Category Archives: Pandora Zwieback
Blood Reign Preview Available for Download
Don’t worry, Panatics, the wait is almost over! The highly anticipated Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2—the second part of Pan’s debut literary adventure that began in the novel Blood Feud—is on its way (and I deeply apologize for the lengthy delay between books), but in the meantime you can download a free chapter of Blood Reign!
Dying to learn Pan’s fate after Blood Feud’s shocking climax? Well, of course you are! Then get ahold of the preview today and discover how the terror that Pan experienced at the end of Blood Feud is only the beginning of her saga…
Just go to the Blood Reign product page at StarWarp Concepts, scroll down to the free preview, download the PDF, and start reading!
SWC Backlist: Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1
As a follow-up to this past weekend’s first BookCon, I thought it would be a good time to introduce first-time visitors to our StarWarp Concepts and Pandora Zwieback sites, and new readers of StarWarp Concepts’ titles, to the SWC backlist (and to remind old ’Warp fans of the wide range of our offerings). So while you’ll find the majority of listings appear on the SWC blog, I figured it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to duplicate the entries relating to Pan and the “Paniverse.”
To kick things off, today we look at our young adult dark-urban-fantasy novel Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1, written by Steven A. Roman (that’s me). Here’s the synopsis:
Pandora Zwieback is a 16-year-old Goth girl who’s just discovered that her New York City hometown is the stalking ground for every creature of the night out to raise a little hell (literally!). Problem is, she thinks she’s the only one who can see them, which means she can’t tell her friends or family about the dangers around them—not unless she wants to spend the rest of her life locked up in a psychiatric ward.
But before Pan has a chance to make sense of her increasingly weird life, she finds herself in the middle of a war among rival vampire clans. Elegant Gothic Lolitas from Japan on one side, silk-suited Euro-vamps on the other, leather-clad hunters from Eastern Europe in the middle, and all after the same prize: a mysterious crate recently delivered to the horror-themed museum owned by Pan’s dad. What is its terrifying secret—and will Pan survive long enough to find out?
“Far and away one of the best young adult supernatural fantasy novels released in the last few years.”—HorrorNews.net
“A fun and very much recommended read that shouldn’t be overlooked.”—Midwest Book Reviews
“A big-style cinematic vampire and monster hunter shoot-’em-up with a very human kid caught in the crossfire… but her relationship with her parents and close friends makes the story gold.”—Goodreads
Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1 is on sale in print ($14.95 US) and e-book ($2.99) formats at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and the StarWarp Concepts webstore. The e-book is also available from iBooks, Smashwords, Kobo, DriveThru Fiction, Scribd, and Oyster.
Visit the Blood Feud product page for the sales links.
Please support StarWarp Concepts by purchasing one of our books. Thanks!
Pandora Zwieback: Blood Feud On Sale at Oyster Books
Following the recent deal between e-book distributor Smashwords and online subscription library Scribd, comes exciting news that my young adult, dark-urban-fantasy novel Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1 is available at yet another digital subscription library: Oyster Books! To quote their Web site:
Oyster offers unlimited access to over 500,000 books for $9.95 a month, with new titles added all the time.
We created Oyster to evolve the way people read and to create more of the special moments that only books can offer. From anywhere a mobile device can go—a bustling subway car, a quiet coffee shop, or lost at sea with a Bengal tiger—our mission is to build the best reading experience, one that is both communal and personal, anytime, anywhere.
Smashwords has further distribution deals in the works, most recently with German e-book retailer TXTR and with Overdrive, the world’s largest library e-book platform—and Zwieback Nation will use them to expand our world domination of dark-fantasy publishing. 😉
You’ll find Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1 here at Oyster. Start your subscription today!
Pandora Zwieback: Blood Feud On Sale at Scribd
Thanks to a recent deal negotiated by e-book distributor Smashwords, my young adult, dark-urban-fantasy novel Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1 is now available at digital subscription library Scribd! To quote their Web site:
Scribd is your personal digital library, where you have unlimited access to the world’s largest collection of e-books and written works. Our premium subscription service offers over 300,000 books from over 900 publishers, including New York Times bestsellers, literary classics, groundbreaking non-fiction, and reader favorites in every genre.
For those unfamiliar with this critically acclaimed novel, here’s the synopsis:
Pandora Zwieback is a 16-year-old Goth girl who’s just discovered that her New York City hometown is the stalking ground for every creature of the night out to raise a little hell (literally!). Problem is, she thinks she’s the only one who can see them, which means she can’t tell her friends or family about the dangers around them—not unless she wants to spend the rest of her life locked up in a psychiatric ward.
But before Pan has a chance to make sense of her increasingly weird life, she finds herself in the middle of a war among rival vampire clans. Elegant Gothic Lolitas from Japan on one side, silk-suited Euro-vamps on the other, leather-clad hunters from Eastern Europe in the middle, and all after the same prize: a mysterious crate recently delivered to the horror-themed museum owned by Pan’s dad. What is its terrifying secret—and will Pan survive long enough to find out?
