Star Wars Expanded Universe Timeline Latest News

"The Immortal Gods of the Sith," by Guillaume Ducos for Supernatural Encounters

9/28/23 SE Chronology Fixed

The timeline now properly reflects the chapter names and numbers (and subchapters, etc.) and should be in the right time-frame.

Also, all of the shipments are now out, save for a few domestic stragglers which will be going out on 10/2. For those of you who missed physical copies, there should be another batch printed for LegendsCon 2025 and Twin Suns Foundation will be auctioning one soon.

Finally, thanks to Matt Jones for the Red Harvest chapter breakdown, and Jaajeej for arranging Seasons 1 and 2 of the Ewoks animated series according to what season they take place in and other internal factors.

9/18/23 The History of Space Opera

As promised, my PowerPoint presentation, "The History of Space Opera," which I gave at LegendsCon on 9/10 is now up here. This will eventually form part of a book on the subject, which will include a smattering of old stories that were referenced or alluded to in Supernatural Encounters.

9/17/23 Updates and LegendsCon

Apologies for the delay in posting here. I came home from California sick and with a lot to do! The convention was outstanding. Kyle, Patrick, Corinthia, Katherine, Liisa, and everyone else involved in putting it together did an amazing job! I'll have to post picture here when I have time. Suffice it to say that the reception I got to Supernatural Encounters and my panels was overwhelming in the best possible way! You guys were all amazing! And getting to reconnect with Abel, Mike K., Mike C., Mike S. (a lotta Mikes), and Jason Fry, not to mention the coordinators above who I count as friends, was phenomenal! When I have time, I'll show you my Waru mug that Abel and Susie got me!

First, however, I want to let domestic contributors know that your books are shipping out tomorrow! They're all packaged and ready to go.

International customers—if you've not gotten an email from me or if you've responded to my email already—then your books are shipping out this week.

And if you haven't yet joined the Discord server, please do, as we're about to open it up to the various new projects that are forthcoming, and this way you'll be better informed as to what's being worked on and what's coming out next.

The EU lives on!

9/5/23 Update

Do not use stamps.com... ever!

I've got a few more boxes to pack before I head to the post office today, however, because stamps.com again glitched and wouldn't print the labels I spent all day and night generating and waiting for--and can't reprint them (which makes no sense to me)--I'll have to have the post office do each package individually. Which is fine. These are all being shipped via media mail and I already have your names/addresses on non-postage labels that I can easily print out. I'll just have to manually send you the tracking numbers when I get back home.

As far as international orders, I haven't forgotten you and will begin sending your books from UPS on the 12th when I get back.

Apologies for these absurd delays. It's as frustrating to me as it must be to you, but I intend to keep you all in the loop every step of the way...

P.S. Silver lining is that some good came of this at least: two of you wrote to me and said you had moved, so the glitch allowed me to correct these addresses before they shipped.

9/1/23 Update!

While I'm busy preparing shipping labels, I wanted to show you guys this development!

Yep, books are here, 82 boxes of them (and the books look gorgeous)! Now, the post office is closed on Sunday and Monday, but I'm devoting all day Tuesday & Wednesday to shipping these out. Also, if you live outside of the U.S., your package will possibly come from UPS instead.

Also wanted to say thank you for all the kind words! It warms the heart! Ok, back to work I go!

P.S. If your address has changed, *and you haven't yet told me*, now is the time to do so.

8/29/23 Update! Update! Star Wars: Supernatural Encounters: The Trial and Transformation of Arhul Hextrophon is here!

At long last, Supernatural Encounters is available for free and can be downloaded from the cover image on this page! And here is the new trailer (special thanks to Kyle Rawlings and Robert Newnham)! And here is an interview I had with the great Liisa Mountain and Kyle on Legends Library!

8/15/23 Update Day!

Update Day!!

How are all my favorite Star Warriors? The printer should be shipping me books this week! I've ordered and picked up all the boxes and packing materials. I've created the shipping labels. As soon as the books show up, I'm ready to ship them to you!!

