Before you grab your shotgun and blast 2010 away, you might want to check out our hot news today. We’ve got fiery new releases, a few announcements and more hot, hot links to usher in the New Year.

Got something you want to throw on the fire next time? Send your dark and delectable links to via our contact the editors at FlamesRising.com page.

Contests and Free Stuff

• Fourth Annual OddContest for Speculative Flash Fiction for OddCon – This fun contest is an annual competition for speculative (science fiction, fantasy, or horror) stories or prose poems no longer than 500 words. The contest has been sponsored since 2008 by OdysseyCon, a science-fiction convention held each spring in Madison, Wisconsin. Cash prizes of $500 for the Adult winner and $50 for the Youth winner; convention memberships and books are awarded to the top three places in both the Adult and Youth divisions.

• Solaris Books Offers Free e-Book Download for ‘The Blue Portal’ – Hop on over to science fiction, dark fantasy and fantasy publisher Solaris Books. They’re offering a free e-book download, which is an extract from the beginning of Eric Brown’s upcoming novel The Kings of Eternity.

• Cast Your Role Movie Contest from Wizards of the Coast. LAST CHANCE! Love Dungeons and Dragons? Take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime chance to have your NPC brought to life in the upcoming original movie, Book of Vile Darkness, brought to you by Dungeons & Dragons and Silver Pictures. What are you waiting for? Hurry up and enter!

Hot New Releases

• Darkness: Shadows and Flame One-Shot from Top Cow – In this one-shot issue, Top Cow delves into the tradition of H.P. Lovecraft. Debuting at DriveThruComics.com, this story about lost love and a terrible bargain is available digitally.

• The Unspeakable Oath 18 from Arc Dream Publishing – Cthulhu is rising…again! Lovecraft and Call of Cthulhu fans will be thrilled to learn that this quarterly magazine has resumed publication. Get the 18th edition now and terrorize your players.

• White Wolf Publishing Sale on Fiction eBooks -To celebrate the release of “Strangeness in the Proportion,” a new serial World of Darkness novel by Joshua Alan Doetsch over at White-Wolf.com, this title and all of White Wolf’s fiction eBooks are on sale for the holidays! For more values, visit White Wolf’s fiction page.

• Invasion (A C.H.A.O.S. Novel) by Jon S. Lewis – Lewis pens a twisting tale where “Colt McAlister is drawn into a war against things he thought only existed in comic books.” His other works include the co-authored Grey Griffins: The Clockwork Chronicles young adult series and the Free Realms comic.

• To Each Their Darkness a non-fiction book for writers by Gary Braunbeck – Explore the world of writing horror from a Bram Stoker and International Horror Guild award-winning author’s point of view. Gary Braunbeck uses film, fiction and life experience to elucidate the finer points of storytelling, both in and out of genre. This part-autobiographical, always analytical book looks at how stories develop and what makes them work-or not work-when they’re told.

A Smoldering Mix of Links

• Guests Announced for C2E2 – C2E2, the Chicago Comic Entertainment Expo, is gearing up for its second year with a “too hot to handle” list of guests. Recently, they announced that their literary guest-of-honor is none other than China Mieville. They’ve also expanded their guest list to include luminaries from the comic book industry including Katie Cook, Tim Seeley and more.

• On Set Interview with Nicholas Cage Filming Season of the Witch – In this interview, actor Nicholas Cage discusses his work on this upcoming supernatural thriller set during the European witch trials.

• Apex Book Company Launches Forums, Monthly Book Club – Horror, Dark Fantasy and Dark Science fiction publisher Apex Book Company recently launched a forum to help readers get in touch with authors, editors and other aspiring writers. To kick things off, they also launched a monthly book club and have chosen Dark Faith for January’s read-and-critique.

Tags | apex, top cow, white-wolf, wotc