Del Rey Announces Three Additional Star Wars Titles

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Nanci

I kind of feel like Del Rey/Lucasbooks are sitting together in a room somewhere, steepling their fingers, and saying, “You wanted news? Okay, we’ll give you news.”

So after today’s official announcement about the status of the Expanded Universe, Disney Publishing Worldwide and Random House have announced a relaunch of the Star Wars adult fiction line. From the press release:

Following today’s announcement of Lucasfilm’s new unified storytelling approach, Disney Publishing Worldwide is proud to announce their first step into that larger world, beginning with Del Rey Books. The publishing program will feature new adult fiction novels set in the beloved galaxy far, far away, and will be closely connected to the cinematic entertainment currently in development at Lucasfilm.

Star Wars novels consistently rank on the New York Times Bestseller lists — from the very first tie-in novel, an adaptation ofStar Wars: A New Hope released by Del Rey in 1976, to the recently published Star Wars:Kenobi – and dozens of titles in between. With over 75 million copies sold worldwide, these books have captured the imaginations and creativity of authors who have enriched the Star Wars experience for fans around the globe.

Going forward, Lucasfilm has begun mapping out the narrative future of Star Wars storytelling that will appear on film and television and in other media so that all projects will benefit from real-time collaboration and alignment. The future Star Warsnovels from Disney Publishing Worldwide and Del Rey Books will now be part of the official Star Wars canon as reflected on upcoming TV and movie screens.

“With the establishment of the Lucasfilm Story Group and our even greater focus on unified storytelling, we expect our entire publishing program to be stronger and more meaningful than ever before,” said Jeanne Mosure, senior vice president and group publisher, Disney Publishing Worldwide. “We’re extremely excited to kick off this new strategy with Del Rey Books.”

The first novel to benefit from this deeper collaboration is Star Wars: A New Dawn, by bestselling author John Jackson Miller. Set prior to the events of the forthcoming animated series Star Wars Rebels, this novel tells the story of how two of the lead characters of the series, Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndulla, came to cross paths. To tell this important backstory, Miller benefited from contact with series executive producers Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg and Greg Weisman, who together ensured this tale will be part of the Star Wars canon of storytelling going forward. It is scheduled for hardcover and eBook release onSeptember 2, 2014.

“We’re extremely proud of the hundreds of amazing Star Wars books we’ve published at Del Rey,” said Scott Shannon, SVP, Publisher, Del Rey and Digital Content, “And now we’re excited to finally be able to call our upcoming novels true canon—a single, cohesive Star Wars storyline—all while keeping the amazing backlist of Star Wars Legends content in print.”

Following Star Wars: A New Dawn, the all-new Star Wars fiction line will continue with the following 2014/2015 titles:

STAR WARS: TARKIN

James Luceno

11/4/14

STAR WARS: HEIR TO THE JEDI

Kevin Hearne

January 2015

STAR WARS: LORDS OF THE SITH

Paul Kemp

March 2015

In years past, the storylines that would appear in print and on screen were developed separately, resulting in an “Expanded Universe” that differed in ways large and small from the filmmaker’s “canon.” These rich stories provide a treasure trove of characters to fall in love with — and deep worlds to explore and will live on in both physical and digital editions, newly-branded as Star Wars Legends.

For more information and for looks at the covers of all four new titles announced above, please visit the Del Rey Star WarsBooks Facebook page at Facebook.com/StarWarsBooks.

For more information on the Star Wars Legends rebranding and Expanded Universe, go to StarWars.com.

Several points of note:

Del Rey’s contract has been renewed.
A Tarkin novel? By Luceno??? Holy crap! It’s not the Dooku or Padme novel I’ve been wanting, but I’ll take it.
The Luke novel by Kevin Hearne is still on the schedule and not part of the “Legends” line. This makes me happy. As does the title. Edit: And it’s in first person!
A Kemp novel? Is this related to the long-discussed Kemp duology?

Keep an eye on the Star Wars Books Facebook page for more cover reveals as the day goes on.

Lucasfilm Clarifies Status of the Expanded Universe

Posted on April 25, 2014 by admin

Here we go.

For over 35 years, the Expanded Universe has enriched the Star Wars experience for fans seeking to continue the adventure beyond what is seen on the screen. When he created Star Wars, George Lucas built a universe that sparked the imagination, and inspired others to create. He opened up that universe to be a creative space for other people to tell their own tales. This became the Expanded Universe, or EU, of comics, novels, videogames, and more.

While Lucasfilm always strived to keep the stories created for the EU consistent with our film and television content as well as internally consistent, Lucas always made it clear that he was not beholden to the EU. He set the films he created as the canon. This includes the six Star Wars episodes, and the many hours of content he developed and produced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. These stories are the immovable objects of Star Wars history, the characters and events to which all other tales must align.

Now, with an exciting future filled with new cinematic installments of Star Wars, all aspects ofStar Wars storytelling moving forward will be connected. Under Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy’s direction, the company for the first time ever has formed a story group to oversee and coordinate all Star Wars creative development.

