Author Steven A. Roman to Appear on “Destinies”

SRoman_PhotoMark your calendars, Panatics, because on October 2, 2015, Steven A. Roman (that’s me), author of the popular dark-urban-fantasy series The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, will be appearing live on the radio show Destinies: The Voice of Science Fiction! Host Dr. Howard Margolin and I will be discussing all things Zwieback, and probably cover a few other topics, as well (hey, we’ve got a half-hour to fill). Be sure to tune in!

Destinies: The Voice of Science Fiction—currently celebrating its 32nd anniversary—is broadcast live on Fridays at 11:30 p.m. ET on WUSB, 90.1 FM, the radio station of the State University of New York at Stony Brook. For more information, plus an extensive archive of past episodes, head to the Destinies website.

Unfamiliar with The Saga of Pandora Zwieback? Well, then allow me to fill you in:

blood_feud_lg_cover_2013Pandora Zwieback 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 an immortal, shape-shifting mopnster hunter named 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. You’ll find Pan and Annie battling evil in the following titles:

The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0: A free, downloadable comic that serves as an introduction to Pan and Annie—with an 8-page story written by me and illustrated by Eliseu Gouveia—as well as Pan’s first novel, Blood Feud (via a pair of preview chapters).

Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1: This critically acclaimed novel is the beginning of Pan’s story, explaining how she, 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. It’s a character-driven action-fest that leads immediately into the second novel:

Blood-Reign-FinalCvrBlood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2: Pan and Annie face even greater challenges as the vampire clans draw up plans to go to war with humanity. Leading the charge is a fallen angel named Zaqiel, whose previous attempt at subjugating the world was stopped by Annie—who, back in the day, was Zaqiel’s lover!

The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1: A spinoff from the novel series, this 56-page, full-color comic special finds the teenaged Goth adventuress battling vampires and a jealous, man-stealing siren. It features stories by me and Sholly Fisch (Scooby-Doo Team-Up), art by Eliseu Gouveia (The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0), comic-art legend Ernie Colon (Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld), and Elizabeth Watasin (Charm School), and cover art by award-winning artist Henar Torinos (Mala Estrella).

Blood Feud, Blood Reign, and the Pan Annual are available in print and digital formats. Pandora Zwieback #0 is a digital exclusive. Visit their respective product pages for ordering information, as well as sample pages and chapters.

Author Steven A. Roman at Interviews With Writers

Blood-Reign-FinalCvrThe online promotional tour for StarWarp Concepts and its latest young adult, dark-urban-fantasy novel, Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2, continues at the site Interviews with Writers, where site co-owner Deborah Carney interviews author Steven A. Roman (that’s me), SWC’s chief bottle washer and the genius (or is that madman?) behind the Pandora Zwieback novels. We cover topics like what inspires me to write, my decision to publish the Pan books, and a few others you might find of interest. Head over to Interviews with Writers and check it out!

And in case you hadn’t heard the news, over at my Goodreads author page I’ve activated the “Ask the Author” function. So if you’re a Goodreads member and you’ve got a question about The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Lorelei: Sects and the City, or any of the other projects I’ve written over the years, head over there now and ask away!

Author Steven A. Roman Interview at Write A Revolution

Blood-Reign-FinalCvrThe online promotional tour for StarWarp Concepts and its latest young adult, dark-urban-fantasy novel, Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2, continues today at the site Write A Revolution, where WaR editor-in-chief Steve Williams interviews Steven A. Roman (that’s me), SWC’s head honcho and the author of The Saga of Pandora Zwieback.

In addition to discussing the Pandora Zwieback series and the horror anthology comic Lorelei Presents: House Macabre, the interview covers such topics as the high and lows of publishing, promoting, and marketing SWC’s titles; the grindhouse-horror qualities of House Macabre; what it takes to get inside the mind of a sixteen-year-old Goth chick; the process of art-directing cover designs, and more! Head over to Write A Revolution right now and give it a read!

And in case you hadn’t heard the news, over at my Goodreads author page I’ve activated the “Ask the Author” function. So if you’re a Goodreads member and you’ve got a question about The Saga of Pandora Zwieback or any of the other projects I’ve written over the years, head over there now and ask away!

Talking Writing and Self-Publishing

One of the complications of being an indie-press publisher and author—sometimes the most frustrating complication of them all—is finding ways to promote your latest release.

You can mail out review copies, send out press releases, make requests for interviews, or even fill out preexisting questions available from a website dedicated to writing (otherwise known as a “self-interview”), but there’s no guarantee you’re going to get media coverage. Still, you do what you can to get attention.

