New York Comic Con 2012 Report: Day 3

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Steven

Saturday. The day every exhibitor both fears and looks forward to. The day when the full strength of fandom is unleashed and the aisles are filled to overflowing with cosplayers, booth babes, budding artists and writers, and collectors. Remember the 116,000 attendees that were estimated for the show, as I mentioned back on the Day 0 write-up? This is the day when it feels like all of them have arrived.

By the time Rich, Dave, and I reached The ’Warp booth at ten o’clock, the show was once again in full swing and before you knew it I was pitching The ’Warp’s wares to everyone who stopped by. Next to the first Pandora Zwieback novel, Blood Feud, our illustrated classic Carmilla drew quite a bit of attention, especially when I explained it predated Dracula and was an influence on Bram Stoker (where do you think the idea for the count’s vampire brides came from?). What sealed the deal every time was when I flipped through the book to show off the fantastic illustrations by Pandora Zwieback and Lorelei: Sects and the City artist Eliseu Gouveia.


Then our first pro visitor of the day stopped by: Dwight Jon Zimmerman, former editor and comics writer, now bestselling historian with a bunch of hit books to his credit. Dwight and I used to work together as editors, back in the days of ibooks, inc.; he was even my editor on my X-Men: The Chaos Engine novels. Dwight was set up over in Artists Alley (located in a separate part of the Javits Center, quite a distance from the main show floor), promoting his most recent release: Lincoln’s Last Days, an adaptation for younger readers of TV host Bill O’Reilly’s bestselling biography, Killing Lincoln. We traded books; I signed Blood Feud: To Dwight, It ain’t Lincoln, but it does have vampires!

There were other friends who visited (though I didn’t have a camera at the ready), sometimes while I was juggling conversations with new potential Pan-atics. So an apology and a shout-out to: Uriel Caton, Pan and Annie’s co-creator (you’ll get your chance to draw Annie again, I swear!); Grey, former comics artist and now gallery owner; and Mike Sargent, host of WBAI radio’s Niteshift.

Welcome to Gothopolis

“So, what’s this about?” the woman asked, pointing to the Pandora Zwieback banner. I gave her my slightly updated pitch (“Sixteen-year-old Goth who can see monsters but has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic for the last ten years, teams up with a 400-year-old shape-shifting monster hunter. The first two books are about how they get caught in the middle of a vampire war.”), then the jokey punch line (“It’s like Ellen Page and Salma Hayek in a Hellboy move.”).

Intrigued, she wanted to know more. I told her the story of my pleasant encounter with a concerned father at Baltimore Comic Con, when his 11-year-old daughter bought Blood Feud, and followed it up with an explanation of Pan’s characteristics and motivations.

“Wow! That all sounds fantastic,” she said.

I smiled. “Thanks.”

“Is the woman who wrote the book here?”

Er…

I pointed to the cover byline, then to my badge. Her eyes grew wide.

“Oh, it’s you! But you… “

Are a dude?

“You get it!”

Apparently I do; I’ve heard similar comments from other women, who’ve expressed amazement at how a middle-aged guy can express the inner thoughts of a complicated teenaged girl so well.  I can’t figure it out, either, to be honest. It just happens.  😀

That woman bought a copy of Blood Feud, by the way. Another satisfied Pan-atic!

Meet the Press

“Hi,” the man said, and introduced himself. “I’m working on an article for a romance Web site and I’d like to talk with you about how women are portrayed in this book.”

Inwardly I groaned. He had to mean the graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City. I’ve been getting grief over that character for years—she’s pornographic, she’s objectified, she’s an unrealistic physical portrayal of a woman—usually from critics who’d never read the material and reached their politically correct conclusions based solely on the covers, or who didn’t understand/care for the kind of horror stories I was trying to tell. I thought I was past those days, but apparently not. The last thing I needed was bad press.