“We have an unprecedented slate of new Star Wars entertainment on the horizon,” said Kennedy. “We’re set to bring Star Wars back to the big screen, and continue the adventure through games, books, comics, and new formats that are just emerging. This future of interconnected storytelling will allow fans to explore this galaxy in deeper ways than ever before.”

In order to give maximum creative freedom to the filmmakers and also preserve an element of surprise and discovery for the audience, Star Wars Episodes VII-IX will not tell the same story told in the post-Return of the Jedi Expanded Universe. While the universe that readers knew is changing, it is not being discarded. Creators of new Star Wars entertainment have full access to the rich content of the Expanded Universe. For example, elements of the EU are included in Star Wars Rebels. The Inquisitor, the Imperial Security Bureau, and Sienar Fleet Systems are story elements in the new animated series, and all these ideas find their origins in roleplaying game material published in the 1980s.

Demand for past tales of the Expanded Universe will keep them in print, presented under the new Legends banner.

On the screen, the first new canon to appear will be Star Wars Rebels. In print, the first new books to come from this creative collaboration include novels from Del Rey Books. First to be announced, John Jackson Miller is writing a novel that precedes the events of Star Wars Rebels and offers insight into a key character’s backstory, with input directly from executive producers Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg, and Greg Weisman.

And this is just the beginning of a creatively aligned program of Star Wars storytelling created by the collaboration of incredibly talented people united by their love of that galaxy far, far away…

As we’ve long suspected, the new films will not be beholden to the Expanded Universe (nor should it be). The EU as it exists now will continue to be sold under the Legends banner, but it seems unlikely that anything will continue to be written in that universe. Projects moving forward will continue to draw inspiration and ideas from the old EU.

The first novel of this “new” Expanded Universe, A New Dawn, will be written by John Jackson Miller. It’ll be set pre-Rebels and, judging from the cover, looks like it will heavily feature Kanan and Hera. Color us excited that JJM is heading off this new endeavor.

Things are changing and changing quickly. Exciting, no?

Nanci and Brian will certainly be discussing these developments on the podcast tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Del Rey hints at “A New Dawn”

Posted on April 25, 2014 by admin

Well what have we here? Del Rey updated the cover image on the Del Rey Star Wars Facebook page to hint at… something.

All we know right now is that the release schedule for the remainder of 2014 and beyond Kevin Hearne’s Luke Skywalker novel is empty. Could this be a new book to fill in the empty space this year? Given the Tatooine sunrise, maybe a Kenobi sequel?

Or could New Dawn signal a reboot is coming? Well, given that Episode VII isn’t out yet, that’s probably jumping the gun. Either way, something is coming.

Awesome Con 2014 Convention Report

Posted on April 24, 2014 by Bria

Awesome Con 2014 lived up to its name with its second annual show and was indeed awesome! Everything about this year’s convention made it feel like a convention that had been around for years instead of just a year. The range of media, literary, and artist guests was incredibly impressive for a second year show. Congratulations DC: I think we finally have a comic con.

Before we get into more about my positive experience with the convention, I did want to touch on a few things. First, I have to offer my utmost respect to Ben Penrod and others involved with running Awesome Con for their willingness to stand up and admit that there were issues with lines and other aspects on the convention this year. Not everyone would be as readily willing to admit that there were a few problems. To be completely honest, if there hadn’t been growing pains for Awesome Con this year, I would’ve been absolutely shocked. In its second year, Awesome Con went from 5000+ attendees to almost quadruple that. That’s a huge leap. There were bound to be problems. So we’re going to go a bit into the feedback portion of the report before I dive into everything that helped make the convention so awesome.

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Review: Star Wars: Legacy #14

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Bria

Ania Solo! Still in trouble! (That could be the words for House Solo.) Legacy #14 by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman hits comic book store shelves today as they continue to tell the rather excellent story of one Ania Solo.

This planet keeps getting worse all the time. It’s not enough that they’ve crashed landed and Ania’s still being chased by a masked bounty hunter with a light whip. Oh no. Now, this planet has to rain glass. Meanwhile back on Coruscant, Master Val is digging into Ania’s past and manages to find a piece of evidence that exonerates her of the crime people claim she committed. Jao, Sauk, and AG-37 have at least managed to land on the same horrible planet as Ania and found the site of the crashed ship. Now, it’s just a matter of who will find Ania and Ramid first…

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Rebels WonderCon Roundup: Hera and Theme Music

Posted on April 21, 2014 by admin

We learned some new things about Rebels over the weekend thanks to a panel at WonderCon. First off, Clone Wars composer Kevin Kiner will return to score the new show. Second, Dave Filoni and company reaffirmed that Rebels will have a much more OT feel to it than The Clone Wars did. That means more space battles and dogfights, which brings us to a preview clip of Hera being awesome.

