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Random House Wants To Record Your Fan Fiction

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Seriously.

Attendees at San Diego Comic Con will have the opportunity to record a five-minute sample of their fan fiction for Random House to listen to. These pieces will then be judged and one lucky winner and a few runner-ups will be able to have their piece professionally recorded, mixed, and hosted at the official Random House Audio site.

Still with me? I never thought I would see the day a publisher reached out for fan fiction of any variety, but apparently this is a thing that actually exists.

One story will be selected by RH Audio producers to be recorded professionally and streamed online!

At this year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego, CA, Random House Audio will be recreating an audiobook studio right on the convention floor–inviting authors of fan fiction to record a sample of their work for a chance to have their story recorded and released as a digital audiobook.

Stories from the following fandoms are eligible for the contest:

  • Star Wars®
  • The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini
  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan
  • The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
  • Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Aspiring authors (who must be legal residents of the U.S. and 18 years or older) can sign up for a time slot to record their five-minute sample during the convention, July 12-15 at the San Diego Convention Center. Random House Audio producers will listen to the entries (no mashups, please) and select one to be professionally recorded and mixed by Random House Audio for streaming at www.randomhouseaudio.com. The grand prize winner and five runner-ups will have clips from their stories featured on the Random House Audio weekly podcast.

I imagine a lot of people will be disappointed they won’t have the opportunity to take part in this, which is understandable. It’s not like it’s exceptionally difficult to record a five minute excerpt on your own and digitally submit it, so limiting this strictly to attendees of San Diego Comic Con is a little odd.

In any case, if you’re going to be at SDCC, this might be something you want to check out.

(Via)

Future of Star Wars Books at San Diego Comic Con

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Details of Del Rey’s Future of Star Wars Books panel at San Diego Comic Con were released today. Of note was the one author explicitly said to be in attendance:

3:00-4:00 The Future of Star Wars Publishing: Dark Horse & Del Rey. Find out what’s coming up in the Expanded Universe of Star Wars publishing. Editors Randy Stradley and Dave Marshallfrom Dark Horse Comics discuss what’s next for Agent of the Empire, Dawn of the Jedi, Lost Tribe of the Sith, and Darth Maul, as well as reveal a new secret title that’s on the horizon. From Del Rey Books editors Frank Parisi and Erich Schoeneweiss, along with author Troy Denning (Apocalypse), look at new novels coming later this year from fan-favorite authors Timothy Zahn and Aaron Allston, as well as give a peek into 2013. Also on the panel is Jennifer Heddle, senior editor at LucasBooks. Moderated by author Pablo Hidalgo (Star Wars: The Essential Reader’s Companion). Room 7AB

What exactly does this mean? Well nothing concrete. Could signal that Troy Denning has a new contract and might be the person tasked with continuing the major post-RotJ storyline. It wouldn’t be much of a surprise and makes a certain amount of sense given the history between the two parties. Also keep in mind that Christie Golden was recently confirmed to be in attendance at SDCC.

Multiple people with Del Rey have said that for the foreseeable future, the megaseries will be shelved in favor of shorter formats. Whoever is writing the next series, expect it to be no longer than a trilogy.

Eight New Guests Announced for Celebration VI

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The Celebration VI staff announced eight new attendees today:

Roger Christian – Set Decoration: A New Hope
Jesse Jensen – Saesee Tiin in Attack of the Clones
Zac Jensen – Kit Fisto in Attack of the Clones
Tom Kane – Jedi Master Yoda in The Clone Wars
Katie Purvis – “Maternal Ewok” in Return of the Jedi
Mike Quinn – Nien Nunb in Return of the Jedi
Felix Silla – Ewok stunt performer in Return of the Jedi
Robert Watts – Producer for Star Wars and Indiana Jones

For a complete listing of confirmed guests, head over to the official site.

Tosche Station Radio #22: Big Damn Heroes

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This week on Tosche Station Radio, Brian and Nanci continue the summer X-Wing retrospective with a look back at the Rogue Squadron arc by Michael Stackpole.

On the blog this week, we introduced a new feature we’re calling Cosplay Monday. Each week we’re highlighting some costumers that have gone above and beyond to represent fandom and this week, we’re featuring Sylar and Sheila’s Korra and Tahno costumes. Maggie fired back at a New York Times article taking issue with The Hunger Games and romance in literature. Shane continued the blog’s look back at the X-Wing novels with his retrospective of The Bacta War. Meanwhile, Nanci reviewed Operation Montauk by Bryan Young.

In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci’s been keeping herself busy writing, but still managed to find time to finish reading Operation Montauk and start War of the Seasons by all-around awesome person Janine Spendlove. She also squeezed in time to see Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. It was everything you’d expect from a movie with that title. Meanwhile, Brian kept himself busy by watching Brave, Pixar’s latest film and one he thoroughly enjoyed. If you follow him on Twitter, you might have caught a barrage of Legend of Korra finale related Tweets. He’s also giddy that Futurama is back on the air and has started reading Mageworlds. You can blame Nanci for that.

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Third ‘Mercy Kill’ Mini-Excerpt Features The Loran Family

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It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for another mini excerpt from Aaron Allston’s upcoming Mercy Kill! For those of you who had Face Loran and Dia Passik in the Wraith Squadron Ship Pool, congratulations.

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.”

Mercy Kill will hit bookshelves on August 7th.

Her Universe Boldly Goes Into A New Franchise

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One of the new Trek-themed shirts

One major announcement just wasn’t enough for Her Universe. Earlier this week, it was announced they would be venturing into BBC land and producing all-new Doctor Who shirts. Yesterday, Ashley Eckstein announced that they had also secured a license to create Star Trek wardrobe.

For the first time in Star Trek’s 46-year history, one company is focusing exclusively on the female fans of the legendary space adventure. Her Universe™, a leader in female genre merchandise, announced its new license with CBS Consumer Products to create a collection of apparel and accessories for the growing female Star Trek fan base.

With a limited debut July 11th at San Diego’s Comic Con and online at Heruniverse.com, the Star Trek by Her Universe line will feature fashion tops and hoodies rolled out over the course of the year highlighting images, characters and phrases from the Star Trek franchise. To recognize the female fans of Star Trek, CBS Consumer Products has created a unique Star Trek logo which will only appear on merchandise from the Her Universe collection.

It’s great to see Her Universe expanding into more and more fandoms. The-Other-Star-Franchise was a natural choice and one that I imagine our own Emily is quite excited about. Be sure to head to the Her Universe shop to check out the new offerings, including something special for you Wil Wheaton fans out there.

Expanded Universe Convention Swag Roundup

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To those of you going to all of the major conventions this year, I am both jealous of you and insanely curious as to how you can afford it. If you are that lucky, you’ll be able to pick up some rather nifty swag from the lovely folks with Star Wars Books. First up, how about some Scoundrels bookmarks?

These bookmarks will be available at SDCC, NYCC, and Celebration VI, but there’s a catch. Only Han, Lando, and Chewie’s bookmarks will be at all three. If you’re at SDCC, you can pick up the Winter bookmark. NYCC goers can snag Bink Kitik, while Celebration VI attendees can get Kell Tainer and Zerba Cher’dak.

Attendees at all three conventions will also be able to pick up an 84-page book of excerpts containing bits from all of Del Rey’s 2012 Star Wars books. Also available, an X-Wing: Mercy Kill iron-on patch.

If your’e at any one of these conventions, keep your eyes out for Del Rey’s convention handouts!