I quickly launched into a description of the plot, the concept of the book being a tribute to 1970s horror comics like Vampirella, the strength of the character. See? I was practically saying. If you look closer you’ll understand it’s not porn.

“Oh. Okay,” he said when I was done. “But I meant the other book.” And pointed at Blood Feud.

That one? Oh, hell, then lemme introduce you to the woman who wrote the book…  😉

When I was done with my mini-lecture on Ms. Zwieback, he looked impressed. “You put a lot of thought into that character.” I nodded. “Maybe we should do an article on just her alone…” He handed me his card and promised to get in touch.

He was followed by another reporter, this one working on an article titled “The 5 Coolest Superheroines at New York Comic Con.” By the time I finished explaining Pandora to her, she was considering an expansion of the article’s roster…

The Artist in Residence

Around 3:30, The ’Warp hosted its first official signing, with the arrival of Steve Geiger—one of the artists for Lorelei: Sects and the City—and his fiancée, Kristie. (Sorry if I misspelled that!) And as usually happens with such events, sit an artist at a table and he’s gonna draw a crowd. In fact, Steve already had one fan standing by to meet him!

Henrik had brought along a stack of Steve’s Incredible Hulk comics, and asked him to sign them, which Steve was more than happy to do. Henrik then asked if Steve was willing to do a sketch. “Sure!” Steve said. “But you have to buy a copy of the book I’m here to promote.” And pointed at Sects and the City.


Sold! In fact, while he was signing Henrik’s copy another fan bought his own for Steve to sign. Hey, maybe I should have these artist-guys show up more often—they seem to draw crowds…  😉

 

 


Then Steve got to work on the sketch: a head shot of the Hulk’s old pal, Rick Jones, after he’d turned into a Hulk himself. Even in the rough pencils you can tell that Rick-Hulk is one angry dude.

 

 

 

 


And there’s the end result. Nice, huh? Now you know why I hired him for Lorelei; I thought he showed a lot of promise as an artist. 😀 (Yeah, okay, so Marvel hired him first, and there was that period when he was their art director, but so what? He was at NYCC to promote The ’Warp!)

 

 

 


And here’s Steve (center) with his first two fans of the con. Before you knew it, though, the day was over and it was time to head for dinner. Saturday was over, and we’d all survived!

Tomorrow: Is It Over Yet?

 

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New York Comic Con 2012 Report: Day 2

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Steven

Friday got off to a quick start. Saturday is normally the busiest, craziest day of the con, but for me it was Friday because I had so many folks stopping by to say hello and catch up on things.

First off, ‘Warp webmaster Dave De Mond (that’s him on the far left) had flown in from Chicago the night before to join the crew, and chronicle the con for an upcoming video he’s now editing. (I’ll let you know when that’s ready for viewing, and where.) After he got settled in, old friends just seemed to come flying in:

 First up was Sal Quartuccio (aka Sal Q), owner/publisher of SQP Art Books, home to many adult-themed “good girl” and “bad girl” collections, as well as The Savage Art of Bob Larkin, a book I highly recommend since it showcases the work of our favorite Pandora Zwieback cover painter. I’d include a link to the SQP site, but it’s Not Safe For Work—or for under-18 fans of The ’Warp and Pan. (Lorelei fans, though, are a different story.) I will say this, however: Sal is one publisher who definitely knows his audience!  😀

 

 Amanda Sprecher dropped by with her mother, Kim. Amanda is the creator/writer/artist of The Adventures of Jade and Butch, a small-press comic about two kids who are constantly thwarting the invasion plans of an evil alien race. Here, she’s modeling the Jade & Butch T-shirt and alien-eyestalks hat that she sells, along with her comics, at her Web site. Go check it out!

