SWC Horror Bites: White Fell: The Werewolf Now On Sale!

whitefell-werewolf-cvrHey, Panatics! As you know, February is Women in Horror Month, the annual celebration that shines the spotlight on the contributions of all the female creators—writers, artists, movie directors, producers, special makeup artists, special effects experts, etc.—who’ve brought thrills and chills to generations of fans around the world.

To do its part for the celebration, the literary researchers at Pan’s publisher, StarWarp Concepts, scoured the classic horror archives to find a title that not only would fit the occasion, but that would also make a fantastic launch title for its newly launched SWC Horror Bites series of chapbooks. And now it’s on sale!

White Fell—The Werewolf, originally published in 1896, was written by renowned author, artist, and suffragette Clemence Annie Housman, and is regarded by scholars as possibly the first feminist werewolf story. In it, a beautiful woman named White Fell wanders into a snowbound village—and into the hearts of twin brothers, one of whom immediately becomes smitten by her. The other brother, however, soon grows suspicious of the enigmatic White Fell. Where did she come from? Why does she always carry an ax? And is her sudden appearance somehow related to the recent sightings of a bloodthirsty wolf in the area? He may come to regret being so inquisitive…

Critics have consistently enjoyed it, right from its first publication—including a certain writer whose work has inspired generations of horror authors:

“Attains a high degree of gruesome tension.”H. P. Lovecraft

“An elegant, bittersweet story of twin brothers and the beautiful woman who comes between them. Housman effectively creates an atmosphere of dread and horror.”Goodreads

“For Housman, the female werewolf is a vehicle for her to present a strong feminist-inspired female character…. It is possible that Housman was telling the world that women had a hidden strength and that men should beware of their own hidden nature.”
The Nuke Mars Journal of Speculative Fiction

“White Fell is interesting because she subverts many of the tropes of the monstrous woman—i.e without maternal instincts, animalistic, lustful, etc. She is a femme fatale only in the most basic sense that she is a deadly woman.” International Gothic Association

White Fell—The Werewolf is on sale right now in print and digital formats, so visit its product page at StarWarp Concepts for further information and order it today!

SWC Horror Bites: Something You’ll Want to Devour

whitefell-werewolf-cvr“Short tales to appease your monstrous hunger for suspense” is how we describe SWC Horror Bites, a chapbook series that will be available in print and e-book formats exclusively from the StarWarp Concepts webstore, and at the conventions we attend. The series, which launches in February (during the annual celebration of Women in Horror Month), will be a mix of new and classic horror stories.

And if you head over to today’s post at the StarWarp Concepts blog, you’ll see my explanation of what this program holds in store for fans of literary horror this year. A feminist werewolf tale, a classic ghost story from Charles Dickens (but not starring Ebenezer Scrooge), and an anthology of spooky stories that first appeared in 1950s horror comics are just the start of the menu for SWC Horror Bites. Go check them out!

Happy 2017, Panatics!

newyear-skeleton

Believe it, skeleton man—that’s what you get for sleeping through Christmas! Still, I hope Santa and the Krampus brought you—and you Panatics—everything you wished for (or wished on others…mu-ha-ha).

blood-and-iron-cvrTwo thousand seventeen promises to be a busy year for Pan’s publisher, StarWarp Concepts, whose plans include—you guessed it!—the much-anticipated release of Blood & Iron: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 3 this October. It’s the conclusion of Pan’s first literary adventure, which began in the first novel, Blood Feud, and continued into Blood Reign, and pits Pan, her family, and her friends—including immortal monster hunter Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin—against the forces of monsterdom, who are led by the fallen angel Zaqiel—who’s also a former lover of Annie’s!

But starring in a new novel isn’t all that’s in store for Pan this year, and if you check out today’s post at the StarWarp Concepts blog, you’ll learn what SWC has in mind for our favorite Goth adventuress, as well as its other publishing plans. Head over there now and give it a read!

IndyFest Magazine Profiles StarWarp Concepts

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Good news, everyone! StarWarp Concepts is the cover feature of Dimestore Productions’ just-published IndyFest Magazine #85, in which Managing Editor Ellen Fleischer interviews author and SWC publisher Steven A. Roman (that’s me) about the company’s critically acclaimed releases—including my novel series, The Saga of Pandora Zwieback—and SWC’s first lady of horror, Lorelei. Just as exciting is the fact that the cover art is a special illustration of Pan crossing paths with Lori, by Eliseu “Zeu” Gouveia, artist of SWC’s The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0, The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1, and Lorelei: Sects and the City!

