To celebrate the upcoming release of R.A. Salvatore’s Charon’s Claw on August 7th, Wizards of the Coast is thrilled to announce that Salvatore, a 24-time New York Times-bestselling author, will head out on a multi-city book tour this summer to meet fans and autograph copies of his newest novel.

Additional details about Charon’s Claw and the D&D® suite of products can be found at DungeonsandDragons.com.

Zombie Dice, the brain-eating dice game produced by Steve Jackson Games, will appear in the third episode of Tabletop on Friday, May 4, 2012.

"I'm really hyped about the G&S channel, and especially Tabletop," said company founder Steve Jackson. "The Internet is the right way to deliver this, and it's fun food for geek brains. Braaaaaiiiinnnns."

Narrated by actor and author Wil Wheaton, Tabletop features guests playing dice, card, board, and pen-and-paper games. The show is available free online on the Geek and Sundry YouTube! channel. This episode shows viewers how to play this quick dice game.

Award-winning graphic novel publisher Archaia Entertainment announced its plans for the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) (www.c2e2.com), which includes a 20’ x 30’ display with a huge selection of product for sale on the show floor; hosting over two dozen creators for free autograph signings, including Chad Michael Murray (Everlast), David Petersen (Mouse Guard), Jim McCann and Janet Lee (Return of the Dapper Men), Nate Cosby (Cow Boy), Ramón K. Pérez (Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand), and Royden Lepp (Rust: Visitor in the Field); presenting two panels, one making several exclusive announcements and one to advise aspiring storytellers on proper world-building; and distributing thousands of free giveaways, including single issue comics, mini-posters, and bookmarks.

Bring your best “battitude” to the Wisconsin Bat Festival! Bring the whole family Saturday May 12 from 9 am-5pm to the Warner Park Community Recreation Center in Madison. (On Mother’s Day weekend don’t forget bats are great mothers too!)

– Meet special guest, Brian Lies, author of the children’s books Bats at the Beach, Bats at the Library, and Bats at the Ballgame!

– Meeting a Malayan Flying Fox at the 2011 Bat Festival

– Meet live bats from around the world and visit with Wisconsin’s backyard bats. Come face to face with fruit bats from Africa and Asia, a Vampire Bat, and encounter the largest bat in the world, the gigantic Malayan Flying Fox which has nearly a 6-foot wingspan!

Star of The Walking Dead To Participate in Q & A with Fans; Followed by 3-Hour Signing!

Noted actor Steven Yeun, currently starring in the role of Glenn in AMC’s hit original series The Walking Dead, will appear at this year’s Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2). In addition to his starring role in The Walking Dead, Mr. Yeun has also recently starred in an episode of the television series Law & Order: Los Angeles and an episode of Warehouse 13. Steven Yeun, who lived in Chicago where he performed with the Second City Theatre, will appear at C2E2 on Saturday, April 14 where he will conduct a Q & A with fans followed by a free 3-hour signing.

Anne Rice, the legendary author who has defined vampires for a generation of readers and writers, is the latest addition to the star-studded line up of authors and other guests and talent at Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2). Ms. Rice became an international phenomenon in 1976 with the publication of Interview with the Vampire which has become one of the best-selling novels of all time. She has written 31 books including The Vampire Chronicles, Lives of the Mayfair Witches, and The Songs of the Seraphim, among many others. Ms. Rice will be appearing at C2E2 to discuss and sign copies of her new book, The Wolf Gift, on Sunday, April 15. A daring new departure, The Wolf Gift offers a whole new world – modern, sleek, high tech – and at its center, a story as old and compelling as history: the making of a werewolf, reimagined and reinvented as only Anne Rice could create.

ReedPOP, creators and organizers of the New York Comic Con (NYCC), the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2), as well as other major events in the popular culture world, and Nerdist Industries, a multi-platform creator of genre and pop culture content, have today announced a continuation and formalization of a relationship that successfully began at NYCC in 2011 with the launch of the exclusive WHITE SPACE B2B conference. This new alliance provides for a wide range of strategic and cross-promotional activities that include Nerdist interviews with ReedPOP guests and a prominent role for Chris Hardwick, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Nerdist Industries, at ReedPOP shows. Hardwick, host of AMC’s Talking Dead as well as Nerdist specials for BBC America, founded Nerdist in 2008 and has nurtured its growth into a multimedia name now spanning blogs, a podcast, television, web-video, live-events and print. Chris will be a leading personality at NYCC, C2E2 and other ReedPOP events.

