“Short tales to appease your monstrous hunger for suspense” is how we describe SWC Horror Bites, a new chapbook series we’re introducing in February that will be available in print and e-book formats exclusively from the SWC webstore, and at the conventions we attend. The series will be a mix of new and classic horror stories, and we’ll be kicking it off with a trio of releases:
White Fell—The Werewolf: Originally published in 1896 as The Were-wolf, our launch title was written by renowned author, artist, and suffragette Clemence Annie Housman, and is regarded by scholars as perhaps the first feminist werewolf story. In it, a beautiful woman named White Fell wanders into a snowbound village—and into the hearts of twin brothers, one of whom immediately becomes smitten by her. The other brother, however, soon grows suspicious of the enigmatic White Fell. Where did she come from? Why does she always carry an ax? And is her sudden appearance somehow related to the recent sightings of a bloodthirsty wolf in the area? He may come to regret being so inquisitive…
Tales to Sorta Tremble By: During the 1950s, comic book publishers were required to include text pages in their releases if they wanted their publications to meet U.S. postal requirements as magazines. They solved this problem by running mini prose stories, one to two pages in length, in the comics—including the horror ones. Tales to Sorta Tremble By collects 13 of those stories, with subjects ranging from vampires and werewolves to evil killer plants and mean-tempered zombies.
Gabriel Grub and the Goblins: Before miserly Ebenezer Scrooge had a run-in with ghosts in the pages of A Christmas Carol, author Charles Dickens wrote The Pickwick Papers, in which he introduced readers to Gabriel Grub, a foul-tempered gravedigger sorely lacking in the Christmas spirit. But all that changes when he draws the attention (and the ire) of the Goblin King, who sets about teaching Grub the error of his ways. It’s the perfect story to get you ready for the holidays—if you’re a horror fan, that is!
White Fell—The Werewolf debuts on February 7, during our recognition of Women in Horror Month. Tales to Sorta Tremble By rises from the crypt on October 13 (Friday the 13th!), during a Halloween Countdown celebration we’ll be hosting on this blog and at the Pandora Zwieback website. And Gabriel Grub and the Goblins arrives in December, just in time for our celebration of The 13 Days of Creepmas. Stay tuned for further information!
A Happy 2017 to one and all! I hope you enjoyed the holidays, and thanks for dropping by to see what’s in the works for us this year. I think you’ll like what you see!
Carmilla’s 145th Anniversary will be a celebration of the 1872 publication of J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s classic vampire novella 
Our focus will be on his nonfiction writers’ reference book, 
Simian Sundays and Hail to the King (Kong) will be two series that promote our e-publication of King Kong. I’ll be taking a look at Kong and Kong-like films, as well as comics, monster magazine articles, artwork and more. Some of the material you might recognize, if you’re a longtime monster kid who grew up with the stuff; some you might never have seen before. But you’ll have to keep checking back to see what’s what!
The biggest undertaking we’ve got planned is a Halloween Countdown that will run throughout October on the Pandora Zwieback website—31 days of blog posts about horror movies, horror comics, and horror art for you to enjoy as we wait for the arrival of Pan’s (and SWC’s) favorite holiday—as well as the publication of Blood & Iron, which will occur right in time for Halloween! Hey, what better treat for All Hallows’ Eve than curling up with the conclusion of the vampire war begun in the novels 
It’s the year-end wrap-up! As regular visitors to this blog are aware, when I’m not running things here at ’Warp Central I’m reviewing comic books and graphic novels for the news site 
Dynamite Entertainment
Titan Comics
This Friday, December 16, is the release date, in movie theaters and for Video On Demand, for Solace, a thriller starring Anthony Hopkins (Westworld), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Walking Dead), and Colin Farrell (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them). It’s a movie with an interesting past, especially when you consider that at one point it was meant to be a sequel to Se7en, the 1995 David Fincher vehicle that starred Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, and Gwyneth Paltrow, and gave new meaning to the phrase “What’s in the box?”
Over at Comics for Sinners you’ll find my review of 
Over at Comics for Sinners you’ll find my review of 
Hey, Doctor Who fans in America! By now you’re eagerly waiting for tonight’s BBC America broadcast premiere of Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks—we certainly are, here at ’Warp Central! This is the episode that formally introduced actor Patrick Troughton in his first full-length adventure as the Second Doctor, and what makes this broadcast even more special is that it’s completely animated—a reconstruction of the episode using only the voice and music tracks, due to the old BBC policy of wiping its recording tapes for reuse. With the original recordings destroyed, this is as close to the real thing as we’ll ever get, so be sure to tune in tonight!
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 (Gauntlet: Dark Legacy: Paths of Evil, 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.
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