Author Richard C. White at Farpoint 24

Posted on February 15, 2017 by Steven

pieces_gold_large_book_cover2017This weekend, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comic book fans from across the United States will be gathering at the 24th annual Farpoint convention, being held at the Radisson Hotel North Baltimore in Timonium, Maryland. And among the guests in attendance will be SWC’s own Richard C. White, who’ll be there to promote the release of his latest book, For a Few Gold Pieces More, which came out just this past Tuesday.

For a Few Gold Pieces More is a collection of ten critically acclaimed short stories by Rich, who’s the author of Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers: Echoes of Coventry, Gauntlet: Dark Legacy: Paths of Evil, and the SWC titles Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination, Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings, and The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special. For Gold Pieces, think Lord of the Rings meets the “spaghetti Westerns” of director Sergio Leone (A Fistful of Dollars; The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly), as a Rogue With No Name 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).

For a Few Gold Pieces More is available right now in print and digital formats; visit its product page for ordering information. And if you’re attending Farpoint this weekend, be sure to purchase For a Few Gold Pieces directly from Rich, who’ll be selling hot-off-the-press copies all weekend!

For more information on the convention, visit the Farpoint 24 website.

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For a Few Gold Pieces More Now On Sale!

Posted on February 14, 2017 by Steven

gold-pieces-cvrHe’s a Man With No Name…but probably not the one you were expecting.

On sale now is For a Few Gold Pieces More, a collection of ten critically acclaimed short stories by Richard C. White, author of Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers: Echoes of Coventry, Gauntlet: Dark Legacy: Paths of Evil, and a few SWC titles. Think Lord of the Rings meets the “spaghetti Westerns” of director Sergio Leone (A Fistful of Dollars; The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly), as a Rogue With No Name 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). Here’s the back cover copy:

For the right price, he’ll get you out of trouble. Cross him, and you’ll never pay enough…

It’s amazing what you learn living on the run.

Fleeing for my life, convicted on trumped-up charges, and denied the use of my own name, I’ve stayed one step ahead of the Imperial Guard by focusing on one thing—taking care of myself first. So, I don’t know where you heard the ridiculous rumor about me helping people here and there around the Empire. And if, and that’s a big if, it was me, there was something in it for me. Trust me on that.

In the various towns and villages I’ve visited over the years, I’ve seen depravity, cruelty, torture, greed, lust—and that’s just the humans. Trust me; compared to them, the creatures that haunt the edges of the Empire are more honest and trustworthy. At least they’re not trying to slip a knife into your back…usually.

Only a few things have been constant while I’ve been on the run. My desire for revenge against the person who framed me all those years ago tops the list. Weird things happening in quiet villages, dark forests, or icy mountains never seem to change. And third? Well, that would be my luck.

I can always count on it to be bad.

And what exactly makes these stories “critically acclaimed”? Well, just look at what these folks have to say:

“Entertaining, old-school sword and sorcery, in the tradition of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.”—Jim C. Hines, author of the Magic ex Libris, Jig the Goblin, and The Princesses series

“Richard C. White knows how to spin a yarn. These stories do not disappoint.”—Bobby Nash, author of Evil Ways, Domino Lady: Money Shot, and Alexandra Holzer’s Ghost Gal: The Wild Hunt

“What a fantastic ride! If you like sarcasm and snark reminiscent of Harry Dresden, good doses of magic, treachery, and myth, this is the book for you.”—Goodreads

Weighing in at a hefty 420 pages, For a Few Gold Pieces More sports a cover painting and a frontispiece illustration by fantasy artist Shane Braithwaite, who also provided the cover art for Rich’s 2015 SWC release, the writer’s reference book Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination.

For a Few Gold Pieces More is available right now in print and digital formats. Visit its product page for ordering information.

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The Worlds of Richard C. White: Terra Incognito

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Steven

Rich-New-PicHe’s the bestselling author of the licensed fantasy novel Gauntlet: Dark Legacy: Paths of Evil, and a popular writer of fantasy, science fiction, and crime tales, including Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers: Echoes of Coventry and The Dark Leopard: Mouse Trap. But if you’ve been paying attention to the works of Richard C. White, you’ll notice he’s been building quite the backlist here at StarWarp Concepts.

He has a brand-new title hitting bookshelves tomorrow: For a Few Gold Pieces More, a collection of ten critically acclaimed short stories that star 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), with a healthy dose of monsters, magic, and swordplay mixed in.

