Last year, major publishing news was made when it was announced that e-book distributor Draft2Digital had acquired competitor Smashwords and, over time, would migrate Smashwords’ client publishers into D2D’s ever-expanding stable, while also making Smashwords available to D2D’s clients as a new selling venue. (Smashwords now basically serves as D2D’s storefront.)
Well, good news, everyone—as of this month, StarWarp Concepts has joined the Draft2Digital family! In addition to our existing presence on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, and Smashwords, you’re now able to purchase SWC’s e-books through Everand (the subscription-app imprint of Scribd), Gardners (in the UK), Tolino (in Germany), and Vivlio (in France).
(Just a reminder: Our titles also remain available through e-tailers DriveThru Fiction and DriveThru Comics, as well as the SWC Store.)
And hey, all you librarians looking for quality books for your patrons! Our titles can be ordered through OverDrive, Baker & Taylor, Odilo, Bibliotheca, BorrowBox, Palace Marketplace, and hoopla.
Bonus news: In a couple of weeks, StarWarp Concepts will be participating in Smashwords’ annual Read an Ebook Week sale, running March 3–9, where you can purchase our titles at 25% off!
If there’s one thing our resident monster-fighting Goth girl, Pandora Zwieback, loves—other than her boyfriend, her friends and family, her skill at painting, and…oh, yeah, all things horror—it’s reading. And when it’s a literacy program that involves her favorite baseball team, well, she’s totally all over it!
A partnership between the New York Mets and Delta Air Lines that launched in 2017, Ya Gotta Read (a playful twist on the old Mets saying, “Ya Gotta Believe!”) is intended to get kids excited about reading, and involves 48 elementary schools in Queens and Brooklyn.
The goal this year is for students to “read for 20 minutes every school night for six weeks, coinciding with Mets Spring Training. The more minutes students read, the more Mets prizes they earn.” Prizes include key chains, pencil pouches, lunch boxes, and in-season Mets tickets.
Ya Gotta Read runs from today, February 15 (the start of Mets spring training—the day pitchers and catchers officially report for duty), to March 24. For more information, and to follow the schools’ progress, visit the Ya Gotta Read page at the Mets website.
Last year, as book lovers may have heard, the ongoing global supply problem reached the publishing shores in the form of higher costs caused by paper shortages. That, in turn, meant every publishing company had to increase its prices even on titles already in print, and unfortunately that includes StarWarp Concepts and its backlist of Pandora Zwieback titles.
So, here’s how things are shaking out, effective immediately:
Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1 and Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2 have both shifted from $14.95 to $17.95 US and £14.95 UK, with European and Australian prices also adjusted. (We’ll also be adjusting the prices in the SWC webstore shortly.)
We’ve also had to remove The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1 from bookstore sales and distribution, and make it a StarWarp Concepts exclusive, which means it’ll remain in print but be available only from our webstore and at the conventions attended by the SWC Crew (once we start getting back into those). Due to the fact it’s a 52-page full-color comic, its printing costs have become just too high to maintain wider availability.
The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1, just to remind you, features stories by yours truly and acclaimed writer Sholly Fisch (whose latest series, The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries, launched last week from DC Comics), and art by Eliseu Gouveia(The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0, Carmilla), comic legend Ernie Colon (Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld), and Elizabeth Watasin (Charm School). Cover art and color are provided by Henar Torinos (La Mala Estrella).
Of course, these changes don’t affect the prices or availability of the digital versions of the Pan books, or of the Pan Annual—those prices remain as is, and you’ll still be able to purchase and download them from online retailers (and from StarWarp Concepts, naturally).
I apologize for the bad news, but with prices going up everywhere, SWC has to change with the times if we want to stay in the publishing game—and we certainly do, considering the projects we have in the works!
I just happened to drop by the home of DriveThru Comics, one of StarWarp Concepts’ e-book distributors, and saw they’re currently running a New Year, New Comics Sale, in which the first volumes of all publishers’ graphic novels are available at discounted prices. And among those bargains is…Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1?
Okay, Blood Feud is a young adult novel, not a graphic novel, but it is a first volume and it does feature a cover painting by comic-art legend Bob Larkin (Star Trek, Star Wars, Vampirella, Dazzler, Doc Savage) and a frontispiece illustration by Eliseu Gouveia (The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1, The Legend of Calamity Jane: The Devil Herself, Stargate Universe), and I am the writer of the Pan Zwieback and Calamity Jane comics, so I guess that’s close enough!
Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1, of course, is my young adult novel that’s perfect for lovers of dark urban fantasy. It introduces readers to Pandora Zwieback, a 16-year-old Goth girl who’s spent the last decade being treated for mental health problems because she can see monsters. It’s only after she meets professional monster hunter Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin that Pan discovers she’s never been ill—her so-called “monstervision” is actually a supernatural gift that allows her to see into Gothopolis, the not-so-mythical shadow world that exists right alongside the human world.
In Blood Feud, Pan, 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!
“Far and away one of the best young adult supernatural fantasy novels. Pan is exactly the kind of teen heroine that readers should be standing up and cheering for.”—HorrorNews.net
Got your interest? Good! The New Year, New Comics Sale runs now through January 19th, so head over to the StarWarp Concepts publisher page at DriveThru Comics, and (if you haven’t done so already) get introduced to Pandora Zwieback!
Hey, holiday shoppers! With Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa right around the corner, you’re probably looking for the perfect presents for the voracious dark-fantasy readers in your life. Well, perhaps the StarWarp Concepts backlist of print titles can make your shopping a little easier!
Dark urban fantasy readers: As you’re well aware, The Saga of Pandora Zwieback is my young adult, dark-urban-fantasy novel series. It stars a 16-year-old Goth girl who’s spent the last decade being treated for mental health problems because she can see monsters. It’s only after she meets a shape-shifting monster hunter named Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin, in the first novel, Blood Feud, that Pan discovers she’s never been ill—her so-called “monstervision” is actually a supernatural gift that allows her to see into Gothopolis, the not-so-mythical shadow world that exists right alongside the human world. But before Pan can learn more about what she can do, she and her parents are drawn into a conflict among warring vampire clans that leads into Blood Reign, the second action-packed novel, in which Pan must deal with even greater threats.
But if teen monster hunters aren’t your thing, there’s another urban-fantasy title that might be more to your liking: Chasing Danger: The Case Files of Theron Chase. It’s Richard C. White’s collection of fantasy-noir, pulp-detective tales starring a private eye working the supernatural beat in a city populated by humans and all sorts of spooky creatures.
Comic book and graphic novel fans: Got a comic book reader on your shopping list, or enjoy them yourself? The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1 features stories by yours truly and comic writer Sholly Fisch (The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries), with art provided by Eliseu Gouveia, Elizabeth Watasin, and comic-art legend Ernie Colon. And Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings is a graphic novel starring a group of supernatural superheroes for hire on their first mission, written by the husband-and-wife team of Richard C. and Joni M. White, with art by Reggie Golden, Bill Lavin, and Randy Zimmerman.
Comic art lovers: The Bob Larkin Sketchbook is a collection of rarely seen pencil drawings by the acclaimed cover painter for Doc Savage, Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel Comics, and our own Saga of Pandora Zwieback. Included is a pair of original Doc Savage–related pinups done especially for this book.
Classic literature lovers: Know a reader with a passion for genre literature? They might be interested in our illustrated classic Carmilla, by J. Sheridan Le Fanu: a 19th–century paranormal romance between a vampire and her potential love interest—or perhaps next intended victim—and contains six black-and-white illustrations by Eliseu Gouveia.
Visit their respective product pages at StarWarp Concepts for ordering information.
Hey, book lovers! Today marks the annual celebration of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day.
Founded in 2010 by author Jessica Milchman, the event, held on the first Saturday in December, “is about instilling a love of bookstores in children so that they will value and support this most precious of resources as they go on to enter and create communities of their own” (according to its website).
Kids + reading + brick-and-mortar bookstores? Always a great combination!
For more information, including a map of the bookstores that are celebrating with events of their own, visit the TYCBD site.
Hey, comic fans! Today is Local Comic Shop Day. It’s an annual appreciation held on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (here in the U.S.) because Wednesdays are always New Comics Day at your local comic shop. (Unless, of course, you’re a DC Comics fan who knows that their titles are released on Tuesdays.)
The event was “conceived and implemented by ComicsPRO comic book specialty retailers to call attention to locally owned independent comic book specialty stores, celebrating their unique and vital role in being the primary fire-starters of pop culture.” In other words, it’s a way of encouraging comic fans to visit their LCS and give them some business as the holiday season kicks into high gear. So get out there and support your LCS!
For more information, including a list of participating stores and the special collectibles they’ll be offering for sale, visit the Local Comic Shop Day website.
But it’s not just the retail shops that have something of interest for comic fans—not when Pan’s publisher, StarWarp Concepts, has its own comics and graphic novels to offer horror and dark fantasy fans!
