Honeymooners

Hi everybody, just a quick announcement.

All Lauren and Alex's Sleepless Phoenix work will be on hiatus for the next two weeks as Lauren Anne Sharp will be becoming Lauren Anne Willmore as her and Alex are getting married tomorrow. This obviously means they will not be doing work during their honeymoon.

Not to worry though as their work will continue on their return, and all the rest of us are still hard at work while they holiday in Borneo, lucky

But for now let's wish them Congratulations for their big day.

Quarantined and Slaughterman's Creed

Here at Sleepless Phoenix we want to promote all Ex-Insomnia creators, and so we'd like to give a mention to Quarantined and Slaughterman's Creed! Both are Markosia releases, and look awesome!

Quarantined

Quarantined is written by Micheal Moreci, with artwork from Monty Borror, colours from Lauren Anne Sharp, letter work by Jim Campbell, and cover art from Keith Burns. 


Here's a bit about it - Quarantined is a story of a small town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where a virus turns nearly every resident into a vicious killing machine. A group of uninfected is trapped within the town, abandoned with dwindling resources. These survivors must fight against the infected, as well as the paranoia growing between them. Sparked by a mysterious stranger, the survivors dig into the town’s secrets as they hatch their escape—yet none of them are prepared for what they discover.


To purchase a copy, you can either go to Amazon, or direct to Markosia.

Slaughterman's Creed 

Slaughterman’s Creed is written by Cy Dethan and illustrated by Stephen Downey, with inks by Andy Brown, colours by Vicky Stonebridge, letter by Nic Wilkinson and covers by Ryan Brown.


Slaughterman’s Creed is a story of the fall and rise of monsters, where an ethical knife-edge is all that separates hero from villain. A human trafficker orders the death of a killer who refuses to breach his professional code. Twelve years later, the trafficker’s world erupts in blood and chaos. Barely surviving and crippled for life, the Slaughterman has returned to put the whole organisation to the blade.


Like Quarantined, you can pick up a copy from Amazon or directly from Markosia. 

The Sleepless Phoenix supports all our creators so if you have also have a novel - get in contact and we can help spread the word!

Artists We Need You

Here at The Sleepless Phoenix we have come to a peculiar problem - no one seems to be a comic book artist! The Ages Anthology has been inundated with writers, which  is awesome, but we need artists to illustrate these fantastic story entries! Therefore, Comic-book artists, Graphic-novelists, Illustrators and Art Students, we are calling you out!

Artists please send any previous sequential artwork you have done as a submission to … along with anything you think we might be interested in seeing, Blogs etc.

Also to you writers who have or want to submit strips, if you have an artist in mind or know an artist who could illustrate your work, or even if you are a writer and an artist and want to illustrate your own story, let us know or get the artists in contact with us.

This is a promotional poster asking for artists. Anyone who knows our team; bought the Survival stories anthology or is just interested in helping us publish our next anthology; please spread the word and if possible put the posters up where artists might see it. I will be putting one in the art building at my Uni; we hope you to do similar :)

Thank you everyone for the support you give us.


Check back with us soon for a look at the first strips to become part of the Ages Anthology!

A Fond Farewell

Michael Moreci is a name you'll probably all recognise on here as the Creative Director for The Sleepless Phoenix. He is also a very busy writer. His debut graphic novel, Quarantined, will be released very soon. He’s also played a part in Hoax Hunters, FutureQuake, Something Wicked, Accent UK’s Victoriana anthology, the Reading With Pictures anthology as well as many others released and in production.

Obviously we have a lot to thank him for, not only did he set up the Kickstarter campaign that got our first anthology published, but he was also present at many American comic conventions to further promote our work.

And so it comes with great sadness to announce that he has had to step down from his position as Creative Director for the upcoming Ages Anthology. I recently asked him to give me a mini interview to find out his reasons and what he’ll be doing in the future.

So why have you decided to leave the Sleepless Phoenix team?

“It was a tough, tough decision. I had such a great experience the first time around and really believe in the motivating factors behind the collective. I mean, it's a good group of people making comics--what's not to like? Ultimately, I had to make some tough choices concerning the frantic pace of my life; there's simply been too much on my plate, and when that happens, no one wins. I invest myself fully into what I'm doing, and I didn't think I could do that with Sleepless Phoenix anymore. So rather than put myself in a position where I'd be skirting responsibilities and not pulling my weight, I decided it would be best to step down and let someone else take over.”

Sounds like your very busy then, what projects are you working on?

“Quite a few, hence my reason for stepping down. I have Hoax Hunters, a backup running in the pages of Hack/Slash with Image Comics, appearing monthly. My first graphic novel, Quarantined, comes out in the Spring. The promoting and marketing behind that has been an immense task. The Fall will see the release of my mini-series Reincar(Nate) with Viper Comics. And I have three more projects in various stages of production. I'm spinning a lot of plates right now.”

Now that you’re leaving, what do you think were the best bits of working on The Sleepless Phoenix?

“The comics industry is filled with amazing people--accessible, friendly, and always willing to lend a helping hand. The Sleepless Phoenix group really took those qualities to heart; so many people pitched in to make the first Kickstarter drive and anthology release a success, and that was really rewarding to be a part of. And the finished product is something I'm really proud of--we collectively banded together, overcoming the adversity Insomnia put us all through, and produced an excellent book.”

And a question we’re all dying to ask. Will you be submitting to the Ages Anthology this year?

“I hope so! It's just a matter of finding the right idea and coming up with a script. I intent to though, for sure.”

So its not all doom and gloom. With any luck we'll see his return with a strip in the Ages Anthology. Now we bid farewell and good luck to Michael in his new endeavours.

Want to Get Sleepless?

Well, if you live in the Chicagoland area, now you can! Pick up your copy of the Sleepless Phoenix anthology at these fine retail locations:

Gremlins

Apologies to anyone who tried to contact us on the previous email address listed for submissions. Some monsters had been tinkering. Our new (and functional) email address for submissions is: sleeplessphoenix.subs@gmail.com

And to make up for the oversight, here are some more details, which I shall pretend were secret until now, rather than forgotten.

1. As for Survival Stories, the Ages Anthology (which shall likely be the name) will consist of stories ranging from 4-8 pages in length, and a few pin-ups as well.
2. If you are a writer and have an existing story written that you think fits the theme, feel free to send it in its entirety. If you have an idea but haven't written it yet, fire a synopsis over with an example of some other previously written or published scripts and we'll see if it's a good fit for the anthology. If you have an artist in mind, send us a little of his or her work as well, so we can get a good idea of the final piece. If you don't have an artist in mind, do not fret! We'll try and set you up with an artist whose style will mesh with the story.
3. If you are an artist with no writer, send us in some samples of your work, or point us to where in the webs we can see it. If we have a good script match, we can put you in touch with the writer and see if sparks fly.
4. If you are a writer/artist, I hope you are smart enough to piece together the pertinent points from above. I'm sure you are, though.

If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email.

Regards,

Andrew

The Masses Have Spoken...

As the song goes, 'the public gets what the public wants,' we have a theme decided on for the next Sleepless Phoenix anthology - Ages...or Time. We haven't quite settled on a title yet but, by jove, we have a theme.

So the floodgates have opened. Please send in your submissions to sleeplessphoenix.subs@gmail.com. We're trying to get started early and take our time rather than having a mad dash to the finish line.

So please send us art samples and script samples. If you're a writer or an artist working on your own, we can try and find a good match for you, or if you are already working in a team feel free to send in a joint submission.

We're looking forward to sifting through the sleepless mailbox.