Category: books and comics

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A.C. Crispin says goodbye to fans and colleagues

Author Ann Crispin posted yesterday on her Facebook that she’s nearing the end of her fight with cancer. “I am doing the best I can to be positive but I probably don’t have an awful lot of time left. I want you all to know that I am receiving excellent care and am surrounded by family and friends.”

She’s perhaps best known by Star Wars fans for her Han Solo trilogy: 1997’s The Paradise Snare and The Hutt Gambit and 1998’s Rebel Dawn. She also wrote several Star Trek novels – 1983’s Yesterday’s Son was the first original Trek novel to be a New York Times bestseller – and is one of the founders of SFWA’s Writer Beware, a watchdog group for scams and fraud in the publishing industry.

Messages left on her Facebook will be read to her by her husband, Michael.

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Review roundup: Everyone likes (at least!) Kenobi

john-jackson-miller-kenobi-sdccStar Wars: Kenobi came out in hardcover this past Tuesday, and you’ve already seen Dunc’s review on John Jackson Miller’s novel set under the Tusken suns. Hint: she gave it an B+. And we know know critical she can be.

But what are other folks saying about the Western-style tale on Tatooine? Here’s a big stack of reviews (both spoiler-free and other wise) with your name on them! Most everyone seems to give strong approval to Kenobi!

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Review: Miller’s Kenobi is a fun Star Wars read

Kenobi by JJMKenobi is John Jackson Miller’s second Star Wars novel and his first featuring a movie character, and quite possibly the best one of the year thus far.

This is a Star Wars novel fitting firmly in the current trend of books that require one to know very little beyond the films themselves. In fact, it’s exactly the kind of novel whose lack we’ve been mourning for quite some time: An character-centric adventure that doesn’t have galaxy-shaking consequences and is none the less exciting or interesting for it.

Minor spoilers beyond this point.

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Out this week: Miller’s Kenobi and more

kenobi245You’ll finally be able to pick up John Jackson Miller’s Kenobi on Tuesday, but in the meantime, there are Miller interviews at Eleven-ThirtyEight and Fangirl. There’s an excerpt read by James Arnold Taylor and a look at the book’s geography as well… And my review will be up tomorrow.

Also out on Tuesday is Jeffrey Brown’s Jedi Academy. The author of Darth Vader and Son and Vader’s Little Princess now has a bigger book that is a Diary of a Wimpy Kid take on being in a Jedi middle school, under Yoda. Check out Bleeding Cool’s preview of the book, or watch the book’s trailer.

Meanwhile, in comics, Legacy #6 is out on Wednesday.

Our next novel, Martha Wells’ Empire and Rebellion: Razor’s Edge, will be out on September 24th, while the highly anticipated The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi by J. W. Rinzler is out October 1.

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Blurb gives us first hints at Corey’s Honor Among Thieves

Honor Among ThievesRandom House has posted a short blurb for James S.A. Corey’s Honor Among Thieves.

When a rebel spy needs extraction from under the nose of the Empire, who better to send than master smuggler, Han Solo? But rescuing a friendly spy is just the start of a wild adventure as the intel the spy uncovers leads Han and Leia to an ancient and deadly secret that threatens to be the Empire’s ultimate-and likely successful-weapon against the Rebel Alliance. Add in the chance to lose Luke Skywalker to this horrific threat, and Han and Chewbacca may have finally met a trap even they can’t escape…

The book, second in the loosely-connected Empire and Rebellion series, is currently scheduled for a hardcover release in March. The first, Martha Wells’ Razor’s Edge, is out September 24. (via)

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Interview: Randy Stradley & Douglas Wheatley on Dark Times

And you thought my con coverage was over! Here’s Randy Stradley, writer of Star Wars: Dark Times, and Douglas Wheatley, artist of Dark Times, discussing the start of the current arc, ‘A Spark Remains’. If you haven’t checked it out yet, Issue #1 came out in July, just before Comic-Con, and the second issue comes out today. While setting the stage for the activity in the first issue of ‘A Spark Remains’ (check out my review of #1 on Big Shiny Robot), the pair kept mum about the future of Jedi Dass Jennir and his friends, as well as other projects being worked on. Bonus: we get photobombed at the very end by a certain Sith voice actor.Dark Times: A Spark Remains #1

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Interview: Kevin Hearne talks Star Wars and The Iron Druid Chronicles

Kevin_HearneKevin Hearne is the author of the upcoming Empire and Rebellion novel that centers on Luke Skywalker, which will be released after Martha Wells’ Razor’s Edge and James S. A. Corey’s Honor Among Thieves. At the end of July, Hearne joined his pal, first-time novelist Jason M. Hough, for the launch party for Hough’s book. I had a chance to chat with Hearne about Star Wars, his current series, The Iron Druid Chronicles, an urban fantasy series, and other stuff. Here’s the transcript of our interview:

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