As you might recall, I published my first nonfiction book in 2017. I spent a lot of time and energy promoting it. In 2017, I also published two collections of short comics, which featured two ongoing stories that I wrote, along with other comics by independent creators. This year, I don’t have any new non-fiction coming, but I do have more comics on the way! I’ve always been a fiction writer at heart, and lately I’ve been focusing on stories that need pictures! So in 2018, I’m all about comics!
Tracy Queen
Tracy Queen is a biochemist, a warrior, a cam girl, a porn star, a mother to a race of cyborg-clones she calls Drones, and a badass. Along with her best friend and videographer, a coke-addicted raccoon named Nikola, she spreads the message of sexual empowerment, and trains her Drones to defend her from the powers of the patriarchy, an organized crime syndicate, and the outside world. She’s the feminist, sex-positive, sci-fi hero the world needs, and she’s ready to kick some porn-establishment ass.
I wrote Tracy Queen’s story—based on the adventures and personality of a real person, by the way—way back in 2012, but I knew from the start that it had to be a graphic novel. Turns out, graphic novels take a LOT of work to put together! The good news is that the amazing Jayel Draco is now illustrating it! And together, we’re publishing it, eight pages at a time, in the Oneshi Press Anthology of short indie comics, out every three months in digital and e-book formats!
Eventually, we’ll put out standalone issues of Tracy Queen, but one thing at a time! Right now, you can nab eight pages per anthology from our online store! Bonus: The e-book version of the third anthology is out TODAY on ComiXology! 64 pages of creator-owned comics for just $2.99? Score!
Not ready to buy but interested in Tracy? You can learn all about her at her website!
PACK
The six stray dogs—and one stray man—of the PACK prowl the darkest alleys of the city, putting crime under the fang. But even as they dole out their brutal form of justice, the powers that be are colluding to line certain pockets, no matter who gets hurt along the way. In a story that’s as much about vigilante justice as about the ways that animals and humans are hurt by an unfeeling system of power, the line between heroism and villainy can be blurry. A rookie cop must decide whether violence in the name of justice is better than corruption, but asking the wrong questions will only make things more dangerous for the dogs, average citizens, and himself.
I’m co-creating this gritty comic series with Jayel Draco. I’m doing the writing, he’s doing the art. And together, we’re publishing eight pages at a time in the Oneshi Press anthologies! We’ve just published the third installment, and now we’re getting ready to kickstart a limited print run of the standalone issue.
In the meantime, you can nab the anthologies in print or digital formats from the Oneshi Press online store! Or learn more about the PACK at the series website!
Oneshi Press
So where is all of this coming from? Like I said, I’ve always wanted to write fiction, and as you know, I’m all about comics. But getting weird, not-so-commercial sequential-art stories about sex-positive porn stars or dogs without superpowers, it turns out, is kind of tough. To put it mildly. When Jayel and I shopped these ideas around to other publishers, we realized just how difficult it is to get a good but unorthodox idea published. And we knew we were the people to change that.
So we started Oneshi Press, an independent publisher of gorgeous, immersive, progressive books that don’t fit the Big Two comics mold. With our anthologies, and eventually with standalone series from other creators, we’re creating a platform for voices that most comics leave out. We’re working with diverse creators from all over the world to tell stories of the different, from LGBTQIA+ folks, from people of color, from underdogs, weirdos, and misfit toys.
Oneshi Press is a bootstrap endeavor (again, that’s putting it mildly). Every dollar you spend at our store, or pledge to our Patreon campaign, goes directly into funding the production of books that will help to change the world. Our goal is to pay all of our anthology contributors royalties for their work, but we need to earn enough to pay royalties in he first place! So, if you’re interested in what I’ll be up to in 2018, consider grabbing a copy of our anthologies, donate any amount you can to our Patreon, or keep your eye open for Kickstarter campaigns to fund printing for Tracy Queen and PACK! Because 2018 is all about comics.
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