Hey there, owners of comic book shops and independent bookstores around the world! Are you interested in adding StarWarp Concepts titles to your shelves, especially now that we’re celebrating our 30th Anniversary this year? Well, here’s how you can do it!
SWC’s in-print titles (as opposed to our e-book exclusives) are all print-on-demand releases available through our distributor, Ingram Content Group—and POD means they’re never out of print, so they’re always ready to appear on your shelves!
Our ever-growing list of titles ranges from the young-adult thrills of supernatural heroine Pandora Zwieback and the Lovecraftian chills of the Mature Readers graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City to the nonfiction books Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination (perfect for writers and RPG game masters) and From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures, and from the Illustrated Classics A Princess of Mars and Carmilla to the swashbuckling adventure of the fantasies Harbinger of Darkness and For a Few Gold Pieces More, StarWarp Concepts has a book sure to appeal to your customer base!
And our titles are critically acclaimed, with overwhelmingly positive responses from reviewers:
“Far and away one of the best young adult supernatural fantasy novels. Pan is exactly the kind of teen heroine that readers should be standing up and cheering for.”—HorrorNews.net on Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1
“This is without a doubt the essential, authoritative reference book for anything related to the Warren-era Vampirella. There are lots of books out there with good information, but none offers such a broad, all-encompassing look at the history of this character.”—Vampirella of Drakulon (news blog) on From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures
“A solid introduction to the subject of world building. The book succeeds in helping the aspiring writer in creating a skeletal framework on which to hang the moving parts required of a believable fictional setting.”—The Gaming Gang on Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination
“A satisfying romp and one that feels like it would have made an excellent seventies horror film (especially one made by Hammer)…. The story is funny at times, graphic at times, and horrific at others, and it’s always delivering its stuff at full volume.”—Strange Amusements on Lorelei: Sects and the City
“A visceral adventure through a world of magic with well-developed characters, dynamic dialogue and a good dose of two-handed sword fights.”—Experience Writing on Harbinger of Darkness
“With a cover that looks like it belongs on the paranormal romance shelf in a bookstore and half a dozen illustrations provided by Eliseu Gouveia, this edition stands a good chance of tempting some younger readers to pick up this classic vampire tale…. I wish I’d picked this book up in seventh grade instead of slogging through Dracula.”—The Gothic Library on Carmilla
Take a look at our backlist to see what we offer, and then get in touch with Ingram Content Group if you don’t already have an account with them.
After all, why should Amazon have all the business—and the fun?
So now that you’ve had four days of behind-the-scenes talk of StarWarp Concepts here at the SWC blog, it’s time to look at what readers and potential book buyers are interested in when they peruse all we have to offer. Because while it’s true that your friendly fiends at ’Warp Central haven’t released a new project in a while, that doesn’t mean we didn’t have books to sell in 2022, what with our extensive backlist of fiction and nonfiction titles.
So let’s take a look at the top three titles that best grabbed readers’ attention in the past year, based on our 2022 sales figures.
Coming in at number 1 is From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures, by Steven A. Roman (that’s me!), is a nonfiction history of Vampirella that takes an extensive look at her early days, from the debut of her series in 1969 to the death of Warren Publishing in 1983. In addition, you’ll find the tale of Hammer Films’ unproduced film adaptation of the 1970s that was to star Barbara Leigh and Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkin of Star Wars); an in-depth guide to all her Warren stories; a checklist of all her Warren appearances (plus the publications from Harris Comics and Dynamite Entertainment that reprinted her Warren adventures); an overview of the six novelizations by pulp sci-fi author Ron Goulart that were published in the 1970s by Warner Books; and a look at the awful 1996 direct-to-cable-TV movie that was made, starring Talisa Soto (Mortal Kombat) and rock-god Roger Daltrey (lead singer of the Who). There’s also a peek at Mr. Cushing’s personal copy of the ’70s Vampirella screenplay; a foreword by Official Vampirella Historian Sean Fernald, a frontispiece by Warren artist Bob Larkin (Vampirella, Creepy, Eerie), and photographs from the personal archives of Forrest J Ackerman, co-creator of Vampirella and editor/creator of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine.
The number two spot belongs to Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination. In this how-to book for writers and role-playing gamemasters, bestselling fantasy author Richard C. White (Gauntlet: Dark Legacy: Paths of Evil, For a Few Gold Pieces More, Harbinger of Darkness) takes you through the step-by-step process of constructing a world for your characters, from societies and governments to currency and religion. Included is an interview with New York Times bestselling author Tracy Hickman (Dragonlance) that discusses his methods of world building, as well as his creative experiences during his time as a designer for gaming company TSR, the original home of Dungeons & Dragons. Originally intended as a writer’s guide, it very quickly became popular with RPGers who use it as a sort of instruction manual for setting up their campaigns. In fact, the book—available in trade paperback, hardcover, and ebook forms—is so useful to them that it’s currently an assigned textbook in the Interactive Media & Game Development program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worchester, Massachusetts!
