The week in Star Wars: Slow fuse burning

Mark steals a golf cart #beardwatchWe wait (and wait and wait) for so many things: Celebration, more Rogue One stuff, more Aftermath… Here’s what we did learn this week:

→ Filming for Episode VIII ends on July 22, per golfcart-stealer Mark Hamill. Yet there’s already a distinct last-week-of-school feel to a a delightful array of social media posts from Rian Johnson and the cast.

→ With the release of Aftermath: Life Debt nearing, we got a cover for Empire’s End as well as a new excerpt. Plus official art of breakout character Mr. Bones.

The livestream is back for Celebration Europe. I’m sad I’m not going, but also happy that I’ll be able to blog the happenings in a timely fashion. So who is going? James!

→ Our Tumblr themes this week were pets, the Millennium Falcon, Legends, Leia and Finn. Get all that and the news right on your dash by following us! (Or you can always amuse/annoy me with random asks.)

→ FLASHBACK POST: James’ guide on how to photograph fans in costume is evergreen and essential.

Etc. Because there is only so much time in a week, here’s some of the stuff we didn’t get to. FRESH(ISH) CONTENT FOR YOU!

Janine K. Spendlove→ On StarWars.com, James interviewed Jader Janine K. Spendlove about her short story ‘Inbrief,’ which first appeared in the Star Wars Insider and is now available in the Battlefront: Twilight Company, paperback.

→ Here are all the places you can get in your preliminary votes the new Hasbro Fan Choice, or I guess we’re calling it the Star Wars Fan Figure Vote now. All I know is that last year covering this was exhausting, so this time I’m not going to bother with it until it’s time for the final vote.

→ Kevin J. Anderson’s Darksaber is an awful, awful book and yet also directly responsible for me meeting and bonding (saltily) with many other Club Jaders, as it was the hot new release way back in the dark ages when I first got online. I bring this up because Katharine Trendacosta reread it and then wrote about it for io9. Katharine, you are SO BRAVE. I salute you.