Happy New Year! 2014 is shaping up to be an exciting year for those of us at StarWarp Concepts, and here’s what we’ve got in store:
First off, please welcome our new (and first-ever) production manager, Annie Wilkes!
Hailing from Sidewinder, Colorado, Annie loves books…with the exception of anything starring our succubus character Lorelei, whom she regards as a “dirty bird” (which is okay; Lori’s not for everyone). She’s a voracious reader and likes to bill herself as the “#1 fan” of quite a few writers (she’s particularly fond of the works of Paul Sheldon), and she’s a stickler for punctuality, which is a definite plus. Her method of motivating our creative talent to meet their deadlines—a method she calls “Misery Loves Company”—might be considered incredibly unorthodox and highly unethical by those outside the book publishing industry, but it has proven to be surprisingly effective. We think she’ll fit in just fine around here.
The first job we’ve tasked her with is straightening out the unfortunate delay with the long-awaited and much demanded Blood Reign, second in our critically acclaimed Saga of Pandora Zwieback young adult novel series. Annie has promised to right this ship so that readers eager to follow Pan’s adventures will finally learn what became of her after the cliffhanger ending of the first novel, Blood Feud.
You’ll definitely be seeing Blood Reign this year—no matter how much its elusive author, Steve Roman, complains about his broken ankles. Walk it off, you big baby. 😉
Blood Reign is just the first ’Warp release scheduled for this year. In September, our dirty-bird succubus returns to host Lorelei Presents: House Macabre, a one-shot special in the tradition of horror anthology comics like Creepy, Eerie, and Bela Lugosi’s Tales From the Grave.
Behind that (not final) cover you see here by bad-girl artist supreme Louis Small Jr. (Vampirella, Lady Death), you’ll find stories by the deadline-challenged Roman as well as by Dwight Jon Zimmerman, former writer of Web of Spider-Man, She-Hulk, and Transformers, and most recently the New York Times bestselling co-author (with Fox News pundit Bill O’Reilly) of Lincoln’s Last Days. Art is provided by Ernie Colon (The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1), Lou Manna (T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents), Uriel Caton (Heartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa), and John Pierard (My Teacher Fried My Brains).
And on sale right now in comic shops is the graphic novel Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings. Yes, the book originally came out last year, but then it was picked up by Diamond Comics Distribution for retail sales this month. Head on down to your local comic shop and ask them to stock our supernatural superhero team’s debut adventure—and then pick up a copy for yourself!
On the convention scene, we’ve already got three appearances lined up: Awesome Con DC in April; Eternal Con in June; and the Brooklyn Book Festival in September. Unfortunately, we’ll be skipping October’s New York Comic Con—it’s become a really expensive show at which to exhibit—but we may return to it one day.
One final note: If you haven’t already, please Like our StarWarp Concepts and/or Pandora Zwieback Facebook pages. We love keeping in touch with our fans, and that’s just one more way you can follow the doings around here.
Best wishes to all our readers for 2014!
—K. C. Winters
Last month StarWarp Concepts was an exhibitor at the Baltimore Comic-Con, and it was there that I met Joseph O’Donnell, publisher of the online magazine The Eerie Digest. After talking to Joe about what The ’Warp had to offer to dark fantasy readers, he asked if we could do a follow-up interview for the magazine’s fiftieth issue—and it’s now available!
Forget all about that gun-totin’ “Trinity of Sin” gal from our Distinguished Competition—
Independent publishing house StarWarp Concepts—home of dark-urban-fantasy books and graphic novels—returns for the 2013 New York Comic Con, being held on October 10–13 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
First up, we have pencil art from Cheltz. She was part of the PLB Comics crew at the next-door table, and at one point on Saturday afternoon she got a deep cut on one of her fingers. Since I just happen to carry a small first-aid kit in my messenger bag, I was able to provide immediate medical assistance. “Just for that,” Cheltz said, “you’re getting a free crappy sketch!” Not so “crappy,” in my opinion; in fact, I think it’s great!
Earlier this year I was searching for an artist who could duplicate the original Pan jacket painted in 2011 by our friend 
The answer was an enthusiastic yes! As Dan explained, it would be a change of pace from the nose art, and provide him with a challenge to paint something (really) different. Not only that, but when I mentioned that the devil art on the back panel would be a recreation of a 16th-century woodcut, it turned out that Dan collects 16th-century woodcuts! It seemed like I’d found the right artist, right off the bat. (Even funnier was when I read his “About the Artist” bio, and learned that the guy I’d just commissioned to paint the devil is an ordained Lutheran minister!)
As you can see, Dan did a fantastic job for me, then did another for his daughter (who’s now a Pan-atic herself). Check out his other stellar jacket work at his 