Out this week: Scourge and a heap of comics

Have you heard about Jeff Grubb’s Scourge yet? Because it comes out Tuesday and I swear I have an entire EUbits worth of links for it. At least someone is excited… Roqoo Depot even has a reader’s guide.

Last week, Grubb chatted about the book on Facebook. (For the impatient, TFN has a recap.) He also chatted with the Fictional Frontiers podcast, EUCantina, Rooqoo Depot and Suvudu.

The reviews have been pretty positive, at least so far: Read up at EU Cantina, Lightsaber Rattling, Knights Archive, NJOE and Roqoo Depot. Or you can try a 50-page excerpt to see if it’s to your tastes.

Meanwhile, it’s a good week for comic fans, with three comics and a trade collection coming to stores on Wednesday. Two of the books – Crimson Empire III: Empire Lost #6 and Dark Times: Out of the Wilderness #5 – close out their storylines, while another begins with Blood Ties: Boba Fett is Dead #1. And for the final offering, the third volume of Invasion, Revelations, is collected.

EUbits: Delving into Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse, again

Fate of the Jedi. If you haven’t finished Apocalypse yet, don’t click any of the links in this section, because they are chock-full of spoilers! Over at Lightsaber Rattling, Pete Morrison takes a look at the state of the Expanded Universe post-Fate of the Jedi. (Always-relevant musical interlude: Where do we go from here?)

There are also some new reviews from The Galactic Drift, Fantasy & SciFi Lovin’, and The EU, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Also, if you’re in the mood for some snark, I live-tweeted my reading of the book, and then rambled at length about it on my Livejournal. My review, in brief: Meh.


Namesake corner A custom Clone Wars style Mara Jade action figure! I’ve made no secret of not being a fan of the style, but this is pretty nifty, I must admit. And she doesn’t look like Giada DeLaurentiis!


Author talk. Dan Wallace posts his endnotes for the Book of Sith.


Excerpts. A mini for Jeff Grubb’s Scourge. It’s our next new novel release, coming April in paperback.


Gaming. One of our readers, Annalee, has a good write-up at the Geek Feminism blog on issues in The Old Republic.


Comics. James gives a thumbs up to the twists in Agent of the Empire: Iron Eclipse #4, and Zayne digging himself in deep in Knights of the Old Republic: War #3.

Fate of the Jedi follow-up still not more than 3 books; Scourge also Apocalypse excerpt

Del Rey’s Erich Schoeneweiss followed up his previous comment on Facebook today, announcing that a Scourge excerpt will join Mercy Kill in the back pages of Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse.

What will sooth more fan’s fears, however, is his response in the comments:

No worries folks, we’re on the record several times as saying we want to focus on 2 or 3 book series after FotJ and currently have no plans for any big nine part epics.

With the term ‘series’ being thrown around by some materials, some fans have been worried that LucasBooks and Del Rey were reconsidering earlier promises for shorter arcs.

EUbits: Grubb, Fry short stories coming to Insider

Short stories. David Pomerico revealed that Jeff Grubb and Jason Fry will both have short stories in upcoming issues of the Star Wars Insider, tying into Scourge and The Essential Guide to Warfare, respectively. Both books will be out in April, so expect to see the stories soon.

Authors. Troy Denning wrote a post on climactic scenes for Amazon’s Omnivoracious blog today.

Interviews. Sohaib Awan talks to Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, while Jedi Journals has James Luceno.

Excerpts. Plagueis is nigh, with excerpts upon excerpts.

Reviews. Over at Big Shiny Robot, James reviews the Phantom Menace comic reprints, Agent of the Empire #1, and Knight Errant: Deluge #5.

EUbits: Scourge cover, Mitchell leaves Del Rey

First look. Suvudu revealed the cover for Jeff Grubb’s Scourge today. Yet another generic musclebound dude with a lightsaber, ho-hum. But given it’s a book featuring an all-new character and Hutts, I’m clearly not the target market here. Still, let’s hope it looks better on the actual book.

Staffing. Editor Betsy Mitchell, who’s been with the Star Wars novels since their rebirth in the early 90’s at Bantam, is leaving Del Rey. New hire Frank Parisi is taking over Star Wars and other tie-ins.

Hey! We know that guy! Dan Wallace in the St. Petersburg Times.

Casting games. Suvudu has the ‘winners’ of their attempts to cast Heir to the Empire. The less I say the better.

