An extremely belated Happy New Year to all you loyal Pan-atics. I apologize for the lack of updates in the last weeks, but I imagine you’d rather have me focusing on getting the second Pan novel, Blood Reign, into your waiting hands than spend time blogging. I’m trying to find a way to balance the two, though, so this site doesn’t fall too far behind in passing along the latest Pan news.
Anyway, what’s been going on since you last heard from me? Well, there was my December appearance on the Veterans Radio show At Ease, hosted by New York Times bestselling author/historian Dwight Jon Zimmerman, where I talked up Blood Feud, Pan’s character background, and how a guy with no military experience was able to write fairly accurate combat scenes (it’s all in the research).
And in January, Diamond Comics Distributors—the U.S.’s premier comic book and pop culture merchandise distributor—accepted StarWarp Concepts’ solicitation for The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1, a 48-page full-color special that goes on sale May 8, 2013. It’ll be listed in the March edition of the Diamond Previews catalog; I’ll let you know when you can pre-order your copy of the annual.
What’s in it, you ask? How about a story of Pan and her boyfriend Javi on their first date by me and artist Eliseu Gouveia (The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0)? Then there’s a short tale of the Paniverse by writer Sholly Fisch—who’s been providing the backup stories for DC Comics’ Action Comics series (as well as writing the 2012 Action Comics Annual #1)—and comics legend Ernie Colon, co-creator of Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld and artist of characters as varied as Magnus, Robot Fighter and Green Lantern to Casper the Friendly Ghost and Richie Rich. And rounding out the contents is an exclusive Pan short story by me involving Pan and her “Fiend Club” friends clashing with Elegant Gothic Lolita vampires at a shopping mall, with title page art by Elizabeth Watasin, indie comics creator of Charm School and the author of the Dark Victorian series of steapunk adventure novels.
And just take a look at this great cover art by Henar Torinos, the Madrid-based artist/creator of the graphic novel series Mala Estrella (Bad Star):
Have you ever seen a better portrayal of Pan as a happy Goth? On the other hand, her best friend, Sheena McCarthy, doesn’t look too happy—but how would you feel if you had a bunch of monsters with skunk breath crowding you in?
Stay tuned for more exciting news!
Mark your calendars and adjust your Internet radios, ’Warp fans—Saturday, December 29, is the day when I’ll be appearing live on At Ease, the morning program hosted by bestselling author and historian Dwight Jon Zimmerman on the Veterans Radio Network!
New York Comic Con, held on October 11–14, was just crazy: 116,000 attendees! Cosplayers! Video games! Daleks! Oh, and even the occasional comic book or two. 😀 For all the details, head on over to the 
Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1 is the critically acclaimed story of 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 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. But before Annie can explain further, Pan and her parents are drawn into a conflict between warring vampire clans that are 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.
For all you worldwide StarWarp Concepts fans and Pan-atics unable to attend this week’s New York Comic Con—and even for those of you who are attending—there’s no reason you can’t have a convention experience of your own by attending the first StarWarp Concepts Book Festival, a special online show being held at the SWC Web site.
The 2012 New York Comic Con is being held October 11–14 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, so come out and meet the StarWarp Concepts crew! 
October 11 also sees the debut of the StarWarp Concepts Book Festival, an online convention at the SWC Web site, where you’ll find all our titles—including the various e-book editions of Blood Feud—on sale at sure-to-be-irresistible discount prices. The con runs from October 11–15, so if you can’t make it to New York Comic Con to see us in person, then drop by the Book Fest and join us in cyberspace.
New York Comic Con is just a few days away (October 11, in fact), and here at ’Warp Central we know that not everyone can make it to the show to purchase our fantastic products at special discounts. So after much ruminating on the matter, we came up with a solution: why not hold a convention of our own, right at the SWC Web site?
“You want this, don’t you? The hate is swelling in you now…”
Blood Oath: A short story that you’ll be able to download as a PDF from the Pandora Zwieback Web site. Set between the events of Blood Feud and Blood Reign, it explains what became of House Karnstein’s vampiric strike-team leader Jenessa Branislav after she and her soldiers learned firsthand how foolish it is to attack monster hunter Sebastienne Mazarin in her home. And since Jenessa returns to complicate Annie’s life in the pages of Blood Reign, you’ll definitely want to check out this brand-new addition to Pan’s saga. The story will go live on October 11.
Blood Reign—Special Sneak Preview: If you bought a copy of Blood Feud in the past year-plus and you’re attending next week’s New York Comic Con, come to the StarWarp Concepts booth (#2139) and receive this special printing of Blood Reign’s unedited first chapter, in its entirety. And yes, that cover art is a brand-new illustration by Eliseu Gouveia, artist of the still-free downloadable comic The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0.