Welcome to the roundup!
At the end of every work week, we’re going to gather up the most interesting bits of Star Wars related news and discussion from around the web and hand them to you lucky readers in the handy link-dump format.
Two New Scoundrels Announced: We knew that Han, Chewie, and Lando would be comprising three of the characters in Timothy Zahn’s upcoming novel Star Wars: Scoundrels. Frank Parisi announced two additional characters via the Forcecast last weekend: Kell Tainer and Winter Celchu. The following animated gif accurately portrays the feelings of Tosche Station’s writing staff regarding this announcement:
Bless you, Bill Adama. More news below the cut.
…And an Excerpt Drops: To celebrate their 30,000th Like on Facebook, Star Wars Books thanked fans by releasing an excerpt from Scoundrels. Head on over to the official SWB page to see how Han and Chewie deal with a cantina dustup. It’s pretty clear who shot who first in this one.
Essential Guide to Warfare Hits Bookshelves: Jason Fry and Paul Urquhart’s latest addition to the Essential Guide lineup dropped this week and it’s a sight to behold. Be sure to check out Brian’s review.
Star Wars Weekends Announces Hosting Duo: Clone Wars voice actors James Arnold Taylor and Ashley Eckstein will return to host another round of Star Wars Weekends at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Del Rey and Timothy Zahn Win April Fool’s Day: Brian hates April Fool’s Day with the passion of a thousand burning suns, but even he dug the prank that Star Wars Books and Timothy Zahn pulled. Also? We’d like ThinkGeek’s Admiral Ackbar Singing Bass to be real.
Han Solo Has Boogie Fever: Presented without comment
…okay some comment. Han Solo: Dancing Fool is totally head!canon now.
Troy Denning talks Fate of the Jedi and his Dream Project: The author of FotJ: Apocalypse dropped by Facebook on Wednesday to answer fan questions. Club Jade has a great recap with commentary. Nanci and I talked about this chat on the podcast this week. Ranting ensued.
The Essential Reader’s Companion Releases Sneak-Peek Images: If you’ve got a hankering for some Old Republic and Clone Wars era art, it’s your lucky day. The Essential Reader’s Companion by Pablo Hidalgo hits on October 2nd.
I’d read Woookie.
I like Kell a lot, but I am a bit confused about how he could fit into this. If I recall correctly, he’d be extremely young, and his father would have just been killed by Janson and Porkins.
I do know that Zahn said at Dragon*Con last year that he was talking with Allston about which Wraith would work for a future book (which I’m now assuming was Scoundrels). I figure the two of them have hashed out the details and backstory. Kell was in his early-mid twenties by 7ABY and the dates are vague enough that he could be placed in his late teens for the sake of the book.
He was talking with Allston! Hooray! I asked him if he was on facebook, but he’s been too busy actually, you know, finishing the book 🙂 I just hope Zahn (in typical fashion) does something cool with Kell. I know he’ll do something totally awesome with Winter. Thanks for letting me know.