This year at Dragon Con saw a special recognition of Force Friday, the biggest Star Wars merchandising release day each year! This was put on by the Star Wars track in the form of a book launch concurrent with the actual official book launches of two new Star Wars books! The books (“Phasma” and “Leia, Princess of Alderaan”) and their authors were present for a really cool event for fans to buy the newly released books, get them signed, and meet the authors all while attending Dragon Con!
Claudia Gray and Delilah S. Dawson signed so many books as excited Star Wars fans queued up in a line stretching from the Star Wars room and down the hall, and purchased copies of the books to be signed by the authors. “Leia, Princess of Alderaan” is a young adult book by Claudia Gray. It was released on September 1 as part of the Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi. It focuses on a younger version of Leia as a sixteen year old princess on Alderaan. “Phasma” is a novel by Delilah S. Dawson which was also released on September 1 as a part of the Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The novel reveals the origins and motivations of Captain Phasma from “The Force Awakens”.
This year I, along with the Star Wars track volunteers, some friends, and the authors’ posse, primarily helped out with setting up tables, unboxing and stacking books, and making sure the room set up was optimal for the book launch. This took some work initially, but once everything was complete the launch itself went smoothly, and lots of fans were able to get photos with the authors and the new books.
One of my favorite parts was meeting Delilah S. Dawson while wearing my Porg shirt (designed after “The Last Jedi” trailer), that she absolutely loved! Later I was able to meet up with her and give her one of her own (pictured in the tweet screenshot below).
This amazing porg shirt from @BethanyLBlanton is EVERYTHING. <3 pic.twitter.com/l1gWjjascF
— Delilah S. Dawson (@DelilahSDawson) September 4, 2017
I hope to see more product launches at Dragon Con in the future, as this one was so fun for everyone involved!
~Bethany Blanton
