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Here's what the New Essential Chronlogy has to say on the subject:

"The New Republic became bogged down in a brutal military campaign in the Inner Rim. Skywalker led his troops onto the battlefields of Mindor, digging out entrenched pockets of Imperial reistance. Stormtroopers, under the command of Lord Shadowspawn, fought to the last man. Though Fenn Shysa and his new Mandalorian Protectors helped deliver the deciding blow against Shadowspawn, Skywalker grew dismayed at the bloodshed and unecessary loss of life.

Less than six months after receiving his general's commission, Luke Skywalker resigned from the New Republic military." (pg. 136)

What I like:

*Matthew Stover writing Luke Skywalker. I cannot overemphasis the Awesomeness of this. It is actually more like Awesomeness Magnified to the Power of One Thousand. That's how cool this is.

*A detailed psychological look at Luke (and by extension, Leia, Han, Chewie and everyone else clustered on the Big Three) at approximately 1 to 1.5 years after ROTJ. A period relatively Big Three free in the Expanded Universe, this should be fan-bloody-tastic.

*A look at the early New Republic.

*Tie-ins with other materials going on at this time - including Kyle Katarn and his Dark Forces romp, Marvel shenanigans with the Mandos, and the X-Wing comics, which deal with peeps such as Isard, Pestage, Winter, Celchu, Horn, etc etc It's gonna be awesome.

*Luke Skywalker - not as a Jedi Master, not as a father and husband, but Luke Skywalker: brother, solider, Jedi Knight and friend. How it was in the beginning. Yes please.

*It's Matthew Stover. And it's Luke Skywalker. How can you lose with that??

What I don't like:

*Mandos. Ugh. What, grey is the new white and now Mandos are the new Mon Cals? Ridiculous.

*This means we don't get a "Jacen Solo on his Force journey" novel.

But I take solace in the fact that it's MATTHEW STOVER and it's LUKE SKYWALKER (and Han and Leia).

Never thought I'd see that.

EDIT:

*Unlike what seems to be the consensus here, I adore that title.

It harkens right back to the movies and what the Flanelled One originally envisioned SW as: old-school Saturday morning serials in the vein of Flash Gordon.

I quite love it.

*To those who see this as potential "compensation" for what is rumoured to be Luke's death in LOTF: Sacrifice, I ask you this:

Why is the same not said for Mara and her recent novel, Allegiance?

Both novels (assuming LSATSOM - how's that for an acronym! - follows Allegiance's pattern to some degree) are featuring the characters in their earlier years doing best what they did in these respective time periods. Both are filling in sketchy areas of EU and both are most likely what large groups of fans have been curious about.

Though of course, it is quite plausible that both Skywalkers survive LOTF and these novels are just something the VIPs felt invested to do. Or it could be that Luke dies in Book 9 (also due out in '08) and this is sort of a look back at Luke in his "military prime" before the lights go out in the LOTF finale.

*The Courtship of Princess Leia also sees Han briefly recall the Battle of Mindor, which as this novel reveals devastated the planet. Han also recalls how he and Leia were present for some part of the battle, so its safe to assume they'll have a large part of the story too.

*Lord Shadowspawn is, quite obviously, an Imperial warlord. It was assumed he perished on Mindor, but he may have escaped.

*On another note, I wonder: will we perhaps be seeing any other familiar EU faces?

Okay, I was thinking about LSATSOM and I thought of one thing.

It's the most pivotal decision in Luke's life and before now, it's never been covered head-on.

It's arguably not just the biggest decision of his life, but one that changed the entire galaxy. And although we've seen the outcome of this decision, and we're still seeing it in LOTF, we've never actually seen the decision itself.

It's a decision that he made during the Mindor campaign.

It's his decision to revive the Jedi Order.

And I just realised the whole point of what LSATSOM is going to be.

The lead-up to, and the psychology behind Luke's decision to reject warfare and resurrect the Jedi.

And Stover is going to be writing this.

I just pissed my pants.