I was supposed to do a Q&A today, but I'm not sure I have the time. A few of you know my situation, but for those who don't: the last few months I've been taking care of my senior dog, Sabbra, whose been dealing with crippling arthritis. We've managed despite a few ups and downs, and she's still eating and drinking and has that drive to *live*... and until *she's* ready to go, so she shall.

I bring this up not to make you all sad, but because it reminds me of the EU and this movement that we have. How many times have critics sneered that "the Extended Universe is dead! Get over it!"? Granted, most of those articles are designed to generate outrage and clicks and are written by AI or people who don't care about the EU or us. We've all met those kinds of people. Maybe they dipped their toe in for a few books years ago and now act like they're some kind of authority. Or maybe they just heard stuff about it. Whatever the case, this desire on their part to destroy something that isn't theirs and never has been is borderline pathological, and their ideas merit little but mockery on our part.

For those of us who are invested, we know something they don't—the EU is a treasure! But it has required a commitment—and one that not every fan was willing to make. And that's totally fine. But for those of us who did, the EU is OURS. It belongs to each fan who spent the time and money and effort to delve deep into this wild world. And the rewards were and are great!

Thus, so long as there is the will for the EU to live, it will! And it doesn't matter if that's five thousand people or five. It doesn't matter if the license holders (currently Disney) participate or not. One day in the future, the EU will no longer see new content being released (lost or otherwise), and it'll become a relic of the past. And that's fine too. Everything in life has a cycle of birth and death (and some would argue rebirth). We don't forget our loved dead. And when we're gone, others not yet born will find and cherish this beautiful thing.

But until that time, here we are! We support, nourish, and cherish these works and the fandom we're a part of--and so despite the naysayers and cynics and trolls, the EU lives!

I'll drop you guys a line here when I get the tracking number. The printer is only one state away from me, so it won't be long after that. I'll email each and every one of you once the books are here so that you have a heads-up that they're on their way. And maybe we can reschedule the Q&A for the next Update Day on 9/1, which is a week before I leave for LegendsCon.

8/9/23 LegendsCon!

May be an image of 1 person, poster, magazine and text that says 'DONGIORNO TRATT THE STAR WARS EXP ANDED UNIVERSE TIMELINE LEGENDS CONSORTIUM MEET JOE BONGIORNO LEGENDS CON SEPTEMBER 9 & MARRIOTT BURBANK, Ca'

We are pleased to announce that Joe Bongiorno will be joining us for Legends Con! Joe's credits include West End Games, Star Wars periodicals and the recent continuation of Supernatural Encounters. He will be participating in signings and panels throughout the weekend.

Joe joins our still growing guest list which includes Randy Stradley, Matthew Stover, Jason Fry, Corinna Bechko, Sean Stewart, Barbara Hambly, Abel Peña and Craig Miller.

Join us for a celebration of all things Expanded Universe in Burbank, California on September 9th & 10th!

Get your tickets now on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/.../legends-consortium-2023...

8/1/23 Update Day!

Starhoppers and Star Warriors unite! Update Day is at hand!

Here are images of the final bound proofs (thanks be to Chay for designing and finalizing Guillaume Ducos' beautiful illustrations)! These arrived a few days ago and were approved! Production is underway and I hope to have books soon!

Once I do, I'll post an update here. I'll also be emailing all of you who are contributors just to give you a heads-up. Then, once they're out, I'll release the PDF here and on the website. No fan left behind!

There will be an SE panel at LegendsCon in Burbank next month 9/9-9/10, which I'll be on along with my editors, Kyle, Patrick, and maybe Ed; the great Liisa will be hosting it! I believe I'll be signing books on both days as well. For those of you unable to attend, let me know (via email) if you want me to sign your copy before I ship it out.

Work will soon begin on editing the now-translated Hungarian Han Solo books (thank you to Matthew Smith) with the intent of releasing them as PDFs... maybe as an omnibus for private printing (we'll see how that goes later on).

On the subject of the now-translated German Ewoks comics (thanks to Thomas Rathausky), I've been informed that as much as they had hoped to get them included in the forthcoming omnibus, Marvel won't allow it since they can't locate the contracts. This is pretty much the same thing that happened with Dark Horse and the Spanish Droids and Ewoks comics. Nor is it surprising that foreign language contracts from 1985 can't be found. So, I'll be preparing them and releasing them here for you guys. The copies I have are lo-res scans. I'd prefer to do higher-res, but that would entail tracking down the originals, of which I only have one of the five. So, maybe we'll make do with the lo-res versions until we can put together a higher quality presentation.

Love and appreciate you all!

The EU Lives!

MTFBWY!

Joe

7/15/23 Update Day!

It is DONE! No more revisions. No more editing. I've just made the PDF and will send it to the printer as soon as I'm sure everything is right on it (PDFs can be tricky and sometimes leave images out). Monday morning, they'll go over everything and start the process--which they say takes a month. They ship via UPS, so that should be by the third week of August, I should have books in hand. Then, I'll email all of you and let you know here and on starwarstimeline.net. Then, I begin packaging and shipping books to you guys.

The morale of the story is *endurance*. For those of you new here, this story began in 2008 when the first drafts of CE and SE were written, and it has seen a lot of ups and downs, and even opposition, along the way... But for those of you in the arts, you understand that that's par for the course. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears go into projects--many of which never see the light of day or just don't reach a large audience for various reasons. My heart is with the striking writers and actors and, really, with all of labor who are struggling to pay the bills while, off their backs, CEOs rake in tens of millions a year in salaries and bonuses.

We endure. We press on. We fight the Empire. It's worth it! For SE, it's been a 15 year haul to bring this strange and byzantine text to life, and all without the support of the powers-that-be, but it's here because the EU is worth it. *You*, the fans, *are worth it!* You made this happen! My team who worked so hard on this made this happen!
We are all stronger together!
The Force is with us!
Love and Peace!
Joe

6/30/23 One Week Extension

Due to losing time to urushiol poisoning, there's a one week extension before I submit the final draft to the printer. So anyone who still wants a copy can become a contributor until that time. See 6/14 for the perks list and instructions.

6/15/23 Update Day!

Hope all of you beautiful Starhoppers and Star Warriors are doing well!

My read-through of the bound proof is complete.

All that is left is final corrections from Kyle, Neil, Corey, and Ed--nothing big, just a dot here and a cross there. I expect to implement them and send in the final draft by mid-week!

I'd have been done it by this weekend but for an idiotic move on my part to pull weeds without gloves. The weeds had poison ivy in them, which I didn't realize until about a day later; and to boot, I lost internet yesterday.

But we don't let obstacles stand in our way. We're never going to have perfect circumstances, and if we waiting for that, or allowing impediments to mess us up, we'll never get anything done. So, always be ready and willing to fight for what is necessary and good in your life!

So, I'll pop on here once I've submitted the manuscript next week. It takes them a month (give or take) to print up books. I'll let you know when they arrive and email everyone as well just to be on the safe side.

I am going to miss working on this, to be honest. It's been part of my life now for so long! But my loss is your gain, as you'll finally get to read and discuss this... beast... I can't call it novel. It doesn't have any of the structural aspects of a novel. It's an annal; it's a tapestry with things that connect in small and large ways to elements within the book and to the larger EU (and sometimes very obscure things in the EU), lending it a framework and history that was otherwise only ever hinted at in bits and bobs from 1977 on.

So, I'm proud of the work, of all the help my team provided, and all of you, with all the encouragement, patience, contributions, and love you guys have given!

We stand at the threshold!

6/14/23 Final SE Week

I'll be submitting the final draft and placing orders for physical copies of Supernatural Encounters (which includes "Cult Encounters") for contributors by next week. In other words, this is the last few days left to become a contributor if you're interested in that. Otherwise, the PDF will be made available once contributors have their copies in hand.

