Available at Amazon.com

Edison T. Crux is an author whose first novel, “Tale of the Wisconsin Werewolf” debuts on December 15. The author will be attending an event at Pegasus Games in Madison, Wisconsin on Sunday December 16, where he will sign copies of his book – for sale in the store – and reportedly at least one game of White Wolf’s Werewolf: the Forsaken will be run at the event to entertain some of the attendees.

Tale of the Wisconsin Werewolf is fiction based loosely on real Wisconsin folklore; there have been reported sightings of a wolf-like biped outside of a small town in south-eastern Wisconsin — near to the town where Mr. Crux grew up — as early as 1936 and as recently as the 1990s. Mr. Crux graciously allowed me to steal a few minutes from his busy, pre-launch schedule to talk about his new book.

The Beast of Bray Road is a fairly well-known bit of folklore locally, and has been reported/dramatized in numerous media including film, documentaries and non-fiction books. What does Tale of the Wisconsin Werewolf bring that’s new and different?

Tale of the Wisconsin Werewolf takes a very different approach to the werewolf legend. Ever since hearing about it, I fell in love with the stories of the Bray Road Beast. And that really translated into the book; in fact, many scenes come almost directly from famous sightings! But it goes a step further, too. I sort of “fill in the blanks” of the Bray Road story with other historic werewolf folklore. Most people expect the “modern” image of the werewolf, but you’ll be in for a surprise in Tale of the Wisconsin Werewolf. The monster here is from legends so old, they are new again.

According to your bio on the book’s website, you grew up in a haunted house: how much did this shape your fascination with the supernatural?

It played a big part in it! When you spend your childhood around things you can’t explain, you tend to get curious. That interest in the supernatural started early, and I never grew out of it.

Was/were the presence(s) in your house malevolent? How often did it/they manifest in some way?

I’m glad to say that my family and the house’s “other inhabitants” got along very well. We never felt threatened there, and we always treated these others with respect. They were here longer than us, after all! The beings in the house made themselves known in several ways—creaking footsteps, things randomly jumping off of counters, etc—but the most interesting had to be the radio. For years, almost every night you could hear an old time radio playing from one of the small closets by the bedrooms. It was so consistent, and we didn’t even have a radio like that in the house! We could never explain it, but over the years just grew to accept it as part of the territory.

Did you have any indication that the haunting was related to the cemetery across the street?

Very possible. That cemetery was the biggest and oldest in town, filled with mausoleums and graves so weathered they couldn’t be read. I spent a lot of my childhood in that cemetery, and could navigate the headstones blindfolded. That place is full of history. I can’t pretend to know where it all comes from or how it connects, but there’s no denying that is another very special place. I’m glad to have spent my childhood with it.

I see you’ve set up two local game/comic stores as retail outlets (Pegasus Games in Madison, WI and Top Cut Comics in Loves Park, IL) for Tale of the Wisconsin Werewolf: is there a reason why you don’t have any book stores on this list?

There is, and it’s rather controversial. You see, instead of pursuing a traditional publisher, I founded my own small publishing company. I did this because, quite frankly, I don’t want to play by their rules. I’m very community and reader-focused, and I think the big publishers are losing sight of that key element. One thing that’s important to me is to have the first half of Tale of the Wisconsin Werewolf available as a free digital download. That’s a much bigger free sample than most places will give. But to get a distribution deal (which is almost essential to get in bookstores), I’d have to give up that right. So I gave up the chance to be in most bookstores, in order to do what I feel is right by the fans.

Is TotWW available for download as an e-book? Through which venues and in what formats?

Oh of course! You will be able to purchase the book for your Kindle, Nook, or through the iTunes bookstore.

Will you be promoting your book at any of the local sci-fi conventions in the coming year?

You know, I hadn’t really considered this yet. I’ll definitely look into it further!

Are you working on any other stories right now? Can you talk about those?

I sure am! Right now I’m working on a book called “Tale of the Gévaudan Beast.” It’s the prequel to Wisconsin Werewolf, and acts as a shorter companion book. And after that, there is a lot more to come. Tale of the Wisconsin Werewolf is the first in a series of at least 6 novels and several side-stories.

Is there anything else you want readers to know about Tale of the Wisconsin Werewolf?

Don’t be afraid to contact me! Seriously. There’s this feeling that authors are celebrities and won’t respond if you write to them. Not me. If there’s anything I want readers to know, it’s that they can feel free to send me an email, and I’ll do my best to get back to them personally.

For more information on Tale of the Wisconsin Werewolf as well as to email Edison, check out the Tale of the Wisconsin Werewolf website, where the first three chapters can be downloaded for free.

Related posts:

1. Werewolf Translation Guide Available Now!
2. Interview with Author Gabrielle Faust
3. Frostbite: A Werewolf Tale by David Wellington Now Available

C. Edward Sellner is the Chief Creative Officer for Visionary Comics, having launched the studio in 2006. Having embraced the digital publishing revolution several years ago, Visionary is currently one of the largest digital publishing houses in the comics industry. We sat down with Mr. Sellner to talk about comics in general and the Deadlands license in particular.

Why did Visionary choose to license Deadlands?

Because it was there. Oh no, wait that’s why you climb Mt. Everest right? But seriously, it did kind of fall in our laps. I had never played the game, but it was one of those cool things I had remembered hearing about waaaaaayyy back and always thought the concept was cool. I also always remembered that classic Deadlands image by Brom, the undead gunslinger? So, it was one of those “Things to Check Out”.