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 (Harbinger of Darkness, For a Few Gold Pieces More) and Joni M. White, illustrated by Reggie Golden, Bill Lavin, and Randy Zimmerman, and features cover art by Richard Dominguez (El Gato Negro).
And The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1 is a 56-page, full-color comic special that features cover art by award-winning artist Henar Torinos (Mala Estrella) and contains three original stories. In “Song of the Siren,” by writer Steven A. Roman (that’s me!) and artist Eliseu Gouveia (Vengeance of the Mummy, Lady Death), the teenaged Goth adventuress matches wits with a man-stealing enchantress who’s set her sights on Pan’s boyfriend, Javier. It’s followed by “After Hours,” by writer Sholly Fisch (The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries), and comic-art legend Ernie Colon (Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld), in which a demon walks into a bar to unwind after a long day of scarifying. And rounding out the issue is “Shopping Maul,” a short story by Roman with title-page art by Elizabeth Watasin (Charm School), in which Pan and Annie, along with Javier and Pan’s best friend, Sheena, run into a group of Gothic Lolita vampires out to do more than a little window shopping.
Even better, how about a couple of free comic books you can download right now?
The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0 serves as an introduction to the adventures of Pandora Zwieback and her monster-hunting mentor, Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin, with an 8-page story written by Steven A. Roman and illustrated by Eliseu Gouveia. Plus there’s a preview of Pan’s first novel, Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1. Pan is a 16-year-old Goth girl who’s spent the last decade being treated for mental health problems because she can see monsters. It’s only after she meets Annie that Pan discovers she’s never been ill—her so-called “monstervision” is actually a supernatural gift that allows her to see into Gothopolis, the not-so-mythical shadow world that exists right alongside the human world.
And Heroines & Heroes is a collection of comic stories and pinups all drawn by yours truly, dating back to my days in the early 1990s small-press movement—that age of dinosaurs in which creators like me used to make our comics by printing them out on photocopiers and then stapling them by hand. In H&H you’ll find: “V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N (in the Summertime),” a three-page Wonder Woman vs. Harley Quinn story that I wrote and drew in the late ’90s as a sample for a DC Comics editor who thought I’d be a good fit for their Batman: The Animated Series comic (it didn’t work out); “Dirty Laundry,” an adventure of small-presser Jeff Wood’s rabbit-eared superspy, Snowbuni; three pages from the mid-‘90s indie comic Motorbike Puppies; and “I Was a Super-powered Vampire Slayer!,” an adventure of the indie superheroine The Blonde Avenger.
The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual and Troubleshooters Incorporated are available in print and digital formats. Pandora Zwieback #0 and Heroines and Heroes are digital exclusives. Visit their respective product pages at StarWarp Concepts for ordering information, as well as sample pages.
Welcome to another installment of Horror Street, my ongoing journey in search of awesome yet spooky graffiti art on the streets and little-traveled corners of New York City!
Today, in honor of Halloween, we have on display a little demon artwork for your enjoyment: the eerie New York Oni, a fantastic mural I came across during my wanderings in Long Island City, Queens, way back in 2016.
The oni is a cave- and mountain-dwelling demon found in Japanese folklore that doesn’t just like to kill wayward travelers, it likes to eat them, too (would that make them distant cousins of Leatherface from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre?). For more information on these devilish creatures, check out this entry at Yokai.com.
Stay tuned for further installments of Horror Street—there’s plenty of macabre graffiti art to be found on the streets of New York, if you look in the right creepy places! And be sure to check out my previous HS entries, which include such sights as the Brooklyn Vampire, the demonic D-Rod, the regal Griffin, and even a trip to the Ghostbusters firehouse!
If you live in a big city, you know how dangerous trick-or-treating can sometimes be, with dodging speeding cars and trucks while you’re trying to make the rounds of your favorite candy-giving haunts—even in the daytime!
Last year, New York City took steps to try and make trick-or-treating a much safer event, by instituting “Trick or Streets,” an expansion of its “Open Streets” initiative that closes certain streets to vehicular traffic so that NYC residents can walk and bike on them without fear of injury. (It’s a popular program that started in May 2021 as a result of the pandemic lockdown, so that people could finally get out of their homes and apartments to enjoy fresh air.) And now it’s back for its second year!
On Halloween, certain streets will be closed off in Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn, allowing you and yours to hit the pavement and fill those goody bags. (Weather forecasts indicate chilly temperatures, cloudy skies, and possible showers during those hours, so be sure to bring along an umbrella.)
For more information on the city’s Halloween plans and a list of family-friendly events being held, head over to the Trick or Streets website.