When you’re successful, you wind up with something like my interview with the newspaper The Queens Gazette, which appeared in the print edition and was featured on the paper’s website. Or “Pandora Zwieback and the Bloggy Thing,” a guest post that I was invited to write for the site Writing Belle. Or the cover feature article/interview in IndyFest Magazine #85 (still available for free download). Or my upcoming interview at the site Write a Revolution (I’ll let you know when that gets posted). When you’re unsuccessful, however, you can wind up with completed self-interviews that are passed over by the sites you submitted answers to.

Guess which type of interview this is? 😉 Hey, but why let a completed interview go to waste, right?

Here, you’ll get a little background on my literary history: my first break as an author; my decision to self-publish The Saga of Pandora Zwieback; my thoughts on current publishing trends; and a few other topics. Give it a read—and then (if you haven’t already) purchase a copy of Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2. It’ll make all the complications experienced by a small-press publisher worth the effort!

SRoman_PhotoQ: Welcome, Steven. Can we start out by telling us whether you are published for the first time or are you multi-published?

I’m multi-published. In addition to the novels and graphic novels I currently write for my company, StarWarp Concepts (including the Saga of Pandora Zwieback young adult books Blood Feud and Blood Reign), I’m the author of the novels X-Men: The Chaos Engine Trilogy (BP Books/Simon & Schuster) and Final Destination: Dead Man’s Hand (Black Library), the graphic novels Lorelei: Sects and the City, Sunn, and Stan Lee’s Alexa, and a number of short stories and comic book projects for various publishers.

Q: When you were published for the first time, which route did you go—mainstream, small press, vanity published or self-published, and why or how did you choose this route?

Well, I’d written some comic books and short stories early in my writing career, but as a novelist I got my start in 1997 with a mainstream title: the original, licensed novel Spider-Man Super Thriller: Warrior’s Revenge, based on the Marvel Comics character. It was part of a Marvel book series co-published by Byron Preiss Multimedia Company (BPMC) and Simon & Schuster’s Pocket Books imprint. It actually turned out to be a ghostwriting job—the original author’s manuscript had been rejected and I was hired to rewrite the book from scratch, but the covers with his name had already been printed, so I never got cover credit!

blood_feud_lg_cover_2013In 2010, I decided to go the self-publishing route by reviving StarWarp Concepts—a publishing company I’d launched in 1993 for my comic book projects—as a book-publishing house. And in 2011, I released my first young adult dark-fantasy novel, Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1. The reason I decided to self-publish it was because I’d done the agent-and-editor submission dances, sending a proposal around in hopes of a book deal and/or an author representative, only to have it rejected for some head-scratching reasons. Most of them fell under two categories: “It’s just not right for us,” which is sort of agent-speak for “I just didn’t care for it on a personal level”; and “Could it be more like…?,” which means they’d like you to knock off something successful—at the time I sent the Pandora proposal around, everyone was trying to clone Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight. (Today, it’s things like E. L. James’s 50 Shades of Grey and John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars.)

So if I’d been willing to rip off Twilight, I might have been signed by any number of agents, but I wasn’t interested in that approach. Self-publishing removed the unpleasantness of dealing with ridiculous, non-constructive feedback.

Q: How long did it take you to get published once you signed the contract?

I think I wrote the Spider-Man novel in a couple of months—with the original manuscript rejected, I had to make up for the book’s lost production time. It was a scary time for me—it was my first novel, someone else’s name was going to be on the cover, and I had to jump right in and start writing. Thankfully, Marvel’s licensing department was happy with the results, and that’s what led to me soon after getting the assignment to write three X-Men novels that sold exceptionally well.

With Blood Feud, it took about a year or so to get it into a shape I was happy with. And then I handed it over to Howard Zimmerman, a friend and former editorial boss of mine, for editing. Once he was done constructively ripping it apart—I wound up rewriting half the book and adding new material, based on his spot-on edits—Blood Feud was finally ready for publication. And based on the feedback and positive reviews I’ve received, it was worth all the effort!

spidey-warriorQ: How did it make you feel to become published for the first time and how did you celebrate?

How’d I feel? Like a kid with an intense sugar buzz! I mean, it would’ve been nice to actually have my name on the Spider-Man book, but when I held a copy of the printed novel for the first time, I couldn’t help but be excited by it. And anyway, I finally got my name on the cover when I wrote the X-Men: Chaos Engine Trilogy novels a few years after that, and that was even more exciting!

As for how I celebrated when Warrior’s Revenge came out…I think I treated myself to White Castle hamburgers, or something. Yeah, I know, not the most exciting way to celebrate, but I was happy enough.

Q: What was the first thing you did as far as promotion when you were published for the first time?

