“Monsters are Real!” claims the ad copy of this collection of horror stories from Crypto-American Press. Mad Marv tells us about zombies and other monsters created by science and technology throughout the book. Five short stories and a mix of “Recipes” featuring how-to guides for creating golems and other creatures from myth and legend (each with a short story of its own) make up this book.

The fourth in a series, Prince of Lies flirts with horror, magic and mystery. Cyric, lord over the realm of the dead and god of murder, desperately seeks the soul of Kelemvor Lyonsbane who was once lover and companion to Mystra, the goddess of magic. In his zeal for vengeance, Cyric traps several humans into his mad design as easily as if they were pawns on a chessboard. Not only does Cyric search for Lyonsbane’s soul, he also entraps a human female, Rinda, to write his notorious book in an effort to bend the entire world to his will, erasing the gods in all their might.

Available at Amazon.com Written By Joseph Nassise An action filled mystery into the depths of the modern Knights Templar (hidden from the world that thinks they were wiped out long ago); Heretic focuses on Cade Williams and his team. Cade is known as the Heretic because of his strange abilities and personal quest against the […]

Available at Amazon.com As the Mask of Humanity slips, the kindred of Chicago now have to deal with the inevitable Indulgence that is rumored to happen. Not only has that come up, but the infamous Solomon Birch, Bishop of the Lancea Sanctum, faced a possible coup from inside his own church because of his forced […]

Available at RPGNow.com Blood In, Blood Out is the second part in the trilogy for Vampire the Requiem. It takes you out of Elysium and into the streets of Chicago, where it is even colder. A different type of law exists out there, one where civility isn’t found. It still incorporates the same characters, but […]

Ghosts of Albion: Accursed is the first full length novel in the Ghosts of Albion series by Amber Benson and Christopher Golden. Ghosts of Albion had been a wildly successful animation series appearing on the BBC Cult website, with Benson and Golden writing and Benson directing. While the animations set up the story at large, one does not need to be familiar with them to enjoy this story. The authors take great care to make sure that new readers are clued into the backstory. What one might miss out on is the internal voices you give the characters from the tale; it is difficult to imagine anyone else as the voice of Horatio Nelson other than Anthony Daniels (C-3P0 of Star Wars).

Review by Timothy S. Brannan

THE MYTH HUNTERS is the first book of a new dark fantasy trilogy The Veil by award winning horror author Christopher Golden.

When referring to H.P. Lovecraft, Neil Gaiman has said that “Fantasy and Horror are linked…twin cities separated by a dark river.” He went on to describe Lovecraft as beginning as a dark alley way that grew into a major four-lane highway. To continue the metaphor, Christopher Golden’s THE MYTH HUNTERS is a dark path through the woods that both cities share. It is dark, twisting with half remembered tales and warnings from our childhood. There are creatures there, beautiful, fantastic and very deadly.

Review by Timothy S. Brannan

What makes Anansi Boys interesting to read, is that this book transcends the issue of race or origin through Gaiman’s descriptions of more animalistic qualities of Anansi’s world and symbols that give us a color to focus on other than white or black or red. Symbols like Anansi’s green fedora help us dream the tale in Technicolor. By simplifying “race” (giving us only fleeting character descriptions) the prose emerges light and lilting. Class is well-defined but it’s laughable, comedic. You forget that the continent of Africa and her many gods are outside of your comprehension—you feel a part of the raw, natural order spring to life inside of you.

I’ve read a few reviews of this book that make statements like “Kiernan has finally found her voice,” or “this set of stories flow together so much better than [insert title of short story collection here].” I’m not completely sure that I agree. Granted, the lines that bind some of these stories together, or with her other novels like Threshold or Low Red Moon are a lot more sturdy, but to say that these stories are where Caitlin finally found her author’s voice just strikes me as a little misinformed. Caitlin’s had her voice for several years now, and while it may not be a shout, it is most certainly distinct and it carries.

Delta Green is a new take on H.P. Lovecraft’s Mythos, bringing the fight against darkness and horror to the 90’s and beyond. Delta Green is made up of government agents secretly working against a larger conspiracy of horror and madness. This anthology offers us eight tales from around the world of various agents and the missions that bring them into conflict with creatures of terror.

The War of the Flowers is written in such a way that you forget the fae archetypes that run amuck in this novel. Williams’ quality of writing gives a visual feel to the book that lets you revel in the myriad of faerie types he describes. Sprites, pixies, hobgoblins, tommy-knockers, ferishers, selkies, goblins, trolls, poleviks and nixies are just a small part of this tale. Each type of faerie has been distinguished from its archetype in such a way you feel that Williams collected several as if they were fragile butterflies. Not so breakable are the trolls. While ugly and useful for their strength, their endearing quality is that they are named after their favorite childhood “toy.”