Then a friend of mine, and client, Nate Meyer, mentioned he was in general talks with Pinnacle about licensing Deadlands to write novels and might we be interested in doing comics? Well, Brom, undead gunfighters and cool all collided in my head and I said Absolutely! After talking with Shane and realizing what an amazing talent and creative guy he is, as well as the most laid back license owner ever, it was a no-brainer.

He was wanting to prime the pump to expand the property, the mixed Western (horror, supernatural, steampunk) genres were showing signs of being an up and coming thing again, and a quality license we could do things with just made it seem a win all around.

Does the comics market feel strong or weak right now? Do sales reflect that feeling?

Oh my, this is an interview right, not a book? Okay, short answers. The comic market is a fickle beast. It has its ups and downs and its ever-twisting maze of factors. The market overall is doing well, its been growing steadily over the last twelve months, both single issue and book market sales, print and digital. We’ve even had some serious spike months where sales were 20% over where they had been the previous year. But a lot of this reflects the big, event-driven publishing of the big boys, and the growing presence of strong creator owned content from names who are garnering the kind of attention to build steady sales, like Walking Dead, which broke all kinds of sales records this year.

So, despite these rising figures overall, a lot of books still struggle to find their market. Deadlands, honestly has been one of those. Sales were solid, and we were happy, but being honest, we had hoped for more. We tried very hard to make it appeal to both the existing fan base and push it out to new fans. But I think a lot of existing Deadlands fans who aren’t big comic fans just didn’t know how to make sure they got copies of the books. We’ve heard many say they missed issues. And I think the comic market was leery of how well a license would do when they weren’t themselves familiar with it.

But again, initial print sales were a decent showing, and we are finding our market. Digital sales continue to be strong, more and more folks are buying the trade at conventions, and interest in the next series is at an all time high. So, people like what we’re doing and as word spreads we’re increasing our reach, and that means we have all the pieces for a long term success for this. So, we’re very happy.

What percentage of Visionary’s sales are in digital comics compared with print editions?

Good question. I know within the first month we released the books on our digital venues we very quickly hit a 10% of total sales mark. They sold very strong. The great thing is they’ve continued to sell strong on specific venues where Deadlands fans go, especially Drive-Thru, and that percentage is climbing, where the print issues are out of circulation, and we’re down to our last copies.

What we still don’t have is how well the collected trade will do in the book market since we haven’t released it yet. We will, but we want to do it right, and make sure it gets to the fans who want it. So we’re looking at options. We also have interest in an International version from publishers who handle Deadlands the game in the French and broader European market. So, the numbers will continue to grow and change. A series like Deadlands, in print, will do better in the book market than the direct market, so, we need to make sure we do the best for it.

Has Visionary seen growth in sales to game stores because of the Deadlands titles?

Truth be told, that was a challenge. We love Image, but they are a comics company, first last and right down the middle. Some of the alternative venues we thought important to explore just never happened. I don’t think the books were specifically targeted at gaming stores. We want to fix that moving forward, and have even offered to direct distribute to game shops who want to carry our trade editions, if they are interested.

We do know that orders were strong in shops that do both well, games and comics. If the relationship was there because of comics, and they sold games as well, those stores ordered pretty heavy, and seemed happy with the results. For the next round we need to make sure we hit those other game stores better as they can be our ideal outlets.

You recently concluded a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund production of the first Deadlands graphic novel. Why did Visionary choose to use Kickstarter instead of a more traditional funding approach?

Well, funding is a key thing. Visionary is still a small little operation and we have limited resources. We knew we wanted to do a great book, up our game and push the envelope with this series. We wanted a great artist, we wanted top quality production etc. But funding all that was a challenge. So, this enabled us to tap the fans who want it and let them get on board earlier.

The other big thing is Kickstarters are phenomenal ways of gauging the market and seeing what the demand is for a project. Do people really want more of this, and despite solid sales, we weren’t 100% sure there was enough demand to do more, but now we know, there is, in spades.

And a final piece which ties into the above is that a Kickstarter is a great way to get publicity out, market a project while still in development, and build a fan community that is mutually invested in the book. Its great when we create a project, put it out there and someone buys it and likes it. But here? I’ve met a ton of awesome people through this Kickstarter, all fans of Deadlands. They’ve been able to put money out and not just get a book, but interact with us creators, get teasers of what’s coming, be part of the process. Heck a number will BE IN THE STORY. People love that opportunity, and we as creators love having a fan section actively rooting for us, it makes it a great time.

What can you tell us about this graphic novel? How soon will it be available for purchase?

I can tell you we are VERY psyched about it. The graphic novel is the definitive story of Raven, the architect of the Reckoning, the man who doomed the world. We’re thrilled that Pinnacle has authorized this story. Its rare a license comic gets to tell the definitive story, the canon story of a major player in the property licensed. Pinnacle is also letting us really build up and add to the legend and that’s awesome.

Raven is shaping up to be the epic it deserves to be. He’s one of the best villains ever created in my mind, great back-story, great character. And yet, while he is this amazing character, there is so much we don’t know, so much that all we have is a quick paragraph about in the game books, that is this epic story begging to be told. It’s really a lot like digging into real legends and myths and trying to figure out all the pieces in between.

Matthew Cutter, Greg LaRocque and myself have met a few times to work out plot and all I can tell you is I think each of us gets more and more excited about the story as we go, there are moments we just look at each other and quietly go ‘wow’. So, if the creators are there, the fans will be sure to love it, it means they are getting our best work.

