You might not ever get rich
But lemme tell you it’s better than diggin’ a ditch
—Rose Royce, “Car Wash”
Hi. I’m Steve Roman. You may remember me from such novels as X-Men: The Chaos Engine and Final Destination: Dead Man’s Hand. You may also know me as (no great secret) the publisher of StarWarp Concepts, and the author of its young adult, dark-urban-fantasy novel series The Saga of Pandora Zwieback. You know—the guy whose latest Pan novel, Blood Reign, is the one you’re eagerly waiting to read. (And that’s no lie—I’ve heard and read your responses to Blood Feud. Thanks for the encouragement!)
Unfortunately, I have some bad news to pass along regarding the planned June release of Blood Reign…
Now, I consider myself to be a pretty talented writer. Unfortunately, I don’t make a living from writing, and StarWarp Concepts doesn’t make anywhere close to the sort of money I’d like it to. That means I have to have a real job to pay the bills, just like everybody else. And the more expenses that SWC racks up—paying artist and designers for their work, paying for publishing costs, paying for exhibition space at conventions (plus travel and shipping expenses), etc.—the more work I have to take on to pay the bills.
That work for the past five years has been as a freelance copyeditor and proofreader for a number of book publishers here in New York. And, all modesty aside, I’m very good at my job—and very much in demand. (It helps that I developed my skills for this career by having been a fiction editor for 10+ years.) Here, for example, was part of my workload this past April:
That’s five assignments right there: two proofreading jobs and three manuscripts to copyedit. (Oh, and yes, that’s a Dalek alarm clock in the middle of the pile—yay, Doctor Who!)
Here are May’s seven assignments:
Three books to proofread, two manuscript copyedits, and two manga proofreads. (I freelance for Yen Press—if you read series like Pandora Hearts, Bunny Drop, Soul Eater, Black Butler, or The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, I’m the guy checking the spelling and punctuation.) As for June, well, there were those two emergency copyediting jobs that were due at the start of the month…
I usually average around ten assignments a month—which makes 120 jobs in a year. Holiday seasons and summers are especially crazy—freelancers and editors go on vacation, page proofs arrive late from the typesetter, etc.—which means companies will offer increased rates for those of us not on vacation to meet publishing deadlines that can’t be moved. And I really can’t say no to short-term pay increases when I have people and my own bills to pay.
Believe me when I tell you
It gets a little rough
Work a little harder
But it never is enough
Lot of friends say
I’m a total loss
All I want is a couple days off
—Huey Lewis and the News, “Couple Days Off”
So, why am I telling you all this? Well, so that you’ll know why Blood Reign is running late. It was scheduled to come out in June 2012; in all likelihood, it will now be released in October, in time for this year’s New York Comic Con. And the Pandora Zwieback Annual #1 is now being shifted to summer 2013, so I’ll have more time to write that comic book script, as well as the first-ever Pan short story I’ve got planned for a backup tale.
All these delays and rescheduling of books kill me. They really do. Because I pride myself on StarWarp Concepts’ reputation as “a small press company that presents itself with nothing but professionalism” (thanks, Severe Magazine), and it’s not very professional to delay the company’s major release when readers are counting on it. But like I said, I’ve gotta pay StarWarp’s bills (plus my own) somehow, and until Pan’s series becomes a bestseller or StarWarp generates some serious sales figures so it can carry its own weight, I have to spend time that could be dedicated to writing on freelance assignments.
I deeply apologize for the delay, and hope you understand my position. And I hope you’ll stick around to find out where Pan’s adventures are headed—they might not always be on time, but they’ll always be fun. 😉
The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0: Introducing 16-year-old Goth adventuress Pandora Zwieback! Pan is a girl with the ability to see the monsters that regular humans can’t, and with the help of a 400-year-old monster hunter named Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin, she’s going to protect the world from danger—and maybe even have some fun while doing it.
Heartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa #1: In 1994, Sebastienne Mazarin made her debut in this short-lived Mature Readers series from Millennium Publications. Now, for the first time in almost two decades, StarWarp Concepts re-presents this long-lost comics adventure of the monster hunter known as La Bella Tenebrosa (“the beautiful dark one”).
The annual gathering of the Institute of Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction—hosted by Blood Moon Rising magazine—is being held this coming Saturday, March 24, at the main branch of the Queens Public Library, in Flushing (just a few blocks from Main Street—the final stop on the #7 train—and smack in the middle of the borough’s own Chinatown). Not only will I be manning the StarWarp Concepts table, but I’ll be doing my first public reading of Blood Feud. (Now that’s terrifying!) 
The Institute of Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction runs from noon to 5:00 p.m. on March 24, and admission is free. The Queens Library is located at 41-17 Main Street, in Flushing.