A. $20.00-$59.00: Your name in the contributor credits (no physical copy included).

B. $60.00-$99.00: Perk A plus an illustrated 7x10 trade paperback. C. $100.00-$199.00: Perk A plus an illustrated 7x10 hardcover. D. $200.00-up: Perks A through C. If you're outside of the U.S., an additional $35.00 must be added for levels B to D to cover international shipping costs. Contributions go towards the illustrations, production of the book, and maintenance of the website, which will feature the PDF free to the public. Physical copies will be produced on a one-time limited edition basis and will not be for sale. Books will be shipped out as soon as they’re available. You can keep track of my progress, see illustrations, and pick up a few goodies on the Discord server (link forthcoming) and/or Facebook and website updates.

If you're interested, email me at thesithempire@msn.com

6/1/23 SE Update!

Update Day is here!! Welcome all you new Starhoppers to our growing team of Star Warriors!

I've got some good news today!

I surpassed page 800 last night! I'm in the middle of Ch 75 and cruising along! That leaves 150 pages left! I've had my people working overtime catching errors, Kyle has started recordings for the audio-drama, and I expect to be done around the next update.

In more good news, I now have the complete English translations of the four Hungarian Han Solo books! This is all thanks to Matthew Smith and his assistant (apologies, his name escapes me at the moment) who did the heavy lifting! Once you guys have SE in your hands, I'll begin the process of proofreading/editing them.

In yet more good news, I've sent the English translations of the five German Ewoks comics/magazines to Marvel, who are interested in including them in the next Ewoks/Droids omnibus. I was hoping to have also been able to send them translations of the eight Spanish die-cut books, which have exclusive stories, but I can't seem to track them down--and when I do see one or two on Ebay, they're cost-prohibitive. Frankly, I don't know if they fall into Marvel's purview anyway, but it would've been nice to give them the option of including it. In any case, I'm not giving up on those stories. It's just that when I finally get them and have them translated, it'll be a digital release on the Discord server and then here on starwarstimeline.net, as opposed to a physical release, which I know most of us prefer.

I hope all of you are doing well! I'm ever in your debt! Love you guys and MTFBWY!!

4/15/23 SE Update!

UPDATE DAY!! You asked for it, you got it! Book III has dropped! If you're not on the Discord server, drop me a line and I'll send it to you. As with the previous books, it's in B&W to prevent pirating but the final versions (PDF and physical) will be in full color. For those of you waiting for the physical copy, more power to you and thank you so much for your patience! For those reading with each drop, you may be starting to see why this project has taken so long to come to fruition. ;) There are a lot of moving pieces! And, of course, nothing is set in stone until the physical book is out.

For those of you who missed the previous updates days, the short version is this: I'm back on track after numerous, ridiculous setbacks, including a host of computer issues and personal dilemmas, all of which are thankfully behind me. I'm about halfway through the bound proof copy--but this is it! Errors or not, this baby will be born when I get to the end. I was hoping for a May release (because: Star Wars Day), but that's not feasible. If I can finish by the end of May, I'll be thrilled. But as always, I'll keep you guys up to date twice a month.

As to the other projects, they are also still moving ahead! I'm talking about the Hungarian Han Solo books, the SE Atlas, Ewoks translations, and foreign language RPG translations, for which I'll create a dedicated thread on the Discord server for those of you working on them (so you can work together and avoid needless duplication). And I'm also still excited about those of you doing your own art and individual stories! And don't forget LegendsCon in Burbank in September!

4/2/23 Site and SE Updates!

So with my lost files back, I can revert the site to one that doesn't have all these broken links. That will bring us back to the Feb 6th status, which, as far as I'm concerned, is good news! There are many more updates to come, but that can all wait until SE is out. Speaking of that, I'm halfway through the final pass. I've released Books I and II to contributors on the Discord server. If you missed that or if you're not on the Discord server, by all means, hit me up and request these (or a link to the Discord).