Although the print version retails for $6.00, you can obtain the digital edition of IndyFest Magazine #85 for free from Dimestore’s website; just download the issue from right here.

IndyFest is the brainchild of publisher Ian Shires, one of the mainstays of small-press comic book publishing. Back in the early, early days of The ’Warp, when it was just me writing and drawing Lorelei comics, publishing things like the original version of Richard C. White’s Troubleshooters, Incorporated, and printing everything on photocopiers, Ian was one of the fellow self-publishers I bought mini-comics from (I think it was his series Dungar the Barbarian). His Dimestore Productions house has grown significantly since then—as has The ’Warp—so it was nice to be in touch with him again. And special thanks go out to IndyFest managing editor Ellen Fleischer for setting up the ’Warp coverage!

Now head over to Dimestore Productions and get your free digital copy of IndyFest Magazine #85!

And don’t forget SWC’s latest releases, which are now on sale: my young adult, dark-urban-fantasy novel Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2 continues the monster-fighting Goth girl’s struggles to prevent a monster takeover of the world; and in Lorelei Presents: House Macabre, the flame-tressed succubus tries her hand at hosting a horror anthology comic, in stories written by yours truly and Dwight Jon Zimmerman, with art by Uriel Caton & “Chainsaw” Chuck Majewski, Lou Manna, John Pierard, and Juan Carlos Abraldes Rendo.

Pandora Zwieback: The Evolution of a Series’ Covers

Last week, I covered the importance of having an editor involved in the creative process of writing a book’s manuscript, in a trio of posts found here, here, and here. But that’s just one part of what’s involved in putting together a novel for publication. Today, we start talking cover design.

Good stories are always essential, but from a sales point of view, one of the most important aspects of publishing is the cover. It’s the first thing a potential reader is going to see in a brick-and-mortar bookstore (unless it’s displayed spine-out on their shelves) or at an online retailer’s site, so it’s absolutely imperative that the cover be as eye-catching and intriguing as possible. The vast majority of small-press and self-published books often fail in that regard, choosing the laziest, most god-awful type-and-image designs they can throw together: photographs or paintings (or worse, silhouetted figures) that have nothing to do with the story; lettering taken straight from their computer’s font libraries; titles that are too long, or extremely pretentious, or head-scratchingly vague. (Truth be told, I’ve seen my fair share of books released by mainstream publishers that take the same approach.)

So in 2010, when it was time to transform StarWarp Concepts from a comic publisher to a book house, I knew that Job Two would involve using professional artists and designers to provide eye-catching covers (Job One was having quality stories to publish; can’t have the second without the first). The first person I approached was Bob Larkin, whose amazing cover paintings for Marvel Comics (Dazzler, Haunt of Horror, Vampire Tales, The Hulk!, Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian, Crazy) and Bantam Books’ Doc Savage pulp-fiction reprints had created a fan base that included such luminaries as Alex Ross, Joe Jusko, John Romita Sr., Jim Steranko, and Larry Hama. I’ve been a fan myself, all the way back to the ’70s, and was thrilled when, in 2000, he agreed to paint the covers for my X-Men: The Chaos Engine Trilogy novels—and overjoyed when he did three cover paintings for SWC’s succubus character, Lorelei. This time, however, I wanted him to paint the covers for a series about a certain teenaged Goth chick.

LarkinArt02

Explaining the gothy nature of Pan took a bit of doing, since it’s outside the range of anything Bob had ever painted before, but he had two advantages going in to the project: Pan had already been designed by my creative partner, Uriel Caton; and Bob has an extensive history of painting horror-related images, from monster magazine covers for Marvel and Warren Publishing to monster movie posters for New Line Cinema, United Artists, and Troma Films (among other studios)—Piranha, Night of the Creeps, Humanoids From the Deep, and The Toxic Avenger II are just some of the poster images he’s created.

But why use painted covers? you ask. Why not go with a photograph of a model dressed as Pan? That’s what all the major publishers would do. And that’s the problem, because when all the major publishers do the same thing, they create a uniform look for an entire genre of books that’s extremely generic and boring. (To get an idea of what I’m talking about, check out this post about photo covers that I wrote back in 2011.) I wanted Bob Larkin originals for Pan’s series, and that’s exactly what I was gonna get. All I needed to get the process started was to show Bob what I had in mind…

Next: Creating the cover for Blood Feud, the first novel in Pan’s saga.

