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Award-winning journalist Rone Tempest, science fiction novelist Maurice Broaddus, and Arthur C. Clarke with Award-nominated writer Adam Roberts are collaborating with NeoText, a new digital publishing company dedicated to publishing short-form prose ranging from science fiction and noir novellas to investigative journalism and narrative nonfiction. Each release from NeoText will be accompanied by covers and spot illustrations from acclaimed comic book artists and illustrators, including acclaimed artist Jim Mahfood and award-winning illustrator François Schuiten. In the months ahead, NeoText will publish an impressive array of artists and storytellers—including award-winning journalist Mike Sager, Ho Che Anderson, Howard Chaykin, Fay Dalton, Charles Forsman, Mad Dog Jones, Benjamin Marra, Dash Shaw, and photographer and director Neil Krug. Each title will be released on their website and will be available via Amazon.
Started by Addictive Picture’s Russell Ackerman and John Schoenfelder and their frequent collaborator producer Jay Schuminsky, NeoText marks a new engagement with the publishing world for Schoenfelder, who previously played a role in the creation of Mulholland Books before forming Addictive Pictures with Ackerman in 2013, which they will continue to oversee together. NeoText has also tapped Eric Raab, video game narrative development veteran and former senior editor at Tor Books, as the Chief Creative Officer, while Edgar Award-nominated crime fiction author and editor Allan Guthrie has been named Editorial Director. NeoText has also brought Nicholas Mennuti, a prolific author and a former Narrative Consultant for NATO, on as Director of Narrative.
“We grew up with genre as a way of life,” said Schoenfelder. “There was a time when countless science fiction, noir, and true crime short stories and magazine articles were published with explosive painted art or dramatic photography by the world’s best visual artists—and those stories were widely available at specialty bookstores, newsstands, drug stores and grocery stores that people passed by every day. NeoText is designed to continue that experience for the current era, by electronically publishing short, fast fiction driven by big ideas or larger than life real stories, often accompanied by powerful illustrations and images.”
NeoText’s August publications reflect the company’s wide-ranging storytelling ambitions:
SORCERERS – Release date: August 4th
Acclaimed sci-fi writer and activist Maurice Broaddus (Buffalo Soldier), co-writer Otis Whitaker and internationally renowned illustrator Jim Mahfood have created an urban fantasy novella in which a 30-year-old man comes of age — and comes into his own as a hip hop inspired sorcerer.
THE LAST WESTERN – Release date: August 18th
Award-winning journalist and investigative reporter Rone Tempest presents the gripping true crime story of a Puerto Rico-born undercover officer gunned down by a white Wyoming lawman in 1978 — and the notorious frontier trial that followed.
THE COMPELLED – Release date: August 25th
Arthur C. Clarke Award-nominated writer Adam Roberts (The Thing Itself) and François Schuiten, recipient of the Angoulême International Comics Festival’s prestigious lifetime achievement award, present THE COMPELLED, a sci fi novella and the first book-length science fiction publication that Schuiten has illustrated.
In addition to a robust frontlist, with multiple new publications each month, NeoText will have exclusive, regular content on its website, including a history of time travel by Adam Roberts; essays from Paco Taylor on topics from Basquiat, Counte Dante and hip hop covers; features on comic culture by Chloe Maveal; and interviews conducted by comic legend Howard Chaykin with crime legends like Megan Abbott and Lawrence Block and comic book superstars including Neal Adams, Joe Jusko, John Romita Jr, Walter Simonson, and Bill Sienkiewicz.
“To be sure, to be honest, and to be delighted, the last thing I would have expected to come out of a meet and greet lunch with John Schoenfelder was the opportunity to interview a steady stream of talent who’s meant the world to me… and then to return to the world of full-color illustration… not to mention an upcoming foray into digital comics,” said Howard Chaykin. “And to quote Ron Popeil, ‘Wait—there’s more!’ Stay tuned—I certainly will.”
“NeoText speaks to the tradition where Frank Herbert’s Dune began as a 1963 serial in Analog Magazine, and Brian De Palma’s modern classic Carlito’s Way began as a short cult novel by the groundbreaking Puerto Rican judge Edwin Torres,” added Russell Ackerman. “NeoText is organized to give writers and artists a new place to build ideas from the ground up, collaborate on creating new worlds and characters to form a new literary community that marries the pulp tradition with hard-hitting reporting.”