And coming in at number three is the Illustrated Classic A Princess of Mars, the first in the “John Carter of Mars” ten-novel series by Edgar Rice Burroughs, best known as the creator of the pulp-fiction jungle lord, Tarzan. Unlike Tarzan’s African adventures, Princess is the story of a post–Civil War era American who suddenly finds himself transported to the Red Planet, where he must constantly fight to stay alive against all sorts of alien threats—and where he falls in love with Dejah Thoris, the titular Martian princess. It served as the basis for Disney’s 2012 film adaptation, John Carter, and inspired a century’s worth of SF works, including Flash Gordon, Star Wars, and James Cameron’s Avatar. The StarWarp Concepts edition features six incredible illustrations by SWC artist supreme Eliseu Gouveia (Lorelei: Sects and the City, The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1), and an introduction by Mars-fiction expert John Gosling, author of Waging the War of the Worlds.
All titles are available in print and digital formats. Visit their respective product pages for ordering information.
The following is the conclusion of a four-part interview that first appeared on the site Write a Revolution, back in 2015, but since WaR is apparently no longer around, I’m presenting it (with some updates) as part of our 30th Anniversary celebration for all those folks who might not have seen it.
In Part 1, I talked about the inspiration behind our succubus comic character, Lorelei, the horror-comic anthology Lorelei Presents: House Macabre, and what possibly distinguishes StarWarp Concepts from other publishers.
Part 2 covered the genesis of our teenaged Goth monster fighter, Pandora Zwieback, and the planning that goes into creating an SWC project.
For Part 3, we discussed publishing matters—marketing strategies, the use of giveaways, and promotional ideas that didn’t quite work out.
Today in the wrap-up, we get into some of the nitty-gritty as to how The ’Warp operates as a publishing company. Enjoy!
WaR: What have you struggled with the most during your adventures in writing and publishing?
Steve Roman at the 2015 Brooklyn Book Festival. Photo by Frank Roman.
SR: Getting recognition for the company and our titles. It’s a cliché that the Internet is just a big void you’re shouting into, hoping to get attention, but it’s true. Conventions help, but like I said earlier, the pandemic sort of threw a monkey wrench into that sort of interaction, for the time being.
WaR: Do you network with fellow writers or self-published authors?
SR: I have friends and other contacts who are writers and self-publishers, and we’re all in the same boat, to varying degrees, all trying to get the word out on our projects. We compare notes on our approaches, and share convention war stories and stuff like that. A mutual commiseration society! (laughs)
Along those lines, one of my friends is writer/publisher J.D. Calderon of Dream Weaver Press, home to the fantasy comics Tall Tails and The Oswald Chronicles. He has a YouTube interview series called Indy Comics Explained, and I’ve made a few appearances on it, the most recent back in December, where the main topic was whether editors are useful for indie comic creators.
WaR: How do you design your covers and/or any illustrations?
SR: When dealing with artists, usually I’ll start off by doing a rough sketch of the composition I’m looking for, and providing them with any reference material they might need. For designers, I’ll sometimes do a rough design of the cover or interior layouts in my Mac’s Pages application, just to give them a starting point they can riff on. Or if I have something particular in mind I’ll say, “No, I want it exactly like this, but with a professional finish to it.” The cover for Lorelei Presents: House Macabre, for example, was meant to emulate 1970s and ’80s DC comics; if you look closely, you can see an “Approved by the Monsters Code Authority” seal in the upper right-hand corner.
I try not to waste artists’ or designers’ time with a game of “I’ll know it when I see it”—that approach just winds up pissing everyone off. Doing it the way I do seems to work out just fine; a few of the artists have even told me I’m one of the best art directors they’ve ever worked with.
WaR: Do you format your own eBooks or outsource?
SR: For the PDF versions of StarWarp’s books, comics, and graphic novels that are sold through the company website and online retailers like DriveThru Comics and DriveThru Fiction, I have my designers deliver a version of the print files, with the covers combined with the interiors.
However, the Pandora Zwieback novels get mass distribution and require separate file formats for Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords (who distribute to Apple, Kobo, and Scribd), so I outsourced them to an e-book conversion company called 52Novels. All I had to provide them with, other than a Word doc file of the manuscript, was the design material I wanted to carry over from the print versions—front cover, title page, house ads—and they put it all together. I was really happy with the work they did on Blood Feud, and they’re great people to work with, so I went back to them with Blood Reign and in all likelihood will continue to use them.
WaR: Do you find the overall process of publishing a book an easy one or especially difficult?
SR: It was difficult starting out because I had to learn the process on the fly, but strangely enough that tends to be the method I’m most comfortable with: just jumping right in and figuring it out as I go. It was the same way I got started in comics publishing, back in ’93, except for the book market I was able to rely on books like Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual and Self-Publishing for Dummies for guidance. And I had some familiarity with the ins and outs of the industry, having been an editor for ten years at a New York publishing house called ibooks, inc. (no relation to Apple’s iBooks).
What made the process of reinventing StarWarp as a book publisher a bit easier was in hiring the designers I worked with at ibooks, inc., so I’d be working with people I knew, and who were familiar with my methods. The rest of the business stuff, though, was up to me.
WaR: What are you working on next?
