books

Drew Karpyshyn on the “Revan” and “Exile” story lines

Drew Karpyshyn had some words for the haters on his personal site. He discussed the “Revan” and “Exile” story lines as well as perspectives on KOTOR, ToR, and his upcoming novel. It’s a long but worthy read, especially since the ending paragraphs are my favorite. In this update he has details about the NYCC schedule as well as a rant about some Star Wars fans taking things out of context and blowing them out of proportion. We brought you the story recently of the supposed “leaked copy” of the Revan novel, set to release in November and the accusations that it “attempted to retcon elements of KOTOR 2: The Sith Lords”. I had no proof that this message board member really read the Revan novel, although he did supply a photo of what was supposed to be the cover of the proof copy or something. Regardless, I prefer to make…

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Star Wars: Revan Novel Spoilers- an Unofficial Review

We found an interesting write-up about the Revan novel that contains spoilers of the storyline for SWTOR and the novel. In a post on Spacebattles.com, user “Sparris” posts, “After getting and reading an uncorrected proof of this story, pretty sure most people will think it sucks.” He goes on to give about 600 words or so of a summary of the novel that portrays it in a less-than-interesting light. However, we also have to keep in mind that this is one person’s opinion and a rough summary at that and we don’t actually see any more than a pic of the alleged cover of the proof of the novel. SPOILERS INCOMING: The poster says: There are three main characters throughout: Revan, the Exile (now named Meetra Surik,) and a Sith Lord in the Emperor’s service named Darth Scourge. Ok, fair enough. What’s next? Revan’s story is pretty simple. His dreams…

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Drew Karpyshyn Interview: Expanding Star Wars and Mass Effect Universes

Newsarama has a great interview with Drew Karpyshyn expanding STAR WARS, MASS EFFECT Universes that gives us a little more info about Drew and the behind-the-scene happenings with the stories and how things work. This nearly 2,000-word interview is very thorough and well worth the time to read it. Drew Karpyshyn has written novels of the Star Wars universe and is now also writing for the upcoming SWTOR MMORPG. He also worked as lead writer on the first Mass Effect, co-lead on the second and was writer of three novels on ME. So you can see how he would be of interest to fans of either game or series. The interview covers a lot of fun stuff like the challenges or writing inside established worlds, the differences of good and evil, and what is to come for both of these major BioWare properties.  Here is a snippet from the interview:…

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Fatal Alliance vs. Deceived via Mark Pajor

The guys over at Corellian Run have some things to say about the characters of two SWTOR novels. Well actually, one guy in particular, Mark Pajor (@mpajor on Twitter) has an interesting write-up about the novels. Mark admits to never reading a Star Wars novel before this but decides he should become familiar with all areas of the lore, as he hopes to be a writer for Bioware one day (wouldn’t we all, Mark?) so he takes up Fatal Alliance and Deceived. I have yet to read them either so I appreciate Mark taking the time to give us some info. He starts off: “Fatal Alliance was my first Star Wars novel, and it confirmed all of my fears and reservations of reading one. Deceived, on the other hand, relieved my distaste quite a bit. Now, there’s a lot I could complain about writing-wise for both books. Instead, I’m going…

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‘Revan’ Cover Art Revealed

I was once told that the older you get, the more you let your body go.  Revan is proof of this as he has taken on a few pounds on the cover of Drew Karpyshyn upcoming book. The book will hit the stores on November 15 and will tell the story of what happen to the legendary Sith lord after the KOTOR games. Drew Karpyshyn will be on-hand at Comic-Con for signings, as well as the developer meet and greet at the BioWare Base the next few day.

