‘Aggressive negotiations’ in new Mercy Kill excerpt

It’s Thursday, and the means it’s time for the fifth mini-excerpt from Aaron Allston’s Mercy Kill.

The trooper caught up with Myri after three steps, seized her arm, and swung her around to slam her into the side of a building. She couldn’t see his features in the deep shadow, but his voice was suddenly full of anger. He jabbed a forefinger at her. “You do not insult the—”

She put one hand on the back of his and seized his index finger with her other hand. She bent his finger up, a sudden, all-out effort, and bones snapped.

He started to look at his stricken hand, started to make a pained noise, but she immediately drew her blaster, thumbed its side switch to make sure it was still set on stun, and fired into his stomach. The stun bolt briefly illuminated the alley and his shocked expression. Then he fell.

She looked down at him and holstered her weapon. “Sorry, Army. My heart belongs to Starfighter Command.” Then she stepped over him and returned to the street.

Mercy Kill will be out in August.

EUbits: Mercy Kill in drips and dabbles

Excerpts. It’s easy to miss, but if you head over to the Random House page for X-Wing: Mercy Kill, there are 32 pages from the book available. (Click on the cover.) It includes the dramatis personae that caused such a furor when the ARCs went out as well as the first pages of 22 chapters. Weird, yes? (via)


The blogside. Joysweeper at Scans Daily takes a look at Luke Skywalker’s worst comic outfits. She’s not kidding; there’s a mesh shirt. Oh, Marvel. Also: An interview with costumer Victoria Schmidt; convention tall tales; and a review of Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight.


Upcoming. Rebelscum has covers and summaries for two upcoming comic collections – Dawn Of The Jedi: Force Storm and new Clone Wars omnibus, The Republic Falls – as well as the next arc of Agent Of The Empire.


Awards. Tom Taylor’s Blood Ties has won the The Stan Lee Excelsior Award, which encourages kids to read comics and graphic novels.


Behind the scenes. The Young to Publishing Group has four keys to success in licensed publishing, which features several familiar names.


Endnotes. I’ve run out of things to say about the things, so just let it be known that Jason Fry has posted part 14 and part 15 of his guide to everything Essential Guide to Warfare.

More Myri in latest Mercy Kill excerpt

In the fourth mini-excerpt of Aaron Allston’s X-Wing: Mercy Kill, Myri Antilles wants to forge her own path.

“Myri, I thought you were making your living gambling. Nice and safe on the Errant Venture. Making a fortune, from what I heard.”

She nodded, her attention on her rifle.

“So? Why this?”

She smiled. “You must be so proud.”

“What? Of whom?”

“That’s what they tell me. Mostly about Daddy. ‘Wedge Antilles’s daughter? You must be so proud.’ And I am. Some people know about Mom’s career. ‘You must be so proud.’ And I am. Some people know about my sister’s record in the last war. ‘You must be so proud.’ Yes, yes, I am. But maybe it’s time for someone to be proud of what I do. Maybe even me.”

Oh, but look how well resting on their family’s laurels worked for the Solo kids! Wait, nevermind.

Dinner with Face and the fam in Mercy Kill excerpt #3

Thursday afternoon? It’s time for our third excerpt from Aaron Allston’s Mercy Kill!

Face’s approach was so silent that neither noticed until he was almost at the table. Both turned to look at him and, seeing the expression on his face, fell silent.

He turned to Dia. “I promise I will never make you so mad that you borrow an X-wing, take it up, and use it to burn me to a cinder.”

“Smart of you.” She gestured at the third chair. “Whose turn is it to cook?”

“Yours.”

“We’ll order something.”

He sat and turned to his daughter. “And you, young lady . . . Beware of older military officers who chase you when you’re a teenager. They’ll just dump you when you turn thirty.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Dad, I hate it when you bring work home.”

Yes, Face and Dia have reproduced. I can’t wait to see the message boards threads discussing that one. Mercy Kill is (still!) slated for an August 7 release.

EUbits: Del Rey swags up for convention season

Convention swag. Star Wars Books has revealed some of the summer freebies on their Facebook. There’s a nifty 84-page sample books with excerpts and the Insider short stories, a Mercy Kill iron-on and Scoundrels bookmarks. The catch: There are 7, but they won’t all be available at the same con, so unless you’re going to be at SDCC, CVI and NYCC, prepare to swap with some pals to get them all.