Star of SyFy’s Destination Truth is First Entertainment Guest Announced for Annual Midwest Pop Culture Convention

Organizers of the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) have today announced that Josh Gates will appear at the annual pop culture convention where he will be the focus of a high profile panel and will also do a signing. Known as the “face of SyFy”, Gates is well-recognized as the host of the hit travel-adventure series, Destination Truth, a huge sensation which has garnered considerable attention and publicity, including an interview for Gates on The Today Show.

CHICAGO COMIC & ENTERTAINMENT EXPO ANNOUNCES DATES FOR 2012 Organizers of Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) have announced that the 2012 edition of the annual pop culture convention will take place April 13 – 15 in the North Hall of McCormick Place Convention Center. While this represents a small move from the West Building […]

GenCon: Indy 2011 has come and gone…already? The first DriveThruRPG partnership with White Wolf Publishing and select games from Malhavoc Press, Open Design, Nocturnal, Eden Studios and Abstract Nova was a lot of hard work but very rewarding.

The booth was located at the back of a very large and very huge hall, but that didn’t stop new and old fans of these games from driving on back to DriveThruRPG. The quality of the new books is really awesome; people were literally saying… “That’s POD?” when pointing to the Exalted Comic and Ptolus.

Dave Martin, founder of the Wrecking Crew Demo Team, is here to tell us a little more about his organization and their role at White Wolf’s Grand Masquerade event next month.

The Wrecking Crew

The Wrecking Crew was created by Dave Martin and his gaming group in 1996, and went on to become one of the official demo teams for White Wolf and the World of Darkness table-top games in 2000. Their years of devotion were rewarded in 2009 when White Wolf elevated the Wrecking Crew to the rank of Senior Demo Team. Due to this status, The Wrecking Crew has had the honor of running a number of developer release events including the upcoming Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition. Though the organization began as a local group in Arizona, it has grown into a national association with members in several states.

North America’s largest pop-culture tour continues as Wizard World Chicago Comic Con returns to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, August 11-14, with superstar guests Patrick Stewart, Bruce Campbell, Christopher Lloyd, Morena Baccarin, Felicia Day, Academy Award Winner® Lou Gossett Jr. and James Marsters headlining the list of celebrity attendees. The event will bring together thousands of fans of all ages and dozens of celebrities and industry professionals to celebrate the best in pop-fi, pop culture, movies, graphic novels, comics, toys, video gaming, television, sci-fi, gaming, original art, collectibles, contests and more.

Smart Pop Books Gives Away Anthology Featuring Walking Dead novelist Jay Bonansinga, NYT bestselling horror writer Jonathan Maberry, and more.

On Thursday, July 21, Smart Pop—the pop culture imprint of BenBella Books—will give away 50 advance print galleys, plus 100 advance electronic galleys, of their upcoming release Triumph of The Walking Dead: Robert Kirkman’s Zombie Epic on Page and Screen during a signing with the book’s editor, award-winning author and anthologist James Lowder (Prince of Lies, The Book of All Flesh), and contributors Scott Kenemore (Zombie, Ohio), Steven Schlozman (The Zombie Autopsies), and Ned Vizzini (It’s Kind of a Funny Story).

Many top writers and creators will be joining Marvel Comics at New York Comic Con (NYCC) as the renowned comic books and media entertainment company reveals preliminary plans for the 2011 edition of the annual pop culture extravaganza which will take place at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City, October 13 – 16, 2011. Marvel will not only have a 3000 square foot booth on the show floor where attendees will have an opportunity to mingle with creators and staff, but the company will also be conducting numerous high profile panels throughout the weekend which will feature their top talent. Joe Quesada, Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment, and Axel Alonso, Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief, will be Guests of Honor at the show and will be joined by many other notable Marvel creators including Guests of Honor Jason Aaron, Matt Fraction, Kieron Gillen, and Stuart Immonen.

“The enthusiastic participation of premiere companies like Marvel is critical to our success,” notes Lance Fensterman, Group Vice President for ReedPOP and Show Manager for NYCC. “We are always eager to host Marvel at New York Comic Con and to provide their talent with a range of opportunity. Our show not only brings thousands of fans together with their favorite writers, artists and creators but we are a preeminent venue for launching and displaying new content and product. Marvel’s participation is a huge validation of our efforts and we are grateful to them for their energy and commitment. We look forward to making the 2011 edition of New York Comic Con one of the best ever!”

