Out this week: The Bounty Hunter Code, Frames

The Bounty Hunter Code: From the Files of Boba FettGet out your credit card, because two huge holiday books are coming this week. Today sees the release The Bounty Hunter Code: From the Files of Boba Fett. A follow-up to The Jedi Path and The Book of the Sith, it’s by Star Wars all-stars Daniel Wallace, Ryder Windham and Jason Fry.

There’s also a more affordable version of Frames. (The original, lest we forget, would run you a cool $3000.) And, for the paperback fans, the reprint of Drew Karpyshyn’s The Old Republic: Annihilation drops.

Meanwhile, Wednesday: Dark Times: A Spark Remains #4.

Coming up for the rest of the year, we have the Death Star Owner’s Technical Manual by Ryder Windham, Chris Reiff and Chris Trevas (November 5) and the Scoundrels paperback (November 26.)

NYCC: Star Wars at New York Comic Con

nycc-logo-2013-loThis weekend is New York Comic Con, and Star Wars will be out in full force – even more than their presence at San Diego Comic-Con back in July. From October 10 – 13, the Javits Center in New York City will be wall-to-wall fandom, and topping it off for Star Wars fans will be Pablo Hidalgo’s panel on Rebels on Saturday at 2:45 pm. On Tuesday, @StarWars warned that there will be a giveaway item at the Rebels panel – some sort of Imperial propaganda.

Del Rey announced their lineup of authors doing signings at their Star Wars Books booth (and free book giveaways), with John Jackson Miller, Drew Karpyshyn, J. W. Rinzler, Ryder Windham, Jason Fry, and Chris Reiff making appearances.

Rooqoo Depot has a great listing of more Star Wars goings-on, including a list of the Star Wars panels (Anthony Daniels! Origami! Making of Return of the Jedi!), as well as booth signings for DK Books and Dark Horse Comics.

Hallmark-2013-NYCC-RancorFor those looking for exclusive merchandise, Hallmark has a Rancor ornament, Kotobukiya has an R2-Q5 ARTFX+ Statue, and Dark Horse has a NYCC sketch cover variant for The Star Wars #1. Her Universe will be selling at the official Reed Pop store.

EUbits: Get a glimpse of Razor’s Edge

razors-edge-crop2Razor’s Edge. Fangirl has some exclusive art of the book’s cast, plus an interview with artist Magali Villeneuve. (Follow the link to see the whole thing!) Author Martha Wells chats with This Blog is Full of Words, Geek with Curves and Jedi News. (I’ll have more Razor’s Edge links later in the new release post.)

The blogside. At the official blog, editor Jennifer Heddle talks about the process behind Kenobi, while Bryan Young discusses the cinematic influences behind some of the books. Meanwhile, on my personal blog, I wrote a guide to the Expanded Universe for casual fans.

Street date shuffle. Can we still call it ‘street’ date for an eBook? The enhanced eBooks for Making of Return of the Jedi, The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars have been pushed back to October 22, Star Wars Books has announced. The hardcover Making of Return of the Jedi will still be out on October 1.

Interviews. Suvudu had the transcript of John Jackson Miller’s Facebook chat, plus Shelly Shapiro and Brian Wood. Eleven-ThirtyEight chats with Jason Fry, Star Wars Union with Alan Dean Foster, and Target Audience magazine has Timothy Zahn.

Reviews. James was impressed with Dark Times: A Spark Remains #3.

A sneak peek at The Bounty Hunter Code

The Bounty Hunter Code - ContentsThe makers of The Jedi Path and Book of Sith have a new book coming out later this year: The Bounty Hunter Code: From the Files of Boba Fett, and Paul Nicholasi of Idle Hands got a sneak peek of it at BookExpo America this past weekend. Like the previous two books, it is set as an ‘in-universe’ document, comes in an ultracool electronic case, and has a handful of inserts. In-universe commentary is provided by such galactic denizens as Boba Fett, Bossk, Aurra Sing, Greedo, Jango Fett and Hondo Ohnaka!

The Bounty Hunter Code- Page SampleAs items collected by Boba Fett prior to his dip in the Sarlacc, The Bounty Hunter Code includes a copy of the Bounty Hunters Guild Handbook and a volume from Death Watch, and Cradossk’s memoirs, and is scheduled for release in October 15, 2013. Amazon lists the authors as Dan Wallace (author of The Jedi Path and Book of Sith), Ryder Windham, and Jason Fry. Hop on over to the link above to see some pages and art from the book, including instructions on how to hotwire a landspeeder.

From the description on Amazon: Continue reading “A sneak peek at The Bounty Hunter Code

Out this week: The Clone Wars Episode Guide

Out today from DK is The Clone Wars Episode Guide by Jason Fry, detailing all 108 episodes of the show. Fry gave us a few details on his Tumblr, as well as in a Twitter chat earlier this afternoon.

