Quality SWC E-books Available for Libraries

Posted on June 27, 2024 by Steven

With today being Day 1 of the 2024 American Libraries Association Annual Conference (being held this year in San Diego, California), I’m always reminded of a conversation I once had with Richard C. White, author of SWC’s supernatural graphic novel Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings, pirate-fantasy digital comic The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special, the fantasy-adventure titles For a Few Gold Pieces More and Harbinger of Darkness, and the popular how-to book for writers, Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination.

Rich had been a guest at a science fiction convention where he spoke with some school librarians interested in adding Terra Incognitoto their lists of e-book titles. But how, they asked, would they be able to obtain it? As librarians, they’re required to order books from distributors, not from publishers; that applies to e-books as well.

Well, librarians, it just so happens that one of The ’Warp’s digital distributors, Draft2Digital, makes our titles available to libraries through OverDrive, Baker & Taylor, Odilo, Bibliotheca, BorrowBox, Palace Marketplace, and hoopla:

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. In fact, the book is so popular that it’s currently being used as a textbook in the Media & Game Development program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worchester, Massachusetts!

“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

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 at SWC couldn’t agree more!

Harbinger of Darkness is a fantasy-adventure novel by Richard C. White. In it, 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!

“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

You can also obtain our Saga of Pandora Zwieback young adult novels, written by yours truly, Steven A. Roman. You know how popular young adult books are these days, don’t you? Well, here’s another series your patrons might be interested in!

Pan is 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 an immortal monster hunter named Annie 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. You’ll find Pan battling her own brand of evil dead in the following titles:

Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1: This critically acclaimed novel is the beginning of Pan’s story, explaining how she, her parents and friends, and Annie are drawn into a conflict among warring vampire clans searching for the key to an ultimate weapon (or so the legend goes)—a key that just so happens to have been delivered to the horror-themed museum owned by Pan’s father.

“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

It’s a character-driven action-fest that leads immediately into the second novel:

Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2: Pan and Annie face even greater challenges as the vampire clans draw up plans to go to war with humanity. Leading the charge is a fallen angel named Zaqiel, whose previous attempt at subjugating the world was stopped by Annie—who, back in the day, was Zaqiel’s lover!

So if you’re a librarian interested in adding those titles to your digital bookshelves, head over to OverDrive, Baker & Taylor, Odilo, Bibliotheca, BorrowBox, Palace Marketplace, or hoopla and place your order today!

Posted in Dark Urban Fantasy, e-books, e-tailers, Fantasy, Richard C. White, Steven A. Roman, Writing Reference Books, Young Adult | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Quality SWC E-books Available for Libraries

StarWarp Concepts Publishing News

Posted on June 17, 2024 by Steven

Hey, folks! I know it’s been a while since my last post, so here’s just a brief update on what’s going on around ’Warp Central. It’s a good news/bad news situation—but mostly good!

We’ll start off with the bad news: For the moment, the SWC Store is off-line due to software problems that are preventing us from taking orders on our print and e-book titles. We’re currently working on finding a replacement program that will restore in-house ordering. In the meantime, you can still follow the links we have on the product pages to outside vendors like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and DriveThru Comics, among others. Sorry about the complications!

Now for the good news:

Item 1: Last week, e-book distributor Draft2Digital made our original e-titles (in other words, the books by Richard C. White and myself) available through Fable, “the social app for bookworms” (according to the company’s press material) in which readers can join virtual book clubs or start their own, in addition to purchasing e-books directly from their store. So, that’s a whole new venue in which to pick up new readers!

Item 2: In a couple of weeks, StarWarp Concepts will be participating once again in e-book store Smashwords’ annual Summer/Winter Sale, running throughout July, where you can purchase our titles at 25% off (not to mention choose from the thousands of titles available at similar discounts from a world of indie publishers large and small).

Item 3: SWC will also be participating in another e-book event next month: DriveThru Comics and DriveThru Fiction’s annual Christmas in July Sale, which is held the last two weeks of the month (usually in time to coincide with the San Diego Comic-Con), so that will give you an opportunity to save on our books, comics, and graphic novels!

And hey, all you librarians looking for quality e-books for your patrons: Through our association with Draft2Digital, our titles can be ordered through OverDrive, Baker & Taylor, Odilo, Bibliotheca, BorrowBox, Palace Marketplace, and hoopla. Please keep that in mind while you’re attending the 2024 American Library Association Annual Conference at the end of this month, when you’re in search of books to add to your virtual shelves.

After all, summertime’s the perfect time for reading, isn’t it?

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Happy International Tabletop Day 2024!

Posted on June 1, 2024 by Steven

Celebrated on the first Saturday in June, International Tabletop 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!

Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination is available in both print (trade paperback and hardcover) and digital formats, so visit its product page for ordering information. And don’t forget to order a copy for your favorite game master!

Posted in Events, Fantasy, Gaming, Nonfiction, Richard C. White, Writing Reference Books | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Happy International Tabletop Day 2024!

DriveThru Fiction’s 2024 Dracula Sale Is On!

Posted on May 21, 2024 by Steven

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!

Posted in Carmilla, Classic Fiction, e-books, e-tailers, Eliseu Gouveia, Horror, Illustrated Classics, Vampires | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on DriveThru Fiction’s 2024 Dracula Sale Is On!

Happy National Superhero Day 2024!

Posted on April 28, 2024 by Steven

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.

Let’s f@&#ing go!

Posted in Comic Books, Digital Comics, Graphic Novels, Holidays, Richard C. White, Steven A. Roman, Superheroes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Happy National Superhero Day 2024!

StarWarp Concepts Books: Perfect for Independent Bookstore Day 2024!

Posted on April 27, 2024 by Steven

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?

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The Nighttime Is the Right Time: Celebrating World Book Night in 2024

Posted on April 23, 2024 by Steven

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!

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Happy 60th Anniversary, Warren Publishing!

Posted on April 22, 2024 by Steven

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)

From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures is available in print and digital formats, so visit itsproduct page for ordering information.

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It’s National Library Week 2024!

Posted on April 7, 2024 by Steven

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.

Now, get out there and start reading!

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SWC Writer Steven A. Roman Helps Relaunch Photon, the First Laser-Tag Franchise

Posted on April 2, 2024 by Steven

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.”

Stay tuned for further information!

(Photon: The Ultimate Game on Planet Earth™ and © 2023 Piko Interactive LLC)

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