Blood Reign: Author Steve Roman Interview from NY Horror Show 2015

Blood-Reign-FinalCvrFor the past three days, I’ve told you the story of the editorial process involved in the creation of Pan’s debut novel, Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1—but now it’s time to focus attention back to the online promotional tour for the second part of Pan’s adventures in Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2!

Back in January of this year, I attended Long Island’s first NY Horror Show (you can read my show report here), where I met Kassandra Cosplayer. After introducing her to the wonders of Ms. Zwieback’s adventures on the first day of the show, Kassandra came back the next day with a cameraman and a microphone to find out more about Pan and StarWarp Concepts—and now you can check out the results of our one-on-one interview by going here.

Thanks for the interview, Kassandra!

Taking Care of Business

Welcome, Panatics, to a New Year and a new publishing schedule! It’s been a while since you and I talked, and let me deeply apologize for that. But as you saw here from that teaser posted yesterday, there’s some good news that I’m sure you Panatics were greatly interested in… 😉

blood_reign-coverYes, after many delays Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2 is finally being published, on Monday, February 2nd, and let me thank all of you for your patience. I know I was a right SOB for leaving you where I did with that cliffhanger ending of Book 1, Blood Feud, but now at last you’ll be able to find out what adventures lie ahead for our resident happy Goth.

(By the way, if you can’t wait that long, you can always download the Blood Reign free sample chapter from the StarWarp Concepts website, and discover what happened to Pan directly following Blood Feud’s ending.)

If you head over to the StarWarp Concepts blog and read today’s post—I’ve been referring to it as the State of the StarWarp Concepts Union address—you’ll find out exactly what’s been going on over at Pan’s publisher, as well as what’s going to be happening this year to get things back on track.

As for this blog…well, I’ve got some exciting stuff coming up, as Blood Reign’s release date gets closer. Stay tuned!

Eternal Con 2014: The Aftermathening

This past weekend, StarWarp Concepts (and me, naturally) attended the second annual Eternal Con in Long Island, New York. Interested in finding out what happened? Then head on over to the StarWarp Concepts blog and read my show wrap-up!

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Next stop on the StarWarp Concepts 2014 convention tour: the Brooklyn Book Festival, September 21 at Borough Hall Plaza, in Brooklyn, NY. See you there!

StarWarp Concepts Signs with Comic Blender

Happy Memorial Day! It might be a national holiday (at least here in the U.S.), but we here at ’Warp Central still have work to do. And today we’re pleased to announce that we’ve joined the growing number of publishers whose comic books and graphic novels are available through new digital distributor Comic Blender.

Starwarp-Concepts-Comics

Right now we’re in the process of preparing our files for our newest distribution partner, but soon enough you’ll be able to purchase the comic book adventures of Pandora Zwieback, Lorelei, Troubleshooters, Incorporated, and the crew of the pirate ship Sea Dragon. Watch this space for further developments!

Comic Blender is the latest distributor of SWC graphic titles, joining DriveThru Fiction, which sells e-book editions of our novels and illustrated classics as well. We’re also getting ready to submit our comics and graphic novels to comiXology and ComicsFix, and will let you know when those deals go through.

StarWarp Concepts Webstore Opens!

It’s true— the SWC webstore is finally up and running! Now you can spare yourself the frustration of hunting down Pan’s adventures, and order them—as well as other StarWarp Concepts titles—directly from her publisher.

Currently available are print editions of Blood Feud, the classic vampire tale Carmilla (with illustrations by Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0 comic artist Eliseu Gouveia), and The Bob Larkin Sketchbook (which features Pan on the cover). And since the sketchbook is an SWC exclusive not available in stores, the webstore’s the only place you’ll be able to get it—not counting when we sell it at conventions, of course.

Also:

The official Pandora Zwieback T-shirt! You asked for it (repeatedly) and now you’ve got it! Available in both men’s and women’s sizes, it’s the same devil-girl T that Pan wears on the cover of Blood Feud, and an essential piece of clothing for every budding Goth adventuress.

The Blood Feud Art Print! It’s Bob Larkin’s cover art for the first Pan novel—as you should be well familiar with by now—presented on 11” x 17” cardstock without text, and limited to 100 copies.

So, head on over to the StarWarp Concepts site and start ordering already—I gotta clear some space in this office!  😉