Come visit us at Booth 2003 in the Independent Press pavilion!
Kymera Press is a Gateway to Comics
By D. Lynn Smith
Last month, Kymera Press went to Bubonicon in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Bubonicon is New Mexico’s oldest and best science fiction and fantasy convention, held in Albuquerque every August. This year there were 850 attendees. Yes, it’s a small convention, but it is not small when it comes to the writers who attend every year.
Who are some of these attending writers? They are Daniel Abraham, John Barnes, Richard Berthold, Livia Blackburne, Ben Bova, Adam Jarmon Brown, Craig A. Butler, Aaron Campbell, Suzy M. Charnas, Yvonne Coats, Dr. Larry Crumpler, Doranna Durgin, Zachary Gallegos of Mars One, Josh Gentry, Raya Golden, Steven Gould, Sally Gwylan, Loretta Hall, Darla Hallmark, Betsy James, Darynda Jones, Jeffe Kennedy, T. Jackson King, Susan Krinard, Jane Lindskold, Christine MacKenzie, Emily Mah, George R.R. Martin, Victor Milan, Gail Gerstner-Miller, John Jos. Miller, Pati Nagle, costumers Charles & Tauni Orndorff, Scott Phillips, John Picacio, C.S. Plesko, science speaker Benjamin Radford, M.T. Reiten, John Maddox Roberts, Joan S. Saberhagen, Jon Sanchez, Debbie Lynn Smith (me!), Melinda Snodgrass, Jim Sorenson, Caroline Spector, Gabi Stevens, S.M. Stirling, David Lee Summers, Pari Noskin (Taichert), Lauren Teffeau, Sarena Ulibarri, Robert Vardeman, Carrie Vaughn, Walter Jon Williams and more.
If you are deeply into comics, you’ll notice there are very few comic creators here, and even fewer artists. However, if you are a fan of science fiction and fantasy, you’ll be wowed by the above list. I mean George R. R. Martin? Come on. Ben Bova! You must be kidding. Carrie Vaughn and Walter John Williams…Steven Gould and Jane Lindskold…
Bubonicon is a convention where fans can meet and talk to their favorite writers. Novels and short stories are the focus, not comics.
The theme of this year’s convention was “Women of Wonder.” Guests included Tamera Pierce, Mary Robinette Kowal, Catherine M. Valente and Ruth Sanderson, all wonderfully creative women. So this was a great time to bring Kymera Press and its message of supporting women in comics to Bubonicon.
I mentioned in a previous post that Bubonicon fans were very good to us this year. We sold almost as many comics as we sold at the much bigger San Diego Comic Con. That was great, but it wasn’t the most interesting part of the convention. The interesting part was just who was buying those comics.
Of course we had comic fans stopping by the table and picking up issues. Science fiction and fantasy and comics have a lot of crossover fans. But what was really interesting were the people who said, “I don’t usually read comics, but this story sounds really interesting.” Or the people who commented, “I am really caught up by the artwork.”
These people bought our books. They weren’t regular comic readers. They were at the convention because they read novels. Looking through our books, most of these people were surprised by the quality of the artwork and the depth of story. We even had people who bought Issues 1-4 of Gates coming back to our table looking for Issue #5, which hasn’t been printed yet.
In another case, a girl about 8 years old wanted to buy Pet Noir. She finally convinced her mother, but as they walked away her mother said to her, making sure that I could hear, “But you can’t stop reading books.”
To me, this is an example of the stigma comic books have. People just don’t realize how complex reading a comic can be. I talked in a previous post about how reading comics involves looking at the art as well as the words because most of the story is told in the art. Hopefully that mother will read Pet Noir herself and see that it’s a worthwhile reading experience.
I don’t want people to stop reading novels. I read novels and will never give them up. But there is a place for the comic reading experience as well.
Bubonicon showed me that there are people out there who are willing to give comics a try. What we have to do as an industry is reach these people who would be too overwhelmed or intimidated to walk into a comic book store or go to a comic book convention. Actually I get overwhelmed with the amount of great material out there.
Because I also write short stories, I’ve attended a lot of conventions like Bubonicon. I thought that comic conventions were going to replace them in my schedule. Now I think that Kymera Press will probably be attending more of these cons in the future. When there are only two or three tables of comic sellers in the dealers’ room, it’s easier for someone to find a comic that appeals to them and take a chance. And quite honestly, I’d love for Gates, or Pet Noir, or our upcoming Dragons by the Yard to be a gateway into comics for these hungry readers!
A Chat With Pati Nagel
By Autumn Daughetee
For those of you who are not familiar with Pet Noir, it is a novel by Pati Nagle about Leon, a talking, genetically engineered cat who is indentured to a police department on an off-world space station. Leon works off the price of his creation solving crimes with his human partner.
Now, take my advice. As soon as you finish reading this post, visit Amazon, Barnes and Noble or your favorite online book retailer and purchase a copy. Then pull the blinds and pretend you’re not at home while you read this book.
After you are familiar with the antics of Leon, I know you will be unable to resist following his adventures in comic book format. Kymera Press recently released issue #1 of Pet Noir at Comic-Con International: San Diego. This special edition had a special numbered limited-edition cover exclusive to Comic-Con. Although it sold like hotcakes, there are a few copies left. If you are interested, contact us for more information on how to get your copy.
Now, without further ado, here is my interview with the author of Pet Noir—Pati Nagle.
Do you read comic books?
I read comics a lot as a kid. Less so now, because of other demands on my time (like writing), but as an adult I’ve enjoyed more sophisticated comics such as Elfquest and various manga. I also adore Sydney Padua’s 2-D Goggles. Ada Lovelace is a wonderful comic hero!
What made you decide to adapt Pet Noir into comic book form?
Cats in zero-g. Need I say more? Seriously, I think the stories that make up Pet Noir would really come alive even more in a comic. It’s got kind of a comic-book feel already, with the science fiction setting and the noir atmosphere. There’s a lot of rich potential for expression through visual media. I’m excited to see what happens!
Kymera came to me and I was absolutely delighted. I love working with other women, and I love the concept of a press that focuses on women’s creative efforts.
Where did the idea for Leon come from? A crime-solving, genetically engineered, talking cat isn’t something that one passes on the street.
Gosh, not sure I remember. Sometimes ideas and characters just come in fully formed from a side door and present themselves. I think Leon came to me that way. ‘Here I am, a talking cat who works as an undercover detective. Tell my story!’
I’m a cat-lover and I’ve thought about how they might (or might not) adapt to living in space. I love the juxtaposition of futuristic outer-space with the mood of old noir detective stories. All those fun ideas kind of jumbled themselves together in my brain and started coming out as stories.
Are there more Leon stories to come?
I definitely plan to write more Leon stories, and they’ll be prose first. There’s more to say, not only about the crazy adventures of a cat fighting crime in space, but about some of the more serious underlying issues, such as his indenture. He’s stuck fighting scummy space criminals until the expense of his genetic engineering is paid off. He would probably sympathize with a lot of college graduates these days.
Is there anything else you’d like to share about Leon or this project?
Just that I’m so pleased whenever a reader tells me they like Leon and his stories. People really get into it. I had one reader tell me, ‘That’s not how cats talk!’ I just had to laugh, because if they were that engaged in the story, that they had their own opinion of how a cat would talk, then I did my job.
Kymera Press Celebrates a Triumphant Comic-Con San Diego
By Autumn Daughetee
The staff at Kymera Press is back from Comic-Con International: San Diego and I’m pleased to report it was a very successful event. We were able to sell lots of copies of both of our series—Gates of Midnight and Pet Noir. We also connected with other professionals in the comic book industry, sharing the mission of Kymera Press (publishing comics that are written and drawn by women, to be loved and cherished by folks of all sexes).
However, Comic-Con is all about the fans. All of us were pleased to note that several fans of the first two issues of Gates of Midnight made a special trip by our booth to pick up issues #3 and #4. Kymera Press founder and author of Gates of Midnight, D. Lynn Smith, was also on hand to sign copies of issues #1-4 of Gates of Midnight. We were also lucky enough to have Anna Giovaninni, the penciller for Pet Noir, travel all the way from Brazil to sign copies of the comic. Kymera Press had a special early limited edition of Pet Noir with a Comic-Con only cover for sale during the event. It was extremely popular with attendees, who loved the idea of a genetically engineered talking cat who worked as an undercover cop on a space station. Add in Leon’s obsession with film noir and readers seemed to find it irresistible. One of my personal favorite moments of the convention was selling a cosplayer her very first comic book (Pet Noir). All of the evidence indicates that Pet Noir going to be a runaway hit. Stay tuned to this blog for more information on where you can purchase your copy of Pet Noir.
If you didn’t have the chance to visit the Kymera Press booth at this Comic-Con, don’t worry. We plan to return to next year’s convention and hope to have more space, more comics and more signings to offer. Or, if you absolutely can’t wait, visit a con near you. You just might see us there.
I’ll leave you with a few of the photos I snapped at Comic-Con.
Playing with Fashion in “Gates of Midnight”
By D. Lynn Smith
All of the art and lettering for Gates of Midnight #5 is complete! Paul, my wonderful husband and production editor, is busy putting it together into a book form and getting it ready to submit to comiXology Submit and the printer. Amelia Woo is working on the cover for Issue #6.
Issue #6 features a charity ball at the Belvedere Castle in New York. And that means I get to play dress-up with all of my characters! When I was writing for television, we could suggest what people were wearing, but the actual “costume” was in the hands of the costume department and the director. When writing prose, you can describe what a person is wearing if it’s important, but otherwise you don’t want to stop the flow of the story for lengthy descriptions that readers are simply going to scan. But in comics, I get to dress my characters, and I’m having a ball doing it.
What a character wears gives the reader as much information as anything else. For instance, Raven’s favorite pair of shoes are her Prada combat boots. Even in a fight. She’s simply comfortable in these boots. Symbolically they combine the two parts of her character, the combat medic with the high fashion girl. Her signature look is designer jeans, Prada boots, some kind of nice T-shirt and either a leather jacket or her deceased boyfriend’s army jacket. Which one do you think she wears when she’s depressed or out of sorts? See you already are learning something about the characters simply from how she’s dressed.
However, Raven also loves to attend all kinds of high society functions. She doesn’t buy into the rich and famous thing, but she loves to play dress up and mingle with all the other dressed-up people. Her mother, Marie, facilitates this, since she comes from money. You’ll learn more about Marie’s background in issue #5. Marie is always dressed in classy clothes, but she has a rebellious side that she’s been suppressing. Now that Eddy’s gone, however, I think she may start letting that side emerge.
Now Constance LOVES fashion, but she dresses mostly in Egyptian-inspired fashions. You’ll never catch her in jeans, or even a pant suit. She likes showing off her body and her legs, and she has a real passion for Jimmy Choo shoes. Is it any surprise that in the other world she is the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet?
Alex is a bit more complicated. He’s hiding who he is. His signature look, if he has one, is jeans, T and leather jacket. Sounds like Raven, right? Alex is a reflection of this world. He tries not to have his own presence; he’s flying under the radar.
In Issue #6, I wanted to play dress-up with my characters, so I decided Marie was going to put on a charity ball for the Wounded Warrior’s Project. I needed gowns, jewelry, and tuxes. Luckily, I’d been preparing for this kind of event with my Pinterest pages.
I need to back up just a moment. I’m not a fashionista. I don’t want to spend huge sums of money on clothes and I’m most comfortable either in leggings or a summer dress. No fuss. So when fashion magazines starting coming in the mail, Paul came to me and said, “Who are you and what have you done with my wife?”
I’m having the most fun with these magazines because I’m not trying to dress myself. It can be frustrating to look at fashions you know in no way will ever fit you. But it’s exhilarating to rip out the pages and scan them, then put them up on Pinterest under the character page to which I think they belong. When I was a little girl I used to love to play with paper dolls and this is a little like that.
So I look at fashion magazines, search the Internet, and look at other Pinterest pages for fashions I might want to use for future issues of Gates. Each character has his or her own page with different fashions that they might wear. And this is where I find the clothes for my characters for each issue of Gates.
If you want a preview of the fashions in Issue #6, just go to the Kymera Press Pinterest page and look at the folder entitled Issue 6. Actually, just click here and you can see the different fashions for each of my characters.
The problem with this method is that I really can’t spend as much time as I would like looking for fashions for my characters. Would you like to help? Just send me an email here and I’ll add you to my Pinterest page so you can post fashions you find for each of the Gates characters. You might end up seeing something you pinned in future pages of Gates of Midnight.
For those of you who will be attending San Diego Comic-Con International next week, be sure to stop by the Kymera Press booth in the Small Press Pavilion. We’ll be debuting our second title, Pet Noir, with a special Comic-Con-only cover. We’ll also have the new Gates of Midnight graphic novel available for sale. I’ll be there to sign copies of Gates of Midnight and Pet Noir artist Anna Giovannini will be there to sign copies of Pet Noir.