SR: Well, 2023 is StarWarp’s 30th anniversary year, so we’ve got a number of books and comics in the works—not to mention our first Kickstarter campaigns—but I’ll hold off from making announcements until they’re a little more developed. All I can say is, stay tuned!
The following is the third installment of a four-part interview that first appeared on the site Write a Revolution, back in 2015, but since WaR is apparently no longer around, I’m presenting it (with some updates) as part of our 30th Anniversary celebration for all those folks who might not have seen it.
In Part 1, I talked about the inspiration behind our succubus comic character, Lorelei, the horror-comic anthology Lorelei Presents: House Macabre, and what possibly distinguishes StarWarp Concepts from other publishers.
Part 2 covered the genesis of our teenaged Goth monster fighter, Pandora Zwieback, and the planning that goes into creating an SWC project.
Today, some discussion on publishing matters—marketing strategies, the use of giveaways, and promotional ideas that didn’t quite work out. Enjoy!
WaR: There is plenty of advice out there telling you how to sell your book but what book marketing strategies or methods have you found work effectively for new authors or even more established indie names?
SR: The ones that seem to work the best usually involve crowdfunding—Kickstarter and IndieGoGo and sites like that—because you’re directly marketing to people who become interested in investing in your project; the rewards offered at different backing levels have a lot to do with that. It’s a method I’ve been interested in trying, and I know other small publishers it’s worked for, so we’ll be giving it a try this year with some comic-related projects that are currently in development.
WaR: Do you try to build to a launch or release the book and then promote afterwards?
SR: I did a major push for Blood Feud, the first Pandora Zwieback novel, by first purchasing booth space at the New York Comic Con one year before its release just to announce the coming of the book.
Then, as the release date got closer, I ran a feature on the StarWarp blog called “The 13 Days of Pan-demonium”—a sort of countdown in which I hired twelve artists (plus me) to draw their interpretations of Pan, with the cover of Blood Feud appearing somewhere in each piece. I posted one illustration each day, leading up to the book’s release.
WaR: Have you tried giving anything away for free or include special offers to try and entice readers? E.g. free chapters, promotional items, limited day price reductions.
SR: Absolutely. At the StarWarp Concepts website, we offer free sample chapters from the Pandora Zwieback novels Blood Feud and Blood Reign, and there’s The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0, a free, downloadable 16-page comic book that acts as an introduction to Pan’s book series. That one originally started out as a print comic that I handed out in 2010 as a promotional item at comic book conventions and book festivals. We also have the free digital comics Heroines and Heroes—a collection of the comic artwork I’ve done for other publishers—and Heartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa, a three-issue series originally published in the 1990s during the “bad-girl” comics craze. It’s sort of an odd “prequel” to The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, in that it stars her monster-hunting mentor, Annie, in a comic that’s “suggested for mature readers,” as the usual warning goes for comic fans under eighteen years of age.
And depending on budgetary limitations, I’ll have either brochures or catalogs printed up to hand out at shows. It’s important that people know that StarWarp has a growing backlist of titles.
WaR: Do you mostly stick to online promotions or do you do much offline networking as well?
SR: I’ve attended conventions and book festivals over the years, which tends to work better for sales than the online promotions, because I’m able to tell attendees about the books and comics, on a one-on-one basis. The pandemic, unfortunately, put the brakes on that kind of interaction—first with the lockdown in 2020 that closed all conventions, and then, when they did start up, with the concern about them turning into “super-spreader” events because not every attendee wears a mask…or is vaccinated…or covers their mouth when they cough or sneeze. It’d be like contracting the dreaded “con crud” on steroids.
However, I am looking to get back to in-person appearances, if not in 2023 then definitely in 2024. It’s all a matter of budgeting for conventions—they’re even more expensive now for vendors and exhibitors than they were since the last time I booked space at a show.
WaR: Are there any promotional ideas that really did not work out or “bombed”? Things that you definitely will not be trying again?
SR: Ooh, where to begin…? (laughs) Well, I’ve stopped exhibiting at New York Comic Con, for one thing. The last one I attended was in 2013—I had the best location I’d ever had at that show, and wound up with a larger space than expected because the show runners had misjudged the borders of the booth layouts, but at the end of four days I’d spent $1,500 for the location and taken in…let’s just say nowhere close to that in sales.
For the 2011 New York Comic Con, I used the show’s database to contact people who’d listed the StarWarp booth as one of their planned visiting points, and e-mailed them certificates for exclusive Pandora Zwieback sketch cards that the novels’ cover painter, Bob Larkin (who used to work for publishers like Marvel and Bantam), had done for me. Only one guy showed up to claim a card—and even he didn’t really want it. He’d come to the booth to find out what was going on with Lorelei! (laughs)
In 2014, I tried a similar promotion at the first-ever BookCon, only this time I was offering prints of Bob’s cover painting for Blood Feud. Again, of all the people I contacted, only one person showed up to get their print.
There were others, but I’ve depressed myself already, remembering just these. (laughs)
That’s the end of part 3. Drop by tomorrow for the exciting conclusion!
