The week begins with the Solo junior novelization, and ends with Solo itself on digital, with some comics in-between.
Star Wars out this week: Solo on digital
Solo novelization coming in September
The Solo novelization by Mur Lafferty is coming on September 4, Del Rey and StarWars.com announced today. There’ll also be a junior version by Joe Schreiber. A cookbook, the Millennium Falcon: Owner’s Workshop Manual and a Deluxe Smuggler’s Guide from Dan Wallace are also coming in the fall.
Lafferty has previously written two Star Wars short stories – ‘The Voice of the Empire’, a tie in to the Rogue One prequel novel Catalyst which appeared in the Insider, and ‘Not for Nothing’ for the anthology From a Certain Point of View.
Out this week: Maul: Lockdown in paperback
In stores now, the paperback edition of Joe Schreiber’s Maul: Lockdown. It’s Legends now, if that matters to you, but James gave it a B+ when it first came out last year.
Next up is something new, Kevin Hearne’s Luke Skywalker novel Heir to the Jedi on March 3. It’s been getting some very mixed early buzz.
Roundup: Is Billy Dee back for Episode VII?
Through yonder Lando breaks. Ali Arikan say Billy Dee Williams is indeed on board for Episode VII. (Detailing on his last report.) Meanwhile, Fans Share (via) says Williams has been “insinuating” that he’s doing work on Rebels as well. Though a lot of that seems awfully familiar, so it may just be regurgitated rumor-mongering.
Business. The Hollywood Reporter has some details of what’s going on with ILM in London as the company beefs up in preparation for more Star Wars and Marvel (among others) work. They’re also expanding in Vancouver.
Expanded Universe. The Star Wars Books Facebook page had a chat with author Joe Schreiber today on Maul: Lockdown. You can read it directly or through the recap at Suvudu.
Interview: Joe Schreiber on Maul: Lockdown
With Maul: Lockdown on sale this week, I had a chance to have author Joe Schreiber answer a few questions about his new novel. Joe was gracious enough to discuss the character of Maul and other aspects of Lockdown, including his collaboration with Jim Luceno to have it connect with Darth Plagueis. Having previously brought the living dead to Star Wars in Death Troopers and its prequel, Red Harvest, Schreiber is no stranger to the darker side of the galaxy far, far away.
Continue reading “Interview: Joe Schreiber on Maul: Lockdown”
Review: Maul: Lockdown is no letdown
Maul: Lockdown by Joe Schreiber is out today, and fans of the Dark Side should rejoice. Lockdown delivers a can’t-put-this-down tale of scum and villainy.
Set before The Phantom Menace, Lockdown has Darth Maul sent undercover to infiltrate a space station prison to find an elusive arms dealer operating out of inescapable penitentiary. Maul quickly becomes a contender in the warden’s profitable prison fight circuit, but there’s more to finding someone who doesn’t want to be found in a prison than just cracking heads all the way to the top. Plus, more than just prisoners and guards lurk in the dark confines of this station. And throw in Jabba the Hutt, dangerous cultists, and Darth Sidious scheming under his own master’s nose.
Darth Maul has gone through a renaissance in the past few years – he has gone from being the weapon of rage back in 1999 in The Phantom Menace and the related EU (Michael Reaves’ Shadow Hunter & Ron Marz’ comic), to his resurrection on The Clone Wars (along with Tom Taylor’s Darth Maul: Death Sentence and James Luceno’s Darth Plagueis) as some one able to scheme his way into power as he seeks vengeance on both Obi-wan Kenobi and his old master, while taking on his brother Savage as his own apprentice. And now this year, we get more of Darth Maul, with Lockdown and the upcoming Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir comic. Maul: Lockdown adds to this modern character and builds some of Maul’s roots as a plotter as this mission tests his abilities to not only survive but achieve his objective before time runs out.
Minor spoilers beyond this point.
EUbits: Cover revealed for OT storyboard book, Maul: Lockdown moves back a week
Upcoming. J.W. Rinzler revealed the cover for his Star Wars Storyboards: The Original Trilogy on Twitter earlier today. The book is due out May 13.