As for release, supporters will be seeing the book coming out before the end of the year, as digital issues, with the collected edition in March or so next year. We will then start rolling the series out digitally in late Spring, Summer of 2013 to the general public and a print trade in the market by Fall.

What other Visionary titles should readers know about?

After the first of the year we’re in talks for some awesome new titles, upping our game again. We’ve got books we think are really high profile, with great creators that will grab people’s attention, and the launch of our own in-house projects, and a whole new universe. So, good stuff is coming!

Related posts:

1. Flash Fire Mini Reviews: Deadlands Comics
2. Deadlands comics from Visionary Comics go digital!
3. Monarch Comics’ Witch Hunter Letter-Writing Contest

Matt Forbeck is an award-winning game designer and author whose most recent endeavor, “12-for-12″, is a personal challenge issued to himself to write a novel a month for an entire year. I caught up with Matt after his most recent Kickstarter campaign concluded to ask him how things were going.

You’ve run a number of highly successful Kickstarters in support of your 12-for-12 initiative; what’s the most important thing you’ve learned about running a Kickstarter project?

It’s a lot more work than you think. While I ran my Kickstarters, they seemed to suck up every bit of time I had as I kept thinking about ways to improve them. That’s especially true toward the end, when you’re either getting desperate to hit your goals or thrilled that you’ve shot past them.

How’s progress on the 12-for-12 novels – are you keeping pace?

I’m a bit behind but with good reasons. First, as I mentioned, I underestimated how much effort goes into running a Kickstarter drive, and I’ve run four of them in under a year now. Second, my family had a terrible flu knock us flat in the spring, and that blew about a month for me. Third, I took a month to write The Con Job the first novel based on the Leverage TV show. That may not have been wise, but the deal had been in the works for a couple years — and I love the show, and one of the showrunners (John Rogers) is a friend of mine — so I tackled it anyhow.

I also took a chunk of time this summer to revise the first four novels and get them into my backers’ hands. I didn’t want to get three or four Kickstarters down the line and have my backers standing there without anything to show for their trust, so I carved out that time to get them their books fast. Now I’m back to writing fast once more, and I hope to be able to wind the whole project up by the end of the year still.

What inspired you to launch this project?

Having published games in the past, I wanted to try my hand at self-publishing novels too. The most successful people doing that are those who have a full line of books for their fans to grab, and I needed a way to jumpstart a wide list of titles fast. I knew I could write the books that quickly, but I couldn’t just take the time off to do it. That’s where Kickstarter came in. By reaching out through that to my fans, I was able to line up enough pledges to make the project work. Otherwise, I’d still be thinking about how cool it would be to give it a go. I really owe every bit of the project’s success to my backers.

12 novels in 12 months is a LOT of work for anyone; are you planning to take time off from writing after the 12-for-12 project is completed?

Writing’s my day job, so that’s like asking if I’m going to take time off from feeding and housing my children. I may switch off from novels for a bit to concentrate more on things like comics and games, but I won’t ever stop writing. It’s what I do.

If someone unfamiliar with your work wanted to start reading Matt Forbeck novels, which one would you point to as being the best example of your work? Is that also your favorite book of all the novels you’ve written?

That’s a tough call. I write in lots of different genres, so I’d suggest you choose the books that fit into the genres you like best.

Amortals, for instance, is a near-future science-fiction action novel with lots of social commentary. Vegas Knights is an urban fantasy set in Sin City. Carpathia is a historical horror yarn set on the Titanic. My Brave New World trilogy is about a superhero revolution in an off-kilter USA.

After that, my upcoming 12 for ’12 books include Hard Times in Dragon City (in a fantasy noir setting called Shotguns & Sorcery), Dangerous Games (thrillers set at Gen Con, the massive tabletop gaming convention), and Monster Academy (YA fantasy novels set in a reform school for monsters). It’s all over the map, but if you like fast-paced adventure stories of one kind or another, I hope to have you covered.

Do you plan to continue self-publishing exclusively, or will you be working with a publisher as well?

I still enjoy working with publishers on the right projects. The Leverage novel, for instance, is coming out from Penguin, and I’m discussing other books with other big publishers too. I don’t see a reason I can’t do both, at least for now. We’re on the cusp of a massive change in the way we create books, and I’m happy to straddle that for as long as I can.

Do you have a project in mind for next year to top the 12-for-12 thing?

I have all sorts of ideas, but at the moment I’m keeping my nose to my keyboard and hammering out these books I owe my backers. Including the production and revisions of those books, that’s sure to run into 2013, but keep an eye peeled for new things next spring or summer.

Many thanks to Matt for taking time out of his insane schedule to answer a few questions. For more info on Matt Forbeck, his novels or his other writing work, check out his web site: Forbeck.com

Related posts:

1. Matt Forbeck’s Dangerous Games Novels Kickstarter
2. 12 for ’12 Interview with Matt Forbeck
3. Matt Forbeck tells us about Amortals

Available from Dark Regions Press

Carnacki: Heaven and Hell
By William Meikle
248 pages
Dark Regions Press

I’m a fan of Carnacki. The somewhat stuffy British paranormal investigator, whose adventures were first cataloged more than a hundred years ago in Carnacki: The Ghost Finder by his creator, author William Hope Hodgson, have fascinated me since I was urged to read them by a good friend. I was curious, therefore, when I discovered that another author, Scotsman William Meikle, had taken up the mantle of telling some new Carnacki tales in Carnacki: Heaven and Hell. I tried to be objective going in, but my fondness for the character had me pretty excited to read some new adventures.

