EUbits: Blood Oath, Invasion, Rebel Force, Insider and Matthew Stover branches out

The Blood Oath mysteryCannot predict now. Despite the reappearance of Elaine Cunningham’s Blood Oath in the Del Rey online catalog with a 2010 release date, we still don’t know if the book will make it to publication. Sue Rostoni said yesterday: “Can’t say yet. Still don’t have the entire manuscript.” (She also answers some questions about the Crosscurrent cover.)

  • Invasion. EU Cantina has an interview with Tom Taylor and Colin Wilson.
  • Holostar. Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff on the Force and the light/dark divide.
  • Rebel Force. Randy Martinez talks about his covers for the Scholastic series.
  • Star Wars Insider. #111 has a Clone Wars cover (how novel!) and a peek at The Essential Star Wars Atlas. It’s due by the end of the month.
  • Authors. Matthew Stover is writing at least one God of War book for Del Rey, or at least that’s what several gaming sites are saying. There’s something in the Random House catalog at any rate.

SDCC Roundup: Comic-Con starts Thursday!

Sideshow's Grand Admiral Thrawn

Look who’s debuting. Among the new items Sideshow is bringing to Con? A 12″ figure of an old pal of ours, Grand Admiral Thrawn! And some other guys.

From the floor. Mary Franklin and her minions are hard at work already, setting up the Lucasfilm Pavilion! There’s a peek at a few more of The Clone Wars bounty hunters as well, including two brand-new characters.

Oh my, is it Harry Potter time again?

So this week we finally get the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. And it seems like it was only yesterday that we were grumbling about the delay.

Randy Stradley on Invasion, Legacy and more

Galactic Binder nabbed Dark Horse Star Wars editor Randy Stradley to talk comics (mostly Invasion, naturally.) I’m particularly approving of this bit:

Do not recycle dialogue from the motion pictures (unless, of course, you’re flashing back to an actual scene from one of the films). There is no need—ever—for another Star Wars character to say, “I have a bad feeling about this,” or “I find your lack of faith disturbing,” etc. Ditto for insertions of the “THX-1138” designation. After thirty years this sort of thing has been done to death.

Be sure to read through to the end, though, as there’s a hint down there that’s sure to make a lot of folks happy.

Kemp interview offers Crosscurrent hints

There’s a fairly hefty interview with upcoming author Paul S. Kemp by Jay Tomio on Tor.com today. Here’s what he had to say on Crosscurrent‘s main character, Jaden Kor:

Jaden is a complex character. His relationship to the Force is strong, but the nature of the relationship troubles him. His Master, Kyle Katarn, had a view of the Force more in line with the Potentium school (the Force as tool, rather than the morally loaded terms of Dark and Light), but Jaden isn’t so sure. Recent events in the Civil War, and in particular Jaden’s actions in the assault on Centerpoint Station, have made his internal conflict more acute. He’ll be working out that conflict in Crosscurrent.

Read the whole thing here.