On sale today, Battlefront: Twilight Company is a good, solid novel for the military sci-fi reader. The world of Star Wars is no stranger to video game tie-in fiction, and has done so quite well with the X-Wing series and Republic Commando series, both now Legends. First time novelist Alexander Freed hits the mark by pulling the reader in for a trip with the men and women of Twilight Company, formally the Sixty-First Mobile Infantry, one of the Rebel Alliance’s toughest units, during the original trilogy era.
In a slight departure from all The Force Awakens buzz, Tuesday bring the novel Battlefront: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed. It has pretty good buzz from what I can tell, so if this is something that appeals to you, might as well go for it.
(Subscribers can expect the latest issue of the Star Wars Insider any day now. It contains the short story ‘Inbrief’ by Janine K. Spendlove, featuring a character from the novel. Non-subscribers… Well, it’s not on the shipping list this week, but soon.)
The Wall Street Journal writes about how Alan Dean Foster’s The Force Awakens novelization won’t be available in hardcover until January – something we’ve known since April. (The ebook will be out on December 18, along with the movie.) It was, not surprisingly, due to a request from Lucasfilm:
David Moench, the Del Rey spokesman, said the publisher would have preferred to put out the hardcover edition out on the day the movie opens in order to capture more sales.
“We would love to release both formats of the novelization simultaneously and not miss the holidays,” he said, “but we recognize the importance of protecting the story for the fans.”
Apparently, fans still prefer the physical books:
“It’s a collector’s mentality,” said Scott Shannon, Del Rey’s publisher. The “Star Wars” titles the publisher has issued have “way over-indexed” in terms of physical book sales to digital copies, said Mr. Shannon.
Perhaps the most interesting bit of information: Del Rey has sold more than 1.2 million Star Wars books in the past twelve months. (Only Aftermath and Lords of the Sith get namechecked.) That number extends to 70 million over the life of the license (including Bantam). It’s not clear if that number goes back to 1977 or 1991, but I suspect ’77. It would be interesting to see the numbers for at least the previous novelizations, but alas.
Fun fact: Although many Star Wars books have made it onto the New York Times’ Best Seller list, only four have made it to #1: The Return of the Jedi Storybook by Joan D. Vinge, Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire, The Phantom Menace novelization by Terry Brooks and (go figure) The Force Unleashed novelization by Sean Williams.
Del Rey has revealed a short blurb for Delilah S. Dawson’s ‘The Perfect Weapon,’ a Journey to The Force Awakens short story featuring Bazine Netal, one of the characters we’ll see at Maz Kanata’s castle in the film.
There are plenty of mercenaries, spies, and guns for hire in the galaxy. But probably none as dangerous and determined as Bazine Netal. A master of disguise—and lethal with a blade, a blaster, or bare handed—she learned from the best. Now it’s her turn to be the teacher—even if schooling an eager but inexperienced recruit in the tricks of her trade is the last thing she wants to do. But it’s the only way to score the ship she needs to pull off her latest job.
An anonymous client has hired Bazine to track down an ex-stormtrooper and recover the mysterious package he’s safeguarding. Payment for the mission promises to be astronomical, but the obstacles facing Bazine will prove to be formidable. And though her eager new sidekick has cyber skills crucial to the mission, only Bazine’s razor-sharp talents will mean the difference between success or failure—and life or death.
The short will be on sale as a $1.99 ebook on November 24.
Also of note, Del Rey’s Star Wars Books team have recently started a Tumblr.
I’ve got a new Unboxing Star Wars video up, with Yowie and I looking back at this past week in the world of Star Wars, with Star Wars Reads Day, the start of the new season of Rebels, some more Journey to the Force Awakens books, and of course we talk about the new poster for The Force Awakens.
Florian was first to spot these small summaries for the four Journey to The Force Awakens stories by Landry Walker. Each has a price of $2.99 and release date of November 24 – a week earlier than the December 1 date given at NYCC. Delilah Dawson’s The Perfect Weapon, which doesn’t have a summary yet (it’s the only digital short from Del Rey instead of Disney Lucasfilm Press) also has an Amazon release date of the 24th at the moment, though it’s only priced at $1.99.
Captain Ithano of the Crimson Corsair?→ The Crimson Corsair and the Lost Treasure of Count Dooku: “Every pirate in the sector is after the lost treasure of Count Dooku! Will Captain Ithano and his crew beat his rivals to the prize?”
→ High Noon on Jakku: “A renegade droid causes problems for Constable Zuvio on Jakku.”
→ The Face of Evil: “A notorious thief learns to be careful what she wishes for on Takodana.”
The four Landry stories are expected to be released in print, along with two new entries, in the spring. A sixth story, ‘Bait’ by Alan Dean Foster, will appear in a December issue of the Star Wars Insider.
It’s hard to believe that after last week’s glut of comic releases that we’re still getting new comics on Wednesday, but so it is. Fans don’t have to wait long for Shattered Empire #3, and there’s also Chewbacca #1, which launches a new mini-series.