Excerpts. A new one for Riptide.

Reviews. James reviews Jedi: The Dark Side #5 and Knight Errant: Deluge #2 at Big Shiny Robot.

Namesake corner. Still no Mara Jade tee from Her Universe, but at least you can grab a fan-made one.

EUbits: Apocalypse blurb, Myri’s with the Wraiths

Fate of the Jedi. For those still on board with the most tedious series since the nigh-endless New Jedi Order, there’s finally a blurb for the final volume, Troy Denning’s Apocalypse. I haven’t the slightest idea how spoilery it is since I have yet to make it past the first chapter of Ascension, so head on over to the link to check it out.

X-Wing. In happier news, Erich Schoeneweiss confirms EUCantina’s report that Face Loran will be back – and Myri Antilles will be flying with the Wraiths – in Aaron Allston’s Mercy Kill.

Interviews. Roqoo Depot has an interview with Jeff Grubb, who’s writing next year’s Scourge.

Staffing. Editor Frank Parisi has moved from Lucasfilm to Del Rey.

Review. Our own JawaJames reviews Dark Times: Out of the Wilderness #2 at Big Shiny Robot.

Grubb’s 2012 novel is Scourge

Announced on the Star Wars Books Facebook page this morning is the title and a few details about Jeff Grubb’s 2012 paperback, Scourge. It will take place before the New Jedi Order series and features a new character, Jedi Knight Mander Zuma. There’s a brief plot summary in the comments:

It’s about a murdered Jedi and the investigation into the Hutt’s criminal enterprises.

Hrm. I remain unintrigued, but it’s early yet. The book is currently schedule for an April 2012 release.

Celebration V book and comic news: Wraith Squadron, Fate of the Jedi, Crimson Empire 3 and more

Del Rey brought plenty to the table for Celebration, but the biggest EU news is without a doubt the reveal that Aaron Allston will be writing a brand-new Wraith Squadron novel. It’s too early for details, but expect a spring/summer 2012 release date.

We also learned that Thrawn will appear in Zahn’s Hand of Judgment, Drew Karpyshyn will be writing a third Old Republic novel, Jeff Grubb’s 2012 paperback will feature Hutts, and Han Solo will appear in the Dash Rendar/Holostar novel. And TFN reports that something is in the works for the 20th anniversary of Heir to the Empire, to which I say: Damn straight.

As for Fate of the Jedi, we learned that the final book will be titled Apocalypse. Cheery! Also addressed was the heightening of drama, Vestara’s role, and (sigh) the whole Jacen/Tahiri thing. Except, not really. (I do love the Mando quote, of course.)

Meanwhile, the comic fans got a surprise of their own: Crimson Empire III is a go, for real this time. The 6-issue series will begin in March with Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley scripting and Dave Dorman on covers.

Knight Errant got a big push, complete with a costumed representation, but if the EUC report is anything to go by it’s too soon for much of a reveal.

As for Legacy, there are currently no plans for anything after the War mini – Ostrander and Duursema will “will be working on something entirely different.”

The rest of the news rehashes much we’ve already heard, but a hardcover edition of Dark Empire will commemorate the comic’s twentieth anniversary. And the return of Dark Horse Presents may yield some Tales-like stories.

Also getting some love at the con (but not enough for their own entry) was The Force Unleashed (Yoda? Really? That Muppet needs a better agent.) and The Old Republic.

New schedule, new titles, new authors from Sue

We’re at JadeCon, having a blast – and I’m just taking a brief email break, and what should come up on my feed reader but a brand-spanking new book schedule from Sue Rostoni? I can’t even wrap my brain around the date changes right now, but here’s the big news:

  • Fifth and final Clone Wars book (Karen Miller) is Gambit: Siege. March 2010.
  • July 2010 will be a “coming attraction by well-known author.” Nothing more to be revealed. Sean Williams, maybe?
  • September 2010. A book that only “might” come to be.
  • A second book by Joe Schreiber (not a Death Troopers sequel) is coming October 5, 2010.
  • Fate of the Jedi book seven (Allston) is titled Conviction. April 2011.
  • The tentative title for Zahn’s Allegiance sequel is Choices. September 2011.
  • October 2011 bring a new author: Jeff Grubb.

Our book release schedule will be updated… Uhh, soon. Soonish.

In other news, she has confirmed that the Boba Fett book and Blood Oath are both canceled.