 Super Pan-atic Julie Zannino came by with her husband Joe to chat about Pan’s upcoming adventures (yes, including the still-in-the-works second novel, Blood Reign), and to take a gander at a preview of Eliseu Gouveia’s art and color work for next year’s Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1. It’s some amazing stuff! I caught a glimpse of their daughter, Abby, on Sunday, but she was riding hellbent-for-leather for a presentation of the new CW show Arrow. You don’t get in the path of someone that dedicated!  😀

And Enrica Jang, publisher of Red Stylo Media and writer of the crime-noir/apocalyptic comic series Azteca, stopped by to chat. Enrica told me that Red Stylo’s expanding into a new book-publishing imprint. Go check out her growing list of acclaimed titles, and then keep an eye on her company for all the latest news!

Also paying visits were Matt McElroy of DriveThru Fiction, one of The ’Warp’s e-book distributors; artist Vince Evans, whom I hadn’t seen since my days as an editor for ibooks, inc.; and my buddy J. D. Calderon, who was handing out bookmarks to promote his Kickstarter campaign for publishing a hardcover collection of his Oswald Chronicles webcomic.

Damn! That was like two days of activity packed into one afternoon!

Sales-wise, our Goth adventuress Pandora Zwieback picked up a few more fans with the purchase of Blood Feud copies and Pan T-shirts, as did Lorelei, the star of our Mature Readers graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City. Pan might have gained even more readers, but there were a lot of potential buyers who had their eye on other items; as one teenaged girl remarked, “I can’t buy [Blood Feud] yet. First I have to find out how much money I have to spend at the Adventure Time booth so I can get the free bag! But I’ll be back.”

No, she didn’t come back. (Hey, it happens.) And… spending money in order to get a free bag? Definitely a Comic Con thing. But that’s what you have to expect when you’re an exhibitor at… Thunderdome!

Tomorrow: Unleash Hell!

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New York Comic Con 2012 Report: Day 1

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Steven

Thursday isn’t really a full convention day, even though as an exhibitor you’re working a full day; Day 1 is open only to professionals, press, and four-day-pass buyers, and the doors don’t open until three p.m. Which is great because, in The ’Warp’s case, that meant enough time for setting up the booth and getting ready to meet the attendees.

As he’s done for the past couple of years, my buddy Richard C. White—author of the novella Star Trek: Echoes of Coventry, the novel Gauntlet: Dark Legacy, and the recent e-book The Demon’s Head  —came up from Maryland to help run the booth. This time he brought along his Chronicles of the Sea Dragon comic book and merchandise to see how con-goers would receive his pirate-fantasy story line.

 

 

 

 

Before he could find out, though, it was time to plant the SWC flag—or, rather, the Pandora Zwieback banner—and stake our claim to the fairly small-ish booth. Once that was done, it didn’t take all that long to put the displays together, and then—in my case—throw on my con “uniform”: black shirt, jeans, frock coat, and skull-decorated tie. The candy-corn lapel pin—actually a Halloween eraser that I superglued a pinback to—was a new addition. Then we were ready for action!

Except it was too early in the day for action.  😀  So with plenty of time to kill before the show opened, Rich and I wandered the aisles to check out the other exhibitors—a whole lot easier to accomplish without yesterday’s construction materials in the way. We found:

 

 • The Lego island protected by the Incredible Hulk, while close by stood Gandalf and Bilbo Baggins from the upcoming movie version of The Hobbitt.

 • Some nice-looking statues at the DC Comics island: (right to left) Death from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comic book series; the new Harley Quinn from Batman behind her; and Supergirl (with Wonder Woman behind her) from the DC Bombshells line I’d never heard of that line before—looks like they’re going for a 1940s pinup-girl design.