Meikle captures the voice of Hodgson’s occult detective very well. He never fails to include the characters of Jessop, Akrwright, Taylor and the narrator, Carnacki’s friends to whom he relates each of his adventures once he’s concluded them and returned to the safety of his Chelsea lodgings. I was by turns gratified and annoyed by the characterization of these four; Meikle gives them more depth of personality than Hodgson ever did, and at least one of them proves frequently to be an annoying fellow, which speaks highly of Mr. Meikle’s skill at writing believable characters. Also, the cover art and interior illustrations by Wayne Miller set the tone well and do justice to the material.

The first tale, “The Blooded Ikwla”, recounts the horror of Captain James McLeod, who is being haunted by a Zulu stabbing spear that wounds him night after night. Can Carnacki find out who – or what – is behind these attacks before the captain dies the death of a thousand cuts? A solid introduction to both the character and his methods.

The second tale, “The Larkhill Barrow”, was my first real indication that things were going in the right direction with this collection. In it, Carnacki is summoned by the commanding officer of a Royal Artillery firing range. It seems their explosions woke something up that should have been left undisturbed. I liked this story quite a bit. I felt a quibble or two rising with what I felt was slightly muddy occult lore, but it wasn’t distracting enough to change my enjoyment of the story.

The next three stories – “The Sisters of Mercy”, “The Hellfire Mirror’, and “The Tomb of Pygea” were excellent; tense, spooky, and with considerable doubt as to whether Carnacki could succeed in quelling the disturbances, all three were rich in supernatural lore and chilling details. These three alone made the whole book worthwhile for me.

The sixth, “The Beast of Glamis”, proves that a very solid grounding in history can be one of a detective’s most useful resources, and in fact this is an element of the original stories that I appreciated as well. It, and the following tale “The Lusitania”, were both very thoughtful tales, frightening at first, but giving way to both wonder and sadness towards the end. I think I might have arranged the book so that these two were not situated back-to-back in the collection.

Tale number eight, “The Haunted Oak”, was a chilling story, and like “The Lusitania” had no clear ending. The haunting may have stopped, but it’s difficult to say if the cause had truly been put to rest, or just forced to wait until conditions grew right again. I find I’m quite fond of this tale as well.

“The Shoreditch Worm” was not my favorite story in the book. There was definitely something supernatural and menacing going on, and the conclusion was satisfactory, but I had trouble reconciling the potential threat with the simple solution. I did feel rewarded however in that this tale was another showcase for some solid detective work on Carnacki’s part.

The final story, “The Dark Island”, is an involved story, broken into three parts for easier chewing. The author made strides here to weave together British Isles mythology more tightly with the existing Carnacki storylines, and for me it worked quite well. In fact the entire book involved Meikle weaving these elements together more closely than the original material – some in more subtle ways than others.

In the original stories, Carnacki The Ghost Finder is involved in a few adventures where the explanation is fairly mundane. I appreciated that aspect; by including the occasional ‘bat rattling around in a cupboard’ story, a bit more spice was added to those stories where a supernatural agent truly was at work. Hodgson was also able to pull this off proficiently enough that the “mundane” stories are no less tense and spine-chilling, so the whole didn’t suffer any in terms of frights and overall quality. If I would change one thing about Meikle’s collection, it would be that – adding a mundane story or two to the book to keep the reader from growing complacent.

This is an excellent collection, worthy of the attention of any reader with a fondness for ghost stories. Meikle does a fine job, both in creating fresh material for the supernatural sleuth, and also for delivering the voice and feel of the classic Carnacki tales. Available in hardcover (for a limited time) and in a trade paperback edition from Dark Regions Press, I urge you to seek out this book with all possible speed; I’m confident you won’t be disappointed.

Rating: Four out of Five stars

Review by Bill Bodden

Related posts:

1. The Gaki and Other Hungry Spirits Review
2. Hell House Novel Review
3. Hell Week Fiction Review

Visionary Comics brings the weird west world of Deadlands to full-color life with a series of comics by a variety of artists and writers. Five different issues featuring five different main stories combine to give readers the full-bore Deadlands experience. Combining elements of the classic Western with Steampunk – a fairly natural fit, as it happens – and horror, Deadlands offers a unique experience to gamers. It was only natural that such a two-fisted, four-color setting would make the jump to a more visual medium – comics.

The Kid
The Kid tells the story of Billy the Kid – Deadlands-style. Billy’s family is slaughtered by werewolves. He survives thanks to the intercession of local natives, and is mentored by a powerful medicine man. Billy takes up the mantle of revenge and hunts down those men/werewolves responsible for his family’s death. Story by C. Edward Sellner: illustration by Oscar Capristo.

Black Water
Ruthless businessman Harmon Rappaport is searching for the woman who saved his life years ago. Rumor has it she vanished into the Maze – the remnants of the shattered California coastline, now a long stretch of canyons filled with seawater and home to Maze Dragons – and worse. Mr. Rappaport and his able bodyguard find themselves a reliable guide to the Maze and book passage, but more than just a river journey lies ahead of them. Story by Jeff Mariotte: illustration by Brook Turner.

Massacre At Red Wing
A young Native American woman with ghostly white hair comes to town looking for someone. Her problem: the people holding the person she seeks don’t want to give her up. Their problem: the woman she’s searching for is her mother, and woe be to those who keep the two apart. Story by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray; illustration by Lee Moder.

