Like the header says, today is Take Your Child to the Library Day. Founded in 2011 by librarians Nadine Lipman and Caitlin Augusta, the event is held the first Saturday in February and encourages librarians to reach out to their communities and show folks just how wonderful reading can be.
Before the Internet, libraries were the source for information and reading, and these days they can use our support. So head out tomorrow, introduce your children to that big brick building with all the free books to borrow, update the library card that’s been stuck in the back of your wallet for all these years, and renew your acquaintance with a vital partner in the ongoing literacy campaign.
For more information, including the list of participating libraries, visit the TYCLD website.
“Short tales to appease your monstrous hunger for suspense” is how we describe SWC Horror Bites, the digital-chapbook series from Pan’s publisher, StarWarp Concepts. They’re classic horror stories that you might be familiar with, or ones you’ve never heard of before and have had your interest piqued by what they’re about.
Currently, there are two titles available in this e-book imprint:
White Fell: The Werewolf: Originally published in 1896 as The Were-wolf, this tale was written by renowned author, artist, and suffragette Clemence Annie Housman, and is regarded by scholars as perhaps 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…
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Washington Irving’s legendary tale of the Headless Horseman has captivated readers ever since its first publication in 1820, in Irving’s collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., and in the 200 years since it’s become the quintessential Halloween story, as well as the basis for countless movies, TV shows, comic books, and other pop-culture adaptations. When schoolteacher Ichabod Crane arrived in Sleepy Hollow, New York, he had dreams of marrying beautiful socialite Katrina of the wealthy Van Tassel family, only to lose his head (both figuratively and literally!) when he encounters the horrific Headless Horseman one fateful night!
White Fell: The Werewolf and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow are digital exclusives available for download right now, so visit their respective product pages at StarWarp Concepts for ordering information.
Women in Horror Month is here again, that 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.
Well, if you enjoy tales of horror and empowered women, may I recommend one of StarWarp Concepts’ classic fiction titles?
White Fell: The Werewolf, by Clemence Annie Housman, originally published in 1896 as The Were-wolf, is regarded by scholars as perhaps 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…
White Fell: The Werewolf is a digital exclusive. Visit its product page at Pan’s publisher, StarWarp Concepts, for further information. If you enjoy tales of horror and empowered women, be sure to give it a read!
It’s the first of two Friday the 13ths this year—today and, appropriately enough, in October, right in the heart of Spooky Season. And since it isFriday the 13th, there’s no better time than right now to post the latest addition to Horror Street, my ongoing journey in search of awesome yet spooky graffiti art on the streets and little-traveled corners of New York City!
Jason Voorhees, the murderous, hockey-mask-wearing star of the Friday the 13th movie franchise—including my favorite entry, Freddy vs. Jason—in which he goes toe-to-toe…er, machete to finger-knives with Freddy Krueger of Nightmare on Elm Street fame—is the subject of this piece of graffiti art that I came across in 2021, in a dead-end street (how appropriate!) in the East Williamsburg area of Brooklyn. I don’t know who the artist is—I can’t make out the signature—but the piece was too good notto take a picture of it!
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, and the regal Griffin!
It might seem hard to believe, but 2023 is the year that Pan’s publisher, StarWarp Concepts, celebrates its 30th anniversary!
After a trial run publishing a handful of small-press (in other words, digest-sized, photocopied, and hand-stapled) comics from 1989 to 1992, it was in the spring of 1993 that I officially launched SWC as an indie publisher, with the release of Lorelei #0, a 24-page black-and-white comic about a soul-stealing succubus, written by me and drawn by fellow small-presser David C. Matthews (Satin Steele, Maxwell Madd and His Wrestling Women), with cover art by Louis Small, Jr. (Vampirella, Batman). The debut issue sold well enough, back in those long-ago days of the black-and-white comics explosion in the 1990s—#1 sold even better—and the legend of the horror company with the science-fictiony name began!
The whole story of my adventures in self-publishing will be told in installments over at the SWC blog, so if you’re interested in learning the origins of Lorelei, monster hunter Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin, and (of course) Pandora Zwieback, along with various tales of my publishing adventures, then be sure to bookmark the SWC blog and follow along.
SWC will be celebrating all year long in a number of ways, and this-here Pan blog will be occasionally joining in the festivities, so get ready for some fun!
For those who might have missed the livestream, last night I joined the latest laid-back panel discussion on J.D. Calderon’s YouTube interview series Indy Comics Explained, on the latest installment of his ongoing panel-chat series “Talking Comics on a Sunday Night.” Its topic: “Are Editors and Editing Necessary for Indy Comics?”
J.D. and his cohosts, publisher Jaydee Rosario (Unstoppable Comics) and artist C. Michael Lanning, had on former Marvel Comics editor and writer Alin Silverwood (publisher of PopSkull Press) and Odyssey Comics publisher Marcus McNeal. And me, of course! (In case you didn’t know, I was a professional mainstream editor for over a decade, first as an editor at book packaging company Byron Preiss Visual Publications, and then as editor in chief of its ibooks, inc. publishing imprint.)
It was, as the saying goes, a spirited discussion involving what an editor is, their importance to a project, and what editors expect from writers; I tossed in an anecdote or two about working with both writers and fellow editors. Then we moved on to such topics as whether any of us would have taken a chance on publishing the original Eastman/Laird version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles—either back in the b&w comic days of the 1980s or today—the ins and outs of working with letterers, and promoting the participants’ various Kickstarter campaigns.
So now you know the basics, but to get the full experience, head on over to the actual “Talking Comics on a Sunday Night” panel at Indy Comics Explained and see for yourself!
Hey, comic and fiction fans! This coming Sunday night, December 18th, I’ll be making a return appearance to J.D. Calderon’s YouTube interview series Indy Comics Explained, on the latest installment of his ongoing panel-chat series “Talking Comics on a Sunday Night.”
(J.D., by the way, is the writer/creator of the fantasy series The Oswald Chronicles and the anthropomorphic fantasy comic series Tall Tails, both published through his Dream Weaver Press company. He’s also been a friend of mine since we met back in the 1990s’ days of the indie comics explosion.)
My last appearance was back in October, when I was promoting the ultimately successful Kickstarter campaign for Piko Interactive’s The Legend of Calamity Jane: Box-Set DVD and Comic, which includes The Legend of Calamity Jane: The Devil Herself, the one-shot comic I’m collaborating on with artist/colorist Eliseu Gouveia (Lorelei: Sects and the City and the Saga of Pandora Zwieback comics) for Piko’s Virtual Comics imprint.
This time around, the subject will be editing (in comics and otherwise), and considering my background as a comic and book editor for the past three decades, J.D. asked me to join him and former Marvel Comics editor and writer Gary Barnum—who writes under the pen name Alin Silverwood—for a discussion. No doubt at some point it’ll turn into a collection of trench-warfare stories about our harrowing experiences working with comic creators. 🙂
So, be sure to tune in December 18th for “Talking Comics on a Sunday Night”!
Hey, book lovers! Today marks the twelfth annual 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.
