A Twitter tipster told TheForce.Net that Hollywood Studios employees are being asked to cancel vacation plans for the grand debut of the new Star Tours because Disney wants “all hands on deck” due to George Lucas attending. It’s only a rumor so don’t get your hopes up, but if you’re planning to attend in Orlando, be forewarned.
Out this week: Star Wars Insider #124
Subscribers have (hopefully) received it already, but the latest issue of Star Wars Insider ought to be in stores now. Lest you forget, this is the one featuring the Darth Malgus short story from Paul S. Kemp, to whet appetites for next week’s Deceived release.
Also coming up: Kemp will be on a Star Wars novel panel with fellow author John Jackson Miller and Del Rey editor Erich Schoeneweiss at C2E2 in Chicago on Friday.
Brief blurb for Fate of the Jedi: Ascension, plus reveal dates for Karpyshyn TOR novel
The Random House Fall catalog is out, and there’s a brief blurb at hand for the eighth Fate of the Jedi novel, Christie Golden’s Ascension. For the sake of politeness I’ll black-bar it (highlight to read) but it’s really, terribly vague. Have at it:
In this penultimate novel in the bestselling Fate of the Jedi series, Luke Skywalker, his son Ben, and the Sith girl Vestara are in hot pursuit of the dread power called Abeloth, who has joined forces with the Sith in a bid to take over the galaxy. The leadership of the government is uncertain, torn apart by power struggles and infiltrators, while the Sith have a terrible secret that could shake the Jedi Order to its core…
(Must admit I burst out laughing at ‘dread power’. Oh, Del Rey.)
Also taking up space in the catalog is Drew Karpyshyn’s Old Republic tie-in. We learn that the title will be announced April 15th and cover will be revealed at San Diego Comic-Con. Also, breaking news: “STAR WARS GAME TIE-IN NOVELS ARE POPULAR.” Oh, is that why they keep publishing them? I had no idea.
Ascension is due out August 16; The Karpyshyn is currently slated for October 18. (via)
Other worlds: On the awesomeness of Katniss Everdeen
The Hunger Games. Meghan Lewit has praise for Katniss Everdeen in The Atlantic, calling her “the most important female character in recent pop culture history.” I can’t really disagree there.
Meanwhile, it’s being reported that Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone) is the front-runner for the part of Katniss in the upcoming movie adaption. She’s 20 and blonde, but at least she can act, I guess. Hollywood, sigh.
Stephen King. A new installment in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, The Wind Through the Keyhole, will be published next year. It looks to be a gap-filler, not a continuation. Meanwhile, in November, he time-travels to the Kennedy assignation.
The Kingkiller Chronicle. If you’ve been paying any attention at all to the genre as a whole, you probably know that Patrick Rothfuss is one of the hottest things in fantasy. His second book, The Wise Man’s Fear, just came out. I can’t even begin to catch up with the overwhelming hype and I wasn’t all that impressed with his first anyway, but there’s a nice interview with him on Amazon’s Omnivoracious.
YA mafia. The latest controversy sweeping YA is massive, but it prompted John Scalzi to snark, and there ain’t nothing wrong with that. Also noteworthy: Cleolinda on how reviews are not for authors.
Sunday reader. Mari Ness finished up her look back at the Narnia books on Tor.com a few weeks back. (She also did a massive series on the Oz books if you’re all Lewised out.)
EUbits: Del Rey to preview Zahn’s Heir to the Empire annotations
Whoohoo! Beginning next Thursday, the Star Wars Books Facebook page will be posting a Heir to the Empire annotation from Timothy Zahn each week until the book’s release in June. Suddenly, I hate Facebook just a tiny, tiny bit less.
In the meantime, Del Rey is asking what Thrawn scene you’d like to see illustrated in The Essential Guide to Warfare.
The blogside. Paul S. Kemp on readers who complain there’s too much focus on Jedi and Sith in the EU. I’m so with him on this. Sure, it’s nice to have novels about other folks in the galaxy sometimes, but Jedi and Sith are pretty much integral to the DNA of Star Wars.