Death Was Silent
A bounty hunter rides into town. He speaks only using a slate hung around his neck. He never writes on it by hand; what he thinks shows up in stark white chalk letters on the smooth, black surface. The bounty hunter has a corpse draped over the back of his horse, and as he stops in town for a drink, the people of Dandelion Flats discover he’s there for more than just whiskey. Written by Ron Marz: Bart Sears did the illustration.

The Devil’s Six Gun
Copernicus Blackburne was a gifted inventor. His particular genius lay in the field of munitions and weapons design. Samuel Tygian hears of this genius and hires him to build a very special gun, a gun to “kill the Devil.” What Copernicus Blackburne doesn’t realize is the lengths he’ll have to go to in order to achieve Tygian’s dream of creating such a powerful relic, and just exactly what he’ll have to sacrifice to reach that goal. Story by David Gallaher: illustrations by Steve Ellis.

I found myself pleased with each of these stories in turn. All have a certain tragic element to them – the Weird West is a dangerous place after all and in such a setting life is often cheap. Some of these tales have happier endings than others, but for the most part the climaxes are open-ended, leaving plenty of room for the story to continue. All five stories feature some classic Western themes: a lone gunman, revenge, standing against long odds, obsession, and greed.

Utilizing some of the best and brightest talent in the comics industry today, Visionary has put together a series designed to give the reader a taste of Deadlands. The back section of each book features brief letters from Shane Hensley, the creator of Deadlands, and Chuck Sellner, the Creative Director of Visionary Comics. The letters serve to offer a bit of explanation on what Deadlands is to the uninitiated, and to also offer thanks not only to the readers, but to everyone involved for getting this project off the ground. Each issue also features several panels of art from “The Kid” – at the time the back-up story in each issue, plus a peek at some sketches by artists Steve Ellis, Lee Moder, Oscar Capristo, Brook Turner and Ale Aragon. For those who wish to collect all five issues, it should be noted that the back-up material is close to the same in each book – different from the way the print editions of each issue are formatted. Chuck Sellner, Visionary’s Creative Director, explains:

“When we setup the books for digital, we knew a good percentage of people would buy all five, but we also wanted to make sure the key information in the back got to those who only bought one. We opted to spin THE KID off into his own one-shot to hopefully prime the pump for a series starring him we plan to launch next year.”

Available only recently in digital format, the Deadlands comics series is a sure hit for fans of the Deadlands RPG setting, Steampunk, Westerns and good horror yarns. These elements blend together flawlessly to create a unique setting with stories as universal as the oldest tales of heroes and gods, yet still fresh and original.

Picking my favorite out of this group is a tough call. It’s a toss-up between Death Was Silent and Black Water. I liked the depth and complexity of the setting of The Maze from Black Water, and am intrigued at the possibility of more adventures with the hard-bitten Lyle Crumbfine and the citified but no less dangerous Ian Fairfax as they try to find their way back to civilization. In Death Was Silent, the mystery surrounding the Bounty Hunter Hoyt Cooper and his brother Franklin sucked me in gradually but powerfully. One day, Franklin will lose control and on that day, Hoyt will have the worst day of his life.

I also liked that Lyle Crumbfine’s character stats and the Devil’s Six-Gun’s stats as a relic for the Deadlands RPG are included after the end of their respective stories. My hope is that they’ll continue little touches like that linking the comics to the RPG; it gives exposure of both the game and the comics to entirely new audiences, and for those outside of the gaming world it helps show what a good tabletop role-playing game session can be like. Using the Savage Worlds rules set means that Deadlands is already familiar to many gamers, and those who haven’t gamed in the Savage Worlds are likely to find its easy play style and focus on action rather than crunching numbers a welcome change from many popular game systems.

These five stories aren’t as crude as someone’s Deadlands game converted comic book form, but they do include enough inspiring material to give a good GM plenty of ideas to flesh out many nights of thrilling gaming. Plus, they’re a fun, adventure-filled series and well worth the time and effort to find and enjoy them, even if you have no interest in Deadlands or gaming. After reading them all I’m looking forward to the continuation of this series.

Rating: 4 stars

Reviewed by Bill Bodden

Related posts:

1. Deadlands comics from Visionary Comics go digital!
2. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews: Horror Comics (Antarctic Press)
3. Deadlands board game to be released in 2009

Available at Amazon.com

Carpathia
By Matt Forbeck
Angry Robot Books
336 pages

In the interest of full disclosure, I readily admit that Matt Forbeck is a friend of mine. As a consequence, this review cannot be seen as totally objective. I firmly believe it can only be seen as fair, both to Matt and to the reader, but I leave that for the readers themselves to decide.

Carpathia, the newest novel by Matt Forbeck and Angry Robot Books, takes place during the momentous disaster that was the maiden voyage of the S.S. Titanic in 1912. Historically, the first ship to arrive to render aid was the Carpathia. Matt’s premise stems from this, and from the idea that there might be a reason why the Titanic survivors would NOT want to be rescued by that particular vessel. In a word: vampires.

As the story unfolds we find Quincey Harker, Abraham Holmwood and Lucy Seward enjoying their voyage across the Atlantic Ocean on the Titanic. These characters refer to their “Uncle Bram” (Stoker) a couple of times, and it is revealed that their parents are several protagonists of Stoker’s story, Dracula: Jonathan and Mina Harker, Lord Arthur Holmwood, and Dr. John Seward. Their first names come from three other principal characters: Quincey Morris, Abraham Van Helsing and Lucy Westenra. More on this in a moment.

