Celebration Anaheim: Alan Dean Foster returns for The Force Awakens novelization

tfa-novelAlan Dean Foster is writing the novelization of The Force Awakens, Del Rey revealed today at their panel at Celebration Anaheim. It’ll be out in eBook on December 18, the day the movie comes out, with a hardcover to follow on an unspecified date in January.

Foster was the ghostwriter for the original Star Wars adaptation (credited to George Lucas) back in the ’70s, as well as the author of the first actual Star Wars novel, Splinter in the Mind’s Eye. This won’t be his first return to the franchise: He also wrote a prequel novel, The Approaching Storm, which came out ahead of Attack of the Clones.

This was already floating around, but it was confirmed that Del Rey is repackaging A New Dawn and Tarkin together as Rise of the Empire. We learned that that book will contain three new short stories, one of which ties into Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath. (Sadly, that’s just about the most we heard on Aftermath.)

That was just about the only real news out of the Del Rey panel that wasn’t already revealed earlier in the con.

As for Marvel, we got a few things: Greg Weisman will be writing the second arc of Kanan; They will be doing an adaption of The Force Awakens, but not anytime soon. Star Wars #6 is not John Cassidy’s last SW comic for Marvel… And Simone Bianchi will be drawing Star Wars #7, which is a one-shot Obi-Wan story on Tatooine.

Celebration Anaheim: Battlefront novel, Lando mini and Shattered Empire details

IMG_2761A couple of quick updates this morning: We’ve learned at Celebration that Alexander Freed will be writing Battlefront: Twilight Company, the November novel from Del Rey.

(The actual Battlefront game was this morning’s big draw, but more on how that’s relevant to us later. )

Marvel has been dropping their news ahead of their panel as well. First we learned that a Lando Calrissian limited series will follow Princess Leia. It’ll be from Charles Soule and Alex Maleev and issue #1 comes out in July.

And this morning, some Shattered Empire details. The limited series will be written by (as we knew) Greg Rucka, with art and cover from Marco Chechetto. (Is the Phil Noto piece just a variant?)

The Del Rey and Marvel panels are tomorrow, so no doubt we’ll learn more then.

Journey to The Force Awakens: Writer for Marvel’s Shattered Empire revealed

Journey to The Force Awakens: Shattered Empire #1Naturally, it was Florian of Jedi Bibliothek who discovered the writer of Marvel’s first entry in Journey to The Force Awakens, Shattered Empire. A catalog lists Greg Rucka, who had an influential run writing Batman (among many others.)

Rucka was already on the JTFA slate with the Han-centric YA novel Smuggler’s Run.

We don’t know much about Shattered Empire overall; though the series was announced with a Phil Noto cover image, the catalog lists the book’s artist as TBD. It also lists it will be a trade paperback, not individual issues, though the original announcement calls it ‘an event series.’ A series of trades? At this point, I fully expect we won’t get a formal announcement until Marvel’s panel at Celebration Anaheim.

EXCLUSIVE: A major plot detail from Journey to the Force Awaken’s Aftermath

aftermath-ap1-teaser2We learned a little about Aftermath, Del Rey’s key piece in the Journey to The Force Awakens, a few weeks ago: Namely, that Twitter-winning author Chuck Wendig is writing it, and that it involves “a fan favorite from the films” and “other familiar faces.” And Club Jade has learned who a few of those faces are.

So. Spoilers. Under the cut.

EXCLUSIVELY.

Continue reading “EXCLUSIVE: A major plot detail from Journey to the Force Awaken’s Aftermath”

Journey to The Force Awakens: Aftermath cover, Wendig officially revealed

jtfa-aftermathEditor Jennifer Heddle introduces officially introduces Aftermath and author Chuck Wendig at StarWars.com today. She reveals for the first time that the book is first of a trilogy that “that begins to bridge the Star Wars timeline between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens:”

Obviously I wish I could tell you more about the story, but I can’t just yet. What I can reveal is that you will be introduced to a sweeping new cast of characters, along with a fan favorite from the films. And who knows what other familiar faces will pop up along the way? And once you’ve seen The Force Awakens in movie theaters, you may find that certain names and places in Aftermath have a relevance you never knew–so keep your eyes wide open!

Will Wendig write the next two books in this trilogy? (We have reason to suspect they won’t be coming before TFA… But who knows?) Hopefully we’ll find out soon. Aftermath is due out September 4.

Journey to Episode VII: A new-to-Star-Wars writer is on Aftermath; Blurbs for YA novels

aftermathJedi Bibliothek was first to stop that the Random House online catalog ha slipped an author name onto Del Rey’s Aftermath – the very prolific Chuck Wendig, who expressed an interest in Star Wars last year on Twitter.

Jedi Bibliothek (in English) also spotted some blurbs for the YA components of Journey on Amazon.

Claudia Gray’s Lost Stars:

This thrilling Young Adult novel gives readers a macro view of some of the most important events in the Star Wars universe, from the rise of the Rebellion to the fall of the Empire. Readers will experience these major moments through the eyes of two childhood friends-Ciena Ree and Thane Kyrell-who have grown up to become an Imperial officer and a Rebel pilot. Now on opposite sides of the war, will these two star-crossed lovers reunite, or will duty tear them-and the galaxy-apart?


The Weapon of a Jedi
by Jason Fry:

Set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, the story finds Luke Skywalker, C-3PO, and R2-D2 stranded on a mysterious planet, and explores Luke’s first-ever duel with a lightsaber.

Cecil Castellucci’s Moving Target:

Set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, the story follows the warrior princess as she leads a ragtag group of rebels on a dangerous mission against the evil Galactic Empire.

Greg Rucka’s Smuggler’s Run:

Set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, the story follows everyone’s favorite pair of smugglers as they fly the Millennium Falcon on a top-secret mission for the Rebellion.

All four promise “all-new post-Return of the Jedi content, as well as hints and clues” about The Force Awakens.

UPDATE: Our book release schedule has been updated!

Journey to The Force Awakens: Aftermath synopsis points to book being set just after Return of the Jedi

And just like that, we have our first blurb for the most relevant (so far) of the Journey to The Force Awakens books, Aftermath, from Barnes & Noble.

The second Death Star is destroyed. The Emperor and his powerful enforcer, Darth Vader, are rumored to be dead. The Galactic Empire is in chaos. Across the galaxy, some systems celebrate, while in others Imperial factions tighten their grip. Optimism and fear reign side by side. And while the Rebel Alliance engages the fractured forces of the Empire, a lone Rebel scout uncovers a secret Imperial meeting…

A new character seems likely, which is a bit of a downer. My level of excitement for this one is really dependent of who’s writing it. It’s not Mary Franklin, as the URL suggests: The theory is that Untitled Novel #4 was at one point the long-canceled nonfiction book on fandom by Franklin and Bonnie Burton in some database or another. (via)