It's the official website for the "Legacy of the Force" series, which has come online in the run-up to the release of Invincible, the final book in the series. Until the release-date for the new novel on May 13th, they're offering a free download of Betrayal, the first book in the series: it's available as an e-book in three formats (PDF, Kindle and Sony Reader), and also as an audiobook.
Appropriately enough, the main page of the site is illustrated with a photo of Master Yoda reading a holographic hardback of the novel in question.
StarWars.com is reporting that the e-book is also becoming available at a large number of online bookstores:
"Del Rey has partnered with booksellers to provide the free download. AllBooks.com, Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Booksense.com, Borders.com, Deepdiscount.com, the eBook story from Sony, Overstock.com, and Powells.com have agreed to make the file available to their customers."
I've personally checked them all, and added links to the ones that I could find:
* AllBooks.com just redirects me to Amazon.com. * Amazon.com has the e-book downloadable as a PDF on the page for the paperback, and also a separate page as a free e-book for Amazon's own Kindle reader. * BarnesandNoble.com has the download on the page for the paperback. * Booksense.com is "the e-commerce arm of the American Booksellers Association's Book Sense program", uniting lots of independent bookstores in all 50 states of the USA (and Puerto Rico). Sadly, we can't link to every local store running the promotion, but type in your zip code to find one near you. * Borders.com just redirects to Amazon.com with Borders-branded graphics, using the same links for the PDF and Kindle formats as above. * Deepdiscount.com has a special download page for the PDF. * The eBook store from Sony: here, Betrayal is currently the number one best-seller on the main page, and also has its own download page: note that this is Sony Ebook format, requiring free software (Windows PC only). * Overstock.com has a page for the paperback, but I couldn't find the download. * Powells.com has a download link for the PDF on the pages for the hardcover, paperback and audobook CD.
An e-book copy in PDF format has been added to the "fan kit" for all paying members of the official "Hyperspace" fan-club, too.
The Random House summer catalog, which we covered a few weeks ago, hinted that there may be more "Legacy of the Force" content coming online in the next few weeks. I've not heard anything about the "fan video contest" that was mentioned in the catalog, but I'd expect the usual teaser chapters and author-interview for Invincible, at the least.
We'll bring you more news as and when we get it.
UPDATE: friend of TF.N Mario from Spanish-language Star Wars site Los archivos de Korpil has contacted us to let us know about a difference between two versions of the PDF e-book... which, in turn, led me to discover something that's almost like an "Easter Egg".
Although the StarWars.com announcement says that the e-book can be printed, this apparently NOT true of the version at www.legacyoftheforce.com. I've not tried it out myself, but it seems you need to use the version from Amazon.com for that, which also clocks in at 2 MB, rather than 1.7 MB from legacyoftheforce.com.
So, why that 300kb difference in size? I'm not sure. Perhaps it's to do with printability. The only textual difference I can see between the two versions is that the copyright page of the 2 MB version includes copyright information for Karen Traviss's short stories "In His Image" and "Two-Edged Sword", which is absent in the 1.7 MB version.
Of course, this did lead me to discover the presence of those two stories in the e-book. They're at the back, bundled in between chapter 34 and the Betrayal excerpt, as indeed they were in the paperback: but they can't be the reason for the file-size difference, as they're there in both versions of the PDF.
Given that the copyright material for them is absent in one version of the PDF, I wonder if they were meant to be taken out. But their existence is good news for those fans (like me) who didn't get Betrayal in paperback, and didn't pick up the magazines that they were originally printed in.
In Honor Of Lucas' Birthday Posted By Jay on May 14, 2008: Our good friend Stephen Hayford writes "I didn't know it was Lucas' birthday until I saw your post. I just threw together a photo in record time. Take a look." Thanks for helping celebrate the maker's birthday in style!
Novel Review: Death Star revisited Posted By Adrick on May 14, 2008: Adrick weighs in (finally) on the Death Star novel by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry.
Happy Birthday Mr. Lucas Posted By Jay on May 14, 2008: The Maker turns another year older. Please join us in wishing George Lucas a happy 64th birthday.
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