The following is the second installment of a four-part interview with StarWarp Concepts owner/publisher/main writer Steven A. Roman (that’s me!) that first appeared on the site Write a Revolution, back in 2015, but since WaR is apparently no longer around, I’m presenting it (with some updates) as part of our 30th Anniversary celebration for all those folks who might not have seen it.
In yesterday’s Part 1, I talked about the inspiration behind our succubus comic character, Lorelei; the horror-comic anthology Lorelei Presents: House Macabre; and what possibly distinguishes StarWarp Concepts from other publishers.
Today, we get into the genesis of our teenaged Goth monster fighter, Pandora Zwieback, and the planning that goes into creating an SWC project. Enjoy!
WaR: In the young adult novels Blood Feud and Blood Reign, you introduce Pandora Zwieback. Who is Pandora and what’s her story?
SR: Pan is a sixteen-year-old Goth who spent the last decade being diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic because she can see monsters. But after she meets an immortal monster hunter named Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin, she learns that she doesn’t suffer from a mental illness—she has the power to see through the human disguises worn by the monsters that actually exist in the world. How she wound up with that power is a complete mystery to her and her parents, but before they ever get a chance to start figuring it out, they get swept up in a war involving vampire clans looking for what they think is an ultimate weapon. And it just so happens that it was delivered to the horror-themed museum owned by Pan’s dad.
Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1 introduces Pan and her cast of characters, and sets up the vampire war. Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2 continues the story, adding more details on Pan and the relationship Annie had with the fallen angel who’s leading the vampires against humanity. They’re both extremely character-driven novels, because I love writing for Pan and getting her take on this whole potential end-of-the-world scenario she’s found herself in.
WaR: How do you get into the minds of your characters and make them tick? What I mean is, when you’re writing about women for example or characters that experience things that you have no personal knowledge of, how do you keep it realistic?
SR: That’s a good question—I’m stilltrying to figure out how I’ve managed to get inside Pan’s head! I mean, obviously, I’ve got no experience in being a sixteen-year-old girl, but I do remember being something of a socially awkward nerd in high school, so I have that to draw on, to some degree. I’ve taken the old axiom about writers writing what they know and applied that to her, so she’s a horror fan and Mets baseball fan and comic book lover, and then I add more facets to her character as I go along.
So far, it’s been working—my favorite convention story involves me telling a woman about Blood Feud and explaining Pan’s character in some detail, and her response was, “That sounds fascinating. Is the woman who wrote the book here?” When I pointed out that I was the author, she said, “That’s incredible! But how could you know what it’s like to be a sixteen-year-old girl?”
I think a lot of getting into the mental processes of the characters comes by playing certain kinds of music to set a mood. If I want to write a sad scene—say, like the discussion between Pan and her mom in Blood Feud, about the effect her parents’ divorce has had on her—I’ll play something that’ll intentionally make me feel melancholy, and put it on a loop. If I get a little misty-eyed when I read the scene over, then I know I’ve gotten inside Pan’s head and nailed down her emotions. For action scenes, I usually play movie sound tracks.
WaR: What level or research and planning goes into each project you undertake at StarWarp?
SR: I’m not really the kind who does market research to see if there’s an audience for what we publish, because more often than not our titles tend to be counter to whatever is considered hot or trendy at any given time. When the first Pan novel, Blood Feud, came out, Twilight was still popular—but there’s nothing romantic or “sparkly” about the vampires I write; in fact, some reviewers went out of their way to point out that Blood Feud is a polar opposite to Meyer’s books, in terms of depth of characterization and the violent nature of the vampires—and how much they preferred my approach.
The Lorelei projects are completely at odds with today’s comic market, given the sexual nature of the character and her appearance—the blown-out hair, the unbuttoned blouse, and the stiletto-heel boots. But then again, I’m not going after people who only read mainstream or alt-press comics. Like I said before, Lori is a throwback to old horror comics—if you’re not into those, then Lorelei probably won’t appeal to you. And yet the Sects and the City graphic novel is our most popular title with horror fans.
The Illustrated Classics line we have—which right now consists of the vampire novella Carmilla, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars, the 1932 novelization of the original King Kong, and the Brothers Grimm’s Snow White—are chosen for various reasons: they’re well-written books I enjoy; there’s some movie or event I can tie them to; or I know they’ll appeal to dark fantasy fans.
Carmilla involves vampires, so that was a no-brainer—vampires will never go out of style. A Princess of Mars was published to take advantage of Disney’s John Carter movie, since the movie’s based on that novel, and it’s a book I’ve enjoyed since I first read it as a teenager. King Kong was the first monster movie I ever saw as a kid, when it used to run on TV, and the novelization includes material that isn’t in the final version of the film. And Snow White came about because I found a children’s storybook published in the late 1800s, with pristine, full-color illustrations; since the book was in the public domain, we scanned the art and released it as an e-book. And the original spot illustrations for Carmilla and Princess—all done by Eliseu Gouveia—and Paul Tuma’s illustrations for King Kong are a major selling point for those books.
That’s the end of part 2. Drop by tomorrow for Part 3!
It’s interview time, with StarWarp Concepts owner/publisher/main writer Steven A. Roman (that’s me!).
