Celebrated on the first Saturday in June, InternationalTabletop Day is an annual event celebrating tabletop and board games of all sorts, launched in 2013 by creator Boyan Radakovich and originally hosted on actress (and gamer) Felicia Day’s Geek & Sundry YouTube channel. As the website Days of the Year explains, it’s “an opportunity for players to remember why they got into playing tabletop games in the first place. It’s all about pitting yourself against strangers and finding ways to survive through to the next turn.”
Well, if you’re looking to celebrate this special event, it just so happens that StarWarp Concepts has a book that’s perfect for tabletop RPG gamers:
Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination is our popular how-to book for writers and gamers in which bestselling fantasy author Richard C. White (Harbinger of Darkness, For a Few Gold Pieces More, 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.
A bonus feature is an exclusive 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. In fact, it’s a book that’s become so popular with gamers that it’s currently being used as a textbook in the Interactive Media & Game Development program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worchester, Massachusetts!
Here’s a pleasant surprise: Just in time for Memorial Day Weekend (in the U.S.) this Friday—the start of summer beach-reading—and the celebration of World Dracula Day on May 26 (the date when Bram Stoker’s seminal novel went on sale in 1897), e-book distributors DriveThru Comics and DriveThru Fiction are currently running a Dracula Sale, during which you can purchase digital books and comics involving the Lord of Vampires at special prices! It runs until May 31—and yes, you’ll need to set up an account (it’s free) to take advantage of this promotion.
So why is it a “pleasant surprise”? Because included among the participating publishers is StarWarp Concepts (which I didn’t know about in advance), and selected for the sale is our most popular Illustrated Classic:
Before Edward and Bella, before Lestat and Louis, even before Dracula and Mina, there was the tale of Carmilla and Laura.
Living with her widowed father in a dreary old castle in the woods of Styria, Laura has longed to have a friend with whom she can confide; a friend to bring some excitement to her pastoral lifestyle. And then Carmilla enters her life.
Left by her mother in the care of Laura’s father, Carmilla is young, beautiful, playful—everything Laura had hoped to find in a companion. In fact, the lonely girl is so thrilled to have a new friend that she is willing to overlook the dark-haired beauty’s strange actions…which include a disturbing, growing obsession for her lovely hostess.
Carmilla, it seems, desires more than just friendship from Laura….
The blood-drenched temptress of a 19th-century vampiric “romance” by author J. Sheridan Le Fanu (Uncle Silas, In a Glass Darkly), Carmilla is a vampiress who desires not just blood but love from her victims, and when she enters the life of a young woman named Laura, Carmilla decides that her new friend will become her next great love—and won’t take no for an answer.
Carmilla was an influence on Bram Stoker in the creation of the vampire brides in Dracula, and she remains a popular character in fiction to this day. The novella has also influenced generations of writers, and has been adapted for the screen many times, including Hammer’s The Vampire Lovers and director Roger Vadim’s Blood and Roses.
The StarWarp Concepts edition features exclusive illustrations by Eliseu Gouveia (A Princess of Mars, The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1, Lorelei: Sects and the City).
Fans of gothic literature have certainly enjoyed it:
“The way Le Fanu blends together desire and predation is spellbinding. A true Gothic story, Carmilla is great fun.”—Gothic Beauty Magazine
“Carmilla is a must-read for any true fan of vampire fiction.”—LoveVampires.com
“Like many vampire romances, Carmilla and Laura’s love is doomed and unhealthy, but glorious.”—io9
“Carmilla is an enthralling wonderland ripe with blood and death. Curl up with this little sleeper if you like your creatures of the night with just a little dash of pixie dust and wolfsbane.”—ClassicHorror.com
Again, the Dracula Sale runs through May 31, so head over to the StarWarp Concepts publisher page at DriveThru Fiction and start shopping!
If you’re a devoted comic book fan, you probably noticed that the internet was set on fire this week when Disney and Marvel Studios released the F-bomb-dropping trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine, the sure-to-be summer blockbuster starring Ryan Reynolds in his third go-round as the Merc With a Mouth, and Hugh Jackman as the claw-wielding X-Man. So what better way to end the weekend than today’s celebration of National Superhero Day?