And on that note, Joe Schreiber’s Darth Maul: Lockdown has been pushed back a week, from January 21st to the 28th, Del Rey tweeted. The trade off: The first mini-excerpt from the book.
The blogside. Over at the official blog, Pablo played with fire by looking into the lengths of Super Star Destroyers, Jennifer Heddle sung the praises of the galaxy’s non-force sensitives and Jason Fry and Paul Urquhart looked into ancient Coruscant.
Reviews. James’ thoughts on Star Wars #10 and Ewoks: Shadows of Endor.
EUbits: Joe Schreiber teases Maul book, more Shakespeare’s Star Wars
Upcoming. Star Wars Bookworms attended a Star Wars Reads Day event with author Joe Schreiber, who revealed a few things about his next Star Wars book, Maul: Lockdown. They have the recording and an excerpt. (Not into audio? Check their tweets for some detail.) Lockdown will be out in January.
And it’s official: William Shakespeare’s Star Wars is getting two sequels, The Empire Striketh Back and
The blogside. At the Star Wars Blog, Rich Handley and Abel G. Peña conclude their look at The Wheel. Tosche Station’s Bria has some thoughts on redemption in the recent EU. And Alexander Gaultier at Eleven-ThirtyEight has a case for starting over.
Licensees. Dark Horse has signed a distribution deal with Random House, reports Publisher’s Weekly. Given it’s a distribution deal, it’s not that exciting for our purposes, though if you don’t have a comic shop (which will still get their comics through Diamond) this may mean more Dark Horse in your bookstore.
Interviews. TheForce.net chats with J.W. Rinzler, The Wookiee Gunner has Jason Fry (plus a few other folks) and Star Wars Union talks to Zack Giallongo about Ewoks: Shadows of Endor
Reviews. The Star Wars #2 gets James on board.
Darth Maul: Lockdown has a blurb
Knights Archive spotted that Random House has posted the blurb for Joe Schreiber’s Darth Maul: Lockdown:
Set before the events of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, this new novel is a thrilling follow-up to Star Wars: Darth Plagueis
It’s kill or be killed in the space penitentiary that houses the galaxy’s worst criminals, where convicts face off in gladiatorial combat while an underworld gambling empire reaps the profits of the illicit blood sport. But the newest contender in this savage arena, as demonic to behold as he is deadly to challenge, is fighting for more than just survival. His do-or-die mission, for the dark masters he serves, is to capture the ultimate weapon: an object capable of obliterating the Jedi and conquering the galaxy.
Sith lords Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious are determined to possess the prize. And one of the power-hungry duo has his own treacherous plans for it. But first, their fearsome apprentice must take on a bloodthirsty prison warden, a cannibal gang, cutthroat crime lord Jabba the Hutt, and an unspeakable alien horror. No one else could brave such a gauntlet of death and live. But no one else is the dreaded dark-side disciple known as Darth Maul.
Announced back in January, the book is currently on the schedule for a January 21st release.
EUbits: Crucible tweaks Han, Maul’s Lockdown gets a release date
Adjustments. The Han on the Crucible cover got a slight tweak. (Why yes, it is a slow week for EU news!) The important thing is, the release date remains the same: July 9.
Street dates. Speaking of upcoming releases, pencil in Joe Schreiber’s Maul: Lockdown for a January 21, 2014 release. Not because we don’t believe it’s coming, but because this far out, dates are subject to change. And on that note, 2014 is now an actual thing on our release schedule. Meanwhile, if you don’t want to wait most of a year to read about Maul, Aaron Goins has a list of 7 tales you can check out right now.
Comics. Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman chat about their forthcoming Legacy: Prisoner of the Floating World at Geek of Oz.
Reviews. Over at Big Shiny Robot, James gets enthusiastic about the happenings in Agent of the Empire: Hard Targets #4 and Dark Times: Fire Carrier #1.