Our heroes realize something is wrong, and start working their way to safe areas aboard ship. There is an interesting exchange when Lucy is ordered into a lifeboat, leaving her friends Abe (also her fiance) and Qunicey behind. The time of the Titanic sinking was also the era of women’s suffrage, and the “women and children first” tradition of allotting space in lifeboats briefly becomes a major point of contention. Abe and Quincey want Lucy away and safe; Lucy refuses to leave her dear friends behind. In the end, Abe and Quincey convince Lucy to go.

Our heroes, after travails in the cold north Atlantic water, are indeed rescued by the crew of the Carpathia and brought aboard. At the last moment before rescue, the lifeboat containing Lucy picks up an Irishman, Brody Murtaugh, floating in the water. Unknown to anyone aboard the lifeboat, he’s part of a group of vampires who, upon hearing word of the distress call from aboard the Carpathia, turn into bats and fly to the scene for some easy pickings. After all, given the circumstances what’s one more missing body among hundreds? Dawn is approaching, however, and Brody decides the easiest way back aboard the safety of the Carpathia’s sun-proof holds is as one of the Titanic’s unlucky victims.

The leader of these vampires has his group on the Carpathia bound for Europe. The attention given to their predations in the United States is making things too hot for their kind, and he seeks the relative safety of his remote, mountainous homeland on the Balkan Peninsula as a haven for the large group of predators. He is angry with Brody and others for risking the safety of the rest by their greedy quest for a quick meal. When Brody carelessly disposes of a body aboard ship and is witnessed in the act by Quinn and Lucy, things get out of hand.

I thoroughly enjoyed Carpathia; Forbeck does a great job of setting the scene and of writing believable characters. The painfully direct connection to Bram Stoker’s novel seemed cheesy and unnecessary, but at the same time there are few other ways to have characters become not only believers in the supernatural, but also equipped to do battle with them so quickly. Still it’s a minor bump in the road, and Forbeck’s storytelling abilities more than make up for this short-cut. Along the way they’ll also have to deal with a love triangle, survivors’ guilt and a lot of angry vampires.

Carpathia is a fantastically fun read. Its vampires are definitely not the sparkly, angst-ridden types, but rather ruthless predators who defend themselves viciously and do what they must to survive without remorse. In this, they are true inheritors of the legacy of Dracula himself. They are individuals and have their own conflicts, sometimes resolved in violent, messy ways. Carpathia is well worth picking up, even if you aren’t a big fan of vampires – it is arguably Forbeck’s best novel to date. It’s also an action-packed story and will have readers turning pages as fast as they can.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Review by Bill Bodden

No related posts.

Available at RPGNow.com

The Resurrectionists Collection
White Wolf Publishing
By Will Hindmarch, Christopher Lee Simmons and Eddy Webb
106 pages

The thing about being a Storyteller is you always need more stories for your players. How often you need new material depends on how efficient your players are at having their characters conclude business from night to night. There are plenty of adventures out there, but few are so nicely tailored to dropping into any campaign like those from The Resurrectionists Collection.

The first adventure, “The Resurrectionists”, involves the PCs in plot to resurrect a torpid elder – a scenario that will likely result in more questions than answers by the end. The characters are recruited to find where the old man is buried, wake him, and return him to safe environs where he can be debriefed and brought up to speed on how the world has changed in the 70+ years he’s been a sleep. Quite the troublemaker in his time, it may puzzle the players as to why this elder is being revived – and well it should. As it happens, the characters aren’t the only ones looking for this elder. While the other searchers don’t have the clues the characters have, they know enough to follow at a discrete distance…

This elder was powerful and connected, but also had more enemies than friends, and went torpid to avoid the blood hunt called against him. If your Chronicle uses the wonderful World of Darkness: Chicago setting this adventure fits in beautifully, as the torpid elder is Rafael Pope, Daeva, heretic, and former member of the Lancaea Sanctum. This Daeva, also know as “The Liar,” built a cult of personality around himself among the Kindred in Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s, and traded his knowledge of Theban Sorcery for tutoring in Cruac, which earned him few friends from the adherents of either religion. Pope’s connection to Chicago shouldn’t discourage a Storyteller from setting the action elsewhere; he disappeared into hiding, after all, and no one is sure to where.

The second scenario, titled “Criminal Intent” finds the character again recruited for some dirty work. A strong proponent of the Masquerade seeks to employ the characters to clean up a potential breach: a human artist is displaying a painting showing a Kindred feeding on a human, and the Kindred’s face is recognizable. The story takes a few turns along the way, including unsurprising information that the Kindred who hired them may have lied to the characters for reasons of his own.

Criminal Intent, like The Resurrectionists, is a scenario that will have the players asking a lot of questions about the motivations of others, especially their “employers”. Likewise, this adventure also can be resolved in a number of different ways, many of which will include some degree of unpleasantness for the characters. These two adventures are all about the choices the players make on behalf of their characters, and the consequences to their humanity that will result.

The final chapter in this collection details a coterie of five Kindred (one from each clan) and their complicated relationships with one another. Each of them individually could be used seamlessly as NPCs in an existing campaign, or they could be easily adopted by players as an easy way to introduce them to a new chronicle. Novice and experienced versions of the characters are provided for flexibility, and decent background information is given for each to offer some solid roleplaying hints. This chapter is also available separately as a PDF-only packet, titled Ready-Made Player Characters (Vampire: The Requiem).

