James A. Owen (born November 11, 1969) is an American comic book illustrator, publisher and writer. He is known for his creator-owned comic book series Starchild and as the author of The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica novel series, that began with Here, There Be Dragons in 2006.

James A. Owen
Owen at Phoenix Comicon, 2017
Born (1969-11-11) November 11, 1969 (age 54)
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Writer, Artist, Publisher, Letterer
Notable works
Starchild
Here, There Be Dragons
jamesaowen.com

Career edit

 
Owen signing books at the 2017 Phoenix Comicon

Owen self-published the black-and-white fantasy series Starchild under his Taliesin Press imprint in the 1990s. Adopting the name Coppervale Press for Starchild: Crossroads, he gave up self publishing in 1997 for Starchild: Mythopolis, five issues of which were published by Image Comics.[1] Owen returned to self publishing, compiling a volume of Starchild reprints via a Kickstarter campaign in 2015.[2]

Later, Owen reinvented himself as a novelist, creating a fantasy series titled Mythworld for a German publishing company. The books were later reprinted in the United States by Baen.[3]

In 2003, Coppervale Press relaunched two newsstand style magazines, the fine arts-oriented International Studio and the fiction periodical Argosy, but both magazines ceased publication in 2004 after only a few issues. In 2009, a satirical short story by Jeff VanderMeer entitled "Errata" about Argosy and its demise was published by Tor Books.[4]

In 2006 his novel Here, There Be Dragons was published, the first book in The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series.[5] The book had multiple printings, and was published around the world in more than twenty languages. It was followed by The Search for the Red Dragon and The Indigo King in 2008, The Shadow Dragons in 2009, The Dragon's Apprentice 2010, The Dragons of Winter in 2012, and "The First Dragon" in 2013.[6]

After releasing a non-fiction ebook of personal stories, Drawing Out The Dragons, Coppervale Press, in early 2011, Owen had a successful Kickstarter project raising funds to create a limited first edition paperback and hard cover, as well as an audio version of the ebook.[7]

Owen announced The Meditations trilogy was picked up by Shadow Mountain Publishing[8] but as of 2021, his work was out of print at the company.

Works edit

  • Pryderi Terra, vol. Book One: Awakening, 1986.

Starchild edit

  • 0. Gatherum, 1993.
  • 1. Prologue: Markings and The Mad-Eyed Sorcerer, 1992.
  • 2. Children of the Storm, 1992.
  • 3. That Hideous Strength, 1993.
  • 4. The Wild Hunt, 1993.
  • 5. Toccata and Fugue, 1994.
  • 6. Autumn People, 1994.
  • 7. The Old Mill, 1994.
  • 8. A Fine Madness, 1994.
  • 9. Fool's Game, 1994.
  • 10. Spirits in a Material World, 1994.
  • 11. Tempest in a Looking Glass, 1994.
  • 12. Awakening, 1994.
  • Awakenings, 1995 (retelling of the previous Starchild books).

Starchild: Crossroads edit

  1. The Weaver's Tale, 1995.
  2. The Innkeeper's Tale, 1996.
  3. The Wanderer's Tale, 1996.
  4. The Bard's Tale, 1997.

Starchild: Mythopolis edit

  • 0. Prologue, 1997.
  • 1. Pinehead, vol. Part 1, 1997
  • 2. Pinehead, vol. Part 2, 1997.
  • 3. Pinehead, vol. Part 3, 1998.
  • 4. Fisher King, vol. Part 1, 1998.

Starchild: Mythopolis II edit

  • Volume One, 2007.
  • Volume Two, 2008, planned.

Kai Meyers Mythenwelt (DE) edit

  1. Die ewige Bibliothek, 2002.
  2. Der unsichtbare Mond, 2003.
  3. Der zeitlose Winter, 2004.
  4. Die verschollene Symphonie, 2004.

The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica edit

  1. Here, There Be Dragons, September 2006.
  2. The Search for the Red Dragon, January 2008.
  3. The Indigo King, October 2008.
  4. The Shadow Dragons, October 2009.
  5. The Dragon's Apprentice, October 2010.
  6. The Dragons of Winter, August 2012.
  7. The First Dragon, November 2013.
  8. The Dragon Knight (Owen novel), November 2020.

The Meditations edit

  1. Drawing Out The Dragons, Shadow Mountain, February 2013 [2011, Coppervale].
  2. The Barbizon Diaries, Summer 2013.
  3. The Grand Design, Fall 2013.

Fool's Hollow edit

  1. Volume 1, October 2013.

References edit

  1. ^ "James Owen Comic Illustration of "Starchild" - Nov 16, 2014 | Alicia's Antiques in FL".
  2. ^ "The 20th Anniversary Nearly Complete Essential StarChild".
  3. ^ "The Festival of Bones by James A. Owen - Baen Ebooks". Archived from the original on July 11, 2017. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
  4. ^ "Errata". January 15, 2009.
  5. ^ "The Wonder Cabinet – How To Write A Series; Part Twelve", Coppervale, Live journal, archived from the original on July 21, 2011.
  6. ^ Owen, James A. (November 12, 2013). The First Dragon (Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica, The). Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1442412262.
  7. ^ Owen, James A (June 30, 2011), The Drawing out the Dragons project, Kickstarter.
  8. ^ Jones, Ashley. "Bestselling Author James Owen to Publish with Shadow Mountain". Shadow Mountain. Archived from the original on August 22, 2013. Retrieved February 6, 2013.
Other sources

External links edit