Your humble publisher manning the SWC booth. Photo by Frank Roman.
The four-part interview that we’re kicking off today first appeared on the site Write a Revolution, back in 2015, but since WaR is apparently no longer around, I’m presenting it (with some updates) as part of our 30th Anniversary celebration for all those folks who might not have seen it. It’ll give you some background on how The ’Warp operates. Enjoy!
WaR: I believe your company, StarWarp Concepts, has been on the scene for a while now.
SR: Since 1993. But back then it started out as a comic book company that I set up so I could publish a series I’d created called Lorelei, about a woman who winds up getting caught in a supernatural situation and gets turned into a succubus. It was a pretty character-driven comic—no superhero fistfights or explosions or the like—and sold well enough in the nineties for a black-and-white series, but the market dried up when there was a major collapse of comic book distributors late in the decade, leaving only Diamond Comic Distributors. To this day, they’re really the only game in town for comic publishers, but Diamond’s focus is on major companies, with not a great deal of interest in the small presses.
When I rebooted the company in 2010, I mostly moved away from comics and concentrated on publishing dark fantasy, horror, and fantasy books, and the occasional graphic novel.
WaR: Tell us a bit more about it—what services you provide, and where it differs from the many other publishing companies that have been around since the Indie Pub boom.
SR: Well, like I said we originally started out publishing the Lorelei comic, but since 2010 we’ve mostly expanded into straight books—young adult novels [The Saga of Pandora Zwieback], illustrated classic reprints, an artist sketchbook [The Bob Larkin Sketchbook], and a writing guide for fantasy authors [Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination]. Occasionally we still do comics—we published a tie-in to the young adult novel series, The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, and we released the horror anthology Lorelei Presents: House Macabre, and the graphic novels Lorelei: Sects and the City and Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings. I guess that would mean we’re somewhat in a gray area between being a book publisher and a comic publisher, which probably makes us different from most indie houses. I’m okay with that—it gives us two types of audiences to appeal to.
WaR: Lorelei Presents: House Macabre has a great grindhouse feel to it, almost reminiscent of some of Quentin Tarantino’s early work or the Rob Zombie movies. Do certain movies or film genres influence your work at all?
SR: Oh, sure. In the case of House Macabre, the influence comes from horror anthology movies like Trick ’r Treat, Trilogy of Terror, and Creepshow, but it also comes from comics like EC’s Tales From the Crypt, DC’s House of Mystery, and magazines like the original Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella—short stories with a little twist at the end. Like most of the projects I come up with, it’s a nod to the kind of stuff I grew up reading.
I’d say there’s more of a grindhouse feel to the Lorelei graphic novel that preceded House Macabre: Lorelei: Sects and the City, in which she battles a cult of Elder God worshippers. Unlike House Macabre, Sects is aimed at an adult audience, with sex and nudity and a whole lot of F-bombs. It’s basically a love letter to 1970s horror comics and movies; a few reviewers commented that it’s the sort of story that might have interested Hammer Studios, back in their heyday, which I consider a great compliment.
WaR: Who are the talented artists behind the drawings and where does the inspiration for characters come from?
SR: In Lorelei Presents: House Macabre, we’ve got cover artist Louis Small Jr., who made a name for himself in the 1990s as a supreme “bad girl” artist, drawing characters like Vampirella, Lady Death, and a bunch of others. The four-page introduction (written by me) that starts the comic, in which Lorelei greets the readers, was penciled by Uriel Caton—who once drew a Justice Society of America annual for DC Comics, and now is a top designer for Diamond Select Toys—and inked by “Chainsaw” Chuck Majewski. “All in Color for a Crime” (also written by me) was drawn by Lou Manna, who worked on DC’s superhero comics Young All-Starsand T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. “The Basilisk” (again, written by me) was drawn by John Pierard, who’s mainly a book illustrator. And “Requiem for Bravo 6” was written by Dwight Jon Zimmerman—a New York Times bestselling author, and a former writer of Marvel titles like Iron Man, She-Hulk, and Web of Spider-Man—and drawn by Juan Carlos Abraldes Rendo.
Lorelei: Sects and the City was written by me and has a cover by Esteban Maroto, who’s a comic-art legend with credits like the original Vampirella and Creepy, and a ton of DC Comics titles. The interior art is by Eliseu Gouveia, who’s drawn comics like The Phantom and Vengeance of the Mummy, and most recently we collaborated on an upcoming comic: The Legend of Calamity Jane: The Devil Herself, for gaming company Piko Interactive; Steve Geiger, a former Marvel art director who drew Web of Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk; and Neil Vokes, who drew comic series like Fright Night, Tom Holland’s Fright Night, and his own Flesh and Blood. The book has a vibe that’s sort of a combination of classic movies like The Devil Rides Out and 1980s Lovecraftian horror flicks like Re-Animator.