And here’s what critics have had to say about it:
“Far and away one of the best young adult supernatural fantasy novels released in the last few years.”—HorrorNews.net
“A fun and very much recommended read that shouldn’t be overlooked.”—Midwest Book Reviews
“Blood Feud is a roller-coaster read; the action never lets up. Author Steven A. Roman has an incredible gift for running lateral plotlines that intersect with a glorious crash…. Highly recommended for ages 15 and up for complexity of plot, and violence.”
—Monster Librarian
You’ll find Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1 here at Scribd. Get started reading today!
Return of the Monster Hunter’s Jacket
For Pan-atics interested in having their very own replica of Ms. Zwieback’s unique leather jacket detailing, look no further than bomber jacket painter supreme Dan McQuality!
Earlier this year I was searching for an artist who could duplicate the original Pan jacket painted in 2011 by our friend Bob Larkin, the legendary Marvel Comics and Doc Savage painter who provides the covers for the Pandora Zwieback novels. Dan’s site popped up near the top of Google’s listings, so I took a look and discovered that he was an amazing artist who specialized in working with leather jackets, mainly recreating the sort of nose art you see painted on bombers in World War II–era photographs. The question was, would a guy who does WWII art be interested in painting stick figures burning in hell and a giant devil head swallowing souls?
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!)
If you provide the jacket (available for purchase here), Dan will recreate the hellish scenes “Pan” painted on hers. And he offers a lifetime guarantee to repair the paintjob if it ever cracks!
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 Web site and then drop him a line about getting started on your own—after all, you can’t fight monsters correctly if you’re not dressed right!
Guerrilla Marketing
Usually letting people know about your book can be an expensive venture—advertising, mailing copies to reviewers, etc. Sometimes, though, it can be as easy and inexpensive as writing the title on a card in a public setting…
The main branch of the New York Public Library (the famous one with the stone lions out front) is currently posting, on the windows of its gift shop, the titles of books people are reading. It’s part of their latest literacy promotion, NYPL Reads 2013—just fill out a card and they’ll put it up for all to see.
So given the opportunity to let more folks know about Blood Feud, the first Pandora Zwieback novel, and considering it cost absolutely nothing to do it, how could I pass up such a chance for free advertising…? 😉
A Pan-tastic Comics Preview
Interested in taking a look at The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1, Pan’s first full-length comics adventure, which goes on sale May 22, 2013 at finer comic shops? Of course you are!
Head on over to the StarWarp Concepts Web site and check out the first six pages of “Song of the Siren,” a story written by me and drawn and colored by Eliseu Gouveia, who provided the art for the free comic The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0 and StarWarp Concepts’ mature-readers graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City. It’s about Pan and Javier Maldonado’s first official outing as girlfriend and boyfriend, and the encounter they have with one of Javi’s old girlfriends—who’s not what she appears to be…
Also appearing in the annual is “Shopping Maul,” a short story I wrote that involves Pan, Javi, Pan’s best friend Sheena McCarthy, and and Pan’s monster-hunting mentor Sebastienne butting heads with a trio of Elegant & Gothic Lolita vampires. It sports a great title page illustration by artist Elizabeth Watasin (Charm School, The Dark Victorian). Plus there’s a “Tale of the Paniverse” by DC Comics writer Sholly Fisch (Action Comics, All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold) and comic-art legend Ernie Colon (Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld), about a demon paying a visit to his favorite pub.
The annual is being distributed to the direct market by Diamond Comics Distributor and is currently listed in the March 2013 edition of Diamond Previews. Ask your local comic shop owner to order it today!
Nerd is the Word for Pandora Zwieback Fans
I don’t know about you, but I never get tired of receiving positive reviews of Blood Feud, the first Pandora Zwieback novel—and here’s the latest! This time, the praise comes from Aida Jacobs, the Girly Geek of the comic news Web site Word of the Nerd:
“Roman continues to prove his skill with the English language all throughout the pages of this tome by painting vivid pictures with words that you normally would not put together…but once your eyes glance over them, you can’t stop yourself from imagining the image they create at length within your mind…”
Read the entire review by clicking on the logo above.
Pandora Zwieback, Book 1 E-book Now at Lower Price
With Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2 scheduled for release this May, we here at The ’Warp thought it would be the perfect time to make the first Pan novel available to a wider readership. Makes sense, right?
Therefore, we’ve lowered the price of all digital versions of Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1—PDF, ePub, and .prc (Kindle compatible)—from $3.99 to just $2.99!
You can download the lower-priced Blood Feud from the Kindle store at Amazon.com, the NOOK Book Store at Barnes & Noble, Apple’s iBookstore, the Sony Reader Store, and Kobo, the SWC stores at Smashwords and DriveThru Fiction, or directly from the StarWarp Concepts webstore. Just visit the Blood Feud product page at StarWarp Concepts for all the links.
If you’ve been reluctant to pick up Pan’s first literary appearance, or know someone who’d love to meet our resident Goth adventuress, there’s no better time than right now to do so!