Welcome to the very belated release post for the week of Wednesday, April 17.
This week’s biggest release is Claudia Gray’s Master & Apprentice. Available in hardcover and eBook, it tells a Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi story from several years before The Phantom Menace, plus flashbacks to Qui-Gon’s time training with Dooku. Also out now is the first actual making-of book of the Disney era, Making Solo by ILM’s Rob Bredow.
Our next release is the audio drama Dooku: Jedi Lost, which drops on April 30, followed by Alphabet Squadron in June. More in our book release schedule.
We know it’s inspired by the quote “The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things.”
Other than that, they won’t tell us anything. Not even a format. We do know the writers all went to Skywalker Ranch and watched A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. They’re having fun. That’s it! That’s literally it.
There have been two book-based publishing panels here at Celebration so far, and luckily I managed to attend both! They’ve been low on major news, but they did still contain a few revelations about upcoming fiction.
The first, Lucasfilm Publishing, was Friday, not long after The Rise of Skywalker panel, which is pretty much why you’re getting this post on Saturday. (Fan! Blogging!) We did get a cover reveal for Zoraida Córdova’s Galaxy’s Edge YA novel, A Crash of Fate, which was compared to Lost Stars and features two old friends who reconnect.
Delilah Dawson confirmed that Cardinal will be joining Vi Moradi in her Galaxy’s Edge novel, Black Spire. It will have a very different feel from Phasma – she name-dropped the sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine as an inspiration at both panels.
Meanwhile, Christian Blauvelt’s Be More Yoda and Be More Vader are getting two new companion volumes in the fall: Be More Leia and Be More Lando. And Jeffrey Brown returns to the GFFA with Rey and Pals. Check StarWars.com for some of the highlights (and decent images!), and my Twitter thread has a few other bits. (Yes, there will be a Journey to Episode IX. No other details, but it will happen.)
The second panel was Del Rey Behind the Scenes, and it featured Claudia Gray, Delilah S. Dawson, Alexander Freed, Tim Zahn and Cavan Scott with Marc Thompson moderating.
We did learn a few things about Gray’s Master & Apprentice and Scott’s audio drama Dooku: Jedi Lost. Scott was such a fan of a new character in M&A, Rael Averross – Dooku’s previous padawan and another mentor to Qui-Gon Jinn – that he became a big part of Jedi Lost.
As for Thrawn: Treason, we got a few more details – Thrawn gets drawn into the power games of Tarkin and Orson Krennic and “it doesn’t end how anyone expects.” Eli Vanto returns, as does Admiral Ar’alani and the Grysk.
There will be an author roundtable here on Monday, which seems like it will be the hotbed for announcements. I plan to attend that but wasn’t able to get a panel reservation, so… We’ll see. (Ahh, Reed.)
We’re excited to reveal the cover of @ADaniels3PO’s new book, I AM C-3PO: The Inside Story. Discover the incredible untold story of one of #StarWars most iconic characters, C-3PO, told by the man who knows him best. Pre-order your copy: https://t.co/9udtyA8JTvpic.twitter.com/pNYclroBzY
Among today’s batch of Celebration exclusive reveals is our first look at the con editions of E.K. Johnston’s Queen’s Shadow and Claudia Gray’s Master & Apprentice. Del Rey has some details how to get M&A – you’ll need wristbands and it comes with an enamel pin – but we’re still waiting to hear on Queen’s Shadow. (Though I suspect that one will just be on sale at a booth.)
The standard edition of Queen’s Shadow was released earlier this month, but Master & Apprentice won’t be out until April 16 – meaning fans who pick it up at Celebration (April 11-15) will get it at most few days early.
→ Another fruitless few days of official Episode IX stuff (though Rey and Kylo are getting Galaxy of Adventures figures) but at least Making Star Wars has a something something, this time about costumes. And a brief on what role Billy Dee Williams’ Lando plays in the film. But, more importantly – what is he wearing? What will Rey really do with her hair? What… Threepio is wearing? And some more Black Park pictures.
→ But back to Rey, John Boyega did share a photo of Daisy Ridley the other day. Obviously, she’s not in costume, but it does point to her still being filming.
→ And as an added bonus, Claudia Gary’s Bloodline, which is still really the only original novel to get fairly close to the new films, is on sale for $1.99 in Kindle today.
The blurb for Claudia Gray’s Master & Apprentice is here, giving us just that much more information about the upcoming Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi novel. Check it out under the cut.
Gray and Johnston both have new Star Wars books coming out in the spring: Johnston’s Padme YA novel Queen’s Shadow is out March 5, while Gray’s Master and Apprentice is due April 16, just after the con, so we can likely expect a convention exclusive version.
Celebration Chicago is being held April 11-15, 2019 at McCormick Place.
There were only a handful of Star Wars fiction reveals at NYCC this afternoon, but they’re pretty sizable ones! We get the final cover for Claudia Gray’s Master & Apprentice. The art is by Alice X. Zhang. We also have a brand-new book announcement: Alphabet Squadron, by Alexander M. Freed, will feature “Rebel pilots hunting down Imperials,” apparently set post-ROTJ. Master & Apprentice is due in April, and StarWars.com says that Alphabet Squadron is due in June.
