Celebration Orlando 2017: Star Wars Authors Roundtable Discussion and Announcements

Image credit @chaosbria

 

Well, as if the trailer for The Last Jedi was not exciting enough, a roundtable of Star Wars authors dropped some very exciting announcements. Star Wars readers have a lot to look forward to in the next couple of months leading up to The Last Jedi. One thing is certain: there will be no shortage of Star Wars reading material for anyone, any age, whether it’s comics or novels.

 

 

First off, the panel included authors from child, young adult, novel, and comic mediums. It’s pretty cool that Lucasfilm brought all of these folks together to talk about their process of adding to the Star Wars canon. Since the restart of the canon a few years ago, we’ve come to see just how interconnected all of these stories are. It’s not uncommon now to hear a character from a novel or comic mentioned in Rebels, or vice versa. The authors on the panel included Charles Soule, Timothy Zahn, Delilah S. Dawson, Beth Revis, Jason Fry, Michael Kogge, and Ben Acker. That’s a pretty stout panel covering all literary forms in the Star Wars scope.

 

The panel kicked off with a discussion of the processes each author undertakes when typing out stories in a galaxy far, far away. Timothy Zahn has an especially unique perspective, as his Thrawn Trilogy kicked off the first iteration of the Star Wars Extended Universe(now under the moniker ‘Legends’). As much of a controversy as it was for fans when the reboot of the canon was announced, Zahn expressed his appreciation for the unified narrative.

 

 

 

Charles Soule mentioned playing with toys and also shared that he named a ship in the Marvel Poe Dameron series after his daughter, only finding out later the ship was to be destroyed. Other authors mentioned hearing John Williams’ music or BB-8 sounds in their head, which Jason Fry indicates that he is doing something right during composition. Some authors also spoke about Star Wars books they would like to write in the universe. Zahn would jump at the chance to write an Obi-Wan Kenobi novel set between ROTS and ANH. Soule expressed interest in a ship builder story taking place on Mon Cala. Blacker would like to write a story about Admiral Ackbar’s early days as a military officer. Dawson joked she would like to do a story about evil Ewoks called “The Murder Bears Tea Party”.

 

Image credit @chaosbria

 

After the discussion, we got some announcements. IDW announced a couple projects they were working on. Two volumes of assorted newspaper Star Wars comics will drop over the next year, the first to be released this May and the second in January 2018.  In addition to those volumes, they will also launch a monthly comic this September for kids called Star Wars Adventures. Adventures will cover heroes through all periods of the Star Wars Universe. IDW has been doing some great work with the micro-comics series of the retro Star Wars comics, so this should be pretty cool.

 

To compliment the recently announced Forces of Destiny cartoons, two children’s book will arrive in August and October. They will feature stories including Sabine, Ahsoka, Rey, Padme, Leia, and Jyn.

 

Image credit @chaosbria

 

For the younger readers, a picture book about BB-8’s adventures on Jakku, BB-8 On the Run; as well as Escape from Vodran, the second book of the Join the Resistance series.

 

Arguably the most exciting news was the announcement of The Journey to The Last Jedi. Because The Last Jedi begins immediately after the end of The Force Awakens, I wasn’t so sure we were going to get this. The Journey to The Force Awakens gave us fans some great reading material, so I expect the books we get leading up to The Last Jedi will be no different.

 

Image credit @chaosbria

 

Kicking off The Journey to The Last Jedi, Delilah S. Dawson will treat us to Phasma, a novel about the interesting and underused character in of The Force Awakens. Look for that novel in this fall. If the novel wasn’t enough, we are also getting a 5-issue comic series under the same Journey-moniker called Captain Phasma. The story will be penned by Kelly Thompson, with art by the always excellent Marco Checchetto. Seriously, Checchetto has drawn some of the finest frames in these new Marvel Star Wars books.  Comic fans should be thrilled about this. Captain Phasma is getting a lot of coverage, no doubt to make up for her all too brief appearances in The Force Awakens.

 

Phasma’s stories aren’t the only things Journey will cover. Claudia Gray, who wrote SWNN staff favorites Lost Stars and Bloodline, will give us a young-adult novel simply titled Leia. Gray has proven herself to be an exceptional Star Wars storyteller and I don’t think there is anyone better suited to write a story about Leia. I have a feeling Gray is going to blow us away with this novel.

 

Luke Skywalker is also getting a Journey book targeted at young readers titled The Legends of Luke Skywalker. As promising as this sounds, Jelena(Lady Musashi) and I were kind of scratching our heads as to why stories of this importance would be put in a young readers book. I think it’s safe to assume that every Star Wars fan wants to know what Luke was up to between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. The reason I’m puzzled this is a young readers book is because I assume from the cover there will be something about that time period. I had hoped when the Lucasfilm Story Group started to trickle stories from that period out about Luke they would do it similar to Claudia Gray’s Bloodline. I mean no disrespect to young readers by this and I hope I’m completely wrong about my initial skepticism.

