Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
This week brings us a paperback reprint of one of The Last Jedi’s fiction tie-ins, and a Solo comic. First up, on Tuesday, May 29, the paperback for Canto Bight, which features novellas from Saladin Ahmed, Rae Carson, Mira Grant, and John Jackson Miller. Then, on Wednesday, May 30, it’s time for Lando: Double or Nothing #1, first issue in a five-part miniseries.
It’s our last gasp before all The Last Jedi books hit on December 15, with the novella collection Canto Bight hitting the shelves on Tuesday, December 5. It features stories from Saladin Ahmed, Rae Carson, Mira Grant, and John Jackson Miller and gives us our first detailed look at some of the characters inhabiting the casino world.
Continue reading “Star Wars out this week: Canto Bight novella collection”
It appears that there may be a Padme Amidala YA novel in the works – at least per the franchise’s German publisher, Panini. There’s not much info – no author, no details on where it might be set in the prequel era – so there’s still a lot to wait for in an official announcement. Still, this does seem a natural followup to the recent Leia and Ahsoka novels, so I can’t see any real reason to doubt it’s happening.
UPDATE: Panini asked Jedi Bibliothek to remove the listing. Curious.
Also dropping today – officially – is a preview of the Thrawn comic, which adapts Timothy Zahn’s canon novel from earlier this year. The series will kick off with #1 in February, and it brings back long-haired Thrawn to boot.
And one from last week- an excerpt of Canto Bight, The Last Jedi novella tie-in that’s out on December 5. The excerpt is from John Jackson Miller, but the collection also includes works from Saladin Ahmed, Rae Carson and Mira Grant.
The special New York Comic Con panel about the Star Wars 40th Anniversary anthology features several of the book’s 40-something writers, including moderator Pablo Hidalgo, Claudia Gray, Delilah Dawson, Jason Fry, E.K. Johnston and more.
The general publishing panel video is also out, and added to the original news post.
The cover for Canto Bight was revealed on today’s Star Wars Show. The hardcover, part of the Journey to The Last Jedi program, will feature four short stories from Saladin Ahmed, Rae Carson, Mira Grant, and John Jackson Miller.
We’ve also got some details on who exactly the stories will cover.
Continue reading “Check out the cover for the Canto Bight short story collection”
Del Rey will be celebrating the 40th Anniversary of A New Hope with From a Certain Point of View, a new anthology that will feature 40 stories from the viewpoints of the movie’s minor characters.
Coming in October in an oversized hardcover, the anthology will feature more than 40 authors, including both established Star Wars writers (Chuck Wendig, John Jackson Miller, Gary Whitta) and those new to the franchise (Meg Cabot, Ken Liu, Nnedi Okorafor.) All the authors are donating their proceeds to the charity First Book.
The book will be out in October and is available for preorder now.
Del Rey has announced their Celebration Orlando activities, and they’ll have three panels. The biggest, which will feature what’s “in the works for 2017 and beyond” is Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and will have authors Chuck Wendig, Christie Golden, Timothy Zahn, and Delilah S. Dawson, plus Del Rey’s Elizabeth Schaefer. There’s also five University talks with various authors and a whole boatload of signings.
Their exclusives are a Thrawn pin – which you get when you buy the Celebration edition of Zahn’s new book – and a tote bag which is free with #25 in purchases from any of the Penguin Random House booths. (AKA Del Rey, Random House Audio and DK.)
→ Remember the old Episode VII rumor about Luke’s hand floating through space? Well, in yesterday’s Sun interview, Mark Hamill confirmed that it was indeed in the script at one point. On that note, Vox’s Todd VanDerWerff takes a look back at The Force Awakens and the challenges of making a remake/revival fun. Meanwhile, io9 is looking for VIII clues in yesterday’s Daisy Ridley video.
→ Chuck Wendig shares the first line of Aftermath: Life Debt. ComicBook.com has the first look at The Force Awakens comic adaptation. It’s scripted by Wendig, but the preview features only Luke Ross’s interior art.
→ John Jackson Miller talks about writing Star Wars with Omni.
→ Room’s Jacob Tremblay is fishing… He did get a response from one future Star Wars director, so that’s promising.
→ R2-D2 and C-3PO hung out in Entertainment Weekly’s elevator.
→ The Revenge of the Sith soundtrack is getting a limited release on vinyl.
→ StarWars.com has a look at upcoming The Force Awakens Funko Pop figures, including General Leia and Luke Skywalker.
→ And finally, my favorite new product: Star Wars Tiki cups.
In addition to the comic tie-ins we heard about earlier, a prequel novel for Rogue One will be coming in the fall, Del Rey announced at C2E2. No author was given, but Catalyst: A Rogue One Story will be out on October 4.
The author will remain a mystery for now, and some of us suspect that means it’ll be a name we recognize… Either a Legends standby well-known in the mainstream (a pretty short list) or a brand new ‘name’ author. Note that the movie’s first screenwriter Gary Whitta has shown some interest in doing Star Wars novels…
Authors Adam Bray, Jeffrey Brown, Claudia Gray, John Jackson Miller and Del Rey’s Elizabeth Schaefer were on the panel. Gray revealed that one character from her first Star Wars novel, Lost Stars, will appear in Bloodline. There’s still no sequel planned, but let Lucasfilm and Disney Lucasfilm Press know.
John Jackson Miller had a great explanation of how the Story Group at Lucasfilm has changed things. From Newsarama’s live blog:
Miller explained that the authors working on the current novels work closely with the producers and writers of the films and TV shows that they’ll tie into – including story points that won’t appear on the show for some time. He explained that the reveals and continuity are planned out years in advance, with the various media all tying together and “counting” equally.
There was also a fair amount of talk about naming Star Wars characters, which you can also find the the liveblog. Live tweets under the cut.
Continue reading “Rogue One prequel novel, Catalyst, coming in the fall”
StarWars.com has revealed some short synopses for the three original short stories that will be packaged in the A New Dawn/Tarkin bind up, Rise of the Empire.
The first, ‘Mercy Mission’ by Melissa Scott, follows a young Hera and her father, The Clone Wars’ Cham Syndulla, on Ryloth. ‘Bottleneck’ by John Jackson Miller features Grand Moff Tarkin and A New Dawn’s Count Vidian. And Jason Fry’s ‘The Levers of Power’ features Admiral Rae Sloane during the Battle of Endor.
Rise of the Empire comes out in trade paperback on October 6.