Posts Tagged ‘Books’



A Padawan’s Journal: Ooo, Shiny

Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff | March 7, 2013

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I sometimes hear writers whine about questions they hate to answer.

For example: “If one more person asks me where I get my ideas, I’ll scream! (I’m gonna say they’re delivered by stork.)”

Or: “I’ll strangle the next fan who asks ‘Why did you have your character do X? (Blame it on my unhappy childhood.)”

Or: “How am I supposed to describe my writing process? It’s ART, for criminy sake! I sacrifice a fatted reader to the gods of creativity and Snoopy dance under a full moon.)”

I am puzzled by this whining because these are all questions I’m perfectly happy to answer. Repeatedly.

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Balancing the Force as a Star Wars Book Editor and Fangirl

Jennifer Heddle | February 27, 2013

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It’s no secret that I was a lifelong Star Wars fan before I ever took this job; after all, it’s why I took this job. And sometimes that can be a tough line to tread. I have to balance Professional Jen with Fangirl Jen. This struggle can manifest itself in silly ways, like the longing glances I aim at the product display room near my office, or the self-consciousness I sometimes feel when wearing one of my many Princess Leia t-shirts at work, or the fact that the rest of the publishing department knows I will automatically favor any proposed magazine cover with Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan on it. And to be fair, it’s easier when it comes to, say, packaging and marketing (the cover of a book, the ads for a comic), which have certain commercial criteria they need to fulfill. The most nebulous, yet arguably most critical part of my job in which I need to maintain the balance between Professional Jen and Fangirl Jen is the editing process.

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Shining a Light on Shadow Conspiracy

Jason Fry | February 4, 2013

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About a year ago, Scholastic approached me with one of those offers you can’t refuse.

By then we knew Season Four of The Clone Wars would conclude with the return of Darth Maul, last seen tumbling — in halves, no less — into a pit on Naboo. But we didn’t know the tale would continue with Maul’s rescue by Savage Opress and his rematch with Obi-Wan Kenobi. Nor did we know Season Five would give us a four-episode arc in which Maul rallied the galactic underworld, recruiting Black Sun, Death Watch, the Hutts, and other criminals to his banner.

Scholastic’s question: Did I want to write a young-adult novelization of those episodes?

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From the Hobart Street News to Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection – Part 1

Steve Sansweet | September 24, 2012

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As some of you know, I’ve been a writer all of my life, emphasis on all. In the summer of my eighth year, I hand printed copies of a flier called the Hobart Street News to try to sell to neighbors on my block in Philadelphia. I charged a nickel, sold two or three to friends of my folks, and decided to go out of business after the second issue—predating by decades a similar fate for too many American newspapers. But the reason that I became a writer was that first I was a reader.

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SWCVI: Del Rey’s Star Wars Expanded Universe

Jennifer Heddle | August 24, 2012

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This morning’s Del Rey panel was my very first Star Wars Celebration panel ever, but I wasn’t too nervous since I was up on stage with people much more talented and expressive than me: authors Aaron Allston, Troy Denning, James Luceno, Drew Karpyshyn, and Timothy Zahn; Del Rey Editor-at-Large Shelly Shapiro; and our esteemed moderator, Pablo Hidalgo. So let’s get to what was discussed!

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New Star Wars Books and Comics Revealed at San Diego Comic-Con

Pablo Hidalgo | July 13, 2012

At San Diego Comic-Con, I got to host a pair of panels this Star Wars Day that looked ahead into some of the publishing projects for the remainder of 2012 and into 2013. They revealed, among other things, that the chronicles of Vader’s fatherhood will continue, a pop-up acklay is a real showstopper, the classic heroes return to comics in all new adventures with an old school feel, and the Big Three return to a landmark novel that could perhaps be called postapocalyptic (see what I did there?) …

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Star Wars: Essential Reader’s Companion Cover Reveal

StarWars.com Team | January 18, 2012

Random House shares the cover of Star Wars: The Essential Reader’s Companion today, a new guide written by Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo coming to bookstores later this year! The cover artwork was designed by Scott Biel and painted by Paul Youll (can you spot the various Star Wars books in the illustration?). Here’s the description from Random House:

Star Wars: The Essential Reader’s Companion is the first Essential Guide devoted entirely to published Star Wars fiction, from the original movie novelization, to young reader’s books, short stories, eBook novellas, and the most recent adult novels. This book will cover all the fiction that has built the Star Wars Expanded Universe over the last thirty-five years. Written by Pablo Hidalgo and featuring more than one hundred color illustrations by popular Star Wars artists Chris Trevas and Jeff Carlisle, this book will be an invaluable source for Star Wars readers and fans.