• A set of Death-and-Sandman bookends. Gee, those would look nice in The ’Warp offices…

• And best of all, over at the Doctor Who Store, a replica of the World War II Dalek featured in the episode “Victory of the Daleks.” Unfortunately, it lacked the voice to tell me “I. Am. Your. Sol-dier.” And it never offered me make tea. (There you go—a shout-out to my fellow Doctor Who fans!) That TARDIS is a bit rubbish, though…

Soon enough the con officially started, and I had my first visitor: old college pal Sholly Fisch, who’s been impressing everyone (no doubt including his biggest fan, superstar writer Grant Morrison) with his work scripting the backup stories for DC Comics’ Action Comics, and the lead story in the new Action Comics Annual #1 (on sale Halloween!). Sholly also writes Scooby Doo for DC, and received some well-deserved acclaim for writing two of DC’s popular kids’ comics series: Super Friends and Batman: The New Brave and the Bold.

Not only that, but he and comics legend Ernie Colon (co-creator of Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld) have crafted a fun eight-page story for our own Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1, which is scheduled for release next April. The basic setup? “A demon walks into a bar…”—but don’t expect it to be your typical horror story!

After Sholly headed off to one of the DC Universe panels in which he was participating, James Ferguson and the crew from the Web site Horror Talk  stopped by to chat. They all loved Lorelei: Sects and the City, our Mature Readers graphic novel about a succubus battling a cult of Elder Gods worshipers; in fact, James had given it a four-out-of-five-star recommendation back in September. The question on their minds: Would there be further Lorelei stories? I told them that depended on sales. At the moment, Diamond Comic Distributors is mulling over whether to pick up the book; if things work out, then more Lori stories are a good possibility.

Overall con sales were slow, but the day ended with a sale of the Official Pandora Zwieback T-shirt (still available from our webstore)—a reproduction of the T that Pan wears on the cover of her first novel, Blood Feud. A man walked up to the booth, took one look at the shirts, and asked, “You wouldn’t have one in a double-XL, would you?”

I reached under the table and pulled one out. His eyes lit up. “It’s like it was waiting for me!”

Indeed.

Tomorrow: Welcome to Thunderdome!

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New York Comic Con 2012 Report: Day 0

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Steven

116,000 attendees! That’s the figure that New York Comic Con has calculated for the number of people who filled the Jacob Javits Center from October 11–14; it would have been even greater if there hadn’t been a construction site taking up a good portion of the third-level show floor and the entirety of the fourth. And somewhere in all that madness was the crew from StarWarp Concepts.

Of course, it didn’t start out a madhouse…

Wednesday, October 10, was move-in day for a lot of the larger exhibitors, as well as the day to pick up exhibitor badges, so I figured I’d get that out of the way first thing. After grabbing my allotment of passes I wandered around the Javits Center to see what was going on, and to find The ’Warp’s booth.

And there it was: booth 2139. Supporting walls to be used for the Snail Games island across the aisle (who says StarWarp Concepts isn’t neighborly?), but definitely there. Yeah, I know, it doesn’t look like much: considering what the con charges for a small-press booth (close to a thousand dollars), all you get for your money is a space on the floor with pipe-and-drape assemblies around it—you have to provide your own table and chairs. It sucks, but the alternative is to rent material from the Javits Center, and that’s insanely expensive.

Still, the location was pretty sweet. Lots of open space in front of the booth, placed right near a major intersection, and once you moved all the construction junk out of the way there was little chance of passersby not seeing us—as you’ll notice in this next photo I took from the SWC home base the next day, when the con was in full swing:


Nice, right? I think that’s a DC Comics’ Nightwing cosplayer in the blue-and-black costume on the right-hand side. And the Devil May Cry video game consoles behind him were busy all four days of the con, as were photo sessions with the cosplayer dressed as “Hello Kitty Chun Li” (off-camera) for Capcom’s honest-to-God mash-up of Hello Kitty and the video game Street Fighter. (No, I didn’t pose with Hello Kitty, but here’s a picture I found on Flicker.)

With the booth location noted I headed off to check out some of the other exhibitors. Not the easiest thing to do—the place was a very active construction zone, with forklifts and mini-cranes and the like roaring up and down the aisles, signs and lights being hung from the ceiling, and some booth walls leaning at dangerous angles as they were being set up—but I still managed to get some shots of:


 

• The Marvel Comics island in progress. Spaces like this (DC Comics and the gaming companies had similar ones) are called islands because they’re separate from the average connected booths, and so much larger they could have their own zip codes. I’m not sure what’s going on with the image on the wall of the conference room being built—whether it’s a promotional image or a comic cover—but it looked nice.

• One of the DeLoreans used in the Back to the Future movie trilogy, complete with “Mr. Fusion” fuel processor and “Outatime” license plate. To the right of that, under the tarp, is the Batcycle that Adam West and Burt Ward rode in the Batman TV series. (Sorry, guys, but the Batgirl cycle with 1966-era Yvonne Craig is the only one I care about.  😉  ) Next to the Batcycle, off-camera, was the Batmobile, also under a tarp. (Okay, that one I care about.) And don’t ask “Which Batmobile?” As with Highlander, when it comes to Batmobiles in the end there can be only one:

 

• The Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo. No Great Danes running loose (or whatever kind of breed Scooby’s supposed to be), or shaggy-haired stoners behind the wheel, but that thing must get a ton of stares while it’s tooling down the highway. And people constantly asking for Scooby Snacks. But y’know what’s really funny? That license plate. I didn’t know the Scooby Gang was from New Jersey.

And those weren’t the only vehicles on display! Down by the main entrance to the Javits Center, where fans would be lining up to get their tickets the next day, I also found… the Buffymobile. Seriously? I guess the Onstar button puts you in touch with the best help available in tracking down vampires to slay.

 

One final shot before I left the Javits: these are the steps leading from the fan entrance up to the main show floor. This year the steps were wrapped in a giant advertisement for the Tomb Raider game relaunch. Man, I thought, there were gonna be a lot of people stepping on Lara Croft’s face over the next four days…

Tomorrow: Welcome to Thunderdome!

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StarWarp Concepts Book Festival Kicks Off Tomorrow!

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Steven

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 festival runs from tomorrow through Monday, October 15, with discounts on all our titles—both print and digital. All sales are conducted through Paypal—but not to worry if you don’t have an account because Paypal accepts credit cards. That means there’s no excuse for you to not purchase our fantastic products.  😉

But that’s not all! A convention’s not really a convention without attendee badges, and the SWC book fest is no exception. Just print out the card, sign it, cut it out and put it in a lanyard (if you’ve got one handy), and bingo—instant con badge.

So come join us tomorrow for all the excitement, and we’ll see you at the con!

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Lorelei: Now in Handy E-book Form

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Steven

Just in time for the Halloween season comes this spectacular treat: Lorelei: Sects and the City, our critically acclaimed Mature Readers graphic novel, will be available in PDF format this coming Thursday!

Reintroducing The ’Warp’s first horror heroine—who made her comic book debut in 1993—Lorelei: Sects and the City is the tale of a soul-stealing succubus named Lorelei Munro who gets drawn into the machinations of Elder God worshipers attempting to summon their ancient masters to rule over the Earth. An homage to 1970s horror comics and classic horror films, this graphic novel adventure features a cover painting by comics legend Esteban Maroto (Vampirella), a script by Saga of Pandora Zwieback author Steven A. Roman (that’s me!), and art by Eliseu Gouveia (The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0), Steve Geiger (Web of Spider-Man), and Neil Vokes (Fright Night). Plus there’s a one-page history of succubi drawn by Ernie Colon (Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld), as well as pin-ups by Louis Small Jr. (Vampirella) and Tom Sutton (Werewolf by Night).

A word of warning, though: This graphic novel features sex, nudity, violence, and a ton of F-bombs, and is meant for an adult audience (hence the parental advisory on the cover). If you’re a teenaged fan of my Saga of Pandora Zwieback work… well, you might want to avoid this one.  😉

The Lori e-book will debut exclusively at our first annual StarWarp Concepts Book Festival, which is being held right here at the SWC site from Thursday, October 11 to Monday, October 15. Best of all, this 152-page tome will be available at the low, low price of $3.99!