According to a number of websites, National Superhero Day “was created in 1995 by employees of Marvel Comics, who sent a team of interns out in central Pennsylvania to hear what the public thought about superheroes and what super powers they’d most want to have. Today, the day is about honoring all the superheroes in our lives, both the fictional and the real-life heroes who give their all every day.”
It sounds like an apocryphal story (Why would Marvel send out interns to do a poll? Why only central PA and not the entire United States?), but in a country that celebrates National Chocolate Custard Day (that’s May 3, in case you were wondering—mark it on your calendar!) it shouldn’t be all that surprising that even a probably made-up story can get its own holiday.
Still, it’s superheroes we’re talking about, and if you’re looking for some around these parts, we have a couple of titles you might be interested in:
Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings is a general readers’ graphic novel about a group of supernatural-superheroes-for-hire taking on their first case. The team consists of a wizard, a female ninja, a sorceress, a werewolf, and a rock ’n’ roll lighting designer wearing high-tech armor. Sure, they might not be on a power level with the Avengers or Justice League, but they get the job done. (However, they have been compared to the JL’s supernatural offshoot, Justice League Dark and Hellboy’s Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, although TSI predates both organizations.) The graphic novel is written by Richard C. White and his wife, Joni M. White, and illustrated by Reggie Golden and Randy Zimmerman, and features cover art by Richard Dominguez (El Gato Negro).
And Heroines & Heroes is a digital-exclusive collection of comic stories and pinups all drawn and mostly written by Steven A. Roman (that’s me!), dating back to my days in the early 1990s small-press movement—that age of dinosaurs in which creators like me used to make our comics by printing them out on photocopiers and then stapling them by hand. In H&H you’ll find mainstream heroes and small-press heroines, and even a couple of anthropomorphic bikers. Leading off is “V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N (in the Summertime),” a three-page Wonder Woman vs. Harley Quinn story that I wrote and drew in the late ’90s as a sample for a DC Comics editor who thought I’d be a good fit for their Batman: The Animated Series comic (it didn’t work out). It’s followed by an adventure of small-presser Jeff Wood’s rabbit-eared superspy, Snowbuni; three pages from the long-canceled indie comic Motorbike Puppies; and an adventure of the indie superheroine The Blonde Avenger.
Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings is available in print and digital formats; Heroines and Heroes is a free digital exclusive. Visit their respective product pages for ordering information, as well as sample pages.
Today is Independent Bookstore Day, which has been celebrated on the last Saturday in April since its launch by the American Booksellers Association in 2013. The idea, of course, is to urge book lovers to hit those small but essential bookstores that have to compete with Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and help keep them in business.
With that in mind, I have a question for owners of indie bookshops 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 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 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 fantasy Harbinger of Darkness, 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 contact Ingram Content Group if you don’t already have an account with them.
After all, why should Amazon and B&N have all the business—and the fun?
Hey, book lovers! This evening brings World Book Night in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Run by The Reading Agency, this annual gathering of book lovers, to quote their website:
“…brings people from all backgrounds together for one reason – to inspire others to read more. Organisations and individuals hold events up and down the country to celebrate the difference that reading makes to our lives, from book themed parties at home to books swaps in offices. Organisations can volunteer to hand out books from our annual list to people who don’t read for pleasure or own books.”
Sounds like fun, and anything that helps promote reading is a-okay with us! For more information, including how you can get involved, visit the World Book Night site.
So, even if you don’t live in the UK or Ireland, grab your favorite book, sit back, and join in on the enjoyment of reading tonight!
Well, “Happy 60th” if the company was still around, that is…
If you’re a longtime comics fan, you’ve probably at least heard the name Warren Publishing. Launched in the 1950s by president/publisher/editor in chief James Warren, this indie magazine house was the home of the horror-comic anthologies Creepy and Eerie, the horror-entertainment mag Famous Monsters of Filmland, the time-traveling adventures of The Rook, and, most famous of all, the queen of the bad girls: Vampirella, created by Warren with FMoF editor/creator Forrest J Ackerman, and designed by art legends Frank Frazetta and Trina Robbins.
