Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Two new Star Wars novels that are coming out next spring have had their release dates changed slightly, Del Rey informs us today. Kevin Hearne’s Heir to the Jedi moves back two weeks, from February 17 to March 3. Meanwhile, Paul S. Kemp’s Lords of the Sith only jumps back a week, from April 21 to April 28. Our book release page has been updated.
Both novels will be considered part of the canon.
Knights’ Archive spotted an Edelweiss listing for the audio version of Kevin Hearne’s Luke Skywalker novel. No title (Untitled Star Wars #3 and/or Untitled Ballantine #50) but it gives a release date of January 13 and a small synopsis:
In an attempt to distract the Empire from important Rebel Alliance activity, Luke Skywalker draws the attention of Imperial Security, leading him-along with Princess Leia Organa, Han Solo, and Chewbacca-into a deadly trap right in Darth Vader’s sights!
This would be the third, and probably final, book in the informal Empire and Rebellion series.
And to chase our earlier mystery books – as pointed out by commenter Ewan, two of them have the same ISBN, so there are only 2 of them – including the one formerly labeled as the Jedi Academy Trilogy on Amazon. (Untitled Star Wars #2, aka 978-0-345-51152-2. Untitled Star Wars #1 is 978-0-553-39286-9.) It’s now Untitled Ballantine #43 there. But the ISBN given to the hardcover version of Untitled Ballantine #50 (978-0-345-54485-8) on Edelweiss doesn’t match either of our mystery books, either. So whatever they are, neither seems likely to be a version of the Hearne book.
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.
Street date shuffle. James S. A. Corey’s Honor Among Thieves, the Han-centric second novel of the Empire and Rebellion series, has appeared in the Random House catalog with a release date of March 4. Per usual this is subject to change – we’ve already seen Martha Wells’ Leia book move up twice – so pencil it in.
Upcoming. There’s an excerpt from John Jackson Miller’s Kenobi on the Random House catalog. There’s also a new short story from him, ‘Incognito,’ in the latest issue of the Star Wars Insider, which should be hitting subscriber mailboxes soon if it hasn’t already.
Interviews. Crucible author Troy Denning talks to TheForce.net, Hollywood.com and Roqoo Depot. There are spoilers in these, so be cautious.
Reviews. James finds that the start of the new story arc in Brian Wood’s Star Wars #7 is full of tension, but light on action, and brings in a new artist, Ryan Kelly, who had previously worked with Wood elsewhere. (Plus a female Moff?!)
Of course. There’s a Darth Maul comic coming. Darth Maul: Death Sentence #1 will launch July 25 and feature Maul and his brother Savage Opress roaming the galaxy in a beat-up light freighter and solving mysteries. Well, I made up the bit about the freighter. And the mysteries. Everything else is true! Sort of.
Confirmation, non-fiction. It’s not available yet, but Rancho Obi-wan has added the new Steve Sansweet book, Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection: 35 Years of Characters. It’s co-authored by Anne Neumann and noted fan photographer Dan Curto.
Confirmation, fiction. Looks like they’re moving ahead with a third character guide. Expect a totally new different-looking Ben Skywalker!
Street date shuffle. Feel like some super minor schedule news? Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories has moved up a week, from July 31 to the 24th. Exciting!
Pretty. Knights Archive spotted the cover for Star Wars Art: Illustration on Amazon. There’s a Yoda on it: Bitches love Yoda.
Kids. Snark aside, Darth Vader and Son looks kind of cute. Sadly, we will never see a ‘Mommy and Me’ version of this, unless you count The Phantom Menace, and I wouldn’t. It’ll be out any minute now.
According to Del Rey’s latest publishing schedule, The Essential Guide to Warfare release date has moved from May 22 to April 3. Our schedule has been updated.
Meanwhile, Del Rey has posted two new pieces of art from the book on their Star Wars Facebook page, including the one at right, a Republic weapons factory from The Clone Wars era.
Del Rey’s Erich Schoeneweiss annouced that the street date of Troy Denning’s Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse – the final book in the series – has moved from April 3 to March 13. I normally don’t make stand-alone schedule posts for a single book, but with the gap between the last book and Apocalypse so large, even a 3-week date change can make a splash. (At least on a day when I’ve already posted an EUbits.)
Street date shuffle. The release of James Luceno’s Darth Plagueis has been pushed back from December 27 (read: still after Christmas) to January 10. No big; our ever-present Star Wars book release schedule has been updated.
Hintage. Lucasfilm editor J. W. Rinzler hints at future projects with DK on Twitter.
Excerpts. Fans longing for the return of Diet Han (just one calorie!) will love the latest Shadow Games mini-excerpt.
New York ComicCon. Del Rey will have Drew Karpyshyn and Bonnie Burton at their Star Wars booth. NYCC runs Oct. 13 – 16.
Interviews. Amazon’s Omnivoracious blog interviews Paul S. Kemp, while the official blog talks to Carlos Garzón about Star Wars Art: Comics.
Street date shuffle. The release of Jason Fry’s Essential Guide to Warfare has been moved to May 22 next year, Erich Schoeneweiss announced on Facebook. On the plus side, it’s only two months, and he did include a nice Hoth sketch from Tommy Lee Edwards.
Contest. Suvudu is planning another meal for three fans with Timothy Zahn. This time it’s breakfast at Dragon*Con with Tim, Shelly Shapiro and Betsy Mitchell.
Fate of the Jedi. Suvudu also has five Ascension tidbits with Christie Golden, while the Star Wars Books Facebook will have a live chat with her tomorrow.
Video. The Blueprints has a trailer. Naturally.
Del Rey has tweaked the release schedule again… This time, Zahn’s Choices of One moves back to the original date of July 19th, while the Heir to the Empire anniversary edition moves up slightly to September 6.
Drew Karpyshyn’s The Old Republic: Revan jumps back a month to November 15. Meanwhile, on his blog, Karpyshyn compares game Revan to book Revan.
As I post this, Del Rey editor Shelly Shapiro is chatting with fans on Facebook. I’ll be back later with another post on her comments when the dust has cleared.