Penny-Farthing Press (PFP) announced recently that the company will add a new title to a successful publishing line that includes the popular titles Captain Gravity, Decoy, and The Victorian. Not only will the new addition supplement critically acclaimed publications but will also mark a change in the company’s direction.

“This is an exciting time to be at Penny-Farthing Press,” Publisher Ken White said. “This new project will show how we’ve grown since we opened ours doors in 1998.”

The new title entitled, Anne Steelyard, follows the adventures of a female archaeologist struggling for financial independence in pre-World War 1 Mesopotamia. The main difference between this work and PFP’s past products is its status as a straight-to-graphic-novel format. Unlike its predecessors, “Anne” will be published as a three-part graphic novel series rather than a serialized comic-book mini-series.

“In the past, we’ve published individual issues of a story arc before we’ve put a graphic novel together,” White explained. “Anne Steelyard will be different because it will be a work that will feature never-before-seen material.”

In addition to its format, the new title is different for another reason––it will be written by a book industry novelist. Barbara Hambly, best known for her Benjamin January mysteries and her work in the fantasy and television genres, has signed with PFP to pen the historical adventure. Hambly brings a bestselling status and a talent for research. Her latest prose publication, The Emancipator’s Wife, examines the life of Mary Todd Lincoln in an accurate historical context.

“Barbara is perfect for this project in many ways,” PFP Editor-in-Chief Marlaine Maddux said. “She performs so much research and really explores every possible and feasible direction for a narrative to travel.”

In approaching Anne Steelyard, Hambly chose to set the tale in 1909, a date her research discovered to be doubly significant. Not only was the world embroiled in pre-war posturing, but the face of the Middle Eastern region known as Mesopotamia was changing as well. The Young Turks were challenging the Ottoman Empire for control and traditional mysticism was falling to newfound alliances with modern beliefs. By throwing her heroine, a young British aristocrat, into this volatile environment, Hambly metaphorically shows the unstable state of Anne Steelyard’s personal life. As an Edwardian female, Anne is expected to make a favorable marriage match and provide heirs to her husband’s fortune. However, she longs to explore the realm of human myth before modernism destroys all vestiges of the metaphysical past. In the time before women won the right to vote, Anne Steelyard’s plight is a difficult one.

“What is so astounding about this story,” Maddux explains, “is that it is set right before all the major changes of the twentieth century take place. Women’s suffrage and World War I have yet to occur, but here is this woman, decades before her time, serving as a sort of consciousness for her generation. She embraces the new freedoms and advances promised by the modern period, but she also warns the world to remember where it came from.”

Rendering this complex and sometimes supernatural vision is newcomer Alex Kosakowski, a Michigan resident, whose intricate, photorealistic style provides the ideal complement to Hambly’s complex narrative.

“We spent a lot of time finding just the right look for ‘Anne’ ,” Maddux continues. “We had so many talented candidates for the job, and in truth, any of the artists could have handled this project, but Alex just captured ‘Anne’ exactly as she was written.”

Joining Kosakowski on the art team is penciller and layout artist Claude St. Aubin (The Victorian), inker James Taylor (Decoy), colorist Mike Garcia (Captain Gravity), and letterist Jason Levine (The Victorian).

The Anne Steelyard trilogy, currently in production, will begin with the first installment, “The Garden of Emptiness,” slated for a 2007 release, and will feature Anne’s battles with supernatural and very real adversaries.

“I can’t wait,” Ken White said. “Anne Steelyard is a new direction for PFP that combines the best of the book and comic-book industries. Anybody who picks up the book––history buffs, supernatural enthusiasts, and comic book afficianados included––will see that it is a story that crosses a lot of genres and is just good reading.”

Founded in 1998 by Ken White and founding Editor-In-Chief Marlaine Maddux, Penny-Farthing Press employs both veteran and unknown individuals in production of the company’s publication line; a line which has received numerous awards and critical accolades in PFP’s short existence such as the prestigious Spectrum Award and the Gutenburg Metal D’Argent for Excellence in Printing. Furthermore, Penny-Farthing Press publishes a limited number of titles per year in order to ensure quality and a grass roots connection with readers all over the world. This “boutique” approach is unique in the comics industry and allows only the finest products to leave PFP’s doors. The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas.