Good news, comic fans! The Formidables—the superhero series that I was involved with as editor—is heading back to comic shops this spring, courtesy of indie publishing company Advent Comics!
Created by writer/artist Chris Malgrain through his Oniric Comics company, the Formidables are a quintet of superheroes battling evil and bigotry in 1950s America, with their first challenge coming in the form of a Communist super-villain…who’s disguised as a white supremacist! It’s a unique take on the genre, with Chris examining topics like race relations and sexual identity in a Cold War setting, with an appropriate amount of punching and explosions mixed in, of course—we are talking superhero comics, after all!
The Formidables’ epic 8-issue storyline involves Commie villains, an alien invasion force vs. an army of superheroes, shocking revelations, and an appearance by…God?! As Stan the Man used to say, if there’s only one comic you’re going to buy this month, make it this one!
The Formidables #1 goes on sale April 27, 2022 and is available for order right now for $3.99 through Diamond Comic Distribution (item #FEB221121), so let your local comic shop know you want to order a copy. And then standby for some indie superhero action!
As it was last year, convention season is looming ever closer, and around this time of year we’d be announcing some of the places you’d find the SWC Crew in attendance—but the ongoing pandemic still has us postponing any appearances. After all, it’s hard to socially distance when you’ve got hundreds of attendees—or in the case of New York Comic Con and San Diego Comic Con, tens of thousands—crammed into one setting.
Cons in general have never had a good reputation when it comes to matters of personal hygiene (insert your own “hey, have you ever heard of soap?” joke here). Are you familiar with the term “con crud”? That’s when you come home from a show and wind up sick as a dog because you caught some virus from interacting with people who more often than not knew they were ill and attended anyway. Now, in the days of “super-spreader events,” such venues have become an even greater potential risk for infection—in fact, some of the earliest cases of the Omicron variant were traced back to last November’s Anime NYC convention.
For those of us at ’Warp Central, it wasn’t as though we’d been hitting the convention circuit very hard in past years—our last appearance was at Pow Con in February 2020, just before the lockdown. With regard to 2022’s shows…sorry, ’Warpnauts and Panatics, but with the exception of SMOL Fair—a virtual book festival for indie publishers being held March 19–26—we’re opting out for this year and hoping matters will improve for 2023. If plans should change, however, you can be sure I’ll keep you up to date on our status.
Stay safe, and stay well!
Posted inStarWarp Concepts|Comments Off on Convention Appearances in 2022? Unfortunately, No
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 from 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. And best of all, it can be yours to download for the low, low price of just 99¢.
Lorelei: Sects and the City and Lorelei Presents: House Macabre are available in print and digital formats. Lorelei: Genesis is a digital-exclusive comic. Visit their respective product pages for ordering information.
So if you’re a ginger, or if you know a ginger, be sure to celebrate National Kiss a Ginger with the gift of reading!
Even with the threat of the coronavirus pandemic complicating our lives (or maybe because of it!), if there was one comfort that people could turn to in these troubling times, it was reading. Fiction, nonfiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, science fiction—no matter the genre or subject matter, people were eager to dive deep into a book and momentarily forget their troubles.
Like many publishers, SWC was lucky enough to be among the many recipients of that literary fervor, so let’s take a look at the titles that best grabbed readers’ interest in the past year, based on our 2021 sales figures.
Leading the pack (as it has for a number of years, in fact) was Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination, our popular how-to book for writers and role-playing gamemasters in which bestselling fantasy author Richard C. White (Gauntlet: Dark Legacy: Paths of Evil, The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special) 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 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!
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, cocreator of Vampirella and editor/creator of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine.
Lorelei: Sects and the City is a Mature Readers graphic novel in which Lori battles a cult of Elder God worshipers attempting to unleash hell on Earth. Basically a love letter to 1970s horror comics like Vampirella, Tomb of Dracula, and Ghost Rider, it’s written by Steven A. Roman, and illustrated by Eliseu Gouveia (Vengeance of the Mummy, Lady Death), Steve Geiger (Web of Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk), and Neil Vokes (Tom Holland’s Fright Night, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark). It also features art by three legendary Warren Publishing–era artists: a cover by Esteban Maroto (Vampirella, Zatanna, Lady Rawhide), a frontispiece by original Vampirella artist Tom Sutton (Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night), and a history of succubi illustrated by Ernie Colon (Damage Control, The Grim Ghost). If you’re a fan of Vampirella and classic horror comics, you’ll definitely get a kick out of this.