Lorelei herself was inspired by Vampirella, Marvel’s Satana, the Devil’s Daughter—who’s a succubus—and 1980s exploitation movies like Abel Ferrara’s Ms. 45, and even the TV show The Equalizer, because New York in the ’80s was a pretty dangerous place to live. When I created her in the late ’80s, I set out to create a sexy action heroine in that sort of grungy, urban setting, but didn’t want to make her a vampire, since that always seems to be the lazy, default setting for any female horror character. Back then, there weren’t too many comic-book succubi who went around seducing men and stealing their souls—I don’t think there are all that many, even today—so that’s what Lorelei became.
That’s the end of part 1 of the interview. Drop by tomorrow for part 2!
According to the calendar site Happy Days 365, today is International Kiss a Ginger Day, a holiday created in 2009 as a “karmic counter event” intended to offset negative comments made about fiery-haired people (e.g., that gingers have no souls, that someone who’s unpopular is treated “like a redheaded stepchild”).
What’s the best way to observe this unusual holiday? Well, around here at ’Warp Central, we celebrate it by honoring our favorite redhead: the flame-haired succubus Lorelei, StarWarp Concepts’ first lady of horror, who stars in two comic books and a graphic novel, and who does quite a bit of kissing of her own—after all, how else is she supposed to steal the souls of her prey?
Lorelei: Sects and the City is Lori’s critically acclaimed graphic novel adventure, in which she battles a cult of Elder God worshipers who are trying to unleash their monstrous masters on the world. It’s a tribute of sorts to classic 1970s horror comics and movies, from writer Steven A. Roman (that’s me!) and artists Eliseu Gouveia, Steve Geiger (Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: Kraven’s Last Hunt, Incredible Hulk Epic Collection: Going Gray), and Neil Vokes (Tom Holland’s Fright Night, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark). Cover art is provided by the legendary Esteban Maroto (Vampirella, Zatanna: Come Together), plus there’s additional art by two more legendary artists from the Warren Publishing era: a frontispiece by original Vampirella artist Tom Sutton (Werewolf by Night, Star Trek) and a history of succubi illustrated by Ernie Colon (Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld).
Lorelei Presents: House Macabre is Lori’s first outing as the hostess of a horror comic anthology, in this one-shot special that contains four tales of horror, behind eye-catching cover art by fan-favorite artist Louis Small Jr. (Vampirella, Vampirella Strikes). “The Old, Dark Manse” is written by me, penciled by Uriel Caton (JSA Annual, Heartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa), and inked by “Chainsaw” Chuck Majewski (Harvey Kurtzman’s New Two-Fisted Tales), and has Lori welcoming readers to this special. “All in Color for a Crime” is another tale from me, with art by Lou Manna (T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, Young All-Stars), in which two comic book collectors clash over a rare back issue—and only one of them will be adding it to their long boxes! “The Basilisk,” from me and artist John Pierard (Graphic Classics: Horror Classics, My Teacher Fried My Brains), is a “Lori’s Feary Tale” that examines the history of a supernatural creature that’s a cross between a deadly snake and a…chicken?! Wrapping up the special is “Requiem for Bravo 6,” by New York Times bestselling author and comic writer Dwight Jon Zimmerman (She-Hulk, Steve McQueen: Full-Throttle Cool) and artist Juan Carlos Abraldes Rendo (Bloke’s Terrible Tomb of Terror), in which a special-ops team goes on a life-or-death mission…but will they be prepared for what awaits them at mission’s end?
And Lorelei: Genesis is a look at Lori’s early days. You see, Lori originally made her debut in the pages of the Lorelei One-Shot Special, published in January 1989; not only was it StarWarp Concepts’ first comic and first-ever publication, it was also the first comic I ever wrote—and drew! Behind a brand-new cover illustration from me (with awesome colors by Eliseu Gouveia), this digital-exclusive comic reprints that debut story, “In the Midnight Hour,” along with an eight-pager that shows a typical sort of day in Lori’s life as a succubus living in New York City.
Lorelei: Sects and the City and Lorelei Presents: House Macabre are available in print and digital formats. Lorelei: Genesis is a digital exclusive. Visit their respective product pages for ordering information and sample pages.
So if you’re a ginger, or if you know a ginger, be sure to celebrate International Kiss a Ginger Day with the gift of reading!
StarWarp Concepts…it’s admittedly a pretty unusual name for a genre publishing company, given we’re predominently a horror house whose launch title was a comic book about a supernatural femme fatale who feasted on human souls. And in the 30 years we’ve been around, I’ve gotten a good share of odd looks when people hear the name, but I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone its origin.
So, how’d it come about? Truth is, I got the idea from a sci-fi novel, of all things!
Buck Rogers: That Man on Beta, written by Richard A. Lupoff under the psuedonym Addison E. Steele, was a novel based on a screenplay by Bob Shayne for an unproduced sequel to Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, the 1979 movie/series pilot that starred Gil Gerard as Buck and Erin Gray as his commander/best friend/potential love interest, Colonel Wilma Deering. Why an “unproduced sequel”? Because the movie did so well in theaters that Universal Studios scrapped a follow-up and greenlit a television series that aired for two seasons.
