Results tagged “star wars”

Here are the book, video game, DVD and movie releases for the week!

Hardcover

• Death Masks: A Novel of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
• The Silver Mage: Book Four of the Silver Wyrm by Katherine Kerr
• Heart’s Blood by Julliet Marillier
• Time Travelers Never Die by Jack McDevitt
• Destroyer of Worlds by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner
• Eyes like Leaves by Charles de Lint
• Elegy Beach by Steven R. Boyett
• Gaunt’s Ghosts: Blood Pactby Dan Abnett
• The Dragon Book: Magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois
• The Sisterhood of the Rose by Jim Marrs
• The Captain’s Witch by Rosemary Hawley Jarman

Paperback

• Born of Fire by Sherrilyn Kenyon
• Code Geass Novel Stage 3 by Goro Taniguichi and Ichiro Okouchi
• Chasing Midnight by Susan Krinard
• Agents of Artifice: A Planeswalker Novel by Ari Marmell
• Corsair: Blades of the Moonsea, Book II by Richard Baker
• Crusade: Destroyermen, Book II by Taylor Anderson
• The Fall of Highwatch: Chosen of Nendawen by Mark Sehestedt
• Finch by Jeff VanderMeer
• The Golden Tower: Book Two of The Warriors of Estavia by Fiona Patton
• Heir to Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier
• The Lord-Protector’s Daughter by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
• Magic in the Shadows by Devon Monk
• Asmodeus by Dawn McClure

Video Games

• Dragon Age: Origins
• Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier
• Zodiac Online
• Battle of Giants: Dragons - Bronze Edition
• Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron
• The Force Unleashed: Sith Edition

DVD Release

• G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
• Star Wars The Clone Wars: The Complete Season One

In Theaters Friday

• The Fourth Kind

Here are the other book, DVD and movie releases for the week!

Hardcover Books

• The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
• Makers by Cory Doctorow
• By the Mountain Bound by Elizabeth Bear
• Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man by Matt Kindt
• The Rats and the Ruling Sea by Robert V.S. Redick
• Northwest Passages by Barbara Roden
• The Devil’s Handshake by Larry Hama and Ryan Schifrin

Paperback Books

• Terminator Salvation: Cold War by Greg Cox

DVDs

• Battlestar Galactica: The Plan
• Stargate 15th Anniversary Edition [Blu-ray]
• Claymore: Complete Series Box Set

In Theaters Friday

• The House of the Devil

Zombie week continues at Suvudu and Random House. I love watching those Max Brooks zombies gnawing away at the Suvudu logo above, don’t you? So cool.

Joe Schreiber has posted some great photos from the amazing turnouts he got while on his author tour for his haunted house novel No Doors, No Windows and his New York Times bestseller Star Wars: Death Troopers. See the widget below for a clip from the audio book. Finally, ForceCast has a great Podcast featuring a review of the book and interview with Joe up on their site.

It’s very fitting that ZOMBIE WEEK (see them gnawing away above?) begins on the same day that we announce the winner of the Star Wars: Death Troopers Fan Video Trailer Contest. I don’t think anyone was surprised that 5ive By 5ive Studios took home the Grand Prize. Everything just worked brilliantly in this video (above), from the miniatures to the standing sets, and the participation of Eddie Dennis and his mocked up zombiefied armor just sealed the deal. Brilliant work. theNonchalantNod will receive a prize package that includes a signed copy of the book from Joe Schreiber as well as a library of Star Wars books. Our four runners up also created fun and exciting videos that we loved. They will also receive signed copies of Star Wars: Death Troopers. Thank you to everyone who participated, either by creating a video or voting for one. It was a fantastic experience and a lot of fun. Joe Schreiber summed it up best, “Every single one of these videos was a dose of zombified fan brilliance. But 5ive by 5ive’s contribution was simply next level — I can’t tell you how many people came up to me while I was on tour and told me that trailer was the first way they got interested in the book. In a word — magic.”

The Force was with all of you.