Our SWC Illustrated Classic Carmilla is J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s 19th-century classic vampiric tale of love gone wrong. Laura is so desperate for a friend that when a young woman named Carmilla practically turns up on the doorstep of the castle owned by Laura’s father, she thinks her prayers for companionship have been answered. But as she comes to realize, Carmilla isn’t as interested in making friends as she is in spilling blood. Regarded as the one of the earliest female vampire tales—if not the first—Carmilla was an influence on author Bram Stoker in the creation of the vampire brides in his seminal novel, Dracula, and remains a popular character in fiction to this day. Our edition contains six original illustrations done especially for StarWarp Concepts by the super-talented Eliseu Gouveia.
Another Illustrated Classic, A Princess of Mars, is 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, Princessis 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, and an introduction by Mars-fiction expert John Gosling, author of Waging the War of the Worlds.
And For a Few Gold Pieces More collects Richard C. White’s fantasy short stories about 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). It’s “entertaining, old-school sword and sorcery, in the tradition of [Fritz Lieber’s] Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser,” according to author Jim C. Hines of the Magic ex Libris book series, and we couldn’t agree more!
All titles are available in print and digital formats. Visit their respective product pages for ordering information.
Photograph by Irina Prokopenko, courtesy of pxhere
Hey there, owners of comic book shops and independent bookstores around the world! Are you interested in adding StarWarp Concepts titles to your shelves? Given the quality of our releases, of course you are! Well, here’s how you can do it!
SWC’s in-print titles (as opposed to out e-book exclusives) are all print-on-demand releases available through our distributor, Ingram Book 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 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 call Ingram Books at (800) 937-0152 if you don’t already have an account with them. If your store is outside the United States, call (615) 213-5000.
After all, why should Amazon have all the business—and the fun?
In case you’re wondering who we are, StarWarp Concepts is a publisher of dark-fantasy and fantasy novels, comic books, and graphic novels that are available for sale in brick-and-mortar stores and through select online booksellers and distributors (as well as our own webstore, of course).
We launched in 1993 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, and in the twenty-nine years since then we’ve grown into a publisher of novels, graphic novels, sketchbooks, writers’ guides, and classic reprints.
Currently, our backlist consists of the following titles:
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!
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 (Gauntlet: Dark Legacy: Paths of Evil) 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 & Game Development 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 ten critically acclaimed short stories by Richard C. White. Think 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, with art provided by Eliseu Gouveia, Elizabeth Watasin, and comic-art legend Ernie Colon. 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, and Neil Vokes. Lorelei Presents: House Macabre is a one-shot anthology comic containing tales written by Steven A. Roman and Dwight Jon Zimmerman, with art by Uriel Caton & Chuck Majewski, Lou Manna, John Pierard, and Juan Carlos Abarldes Rendo. 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.
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, 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 genre literature? They might be interested in our line of Illustrated Classics. 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. 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. A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, is a science-fantasy epic about Civil War veteran John Carter, who finds love and adventure on the planet Mars; black-and-white illustrations are provided by Eliseu Gouveia. 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.
Adding new titles to your 2022 reading list: It’s a great way to start the New Year!
According to the National Day Calendar, National Science Fiction Day was launched in 2011 and was meant to correspond with this being the birth date of legendary sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov—author of the Foundation Trilogy (now the basis for the Apple TV+ streaming series), I, Robot (the short-story collection, not the Will Smith movie) and the guiding spirit behind Isaac Asimov’s Robot Mysteries (a quadrilogy of original novels by Mark W. Tiedemann and Alex Irvine that I edited in the early 2000s)—who was born in 1920. It’s a celebration, the NDC says, that “encourages reading or watching science fiction.”
Well, if you’re looking for some quality sci-fi to read on this special day, might we suggest an SWC Illustrated Classic?
A Princess of Mars, originally published in 1912, is 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—a movie that didn’t deserve the poor treatment it got from the studio and is definitely worth checking out, if you’ve never seen it—and inspired works like Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon, George Lucas’s Star Wars, and James Cameron’s Avatar.
The StarWarp Concepts edition of A Princess of Mars features six incredible illustrations by SWC artist supreme Eliseu Gouveia (Carmilla, Lorelei: Sects and the City, The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1), and a special introduction by Mars-fiction expert John Gosling, author of Waging the War of the Worlds.
A Princess of Mars is available in print and digital formats. Visit its product page for ordering information.
It’s 2022 (in case you didn’t get the memo about it), and we’ve now reached the future—at least the future as seen through the dystopian lens of the 1973 sci-fi feature film Soylent Green.
