FandomFest Recap

Me with Tim Zahn and my awesome Tosche-Station.net shirt.


So, this happened.

FandomFest Louisville was a blast. My besties and I arrived for events Saturday and had a great time. Tickets were really reasonable–$25 for the day, though if you wanted autographs from some of the guests, they were $30 apiece. Among the geekdom celebrities available for (paid) autographs there were John Rhys-Davies, Sean Astin, James Marsters, Nick Brendon, Peter Davison, Gareth David-Lloyd, and Luke Perry. (These were all the ones I saw.) Other celebrities included cast members from the Walking Dead and Boondock Saints, Colin Ferguson from Eureka, and of course, the headliner, Bruce Campbell. He was only going to be available for two hours Saturday evening, due to conflicts with his shooting schedule for Burn Notice, and tickets went amazingly fast.

Read more about FandomFest after the jump.
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Future of Star Wars Books at San Diego Comic Con

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

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.

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

It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for another mini excerpt from Aaron Allston’s upcoming Mercy KillFor 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.

Expanded Universe Convention Swag Roundup

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!

X-Wing Retrospective Part 4: The Bacta War

 So, now we’ve reached the end of the initial run of the X-Wing series.  The Bacta War is the capstone to Mike Stackpole’s work on start of the series and it represents, to me, some of the highest points of all four books.  The tone of these books is different than the books in the past have been and for very good reason.

After we were left with the end of The Krytos Trap, many of us were on edge, disbelieving what happened and completely ove awed by the possibilities.  Please be aware, once you cross this jump, you are deep into spoiler territory.

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