, You’re a Fanfic Writer Who Wants To Go Pro?, Delilah S. Dawson’s Worldbuilding 101 and Alexander Freed’s The Art and Craft of Video Game Writing.

Star Wars out this week: Double Padmes

It’s a big week for releases, with one novel and several comics coming in. First up, on Tuesday, March 5, is E.K. Johnston’s Queen’s Shadow, a Pdame YA novel that bridges The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones and has been drawing a lot of praise from the early reviewers.

Then on Wednesday, March 6, head to the comic shops for even more Padme with Age of Republic: Padme Amidala. If that’s not quite your thing, there’s also Star Wars #62, Darth Vader: Dark Visions #1, and for the all-ages crows, IDW’s graphic novel adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back. Marvel, not to be outdone, has Ewoks reprints.

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More authors join Celebration Chicago lineup

The author lineup for Celebration Chicago is growing, adding E.K. Johnston, Justina Ireland and Zoraida Córdova. They join an already impressive list which includes Timothy Zahn, Delilah Dawson, and Claudia Gray.

Gray and Johnston both have new Star Wars books coming out in the spring: Johnston’s Padme YA novel Queen’s Shadow is out March 5, while Gray’s Master and Apprentice is due April 16, just after the con, so we can likely expect a convention exclusive version.

Celebration Chicago is being held April 11-15, 2019 at McCormick Place.

Upcoming Star Wars fiction leans into the prequel era

The extended gap between movies sees Star Wars publishing reaching back to the prequel era for their most high profile SDCC announcements. Coming from Del Rey we have Master and Apprentice, a Qui-gon and Obi-wan novel from Claudia Gray (Bloodline, Princess of Alderaan). And from Disney-Lucasfilm press there’s the long-rumored Padme novel, Queen’s Shadow by E.K. Johnston (Ahsoka).

The Padme cover is by Tara Phillips, who editor Jen Heddle says she “found on Deviant Art.” Both books will be out in early 2019 and up for pre-order soon: Master and Apprentice in February, and Queen’s Shadow in March.

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