The first fiction novel for Vampire: The Requiem, a game line produced by White Wolf, A Hunger Like Fire sets the tone for some colorful characters and intriguing plot twists.

Written by Greg Stolze, the novel begins with a character narration by Bruce, a newly-changed vampire. New to being an undead, but not authorized by the Prince of Chicago, Prince Maxwell. After reading the first two pages, I felt compelled to read further. While first person narration can get tricky, Stolze handles it well by adding some interesting character quirks. For example, the undead Bruce Miner has an attachment to his dog, Peaches. Of course, he has to use his special vampiric ability to get close to animals, but nonetheless it’s a good tie-in between game mechanics and a fictional character.

I’ll be honest; this book snared me as an impulse buy for 2 reasons. First, I needed something to read on the bus ride home from the mall; second, well, I love werewolves and it’s so painfully rare to find a half-decent werewolf story. I’m not sure why it is, but nobody seems to be able to really nail the heart and soul of the werewolf story. The original Howling did it; An American Werewolf in London was a classic, despite its camp, and An American Werewolf in Paris to this reviewer’s mind was a very underrated werewolf film. But other than those three films, good werewolf stories seem to be slim pickin’s. I didn’t expect much better from Bitten, but I picked it up simply because I love werewolves.

Vampire: Gehenna, the Final Night is the first act of the Time of Judgment, telling the story of a wide-ranging Armageddon among the supernatural entities of the World of Darkness.

The end of the line for Vampire: the Masquerade and the Kindred characters of that part of the World of Darkness. Several signature characters, such as Lucita and Theo Bell and make a final appearance in this book. As Ari Marmell’s first novel, this is quite an undertaking. How do you sum up all those years of books, characters and events in the plot of Vampire: the Masquerade? Quite simply, you can’t. There is simply too much. So many characters and plots have been introduced over the years that it would take volumes to cover them all. What Ari Marmell does with this book is tell a great story of a select few of the characters we’ve known over the years.

On the surface it’s pretty interesting. Thirteen novels, each exploring one of the clans in detail. A few plotlines streaming from book to book, some great characters – hell this could have been something really special. Heck, the Dark Ages clan novel series is everything this series should have been. Each novel features an in-depth exploration into a different clan, along with well-written characters. And while there are plots that go from book to book and connect the series, each book stands on its own.

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Available at Noble Knight Games

The Orion Corporation had only good intentions. However, when it sent the relays into the wastelands to explore and record the hostile territories, unspeakable horrors were uncovered and legendary secrets revealed…

Legends: the Orion Project is a supplement fiction to Obsidian: Age of Judgment. It introduces several new characters, as well as showing ways to have characters be multiple Ethos. Further then character information, they also have several new Daemon types, abilities, and convocations, new Mystic Rituals, and Kultist Convokations and weapons. The story itself is the first of a promised series of supplements about the Orion Corporation and of Callarius Montague, a Spiritual Essence Kultist.

Waking up Screaming is an anthology of tales written by H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft today is considered to be the father of modern horror. Before picking up the work, I read some accounts of his background through the Flames Rising links. Entranced with the trappings of a colonial life, Lovecraft lived in the early 1900s casting out all things modern. He frequently wore older styles of clothing, and made his home in Providence. Upon his death, his work was posthumously published by two of his friends. Lovecraft enjoyed some success during his lifetime, however, it wasn’t until World War II that his work gained in popularity.

Chaos Bleeds is a story based on the second Buffy computer game, written by Christopher Golden and Thomas J. Sniegoski. Buffy fans will recognize the telltale attributes of the Buffy universe in this book, written by James A. Moore.

Hands down, this book is the best gaming fiction I’ve read in a long time. Moore brilliantly use third person narration to accurately depict the Chaos Bleeds’ team of Xander, Willow, Spike, Anya, Faith and Buffy. While the combat was hard to follow due to the fast pace of the book, the material reads well. So well in fact, that you quickly lose yourself in the story.

The structure of the book is surprising, in that the prose is heavily footnoted. Told from a vampiric scholar’s point of view, the research for the book is both entertaining and curious. One can almost feel Aristotle’s frustration as he cross-references words from crumbling parchments. One can also hear the voices of the ancients, as they live again through prophetic parables and historic prose. The footnotes are written in character and contain curious references to other characters in the game. This adds to the potential for the book to be used as a prop or a mood-setting item.

So in my opinion “Dark Ages: Tremere” is a brilliant book full of surprises with only a handful of boring pages. A great way to approach the Tremere. Absolutely recommendable, maybe the best of the Dark Ages Clan Novels.