SWC’s Classics Collection

Last Tuesday saw the release of King Kong, an e-book-exclusive release that’s the latest entry in our growing collection of Illustrated Classics titles. 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’s the novelization of the original 1933 film that introduced monster-movie fans to a version of “Beauty and the Beast” like no other. The SWC edition features 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—and 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.

King Kong, however, isn’t the only title that we have for lovers of classic genre literature—just check out the following:

A Princess of Mars, perfect for fans of classic science fiction, is the first in Edgar Rice Burroughs’s “John Carter of Mars” novel series about a post–Civil War era American who suddenly finds himself on the Red Planet, battling to stay alive against all sorts of alien threats. 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 special StarWarp Concepts edition—available in both print and digital formats—features six incredible illustrations by SWC artist supreme Eliseu Gouveia (Carmilla, Lorelei: Sects and the City), and a special introduction by Mars-fiction expert John Gosling, author of Waging the War of the Worlds.

Carmilla—for which we recently celebrated its 145th anniversary—is J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s 19th-century classic vampiric tale of love gone wrong. Living alone with her father and governess, Laura is so desperate for a friend that when a young woman named Carmilla practically turns up on their doorstep, 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. Just like with A Princess of Mars, our edition contains six original illustrations done especially for StarWarp Concepts by the super-talented Eliseu Gouveia.

Snow White is the classic story by the Brothers Grimm, and was the first of our e-book-exclusive titles. You know the tale: A wicked queen, jealous of her stepdaughter’s beauty, plots to kill the girl so that the queen can become “the fairest of them all.” But standing in her way are seven dwarves who’ve taken quite a liking to the young lady—and they’re not about to let the queen win this particular beauty title. Featuring lush full-color illustrations first published in 1883, it’s always on sale for the wickedly low price of just 99¢!

But it’s not just Illustrated Classics we have to offer. In February we launched SWC Horror Bites: a chapbook series available in print and e-book formats exclusively from the SWC webstore, and at the conventions we attend. “Short tales to appease your monstrous hunger for suspense” is how we describe this series of new and classic horror stories, and we kicked it off with the following title:

White Fell—The Werewolf, by author, artist, and suffragette Clemence Annie Housman, was originally published in 1896 as The Were-wolf 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…

A Princess of Mars, Carmilla, and White Fell—The Werewolf are available in both print and digital formats; Snow White and King Kong are digital exclusives. Visit their respective product pages for ordering information.

But the SWC classics library doesn’t end there—we have other titles in the pipeline, waiting to debut:

In October, Tales to Sorta Tremble By will rise from the crypt on Friday the 13th, just in time for Halloween. This anthology—the second release in the SWC Horror Bites series—collects 13 mini-stories that first appeared in 1950s horror comics, when publishers were required to run text pieces in order to meet US postal regulations for shipping magazines. In its pages you’ll find zombies, vampires, haunted houses, disembodied brains, urban legends come to life, and other supernatural terrors! It’s just the thing to help you enjoy the spooky season even more.

And in December, Gabriel Grub and the Goblins will haunt the yuletide season. This SWC Horror Bite by Charles Dickens (A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities) involves a gravedigger running afoul of supernatural creatures that take a dim view of anyone who refuses to get into the Christmas spirit. If you thought Ebenezer Scrooge had it bad with ghosts nagging him to spread some holiday cheer, wait until you meet Gabriel—he’d probably trade goblins for ghosts any day!

Stay turned for further details on these upcoming releases!