 

There you have it! Clear off some room on your book shelves and set aside some afternoons, because we Star Wars fans have a lot of reading to do until December. Bravo to the writers, publishers, and Lucasfilm for continuing to give us Star Wars fans some fantastic stories on the pages.

 

Special thank you to Bria of Tosche Station and White Hot Room for live tweeting the event and letting me use her tweets. Thank you to Star Wars Books & Comics and Jedi-Bibliothek for their coverage of the event as well. There was no live feed for this event, so the coverage these folks provided was extremely helpful in putting together this article.

 

 

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Kyle Larson lives in Portland, Oregon. When he's not running trails, he's reading and writing.

Kyle Larson

Kyle Larson lives in Portland, Oregon. When he's not running trails, he's reading and writing.

28 thoughts on “Celebration Orlando 2017: Star Wars Authors Roundtable Discussion and Announcements

  • April 15, 2017 at 4:39 am
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    While Im excited about the Phasma comic and novel.
    Do we really need more books about Leia and Luke. They are already prominent in the novels + are abundant in the comics.

    What I really want its material on Maz Kanata. She has lived for 1000 years, surely they can have a story about her in that time which wont spoil the future films.
    I assume every character will eventually get the 5-comic issue. So I hope we get some on her.

    • April 15, 2017 at 4:57 am
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      The sad thing is that we have almost nothing about Luke in the new canon, nothing from the Empire Strikes Back on – in terms of novels. We have Hair to the Empire between ANH and ESB and a junior novel The Weapon of the Jedi in the same period. Even comics are set in this period. In the period we all want to know about, post-ROTJ, there is nothing. He is even hardly mentioned in other novels. I really, really want an adult book about Luke.

      That said, Stories from Maz Kanata’s Diary would be a great idea. The time period alone would cover almost all galactic events we know. 🙂

      • April 15, 2017 at 5:28 am
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        I really doubt we will be getting any Luke post-jedi till atleast after EP8 (maybe even ep9). I suspect we may get an animated series (like rebels and clone wars) following Luke post-ROTJ. Mark Hamil is a legendary voice actor. And a series following him establishing a temple and searching for force children sounds great.

        My point with Leia and Luke is that they are constanlty in the comics/novels at any given time (with the Star Wars comic, solo series,novels).
        I would love a novel or comic focused on say Plo Koon; that would add something different taking us out of the OT era (which while great is getting a tad boring)

        • April 15, 2017 at 6:12 am
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          Totally hear what you are saying, but I think there is so much story to tell with both of those characters.

          Yes, I am growing tired of the stories set between ANH and ESB, no matter how much I love the comics. We are certainly approaching overkill with stories set in that 3-year gap. I understand the Story Group and authors are kind of constrained about what they can do, but I’d at least like some more stories set post-ESB in that year before ROTJ. Or, as I heard someone on a panel this afternoon say, some stories about the Jedi Order set in the 10-year gap between TPM and ATOC.

          Leia’s story is still very vague. We know she was a senator, but we haven’t heard much about her decision to join the Rebellion. We got a glimpse in Rebels, but I think there is a lot more to tell about Leia’s early days in the Rebellion. Also, if they can go ROTJ, stories about her becoming a mother. Ben/Kylo Ren didn’t turn to the dark side immediately, so there are probably some good stories that could involve her experience as a mother trying to raise a son who is extremely gifted in the ways of the Force. Motherhood must have been uniquely complex for her before Ben joined his uncle Luke to learn how to use his gifts.

          I believe we will get more Luke post ROTJ before The Last Jedi drops, but I don’t think it will be close to the time period of the sequel trilogy. I’m guessing they will stay close to the original trilogy time period, perhaps a story about him seeking out a Jedi temple or relic. There might be some hints in it, as I feel they are already sprinkling hints of how Luke came to self-imposed exile in the comics.

          Anyways, I totally get what you are saying and respect your opinion, but I do think there is much more to tell about the Skywalker twins.

      • April 15, 2017 at 6:35 am
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        “The sad thing is that we have almost nothing about Luke in the new canon,…”

        Except, you know, an entire feature film trilogy. So, there is that.

        • April 15, 2017 at 2:14 pm
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          Except, you know, that’s not what we were talking about.

          • April 15, 2017 at 2:34 pm
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            Pretty much is. It just seems odd to take umbrage with Luke being absent from the novels when we’re going to get an entire movie about the guy.

            Nothing sad here.

          • April 15, 2017 at 2:52 pm
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            We are talking about the canon novels in which we have a gap from the ROTJ to The Last Jedi (from TESB in term of novels/comics) not knowing anything about Luke. How he turns from a guy who is Jedi ‘like his father before him’ to someone who seemingly wants to end the Jedi. For me that is sad, considering character’s importance. But, that’s my opinion. 🙂

          • April 15, 2017 at 5:40 pm
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            Well, don’t get me wrong, I’m dying to know what happened with our principal characters between ROTJ and TFA; especially Luke. But I think the reason why we’re not getting much regarding those years is completely deliberate: Lucasfilm wants nothing revealed about those years prior to the wrapping up of the Sequel Trilogy; or maybe at least before TLJ so that nothing much is spoiled. If I were a gamblin’ man (and I’m not) I’d venture to guess that after E8 or E9, we’ll eventually get all the fill-in we could hope for regarding this time.