After October 15, the e-book price will rise to $5.99— still over half off the cover price of the print edition!—and be available from the StarWarp Concepts webstore and our DriveThru Fiction page.

If you’re a fan of old-school horror comics, Hammer horror movies, and fantastic “good girl” art, or (even better) a longtime Lorelei fan who wants to see what your favorite succubus has been up to since you last saw her, then this is the graphic novel for you!

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Twice the Convention Madness This Week!

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Steven

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!

Booth 2139 is where you’ll find me, as well as author Richard C. White, manning the StarWarp Concepts post; just look for the Pandora Zwieback banner. We’re directly across from the Snail Games USA island, and two aisles south of the Marvel Comics command center.

On sale will be copies of the Pandora Zwieback novel Blood Feud; the illustrated classic Carmilla; the Mature Readers graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City (for you readers who are 18 and up); the Official Pandora Zwieback T-shirt; and Rich’s pirate-fantasy comic Chronicles of the Sea Dragon.

Joining Rich and me on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for signings will be Steve Geiger, one of the contributing artists of Lorelei: Sects and the City. Steve is a former Marvel Comics art director, and was the artist on Web of Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Sectaurs, and Silver Surfer: Loftier Than Mortals, among others.

New York Comic Con’s show floor
is open at the following times:

Thursday, October 11: 3:00 PM–9:00 PM
(Only open to professionals, press, VIPs, and 4-day-pass fans)

Friday, October 12: 10:00 AM–7:00 PM

Saturday, October 13: 10:00 AM–7:00 PM

Sunday, October, 14: 10:00 AM–5:00 PM

 

Steve Geiger’s Lorelei: Sects and the City signing schedule:

Friday, October 12: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Saturday, October 13: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Sunday, October 14: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Steve will also be available for commissioned sketches, so if you’d like to have him draw Lori or Pan or Sebastienne for you, then be sure to talk to him during his appearances.

The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center is located at 34th Street and 11th Avenue in Manhattan. For more information, head over to the NYCC Web site.

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.

See ya at the shows!

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Announcing the StarWarp Concepts Book Festival!

Posted on October 7, 2012 by Steven

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?

The first-ever StarWarp Concepts Book Festival will open its Web-doors on Thursday, October 11, 2012 and run through Monday, October 15 (to coincide with the four-day New York Comic Con, plus one extra day). With the exception of the Official Pandora Zwieback T-shirt (which retains its original price) we’ll be offering our print titles at the same discounts you would get if you bought them from us in-person (plus postage), and marking down the prices on all e-books. For example:

Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1

Print: $14.95  $10.00 (plus postage)

E-book: $3.99  $1.99 • available in .pcr (Kindle compatible), Epub, and PDF formats

Lorelei: Sects and the City

Print: $12.95  $10.00 (plus postage)

E-book: $5.99  $3.99 • available in PDF format

Carmilla

Print: $10.95  $5.00 (plus postage)

E-book: $2.99  $1.00 • available in PDF format

Snow White

E-book: $1.99  99¢ • available in PDF format

Sounds good, right? All sales will be processed via the StarWarp Concepts webstore; payments are handled through Paypal. But if you don’t have (or want) a Paypal account, don’t worry—they accept credit cards, just like any online retailer.

The con is also open to those folks who did see us at NYCC but didn’t have the cash on hand to pick up one of our wonderful books or T-shirts (that artists alley can strip a wallet bare!). That’s the reason behind the one-day-past-NYCC extension: to give them the opportunity to pick up online what they couldn’t at the show. We hope everyone will take advantage of it.

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John Carter’s Final Battle

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Steven

Well, ’Warp fans, after a great deal of consideration I’m saddened to announce that the illustrated reissue of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s The Gods of Mars: John Carter, Book 2—originally scheduled for March 2013—has been canceled.