Erin Gray and Gil Gerard on the set of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
If you’re unfamiliar with the story of Buck Rogers, it goes like this: a 20th-century man is accidentally placed into suspended animation and reawakens 500 years in the future where, as the ultimate man out of time, he tries to figure out his place in this Brave New World while helping its inhabitants struggle against diabolical oppressors. In the sci-fi short story that introduced him, “Armageddon 2419 A.D.,” written by Philip Francis Nowlan and published in Amazing Stories magazine in 1928, Anthony Rogers was trapped in a mine collapse and overcome by unusual gases that kept him preserved for five centuries. In the 1979 movie, Buck was flying solo on a space shuttle mission in 1987 when his electrical system went haywire, shutting down life support and sending the shuttle on an uncontrolled round-the solar-system trip that brought him back to Earth in 2491.
It was while I was reading The Man on Beta that I came across the word starwarp—Lupoff/Steele used it as a descriptor for the hyperspace tunnel that Buck traveled through to cross vast cosmic distances in his 25th-century fighter starship. I thought it sounded really cool, and a decade later, when I was making plans to launch a comic publishing company, the word popped back into my head—and thus StarWarp Concepts was born!
Yes, I know—not the most exciting origin story you’ve ever read. But hey, at least the books and comics we publish are pretty exciting on their own, so it’s all good, right?
Stay tuned for further behind-the-scenes anniversary stories, here at ’Warp Central!
Where did the time go? It seems like only yesterday that StarWarp Concepts launched its first full-size comic—Lorelei #0, published in summer 1993, written by Steven A. Roman (that’s me!), drawn by David C. Matthews, and sporting an awesome cover by then–megapopular Vampirella artist Louis Small Jr.—and suddenly here we are, three decades later, with a variety of books, comics, and graphic novels!
Lorelei, the soul-stealing succubus, is still around, of course. As SWC’s first lady of horror, she’s been here from the start, making her debut in 1989’s Lorelei One-Shot Special, a digest-size, black-and-white, small-press comic that I wrote and drew (and which you can find in the pages of our digital comic Lorelei: Genesis, available from the SWC webstore).
It was my first attempt at doing a comic, taking inspiration from “How to Draw Women the Frank Thorne Way”—a one-day art class that I attended at a 1988 comic con, taught by the acclaimed artist of Marvel Comics’ Red Sonja and his own Ghita of Alizaar graphic novels—the work of writer Bill Mantlo (Cloak & Dagger), the ’80s TV show The Equalizer, and Small Press Comics Explosion, a magazine that showcased the efforts of small-press creators who turned out their own comics on photocopiers.
By 1993, though, I’d made the switch from digests to full-size comics, and then in 2010 I took SWC in a whole new direction as a book and graphic novel publisher (with the occasional comic thrown into the mix), and introduced readers to our second lady of horror: the teenaged Goth Pandora Zwieback, who’s just trying to make sense of her weird life as she, her friends and family, and her immortal, monster-fighting, shapeshifting mentor, Annie, deal with all manner of supernatural threats.
I’ll be telling a more complete history of the company in a series of blog posts as our 30th Anniversary year progresses—but that’s not all we’ll be doing to mark the occasion, as we’ve got new books and comics on the way. It’s not quite making up for lost time during the fallow, pandemic-inspired period we went through in the past few years, but it might give that impression—and we’re okay with that. 🙂
StarWarp Concepts—I’ll admit it’s not exactly the kind of name you’d expect for a publishing company that mostly specializes in tales of horror and dark urban fantasy, but then we’ve always had that penchant for making unexpected (and sometimes unusual) left-hand turns on the road of life, so why shouldn’t that apply to our science-fictiony-sounding name as well?
After a brief start as a small-press comic house (our titles were digest sized and turned out on photocopiers) in 1989, we launched as a full-size-comics publisher in 1993 (thus making 2023 our 30th anniversary year!) with the release of the comic book Lorelei, Vol. 1 #0, which introduced readers to the world of Laurel Ashley O’Hara, a woman destined to become the soul-stealing succubus called Lorelei. Over the three decades that followed, we’ve grown into a publisher of novels, comic books, graphic novels, sketchbooks, nonfiction books, and classic reprints that are available for sale in brick-and-mortar stores and through online booksellers and distributors (as well as our own webstore, of course).
Currently, our backlist spans the following genres:
Dark urban fantasy: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback is a young adult, dark-urban-fantasy novel series written by Steven A. Roman (that’s me!). It stars 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, in the first novel, Blood Feud, 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 Pan can learn more about what she can do, she and her parents are drawn into a conflict among warring vampire clans that leads into Blood Reign, the second action-packed novel, in which Pan must deal with even greater threats.
Chasing Danger: The Case Files of Theron Chase is author Richard C. White’s collection of fantasy-noir, pulp-detective tales starring a private eye working the supernatural beat in the city of Calasia. From a sexy chanteuse who literally turns into a beast when the moon is full to a string of pearls that kills its owners, and from the ghost of a dead woman seeking justice to the Grim Reaper’s little girl seeking her stolen chicken, Theron Chase certainly has his hands full—of danger, death, and dames!
Science Fiction: A Princess of Mars, by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, is a science-fantasy adventure about Civil War veteran John Carter, who finds love and adventure on the planet Mars by winning the heart of the beautiful Martian princess Dejah Thoris; as part of our Illustrated Classics line of books, it includes black-and-white illustrations by Eliseu Gouveia.