But even though Warren Publishing had been firmly established since 1958, the first Warren comic-book publication didn’t star a couple of creepy and eerie-looking horror hosts, or even a scantily clad vampiress from outer space, but a “modern Stone Age family” from the town of Bedrock: Hanna-Barbera’s The Flintstones.
That first Warren comic, in fact, was The Flintstones at the New York World’s Fair, a 64-page, full-color promotional “comic souvenir” produced under Warren’s JW Books, Inc. imprint—through a licensing deal with Gold Key Comics—and sold at the 1964–1965 World’s Fair, which was held at what is known today as Flushing Meadows Corona Park in the borough of Queens. (These days, the area is recognized more for being the annual site of tennis’s U.S. Open and, across from the park, Citi Field, home of the New York Mets. The park was also featured in the first Men in Black film and, in a heavily fictionalized version, was home to the Stark Expo in Iron Man 2.) Although the writer is unknown—the comic contains no creative team credits—the artists involved have been identified by auction house Heritage Auctions as penciler Harvey Eisenberg and inker Steve Steere, with Mel Crawford providing the cover art.
So, what makes today Warren Publishing’s 60th comic book anniversary? Because this is the day in 1964 when the New York World’s Fair opened, and the Flintstones comic went on sale!
Warren Publishing stopped publishing in 1982 and completely shut down just months later, but its characters still live on, with Vampirella ultimately ending up at Dynamite Entertainment (after a decade-plus run at Harris Comics, starting in the 1990s), and Uncle Creepy, Cousin Eerie, and time-traveling cowboy The Rook finding a home at Dark Horse Comics. (And in case you were wondering, no, Warren Publishing’s Rook—created by writers Bill DuBay and Budd Lewis, and artist Luis Bermejo—has nothing to do with Image Comics’ recently published dystopian sci-fi comic Rook: Exodus.)
So, Happy Anniversary to James Warren and his late, lamented Warren Publishing. You might not be in the comics game anymore, but fans like me will always treasure the memories!
And while we’re on the subject of Warren Publishing (he said slyly), you might be interested in a nonfiction book we have that’s all about that company’s most famous comic character. Cue the shameless sales plug!
From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures, from author Steven A. Roman (that’s me!) is SWC’s critically acclaimed and fan-favorite examination of every Vampirella story that appeared during her Warren Publishing days from July 1969 to December 1982 (plus a list of the modern-day books that reprinted them), along with essays on related spin-off material; an autopsy of the awful 1996 movie that starred Talisa Soto of the Mortal Kombat movies as Vampi and rock-god Roger Daltrey as a scenery-gulping Dracula; and a pretty extensive—and quite possibly the only in-depth—look at the history of Hammer Films’ planned Vampirella movie, announced in 1975 with model/actress Barbara Leigh and Hammer legend Peter Cushing as its stars, but which was never produced.
“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—Empire of Monsters, The Art of Vampirella: The Warren Years, The Art of Jose Gonzalez, etc.—but none offers such a broad, all-encompassing look at the history of this character.”—Vampirella of Drakulon (news site)
Hey, book lovers! National Library Week is once again upon us, and you know us: any reason to read is a good cause for celebration! And where better to find a new book you might come to love than a library, where you can borrow it for free?
According to the American Library Association (ALA), the organization that runs the event:
“First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support. All types of libraries—school, public, academic and special—participate.”
National Library Week runs April 7–13, so check your local library this week for any special events they might have planned for the celebration. For more information on the event, visit the National Library Week website.
Hey, sci-fi comic fans! I’ve got some news about a new non-SWC project that I’m involved in, and it’s a revival of an intellectual property known to longtime fans of laser tag: Photon: The Ultimate Game on Planet Earth!