Featuring two stories and five NPCs/pre-gen characters, The Resurrectionists Collection can readily function as a quick-start pack for an experienced Storyteller to get a new campaign off the ground. Even with a coterie of players unfamiliar with the World of Darkness, this collection can get things moving at full speed in no time at all.

Rating: Four out of Five Stars

Reviewed by Bill Bodden

Related posts:

1. Night Horrors: Immortal Sinners Review
2. City of the Damned: New Orleans Review
3. Invite Only (Vampire) RPG Review

Available from RPGNow.com

Warning: The following review may contain spoilers. Proceed at your own risk!

Machine Gun Sean O’Neill peered over the windowsill; the masked cultists were leaping down the fire escape. Behind them, back in the room, lay the bloody, ruined mess that had once been Jackson Elias. Sean hadn’t known Elias, but his friends had, and now he counted this cult among his enemies. His pistol barked three times; one of the cultists staggered, but kept going. The cultists get into an idling car at the end of the alley and speed away. Sean looked back into the room at Elias’ lifeless body, with the strange cult symbols carved into his forehead. This wouldn’t end well – for any of them.

Masks of Nyarlathotep is a masterful campaign by Larry De Tillo with Lynn Willis created for the Call of Cthulhu tabletop role-playing game. In it, the investigators are drawn into a plot to throw open the gates keeping the Great Old Ones at bay, causing the earth to become a nightmare landscape of death, destruction, and mind-shattering horror. Spanning five continents, Masks is an epic adventure of mayhem and supernatural evil that will consume many game-nights of play, and is suitable even for a larger group of investigators. Available again in a revised 4th Edition, it once more rears it’s terrifying, blood-red tentacle to drive us all over the brink.

The adventure begins as one of the investigators – established prior to the game as a friend to one Jackson Elias – receives a telegram from Elias, asking for help investigating a great conspiracy. When the party arrives in New York, knocking on the door to Elias’ room receives no answer but furtive, suspicious sounds of movement come from within. The door is locked. Upon entering, the investigators find Elias dead, victim of some sort of horrible cult retribution. The cultists are making their way down the fire escape outside Elias’ window. Several clues can be found here that lead the adventurers on a quest first through New York, and eventually on to London and parts beyond.

One of the most inspiring things about this adventure is the way the clues interconnect. Like a spider’s web, one strand leads to many others, giving the players the opportunity to skip parts of the scenario entirely to concentrate on the ones they feel to be the most critical. The campaign is literally designed such that the adventurers can go from their initial discovery in New York to any of the other major sites: Shanghai, Kenya, Egypt, London or Australia. When our group first started this adventure back in 1985, we pretty much followed a geographical progression, going to the next nearest point on the map after seeing our business to a conclusion (more or less) in one locale. We never encountered the Australian section; it was mentioned in the text of the original edition, but details were not included. Only later did the Australian section become available when Terror Australis was published by Chaosium, including the missing Australian adventure “City Beneath The Sands”, a couple of years later in 1987. The Australian section has been included in Masks in revised editions ever since.

Sean’s eyes had a difficult time taking in everything he was seeing. There was a large entity that appeared to be on fire, yet completely unconcerned about its status. There were people there, chained to a large stele of black stone, and the other – oh god! What are they doing? Aaiiiiieeeee!

Masks of Nyarlathotep is a dangerous adventure. Nearly every player of the eight involved in our campaign lost one character to death of madness at some point. The cultists are likely to become aware of the investigators at some point – probably early on in the proceedings – and they communicate with each other, allowing other cult members down the road to lay deadly traps for the unwary. The campaign stretched to well over a year of real time for our group, playing once a week for four to five hours each session and missing only a couple of weeks during that span. Members of the group still reminisce fondly on that adventure, laughing over our shared experiences to this day more than twenty-five years later.

Another powerful aspect of this adventure is the selection of props and character hand-outs included in the game materials. For example, a box of matches is found at one scene that leads investigators to a bar in Shanghai, China. The box is offered as a cut-out model – matches not included in every edition to date. The original boxed set – published in 1984 – includes a glossy sheet of printed cardstock that includes this assemble yourself matchbox, as well as several business cards for different chapters of the adventure.

Doctor Forbes- Finch was disturbed. His interview with the raving Sean O’Neill offered him a tantalizing view into the mind of a man pushed over the edge, some mutterings of which seemed a little too familiar. As a psychologist, he’d done extensive research into madness in all it’s many guises, but Sean’s ravings reminded him of several cases he’d come across; the evidence suggested that a loose, global network of cults were preparing for some massive, possibly supernatural event. He must know more: as soon as Sean’s friends return to check on his progress, Dr. Forbes-Finch is determined to be there, questions at the ready…

If the Keeper does the job right, the players won’t know for certain they’re involved in a globe-spanning conspiracy; rather, they will believe they are investigating the mysterious disappearance of an archaeological expedition in the wilds of Kenya. There seems to have been a cover-up of sorts; at any rate, something is definitely not right, and Jackson Elias, before his untimely demise, wanted the investigators to delve further into this wild goose chase of a mystery. What they will find will shake the very foundations of their sanity, carrying them around the world in search of answers to questions they may one day wish they had never asked.

Masks of Nyarlathotep is considered by a great many gamers – including the author of this review – to be the pinnacle of commercially produced adventures. It has become the yardstick by which other scenarios are often measured. While it is not without weaknesses, those flaws are minor, and few and far between. It is a sterling example of how an adventure should be written. Aspiring gaming writers would do well to pick up a copy and read it through thoroughly; they’re sure to have many inspired ideas of their own as a result.