In other relevant con season news, Christie Golden will be at SDCC, and Erich is looking to arrange a Warfare signing with Jason Fry and some of the artists.


The blogside. Skuldren wants a Streen series, while Bry Dean reviews I, Jedi and Tosche Station looks back at The Bacta War.


Gaming stuff. Drew Karpyshyn’s The Old Republic: Annihilation has been blessed by the blurb fairy. (via) There’s also going to be an Old Republic Encyclopedia.


Audiobooks. Speaking of Karpyshyn, his Darth Bane books will be getting the unabridged audiobook treatment. Look for them in October.


Endnotes. Never-ending endnotes! Jason Fry has posted part 13 of his look behind The Essential Guide to Warfare

The buck is passed in new Mercy Kill mini-excerpt

It’s Thursday afternoon, and thus we are treated to our second mini-excerpt from Aaron Allston’s X-Wing: Mercy Kill.

A young human woman in clothes styled to resemble a starfighter pilot’s jumpsuit and jacket but made of crinkly gold cloth, her hair a more striking and unnatural red than Face’s, bumped into Face, made a vague noise of apology, and hurried past, continuing onward toward the exit.

Voort scowled at Face. “I saw that.”

“Of course you did.”

“What did she slip you?”

Face reached into a suit coat pocket and drew out a datapad. It was small, its once-gleaming surface scratched and dull. “This. It’s wired to overheat and ignite in about three minutes.”

“Well, then, don’t hold it in your mouth.”

Mercy Kill is slated for an August 7 release.

#NubProbeCVI is coming: Last week’s best #StarWars and #SWEU tweets

I believe this is what we’ll be calling the group trip to the Big Boy. There’s a Big Boy in Orlando, right?

Macchiato the Hutt!

SBs…? Yes, I am including this because I need a translation and I didn’t think to ask at the time.

You’ll also want to check out all the suggestions on #StarWarsOrlandoFantip – we were on quite a roll the other day. More tweets below the cut!

Continue reading “#NubProbeCVI is coming: Last week’s best #StarWars and #SWEU tweets”

X-Wing eBook bundle details, pricing emerge

Roqoo Depot has spotted some more details on the X-Wing series bundle, including the price: $56.99 for all 9 books. It’s eBook only and will be out on July 30.

The individual X-Wing paperbacks and eBooks are currently listed for $7.99 a pop; A full set would cost you $71.91 (plus sales tax, if applicable.) So if you’re looking to catch up on the series, this is probably your best bet outside of used copies and/or the library. (Unless you already own them all, of course!)

I still wish we were seeing the series reissued as trade paperback collections (maybe if Mercy Kill sells really well?) but this is a nice way to give some EU classics a little refreshing.

Another not-so-mini excerpt from Allston’s Mercy Kill

Well, not so mini by Facebook excerpt standards, anyway! Here’s the official #1 mini-excerpt from Aaron Allston’s X-Wing: Mercy Kill.

Then she noticed that Trey had stopped talking. Instead, he was leaning forward, his forehead pressed against a heavy-duty, locking transparisteel cabinet.
Myri moved until she could see his face. “Four? You suddenly look like you want to cry.”

“I do.” He stepped back from the cabinet and shone his glow rod on its contents.

The cabinet had two shelves, themselves transparisteel. On the top shelf were two silvery bowl-like stands, and in each rested a globe larger than a balled human fist—a globe with dials and a depressible button.

Myri stared at them for a moment, then clamped her hand over her mouth to suppress a gasp. “Thermal detonators.”

“Two of them.” Trey’s voice was almost rapturous. “I have to steal these.”

Myri also featured in the Wednesday preview excerpt. Mercy Kill will be out in hardcover August 7.

Mini-excerpts return with Allston’s Mercy Kill

Del Rey’s Erich Schoeneweiss gave us a peek at Aaron Allston’s X-Wing: Mercy Kill on Facebook last night:

He crawled southward, keeping well below the trench lip above.

Myri followed, occasionally peeking up above the rim to see her surroundings. “My father was on the Death Star Trench Run. You know, the famous one. Me, I get the General’s Basement Trench Crawl.”

We’ll see another one this afternoon.