Created in the early 1980s by Dallas, Texas, entrepreneur George Carter III, Photon was the world’s first laser-tag game, in which two teams of players (called Photon Warriors) would enter an arena and shoot at each other with light-emitting “phaser” pistols until one side’s base was captured. It was intended to be a high-tech version of games played by children—Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, and Capture the Flag—matched with the blaster shoot-outs of the original Star Wars (known today as Episode IV: A New Hope) that inspired Carter’s imagination in 1977.
The first arena opened in Dallas on March 28, 1984, and soon enough expanded into 70 franchises around the world, had a play-at-home version that sold in toys stores and major chains like Sears, saw the publication of a series of original novels by authors Peter David (Incredible Hulk, Star Trek: The Next Generation) and Michael P. Kube-McDowell, was featured on the news-magazine show 20/20, and even enjoyed a one-season live-action TV series. Unfortunately, consumer interest in laser-tag games in general soon faded, and by the 1990s Photon and its competitors (including the similarly designed Lazer Tag) had drifted into pop culture limbo.
So now, with 2024 marking the franchise’s 40th anniversary year, Photon is making its comeback, this time in comic book form, courtesy of Texas-based videogame developer and current rights owner Piko Interactive and its president, Eli Galindo.
Photon: Re-Energized is a full-color one-shot from Piko’s Virtual Comics imprint, by yours truly, writer Steven A. Roman, and artist/colorist Ana Pauda. It’s my second comic project for Piko/Virtual, following The Legend of Calamity Jane: The Devil Herself, which is based on the cult-favorite Wild West animated series from the late 1990s that Piko now owns.
Re-Energized is the story of Carter Clay, an urban explorer who pays a visit with a couple of friends to a long-abandoned mall to see what they can see before the place is torn down the following week. To his surprise, Carter finds an old Photon arena in the basement, and with it some discarded Photon Warrior gear that turns out to be still active—and unexpectedly shows Carter that Photon is more than just a game…it’s a real-life combat training program to prevent alien invaders from taking over the world!
(The final cover design hasn’t been finalized yet; what you see here is the basic layout for it.)
I really enjoyed working on the script—like Calamity Jane, it was a property I wasn’t all that familiar with, but quickly grew to like after researching it. Best of all, Piko gave the fan site Tiviachick Loves Laser Tag (which also runs the site Photon Forever) a sneak peek at my script, and it got a very positive review:
“If you were a fan of Photon in the 80s this book has plenty of references you will recognize, but with a fresh take on the intergalactic premise of the past it will also be a gateway to showing a new generation that the light still shines.”
Hey, monster-fight fans! It’ll be round 2 of epic kaiju wrestling when the film Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire opens tomorrow in movie theaters—only this time the Big G and the king of the jungle aren’t fighting each other, they’re forming an alliance!
The latest entry in Legendary Pictures’ “Monsterverse” series—which includes 2014’s reboot of Godzilla, the 2017 prequel Kong: Skull Island, 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong—Godzilla x Kong has monsterdom’s greatest titans teaming up against an even deadlier threat to the world than they are, alongside human costars Rebecca Hall (Iron Man 3) and Brian Tyree Henry (Eternals), making return appearances after their debuts in Godzilla vs. Kong.
Godzilla’s feeling pretty confident coming into this match, as he’s still energized by his recent Academy Award win for last year’s surprise hit Godzilla: Minus One (okay, it wasn’t a starring role win, but for best special effects, but still—an Oscar-winning kaiju movie!). And Kong had his own time to shine last year, as he starred in Netflix’s animated series Skull Island.
Of course, there wouldn’t be a monster mash this weekend without Kong, the creation of Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace who was brought to stop-motion life in 1933 by effects master Willis O’Brien. The original King Kongwent on to become a worldwide cultural icon that inspired generations of Monster Kids who grew up to be directors, writers, and special-effects creators. It also inspired all of us at StarWarp Concepts—here comes the shameless plug—to add the story of the king of the simian monsters to our line of Illustrated Classics!
King Kong is an e-book-only republication of the 1932 novelization of the original movie classic. Written by Delos W. Lovelace, based on the story by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper and the screenplay by James A. Creelman and Ruth Rose, it includes scenes that didn’t appear in the final cut of the film—including the notorious “spider pit” sequence in which Kong’s human pursuers are attacked by horrific arachnids and insects. Our version features six original black-and-white illustrations by comics artist Paul Tuma, whose pulp-influenced style has appeared in the pages of The Twilight Avenger, Flare, and Dan Turner: Hollywood Detective.