In other Zombie news, our friends at the Star Wars official fan site have posted a great (and spoiler heavy) interview Bonnie Burton conducted with Joe Schreiber. It’s a great read. Check it out here. And whatever you do, do not click on the blood splatters found throughout the interview. You’ve been warned!

Finally, it’s not zombie related, but there are still plenty of tasty guts to look at (and taste!). Our good friend, and amazing Star Wars artist, Chris Trevas was married a few weeks ago. There were Stormtrooper ushers and the usual geek accents on hand, but what is quickly making its way through the InterWebs these days is the brilliant grooms cake that Courtney Clark from Cake Nouveau made. Hmmm….all I can think is 1) I hope I meet a cool lady who would let me have a tauntaun guts cake at our wedding and 2) I want the piece with the most guts please!

Congratulations to Chris and Julie! The Force will be with you, always.

OK, I have a new favorite website: animalswithlightsabers.com. Forget about those lolcats. This site takes animal photos in a whole new direction.

Hello and welcome to the first episode of Saturday Morning Animations here on Suvudu! We’ve come a long way in digital animation and storytelling, as I hope this little series (I have no idea how long this will run, but I have enough to get us through this month and the next). You’re not longer tied to enormous production houses to create a digital film with high production values.

Of course, that’s not to say I’m going to restrain myself to only the slickest and most polished of productions, that would be far too limiting. The joy of finding animations across the web is in the free-for-all creativity and, as you’ll see today, you don’t have to be photo-realistic to put together a ripping good video.

To kick things off we’re starting with one video that’s so funny it had me in tears and another one that had me in awe at its storytelling from top to bottom.

Enough preamble - let’s get things started! On with the show!

Star Wars: Retold
by Joe Nicolosi

If you’re even remotely aware of the original Star Wars trilogy, then you’re probably going to get a kick out of this one. If you aren’t, then you’ll probably still get a kick out of this video. I watched it at work and ended up with tears in my eyes, a bright red face, and an office full of co-workers who were getting pretty concerned for my well-being. It’s that funny. Star Wars: Retold is a recounting of the first three movies’ story arc by someone who hasn’t actually seen the movies. It was also the winner of the ‘George Lucas Selects’ award in the 2009 Star Wars Fan Movie contest. Enjoy!

The Star Wars universe has seen it all.

Six movies. A hilarious Christmas special. A great cartoon series. A campy television movie. Several comic book series at Dark Horse. Even a semi-romance novel in Star Wars: The Courtship of Princess Leia.

But today we have a first for the Star Wars universe—the first horror novel!

Star Wars: Death Troopers, written by Joe Schreiber, is now in bookstores everywhere.

The premise of the story is a relatively simple one:

The Imperial prison barge Purge carrying some of the worst scum in the universe discovers a derelict Star Destroyer in the deep recesses of space—and finds more than it bargained for.

Because on the Star Destroyer is a secret so powerful it could undo the rebel cause.

My initial thoughts: Star Wars: Death Troopers is great fun!

An error in the submission of one of our five finalist videos has necessitated the withdrawal of that video and its replacement with an alternative entrant. The voting phase of the Star Wars: Death Troopers fan video contest is therefore being relaunched as of October 9th and will run through October 22. All votes previously taken will be wiped clean, and all finalists, including the one you have not yet seen, will begin at 0%. Please review the selections again and cast your votes now!

Jump for the five nominated videos and to cast your vote.

Regarding the previous contest and the NEW contest (please read):

An error in the submission of one of our five finalist videos has necessitated the withdrawal of that video and its replacement with an alternative entrant. The voting phase of the Star Wars: Death Troopers fan video contest is therefore being relaunched as of October 9th and will run through October 22. All votes previously taken will be wiped clean, and all finalists, including the one you have not yet seen, will begin at 0%. Please review the selections again and cast your votes now!

The New Contest: Cast your vote here.

I love books.

I love signed books.

I love signed books that make people money.

For almost a decade now I have run The Signed Page, a small online signed books business that suddenly is not so small. It has been great fun watching it grow; it has been more fun meeting people from all over the world who share my love for signed genre books. I have even met a few of them in person and all have been true enthusiasts.

For cover price, I feel I’ve helped build some pretty nice libraries out there!