With the Spider-Man novel… Unfortunately, neither BPMC nor Simon & Schuster did any promotion for the series as a whole; the books were just sort of put out there with no fanfare. So if a Marvel fan happened to come across Warrior’s Revenge in a bookstore—great! Otherwise, no one really knew it was available. The same thing happened a few years later, when the X-Men novels I wrote were published—but those sold huge numbers in spite of the lack of publicity.

pan_comic_0With the Saga of Pandora Zwieback and my other StarWarp Concepts projects, since I’m sort of the master of my own fate—being the publisher as well as the writer—I’m much more proactive in how my work is promoted. I send out press releases and review copies, print up catalogs and brochures, make appearances at horror and comic book conventions and book festivals, heavily blog at the StarWarp Concepts and Pandora Zwieback websites, and set up interviews—like this one! To promote the debut of Blood Feud, the first Pandora Zwieback novel, I published a free full-color comic book, The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0, that introduces Pan to potential readers, and handed out a couple thousand copies at conventions—and then I made it a free digital comic that can still be downloaded from the StarWarp Concepts site.

Q: Since you’ve been published, how have you grown as a writer and now a published author?

I like to think my writing and storytelling continue to improve with each project. Looking back at the Spider-Man novel, I can see the beginnings of my character-driven action stories, but it’s rough in comparison to, say, Blood Reign, the current Pandora Zwieback novel. Pan is probably the most fully realized character I’ve written, but there’s so much more to her story I’m looking forward to exploring.

Q: What has surprised or amazed you about the publishing industry as a whole?

It’s sort of a mixed reaction. On the one hand, the time has never been better to be an author, with the advancements constantly being made in self-publishing tools. On the other, as an editor, copyeditor, and proofreader with over twenty years’ experience, I’m always surprised by the number of self-published authors who haven’t taken the time to really learn their craft—story structure, plotting, consistent story continuity, even correct spelling and punctuation. In those cases, it’s reflective of an attitude I used to run into at conventions, when I’d explain to visitors to my table that I was a writer, not an artist: “Well, anybody can write a novel.” Actually…no, not everybody can. Not without working at it.

That said, there are a lot of talented authors out there who know their business, and those are the ones whose works are worth tracking down. As for the rest…well, even in the worst-written novel you can often see the story the author intended to tell—they just need to keep honing their craft in order to tell it better and clearer.

Blood-Reign-FinalCvrQ: What is the most rewarding thing about being a published author?

Discovering that there’s actually an audience out there for the kinds of things I write! When I hear from someone who’s read my Pandora Zwieback work and they tell me how much she reflects their own thoughts and feelings, and is even someone they’d love to hang out with, then I know I’m doing a good job as a writer. And that’s a pretty nice reward!

Q: Any final words for writers who dream of being published one day?

As lame and clichéd as it sounds, keep at it! You can only get better by working your craft, by learning the tools of the trade—by which I mean the publishing “bibles,” Webster’s Dictionary and the Chicago Manual of Style—and by learning to take constructive criticism. I often tell folks that Blood Feud, the first Pan novel, wouldn’t be the critically acclaimed book it is today if I hadn’t listened to my editor when he told me what needed fixing. Do all that, and one of these days you might find your name on the cover of a book, too!

My latest work, Blood Reign, The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2, is currently available for order from online and brick-and-mortar bookstores and the StarWarp Concepts webstore. Visit the Blood Reign product page at SWC for more information, as well as a sample chapter.

I Am the Author, And You Will Obey Me…

As an addendum to the recent series of posts about the creation of Pandora Zwieback–related covers for books and comics, I thought you’d be interested in seeing a truly odd choice for subject matter…

Larkin-Capaldi-Me

What you see here is a pencil sketch by “Pandora Zwieback” cover-painting legend Bob Larkin, drawn on a blank “sketch cover” that Dynamite Entertainment published as a variant for the second issue of their Doc Savage comic series. Only Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze, doesn’t appear on the cover. Instead, you’ve got actor Peter Capaldi (The Thick of It, Torchwood: Children of Earth) in costume as his most recent, world-famous role: Doctor Who. And standing in front of him, looking rather dapper in his black ensemble, top hat, and John Lennon sunglasses, is…me. In the garb I wear to conventions and book festivals in order to draw attention to the StarWarp Concepts booth.

Yeah, I was surprised by this, myself. But as Bob explained, he was drawing a bunch of Doc Savage sketch covers commissioned by fans—including the one done for me, teaming Doc with our adventurous Ms. Zwieback—and had a blank left over. So, liking my con outfit and aware of my fannish love for Doctor Who—I even once got to write a short story for a licensed Doctor Who anthology, as I discussed in this post and this other post at the StarWarp Concepts blog—Bob decided to combine the two, just for the hell of it.

Well, I certainly love it. But I have to ask: With my black outfit and goatee, standing next to the Doctor, does this make me a future incarnation of his oldest enemy, the Master? Only time may tell…

IndyFest Magazine Profiles StarWarp Concepts

IndyFest85-cvr

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 Mini-Story at Writing Belle

Blood-Reign-FinalCvrThe promotional tour for Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2 continues today at author Summer Lane’s site Writing Belle, where as part of her Spring Author Program, you’ll find a guest blog post from author Steven A. Roman (that’s me) in the form of a (very) short story about Pan being asked to write a guest post for a horror site’s blog, to promote the book series about her. How meta can you get?!