Not familiar with the beauty-and-the-beast story of Kong and his “love interest,” Ann Darrow (who was played in the 1933 original by the queen of the scream queens, Fay Wray)? Well, here’s our edition’s back-cover copy to bring you up-to-date:
Ann Darrow was a down-on-her-luck actress struggling to survive in Depression-era New York when she met moviemaker Carl Denham. He offered her the starring role in his latest film: a documentary about a long-lost island—and the godlike ape named Kong rumored to live there. Denham needed a beauty as a counterpart to the beast he hoped to find, and Ann was the answer to his prayers.
Mystery, romance, a chance to turn her life around, even the possibility of stardom—to Ann, it sounded like the adventure of a lifetime! But what she didn’t count on were the horrific dangers that awaited her on Skull Island—including the affections of a love-struck monster…
King Kong (the 1932 novelization) is available directly from the SWC Store, so visit its product page for ordering information.
If you’re a fan of comic books, or movies, or pulp fiction heroes, Bob Larkin is a painter whose work you recognize immediately; he’s provided covers and movie posters for just about every publishing house and film studio for more than four decades.
Doc Savage, Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Planet of the Apes, The Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian, Piranha, Night of the Creeps, and The Toxic Avenger II are just some of the painted images you’re already familiar with, even if you didn’t know they were Larkin’s work. He’s been an inspiration to artists like Joe Jusko and Alex Ross. If you’re a Panatic, then you know him as the cover artist of the Saga of Pandora Zwieback novels Blood Feud and Blood Reign.
But of all his many, many pieces, Bob’s most famous painting is most likely his cover art for Dazzler #1, published in 1981 and starring Marvel’s disco-inspired mutant superheroine. It’s an image that pops up online on comic-news sites just about every time there’s Hollywood talk of a Dazzler movie, especially in recent years as rumors continue to spread that superstar Taylor Swift may have been stealth-cast in the role, most notably with connection to this July’s release of Deadpool and Wolverine.
Well, that artwork’s about to get another workout, as this week Marvel announced the forthcoming publication of the Dazzler Omnibus: a 1,360-page doorstop that collects her entire 42-issue series, along with her spin-off miniseries Beauty and the Beast and her appearances in X-Men and other titles. The main cover art will be provided by the super-popular Stanley “Artgerm” Lau, with the direct-market variant featuring Bob’s art, as seen here:
Dazzler Omnibus goes on sale October 1st, with a hefty price tag of $150.00 (well, it is an omnibus—those things are never cheap)
But it’s not just disco divas that Bob Larkin is known for painting—he’s also one hell of a pencil artist, as evidenced by his work in a couple of SWC projects. Cue the sales plug!
The Bob Larkin Sketchbook is a collection of some of Bob’s incredible pencil drawings, and what you’ll discover when you see them is how wide-ranging his subjects are. Sci-fi, horror, Westerns, pulp adventure, crime fiction, movie merchandise, even wrestling stars—as we say on the book’s back cover, there really islittle that he hasn’t painted.
The sketchbook also features three pieces created especially for it: the Pandora Zwieback cover art; a portrait of Patricia Savage, the fightin’ cousin of pulp fiction’s top-tier adventurer, Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze; and a two-page spread in which Doc faces off against another Golden Age crimefighter—The Shadow!
And in From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures, by Steven A. Roman (that’s me!), Bob provides a wonderful pencil-study frontispiece of the queen of comics’ bad girls. From the Stars 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 to telling the tale of Hammer’s unproduced film adaptation that was to star Barbara Leigh and Peter Cushing, I provide 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 and Roger Daltrey. There’s also a peek at Mr. Cushing’s personal copy of the ’70s Vampirella screenplay; a foreword by Official Vampirella Historian Sean Fernald, and photographs from the personal archives of Forrest J Ackerman.
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