Last week I received an email from one of my customers. She has been there from almost the beginning and has ordered dozens if not hundreds of the signed books that have graced the website. She is a voracious reader but she genuinely loves collecting. In the email she reminded me of a book she had purchased and how it has been a great book but also a great investment financially. It was a first printing book that took the fantasy genre by storm, had a low print run, and now is quite rare to find.

If you do find it, it is going for more than $200 on the low end and $500 plus on the high.

That signed book is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

My customer asked me if I had any forthcoming events that could yield a similar outcome—the combination of great read and financial investment.

So it got me thinking: What books are coming out this fall that might be read, sit still on one’s shelf for a few years and yet make them money?

Here is what I came up with!

Publication of Star Wars: Death Troopers by Joe Schreiber is now less then four weeks away. As October 13th rapidly approaches we’ll continue to roll out some fun features to celebrate the first true horror novel to take place within the Star Wars universe. To date infected Stormtroopers ran amok at San Diego Comic Con, we’ve asked fans to create their own video trailer for the book, and various letters from the Purge have been disseminated to the public hinting at events from the novel. Before this post is finished, you will get a first look at the actual book itself.

But first, a word from our sponsor. Joe Schreiber will be touring to celebrate the publication of his two new novels, Star Wars: Death Troopers and No Doors, No Windows. For information and tour dates please visit Del Rey/Random House.

Now back to what you really want to read…jump for an excerpt from Star Wars: Death Troopers by Joe Schreiber!

There’s a lot of fun Star Wars news to pass along today, so I’m going to dive right into it. Star Wars: The Essential Atlas authors Jason Fry and Dan Wallace were guests on Fictional Frontiers most recent episode. “Launched June 8, 2008 on WNJC 1360AM Radio - Philadelphia, Fictional Frontiers is a live one-hour journey through the comic/novel, film, and television universes. Seeking caller opinions, host Sohaib Awan will engage listeners in one-on-one debates and discussions. In addition, Fictional Frontiers will tap into its reservoir of industry guests for insights into upcoming trends and projects.”

Fictional Frontiers with Sohaib - (Episode 64) - Part V

In addition, our friends at the official Star Wars website have created a new online companion for the book. Star Wars: The Essential Atlas Online Companion features a fantastic behind the scenes article written by Jason and Dan about the birth of the book, extensive endnotes for the book, an updated living Appendix of all of the planets and systems in the galaxy, and more. Oh wait…did I mention the new map Jason and Dan created with help from Modi? The Outer Rim Territories map with defined sectors! I’ll show you a sneak peek. For the full map you’ll need to visit the Online Companion.

For any Twitter fans out there, check out Stormtrooper TK329’s new Twitter account. Someone has taken the time to post as an Imperial Stormtrooper on board a star destroyer. “Hopefully I can make people understand what we do and inspire others to serve the Empire’s noble cause.” Looks like fun.

October brings the release of two books I’m really excited about (that’s an understatement). The first is Star Wars: Death Troopers by Joe Schreiber, the first true horror novel to take place in the Star Wars universe, on sale October 13. The second is Star Wars: The Complete Vader by Ryder Windham and Pete Vilmur, on sale October 27. I’ll post a lot of fun material on this book in the next few weeks. The book is a gorgeous hardcover coffee table style book that reveals everything we ever wanted to know about the Dark Lord of the Sith, both as the character and as a global pop culture icon. Its loaded with tons of rare photos and some fun interactive features and pullouts. As a starter, check out this interview with Ryder and Pete at the official site. Lots of great information and photos.

Finally, I have to leave you with this bit of fun. Animals With Lightsabers. The photo says it all (and its just one of many on this site).

Keep reading Suvudu for more Star Wars coolness.

May the Force be with you!

Recently several messages were recovered from the Imperial Prison Barge Purge, after its discovery in the Unknown Regions. The somewhat cryptic messages give us a brief glimpse into what may have happened on board the ship before the mysterious “event” took place. Jump to read one of the messages and find links for all of them.

