The Revelation Of Project: Redacted

Social media can be a scary place, sometimes.

But it can also be a wonderland. Because without social media, I wouldn’t know so many amazing writers. I would have never spoken on stage at Margaret Atwood’s birthday. I would never get into a cold war of kale-related tweets with John Scalzi. I would never have gotten Lar deSouza to draw me on a wyvern with a jetpack:

Or me on the Jaws boat with Scott Lynch, Sam Sykes, and the aforementioned Scalzi:

I sometimes just wish for things on Twitter, and they happen. I say, that book looks neat, and then that book, which is months before publication, shows up at my door.

I know. This is supremely privileged. Not everybody can just shake Twitter and make cool stuff fall out, I do recognize this — but I’ve also seen it happen with so many others, too, whether it’s writers asking for critiques or when fans of authors get to meet and engage with those authors.

Social media can be really, really cool.

Which leads me to:

Project: Redacted.

On September 4th, 2014, I wrote this tweet.

On September 4th, 2015, this book comes out.

Which means that [REDACTED] has been revealed as not the PERFECT STRANGERS officially-sanctioned novelization that I’ve been talking about on Twitter (though one day I will write BALKI’S DAY OF BLOOD, you betcha), but rather revealed as:

STAR WARS: AFTERMATH.

*silent joyful screaming*

(News at StarWars.com. Featuring more info and thoughts from Yours Truly.)

I am writing an official Star Wars novel.

I am writing the first (newly) canonical novel set after Return of the Jedi.

I cannot feel my legs, and I have been drunkenly pirouetting wildly around the house for months, making lightsaber sounds and forcing my four-year-old on a steady regimen of Star Warsy goodness. I am geeking out hardcore over here. I now join the ranks of my homie, Kevin Hearne (who by the way just made the NYT bestseller list with Heir to the Jedi).

The opening crawl for Aftermath, should you care (and I can say no more):

Journey to The Force Awakens.

The second Death Star is destroyed. The Emperor and his powerful enforcer, Darth Vader, are rumored to be dead. The Galactic Empire is in chaos.

Across the galaxy, some systems celebrate, while in others Imperial factions tighten their grip. Optimism and fear reign side by side.

And while the Rebel Alliance engages the fractured forces of the Empire, a lone Rebel scout uncovers a secret Imperial meeting. . . .