J.K. Rowling’s New Adult Novel Gets Title and Synopsis

I think she sold a few copies of that.

J.K. Rowling, author of a somewhat popular series of young adult book,  has announced the title of her first adult novel: The Casual Vacancy.

When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

The “blackly comic” novel is due out later this year according to Rowling’s publisher Little Brown.

Via the Wall Street Journal blog

The Star Wars Art of Benjamin Carré

Sometimes you just stumble across something awesome.  While looking at Kotaku.com last night I came across a piece of incredible Star Wars art.  The post included a link to the artist’s deviantart account and I decided to check it out.  I was taken completely off guard by the quality of this guy’s work.  After a bit of poking around, I found out that he had done some of the covers for Dark Horse Comics KOTOR series and figured out who he was.  His name is Benjamin Carré and his Deviant ID is orincar.

Now I’m linking you to this.  Because it AWESOME.  Check this out!

 

Tosche Station Radio #12: Fandom Nod

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Fan creations are the on the minds of the hosts this week.

Before getting into the show, Nanci and Brian announce that the Tosche Station blog is having a giveaway contest to celebrate going live. You can win one of two copies of the Essential Guide to Warfare! Details here, enter in both places to double your odds. Be sure to also check out the news, reviews, and columns at the new site.

In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci went and saw Titanic in 3D and said it’s the best post-conversion 3D film out there. Of course, Brian’s a little more excited about the Prometheus trailer that showed before the movie started. Nanci is also (re)reading The Seasons of Passage and heartily recommends it. She also wrote a guest post over at Club Jade talking about fan fiction, a topic we’ll be visiting in today’s episode. In preparation for the Avengers next month, Brian has begun his Marvel films re-watch. More importantly, baseball season is back and he can geek out over advanced statistics! But something that will actually interest most listeners, Brian’s also posted the first part of his Fate of the Jedi series review over at the blog.

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Facebook Chat With Jason Fry, Paul Urquhart, and Erich Schoeneweiss

Yesterday the writers behind the Essential Guide to Warfare stopped by Star Wars Books official Facebook page to answer questions from fans. Among the hard hitting questions: was there a classic Disney influence on the book?

Johann Mitzscherlich: It may seem obviously, but is the name “Skere Kaan” (where you first introduced his forename) to the tiger Shere Khan from The Jungle Book.

Jason Fry: Yep, Skere Kaan is a Jungle Book nod. That was Paul. Made me smile.

I’m always game for clever little nods to things outside of the Star Wars universe. Reading over a Han Solo profile, I spotted an Animal House reference. Austin over at EUCantina noticed a Kent Brockman reference in the book.

For a lengthy recap of the chat, head on over to Club Jade.

Jason Fry Releases Second Batch of ‘Essential Guide to Warfare’ End Notes

Yesterday, Jason Fry posted a series of end notes from EG to Warfare. Today he drops more!

Blasters: The mechanics of blasters have been explained rather differently in a couple of Star Wars sources, and Paul Urquhart did a lot of heavy lifting helping me sort through the differences. My question about how a stun setting would work led to some breathtakingly geeky emails between myself, Leland Chee, Pablo Hidalgo, Dave Filoni, Tony Rowe and Robert Clarke. Yes, my job kicks ass.

For even more bits of awesomeness, check out the rest of the notes he’s posted on his Tumblr.

The Han Solo Adventures – Fanwork in Video Game Format

Back in the ’90s, Lucasarts was one of the kings of the video game playground. Among their best titles were their adventure games: Tales of Monkey Island, Full Throttle, Sam and Max Hit the Road, The Dig, Loom. Nearly twenty years after they were published, these games are still regarded as masterpieces. What they all had in common was the engine powering them, Lucasarts’ SCUMM.

Fast forward to 2012. The SCUMM engine is now in the hands of fans who can create homages to the great games of the past. One such in-progress fan creation? The Han Solo Adventures.

I certainly hope Stacy Davidson can finish this game. Just watching that video brings me back to some of the first games I played growing up. For now, I’ll have to go dust off my old copy of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. 

Via Kotaku

Jason Fry to Talk ‘Essential Guide to Warfare’ on Facebook Today

Don’t forget, at 3PM EDT/12PM PST, author Star Wars Books will be holding a Facebook chat with Jason Fry to talk about the Essential Guide to Warfare. Want to know what went into the various character profiles and warship writeups? You can ask him yourself.

Just remember, this isn’t the chat to ask what’s coming after Fate of the Jedi or when Karen Traviss will come back to the Expanded Universe (she won’t). Your EG to Warfare questions are fair game, though!

19 Things You Might Not Have Known About Star Wars

You see these kinds of things crop up every now and again, but generally you already know a lot of these little factoids that they present. For instance, most of the time you see something like ‘Warwick Davis was a last minute casting change for Wicket the Ewok.’ This list actually does have some things I didn’t know, some I did, some of which are my favorite SW facts.

Image and more after the break

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