Some big news over at the Talisman Studios website this week. They have signed on with Studio 2 Publishing for distribution of these great books. First up will be the Shaintar core book, which uses the Savage Worlds system from Pinnacle Entertainment. The Suzerain core book will be the second product to hit distribution and it sounds like supplements for each line will follow.

Customers will also be able to order directly from the Talisman Studios website as well.

For a limited time, several of the Flames Rising crew’s favorite zombie horror novels are on sale at Amazon! Take a look at some of the great titles included in this sale: Twilight of the Dead by Travis Adkins Undead: Skin & Bones by D.L. Snell (Editor) Roses of Blood on Barbwire Vines by D.L. […]

I’ll have to post something of a caveat up front: I’ve never read the first installment of the Morningstar Saga, Plague of the Dead. That will have to change pretty soon though, considering the quality of Thunder & Ashes.

The zombie apocalypse has come and gone, and a handful of survivors–some of them ex-military, and one a brilliant female scientist–are fighting to find a cure that will save the world. Yes, the plot isn’t exactly original, but the quality of the writing and the characters manage to elevate Thunder & Ashes above most novels that share this popular plot.

Review by Leah Clarke

The Violet War is a series of books, based on urban fantasy setting designed by author Monica Valentinelli. Book One is the Violet War is called Argentum. Chapter One of Argentum is now available online for free. The basis for the setting originates from world myth themes combined with more specific areas loosely inspired by […]

Scion is about the only recent output from White Wolf that I’ve really cared for other than Exalted. While the game overall seems to have been completed with Hero, Demigod and God it’s nice to see that it’s getting some ongoing support and even more nice to see that White Wolf seems to be one of the first companies to really start taking PDF publishing seriously. There’s still some imperfections, I believe the idea is to sell sections of the Scion companion bit by bit as complete PDF releases, but to omit some final sections which will only be present in the print version, but it’s a big step in the right direction and one that I hope will be followed up on by other companies. Incidentally, I was about to write a Celtic pantheon fan-offering up for Scion when this came along, so they just managed it in the nick of time!

Review by James ‘Grim’ Desborough

Fantasy Flight Games has launched a new website for the Dark Heresy RPG. Dark Heresy is a roleplaying game based upon the universe of Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000. The setting of Warhammer 40,000 is a dark, gothic future where the Imperium of Man is beset by dangers within and without. In Dark Heresy players take […]

In Dead to Me, reformed petty-crime naughty boy and psychometrist Simon Canderous (whose surname probably means something, but I haven’t checked the dictionary yet) works for New York’s Department of Extraordinary Affairs. Psychometry made me think of Kim Wilkins’s Gina Champion series, and the government made me think of Shane Maloney’s Murray Whelan series. But Anton Strout’s Simon Canderous is neither a teenage girl nor a political adviser (and not Australian, for that matter).

Review by Tez Miller

Buy $50 worth of in-stock books (preorders not included) and you’ll automatically get a copy of James A. Moore’s Little Boy Blue by Bloodletting Press thrown in your shopping cart for free!

What’s so special about this sale, is that this book isn’t even available for sale anywhere, as Bloodletting Press produced it for this year’s World Horror Convention, as a giveaway chapbook.

So if you couldn’t make it, here’s your chance to get it for free!

White Wolf Publishing has recently put together a new Storytelling Adventure System website to feature the “Playable Stories for all White Wolf Publishing Games” series of products that we’ve been raving about here on Flames Rising (including a Mini-Reviews of Fear-Maker’s Promise and Criminal Intent). Check out the new website: www.white-wolf.com/sas for a look recent […]

Yahoo Movies just posted a brand new trailer for Hellboy II: The Golden Army! After an ancient truce existing between humankind and the invisible realm of the fantastic is broken, hell on Earth is ready to erupt. A ruthless leader who treads the world above and the one below defies his bloodline and awakens an […]

Even Mages are Afraid of Someone Breaking into their Home A mage’s Sanctum is his home, and the Hallow is the soul of it. When bereft of these two things, the mage is not only robbed of her sanctuary but also the Mana that replenishes her magic. Wars have been waged among mages for centuries […]

Cat Crawfield would love to kill her father. Literally. After raping her mother, he took off, leaving Cat as a reminder of the evening. Oh, and he’s a vampire, making Cat a weird sort of hybrid: living with but a vampire’s strength and speed. So as a way to get even, she starts hunting vamps, picking them up at clubs and staking them for all they’re worth. Every time she does it, there’s one less monster in the world. But then she meets Bones, a vampire far stronger than any she’s met before. When he threatens to kill her unless she studies under him, she challenges him to a duel of sorts–as the loser, she is forced to train with him, learning to be a better, more effective vampire hunter, ready to take on some of the big marks.

Review by Alana Abbott

Dread: The First Book of Pandemonium has a new cover illustration, courtesy of Tariq Raheem (concept artist on TV shows like Farscape and video games like Heavenly Sword). This new artwork depicts a pair of Disciples about to come under attack from a group of demons led by a Pelogris.

A few months ago I read the first three chapters of Jackie Kessler’s Hell’s Belles, but had to put it aside when I got caught up in library books and their due dates. My sieve of a memory left me doubtful of how well I could remember these opening stages when I picked the book up again the other day.

I needn’t have worried. I’m the first to admit that I’m very skeptical. Just because something is a best seller, or comes with gushy fangirlies, that doesn’t mean that it’ll automatically appeal to everyone. But I’m happy to report that this novel did appeal to me.

Review by Tez Miller

I talked a bit about Midnight Roads when it was released -here- and The Harvesters makes a great companion to it. Well, now you can get a very cool Bundle of these World of Darkness products at RPGNow!

The Mist The storm rolled across Long Lake in Maine with a fury, leaving David Drayton and his family with fallen trees, downed power lines, and no electricity. At his wife’s request, David heads to the local supermarket to stock up on supplies, taking his young son and neighbor along for the ride. But the […]

This is a collection of short stories by Jeff Vandermeer both tangentially and directly about a fictional fantasy city called Ambergris, noted for its somewhat piratical past, the presence of mysterious and sinister mushroom men and freshwater squid. It is also very, very, very weird and very, very, very surreal. I suppose, broadly, it fits into the general thrust of the urban fantasy movement but it is also a damn sight weirder, more Burroughs than Mieville. One story might be a more conventional fantasy story, another might play with the relationship between fantasy and reality and the other might leave you scratching your head and reaching for the dictionary just so you could read something fully comprehensible for a change.

Review by James ‘Grim’ Desborough

Practical jokes, hoaxes and other funny events mark April 1st in several countries. Publishers and fans of Horror & Dark Fantasy enjoy a good laugh as much as anyone. Here is our ongoing list of April Fools jokes, events and news, stay tuned as we update with new links.

Wizards of the Coast – The new D&D site is certainly interesting. The Name Change Promotion is a great idea!

Steve Jackson Games – GURPS Tank! and a buyout offer from Atlas Games (who incidentally is being bought by Ronin Arts, which is being bought by, you guessed it, Steve Jackson Games).

White Wolf LJ – Shadows of Iceland via Bax’s Inside Awesomeness!

Mohawk Media – Mr. T Versus Dracula by Christopher Bunting.

The problem I have with anthologies is that the quality of the stories varies greatly, as far as I’ve read. Thus, I am not a big fan. Indeed, the authors in this collection are varied: some of them you know well from various paranormal novels, while others are dipping into the supernatural for the first time (they’re primarily mystery writers, on the cosy side, I think). Instead of judging the collection as a whole, let’s look at the stories individually:

Review by Tez Miller