With Gold Pieces so close to publication, I thought reminding you of his backlist would be a good idea, since all his titles are still very much available for order from the SWC webstore. On February 30, I told you about his supernatural-superheroes graphic novel Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings. On February 9, we examined his digital-comic ode to seafaring adventure, The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special. And today we wrap things up by taking a look at his guide for genre writers who are interested in building fantastic settings for their stories and novels.

terra_ingoc_lg_coverTerra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination was Rich’s 2015 release. In this nonfiction reference book for writers, Rich 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 the pages of Terra Incognito 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.

Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination is available in print and digital formats, so visit its product page for ordering information.

Bonus! Because Rich’s interview with Hickman was so lengthy, and touched upon some topics that didn’t pertain to the world-building focus of Terra Incognito, I made the editorial decision to cut those parts from the final version of the book. However, if you want to discover what else Rich and Hickman discussed—including their shared experiences in the licensed-publishing writers market—then head over to Richard C. White’s blog and read all about it!

For a Few Gold Pieces More goes on sale tomorrow, February 14, 2017.

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Blocky Animated Superheroes? Yeah, I’ve Written Them…

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Steven

Hey, Bat-fans! As you’re no doubt aware, today’s the U.S. release date for The Lego Batman Movie, a not-quite sequel to 2014’s incredibly popular The Lego Movie, in which Batman (voiced by Will Arnett) costarred. This time he has to deal not just with the Joker, but Batman’s new sidekick, Robin, who wears bright green shorts that are waaay too short for the Caped Crusader’s liking.

Speaking of animated superheroes, were you aware that I once wrote an adventure for a certain group of merry mutants? And that it counts as my sole writing credit on the Internet Movie Database? Well, now you do!

xmen-darktide-dvdX-Men: Darktide was a licensed short created by the students of the DAVE (Digital Animation & Visual Effects) School in Orlando, Florida. Like The Lego Movie, it involved blocky toy versions of the characters—in this case, the Minimates line produced by toy manufacturer Art Asylum—and was developed as a special straight-to-DVD supplement.

My involvement came in 2005, when I was contacted by Marvel Comics’ Licensing division. The folks there had been impressed with my writing of the X-Men: The Chaos Engine Trilogy novels (published between 2000 and 2002), and now they wanted to know if I’d be interested in stepping into this animated project to do some script-doctoring. As it was explained to me, the DAVE School’s plot and character storyboards had been approved, but the script was lacking in terms of dialogue and a clear understanding of the X-Men.

My response to the offer was an enthusiastic yes, and soon enough I was tweaking the script—which (he said modestly) was approved on my first draft. It’s a pretty simple story: the X-Men start out fighting the giant robots called Sentinels, and end up going toe-to-toe with their archenemy Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Good wins out in the end, and the team heads home. The DAVE School was happy with my changes and, best of all, so was Marvel.

I didn’t see the results until months later, and that’s when I received a copy of the finished set of DVD and three X-Men Minimates that were included. I thought the final video turned out pretty well. You can judge the results for yourself—it’s on YouTube.

An unexpected bonus was that, not only did I get paid for the work (the most important aspect, of course), but my involvement with X-Men: Darktide led to me getting my own entry in the Internet Movie Database! Sure, it’s only one credit, but it was a pleasant surprise when I came across it.

So, interested in seeing X-Men: Darktide, now that I’ve hyped it so much? Then just click on the screen grab below and get to watchin’!

xmen-darktide-screengrab

And while we’re on the subject of comic book superheroes, especially Batman, allow me to direct you toward a free digital comic that you can download right from this very site—a comic that features a certain psychotic Bat-villainess you might have seen in a 2016 movie called Suicide Squad, tormenting a certain Amazon warrior who’ll be starring in a movie of her own this year…

heroines_large_coverHeroines & Heroes is a collection of comic stories and pinups all drawn by 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.

And did I mention it’s a free download? (Yes, I did.) Then what’re you waiting for? Head over to the Heroines and Heroes product page and get your own copy today!

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Supernatural Superheroes? Yeah, We Know a Few of Those…

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Steven

“Troubleshooters, Incorporated was ahead of its time, coming before DC Comics’ Justice League Dark.”—Horror Talk

jl-dark

On sale right now is Justice League Dark, the latest straight-to-DVD feature from Warner Bros. Animation. A loose adaptation of the (now canceled) DC Comics series of the same name, it features among its voice cast Matt Ryan as John Constantine (reprising his role from the short-lived Constantine TV series), Jason O’Mara (Agents of SHIELD) as Batman, Rosario Dawson (Sin City) as Wonder Woman, Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2) as Destiny, and Jerry O’Connell (Sliders) as Superman. In it, an offshoot of the Justice League of America gathers to combat a supernatural threat to the world—and when demons and monsters are involved, it’s best to pick a team of crimefighters who have some familiarity with the supernatural. Like Justice League Dark.