Based on the 1966 novel Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison and starring Charlton Heston (Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man), Edward G. Robinson (in his final film role), and Leigh Taylor-Young, Soylent Green starts out as a police procedural, with Heston’s character, New York detective Frank Thorn, investigating the murder of an executive at Soylent Industries, the company responsible for Soylent Green, the main source of food in a critically overpopulated world—there are 40 million people living in New York City alone! (NYC’s current population is around 8 million.)
In Make Room! Make Room!, soylent is made from a combination of soy and lentil, but in Soylent Green, the foodstuff is made from…well, that’s the shocker Thorn encounters during his investigation that’s made the film so memorable for close to 50 years. If you’ve never seen Soylent Green before, give it a look. Its final twist should appeal to horror fans, and its dystopian vibe is pure 1970s we’re-all-doomed mind-set—society has collapsed, or is soon to collapse, and life on Earth is a hellscape.
From the 1980s onward, that approach became pure entertainment—The Terminator, Escape from New York, Night of the Comet, The Hunger Games—but in the post-Woodstock, post–flower child 1970s, there was a firm belief that humanity really was headed down that path of ultimate self-destruction, and that attitude was reflected in a slew of movies: The Omega Man, Logan’s Run, A Clockwork Orange, Silent Running, The Late, Great Planet Earth, No Blade of Grass, and Damnation Alley, just to name a few. And Soylent Green, of course. Overpopulation, starvation, poverty, environmental concerns, the world always on the brink of war…
Huh. Nothing’s really changed all that much, has it? Only it’s not just on the movie screen.
So, welcome to the future, ’Warpnauts—now what’s for dinner?
2021: A year not all that much different from 2020, truth be told.
A worldwide pandemic was/is still raging, although thankfully the death toll has dropped from 2020’s horrifying levels because the coronavirus-fighting vaccines have been doing their job (have you gotten your shot yet?). And the Earth’s human population was making progress as we try to reach some imitation of pre-pandemic normalcy, with bars and restaurants and sporting events and movie theaters and even Broadway reopening with proof-of-vaccination admittance. But then the Omicron variant popped up in the fall…
The genre convention industry was still feeling its way along, with some shows canceled and rescheduled for 2022, others sticking to CDC crowd recommendations and reopening to smaller crowds, and still others throwing aside all caution and making them into come-one-come-all logjams/potential super-spreader events. (November’s Anime-Fest in NYC, in fact, was connected to some of the first reports of Omicron-infection cases in the US.) At SWC, we opted to sit out the year, with the hope that things will be more stable in 2022. (Author Richard C. White, however, did make appearances at two venues: Awesome Con, in Washington, DC, and the Maryland Renaissance Fair.)
And, like 2020, we didn’t do a whole lot of publishing, it being hard to really promote our titles with no conventions to go to. We did, however, manage to offer a new hardcover version of one of our most popular books:
Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination, our how-to book for writers and gamers by bestselling fantasy author Richard C. White (Gauntlet: Dark Legacy: Paths of Evil, The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special, Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings), gained a spiffy-looking hardcover edition over the summer.
In this nonfiction book—originally meant to be a guide for writers but quickly embraced by role-playing gamemasters—Rich 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. (Visit its product page for ordering information.)
So what lies ahead for ’Warp Central in 2022? Well, we might have some ideas about that…so stay tuned!
In the meantime, stay safe, stay healthy, and have a Happy New Year!
Here’s some great news in these troubling times: after the devastating rash of tornadoes recently in America’s Midwest, e-book distributor DriveThru RPG is offering three bundles to raise money for the Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund.
With the kind assistance of bestselling fantasy author Richard C. White, the e-book we’ve donated for the sale is Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination, a how-to book for writers and gamers in which Rich (author of For a Few Gold Pieces More, Gauntlet: Dark Legacy: Paths of Evil, Chasing Danger: The Case Files of Theron Chase, The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special, Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings) 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.
What you’ll find in its pages is information that’s vital for just about any writer, especially when it comes to world building, and Rich shows you how to do it:
Avoiding the pitfalls of naming characters, regions, and countries
Applying the technique of “outside in” to develop and then refine ideas for your world
Creating a world your readers can relate to, regardless of its technological levels
Identify how to create backstories and conflict by observing how your world comes together
Adding details to make your story richer without overwhelming your readers
Identifying useful resources for research
So if for some reason you’ve been holding off from purchasing it, now’s the perfect time to do so, as it benefits a great organization. For more information on the bundles for the Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund, visit the DriveThru RPG emergency relief page. And thanks for helping out!
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