SCI FI Bromley on Saturday

Ah, Bromley; you might not think it, but this leafy London suburb has always a dash of science fiction running through its streets. HG Wells spent a troubled childhood there before going on to write The Time Machine and War of the Worlds. Ziggy Stardust himself, David Bowie, lived there in the 50's. And if you want to stretch the definition, even children's author and local lass Enid Blyton flirted with SF concepts in some of her novels.

So it's kinda cool that this Saturday, a couple of time machines (specifically a TARDIS and the one from the 1960's movie of the same name) will be materializing there, along with me and a bunch of other folks for the inaugural SCI FI Bromley show; there's also a concert planned for the evening, where the Lewisham Concert Band will play a set of famous SF themes.

The event runs from 11:00am to 6:00pm at the Great Hall in the Bromley Civic Centre.

As well as a display of props, sales stands and cosplay stuff going on, I'll be there signing books and taking part in Q&A panels with fellow authors Graham Guy and Graham Austin-King at 12:15pm and 3:15pm.

Also appearing at the show are Jami Reid-Quarrell from Doctor Who and Star Wars alumni Nick Joseph, Ted Western, Alan Flyng, Barrie Holland, Laurie Goode, Brian Muir and Stephanie English.

Entry to the show is free and tickets for the concert are £18, with proceeds going to charities Connect and the The National Brain Appeal.

For more information about the event, check out the website Here.

 

 

You Are Hearing Me Talk...to Cloud City Casino

Earlier this month I was pleased to be interviewed by Michael and Bruce over at the Cloud City Casino podcast, which is part of The Star Wars Report and dedicated to all things gaming-related in the Star Wars universe.

I'm on the show talking in-depth about my writing for the Disney Infinity 3.0 toys-to-life videogame (specifially the Twilight of the Republic playset, and the Clone Wars and Rebels characters I worked on) and much more besides!

To visit the Cloud City Casino podcast site, click Here.

You Are Hearing Me Talk....About DISNEY INFINITY & STAR WARS

So Disney Infinity 3.0 has been out for a couple of weeks now, and the Star Wars prequel-era Twilight of the Republic playset I worked on has been joined by the Rise of the Empire playset from the 'classic' trilogy, with another release coming at Christmas to synch up with The Force Awakens - and m'colleague Adam Rosser at BBC Radio 5 Live had me on his show Game On this week to discuss the toys-to-life genre, Star Wars and more...

You can stream the show or download it as a podcast right Here.

You Are Hearing Me Talk...to Forge The Narrative

Once more, Chris and Paul from the Forge The Narrative podcast have had me on their show to talk about stuff...

 

While FtN is primarily a Warhammer 40,000-themed podcast, they also do episodes that "take a deep dive into nerdom" - and this is one of them! In this edition, I'm discussing the work I did on the Disney Infinity 3.0 video game, specifically the Star Wars Twilight of the Republic playset...and I drop a few hints about some of my other upcoming projects as well.

To visit Forge the Narrative's website and listen to the show, click Here. (The interview starts at the 26.33 minute mark)

 

 

You are seeing me talk... To SBOC

This week sees the release of Disney Infinity 3.0, along with a whole bunch of Star Wars themed materials - including the Twilight of the Republic playset, Clone Wars and Rebels figures I worked on as scriptwriter.

Reviews are looking good - the gamer community is liking what we've done - and I've been able to talk a little bit about the game (and also the other big project I'm working on, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided) with the gang from the SBOC video podcast.

 

 Check out episode #6 of SBOC's Weekly Show and find me from the 26.32 mark...

DISNEY INFINITY 3.0 - STAR WARS is out this month!

A Galaxy Far Far Away is finally coming to the worlds of Disney Infinity with the release of the 3.0 version of the game at the end of the month, and I'm pleased to say that the launch playset is Star Wars: Twilight of the Republic, which I worked on with the top folks at Lucasfilm and game developers Ninja Theory and Disney Intertactive. Check out our trailer!
 

 

 

 We've created a cool action-adventure in the style of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series - in the trailer above you'll see Cat Taber, Sam Witwer and Matt Lanter reprising their roles as Padme Amidala, Darth Maul and Anakin Skywalker, and they're joined by the rest of the Clone Wars cast in the game.

Of all the fictional worlds I've enjoyed and wanted to tell a story in, Star Wars is one that's always eluded me - but now that's changed! Writing the storyline and script for Twilight of the Republic (as well as character scripts for all the prequel trilogy figures and Star Wars: Rebels figures too) has been a great experience - and it's just the start...

...A Great Adventure Begins...