Pop quiz. Head on over to EUC to find out if you are smarter than a Star Wars blogger. I can neither confirm nor deny that some of the snarky quotes are mine.
C2E2. Not surprisingly, there are several Star Wars events at the Chicago con later this month, including Del Rey and Dark Horse panels. And I’m changing my mind every other day about going…
Weird facts. Pete at Lightsaber Rattling follows up his author list with a look at who’s written the most young adult novels. The ultimate result this time around, though? Not a surprise. Think if we pester him enough he’ll do one by word count?
The Clone Wars review: ‘Counterattack’
“This is some rescue. When you came in here, didn’t you have a plan for getting out?” Last week’s episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, entitled ‘Counterattack’ shows what happens when the best-laid plans of mouse droids and men hit reality. As the middle story in the Citadel arc, its parallels to Leia’s rescue on the Death Star build up – and then take a different route as the Sith hits the fan. Continue reading “The Clone Wars review: ‘Counterattack’”
Would you buy this Her Universe tote bag?
Ashley Eckstein shares a possible new product with us, and is asking for feedback. Would you buy the tote bag in the video? Check it out, then fill out the survey.
Discussion: What’s your favorite Star Wars craft?
So, as you may have heard, we’re holding a craft contest. You don’t have to be an expert crafter or even to have experienced the joy of finding glitter in places where glitter should never be to participate. Really!
We’ve featured a whole lot of crafts over the years; Star Wars fandom is rife with the things. So what’s your personal favorite Star Wars craft?
And no, it DOESN’T have to be something you’ve made yourself! Or even something Bonnie made. (Don’t hurt us, Bonnie.)
There’s only one rule: Your choice must be analog. No design, no photo-manips, no computers. It must have been made by human hands at some point! Metal, food and costumes do count, yarn and glitter are optional. Include a link if you can. (Basic HTML works just fine in our comments.)
In the news: Colbert dings politician for Portman pregnancy remarks; U.K. atheists blast ‘Jedi’ census
Fake-pundit fun. Stephen Colbert blasted Mike Huckabee for his comments on Natalie Portman’s pregnancy. “Look, I’m no fan of single mothers either. But it’s Natalie Portman we’re talking about. That kid she’s pregnant with is Luke Skywalker,” Colbert said. “So logically, if you’re against her pregnancy that means you’ve aligned yourself politically with Emperor Palpatine. You’re alienating all of Tatooine. It’s a swing planet.” Of course Tatooine is a swing planet.
Serious matters. An atheist group in the U.K. has launched a campaign to convince folks not to write down “Jedi” on their census forms as a joke. No word on how they feel about ‘real’ Jedi. (via)
Legal. Lucasfilm is back in court again – the British Supreme Court this time – over the Shepperton studios stormtrooper replicas.
Random. Harrison Ford is helping to develop a Facebook game. Okay, so it’s an environmentally-concious Facebook game… But it’s still a Facebook game. Which I guess is better than watching him get his chest waxed again.
Dying for more details on Legend of Korra?
The Wall Street Journals’ Speakeasy blog has been breaking news about the new series from the folks behind Avatar: the Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra.
On Monday, they have us our first look at the face of series’ title character, Korra – she was facing away from us in the initial art.
Tuesday brought casting info: Janet Varney will be voicing Korra, with J.K. Simmons as her airbending teacher, Aang’s son Tenzin. You’ll probably recognize Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, aka the best part of the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies. We don’t know anything about the rest of the characters, but other familiar voices include Daniel Dae Kim (Lost, ATLA’s General Fong,) Lance Henriksen (remember Millennium?) Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men) and David Faustino (Married With Children.) Perhaps the most controversial name? Seychelle Gabriel, who played Princess Yue in M. Night Shyamalan’s much-maligned Airbender adaption. But folks, let’s cut her some slack: It’s not like she scripted or directed the thing.
Wednesday we got an interview with series creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, where they reveal that Nickelodeon ordered an additional 14 episodes – which brings the total number to 26! Go read it.