Blog | StarWarp Concepts | Publisher of Dark Fantasy and Horror

StarWarp Spotlight On: Lorelei: Sects and the City

Posted on June 1, 2020 by Steven

Lorelei: Sects and the City Welcome back to StarWarp Spotlight, a series of posts that runs each Monday to shine a spotlight on one of our titles, as a reminder of the awesome books and comics we publish and to introduce new SWC fans to our backlist.

This week, we look at our most popular graphic novel…

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 “Satana, the Devil’s Daughter,” it’s written by yours truly, Steven A. Roman (From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures, X-Men: The Chaos Engine Trilogy), and illustrated by Eliseu Gouveia (The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual, Lady Death), Steve Geiger (Web of Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk), and Neil Vokes (Flesh and Blood, Fright Night).

The 152-page graphic novel also features art by a trio of comic-art legends: a cover painting by Esteban Maroto (Vampirella, Zatanna, Lady Rawhide), a frontispiece by original Vampirella artist Tom Sutton (Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night), and a one-page history of succubi illustrated by Ernie Colon (Vampirella, The Grim Ghost). So if you’re an old-school fan of, say, Vampirella, I can definitely say that Lorelei: Sects and the City is right up your alley. Don’t believe me? Then take the word of a couple of experts who agree with me:

“Lorelei, you’ve cast your spell o’er this guy!”—Forrest J Ackerman, co-creator of Vampirella and Famous Monsters of Filmland

“You sure do pay Warren Publishing a nice tribute. I wish you good luck and good acceptance. I like the graphics, and the story is exciting!”—James Warren, legendary publisher of Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella, and Famous Monsters of Filmland; co-creator of Vampirella

And critics have certainly enjoyed it:

“What elevates this graphic novel to another level is Roman’s dialogue. The writing is smart and that comes out in the characters.”—Horror Talk

“Roman takes the Vampirella mold and runs with it, giving a well-written story some genuine chills and equally nice human moments between the characters.”—Severe Magazine

“A great homage to Warren’s Vampirella magazine. Roman has captured the spirit of the black and white Warrens, especially his female star.”—Vampirella Revealed

Lorelei: Sects and the City is available in print and digital formats, so visit its product page for ordering information, as well as sample pages.

Be sure to check out the other StarWarp Spotlight titles we’ve featured so far: the writers and gamers creative how-to Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination, the nonfiction comic history From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures, the classic vampiric love story Carmilla, the young adult dark-fantasy novel Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1, the dark-fantasy noir collection Chasing Danger: The Case Files of Theron Chase, and the Illustrated Classic King Kong—all available either from the SWC webstore or from online retailers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon UK.

Posted in Graphic Novels, Lorelei, Publishing | Tagged eliseu gouveia, lorelei, lorelei: sects and the city, neil vokes, starwarp concepts backlist, starwarp spotlight, steve geiger, steven a. roman, succubus fiction | Comments Off

Vampirella Gets a Warm Drakulonian Welcome

Posted on May 29, 2020 by Steven

vampiress_LG_Cover Two reviews in the same week! I’m starting to get the sense this book might be popular with Vampi fans…

At the Vampi-centric fan site Vampirella of Drakulon, host Pendragon takes a look at our latest release, From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures. So what’d he think of this in-depth analysis of the history of the queen of comics’ bad girls?

“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.”

Read the entire review here.

Written by Steven A. Roman, author of the Pandora Zwieback series and the tales of the Vampi-inspired succubus Lorelei, From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures is an extensive look at Vampi’s early days, from the debut of her series in 1969 to the death of Warren Publishing in 1983.

Created by comics publisher James Warren and writer/editor Forrest J Ackerman, Vampirella—the half-naked vampire from outer space who fights monsters while wearing nothing but a one-piece swimsuit and a pair of go-go boots—celebrated her 50th anniversary last year with the launch of a new series by her current rights owner, Dynamite Entertainment.