Or Troubleshooters, Incorporated.

troubleshooters_lrg_coverYes, years before DC Comics tried mixing their horror and superhero characters in a team setting, author Richard C. White (Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination, The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special) assembled his own set of costumed heroes who fight supernatural monsters—only they do it to turn a profit!

Perfect for superhero fans, Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings is a graphic novel 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, and a 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!

The Troubleshooters consist of: Silver Oak, the team leader and a sorcerer; Yolanda, a sorceress who wants to be a veterinarian; Nightstalker, an intelligent werewolf who was already fighting crime before he joined the team; Lightshow, a rock ’n’ roll lighting designer who built himself a suit of armor with laser blasters and other weapons—think Tony Stark designing an Iron Man suit for the Dazzler, but then keeping it for himself because he thought it looked cool; and Shadow Mist, a blond, female ninja.

Written by the husband-and-wife team of Richard C. White 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! If Justice League Dark intrigues you, then you should definitely check out Troubleshooters, Incorporated.

Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings is available in print and digital formats, so visit its product page for ordering information and sample pages.

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The Worlds of Richard C. White: The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special

Posted on February 8, 2017 by Steven

Rich-New-PicHe’s the bestselling author of the licensed fantasy novel Gauntlet: Dark Legacy: Paths of Evil, and a popular writer of fantasy, science fiction, and crime tales, including Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers: Echoes of Coventry and The Dark Leopard: Mouse Trap. But if you’ve been paying attention to the works of Richard C. White, you’ll notice he’s been building a backlist here at StarWarp Concepts.

Rich has a brand-new title hitting bookshelves next week: For a Few Gold Pieces More, a collection of ten critically acclaimed short stories that star 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), with a healthy dose of monsters, magic, and swordplay mixed in.

With Gold Pieces so close to publication, I thought reminding you of his backlist would be a good idea, since all his titles are still very much available for order from the SWC webstore. Last Monday, I told you about his supernatural-superheroes graphic novel Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings. Today we’ll examine his ode to seafaring adventure.

seadragon_lrg_cov_revThe Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special was Rich’s second SWC release since our 2010 relaunch—a 48-page pirate-fantasy comic created and written by Rich, and drawn by Bill Bryan (artist of Caliber Press’ Dark Oz and DC Comics’ House of Mystery). It’s Rich’s love letter of sorts to the classic pirate movies he grew up watching on TV, like The Crimson Pirate, Against All Flags, Captain Blood, and The Sea Hawk—not to mention it has a certain resonance with the more contemporary Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise, of course! (Hey, with a new movie coming out this year, it’s not a bad thing to let Jack Sparrow fans know about Sea Dragon’s availability.)

Sea Dragon originally made its debut in print form, through Rich’s NightWolf Graphics publishing company, and premiered at the 2005 Comic-Con International in San Diego, California (which was also The ’Warp’s final appearance at that West Coast madhouse). The general reaction to the one-shot, which sported cover art by interior artist Bill Bryan, was overwhelmingly positive from fantasy and comic fans at the show, but it was easy to overlook its virtues in a venue that, even in 2005, was catering more and more to the pop-culture crowd and less to comic readers.

Still, I knew that Sea Dragon had potential, which is why I approached Rich in 2012 about reviving the special as an e-comic and releasing it in time for 2013’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day (celebrated every September 19th). For the updated version, I commissioned new cover art from Eliseu Gouveia, the super-talented artist of the SWC projects Lorelei: Sects and the City, The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1, Carmilla, and A Princess of Mars, and had designer Mike Rivilis clean up the interior art scans and lay out the balance of the comic. And, even better for comic fans, we made the digital version available for just 99¢!

In the special you meet Asheera, captain of the Sea Dragon, and his elfin first mate, Safir, as they lead a crew of privateers—soldiers of fortune—on a mission to intercept a supply train during a war between two island kingdoms. But, as you might expect, things don’t exactly work out how they’ve been planned, and the crew of the Sea Dragon soon find themselves sailing some very rough seas—both in and out of the water…

The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special is available right now in digital form, so visit its product page for ordering information and sample pages. Pick up a copy today—it’ll give you something to read while you’re waiting for the May release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales!

Next Monday, we’ll wrap things up by taking a look at Rich’s 2015 release, the writer’s guide Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination. Be sure to join us!

