HM Aaron Allston hospitalized

I heard that Aaron Allston cancelled a book appearance, but the details that are coming out are pretty grim:

Yesterday, Del Rey author Aaron Allston underwent quadruple bypass surgery. Aaron was on tour, promoting his latest book Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Outcast when he suffered a heartattack and was admitted to a hospital in Texas. He is currently in intensive care, but stable. Our thoughts are with him.

Aaron’s family has set up a blood donation sponsorship. If anyone in the Dallas area would like to donate blood, you can go to the National Blood Exchange or Carter BloodCare. Say that you are donating blood for Aaron Allston, patient of Carter Blood Care in Bedford, TX, and give his sponsor number: SPON 047786.

Please send any well-wishes to:

Aaron Allston
c/o Del Rey Books
1745 Broadway
New York, NY 10019

But please DO NOT send any perishable items or flowers, as Aaron will not be able to receive anything this week.

~ http://www.suvudu.com/2009/04/a-message-about-author-aaron-allston.html

Allston is one of my favorite Star Wars authors out there – he wrote the fantastic Wraith Squadron books, and he’s a regular fan of the 501st. I’ve met him once, at C3, and he was a really nice bloke. Hopefully he’ll recover in good time.

Imperial Commando Novels

Looks like Karen Traviss isn’t done with the Republic Commando novels after Order 66. In a recent interview with Randomhouse, she mentioned that she will be writing a couple Imperial Commando novels, and a Boba Fett novel:

Q: What other projects are you working on, both Star Wars—related and in your own fictional universe?

KT: I’m concentrating wholly on military and political fiction for the foreseeable future. I’m having a wonderful time working on Gears of War, which is a profoundly intelligent and well-created universe about a squad of soldiers in a post-apocalyptic world — yes, there are chainsaw rifles, but it’s also very smart stuff – and I’m continuing the Republic Commando series in Imperial Commando books. There are a few other SW books in the pipeline too, including a Boba Fett one. In my creator-owned work, I’m writing a political thriller series about mercenaries, set in the very near future . I’ll also be doing some comics work, which is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. So, no vacation for a few years….or sleep….!

Looks like she won’t be able to put her armor together any time soon…

Star Wars Robot Chicken Out Today!

The fantastic show created by new friend of the legion Seth Green did a Star Wars special a while back – today, it’s out on DVD.

Special features include:

• Video Commentary
• Animation Meeting
• On-Air Bumps
• Trailers
• Behind The Scenes
• Deleted Scenes
• Alternate Audio
• Time Lapse
• Photo Gallery
• Panel Presentations
• Episode Commentary

See pictures from the induction here.

I know what I’m getting after work gets out today!

John Ostrander Inducted!

This in from the Legion:

John Ostrander Inducted
by tuskentrooper on Thu May 29, 2008 9:59 pm
The mighty 501st Central Garrison marched upon ICON-2008 (the Iowa Comic Book Convention) to seek out prolific Star Wars comic book author John Ostrander and induct him as an Honorary Member of the Legion. Ostrander, whose writing is often paired with the artwork of 501st Honorary Member Jan Duursema, received his plaque and custom name badge with pride at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on May 3rd. Congratulations, John!

About time! John’s a fantastic guy, whom I’d interviewed a while ago when I worked for Clonewarz.com.

Katie Cook – Honorary Member

At Motor City Comic Con, artist Katie Cook was presented with an honorary membership to the Legion. I just came across this on her blog:

the highlight of the convention, for me, was saturday afternoon. i made my way to the 501st booth where i was going sit for a bit and do free star wars sketches. before i even sat down, i was told to stand aside and was surprised with a plaque and a name tag officially inducing me as an honorary member of the 501st.

i was VERY surprised. i’m so insanely thrilled about this that i’m not sure i can put it into words without sounding like a) an idiot and b) a giant nerd.

to the 501st, thank you SO much. i’ll be sending out some individual e-mails to a few of you… but i just wanted to give a huge “THANKS!” to you all now. i love the 501st and all the good things that you guys do for charities, your communities, children and the star wars fandom.

Her full blog entry is here.

Troy Denning Joins the Ranks!

Recently, Troy Denning has been out on a signing tour, promoting his new book, Invincible, the last of the Legacy of the Force Series (which I’m behind by four books at this point.) While out and about, he stopped by the Empire City Garrison, who formally inducted him as an Honorary Member of the legion. We’ll have audio from the presentation in the next podcast.

A Warm welcome to Mr. Denning! I met him at C3, really, really nice guy.

New Book Covers!

A couple of our honorary members are publishing new Star Wars books!

This summer, Karen Traviss’s latest, Order 66, will be released as a hardcover, due out this September, 9-16-2008. No plot has been released yet, but expect Clones, clones and more clones. And oh yeah, some Mandalorians and quite possibly some dead Jedi. This is one sick cover.

Next up is Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor. Looks like it’s a bit in the older style of Star Wars books, and it’s by Matthew Stover, who’s an absolutely fantastic author. This book’s out in Hardcover on October 21st.

Finally, after something like 10 years, we’re getting a second Star Wars Encyclopedia. This time, it’s two volumes, and is written by Stephen Stansweet and Pablo Hidalgo. This one’s due to be released on November 4th at $75. I can’t wait.

Which one are you looking forwards to the most?

Ralph McQuarrie made Honorary Member

Yesterday, Ralph McQuarrie joined the growing ranks of the 501st as an honorary membership, presented by the CO of the Neon Garrison, Damien Metz, with a number of notable names in the audience: Mary Franklin, Tom Hodges, John Scoleri, Stan Stice, Mark Fordam, and a number of others.

I was a little surprised to see this – I had assumed that he was made into an honorary member a lot earlier, because really, we owe a lot to this guy, who came up with some of the original designs for the Star Wars movies, including most of the imperials, notably Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers. His art work is absolutely wonderful – if you’ve never checked out his paintings for the original film, do so, they’re quite something.

So, congratulations and welcome to Mr McQuarrie!

Announcement here and here.