Crazy 8 Press and StarWarp Concepts Invite your to Visit Southwatch

NEW YORK, NY – March 19, 2026— Author collective Crazy 8 Press announced today the soon-to-launch Kickstarter campaign for Southwatch Stories – A Darkside Chronicles Anthology, a new steampunk-inspired collection of class warfare stories in collaboration with series creator Richard White.

On an unnamed world, the island city of Southwatch is a steampunk marvel of science, technology, and innovation—if you live in Dayside, above the clouds, as the wealthy elite. But if you’re scurrying for survival in Darkside, the island city’s lower ranks engulfed by a toxic cloud of poison and pollution, existence is a very different endeavor indeed.

In a battle of the haves and have-nots, readers will be taken on a dark, nefarious journey through the underbelly of this original steampunk fantasy world, where humans and mechanical beings form partnerships, alliances… and deals they’ll come to regret.

Stories are set to appear from Crazy 8 Press members Robert Greenberger, Hildy Silverman, Paul Kupperberg, and Aaron Rosenberg, and from an all-star line-up of contributors including Natalie Bartley, Phil Giunta, Bobby Nash, Dayton Ward, Steve Saville, and Richard White. Stretch-goal authors include Richard Dansky and Michael Stackpole.

Inspired by “The Cloud Minders” episode from Star Trek: The Original Series, White set out to explore what happens where there’s “no green grass, no animals, and where old tech and super-science merge—and collide.

“Darkside is the penalty of hubris,” White said. “The creators of this steampunk tech-inspired world get to live in Dayside’s plume of luxury while everyone else lives in squalor. The wealthy are willing to make that trade-off, if they consider it at all. But for everyone else, their motivations are quite different.”

“We’ve been looking to expand our projects into steampunk,” said Crazy 8 Press founding member Bob Greenberger. “Richard’s dark vision for this world is exactly the kind of environment we wanted to explore.”

The Kickstarter campaign to launch Southwatch Stories – A Darkside Chronicles Anthology will run from March 30 to April 30, 2026. Published through White’s StarWarp Concepts with support from Crazy 8 Press, print and e-books will become available to backers in November, and to the general public shortly thereafter.

Back the Kickstarter campaign today.