If this isn’t the coolest thing I’ve heard in a while, I don’t know what is.

Word has come around that author Joe Schreiber has written a little book called Deathtroopers. This book is from LucasFilm and Del Rey Books and takes place in the wonderful world of Star Wars… the only difference here is, this book is a horror story.

On his blog, Mr. Schreiber said that the book is in its final editing stages and that it will be out sometime in November of 2009, though on StarWars.com, there is an October 27, 2009 date set, so that may be the one to look for. They also call this the FIRST horror book, which means with success comes more horror!

StarWars.com is also the source of the image above. If you haven’t clicked it yet, do so immediately to see the full-size book cover. It’s completely insane and will make you want to read the book even more than you already want to.

Also on his blog Schreiber had this to say about the project and the book:

Well, sir… while I may not be a child of the 70s, I must say, why has it taken this long for such a brilliant idea to come around!?

The story will take place before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope — so the questions are a plenty. Who’s involved? How gruesome does it get? Will I weep?

What’s also very curious is, if this is real-deal Star Wars from LucasFilm and it does well — how long is it before we see a new kind of movie or TV show? It wasn’t too long ago that rumors were swirling about a dark, adult-themed Star Wars show on HBO or another channel like that, so is this going to be similar but in book form? While those “other” Star Wars movies weren’t so well-received, Episode III was the best of them and the dark tone it took on worked really well if you ask me, so I’m interested to see what they do here.

This is definitely something to be giddy for, I feel.

[Source: via /Film]