“Pandora Zwieback and the Bloggy Thing” is a 1,300-word mini-adventure that involves Pan racking her brains to find something to write about herself for the fictional horror site The Society of Classic Monsters—the major problem being she’s never written a guest post before (like her creator!). Coming to her aid is her best friend, Sheena McCarthy, who has an idea or two about how the Goth adventuress can promote the books. Think of it as a sequel to the non-canonical The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0, the free digital comic in which Pan introduces herself to the reader and shills for the first novel, Blood Feud. In this marketing “splinter universe,” Pan is very much aware that I’m writing books about her—because StarWarp Concepts is paying her royalties for her monster-fighting life story! So head over to Writing Belle and check out her latest effort to help spread the word.

Speaking of promos for The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, over at my Goodreads author page I’ve activated the “Ask the Author” function. So if you’re a Goodreads member and you’ve got a question about Pan’s saga, Lorelei: Sects and the City, X-Men: The Chaos Engine Trilogy, Final Destination: Dead Man’s Hand, or any of the other projects I’ve written over the years, head over there now and ask away!

Blood Reign: Author Steven A. Roman Interview at Smashwords

Blood-Reign-FinalCvrThe promotional tour for Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2 continues at the site of digital book distributor Smashwords, with an interview with author Steven A. Roman (that’s me). That’s where you’ll find me discussing Pan’s adventures, as well as topics like the benefits of being an indie author and publisher, my favorite books, and what’s my greatest joy as a writer.

Smashwords is the company through which StarWarp Concepts makes Blood Reign and its preceding volume, Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1, available for sale through iTunes, Kobo, Scribd, and Oyster Books (as well as at Smashwords itself). Head on over to Smashwords and give the interview a read.

And in case you hadn’t heard the news, Smashwords isn’t the only place you’ll find me chatting about my work. Over at my Goodreads author page I’ve activated the “Ask the Author” function. So if you’re a Goodreads member and you’ve got a question about The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, X-Men: The Chaos Engine Trilogy, or any of the other projects I’ve written over the years, head over there now and ask away!

Author Steven A. Roman on Sci-Fi Saturday Night This Weekend

scifi-satnite-brainA special programming reminder: This Saturday, April 18, I’ll be appearing on the popular podcast series Sci-Fi Saturday Night. It’s not a live event, though—we’ll be taping the show on Wednesday night for broadcast on Saturday. Showrunner The Dome and his crew of pop-culture lovers will be interviewing me about Pan’s latest adventure, Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback: Book 2, and probably a few other topics as well. Don’t miss it!

In case you’re interested in hearing my previous appearance, which took place back in December 2011 to promote Blood Feud, the first Pandora Zwieback novel, you can check it out by visiting the Sci-Fi Saturday Night website and downloading it from right here. I come in along the thirty-minute mark. And then be sure to tune in on April 18, 2015 for my triumphant return!

And in case you hadn’t heard the news, over at my Goodreads author page I’ve activated the “Ask the Author” function. So if you’re a Goodreads member and you’ve got questions of your own about The Saga of Pandora Zwieback or any of the other projects I’ve written over the years, head over there now and ask away!

Taliesin Meets the Goth Loli Vampires for Blood Reign Review

Blood-Reign-FinalCvrThe first review has come in for Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2—and naturally it’s a positive one! Over at the vampire-centric site Taliesin Meets the Vampires, reviewer and site owner Andrew Boylan—who also gave a glowing review to Blood Feud, the first novel in the series—shares his opinion of Pan’s latest adventure:

“If the first volume took some deliberate pacing steps to build Pandora’s character, this volume eschews that as it thunders along at breakneck speed, barely pausing for breath at any given time (and, I must say, the volume was devoured at speed as well). The book doesn’t suffer for this…I thoroughly enjoyed this volume.”

You can read the entire review here.

For those of you who might be unfamiliar with this project (and if you are, how did you wind up at this site? 😀 ), The Saga of Pandora Zwieback is my young adult, dark-urban-fantasy novel series, starring 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 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.

Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1 is the beginning of Pan’s story, explaining how she, her parents, and her friends, 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. It’s a character-driven action-fest that leads immediately into the second novel:

Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2: Pan faces even greater challenges as the clans draw up plans to go to war with humanity. Leading the charge is a fallen angel named Zaqiel, whose previous attempt at subjugating the world was stopped by Pan’s monster-hunting mentor, Annie—who, back in the day, was Zaqiel’s lover!

Visit each of the titles’ product pages for more information, including sales links and sample chapters.