Last month I announced with a (20th Century Fox) fanfare that I've been working with games studio Ninja Theory on the latest iteration of the Disney Infinity toys-to-life videogame - specifically the Disney Infinity 3.0 Star Wars playset Twilight of the Republic; you can see more about that by clicking Here.

But as well as writing the story and scripts for the TotR playset and Clone Wars era-characters (Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, Yoda and Darth Maul), I also worked on something else that we've been keeping under wraps until today...

 I got to write for Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger, Sabine Wren and Zeb Orrelios, four of the main cast from the Star Wars Rebels cartoon series, helping to bring them into the world of Disney Infinity! They'll join the Clone Wars characters in Twilight of the Republic and the characters from the original Star Wars trilogy in the Rise of the Empire playset.

For more pictures and information, check out the Infinity Inquirer site fansite.

...In A Galaxy Far, Far Away..

*Cue the 20th Century Fox fanfare*

So, for those of you who couldn't read the Aurabesh in the last blog post, here's the thing: I am writing Star Wars.

Some specifics - no, I haven't been tapped to pen a script for one of the spin-off Anthology movies as some folks suggested (but hey, Lucasfilm? *makes "call-me" gesture*); no, I'm not writing a Star Wars novel (yet), although that remains firmly at the top of my nerd bucket list, ten years on and still hoping; and no, technically this isn't my first work in the GFFA, because back in the day I wrote dozens of articles for Star Wars Magazine, Star Wars Insider, Star Wars Gamer and The Star Wars Fact Files... But it is my first time writing an original narrative for characters from that mythos.

And the first you will see of that work is Twilight of the Republic, the launch playset that will be released with Disney Infinity 3.0: Star Wars – the newest iteration of the blockbuster ‘toys-to-life’ videogame series. Featuring the heroes, villains and locations of the saga, gamers will be able to cross the stars on a high-stakes mission to expose a deadly threat to the Galactic Republic...

Set at the height of the Clone Wars, between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, the plotline of Twilight of the Republic follows the Jedi as they fight to discover who is behind the rise of a new army of Battle Droids that threatens the stability of the galaxy; the characters of Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano are packed with the playset, and players can also pick up Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and Darth Maul as seperate figures..

 

 

Disney Infinity 3.0 is also going to feature Rise of the Empire, a 'classic trilogy' Star Wars playset (featuring Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca and Darth Vader as playable characters). There will also be a Force Awakens playset, as well as new Marvel Universe and Disney Originals content for Avengers: Age of Ultron, Inside Out and more.

To say that I'm enthused about being part of this is a bit of an understatement - in a "that's no moon" kind of way.

Here I am, a 40-something geek born and bred in the Star Wars generation, who still remembers that moment of awe at the Dominion Theatre in 1978, as the Star Destroyer thundered over my young head. That nearly four decades later, I am once again metaphorically caught in the wake of that engine roar, is just too damn cool.

I have had an absolute blast working with the talented crews at Ninja Theory and Disney Interactive on Twilight of the Republic, and together we've built something that is not just neat figures and virtual toyboxes  - it's a true Star Wars story that I hope will play out like a lost episode of The Clone Wars series, with all the action and thrills, fun and high adventure of the best of the saga. Young and old alike, I hope you'll come and play.

 

A Long Time Ago...

If you're keeping an eye on the internet today, you may have seen this reveal of a cool new thing...

I am pleased to say one of the people who made that cool thing happen is me! Together with a team of very talented folks, I've been working on it for over a year, and rest assured I'll be talking about it in a lot more detail in the days ahead.

But for now, finally, officially, I get to say:

 

 

You Are Hearing Me Talk... About STAR WARS on BBC Radio 5 Live

My buddy Adam Rosser presents a show about videogames and other cool stuff as part of BBC Radio 5 Live's Joy Of Tech, and with all the news about the Star Wars saga breaking big it would have been remiss of him not to cover the Galaxy Far Far Away...

 

And so, Adam recruited Gav Murphy - games journalist and co-host of IGN's Star Wars webshow Rebel Base - and myself - a writer of stuff, some of which has been about the GFFA - to spend some 20 minutes picking over the trailers for The Force Awakens, season two of the Rebels animated series, Rogue One, the new Battlefront game and talking about the future of the saga. 

 

Despite being on cold meds, I nevertheless joined Gav and Adam to enthuse greatly about Star Wars, and you can hear us Here.

Hanging out with this guy all week, I have been...

...for, y'know, reasons.

 

 

 

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Omega Squad versus Death Guard?

I found this great Hungarian Star Wars vs Horus Heresy book commercial featuring my novel The Flight of the Eisenstein and m'colleague Karen Traviss's first Republic Commando book Hard Contact...

 

Actually, I reckon Niner and Nathaniel Garro would get on okay...