Tosche Station Radio #83: Extra Extra

Posted on April 19, 2014 by admin

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It’s catching up on the news and rumors on this week’s Tosche Station Radio!

Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight what’s New on the Blog. Bria reviewed Legacy 13 and The Star Wars #7. Emily reviewed Serenity #3. Emily also called out Wookieepedia for their victim blaming attitude over their April Fool’s Joke. Brian tore apart Wookieepedia’s half-baked apology. Bria wrote a Winter Soldier themed Marvel comics primer.

In Fixer’s Flash, the hosts went and saw Winter Soldier and saw some slightly less geeky films. They also went to Megacon and somehow squeezed in time to visit the Kennedy Space Center. The Saturn V is big, folks.

Deak’s Dirt starts with Celebration Anaheim hosts being announced. Wars Reads Day is returning for a third year. Kevin Hearne turned in his Luke Skywalker novel. Harrison Ford did a Reddit AMA. No, Bennedict Cumberbatch won’t be in Star Wars. ABC and Disney will be giving bloggers (not us) a look at Rebels. Karen Gillan’s hair might be appearing in Episode VII. Obi-Wan Kenobi wins This Is Madness. Alan Horn says Episode VII is mostly cast and it’s being shot now. In addition to The Big Bang Theory, The Goldbergs will be getting its own Star Wars episode. Starwars.com gets a facelift. Finally, Disney Publishing announces four new Star Wars YA books

In Biggs’ Bull#*$&, Jeremy Bullock was on a Star Wars panel at SLC Comic Con, and maybe let something slip? Is he in something? Only time will tell. Frequent rumor: Episode VII to return to Tatooine. Related: Is Episode VII filming in Abu Dhabi? Is this the first look at the Episode VII set? Rumor: Dominic Monaghan to play a Jedi? Oxford Educated actress Maisie Richardson-Sellers rumored to be up for role. Based on previous rumors and casting calls, people are saying she might be playing a descendent of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Report: Peter Mayhew is back to play Chewie, EU fans go supernova.

Biggs Bull#*$& goes off the rails to sort of become Camie’s Concerns this week as the hosts discuss why Hermit Luke is a bad idea and why a direct descendant of Obi-Wan doesn’t make sense either.

Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net and a part of Majestic Giraffe Productions. If you like what you hear, please leave a review on the iTunes Music Store. We can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Nanci and Brian are the co-founders and writers of Tosche-Station.net. You can find Nanci on Twitter with the handle @Nancipants and you can find Brian with @LaneWinree.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and Audible.com.

Tosche Station (and friends!) go to Awesome Con!

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Bria

Heading to Awesome Con this weekend? Thinking about heading to Awesome Con in Washington DC this weekend? Be sure to catch our Staff Writer Bria (that’s me!) on a Star Wars Discussion panel on Saturday from 1:30pm – 2:30pm in Room 206. It’ll be an hour chat between myself, Timothy Zahn, John ‘Dak’ Morton, and Rod and Leanne Hannah of Blue Milk Special about the State of the Star Wars Galaxy and pretty much everything Star Wars related.

You can also catch Zahn at a Q&A on Sunday from 10:45-11:45 and doing a reading from 1:15-2:15 with friend of the blog Janine Spendlove. Speaking of Janine, she and Ron Garner of Silence in the Library Publishing have a busy schedule this weekend with a signing on Saturday, a panel on Sunday from 3:45-4:45 about Crowdfunding Your Book, and tons more.

You can check out the complete listing of panels (including some with Clone Wars voice actors!) over on the Awesome Con site! Tosche Station will have a con round up next week but for in-the-moment updates, you can follow @chaosbria and @Tosche_Station on Twitter.

Review: The Star Wars #7

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Bria

The comic adaptation of George Lucas’s original screenplay is back! The Star Wars #7 by Jonathan Rinzler and Mike Mayhew hits comic stores everywhere today. Will General Skywalker succeed in keeping the royal heirs to Aquillae safe from the Empire’s grasp?

Crash landings are the name of the game when it came to Yavin. Luke Skywalker and Han Solo leave the two young princes in the care of an anthropologist named Owen Lars and set out to find Princess Leia (who has been captured by slave trappers) and Annikin Skywalker (who has been declared some sort of god by the wookiees.) Even with their new allies, our heroes are in for a tough battle if they’re going to rescue Leia from the clutches of the Empire and Darth Vader.

Continue reading →

Celebration Anaheim hosts announced

Posted on April 14, 2014 by admin

In the latest Insider, the hosts for next year’s Celebration in Anaheim were announced.

James Arnold Taylor will return to host on the Celebrity Stage. Jason Swank and Jimmy Mac of Rebel Force Radio will be on the Behind-The-Scenes stage. Over at the Digital Stage, David Collins will be back for the fifth time. Gus Lopez will be leading up the Collecting Track.

Of note is Jason and Jimmy taking over where Pablo Hidalgo has traditionally been. That story group might just be keeping Pablo busy these days.