Our buddy Eddie of Starwarstimeline.com cues us in to some new information coming from the recently launched DK Star Wars site. The new site has a "7 Questions With..." interview feature that allows you to get to know the Star Wars DK authors. Some interesting tidbits on upcoming projects can be found there if you do a little digging.


Dan Wallace's interview includes tidbits on his upcoming book, The Jedi Path...

"The Jedi Path is a book from becker&mayer! coming out this summer, which resembles a "lost journal" containing the teachings of the galaxy's greatest Jedi Masters with annotations scrawled in its margins handwritten by Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, Luke Skywalker, and others. Also due out this year from DK is The DC Comics Chronicle, which focuses on the publishing history of DC from 1935 to today in a similar manner to Star Wars: Year by Year. I tackled the Golden Age, which covers the 1930s and 1940s and includes everything from Superman's debut in Action Comics #1 to Batman selling war bonds to help defeat the Axis powers. It's a beautiful book and a perfect look at a legendary company on the occasion of its 75th anniversary."

Dan also touches on Star Wars: Year by Year...

"I wrote what was arguably the hardest time period: 1984-1996, a.k.a. "The Dark Times." Seriously, this was the period when Star Wars was at its lowest ebb, when there were no movies to sustain it and when  particularly around 1989-1990  the public was very close to forgetting about that "Star Wars fad" altogether. But what I discovered when unearthing this era was the fact that Star Wars was far from dead. Dozens of things kept the embers alight, including toys, comics, roleplaying games, Disney's Star Tours, video games, collectable plates and even the Ewoks in Ice Capades. Because fans have their favorites a lot of this stuff went ignored, but it all helped keep the franchise primed for its eventual resurgence."


Next we get more on Star Wars: Year by Year via Ryder Windham...

"I wrote the first sections, from George Lucas's early inspirations and ideas for Star Wars up through 1983 and the release of Return of the Jedi. Although I knew Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkin) and Christopher Lee (Count Dooku) had co-starred in a number of movies, I didn't realize how many Star Wars actors had appeared in films and TV shows together prior to 1977. For example, Alec Guinness (Obi-Wan Kenobi) and James Earl Jones (the voice of Darth Vader) were in The Comedians (1967), and Harrison Ford (Han Solo) and Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian) were in the same episode of the Burt Reynolds TV series "Dan August" in 1971. Who knew?! Not I."

A bit more from Mr. Windham as he touches on the new Adventures in Hyperspace series along with The Clone Wars: Secret Missions #3 and #4...

"I just finished the manuscript for Star Wars: Adventures in Hyperspace #3 for Scholastic, and now I'm writing the outlines for the third and fourth books in The Clone WarsSecret Missions series for Grosset & Dunlap. Fingers crossed, I'll be busy with more Star Wars books after that."


Chris Reiff and Chris Trevas touch on their favorite illustrations from the forthcoming Star Wars Blueprints: Rebel Edition...

"Reiff: My favorite illustrations are probably the Bowcaster views. It's always been a particular favorite prop of mine and I spent a lot of time really studying the details of it to get it just right. Things like that are one of the most fun parts of doing these blueprints. . . figuring out how to make the screen-used props make sense with the expanded universe details about how they function. For instance, we figure out in our heads what all the knobs do and how someone might reload the gas and ammo in a weapon. A lot of that never makes it into the posters but just having it figured out makes for a richer illustration--especially when we start showing cut-away views of the internals.

Trevas: My favorite is the Y-Wing. I really wanted to bridge the gap between the factory fresh ship we see in The Clone Wars and the well-worn, Rebel modified version from A New Hope. I discussed many of the details with The Clone Wars concept artist Russell Chong and he provided some valuable behind-the-scenes reference so that we could incorporate even minor details from the cartoon. Dave Filoni gave me a little input as well and he really liked my unique classic-style paint scheme for the Y. Chris R. and I were able to share the final art with The Clone Wars art department in person which was a great experience. We could all relate to the little design dilemmas in working with fictional ships."


Interviews with Ryder Windham, Dan Wallace, Simon Beecroft, Chris Reiff and Chris Trevas can be accessed through the Authors/Illustrators page.



The Jedi Path is due out from Dan Wallace in 2010 or 2011. We'll be sure to update when it shows up on Amazon.

Star Wars: Year by Year by Ryder Windham, Daniel Wallace, Gus Lopez and Pablo Hidalgo scheduled for an August 16, 2010 release.

Star Wars Blueprints: Rebel Edition, which is written by Ryder Windham and illustrated by Chris Reiff and Chris Trevas, is set for a July 19, 2010 release.

Adventures in Hyperspace #3 is listed on Amazon with a release date of September 1, 2010.

Look for The Clone Wars: Secret Missions #3 and #4 to land late 2010 into 2011. As with The Jedi Path, we'll make sure to let you know when either of these two books show up on Amazon.


Remember, Amazon.com info is always subject to change and is superceded by any official announcements, of which we'll make sure to keep you apprised.


Big thanks as always to Eddie for sharing book news with us!