Tag: aftermath trilogy

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Star Wars Story Talk: Rogue One trailer reaction video, SWCE, SDCC, & Aftermath: Life Debt

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We’ve got a jumbo episode of Star Wars Story Talk (AKA the show formerly known as Unboxing Star Wars) as Yowie the Skunk, Baby Jawa, and I cover a whole sandcrawler-load of the latest in Star Wars stories. Baby Jawa does her first reaction video, watching the Rogue One trailer, and Yowie and I talk a bit about Star Wars Celebration Europe, San Diego Comic-Con and review Aftermath: Life Debt, the new novel by Chuck Wendig! Plus a little update on Wear Star Wars Every Day, a visit from a Loth-cat, and of course some Baby Jawa fun time!


Quick reviews
→ Trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – I am really excited for this movie and this trailer just pushes it up another notch. But how will Baby Jawa react to her first movie trailer viewing?
→ Star Wars Celebration Europe – Big thumbs up! A whole ton of fun and a lot of work. Plus seeing old friends and making new ones while in London!
→ Star Wars at San Diego Comic-Con – Even though there wasn’t a big movie panel, Star Wars still brought a lot to San Diego, including the Rogue One costume display and the publishing panel.
→ Star Wars: Aftermath – Life Debt – Chuck Wendig increases the scale and brings in some favorite film characters into the post-ROTJ era as the heroes help track down Han Solo as he’s disappeared while trying to liberate Kashyyyk. Solid read!
→ Loth-Cat Plush from Star Wars Celebration Europe – A big hit! Mrowwwl! Help me come up with a name for this grinning feline!

Mentioned on Star Wars Story Talk
On StarWars.com: Recent interviews with Chuck Wendig on Aftermath: Life Debt from Del Rey and Jarrett J. Krosoczka on Jedi Academy: A New Class from Scholastic.

Podcasts: Thanks to Coffee with Kenobi for having me on the podcast as a featured guest to talk Bloodline, Life Debt, and Wear Star Wars Every Day, and thanks to Skywalking through Neverland for bringing me on the show to discuss Wear Star Wars Every Day.

Salt Lake Comic Con: Check out my schedule at Salt Lake Comic Con (Sept 1 to Sept 3) or just view the general Star Wars-related programming, featuring Mark Hamill, Jeremy Bulloch, Lucasfilm Story Group members: Pablo Hidalgo, Leland Chee, and Matt Martin; also including Star Wars authors, artists, and voice actors, and the Full of Sith podcast crew: Bryan Young, Amy Ratcliffe, and Mike Pilot.

Get more info on Wear Star Wars Every Day or make a donation at GoFundMe or sign up to make a per-day pledge.

Note: Del Rey provided a copy of Life Debt: Aftermath (Star Wars) for review.

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EUbits: Life Debt, cover art, and the end of Del Rey’s SWAT

Aftermath: Life DebtWe’re getting a second wind for Aftermath: Life Debt, with io9 having a new interview with author Chuck Wendig, and Lucasfilm’s Jennifer Heddle on 7 reasons to pick it up. From earlier, James’ Wendig interview on StarWars.com, Eleven-ThirtyEight’s Jay Shah on Leia and Rae Sloane and io9’s rundown of what we learned from the book.

→ There’s a cover art Q&A with Del Rey art director Scott B. on Star Wars book cover design, including concepts for Aftermath and Dark Disciple.

→ Del Rey is shutting down their Star Wars Action Team community, they announced via email Thursday. Fans could accumulate points for books and items (usually convention exclusives) by publishing reviews and other actions. The site will be up through August 31 for fans to earn and spend their reward points.

→ And finally, just for fun, I got to reintroduce people to the concept of Corran Horn sleeping with a sentient otter. Glorious. But seriously, today on the CJ Tumblr is dedicated to General Hux and his newly-revealed first name, because fandom is amazing and hilarious. (Yes, there will be Millicent. And a guest appearance by Thrawn.)

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Video: Star Wars publishing panel at SDCC


With most of the book news (for our purposes) dropping at Celebration – the authors of Catalyst and the Rogue One novelization and Thrawn – the SDCC panel was fairly light on news, but there was plenty of discussion.

There were two cover reveals, though: The Art of Rogue One and the back cover of Aftermath: Empire’s End, which you can see below.

The Art of cover was shared by StarWars.com today. You can also get a closer look at the Thrawn art at Two Dots’ Behance page.

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Review: Chuck Wendig’s Life Debt could help sell the Aftermath trilogy to doubters (maybe)

Aftermath: Life DEbtGood news for folks who had trouble with Chuck Wendig’s first Aftermath novel – the sequel, Life Debt is far more accessible. No, Wendig doesn’t change things up too much, but plotwise, the book is slightly more traditional. (Those who can’t move beyond his writing style, well… Good luck.)

It also helps that we’re well past The Force Awakens. The first Aftermath found itself targeted for a lot of things, but I think the most notable (and least discussed) was the burden of expectation. As the first important canon novel to tread into the newly-cleared territory after Return of the Jedi, it was bound to disappoint readers who thought they’d be getting Heir to the Empire 2.0 – or at least Truce at Bakura 2.0. The reality turned out to be something more off the beaten track and with Life Debt, we have a far better idea of what we’re getting.

With the ground laid in the first book, Life Debt gets off the ground quickly. Wendig is free to use (sparingly) characters like Han and Leia in the A-plot, which gives readers an anchor. But the majority of the action is still with the newer characters.

Minor spoilers, if that, behind the cut. Continue reading “Review: Chuck Wendig’s Life Debt could help sell the Aftermath trilogy to doubters (maybe)”

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Out this week: Wendig’s Aftermath: Life Debt

aftermath-life-debt-cropOut Tuesday is Aftermath: Life Debt, Chuck Wendig’s followup to last year’s pre-The Force Awakens novelAftermath. Post-movie, we can expect more major movie characters as well the team from the first book – excerpts have featured Han and Leia, plus part of an interlude featuring Maz Kanata.

There are already few reviews live on Barnes & Noble and SciFiNow. And don’t forget that B&N also has a special edition of the book that comes with posters. On the fence? Tosche Station has a Go/No-Go.

UPDATE: A fourth excerpt from the book, featuring… Malakili, the rancor keeper from Return of the Jedi. Oh, Chuck.

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A new (old) friend makes a novel debut in latest Aftermath: Life Debt excerpt

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The third excerpt from Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath: Life Debt features Maz Kanata, the orange alien played by Lupita Nyong’o who made her Star Wars debut in The Force Awakens. It seems that Maz features in an interlude, not the main ongoing story like our previous excerptees. As excepts go, it’s the shortest so far: You can read it at USA Today.

Aftermath: Life Debt will be out in hardcover and eBook on Tuesday.

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Get a load of the Aftermath: Empire’s End cover (and some Life Debt extras)

As first revealed on today’s Star Wars Show, we have the cover for the last book in Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath trilogy. Due in January, Empire’s End has been long-expected to deal with the Battle of Jakku – thus the flaming Star Destroyer, no doubt.

A bit closer (next Tuesday) is the second book, Life Debt. And if one buys the special edition from Barnes & Noble, it comes with a pair of posters featuring the Millennium Falcon and breakout character Mr. Bones.