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Drew Karpyshyn Signing and a Free Revan Mask: SDCC 2011

There’s some more good news coming in from the people at Star Wars Books. If you were already pumped up about San Diego Comic-Con, then you will be happy to hear that Drew Karpyshyn will be there for book signings at the Del Ray Booth as well as at the BioWare Base at the Hilton. I really wish I still lived in San Diego so I could attend. How cool would it be to add this to my collection with my signed comic from Alexander Freed? If you’re going to be at Comic-Con, here’s the info: Drew Karpyshyn, popular author of the STAR WARS: DARTH BANE trilogy of novels, the upcoming novel STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC: REVAN, and the novels based on Bioware’s hit video game MASS EFFECT will be signing books and REVAN masks. Free Revan masks and paperback copies of STAR WARS: DARTH BANE: PATH OF DESTRUCTION…

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Bantam and Del Rey STAR WARS novels Come to eBook Format

Today the library of Bantam and Del Rey STAR WARS novels will be available in all eBook formats at Random House. Beginning today, just as it was previously announced, you can get the entire catalog of Random House’s Star Wars novels on digital format. This is a great opportunity to enjoy all of your favorite books on your e-reader or even on your computer.   Amazon’s downloads work on the company’s Kindle reader, as well as on any smartphone or tablet with a Kindle app. Barnes & Noble digital purchases are compatible with B&N’s Nook device. In celebration of the news, Del Rey’s Star Wars Books Facebook page has a fun trailer that’s really worth the view:

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50 pages from Star Wars: The Old Republic: FATAL ALLIANCE free to read

Each Friday, Del Rey Spectra posts 50 pages for free reading from one of their books on their genre blog, Suvudu.com. I love books and I love free so this is a great combination. This week’s book is STAR WARS: Star Wars: The Old Republic: FATAL ALLIANCE by Sean Williams so I’m thinking readers here are going to be interested as well. If you’re a Star Wars fan, you’re going to love this book and the free 50 pages gives you a good look at what you can expect. You’re likely going to become so intrigued, you have to get the book to finish reading. (Don’t say I didn’t warn ya!) Are you curious about the book but not sure if you want to read the free 50 pages yet? You can find out more because we have already reviewed it and interviewed the author, Sean Williams. Be warned, the…

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Synopsis Revealed For Upcoming Revan Novel

While we can’t even see a cover yet, Random House has released the synopsis for the upcoming Revan novel. This is exciting news for fans of Revan, Drew Karpyshyn and Star Wars The old republic. Drew is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, Star Wars: Darth Bane: Rule of Two, and Star Wars: Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil, as well as several other science fiction and fantasy novels. He also wrote Mass Effect: Revelation and Mass Effect: Ascension.   The new book synopsis reads: There’s something out there:a juggernaut of evil bearing down to crush the Republic—unless one lone Jedi, shunned and reviled, can stop it. Revan: hero, traitor, conqueror, villain, savior. A Jedi who left Coruscant to defeat Mandalorians—and returned a disciple of the dark side, bent on destroying the Republic. The Jedi Council gave Revan his life back, but the…

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Drew Karpyshyn Discusses “Revan”

One of the most anticipated novels for SWTOR fans this year must be the Revan by Drew Karpyshyn. The books will be out later this year and should give some answers to what happened to one of the all time biggest force users. If you are like me must have been wondering what has happen to the guys, but also how strong his force powers actually is. In Drew Karpyshyn latest blog posts he addresses this issue. Apparently a book about me playing video games – being the ultimate pownzor – won’t work in books. Karpyshyn states that video games and novels works in different ways and  “are meant to convey different experiences and the two representations of the character simply cannot be laid on top of each other.” – witch is kind off dull really, and might be the main reason why I play way more videos games then read books. To…

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All 106 Star Wars Books to Go e-Book Format

If you’re ready to get your Star Wars fix in an electronic book format, then you are in luck! Random House and Lucasfilm recently released the news that all Star Wars books will now be released as e-books.   There are currently 30 Star Wars titles available via e-book. However, beginning June 28, all 106 will be available for download. Now it will be easier than ever to keep your Star Wars reading collection in one place. You can enjoy them on the go on your favorite e-reader and of course, you can also store them on your personal computer.   It’s never been so easy to ready- and enjoy doing it! The Star Wars series of books have been so popular that not a single one has gone out of print in the 30 years since the first one was published. The books have been published under the Bantam…

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Free comic book day is coming

Free Comic Book Day is a single day that happens each year on the first Saturday of May. On this day, participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely FREE to anyone who comes into their stores! How cool is that! You should check with your local comic book shop for their participation and rules. Free Comic Book Day in L.A. with have Geoff Johns, Robert Kirkman, Mike Mignola, Steve Niles signings The Core in Cedar Falls is celebrating their 10th year of the event. Owner Mike Blanchard will donate $400 worth of graphic novels to the school best represented at his shop Saturday. The Bay City Times -On free comic day, Cashman’s Comics will have 100 Green Lantern HeroClix game pieces to give away. What is your area comic book store doing? There’s also a Free Comic Book Day app available…