In From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures you’ll find a wealth of information in its chapters:

The Vampire Who Fell to Earth: It’s the story of the life of Vampirella at Warren Publishing: her 1969 development by cocreators James Warren and Forrest J Ackerman, with the assistance of artists Frank Frazetta and Trina Robbins; the adventures she went on via the writing and artistic talents of such visionaries as Archie Goodwin, Bill DuBay, Jose Gonzalez, Enrich, Gonzalo Mayo, and many others; and the cancellation of her series in 1982 when the company collapsed. It also features probably the most you’ll ever see reported about four Vampi writers who were just as talented but not as well known: Mike Butterworth, who wrote under the pseudonym Flaxman Loew; T. Casey Brennan; Rich Margopoulos; and Gerry Boudreau.

The Vampirella Episode Guide: The largest section of the book, it examines every story starring Vampirella during the Warren Era: over 100 entries, some with little known behind-the-scenes details. Plus stories behind some of Vampi’s unpublished adventures!

Vampi Goes to Hollywood: In 1975, Hammer Films announced the development of a Vampirella movie starring model/actress Barbara Leigh and the legendary Peter Cushing (later known the world over as Grand Moff Tarkin of Star Wars). The project crashed in spectacular fashion, but the details have always been murky. I try to clear up the confusion surrounding it, detailing the production from its launch to its unfortunate ending. And then I take a critical look at the awful Vampirella movie that was made in 1996, starring Talisa Soto and rock god Roger Daltrey of the Who—and probably shouldn’t have been!

The Literary Vampiress: From 1975 to 1976, Warner Books published a series of Vampirellanovelizations by sci-fi author Ron Goulart. I take a look at each novel, and explain why they’re worth tracking down…if you can find copies!

The Vampirella Warren Era Checklist: A list of every Warren Vampi story! Every reprint volume from Harris Comics and Dynamite Entertainment! Plus little known trivia!

From the Stars also features: A foreword by Sean Fernald, the Official Vampirella Historian! A peek at Peter Cushing’s personal copy of the 1976 Vampirella screenplay! A frontispiece by legendary artist Bob Larkin, who painted covers for Warren’s Vampirella, The Rook, Eerie, and Famous Monsters of Filmland! Photos of Barbara Leigh in costume as Vampirella at the 1975 Famous Monsters Convention, held in New York! If there’s only one Vampirella history book you pick up, then be sure to add it to your collection!

From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures is available right now in print and as a PDF e-book, so visit its product page for ordering information. The print edition can be purchased from us as well as through your usual reailer outlets like Amazon, Amazon UK, and Barnes & Noble; the e-book is available through the SWC webstore and DriveThru Fiction.

This book is unofficial and unauthorized. It is not authorized, approved, licensed, or endorsed by Dynamite Entertainment or any of its licensees. Vampirella is a trademark of Dynamite Entertainment.

Posted in Book Reviews, Nonfiction, vampirella | Tagged book reviews, from the stars a vampiress, steven a. roman, vampirella, vampirella of drakulon | Comments Off

CT Horrorfest 2020 Canceled

Posted on May 29, 2020 by Steven

CT-Horrorfest-2019-poster Well, here’s a bit of a down note on which to end the week. With the coronavirus outbreak wreaking havoc in the convention industry, and given how impossible it is to enforce social distancing guidelines in a gathering place often packed to capacity, it’s disappointing but no surprise that the Connecticut-based CT Horrorfest, which was scheduled for this September, has announced its cancellation, with a replacement date of September 18, 2021. A wise decision, from our perspective.

Well, you might not be able to come see us at CT Horrorfest, but you can still have the convention experience by buying yourself one (or all!) of our awesome books. From the dark urban fantasy adventures of The Saga of Pandora Zwieback and Chasing Danger: The Case Files of Theron Chase to Illustrated Classics like Carmilla and King Kong, and from the graphic novel terrors of Lorelei: Sects and the City to the Brothers Grimm’s dark fairy tale Snow White, StarWarp Concepts has a lot to offer horror fans!