Nonfiction: Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination is perfect for budding authors as well as RPG fans interested in building their own fantasy and science fiction environments. In this how-to book, author Richard C. White takes you through the step-by-step process of constructing a world for your characters, from societies and governments to currency and religion. It’s become such a popular book that it’s even become part of the syllabus for the Interactive Media Design (i.e., game design) program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worchester, Massachusetts!
From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures, by Steven A. Roman, is a nonfiction history of Vampirella that takes an extensive look at her early days, from the debut of her series in 1969 to the death of Warren Publishing in 1983. In addition, you’ll find the tale of Hammer Films’ unproduced film adaptation of the 1970s that was to star Barbara Leigh and Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkin of Star Wars); an in-depth guide to all her Warren stories; a checklist of all her Warren appearances; an overview of the six novelizations by pulp sci-fi author Ron Goulart that were published in the 1970s by Warner Books; and a look at the awful 1996 direct-to-cable-TV movie that was made, starring Talisa Soto and Roger Daltrey.
Fantasy adventure: For a Few Gold Pieces More is a collection of stories by Richard C. White that’s like Lord of the Rings meets the “spaghetti Westerns” of director Sergio Leone (A Fistful of Dollars; The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly), as a Rogue With No Name 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).
Harbinger of Darkness is Rich’s original novel in which a thief named Perrin steals an extremely valuable—and magical—gem from the evil king ruling her home country. With thugs and fellow thieves and the king’s assassins hot on her trail, Perrin finds just staying alive is becoming a full-time occupation, which directly conflict with her secret life—and identity—as a humble bookseller’s daughter. It’s sword-swinging adventure at its finest!
Comic book and graphic novels: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1 features stories by author Steven A. Roman and comic writer Sholly Fisch (The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries), with art provided by Eliseu Gouveia (Stargate Universe), Elizabeth Watasin (Charm School), and comic-art legend Ernie Colon (Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld). Heartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa is a three-issue 1990s miniseries “prequel” to Pandora Zwieback that introduced monster hunter Sebastian Mazarin in her “bad-girl comics” days, written by Steven A. Roman, with pencils by Uriel Caton (JSA Annual), Holly Golightly, aka Holly G! (Archie Comics’ Cassie Cloud), and David C. Matthews (Satin Steele), and inks by Alan Larsen (Femforce) and “Chainsaw” Chuck Majewski (Harvey Kurtzman’s New Two-Fisted Tales).
Lorelei: Sects and the City is a Mature Readers graphic novel involving a succubus battling a cult of Elder God worshipers, written by Steven A. Roman and illustrated by Eliseu Gouveia, Steve Geiger (Web of Spider-Man), and Neil Vokes (Tom Holland’s Fright Night). Lorelei Presents: House Macabre is an anthology comic containing tales written by Steven A. Roman and Dwight Jon Zimmerman (She-Hulk), with art by Uriel Caton & Chuck Majewski, Lou Manna (Young All-Stars), John Pierard (My Teacher Fried My Brains), and Juan Carlos Abarldes Rendo (Bloke’s Terrible Tomb of Terror). Lorelei: Genesis collects Lori’s original small-press comic appearances from 1989 and 1991, written and drawn by her creator, Steven A. Roman, whose other digital-only title, Heroines and Heroes, collects the superhero comic stories he’s drawn.
Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings is a graphic novel starring a group of supernatural superheroes for hire on their first mission, written by the husband-and-wife team of Richard C. and Joni M. White, with art by Reggie Golden and Randy Zimmerman. And The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special is a digital-only, 48-page pirate-fantasy adventure by writer Richard C. White and artist Bill Bryan (House of Mystery).
Comic art books: The Bob Larkin Sketchbook is a collection of rarely seen pencil drawings by the acclaimed cover painter for Doc Savage, Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel Comics, Planet of the Apes, Conan the Barbarian, and our own Saga of Pandora Zwieback. Included is a pair of original Doc Savage–related pinups done especially for this book.
Classic literature: Know a reader with a passion for old-school genre literature? They might be interested in our line of Illustrated Classics. Carmilla, by J. Sheridan Le Fanu, is a 19th–century paranormal romance between a vampire and her next intended victim—or lover—that contains six black-and-white illustrations by Eliseu Gouveia. King Kong is the 1932 novelization by Delos W. Lovelace that adapts the screen story by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper used for the classic monster movie, enhanced by six black-and-white illustrations by Paul Tuma. And Snow White is the timeless Brothers Grimm fairy tale, made even more enchanting by a collection of full-color illustrations first published in 1883.
We also have SWC Horror Bites, a digital-exclusive series of classic tales. White Fell: The Werewolf, by Clemence Annie Housman, is considered the first feminist werewolf story. And Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is the Halloween classic about schoolteacher Ichabod Crane and his unfortunate encounter with the terrifying Headless Horseman.
Most of our titles are available in both print and digital formats, so visit their respective product pages for further information. And then get ready for the titles we’ve got lined up for this year!
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