“Be mindful of the Living Force, young padawan.”
— Qui-Gon Jinn, The Phantom Menace
I’m delighted to announce my return to the Star Wars novel shelf with Star Wars: The Living Force, releasing April 9, 2024 in hardcover, audiobook, and ebook! The announcement today at IO9 can be found here, with more quotes by me.
Releasing in time for the 25th anniversary of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, the novel showcases the Jedi Council — all twelve members, from Adi Gallia to Yoda — with Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi along for good measure. And appropriately so, as the title comes from Qui-Gon himself in that movie.
With an ever-growing list of responsibilities, the Jedi Councilors find themselves ever farther removed from the people they serve — a fact that Qui-Gon Jinn clearly sees. His call for them to rediscover what it means to be Jedi results in a journey for all twelve Councilors that takes them into contact with many levels of life in the immediate pre-Prequel era.
Preorder pages are already up! Here’s the full list at Random House — and there will be more. Note that some of the pages are still being updated, and still have the code-name “Denver” — but orders placed should map to the correct book.
It’s my first novel for Star Wars since A New Dawn, which released in September, 2014, kicking off a new era of stories overseen by the Lucasfilm Story Group. I’ve written quite a lot in the universe since, from my novella in Star Wars: Canto Bight to my Star Wars Adventures Annual to many short story adventures for Rae Sloane — but this is the first time the stars aligned for a full-length novel. And it’s a great one! I’m absolutely delighted to return to the Star Wars universe for a story that’s jam-packed with adventures.
More news to come. Get those preorders in now — and be mindful of The Living Force!
Star Wars: The Living Force
My new Star Wars novel, coming April 9, 2024 in hardcover, softcover, and ebook!
In THE LIVING FORCE, Qui-Gon Jinn challenges the Jedi Council to break out of its isolation and see firsthand what's happening to the galaxy. The ensuing odyssey means adventure for all 12 members — and Obi-Wan Kenobi as well!
In the year before The Phantom Menace, Yoda, Mace Windu, and the entire Jedi Council confront a galaxy on the brink of change.
The Jedi have always traveled the stars, defending peace and justice across the galaxy. But, the galaxy is changing, and along with it, the Jedi Order. More and more, the Order finds itself focused on the future of the Republic, secluded on Coruscant, where the twelve members of the Jedi Council weigh crises on a galactic scale.
As yet another Jedi Outpost leftover from the Republic’s golden age is set to be decommissioned on the planet Kwenn, Qui-Gon Jinn challenges the Council about the increasing isolation of the Order. Mace Windu suggests a bold response: all twelve Jedi Masters will embark on a goodwill mission to help the planet, and remind the people of the galaxy that the Jedi remain as stalwart and present as they have been across the ages.
But the arrival of the Jedi leadership is not seen by all as a cause for celebration. Warring pirate factions have infested the sector in the increasing absence of the Jedi. To maintain their dominance, the pirates unite, intent on assassinating the Council. And they are willing to destroy countless innocent lives to secure their power.
Cut off from Coruscant, the Jedi Masters must reckon with an unwelcome truth: that while no one thinks more about the future than the Jedi Council, nobody needs their help more than those living in the present.