Meanwhile, in the comic shop on Wednesday Dark Times wraps up the latest arc with Fire Carrier #5.

Later this month we’ll see the paperback of Aaron Allston’s X-Wing: Mercy Kill, while July brings William Shakespeare’s Star Wars by Ian Doescher and Troy Denning’s Crucible.

EUbits: Vader’s Little Princess gets an adorable cover

Kids. Chronicle Books has revealed the cover for Vader’s Little Princess, Jeffrey Brown’s followup to Darth Vader and Son. In the spirit of the season, Chronicle is also offering printable holiday gift tags.

Vader’s Little Princess is due out in April.

Audio. The live performance of Kyle Newman’s Smuggler’s Gambit from Celebration VI is now available to download. The cast includes David Collins as Han Solo, plus Sam Witwer, Tom Kane, Ashley Eckstein, Matt Lanter, Dee Bradley Baker, Matthew Wood, Clare Grant, and Daniel Logan.

Short stories. Next Tuesday, Jedi News will have an exclusive excerpt of the Timothy Zahn eBook ‘Winner Lose All,’ which releases on the 10th.

Mappage. Jason Fry talks about keeping The Essential Atlas as a living book.

Interviews. EUCantina talks to Drew Karpyshyn.

Celebration VI: A new Essential Guide to Characters is coming

Announced less than an hour ago here in Orlando was a new Essential Guide to Characters for next year by Daniel Wallace. Now, that wasn’t exactly a secret: We reported on it way back in April 2011. So what was the news? That Doug Wheatley will be doing all the portraits for it, 150 in all. Look for it next July.

There was other news, of course: Check it out beneath the cut.

Continue reading “Celebration VI: A new Essential Guide to Characters is coming”

EUbits: Last-minute Celebration updates and more

Celebration VI Lots of schedule-posting has been going around. Leland Chee has his at the StarWars.com blog, while the official CVI site has the Barnes & Noble booth signing schedule. Troy Denning, Drew Karpyshyn, Jason Fry, and John Jackson Miller have their schedules up as well.

The blogside. Miller wrote a nice post on Star Wars things you probably don’t remember for the TOS blog, including a version of Heir to the Empire that came with an overwrap. Meanwhile, Pete Morrison goes into Encyclopedia Brown mode to deduct what Jason Fry is working on now.

Interview. Linda Hansen-Raj talks to Del Rey’s Shelly Shapiro at the Fangirl blog.

Reviews. A couple more looks at Mercy Kill from Brian at Tosche Station and Kirkus. And James reviews the Bruce Lee vs Darth Maul smackdown of The Clone Wars: The Sith Hunters digest.

EUbits: Del Rey swags up for convention season

Convention swag. Star Wars Books has revealed some of the summer freebies on their Facebook. There’s a nifty 84-page sample books with excerpts and the Insider short stories, a Mercy Kill iron-on and Scoundrels bookmarks. The catch: There are 7, but they won’t all be available at the same con, so unless you’re going to be at SDCC, CVI and NYCC, prepare to swap with some pals to get them all.

In other relevant con season news, Christie Golden will be at SDCC, and Erich is looking to arrange a Warfare signing with Jason Fry and some of the artists.


The blogside. Skuldren wants a Streen series, while Bry Dean reviews I, Jedi and Tosche Station looks back at The Bacta War.


Gaming stuff. Drew Karpyshyn’s The Old Republic: Annihilation has been blessed by the blurb fairy. (via) There’s also going to be an Old Republic Encyclopedia.


Audiobooks. Speaking of Karpyshyn, his Darth Bane books will be getting the unabridged audiobook treatment. Look for them in October.


Endnotes. Never-ending endnotes! Jason Fry has posted part 13 of his look behind The Essential Guide to Warfare

EUbits: EUC’s #SWEU t-shirts benefit Reading is Fundamental

For a good cause. EUCantina is selling #SWEU t-shirts with all the profits going to CJ’s favorite charity, Reading is Fundamental. There’s far more than tees in the store, and $3 of each purchase will go towards the charity. (Which really needs all the help it can get right now.)

UPDATE: There are tees for #ZahnSolo as well.


The blogside. Galactic Drift makes a point about poorly crafted villians, something some of us saw as a major problem in Fate of the Jedi. Meanwhile, Tosche Station collected folks dream Star Wars novels.


Interviews. Tom Taylor talked to Big Shiny Robot, Rebelscum and CNN.


Background. Even more Essential Guide to Warfare endnotes from Jason Fry. Speaking of, Jacob, one of Jawajames’ friends, recorded Fry’s author talk and more at one of the San Diego “Attack of the Authors” tour stops. (You did watch James’ interview, right?)


Reviews. James takes a look at Dawn of the Jedi #3 and Crimson Empire III: Empire Lost #6.