EUbits: Insider #124 brings Kemp short story, news of yet another Old Republic comic

Another Old Republic comic is coming. The new Insider contain news of a mini-series called The Lost Suns. Game writer Alexander Freed will be doing the writing honors, with the team from Blood of the Empire on art. Head on over to NJOE and/or Star Wars Universe for the full image and details.

This is the same issue that features Paul S. Kemp’s ‘The Third Lesson,‘ a Darth Malgus short story, so if you’re a fan of the era it’ll no doubt be worth picking up. On that note, Kemp is giving away a Deceived audiobook or two.

Also upcoming… Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff reveals a new tentative title for her and Reaves’ Coruscant Knights followup: The Last Jedi.

More on the Dark Side: Scott Allie talks more with MTV Geek about Qui-Gon Jinn’s adventures in the upcoming comic Star Wars: Jedi – The Dark Side. Without revealing whether Qui-Gon is the one to cross over to the dark side, Allie talks about developing a story about the Jedi’s imperfect judgment, with a plot that is flashbacked to in the YA books, and describes Qui-Gon’s role here as a “powerful Jedi out on the rim of the galaxy, angry and alone, like a hero from the Clint Eastwood western.”

Recent releases. John Jackson Miller has notes for Knight Errant.

Nonfiction. J. W. Rinzler tweets about a new Star Wars Art installment.

Learn something. In his latest blog entry, Drew Karpyshyn writes about how a book makes it from outline to novel.

Coming in the back way. A prequel fan’s review of Heir to the Empire. He liked it!

EUbits: Allie talks Qui-Gon comic, Del Rey to reissue novelization, Shadow Hunter for TPM 3-D

Comics. Writer Scott Allie talks about the Qui-Gon Jinn comic Jedi: The Dark Side with CBR. He reveals that the series will take place 20 years prior to The Phantom Menace, that the focus of Dark Side will be a personal story, and talks a bit about Xanatos. Yoda, Mace Windu and even Dooku will make appearances in the mini-series.

Releases. Del Rey will be reissuing The Phantom Menace novelization and Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter next year to tie-into the first 3-D release. Both books will feature new original short stories for the occasion.

Events. Authors John Jackson Miller and Paul S. Kemp and Del Rey’s Erich Schoeneweiss will talk about Star Wars books at a panel at Chicago’s C2E2. The schedule isn’t up yet, but the panel will be Friday, March 18. (Question: Is C2E2 worth a vacation day and a 4-hour drive in the days of social media? I’ll have to think about it.)

History lesson. Tor.com’s Emily Asher-Perrin takes a slightly snarky (yay!) look back at the evolution of Star Wars galaxy maps. In retrospect, that first one was probably the only reason at all to be excited about Vector Prime. I must admit I do still like the old-timey calligraphy look it has.

The blogside. Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff reveals that one of the locations for Shadow Games (née Holostar) is Bannistar Station.

Kids. The folks behind The Strange Case of Origami Yoda will be back with Darth Paper Strikes Back in the fall.

EUbits: Dig into Vader, Burton’s craft book

Trauma ward. Dying for all the damage details on everyone’s favorite pan-fried villain? You’re in luck, ’cause Becker & Mayer has announced Darth Vader: A 3-D Surgical Log. Written by Dan Wallace with art by Chris Trevas (who has designed Vader’s underwear) and Chris Reiff, it sounds like it’ll be in the same vein as Millennium Falcon: A 3-D Owner’s Guide.

Actual nonfiction. StarWars.com has a look inside Bonnie Burton’s The Star Wars Craft Book, which is coming out in March.

The blogside. Authors Troy Denning, John Jackson Miller and Joe Schreiber just wrapped up their joint stint on Borders’ Babel Clash blog.

Your moment of zen. A reader over at the romance novel blog Smart Bitches, Trashy Books reviews The Courtship of Princess Leia. She is amazingly kind to it.

Updates on Knight Errant, Lost Tribe of the Sith and more from John Jackson Miller

While it has been previously announced that John Jackson Miller’s ebook novella series, Lost Tribe of the Sith will be collected in a print anthology, more details emerged about the series in an author chat hosted by Del Rey’s Star Wars Books Facebook account. Both Miller and Del Rey reps confirmed the following schedule for the (free) digital releases:

  • Part Six: “Sentinel” – Februray 21, 2011
  • Part Seven: “Pantheon” – July 19, 2011
  • Part Eight: “Secrets” – March 8, 2012
  • Print collection – August 2012, and it will contain an additional “long” story.

The concept of the overall series is that the first four form the Founders tetralogy (how the lost tribe started from some stranded “middle-managers in the cause of evil”), and the second four fit into the Darker Times, while the new material will help show how the tribe evolved from to closer to what is encountered in the Fate of the Jedi series.

And in very early phases of Knight Errant, there might have been some sort of Twilighty romance between Kerra Holt and Lord Daiman, but scrapped as the characters developed – since Daiman’s really only in love with himself, and Kerra is just way too busy trying to stay alive and help those around her. Pitched from Dark Horse to Miller as a “lone female Jedi”, Miller envisioned Kerra traveling solo like the Lone Ranger, even without a sidekick or droid Tonto.

Going back to Miller’s work on the Knights of the Old Republic, he mentioned that the charming con artist Gryph was originally supposed to be an Ortolan, like Max Rebo, before being changed to a Snivvian. Zayne Carrick’s last name connects back to Miller’s college dorm room.

Street date shuffle: Realigning the novels for 2011/2012

We got a number of schedule updates from Sue Rostoni today. There were a few notable delays – Riptide, Shadow Games and (sigh) Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse have all been pushed back a few months. There were also a number of additions: Drew Karpyshyn’s contribution to The Old Republic tie-ins set for October. Looking forward into 2012, Luceno’s Plagueis novel is up for January, and Allston’s new Wraith book for July.

We also got what is perhaps our first conformation that John Jackson Miller’s Lost Tribe of the Sith is set for print. Head on over to our book schedule for all the details.

Out this week: Knight Errant, Legacy, Lost Command

Today brings our first book release of the new year, John Jackson Miller’s Knight Errant.

You might have heard of it, since John Jackson Miller has been going above and beyond for this one. There’s a three-part Q & A on his blog (Plus a LEGO look at the Diligence,) an interviews with Lightsaber Rattling, About.com and, oh yeah, one with us. I’m not sure the guy sleeps.

And because it never rains when it can pour, there are two comics out Wednesday: Darth Vader and the Lost Command #1 (which I keep reading as The Last Command, which is so not right) and Legacy: War #2. Someone has set Nyna Calixte’s makeup gun to ‘whore’ and man is she pissed!

Meanwhile, if you’re wondering what to do with that spare $3000 you have laying around and want your coffee table and your coffee table books to be an all-in-one package, Frames is available for pre-order on Star Wars Shop. And to think people bitch about buying hardcovers…

EUbits: Grant Gould’s ‘Thrawn Legacy’

Namesake corner. Artist Grant Gould did a Thrawn trilogy/Tron: Legacy mashup for the cover of his 2011 sketchbook. I LOL’ed.

I gotta see how they managed that. Apparently there’s a full-color excerpt from the Knight Errant comic in the Knight Errant novel. The paperback. It’s on glossy paper, but is it readable at that size? I guess we’ll find out. Maybe we should ask author John Jackson Miller, since he’s taking questions and all.

Map love. Entertainment Weekly dug up the galaxy map from The Essential Atlas, so it’s been making the rounds. Again! Oh, internets.

Comics. Dark Horse has posted a preview for Legacy: War #2.

Review. Book Legion says Year by Year is the “best Star Wars book to date.”