We Are Dust is a collection of short stories inspired by Our Last Best Hope, an RPG published by Magpie Games. In the game, players work together to try to save Humanity from a terrible Crisis…

When the world ends, how will we feel?
Will the apocalypse come like a thief in the night, leaving us blind and alone, struggling against the darkness? Or will we greet the end of humanity like noble warriors, striving to forestall our doom no matter the cost?
Will we survive? Will we triumph? Will we matter?
Within these pages are tales with answers to these questions, stories from the edge of humanity, the end of existence: time travelers jetting back to save the Earth before it was born, lonely scientists unmaking the disaster summoned by their own hubris, and college kids who love and fight as the Earth gets ready to die.
Look closely, and we might just see ourselves…

We Are Dust is available now in eBook formats at DriveThruFiction.com.

Author Craig Saunders tells us about his novel A Stranger’s Grave, published by Grand Mal Press, in this new design essay.

All right, Genesis may be a little high-falutin for what I do. I’m a straight forward, bash it out writer. I’m not a ‘literary’ writer, and anyone who calls my work literary is apt to get an earful. David Gemmell once whispered in my shell-like that he’d wasn’t the type of writer to go to the ends of the Earth for a paragraph; write 1K a day, and you’ll get there.

The Legions of Emperor Augustus have returned victorious from putting down a massive revolt among the Germanic tribes of the Danube frontier. While Rome basks in its success, a new foe is gathering in the darkness of the Carpathian Mountains. When a young boy shows up at the distant fortress of Troesmis, it falls to Optio Gaius Justus Vitalis and his centurion to investigate the horrors described by the young refugee.

It is just the beginning of a struggle between the Eagles of Rome and the undead forces of an enemy that could halt the Empire’s northern advance.

It’s Romans vs. Zombies in this first novella of the Carpathian Interlude series. Get ready for action, mystery and blood in this clash between Light and Dark.

Immortui is available now in multiple eBook formats at DriveThruFiction.com for only $0.99!

From a world magically transformed entirely into glass to a distant future where the Catholic Church of Osirus uses two singularities to manipulate time, the science fiction and fantasy stories of Small Matters take the readers to places unlike any they have visited before.

Brought to you from the mind of master world-builder and storyteller Monte Cook, these seven short stories tell tales of vengeance and honor. Love and murder. Loyalty and greed. As the title suggests, these are personal tales, not of world-saving quests but of people who face tough decisions that affect their own lives. Not all of them choose wisely…

Flames Rising is pleased to present an exclusive pair of excerpts from this collection.

This month, aspiring (and existing) novelists everywhere begin their 50,000 word jaunt for National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo. 50,000 words, or the equivalent of half a standard novel, translates to writing roughly 1,666 words every day. For writers with a full-time or even a part-time job, furiously scribbling five to seven pages of text can seem rather daunting — especially if you’re not sure how (or what) to write. Not sure if the snowflake method is best? Or if your dialogue techniques are up to par?

Flames Rising and DriveThruFiction can help!

In honor of novelists everywhere, we’re offering a contest to receive $10 gift certificates to DriveThruFiction.com!

Are you ready for the next zombie attack?

Can you survive all of the many dangers, both undead and human?

A new online quiz has been published on the Zombies of the World website (www.zombiesoftheworld.com) to help educate the public. The quiz assesses personality, skills, and attitudes toward the undead and other survivors in order to determine how likely the individual is to survive in a zombie attack.

The quiz was based on material from Zombies of the World: A Field Guide to the Undead by Ross Payton.

In the dying years of the 19th century, a book changed the world—or worlds. A slim, sinister text called The King in Yellow drove those who read it to madness. Despite suppression by anxious authorities, it spread through global culture, and history itself, like a virus. Now the contagion bears hideous fruit.

Disturbing, dissonant and riddled with negative capability.
– Simon Rogers, Pelgrane Press

New Tales of the Yellow Sign expands the classic horror mythos of weird tales pioneer and Lovecraft precursor Robert W. Chambers into new vistas of unease and imagination. Over the course of eight troubling stories, writer and visionary game designer Robin D. Laws lures you into diseased timelines, impossible pasts, and the all-too-terrifying present.

New Tales of the Yellow Sign is now available in ePub and Mobi (Kindle) formats at DriveThruFiction.com!

The Truth Is Finally Revealed

In the aftermath of the mass breakout of superpowered deltas from New Alcatraz, fear and chaos grips the United States. Patriot — the leader of the rebellion known as the Defiance — and his friends Street, Lisa, and Charge work tirelessly to help the people in their organization’s swollen ranks.

