The contract renewal we’ve all been expecting has finally been announced, (45 books: 35 novels!) along with the Fate of the Jedi series which has been burning up all the rumor mills. Aaron Allston, Troy Denning, and SW newcomer Christie Golden will be handling author duties on the post-LOTF series, but perhaps the biggest surprise here is that it will be entirely in hardcover. The first book, Allston’s Outcast, will be out in April.
Also name-dropped is The Making of The Empire Strikes Back coming in 2010, though whether it’s a reprint or reworking of previous material we’ve yet to learn.
There’s no mention of several other projects we’re awaiting official word on, like Cunningham’s Blood Oath or Traviss’ Fett standalone, but further Essential Guides are mentioned.
IIRC there’s never actually been a Making of ESB published, there’s an Art of, and a journal book, but not a Making of.
Finally. Everyone exhale. I am so excited about this. I can’t wait to start reading. Can you preorder?
I have a pretty clear memory of a question asked at CIV if there would be Making of books for ESB and ROTJ, and Rostoni or Rinzler said there already was… But that they might be repackaged or rereleased.
Older nonfic has never been my focus, so while maybe there wasn’t a Making of ESB by that exact title, but certainly there were similar books, just maybe not as extensive as the more recent ANH one. And I don’t doubt that they’ll manage another big chunky book despite that. :D
I did change the wording in the post to refer to ‘previous material,’ though.
Diva: Allston’s book has been in the Amazon and Random House catalogs for a while now, so yes!
There were making-of books for both of the original sequels, called “Once Upon a Galaxy: A Journal of the Making of The Empire Strikes Back” and “The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi”. But both were mass market paperbacks, not the trade paperback style of the prequel or ANH books. I look forward to seeing them both redone in the new format (with glorious full-color pictures!).