As you may have heard, we had ourselves a bit of a Star Wars chat the other day. The event was to give you access to Star Wars: The Essential Atlas authors Jason Fry and Daniel Wallace. We figured you probably had a few questions and comments about the book.

Yep, we were right, and question them you did. The mood was really upbeat though and the general consensus is that this book did a lot of things well (did you know there’s an effort to keep the book and it’s appendix up-to-date? We chatted about it and how you can help).

Want to download the chat embed code and use it on your blog or site? Go right ahead! You can download the embed code HERE or snag it from the box below.

Read on for a little bit about the news items mentioned during the chat, including gathering info about building the Death Star and Admiral Ackbar’s supposed manuscript submission…

Cats of course eat mice, and so are sacred to lovers of books, for mice nibble on books. And books—along with nature, of course—are the fuel of imagination, which is the very light of life itself.

City at the End of Time is my celebration of books, in what is likely their last century of dominance as a means of delivering text—perhaps their last decade. But it’s also a celebration of text in itself—and of the story, the narrative, as a means of capturing the essence of the real. In City at the End of Time, I seek to show that narrative and the talents and faculties that produce it may be as instructive in understanding the meaning of space, time, and human fate as any mathematics.

This novel is also my celebration of some of my favorite British visionaries—authors, dreamers, and philosophers who significantly shaped me as an adolescent into the writer I am today.

This is it, less than 48 hours* to go now before we open up the lines and talk with Jason Fry and Dan Wallace about all things Star Wars, though we’ve got a feeling there’s going to be a lot of Star Wars: The Essential Atlas talk going on.

Have a question or a topic you really want to see covered? Why don’t you let us know about it and we’ll try to make sure it gets covered.

About the Authors

Jason Fry

Jason Fry is a writer in Brooklyn, New York, where he lives with his wife, son, and about a metric ton of Star Wars stuff. He is the author of The Clone Wars Visual Guide, The Clone Wars: Ultimate Battles, and The Clone Wars: Official Episode Guide: Season 1, and has written extensively for the Star Wars Insider magazine and Wizards of the Coast.

Dan Wallace

Daniel Wallace is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: The New Essential Guide to Characters as well as a dozen more books that explore the underpinnings of the Star Wars universe, such as Star Wars: The New Essential Chronology and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia. He is a regular contributor to Star Wars Insider magazine and assembled the questions used in the Star Wars Trivial Pursuit game. In addition to his contributions to the galaxy far, far away, he has written for universes including Indiana Jones, Smallville, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics, with books including The Marvel Encyclopedia, The DC Comics Encyclopedia, and The Art of Superman Returns.

You’ve read them talking about Mapping Hutt Space, you’ve seen them interviewed at Comic-Con, you’ve even seen the Star Wars: The Essential Atlas make it’s cartoon debut. So you’ve seen a lot of other people talking to and about the authors of Star Wars: The Essential Atlas.

Now it’s your turn.

We know you’ve got questions. We know you’ve got comments. That’s why we’re bringing in the masterminds behind Star Wars: The Essential Atlas to chat live with you and Suvudu’s very own Sith lord, Darth Duff. Use the widget above to set an email alert so you’ll be reminded of the event before it starts (how far in advance is up to you)*.

If you can’t make it to the live chat, you can send us questions in advance and we’ll try our best to ask them during the event.

Here are the details:

• Where: Suvudu.com (We’ve got a live chat page for them here, you’ll also see it happening on the homepage)
• When: September 2 @ 2 PM.
• Who: Jason Fry and Dan Wallace, authors of Star Wars: The Essential Atlas
• Why: Darth Duff made a wave of his hand and we suddenly needed to make this happen above all other things. That and Dan and Jason are walking Star Wars encyclopedias and we can’t think of anything cooler than talking Star Wars with them. Can you?

Disclaimer: I honestly have no idea how this happened; but, after reading Bug’s blog I now know some kind sole ponied up some coin for it (and for charity). Dan Wallace sent the Atlas team the link to Tom the Dancing Bug’s latest web-comic on Salon this morning and I was thrilled. The Force truly is with this book.

This strip is just part of a six pack of strips. I recommend you click here to read them all. Thanks for the product placement!