Stay safe, stay well, and hopefully we’ll see you next year!

Posted in Conventions | Tagged connecticut horrorfest, conventions | Comments Off

Vampirella Gains Admittance to the Classic Horrors Club

Posted on May 28, 2020 by Steven

vampiress_LG_Cover It’s review time again! At the site Classic Horrors Club, host Jeff Owens gives his opinion on our latest release, From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures. He sure seems to like what he read:

“I expected it would make me want to become a Vampirella fan; however, minus reading the original material, there’s everything I need here to already be one. If those original comics and magazines somehow fail to impress, the guides and checklists offered by Steven A. Roman do not.”

Read the entire review here.

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 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, a frontispiece by Warren artist Bob Larkin, and photographs from the personal archives of Forrest J Ackerman.

Posted in Book Reviews, vampirella | Tagged book reviews, classic horrors club, from the stars a vampiress, jeff owens, steven a. roman, vampirella | Comments Off

StarWarp Spotlight On: King Kong

Posted on May 27, 2020 by Steven

King_Kong_LG_Cover Welcome back to StarWarp Spotlight, a series of posts that runs each week to shine a spotlight on one of our titles, as a reminder of the awesome books and comics we publish and to introduce new SWC fans to our backlist.

Normally, we do this on Mondays, but with this past Monday having been Memorial Day—a holiday in the United States, so we closed ’Warp Central so everyone could enjoy a nice three-day weekend for the unofficial start of summer—and yesterday being what would have been the 107th birthday of horror acting icon Peter Cushing (who figures prominently in our nonfiction comic-history tome From the Stars…a Vampiress: An unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures), we shifted this week’s Spotlight to today.

So now that that’s explained, this time around we look at another of our Illustrated Classics—a dark-fantasy novel known to generations of monster kids and monster fans around the world, about a supersized ape who’s getting ready to return to the big screen this fall…

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.

kingkong33-wray-armstrong-cabot 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…

It’s a story that not only inspired a host of knockoffs and remakes over Kong’s 87-year history—from Konga and Queen Kong to Mighty Joe Young and Peter Jackon’s King Kong—but the big guy’s popularity was reinvigorated with the 2017 release of Kong: Skull Island, which set the stage for this year’s big-screen monster clash, Godzilla vs. Kong, coming in November. (Not a remake of, or to be confused with, Toho Studios’ fairly comedic King Kong vs. Godzilla from 1962.)

Not only that, but critics have enjoyed Lovelace’s approach to the original movie:

“Lovelace was given a script and told to have at it. And that’s what makes this book so fun. It’s a testament to what the original Kong was both supposed to have been and what might have been.”—The Thunder Child

“Lovelace’s novelization is an interesting read and moves with a breezy pace. Fascinating for fans of the film.”—Library Thing

“Recommended for hard-core Kongites.”—Sci-Fi Dimensions

King Kong is a digital exclusive available directly from the SWC webstore, so visit its product page for ordering information.

Be sure to check out the other StarWarp Spotlight titles we’ve featured so far: the writers and gamers creative how-to Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination, the nonfiction comic history From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures, the classic vampiric love story Carmilla, the young adult dark-fantasy novel Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1, and the dark-fantasy noir collection Chasing Danger: The Case Files of Theron Chase—all available from the SWC webstore and online retailers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon UK.

Posted in Classic Fiction, Illustrated Classics, Publishing | Tagged delos w. lovelace, edgar wallace, illustrated classics, james a. creelman, king kong, king kong 1933, merian c. cooper, paul tuma, ruth rose, starwarp concepts backlist, starwarp spotlight | Comments Off

Happy Birthday, Horror Legend Peter Cushing!

Posted on May 26, 2020 by Steven

Peter-Cushing Yes, horror fans, it was on this day in 1913 that Peter Cushing was born, which means this would have been his 107th birthday.