Unfortunately, sales on the first Carter novel, A Princess of Mars—still available from the SWC webstore)—were extremely weak (to say the least). The box-office implosion of Disney’s film version, John Carter, certainly didn’t help matters, and no doubt cut into any potential sales that might have gone hand-in-hand with a successful movie. Not to mention that apparently every mainstream and indie publishing house made a frantic dash to release their own version of the book to tie in with the film. Stupid public domain novels!  😉

Funny/scary story: The day that The ’Warp’s version went on sale, Barnes & Noble’s Web site listed the book as it should have, but then for some reason included readers’ comments regarding another publisher’s edition—and they were all complaints about what a typo-filled piece of crap the book was, and how everyone should avoid it!

It took a bit of pleading with B&N’s Web department to get those comments off the book’s page, but a few hours after I made them aware of the error the page was updated with the correct information. So, thanks again, B&N Web guys!

Still, even with the correct information in place, sales at B&N and other retailers fell far short of my expectations, but I waited until this point to make a final decision about keeping Gods on the schedule. I was hoping that sales might pick up when John Carter came out on DVD and Blu-ray, but when that didn’t happen I made up my mind to cancel book two.

If I went ahead anyway and published Gods of Mars, from a financial standpoint I’d only be throwing good money after bad (as the old saying goes), and that wouldn’t be smart business. I think it’s better that those funds get applied to a project that has a better chance of generating revenue for the company, like the Pandora Zwieback series. Those great Bob Larkin cover paintings don’t come free, after all, and the books don’t typeset themselves.

We’re not entirely done with The ’Warp’s illustrated classics line, though. The adventures of Mars’ warlord might be finished here, but March 2013 will see the arrival of a king—King Kong, that is, as we reissue the 1933 novelization in time to celebrate the original film’s 80th anniversary. Be sure to wear your favorite party hat!

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Blood Reign: The Bad News and the Good News

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Steven

“You want this, don’t you? The hate is swelling in you now…”

First off, loyal Pan-atics, I have to pass along the bad news: Despite my best efforts, Blood Reign, the second Pandora Zwieback novel, won’t be making its October 9 release date. Despite my best efforts to publish a book I’d be happy with (and you’d be happy with, as well) it’s not quite where I want it to be. And since I’m a stickler for perfection I just can’t let it go out. Not right now. Sorry. As TV host Craig Ferguson says, “I look forward to your angry letters.”

However, there is some good news. In order to take the sting out of not having Pan’s latest adventure on hand, StarWarp Concepts is making the following publications available—for free:

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.

(By the way, what you see here is a dummy cover for the story that I cobbled together. Trust me, the final version by a professional designer will look much better.)  😀

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.

Curious about what happened to Pan after Blood Feud’s shocking cliffhanger? Of course you are! Well, this is the place to find out until the novel goes on sale. Supplies will be limited (because I honestly know exactly how many copies of Feud have been sold to date), so get your copy while you can. (More than likely this preview will also appear as a PDF on the Pandora Zwieback site, after the convention and until the book goes on sale, so that Pan’s worldwide fans can join in on the excitement.)

Also for NYCC attendees, The ’Warp be making this one-time offer: If you’re willing to pay us what you would have spent at the show for a copy of Blood Reign, and give us your mailing address, we’ll send you an autographed copy of the book as soon as it’s available, with no extra charges. Think of it as a preorder…on a very late book.

I’ll keep you updated on the book’s progress, but at this point I’m not going to announce a definite publication date. I will, say, though, that when it’s done it means I’m happy with the results. And then I’ll have to immediately jump on the next Pan novel, the werewolf-centric Stalkers, so this problem never happens again.

I appreciate your loyalty and your understanding. And if you do plan on stopping by the SWC booth, please leave your pitchforks and torches at home—the con rules prohibit weapons and open flames.  😉

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