Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
A premonition in the Force…there will be a big announcement for #SWEU fans from Del Rey and LucasBooks tomorrow. @Darth_Duff
— StarWarsBooks (@DelReyStarWars) March 21, 2012
Apparently we’re getting a big Star Wars announcement from Del Rey tomorrow. What will it be? We guess, snarkily, below the cut.
Continue reading “Something big is coming from Del Rey… Let’s snark!”
Author Troy Denning goes into detail on Abeloth, Ben, Allana, tying into the Legacy comics, and all that other spoilery stuff we read in Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse in an interview with Suvudu. He also talks about working with multiple authors, like this interesting bit from the New Jedi Order:
…When I was writing Star by Star, I got the manuscript for Balance Point and saw that Kathy Tyers had followed the outline exactly. She did exactly what the outline had called for, but it was all about fifteen percent off of what I thought she meant. I was 400 pages into Star by Star and I thought, “Oh my gosh, I have slightly different interpretations of these characters than Kathy does!” So I had to go back and rewrite the first 400 pages before I could go on.
He also talks about the differences in Fate of the Jedi and Legacy of the Force, the ‘Jacen Solo saga,’ the last words of Apocalypse, and leaving things open-ended.
Meanwhile, Rooqoo Depot talks to Lucasfilm continuity guru Leland Chee.
Knights Archive spotted that the Random House fall catalog is out, and it contains a listing for Timothy Zahn’s yet-untitled Han Solo novel – with a small blurb that gives a few more plot details:
The Death Star has just been destroyed and Han Solo still needs the money to pay off the bounty on his head. Now the opportunity to make that money and then some has walked into his life in the form of the perfect heist. With nine like-minded scoundrels, he and Chewbacca just might be able to pull it off and live to tell the tale!
The listing also mentions a wraparound cover featuring the eleven (ha) scoundrels, and calls it the “perfect” entry for casual fans.
(Also, we now have a tag for the book. It’ll change when we get an actual title, but thanks to StarWars-Union.de for the MUPPETS suggestion.)
Also in the catalog was an entry for Drew Karpyshyn’s The Old Republic: Annihilation, but no new details.
And here a few other entries that might also be of interest: The Lands of Ice and Fire, a map book to the world of ASoIaF and Game of Thrones, and Geek Mom: Projects, Tips, and Adventures for Moms and Their 21st Century Families, from the folks who produce the blog.
Be sure to make it out to your local comic shop on Wednesday, as Dawn Of The Jedi: Force Storm #2 will hitting the shelves. Also on the list are two new trades: The Old Republic: The Lost Suns and an Other Sons of Tatooine omnibus, featuring such luminaries as Biggs Darklighter, Janek “Tank” Sunber and… BoShek. Alrighty then.
In other news, Del Rey’s Star Wars team now has a dedicated twitter account, @DelReyStarWars.
Del Rey’s Erich Schoeneweiss announced today that Pablo Hidalgo’s Essential Reader’s Companion has been pushed back from April to October 2.
The reason? “To provide our exceptional art team a little more time to complete over 100 painted scenes plus nearly 50 character portraits from the Expanded Universe,” Schoeneweiss wrote. More art? I’m okay with that.
Schoeneweiss expects to be able to start sharing some pieces soon. Per usual, our book release schedule has been updated.
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.
Over at Galactic Drift, Racheal recaps Troy Denning’s book tour stop in Carmel, Indiana, complete with the above video. Denning talking about the “Jacen Solo era” that Apocalypse is closing out, the push for war stories, tying into the Legacy comics and more.
As for news, Denning said he’s not involved – and isn’t sure if he will be – with whatever is happening next in the EU.
One thing that rubs me (and others) the wrong way is his reference to Tatooine Ghost as a “chick book.” It’s not one of my favorites – I don’t even own a copy – but it is exactly the kind of story I think the Expanded Universe needs more of now that the glut of long series are over: Character-focused adventures that don’t have the fate of the entire galaxy in the balance. (Another example: Zahn’s Survivor’s Quest.) I can take or leave any romance aspects; I just want stories that give some consideration to the characters, not just their lightsabers and blasters.
I’m not saying we need to totally get rid of the galaxy-in-peril plots – as Denning points out, there’s a demand, and they are part of the formula. It’s not Star Peace, after all. But the one thing that the EU has been missing lately – at least if you’re not in it for brand-new characters – has been the balance of ‘galaxy’ books and ‘character’ books. Successful Star Wars stories that manage to do both – Matt Stover’s Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor, for instance – have been few and far between lately. And while I can’t speak for everyone, I’d rather have one Mindor a year than any of these drawn-out cast-of-thousands deals we’ve been getting. Or at least in addition to whatever cast-of-thousands thing is going on.
And really, does focusing on character over endless battle scenes really make something ‘for chicks?’ Really? Yes, this is Star Wars, and by the very nature of the franchise there’s always going to be a lot of pandering to the lowest common denominator… But throw the rest of us a bone every once and a while. Please.
Knights Archive spotted that Random House has posted an longer, extended blurb for Aaron Allston’s X-Wing: Mercy Kill that includes a few specifics the first version didn’t.
Note: The new portion does contain some spoilers for the Fate of the Jedi series. They’ve been black-barred: Highlight to read.
The intrepid spies, pilots, and sharpshooters of Wraith Squadron are back in an all-new Star Wars adventure, which transpires just after the events of the Fate of the Jedi series!
Three decades have passed since Wraith Squadron carried out its last mission. Taking on the most dangerous and daring operations, the rogues and misfits of the elite X-Wing unit became legends of the Rebellion and the Second Galactic Civil War, before breaking up and going their separate ways. Now their singular skills are back in vital demand—for a tailor-made Wraith Squadron mission.
A powerful general in the Galactic Alliance Army, once renowned for his valor, is suspected of participating in the infamous Lecersen Conspiracy, which nearly toppled the Alliance back into the merciless hands of the Empire. With orders to expose and apprehend the traitor—and license to do so by any and all means—the Wraiths will become thieves, pirates, impostors, forgers . . . and targets, as they put their guts, their guns, and their riskiest game plan to the test against the most lethal of adversaries.
Mercy Kill is currently due out in hardcover in August.
We got the first of what is likely to be several Celebration VI announcements over the next few months: The hosts of the three main stages. The Clone Wars’ Obi-Wan, James Arnold Taylor, will be commanding the Main Stage. LucasArts’ David Collins will handle the Digital Stage, while author and Internet Rockstar Pablo Hidalgo will be hosting the Behind-the-Scenes Stage. We’ll be seeing a lot of Pablo, I expect.
Well, it’s the final Fate of the Jedi release day, and thus comes a few more links – and one discount offer. I’m not really a fan of how Barnes & Noble only offers coupons on certain books, but today they’ve included Apocalypse for 40% off, which puts them on equal ground with Amazon. The online coupon code is C8M3R4E, but I believe it will only work if you have a membership with them. (It’s 33% off cover for non-members.)
And yes, there are more reviews, and they do contain spoilers. Roqoo Depot has two more: One from Lane Winree and another in round-robin form. NJOE’s Chris Carey has also reviewed.
Roqoo Depot is on a roll: They have an interview with Troy Denning, too.
Meanwhile, here’s a brief profile of Keltie Cochrane, the firm that designed all the Fate of the Jedi covers.