Two big comic books out Wednesday! Star Wars: Knight Errant – Escape #3 continues to carry Kerra Holt toward her greatest confrontation of all — it’s a barn-burner featuring three armies, no waiting. And Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith – Spiral #1 picks up where Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith – The Collected Stories (available now!) left off, putting some faces to some familiar names!
On top of that, I have a Facebook chat on Del Rey’s Star Wars Facebook page Wednesday at 3 p.m. EST — and my first two events have just been announced for Star Wars Celebration, which I’ll be attending in a couple of weeks. As they say on Seinfeld, it’s “the summer of George” … Lucas projects, that is!
It’s been a pretty busy year overall, by my standards — by the time it ends, I’ll have had a prose anthology, several collected editions, and at least 19 comic books released. Fifteen of the comics are Star Wars issues, which, if not a record for the license, is definitely a bunch. And 2012 has also already included the publication of my first creator-owned prose story, in the Armored anthology from Baen.
And in a way, that last one (available here) is just as important to me, as it’s the first step in a direction I’ve been preparing to take for a long time. Now, as anyone who follows me knows, I love working in licensed fiction. I’m continuing to do more — make no mistake about that! There are a number of tie-in projects coming down the pike, including some that may surprise you. (Make that will!)
But some things I’ve had cooking on the back burner are finally bubbling — and so this has also been a very different sort of year when it comes to my writing output. “The year of John,” my overworked proofreader wife jokes. In addition to the licensed work, I’ve adjusted my schedule this year so I could finally devote serious time to some of these personal projects — including, I am pleased to say, my first original science-fiction novel, well underway. And that’s just one of several things moving ahead on that front!
What’s that? Tell you more? Believe me, I’m bursting to — but I’ve talked with enough other authors to know things come out faster when you save the words for the page. So while I may not have to be as cagily vague as I am when discussing things in someone else’s sandbox, I’ll try to mind the “no snacking before dinner” rule here, too. While I wanted to share a little of the big picture now, the real fun’s in the details to come.
All right, then. For now: dropping by my Facebook chat tomorrow, two comic books to pick up, scheduling time to catch my Star Wars Celebration panels — and a couple of podcasts coming up for you to listen to. Boy, it sure seems like I’m giving you odd jobs, doesn’t it? See you there!