Timothy Zahn returns yet again to the Star Wars universe, with a new publication to be released at the end of this year focusing on Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Lando Calrissian. Entitled Star Wars: Scoundrels, the book will be released on Boxing Day, which is December 26.

Zahn’s new adventure is essentially a heist/crime story, which is an awesome idea, as this concept has never been explored in the Expanded Star Wars Universe. Picture this: mixing up the stories of Ocean’s Eleven, The Usual Suspects, and The Italian Job, and chucking them all into the backdrop of the Star Wars galaxy… Sold on the idea yet? I can tell you with absolute certainty that I am.

The Expanded Universe has been advancing sub-genre stories like this for a few years now, the best known being Deathtroopers, mixing up Horror and Zombie stories into Star Wars lore. This year’s Darth Plagueis played more like a Godfather-esque tale inside the context of Sith lineage; and the recent Dark Horse comic book series Agent Of The Empire captures the Bourne/007 spy genre wonderfully.

The Scoundrels outline from Del Rey reads as follows:

The Death Star has been destroyed. The Rebellion has had its first big victory. And Han Solo, newly conscripted to the Rebel cause, is on the run from the Empire and the bounty hunters eager to turn him in for the huge reward being offered by Jabba the Hutt. Now a mysterious stranger offers Han the resources to execute a daring robbery from a major crime lord. The mission is impossible, but the prize will make Han a free man.

With no choice but to accept, Han Solo and his Wookiee partner, Chewbacca, set out to assemble a cast of rogues, knaves, and cons with the right combination of wits, skills, and derring-do to pull off an operation of this complexity and scale “” the best scoundrels the galaxy has to offer. And then the game is on: a rip-roaring, intergalactic, Ocean’s Eleven-style heist adventure starring Han Solo, Chewie, and Lando Calrissian, written by #1 New York Times bestselling Star Wars author Timothy Zahn!

Scoundrels will be released on December 26, 2012. Amazon is currently accepting pre-orders for the book.

[Source: EW]