2/23/23 Updates!

After some minor hiccups involving having to get a new hard drive and Facebook causing problems, I'm back up and running, albeit slowly. The proof copy arrived and requires a bit of work, which I'll begin today. This site looks like it needs a bit of work too, as some of the images seem to be missing. Consider this a work-in-progress, as I have to focus my attention on SE.

2/6/23 Updates!

The bound proof copies of SE are coming by week's end! I've also added the final chapter breakdown to the timeline.

1/27/23 Updates!

Hey everyone! I've sent corrected files to the printer earlier today. There were production decisions that I had to deliberate over, as well as typographical errors that my editors and I caught during the process that I wanted fixed. These kinds of issues are nothing abnormal, but they do slow down the process a bit. A small snag, but we're full-steam ahead now. I promised to keep you guys informed and will continue to do so as I get further news! Cheers!

In site news, moving forward, I'm going to approach the Star Wars Expanded Universe Timeline in the same way that SE approaches it, in a kind of Trinitarian fashion: One Canon, Three Universes: EU, DU, and Infinities. Nothing will change at the outset, but I'll start by creating a separate section from the Infinities section.

1/16/23 Update Day!

Hello there, my crazy Starhoppers and Star Warriors! I've heard that the Episode I Adventures book series had gotten quite hard to find. So here it is: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10ISaVkiGz2WEvRwizmawjE9mQq8ck9_a/view?usp=sharing.

In update news, the printer, graphic designer, and I have been working hard these past two weeks, going back and forth to hammer out everything to their exacting specifications. As per your suggestions, I've requested bound proofs and those should be arriving in a week or so for me to look over. I've already found a few errors that I've wanted fixed, and assuming the proofs don't have anything additional that is egregious, I'll give them my "approval" and the printing will start.

When it comes to errors, the bottom line is this: there are going to be some. Despite all of the hard work my editors, proofreaders, and I have put in to find and eradicate them, in a 1000+ page document, it's inevitable that some are going to slip through. In the big publishing houses, they have a team of full-time proofreaders going over drafts, but even in that scenario, in your standard 2-300 page book, errors slip in. Perfection is an ideal that we strive for, but one we can't hope to attain, and to hold up a work for the sake of perfectionism is a fool's game. That doesn't mean you don't put the work in (and if you talk to my editors, they'll tell you we certainly have!) But you have to move forward...

Instead of having you guys wait half a month for updates, from here on out, I'm just going to let you know any major progress that occurs as it occurs. The arrival of the bound proofs, the start of printing, the arrival of books, and when I mail them out. That kind of means the suspension of Update Days for awhile, though I'd like to start them up again with the Han Solo books (which have been proceeding nicely behind-the-scenes) as that gets closer to production. And expect updates in regards to LegendsCon! Until then, MTFBWY!

1/7/23 Site Update

Shout-out to David Koziol for helping me better place Darth Vader and the Lost Command after Imperial Commando: 501st. I have other corrections and updates to make, which I'll manage in the days ahead while SE is at the printer.

1/1/23 Update Day and Happy New Year!

Hope all of you Starhoppers and Star Warriors are doing well in 2023!

The files are with the printer!!

The sequence of events will be as follows: in about three days, they'll send me a proof copy showing me exactly what the books are going to look like. I'll spend about half a day going over it carefully to make sure everything looks correct. Then, I'll give my thumbs up (or send corrections if anything needs it). Then, it takes roughly about 20 days for them to print up books, and another few days to ship them to me, at which point I'll take a picture with the stacks and start packaging them, which given the amount there are will take a few days. Then, it's a few trips to the post office, and I'll email all of you with confirmation... And then I can rest for a bit while beginning work on proofreading the next project, the Hungarian Han Solo books, while helping Kyle with the SE audio drama and Corey with the SE Atlas.

So, thanks to all of you for your amazing contributions, support, patience, suggestions, and fellowship! I love you all and I'll see you again on the 15th!