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Drew Karpyshyn Q&A about New Book Revan

“This is it. No more delays. No more mystery. The novel I’ve been working on has been officially announced. The title pretty much says it all: Revan.” – Drew Karpyshyn on his blog, about his new book. Drew Karpyshyn has a brief Q&A on his site about the upcoming book Revan, which we wrote about before. Karpyshyn himself realized the extreme scrutiny he would be under by some hardcore fans. He says in his blog, “I realize in taking on this task that I’m opening myself up for a lot of potential criticism from the KOTOR and Revan fans.” Boy do we understand that Drew! So he decided to address these concerns in a Q&A on his blog. Some issues addressed include: Hey – you said in your FAQ that you didn’t want to write a novel about Revan because books on video games don’t work. Remember all that stuff…

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Drew Karpyshyn’s New Novel Revealed

If you love Star Wars lore, then you are going to be really excited about the news that Drew Karpyshyn’s new novel has been revealed. The new book titled, Raven will expand beyond the core game and into novels and comics of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.   Del Rey Books has already published two novels in the Old Republic timeline, Fatal Alliance and Deceived, and they announced last year that there would be a third Old Republic novel. Drew Karpyshyn, Principal Writer at BioWare would be the author of this book. Fans may know him from the Darth Bane series of Star Wars™ novels. In an exclusive Q&A, Karpyshyn shares some information about the book. This part will be rather interesting to those who are anxiously awaiting the release of SW:TOR MMO:   Q: In what ways will readers who have read Revan benefit when playing Star Wars: The…

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Making of SWTOR Book Removed from Amazon’s Listing

If you’re looking for the book, The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic, you might not be able to find it any more, at least not on Amazon. Last month the official SWTOR forums were abuzz about the book but now it seems to have disappeared. The release date for the book was listed as November 1, 2011, leaving many fans to speculate that this could be the same time the game is expected to be released. So why did The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic get pulled from Amazon’s listing? No one knows yet exactly why the book was pulled. We just know that it went down quickly after the new about its existence began to spread around the Internet amongst Star Wars fans. There are several different reasons why Amazon might pull a book that was listed but not released yet….

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Do you need to read the books to understand the game?

Star Wars and BioWare are both characterized by an enormous amount of Lore and stories. So far two novels and a bunch of web comics has been released describing the characters and surroundings in the massive universe of Star Wars: The old republic. The first book that was released was Fatal Alliance by Sean Williams. The second – released a few weeks ago – is Deceived by Paul S. Kemp. At least one more novel is in the works by Drew Karpyshyn – but that is still nameless. Other then the above novels and webcommics, Darkhorse has released countless of  printed comics and Del Rey lot’s of books describing famous lore characters Such as Exar Kun, Ulic Qel-Droma, Freedon Nadd and so on. Taken this into account, it’s obvious that some people get nervous that they won’t get a clue when they start up the game if they aren’t prepared. A forum poster by the name…

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The Art And Making Of SW: The Old Republic Cover

Last month we wrote about an upcoming book about the making of Star Wars: The old republic. The book was announced on Amazon, and will be relised in November this year. Get it here Recently the cover of the book  has been reviled, and it looks like this: Here are the details: Hardcover: 160 pages Publisher: Chronicle Books (November 1, 2011) SRP: $ 40.00 Language: English ISBN-10: 0811875008

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Deceived Author Paul S. Kemp Facebook Chat

A few days back Del Rey hosted a Facebook chat with Deceived Author Paul S. Kemp ( view the transcript here ). Kemp is the author of the recently released Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived novel witch debuted in the lucky thirteen spot on the New York Times bestseller list witch is quite an achievement. The book is set in set in The Old Republic timeline and tells the tale of the notorious Darth Malgus. No major news was announced in the chat, but it did give fans a chance to ask away about things related to Deceived and the chat was unfortunately cut short by FB technical problems. Here is a run down: Is Deceived‘s Zeerid Korr an ancestor of Jaden Korr? Kemp pleads the fifth — but hints to check out Riptide. Meanwhile, Zeerid’s family life pulls from Kemp’s own thoughts as a father of young children…

