In recent years, librarians have expressed interest in adding StarWarp Concepts’ titles to their e-book collections. But how, they’ve asked, would they be able to obtain them? As librarians, they’re required to order books from distributors, not from publishers; that applies to e-books as well.
Well, it just so happens that one of SWC’s digital distributors, Smashwords, makes our titles available to libraries through Baker & Taylor Axis360 and OverDrive, as well as around the world through Odilo, Gardners Books (Askews & Holts for public libraries), and, most recently, Bibliotheca CloudLibrary. To quote from Smashword’s arrangement with the programs:
“Library patrons are able to check out only one copy at a time. The books are wrapped in DRM so they time out after a specific period of time. The library can purchase multiple copies if they decide demand warrants multiple simultaneous checkouts. Otherwise, the library purchases a single copy and allows only one copy at a time to be lent out. If a library patron wishes to obtain a book that’s already checked out, the patron is sometimes given the option to purchase a copy through a retailer.”
In the case of OverDrive, “If a library patron wishes to obtain a book that’s already checked out, the patron is sometimes given the option to purchase a copy direct through OverDrive (for libraries that utilize OverDrive’s ‘Buy it Now’ feature).”
Via Smashwords, the following titles can be ordered:
Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination is a popular how-to book for writers and gamers in which bestselling fantasy author Richard C. White (Gauntlet: Dark Legacy: Paths of Evil, The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special, Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings) takes you through the step-by-step process of constructing a world for your characters, from societies and governments to currency and religion. Included is an interview with New York Times bestselling author Tracy Hickman (Dragonlance) that discusses his methods of world building, as well as his creative experiences during his time as a designer for gaming company TSR, the original home of Dungeons & Dragons.
For a Few Gold Pieces More is Richard C. White’s latest release, a short-story collection of ten critically acclaimed short stories. Think Lord of the Rings meets the “spaghetti Westerns” of director Sergio Leone (A Fistful of Dollars; The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly), as a Rogue With No Name travels a world of epic-fantasy adventure, looking for treasure—and revenge against the woman who sent him to prison for a crime he didn’t commit (but she did).
Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1: This critically acclaimed novel by yours truly is the beginning of Pan’s story, explaining how she, her parents and friends, and Annie are drawn into a conflict among warring vampire clans searching for the key to an ultimate weapon (or so the legend goes)—a key that just so happens to have been delivered to the horror-themed museum owned by Pan’s father. It’s a character-driven action-fest that leads immediately into the second novel:
Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2: Pan and Annie face even greater challenges as the vampire clans draw up plans to go to war with humanity. Leading the charge is a fallen angel named Zaqiel, whose previous attempt at subjugating the world was stopped by Annie—who, back in the day, was Zaqiel’s lover!
So if you’re a librarian interested in adding those titles to your digital bookshelves, head over to your e-book distributor for libraries and place your order today!
Hey, monster fans! If you grew up a monster kid like I did, you’re probably looking forward to the upcoming release of Kong: Skull Island, the latest movie version of the story about that giant, misunderstood ape and the island of monsters he comes from.
A second summer book sale? You bet! First, it was our participation in Smashwords’ Summer 2016 Sale, and right now e-book distributor DriveThru Comics—along with its sister sites DriveThru Fiction, DriveThru RPG, and RPGNow—has launched its annual 
Carmilla is J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s 19th-century classic vampiric tale of love gone wrong. Laura is so desperate for a friend that when a young woman named Carmilla practically turns up on the doorstep of the castle owned by Laura’s father, she thinks her prayers for companionship have been answered. But as she comes to realize, Carmilla isn’t as interested in making friends as she is in spilling blood. Regarded as the one of the earliest female vampire tales—if not the first—Carmilla was an influence on author Bram Stoker in the creation of the vampire brides in his seminal novel, Dracula, and remains a popular character in fiction to this day. Just like with A Princess of Mars, our edition contains six original illustrations done especially for StarWarp Concepts by the super-talented Eliseu Gouveia.
Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings is a general readers’ graphic novel about a group of supernatural-superheroes-for-hire taking on their first case. The team consists of a wizard, a female ninja, a sorceress, a werewolf, and a rock ’n’ roll lighting designer wearing high-tech armor. Sure, they might not be on a power level with the Avengers or Justice League of America—they’re more like superpowered Ghostbusters—but they get the job done. The graphic novel is written by the husband-and-white team of Richard C. White (Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination, For a Few Gold Pieces More: Tales of the Rogue With No Name) and Joni M. White, and illustrated by Reggie Golden and Randy Zimmerman.
A few weeks ago, I got this message from e-book distributor DriveThru Fiction, which sells digital editions of the Pandora Zwieback novels, as well as other StarWarp Concepts titles:
I’ve known about RAINN for a while—its biggest promoter is World Wrestling Entertainment’s legendary Mick Foley (aka Mankind and Cactus Jack)—so I immediately offered 
An interesting topic came up last week, while I was talking with Richard C. White, author of StarWarp Concepts’ supernatural graphic novel Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings, pirate-fantasy digital comic The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special, and the popular how-to book for writers, Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination. Rich had been a guest at a recent MystiCon fantasy convention and had a conversation with some school librarians who were interested in adding his writers reference book, Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination, to their lists of e-book titles. But how, they asked, would they be able to obtain it? As librarians, they’re required to order books from distributors, not from publishers; that applies to e-books as well.