Born in Kenley, England, Peter Wilton Cushing began his acting career on the stage in 1935, as a member of the Worthing Repertory Company, but in 1939 he journeyed to Hollywood, where he made his screen debut in a bit part in that year’s release of The Man in the Iron Mask, directed by James Whale—best known to horror fans as the director of Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein.

He returned to the stage in England in the 1940s, and in 1956, Hammer Films cast him as Baron Victor Frankenstein in the studio’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It was also his first Hammer collaboration with old friend Christopher Lee; together, they would create horror-movie magic in the studio’s series of Dracula films—beginning in 1958 with Dracula (aka Horror of Dracula)—with Lee as the titular count and Cushing as his vampire-slaying nemesis, Van Helsing.

Peter-Cushing-Tarkin Beyond Hammer, Cushing became a science fiction icon with his appearances as the eccentric time traveler Dr. Who in the 1960s films Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.—loose adaptations of serialized stories that first appeared as episodes of the long-running British TV series Doctor Who—and as the villainous Grand Moff Tarkin, commander of the Death Star and Darth Vader’s boss, in 1977’s Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope (a role he later “returned to” through the magic of CGI in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story).

And then, there was a film he was with involved that never got past its preproduction period, but whose behind-the-scenes story has intrigued horror fans for decades: Vampirella, an adaptation of the Warren Publishing series about an outer space vampire living on Earth. Announced by Hammer Films in 1975, the production was to star b-movie actress and Playboy model Barbara Leigh as Vampirella and Peter Cushing as her sidekick, the often inebriated stage magician Pendragon. By 1976, however, the project was dead.

vampiress_LG_Cover It’s a story told in full detail in From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures, by Steven A. Roman (that’s me!), 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, 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, a frontispiece by Warren artist Bob Larkin, and photographs from the personal archives of Forrest J Ackerman.

Happy birthday, Mr. Cushing, and thanks for the great movie memories!

Posted in Birthdays, vampirella | Tagged birthdays, from the stars a vampiress, peter cushing, vampirella | Comments Off

Summertime 2020 Is Just About (Unofficially) Here!

Posted on May 21, 2020 by Steven

sweeney-by-the-sea

Next Monday, May 25, is Memorial Day in the United States—a time when the country takes a moment to recognize the sacrifices of the members of our armed forces who’ve given their lives to protect our, and the world’s freedoms.

Generally, it’s meant to be a solemn occasion, but Memorial Day weekend is also considered the unofficial start of the summer season (which officially falls on June 21, and ends September 23). For many Americans who may or may not have made vacation plans (depending on where you’re located in these virus days), that means tomorrow is the start of a four-day weekend—which around here calls for a goth-style trip to the beach (at a socially safe distance, of course)!

And you know what would make for perfect beach reading this summer? Some fine horror titles from our awesome backlist, of course!

Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1: This critically acclaimed, character-driven young adult novel by Steven A. Roman (that’s me!) is the beginning of teenaged Goth girl Pan Zwieback’s adventures, explaining her troubled past as someone who had been diagnosed with a mental illness because she thought she could see monsters, only to learn it’s an actual supernatural power that she possesses. And who explained it to her? None other than an immortal, shape-shifting monster hunter named Annie! But before she can make sense of that revelation, Pan, 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 they’re following goes)—a key that just so happens to have been delivered to the horror-themed museum owned by Pan’s father!

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.

White Fell: The Werewolf, by 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…

King Kong is StarWarp Concepts’ e-book-exclusive Illustrated Classics edition of the official novelization of the renowned motion picture, originally published in 1932, just a few months before Kong made his big-screen debut. 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, the SWC edition of King Kong 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. What makes our version special is that it contains six exclusive, original black-and-white illustrations by comics artist Paul Tuma, whose pulp-influenced style has appeared in the pages ofThe Twilight Avenger, Flare, and Dan Turner: Hollywood Detective.

Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings: Perfect for superhero fans, this graphic novel is about a supernatural team of superfolk-for-hire, consisting of a wizard, a sorceress, a female ninja, a high-tech-armor-wearing rock concert lighting designer, anda werewolf. Not every superhero team has Tony Stark’s billions to play with, you understand, and the Troubleshooters are just looking to earn a living while fighting the monsters that have always lurked in the shadows. Makes sense, right? Of course it does! Written by the husband-and-wife team of Richard C. White (For a Few Gold Pieces More, Chasing Danger: The Case Files of Theron Chase) and Joni M. White, and illustrated by Reggie Golden and Randy Zimmerman, Night Stalkings presents the TSI members on their first mission: protecting a multimillionaire from a trio of Middle Eastern demons out to raise a little hell!

Blood Feud, Carmilla, and Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings are available in both print and digital formats. White Fell: The Werewolf and King Kong are digital exclusives. Visit each of their product pages for more information, including sample pages and sample chapters.

Have a (creepily) safe and fun summer!

Posted in Holidays, Summer Reading | Tagged blood feud: the saga of pandora zwieback book 1, carmilla, holidays, king kong, memorial day, starwarp concepts backlist, summer reading, troubleshooters incorporated, white fell the werewolf | Comments Off

StarWarp Spotlight On: Chasing Danger

Posted on May 18, 2020 by Steven

Chasing-Danger_large_book_cover Welcome back to StarWarp Spotlight, a series of posts that runs each Monday to shine a spotlight on one of our titles, as a reminder of the awesome books and comics we publish and to introduce new SWC fans to our backlist.

This week, we look at author Richard C. White’s latest work…

Chasing Danger: The Case Files of Theron Chase is a collection of four noirish urban-fantasy adventures by Richard C. White, author of Gauntlet: Dark Legacy: Paths of Evil, and a growing number of SWC titles: the novel Harbinger of Darkness; the story collection For a Few Gold Pieces More; the writer’s aid Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination; the supernatural-superhero graphic novel Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings; and the pirate-adventure digital comic The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special. Here’s the back cover copy:

Calasia: it’s a big town with big problems. Murder, thievery, extortion, corruption, magic, and monsters—just ask any native here: this ain’t a burg for the faint of heart. You don’t live in Calasia, you survive it.

Theron Chase walks these mean streets with a sap in one hand and a .45 in the other. Story is he used to be a hell of a cop in these parts—until his partner got dead in a hurry years ago. Now he makes a living as a private eye, offering his services to one and all while trying to stay on the good side of his secretary, a dishy-looking fae name of Kyra Sylvari. Ogres, werewolves, crime bosses, mages—as long as your money’s good and no one’s looking to turn him into a dead man (walking or otherwise), odds are he’ll be able to solve your problem.

Just don’t ask him to handle any magic-related items—he’s about as adept with the arcane arts as a troll in a knitting circle.

In this collection you’ll find four of Chase’s bizarre cases. 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!

And what do critics think of it?

“Fantasy Noir? You gotta be kidding me. [But] White isn’t kidding, and Chasing Danger is no joke. From the very first line, you feel the scene turn black-and-white. It doesn’t last long, for White doesn’t waste time showing that Calasia isn’t your typical gumshoe story town. There’s magic in those alleyways.”—Ordinary Average Guy

Chasing Danger: The Case Files of Theron Chase is available in print and digital formats, so visit its product page for ordering information. If you’re a fan of urban-fantasy tales like Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden, or Showtime’s new series Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, do yourself a favor and check out Theron Chase’s adventures.

Be sure to check out the other StarWarp Spotlight titles we’ve featured so far: the writers and gamers creative how-to Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination, the nonfiction comic history From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures, the classic vampiric love story Carmilla, and the young adult dark-fantasy novel Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1—all available from the SWC webstore and online retailers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon UK.

