Star Wars, Geek Culture, and Power Converters
Del Rey announced on their Star Wars Books Facebook page today that the release dates for the next two adult-targeted Star Wars Expanded Universe novels, Kevin Hearn’s Heir to the Jedi and Paul S. Kemp’s Lords of the Sith, have been pushed back, though, happily, not by much. Heir to the Jedi will now be released on March 3 while Lords of the Sith will be coming out on April 28. You can read their announcement here.
(via Club Jade)
Time for another Tarkin excerpt, though this time in a different format. The official Star Wars blog has posted a preview from the audio version of James Luceno’s upcoming novel, read by Euan Morton. Listen to it here and check out Bria’s of the book here.
Tarkin will be released in hardback, ebook, and audiobook formats on November 4.
It’s that time of the week again and Del Rey has posted another mini-excerpt from the upcoming novel Tarkin on their Star Wars Books Facebook page. You can find the excerpt here and you can check out Bria’s review of the book here.
Tarkin by James Luceno will be available in hardback and ebook formats on November 4.
The Star Wars universe turns to view the galaxy from the other side with its second book in the new canon. Veteran writer James Luceno makes his return to the galaxy and his debut in the new canon with Star Wars: Tarkin due out on November 4th. Set five years after Revenge of the Sith, Moff Wilhuff Tarkin finds himself stationed on the remote planet overseeing the construction of what all of us know will become the fearsome Death Star. The story, of course, leaves the fledgling battle station behind as the Emperor first summons and then sends both Tarkin and Darth Vader to Murkhana to investigate Separatist communications technology.
Without a doubt, Luceno is the master of weaving together all the pieces into one cohesive tale that makes sense of things you didn’t even realize you wanted clarity for. The time period between the trilogies has been deemed the Dark Times and rightly so as there have been relatively few stories placed in those years. Unlike Darth Plagueis, Tarkin doesn’t cover years and years of the protagonist’s life; instead covering perhaps a week supplemented with looks back into Tarkin’s formative years and moves seamlessly between the past and the present.
Del Rey hosted another author Q&A over the past week with John Jackson Miller, author of A New Dawn. Thankfully, they changed up the format from a free-for-all in the comment section to a ‘submit your questions and we’ll have JJM answer them all at once’ deal. One of the responses in particular caught my attention:
Is Hera Force-sensitive or just really good at what she does?
John Jackson Miller: That’s really more of a question for the TV producers. From my point of view, I think Hera certainly is very good at what she does, and while there’s a tendency to ascribe all exceptional talent to the Force, I’m not sure links are always necessary. As readers of my earlier works may know, I enjoy like writing non-Jedi characters that excel on their own.
And we all love reading those characters, John, we all love reading them.
You can read all of the questions and answers here on Suvudu.
It’s a new day for Star Wars as A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller is released today. Fans won’t have to wait a month to meet Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndulla. But just how good is Miller’s latest foray into the Star Wars universe? We’re off on an adventure to a remote planet to find out!
Gorse. Not the best planet in the galaxy to visit but it’s home or at least a place where Kanan Jarrus has a job. He’s just happy to avoid the Empire’s attention, fly his cargo, and have a couple of drinks at the end of the day. But there are two newcomers to Gorse will change this: Count Vidian of the Empire and Hera Syndulla, a revolutionary with her own agenda. Vidian’s plans have the potential to bring more terror and death to the far reaches of the galaxy. How long can a former Jedi sit back before he must act?
Welcome back to Go/No-Go, Tosche Station’s regular feature where we offer our spoiler-free opinion as to whether or not you should spend your hard-earned money on a book, film, or other entertainment. Today on the launch pad: A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller. How does the first book of the new overarching canon and the tie-in to the forthcoming Rebels series hold up? To mission control for the verdict!
What happens when a lone hired gun ends up responsible for a trio of children who have lost everything and want revenge? The Serpent’s Head by Bryan Young is a science-fiction western that asks not only that but so much more in a enjoyable and fun novel that will keep readers turning the page.
The gunslinger known as Twelve comes to the planet of Glycon-Prime looking for work but instead of finding any he stumbles upon Nine Mine City. It’s your typical frontier town except for one thing: the entire city has been massacred leaving three children as the only survivors. Twelve soon finds himself caught up in the children’s quest not only for revenge but to rescue Miri, the only other survivor, from the mutant Glicks.
Star Wars Books announced on their Facebook page today that John Jackson Miller won a Scribe Award this weekend for Kenobi. The Scribe Awards are hosted by the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers. Novels for franchises like Star Wars often are often no longer considered serious contenders for Hugo or Nebula awards, no matter how excellent they may be.
Tosche Station has plenty of coverage of Kenobi, including a podcast with John Jackson Miller as our special guest, so be sure to check out all of our posts with the Kenobi tag.
Two days down of San Diego Comic-Con and we’re already rolling in Star Wars news. Well sort of.
Last night was the Rebels panel that featured the main cast along with Dave Filoni. You can read StarWars.com’s liveblog of the event here. While we didn’t get the official release date for Rebels (groan!), we did learn a few things. The cast agrees that Vanessa Marshall is the biggest Star Wars fan out of all of them although apparently Freddie Prinze Jr. makes all the Force motions while recording. The show will definitely be embracing the idea of this crew as a family and bringing in some comedy; both concepts they’re taking from the Original Trilogy. Another point of note from the panel is that Filoni made mention of establishing a hierarchy of villains so if Darth Vader shows up, people should definitely be running. Also, Rebels will be much more of a contained story than the Clone Wars as they won’t be jumping from character to character and creating new locations each week.
In addition to showing several clips from the show, they also debuted a second brand new trailer which you can watch below.
The Star Wars Books panel just wrapped up and needless to say, the highlight was the new book announcement. Christie Golden will be penning a novel about Asajj Ventress and Quinlan Vos. The book is due out in Summer 2015 and is taken from a plot line for the intended Season 7 of The Clone Wars.
As for the rest of the panel, it was moderated by Vanessa Marshall and there was a lot of discussion about John Jackson Miller’s forthcoming A New Dawn. Vanessa has apparently read the book already and said it gave her a lot of insight into Hera. Tarkin will be, as expected, akin to James Luceno’s Darth Plagueis and will take place very close to Revenge of the Sith. Heir to the Jedi was described as a character study of Luke Skywalker and Lords of the Sith was dubbed “kind of a Vader/Palpatine road trip novel” by Jen Heddle. You can read the rest of the live blog of the panel by the main site here. I’d particularly suggest that readers take note of their comments about the newly minted Legends books.
If you’re looking for comic news though… well that’ll be dropping tomorrow during Marvel’s Cup of Joe Panel. You’ve been warned.