When a madman attacks a family of rogue deltas hiding in the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies, Patriot and his friends rush to their rescue. What they find when they arrive forces them to grab the family and race to Denver, where they wind up in a standoff against Delta Prime, the government agency of superpowered soldiers determined to crush their rising resistance.

Prince Calgus found himself standing before a mirror, regarding his own face but seeing something alien; blood surrounded his mouth, his garments were torn and faded, stained with wine and food, his blond hair matted, and his hands coated in gore.

A story’s first sentence is always an important one. Although this is not the first sentence of the novel when you take the prologue into account this is the moment readers meet Calgus, Prince of Sept. It is also the moment when you realize that Jon Creffield is going to take the classic tale of swords and sorcery and turn it on its head. Hell’s Door Open is equal parts fantasy and horror with healthy doses of great storytelling.

Ask Not What Your Country Could Do For you. Ask What It Could Do To You.

John Cruise — better known as the superpowered delta Patriot — only wanted to serve his country, which has suffered under martial law since the assassination of the First Lady back in 1963. For years, he did so as a member of Delta Prime, the federal paramilitary organization dedicated to keeping deltas and the rest of the population in line. Then, during the Bicentennial Battle, Chicago disappeared in a blinding flash of light, taking the world’s most powerful deltas with it, along with Patriot’s wife.

The crew of the delivery ship Haldis is en route to drop off a high-ranking politician on a remote world, but something isn’t right. Someone is sowing mistrust among the crew. The ship has been sabotaged. When Xax, the ship’s young medical intern, disappears, it’s clear the situation is serious. Can Marrl, the security chief with serious anger management issues, and Cass Leary, the cool cyborg captain, get to the bottom of this before it’s too late? Is Xax even still alive? Who’s behind all this, and what do they stand to gain?

This is a novella about conspiracy and paranoia in the space-lanes by Flames Rising‘s own Monica Valentinelli set in the shared science-fiction universe of Bulldogs!

The eBook (including PDF and ePub editions) of Redwing’s Gambit is available now at DriveThruFiction.com!

The Halloween Tree is the audiobook version of the 1972 publication by Ray Bradbury. The story is a fantastical look at the history of Halloween. Spanning several cultures, the characters experience the customs of people from Ancient Egypt, Rome, Mexico, the British Isles and others.

The story is impeccable and Bradbury does what he does best: social commentary through the guise of a story. Here, he teaches us about our own customs by forcing us to peer into the past without beating us over the head or giving boring explanations. I’m not the only one who thinks The Halloween Tree is spectacular. In fact, the story is so popular the animated version of The Halloween Tree was featured on Cartoon Network and it’s also been incorporated in Disneyland‘s Halloween decorations.

PARTY PEOPLE! Your NIGHTMARES have been fulfilled…

Some of the darkest horrors are those that we choose to inflict on ourselves. In the hands of the MASTERS OF HORROR, the evils of drug use, alcoholism, scarification, obesity and obsession have been amplified into bloodcurdling cautionary tales…

Some of the darkest horrors are those that we choose to inflict on ourselves. In the hands of the MASTERS OF HORROR, the evils of drug use, alcoholism, scarification, obesity and obsession have been amplified into blood-curdling cautionary tales…

19 Terrifying tales and a nonfiction detoxification guide await you within. Sacrifice your vice with the MASTERS OF HORROR. You’re literally DAMNED IF YOU DON’T.

Masters of Horror: Damned if you Don’t is available now at DriveThruFiction.com.

Imagine: A fantasy world, but not one based on Medieval/Dark Ages European culture and myth, but rather on the tropes of the Spaghetti Western and Chinese Wuxia. Add steampunk elements. Mix well.

A fantasy world that mixes the inspirations of Django and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon… The Good, The Bad & The Ugly and House of Flying Daggers… Fistful of Dollars and Fist of Legend.

A fantasy world that’s explored through a book series, a constantly-updated website, a tabletop role-playing game, comics, artwork, webseries and much, much, more.

This is FAR WEST.

Tales of the Far West is the first book in Adamant Entertainment’s Wuxia-Western mash-up, featuring a dozen all-new tales written by critically-acclaimed and award-winning fantasy, science-fiction, horror and adventure authors.

Here at FlamesRising.com, even though we usually enjoy reading about the fires of hell or burning zombies, there’s one thing we don’t like reading about — lighting books on fire. From September 26th through October 3rd 2009, the American Library Association (ALA) is featuring Banned Books Week, which celebrates the Freedom to Read within the United States.

Instead of lighting a candle to commemorate this year’s holiday, FlamesRising.com recommends either buying or checking out some of these fine books that have been banned for one reason or another. Remember, this is only a small sampling of the 513 books that were challenged in 2008 within the United States. Here is a PDF download of the books challenged in 2007/2008 from the ALA.