Posted in Dark Urban Fantasy, Publishing | Tagged chasing danger, Dark Urban Fantasy, noir fantasy, richard c. white, starwarp concepts backlist, starwarp spotlight, theron chase | Comments Off

DriveThru RPG Bundles Ebooks for a Worthy Cause

Posted on May 14, 2020 by Steven

terra_ingoc_lg_cover Here’s some great news in these troubling times: as part of its annual May sales promotion for gamers, e-book distributor DriveThru RPG is offering three “Covid-19 Charity Bundles” to raise money for the nonprofit organizations No Kid Hungry, Doctors Without Borders, and the World Food Programme.

With the kind assistance of bestselling fantasy author Richard C. White, the e-book we’ve donated for the two-week 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

From its first publication, the book has been a hit with not just fantasy writers, but role-playing gamers as well. When it debuted in October 2015 at the e-book distributor DriveThru Fiction and its sister sites DriveThru RPG and RPGNow, it immediately shot to the #1 position on all three as their top-selling title, and then remained for weeks as DriveThru Fiction’s #1 Hottest Nonfiction Book and #1 Hottest How-To for Writers! If you’re a writer or gamer, you might just want to check it out. In fact, it’s currently being used as a textbook in the Interactive Media Design (i.e., game design) program at Becker College in Worchester, Massachusetts!

Terra Incognito is part of the No Kid Hungry bundle, 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 No Kid Hungry, Doctors Without Borders, and the World Food Programme, visit the DriveThru RPG emergency relief page. And thanks for helping out!

Posted in e-books, Events, Publishing | Tagged covid-19 charity bundles, drivethru rpg, e-books, richard c. white, terra incognito: a guide to building the worlds of your imagination | Comments Off

Talking Vampirella and Comics with J.D. Calderon

Posted on May 12, 2020 by Steven

Indy-Comics-Explained-SRoman

As you might be aware, this past Sunday night I appeared on J.D. Calderon’s YouTube series Indy Comics Explained, mainly to promote my latest book, From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures.

(J.D., by the way, is the writer/creator of the fantasy series The Oswald Chronicles and the anthropomorphic fantasy comic series Tall Tails, both published through his Dream Weaver Press company. He’s also been a friend of mine since we met back in the 1990s’ days of the indie comics explosion.)

Well, don’t worry if you missed it: since it’s on YouTube you can still watch the episode, in which I talk about my time as a professional book editor (and the troubles associated with such work, especially in licensed publishing), my history as a writer and as a self-publisher, the Saga of Pandora Zwieback series, my current work as scripter for Oniric Comics’ Sideral: The Last Earthman, and, if I were offered the chance to write comics for Marvel and/or DC, which characters I’d want to work on. And, of course, I was busy pushing the book I was there to promote, offering some hints as to what you’ll find in From the Stars…a Vampiress.

“Talking to Steve A. Roman” is available for viewing right now at Indy Comics Explained. If you’ve got an hour, click on the link and head on over to check it out.

From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures is a nonfiction book—not a comic—and a 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. 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 most important of all, what may be the first time anyone has actually told, in chronological order, the story behind the rise and fall of Hammer Films’ proposed Vampi movie of the 1970s that was meant to star Playboy model Barbara Leigh and horror icon Peter Cushing. It also includes my look at the awful 1996 direct-to-cable-TV movie that was made, starring Talisa Soto and Roger Daltrey; a peek at Peter Cushing’s personal copy of the ’70s Vampirella screenplay; a foreword by Official Vampirella Historian Sean Fernald, a frontispiece by Warren artist Bob Larkin, and photographs from the personal archives of Forrest J Ackerman.

From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures is available right now in print and as a PDF e-book, so visit its product page for ordering information. The print edition can be purchased from us as well as through your usual retail outlets like Amazon, Amazon UK, and Barnes & Noble; the e-book is available through the SWC webstore and DriveThru Fiction.

Posted in Interviews, Steven A. Roman, vampirella | Tagged from the stars a vampiress, indy comics explained, Interviews, j.d. calderon, steven a. roman, vampirella | Comments Off