  • April 15, 2017 at 6:18 am
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    Are we getting any official release dates on the books soon?

  • April 15, 2017 at 6:54 am
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    Wow, I was not expecting so much coverage on Phasma. I’m really looking forward to the majority of these projects. Even the young adult stuff. Claudia Gray’s record is flawless so far so I’ll be picking up anything she does.

    • April 15, 2017 at 2:38 pm
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      Yeah, out of everything we’ve seen in the new canon, she’s written the two books I’ve most enjoyed. I was shocked at how much I enjoyed Lost Stars. I don’t typically go in for books written for younger folks. But after hearing all the postive feedback about it, I picked it up.

  • April 15, 2017 at 7:41 am
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    wow captain Phasma is getting a book and General Grievous and Count dooku still have nothing 🙁

  • April 15, 2017 at 7:45 am
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    Another Luke Skywalker and Leia comic? why? Give us a comic about Count Dooku and Qui Gon Jinn. Or a comic about General Grievous as a Kaleesh since its no longer canon.

    • April 15, 2017 at 9:57 am
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      Or anything pre-OT/RO for that matter…

      • April 15, 2017 at 10:06 am
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        yeah

    • April 15, 2017 at 3:38 pm
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      I agree. While count Dooku isnt my favourite character, Im really interested to see his fall to the darkside; I want to see how Sidious seduced him and his reaction that it was Palpatine.

      I would also love a Ventress comic. While we did see her childhood in flashbacks; I would love to have a complete story of her slavery, jedi training and fall.

    • April 15, 2017 at 4:29 pm
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      We got five seasons of a canon tv-series featuring that era. They have more than 30 years to fill between ROTJ and TFA.

      • April 15, 2017 at 11:22 pm
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        I mean pre prequels. I mean like they can explore Count Dooku training Qui Gon. Thats what I meant

  • April 15, 2017 at 9:27 am
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    Phasma was the most disappointing thing about the already disappointing teaser. Had they wanted to redeem her then they could have had her go the Ventress route leaving The First Order but we are actually supposed to swallow that Snoke welcomed her back after bending over for the janitor and senile old man by letting them destroy their ultimate weapon spent decades building.

    And that’s another thing, Finn undercover?! That’s like Vader going undercover as a Rogue Squadron pilot Sarth Dader.

    • April 15, 2017 at 10:05 am
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      You want me to spend the time rebutting these?

      • April 15, 2017 at 11:02 am
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        I will, if only because it’s almost too easy. Plasma deactivated the shield to set off the alarm, not only letting the First Order know that there were intruders in the base, and an attack might be imminent, but to let the first order know exactly where the intruders were located in the base.

        So if you think Phasma should not have been welcomed back after her decision, did you think vader should have been welcomed back after letting Luke, Leia, and Han escape the Death Star with the plans, leading to its destruction? Or what about Palpatine letting the rebels know the location of the shield generator on Endor, and knowingly letting the rebel strike team land on Endor to try and deactivate it?

        I’d say Phasma fits in quite well in the fine tradition of Imperials (or First Order) making quality decisions. Her’s seems quite tame compared to Vader and Palpatine’s brilliant actions.

    • April 15, 2017 at 11:09 am
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      Plasma deactivated the shield to set off the alarm, not only letting the First Order know that there were intruders in the base, and an attack might be imminent, but to let the first order know exactly where the intruders were located in the base.

      I wonder if Vader should have been welcomed back after letting Luke, Leia, and Han escape the Death Star with the plans, leading to its destruction? Or what about Palpatine letting the rebels know the location of the shield generator on Endor, and knowingly letting the rebel strike team land on Endor to try and deactivate it?

      I’d say Phasma fits in quite well in the fine tradition of Imperials (or First Order) making quality decisions. Her’s seems quite tame compared to Vader and Palpatine’s actions.

    • April 15, 2017 at 3:36 pm
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      Perhaps Snoke does dismiss her.
      But I feel she will be the one to ocrchstrate the the attack on the hangar base (Im assuming it the lead ship in the Resistance).
      I think it would be a great way to redeem her in the eyes of Snoke. Perhaps she has a small group of First order troopers loyal to her whom she takes with her into exile. If she successfully takes down the main fleet of the resitence Im sure Snoke would welcome her back.
      Or simply realises Snoke understands she is more valuable alive than to be punished(she is supposedly a highly skilled commander/warrior; though weve yet to see it). Vader often failed the Emperor (you could argue the Death Stars destruction was due it part to Vader failure to stop Luke).

  • April 15, 2017 at 5:13 pm
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    So IDW is going to release comics now? Obviously the newspaper-collections are legends-material, but what about the original stories they are going to publish?

  • April 15, 2017 at 5:52 pm
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    Dammn no Kylo stories?!…

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