He’s the bestselling author of the licensed fantasy novel Gauntlet: Dark Legacy: Paths of Evil, and a popular writer of fantasy, science fiction, and crime tales, including Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers: Echoes of Coventry and The Dark Leopard: Mouse Trap. But if you’ve been paying attention to the works of Richard C. White, you’ll notice he’s been building a backlist here at StarWarp Concepts.
Rich has a brand-new title hitting bookshelves next week: For a Few Gold Pieces More, a collection of ten critically acclaimed short stories that star a Rogue With No Name who travels a world of epic-fantasy adventure, looking for treasure—and revenge against the woman who sent him to prison for a crime he didn’t commit (but she did). Think Lord of the Rings meets the “spaghetti Westerns” of director Sergio Leone (A Fistful of Dollars; The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly), with a healthy dose of monsters, magic, and swordplay mixed in.
With Gold Pieces so close to publication, I thought reminding you of his backlist would be a good idea, since all his titles are still very much available for order from the SWC webstore. Last Monday, I told you about his supernatural-superheroes graphic novel Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings. Today we’ll examine his ode to seafaring adventure.
The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special was Rich’s second SWC release since our 2010 relaunch—a 48-page pirate-fantasy comic created and written by Rich, and drawn by Bill Bryan (artist of Caliber Press’ Dark Oz and DC Comics’ House of Mystery). It’s Rich’s love letter of sorts to the classic pirate movies he grew up watching on TV, like The Crimson Pirate, Against All Flags, Captain Blood, and The Sea Hawk—not to mention it has a certain resonance with the more contemporary Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise, of course! (Hey, with a new movie coming out this year, it’s not a bad thing to let Jack Sparrow fans know about Sea Dragon’s availability.)
Sea Dragon originally made its debut in print form, through Rich’s NightWolf Graphics publishing company, and premiered at the 2005 Comic-Con International in San Diego, California (which was also The ’Warp’s final appearance at that West Coast madhouse). The general reaction to the one-shot, which sported cover art by interior artist Bill Bryan, was overwhelmingly positive from fantasy and comic fans at the show, but it was easy to overlook its virtues in a venue that, even in 2005, was catering more and more to the pop-culture crowd and less to comic readers.
Still, I knew that Sea Dragon had potential, which is why I approached Rich in 2012 about reviving the special as an e-comic and releasing it in time for 2013’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day (celebrated every September 19th). For the updated version, I commissioned new cover art from Eliseu Gouveia, the super-talented artist of the SWC projects Lorelei: Sects and the City, The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1, Carmilla, and A Princess of Mars, and had designer Mike Rivilis clean up the interior art scans and lay out the balance of the comic. And, even better for comic fans, we made the digital version available for just 99¢!
In the special you meet Asheera, captain of the Sea Dragon, and his elfin first mate, Safir, as they lead a crew of privateers—soldiers of fortune—on a mission to intercept a supply train during a war between two island kingdoms. But, as you might expect, things don’t exactly work out how they’ve been planned, and the crew of the Sea Dragon soon find themselves sailing some very rough seas—both in and out of the water…
The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special is available right now in digital form, so visit its product page for ordering information and sample pages. Pick up a copy today—it’ll give you something to read while you’re waiting for the May release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales!
Next Monday, we’ll wrap things up by taking a look at Rich’s 2015 release, the writer’s guide Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination. Be sure to join us!
For a Few Gold Pieces More goes on sale February 14, 2017.