For a Few Gold Pieces More goes on sale February 14, 2017.

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SWC Horror Bites: White Fell: The Werewolf Now On Sale!

Posted on February 7, 2017 by Steven

That’s right, horror fans and Women in Horror Month enthusiasts, today is the day that a werewolf helps launch our new line of SWC Horror Bites chapbook releases!

White Fell—The Werewolf, originally published in 1896 as The Were-wolf, was written by renowned author, artist, and suffragette Clemence Annie Housman, and is regarded by scholars as possibly the first feminist werewolf story. Take a look at the full cover to learn the details!

SWC-WhiteFell-Werewolf-Cvr

 

White Fell—The Werewolf is on sale right now in print and digital formats, so visit its product page for further information and order it today!

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Have You Heard About The Formidables?

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Steven

formidables-ad

Created by writer/artist Chris Malgrain—my old creative partner from the one-off comic Stan Lee’s Alexa—and edited by yours truly, The Formidables are a quintet of superheroes battling evil and bigotry in 1950s America, with their first challenge coming in the form of a Communist super-villain…who’s disguised as a white supremacist! It’s a unique take on the genre, with Chris examining topics like race relations and sexual identity in a Cold War setting, with an appropriate amount of punching and explosions mixed in, of course—we are talking superhero comics, after all!

The Formidables #1–2 can be purchased right now in print and digital formats from distributor/printer Indy Planet, so visit Oniric Comics’ product page for ordering information.

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Here Comes Take Your Child to the Library Day 2017!

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Steven

library-something-wicked-5Hey, book lovers and parents of book lovers! Tomorrow is the sixth annual celebration of Take Your Child to the Library Day. To quote their website:

“Take Your Child to the Library Day (TYCLD) is an international initiative that encourages families everywhere to take their children to their local library. Launched in 2011 right here in Connecticut by librarians Nadine Lipman (Waterford Public Library, retired) and Caitlin Augusta (Stratford Library) with artist Nancy Elizabeth Wallace, TYCLD raises community awareness about the importance of the library in the life of a child, and promotes library services and programs for children and families.”

Before the Internet, libraries were the source for information and reading, and these days they can use our support. So head out tomorrow, introduce your children to that big brick building with all the free books to borrow, update the library card that’s been stuck in the back of your wallet for all these years, and renew your acquaintance with a vital partner in the ongoing literacy campaign.

For more information, including the list of participating libraries, visit the TYCLD website.

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SWC Horror Bites Press Release

Posted on February 2, 2017 by Steven

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
STARWARP CONCEPTS OFFERS READERS SOME TASTY “SWC HORROR BITES”

whitefell-werewolf-cvr“Short tales to appease your monstrous hunger for suspense” is how StarWarp Concepts publisher Steven Roman describes SWC Horror Bites, a new chapbook series that the company will launch on February 7, 2017. The series, a mix of new and classic horror stories, will be available in print and e-book formats exclusively from the SWC webstore, and at the conventions that StarWarp Concepts attends.

The SWC Horror Bites debut title is White Fell—The Werewolf. Originally published in 1896 as The Were-wolf, it 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-Sorta-Tremble-CvrThe anthology Tales to Sorta Tremble By, scheduled for release in October and edited by Roman, will be the second Horror Bite. 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 their comics. Tales to Sorta Tremble By collects thirteen of those stories, with subjects ranging from vampires and werewolves to evil killer plants and mean-tempered zombies.

The third and final Horror Bite for 2017 is 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.

gabriel-grub-cvrWhite Fell—The Werewolf debuts on February 7, 2017, during StarWarp Concepts’ recognition of Women in Horror Month. Tales to Sorta Tremble By rises from the crypt on October 13, 2017 (Friday the 13th). And Gabriel Grub and the Goblins arrives on December 13, 2017.

For more information, please visit www.StarwarpConcepts.com.

About the Books:
White Fell—The Werewolf
by Clemence Annie Housman
Published by StarWarp Concepts
48 pages, chapbook (5.5” x 8.5”)
U.S. $4.00 (print edition) • $1.99 (digital)
On sale February 7, 2017

Tales to Sorta Tremble By
Edited by Steven A. Roman
Published by StarWarp Concepts
52 pages, chapbook (5.5” x 8.5”)
U.S. $4.00 (print edition) • $1.99 (digital)
On sale October 13, 2017

Gabriel Grub and the Goblins
by Charles Dickens
Published by StarWarp Concepts
24 pages, chapbook (5.5” x 8.5”)
U.S. $3.00 (print edition) • $1.50 (digital)
On sale December 13, 2017

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