FlamesRising.com is pleased to announce a new type of theme week for our readers. From Monday, May 2nd 2011 through Friday, May 6th 2011 we will highlight a specific publisher.

To launch our new theme week, we have chosen Pelgrane Press as our featured publisher. If you’ve been following our site, you may recall we have provided you with popular previews, interviews, reviews and articles in the past. Based on this publisher’s popularity in the hobby games industry and with horror fans like you, we felt Pelgrane Press was a worthy choice.

Not familiar with Pelgrane Press, its Gumshoe System and its recently announced Stone Skin Press fiction imprint? For starters, why not check out our Cthulhu Apocalypse: The Dead White World Preview, which is the first part of the highly anticipated Cthulhu Apocalypse series by Graham Walmsley. From there, we recommend reading our recent interview with Robin D. Laws, our interview with Ken Hite and our interview with composer James Semple.

For Trail of Cthulhu RPG fans, don’t forget to check out our FlamesRising.com exclusive. Robin Laws provided us with Inmates: A Campaign Frame.

Curious about the Gumshoe System? Want to play games like Trail of Cthulhu and Esoterrorists but haven’t had the cash? To celebrate our first-ever publisher theme week, Pelgrane Press is sponsoring a contest here on FlamesRising.com!

After going through hundreds of entries, the judges have narrowed the field and selected the nominees for each of the 20 categories. On behalf of the judges and the Board of Directors, please allow me to congratulate each publisher for their nomination(s) for the Tenth Annual ENnie Awards. Voting for the ENnies will begin on July 16th. Until then, feel free to view the nominees and offer your own congratulations.

Visit the official announcement page for links to all of the products listed below:

The judges have chosen five products for each category below. The HM products (Honorable Mention) are products that the judges really liked, but fell short of an actual nomination. For more information, click on a product’s name. Winners will be announced on the evening of Friday, August 6th at Gen Con!

C2E2 ANNOUNCES “AN EVENING WITH NEIL GAIMAN”

Neil Gaiman, the award winning author of novels, film, and comics including the epoch changing graphic novel series The Sandman will take the stage for a benefit appearance on behalf of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund at Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2). An “Evening with Neil Gaiman”, a paid ticketed event, will happen on Saturday night, April 17, with 100% of the proceeds going to benefit the First Amendment legal work of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

The last time Gaiman performed theatrical readings was ten years ago when he did the “Last Angel Tour.” On that tour, he criss-crossed the country doing sold-out evenings reading stories and poems, new material and beloved tales in order to draw attention to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

The Hero Initiative and Wizard World Comic Con will partner in 2010 to maximize the reach to fans for this important comic industry charity organization, Gareb Shamus, CEO of New York-based Wizard Entertainment and producer of Wizard World Comic Con tour, announces today.

“It’s important to support The Hero Initiative since they support so many of the folks in our industry. Without this industry support many artists wouldn’t be able to keep producing the wonderful work we love,” said Shamus.

The Hero Initiative will have a booth at Toronto Comic Con and Chicago Comic Con in 2010 to raise awareness among fans of the importance of their continued industry support.

Premium Ticket with Exclusive Access and Offerings!

Officials of the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) have announced that VIP tickets will go on sale November 19, 2010 at 12 noon Eastern / 11:00am Central. There will be a total of 500 VIP packages available at $200 per package. “We want to make our VIP program simple and straightforward so the fan knows exactly what they are getting when they buy this awesome ticket,” notes Lance Fensterman, who oversees C2E2 and is Vice President of the Reed Exhibitions Pop Culture Group. “We are offering one package which includes some terrific benefits and provides great value for the customer who is seeking a truly special and unique experience at our show.” C2E2 is a new pop culture convention which is being launched by the organizers of New York Comic Con (NYCC). It will take place April 16 – 18, 2010 at Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention Center.

Madison Games Day 2 is all about the spookier side of gaming. Gamers in and around the Madison, Wisconsin area have a chance to meet new people and play new games. In addition to all the other great games, there will be horror-themed games and events.

We invite everyone in the area (or willing to make the trek) to come and play some games! There will be indie and mainstream roleplaying games, card games, and board games. If you have something you’d like to play, bring it!

Visit MadisonGamesDay.wordpress.com for all the latest information.