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Next TOR Novel by Drew Karpyshyn to Hit Shelves October 15, 2011

Deceived – the tale of Darth Malgus – hit’s the book stores today (remember to check out our review here) but new novels are already in the making. Drew Karpyshyn updated his site revealing the timetable for his upcoming novel tired to Star Wars: The old republic. Drew starts off by linking to EUCantinas speculation about his book calling it “interesting” but states that it’s ONLY “interesting speculation” and should by no means be takes as a confirmation. He do however confirm that the book is a tie-in to SWTOR. We will all know alot more when the official titel of the book is announced on april 15 2011. His upcomming book wil be released six month later, on October 15, 2011 – witch also might be the release day of Star Wars: The old republic. Fans will be able to check out the first excerpt and the official cover…

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Wednesday Reviews: The Old Republic: Deceived

Deceived tells the tale of Darth Malgus, a fierce Sith Lord who lived during the time of the Great Galactic War as he deals with the coming peace treaty between the Empire and Republic, his Sith “allies”, and his own conflicted feelings on the events transpiring. Deceived is a novel that does its job perfectly; being a tie-in to a huge upcoming game (Star Wars: The Old Republic, of course) it had to be not only a separate story that could stand on its own two feet, but a novel that ties in with the events of the SWTOR so that it makes the readers curious about the game itself. Luckily, it does just that, dragging you into the universe the game takes place in while making you curious enough to check out more. Deceived introduces us to the situation of the galaxy and the important characters making an impact…

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Third SWTOR Novel in the works

Random House has published their 2011 Fall Catalog, and it has goodies for us Star Wars: The old republic fans. Apparently Drew Karpyshyn will be the auther of a upcoming SWTOR novel yet to have a titel. Drew Karpyshyn was Senior Writer on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic as well as both Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. He has also wrote Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, Darth Bane: Rule of Two, and Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil which are some of my favorite Star Wars novels. With the success of the New York Times bestselling Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance and the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived in Spring 2011, this original new novel set in the world of the game by BioWare and LucasArts is sure to bring fans who want a truly immersive, transmedia experience! Key Points # EXCITING FAN-FAVORITE…

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Deceived Novel Trailer

The official The Old Republic website finaly posted a trailer for the upcoming novel Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived. The book is written by Paul S. Kemp, release-date: March 22. You can read 3 except of the book here, here and here and check out the trailer below The book is currently availible for 3.92$ on amazon Over 3,500 years before the rise of Darth Vader, another Sith Lord’s name commanded fear and respect across the galaxy: Darth Malgus. The mysterious Sith Lord orchestrated the destruction of a prominent Jedi Temple, setting the stage for the tenuous peace of the Treaty of Coruscant. In Deceived, you’ll learn the story of Darth Malgus and his rise to power. Delve into the dark secrets and history that shaped one of the most powerful Sith Lords the Old Republic would ever know… Deceived is a novel set in the Old Republic and written…

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Upcoming book: The Art And Making Of SW: The Old Republic

Amazon.com just announced a new book named Chronicle Books’ The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic. The book is ofcourse about the development of SWTOR. The book will be released on November 1, 2011.. Hey wait… Did it say November 1? Is that a sign for the release date of Star Wars: The old republic – the game? Here are the details: Hardcover: 160 pages Publisher: Chronicle Books (November 1, 2011) SRP: $ 40.00 Language: English ISBN-10: 0811875008 Check it out here

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Deceived signed ARC giveaway

Author of the upcoming novel Deceived – Paul S. Kemp, is giving away three autographed copies of is book: I have three bound advance reader copies of my forthcoming Star Wars novel, Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived. I want to sign them and give them away. I will pick three recipients at random from all of those who leave a comment to this blog entry, whether at paulskemp.com or at the mirrored entry on my livejournal. Please use your name or a distinct username and enter only once.  You do not need to register for anything to leave a comment (anon comments are enabled).  I will announce the three winners on January 24, at which time they will need to send me an email with their mailing address and any personalization instructions. You can read excerpts from the book by clicking here. And, because one can never see this enough, here…

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