Look for it on bookstore shelves August 21, 2012. Read more here!

Lost Tribe of the Sith Cover Reveals

StarWars.com Team | January 12, 2012

Today Random House reveals two covers from its Lost Tribe of the Sith series: Secrets, which is the eighth and final episode in the epic Lost Tribe of Sith free eBook series, and Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories, which will come out in paperback on July 31. Here are the synopses from the publisher:

Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith: Secrets by John Jackson Miller

In Sith teachings, nothing is more important than the individual: the glorious center of the universe, around which all other lives pale in importance. But the planetary home of the Lost Tribe of the Sith is not the center of the universe, but a backwater — and the tribe’s legendary founders were little more than slaves themselves!

When the Lost Tribe suddenly rediscovers its forgotten origins, frustration and anger threaten to finish the society once and for all. But the past holds more secrets still — knowledge that, in the right hands, could place the evil rulers of Kesh on a path toward a greater destiny in the stars…

The free eBook will be available in all eFormats on March 5, 2012 and will feature an excerpt from Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse, the final installment in the epic Fate of the Jedi series.

Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories by John Jackson Miller

At last, collected in one volume and available in print for the first time, the eight original installments of the epic Lost Tribe of the Sith eBook series… along with the explosive, never-before-published finale, Pandemonium—more than one hundred pages of new material!

Five thousand years ago. After a Jedi ambush, the Sith mining ship Omen lies wrecked on a remote, unknown planet. Its commander, Yaru Korsin, battles the bloodshed of a mutinous faction led by his own brother. Marooned and facing death, the Sith crew have no choice but to venture into their desolate surroundings. They face any number of brutal challenges—vicious predators, lethal plagues, tribal people who worship vengeful gods—and like true Sith warriors, counter them with the dark side of the Force.

The struggles are just beginning for the proud, uncompromising Sith, driven as they are to rule at all costs. They will vanquish the primitive natives, and they will find their way back to their true destiny as rulers of the galaxy. But as their legacy grows over thousands of years, the Sith ultimately find themselves tested by the most dangerous threat of all: the enemy within.

As the description mentions, this paperback edition will feature an all new novella length story also written by John Jackson Miller and will be available on July 31, 2012. More info here!

Darth Plagueis Exclusive Excerpt

StarWars.com Team | January 9, 2012

In anticipation of tomorrow’s (January 10) release of Star Wars: Darth Plagueis by James Luceno, we are posting this exclusive excerpt of an exchange between Dooku (still a Jedi Knight) and Palpatine. The scene resonates as a prelude to Episode II and The Clone Wars


Behind each of the Rotunda’s hover platform docking stations extended wedge-shaped office complexes more than half a kilometer in length, where Senators met with one another, entertained guests, and, on rare occasions, carried out the work they had been elected or appointed to perform. Some of the offices were sealed environments, in which the atmospheres of member worlds were replicated; others, especially those belonging to hive species, were staffed by hundreds of beings who performed their duties in cubicles that resembled nectarcomb cells. By comparison, Naboo’s was rather prosaic in design and adornment, and yet unrivaled in terms of the number of high-profile visitors it received.

“I’m giving thought to leaving the Order,” Master Dooku told Palpatine in the windowless room that was the Senator’s private study. “I can no longer abide the decisions of the Council, and I have to be free to speak my mind about the wretched state of the Republic.”

Palpatine didn’t reply, but thought: Finally.
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Star Wars: Mercy Kill Cover Reveal

StarWars.com Team | December 7, 2011

Del Rey has revealed the cover to Aaron Allston’s new novel due out in hardback on August 7, 2012! Cover art is by Mike Bryan.

Here’s a description from the publisher:

Outcasts and misfits, spies and warriors, pilots and troublemakers — they’re Wraith Squadron. Founded decades ago by ace pilot Wedge Antilles, this elite intelligence unit, disbanded at the end of a catastrophic civil war, is reunited by former leader Face Loran to find out whether one of the galaxy’s most powerful military officers is a traitor… and whether anyone can stop him if he is. To succeed in their mission, the Wraiths must become thieves, pirates, imposters, forgers, and liars, staying just one step ahead of their enemies and the law!

Get more info at RandomHouse.com.