Rating: five out of five stars

Related posts:

1. Call of Cthulhu: Masks of Nyarlathotep, 4th Edition Available Now!
2. Cthulhu Week: Madness One Die Roll At A Time
3. Age of Cthulhu: Shadows of Leningrad Review

Get this book at Kickstarter.com

Chuck Wendig has been a mainstay of White Wolf Publishing for years, and one of their most popular authors. Having successfully branched out into non-World of Darkness fiction, Chuck continues to develop a strong following for his longer-form prose. Recently, Chuck and Evil Hat Productions announced a series of novels based on Evil Hat’s Spirit of the Century RPG. Chuck will be authoring a trilogy of short novels, the first of which, Dinocalypse Now, is being released soon. Chuck and I recently spent some time chatting about this new series.

What influenced you in writing this novel? Were there particular characters, events or places that helped you frame your ideas for this story?

The majority of the influence I needed was right in Spirit Of The Century. The rest I dug up out of research, really. Though, I will say that the love triangle between Sally, Jet and Mack is one of those things I think we’ve all seen or been a part of in some way or another. Easy to stick a shovel in the loam of real life and unearth some truth for fiction.

Had you played Spirit of the Century prior to your involvement with the novels?

I had, though not often. And not in a while, regrettably — with a wee tiny human running around the house for the last 3/4 of a year, it’s hard to find the people or the time to game.

How difficult is it to write fiction based on an RPG setting?

Not hard if you love the setting. And the Spirit Of The Century setting is very unobtrusive — it’s not thick with canon or Byzantine with a billion details you can forget or get wrong. It’s light and easy and fun, which was my approach to writing the novel.

The chapters in Dinocalypse Now are each quite short; was this an attempt to emulate the style of the pulps or did it just work out that way? Did you spend time researching pulps and serials from the 1930s?

It’s both in an attempt to emulate the pulps and serials — which, yes, were a lot shorter in order to maintain attention — and also an effort to keep it fast-moving, snappy, engaging. A book like that is built on some pretty crazy concepts (psychic dinosaurs! ape dictators! dread zeppelins!) and if you stay too long with those concepts I fear it could collapse under its own delicious awesomeness. Plus, on a personal level, I prefer to write leaner and meaner. Authors are in a fight for people’s time and in certain stories it pays to get in and get out without bogging the reader down.

You have to be pleased with the response to the Kickstarter program for this series; if you had your choice, would you have used Kickstarter at all to fund this project?

Well, honestly it wasn’t my choice — not that I wouldn’t have done it, but Evil Hat is the publisher that commissioned me, the penmonkey, to write the book. Fred Hicks is a Master Genius who knows his way around a fanbase and a business plan, so all that (wisely) fell and falls to him.

Were you given a story framework to build on, or were you working the whole story up from scratch?

I worked up a three-act structure and passed it to Fred, and we bounced it back and forth. It was a fairly quick process, honestly, and a lot of fun. I was not given any particular directive other than the two-word title of “Dinocalypse Now.”

What other projects do you have in the works right now?

Well, Blackbirds releases from Angry Robot on April 24th — it’s about a girl who can see how people are going to die just by touching them, putting her as the pivot point between fate and free will. It’s grim stuff, but also funny, at the same time. Then I just completed another Kickstarter, carrying forward my teenage detective-slash-vigilante, Atlanta Burns, in BAIT DOG and a second as-yet-unnamed novel.

What are you reading for fun these days?

I just finished Saladin Ahmed’s Throne of the Crescent Moon, which was a delightful read — great escapist fiction that further escapes from the tired tropes of modern fantasy.

Interview by Bill Bodden

Related posts:

1. Interview with Hunter: the Vigil Developer, Chuck Wendig

Get this book at DriveThruFiction.com

Dinocalypse Now
by Chuck Wendig
Published by Evil Hat Productions
229 pages

So you have this gorilla who wants to rule the world with his army of sentient ape-men, right? Plus, there’s a portal open to another time, and dinosaurs are coming through it – nobody’s sure who’s controlling them, but they aren’t acting purely on instinct. Then there’s the fact that many of the members of the Century Club – a group of two-fisted do-gooders who fight for truth and justice – with Chapter Houses all over the world – have disappeared, and you have the makings of a fantastic romp through pulp action in the classic tradition.

Dinocalypse Now is written by Chuck Wendig, the prolific author who contributed to the majority of work White Wolf Publishing has done in the last decade. Chuck has also written quite a bit on his own, both fiction and non-fiction titles, including his own book Blackbirds, as well as contributing stories to Tales of the Far West and Haunted: 11 Tales Of Ghostly Horror In the interest of full disclosure, I also have a story in the Haunted anthology, so I’m less than unbiased on that point.

When the story of Dinocalypse Now begins, we see new York City in approximately the mid- to late-1930s. Members of the Century Club, a group of people from across all social and economic strata, are being rounded up by persons unknown. The Century Club, despite being outwardly designed as a social club whose members must have a birthday of numerological significance, also harbors more than its fair share of adventurers, scientists and vigilantes.

As the few remaining members of the Century Club piece things together, they realize they’re up against a globe-spanning conspiracy that is part of an invasion from beyond time itself. Dinosaurs begin circling the skies and roaming the streets of New York City; weird, otherworldly gates have opened on remote islands just off the coasts of the world’s continents. It’s an apocalyptic situation, and the threat seems to have materialized out of thin air. Can the remaining Centurions get to the bottom of it and stop this horrific plot from reaching its earth-shattering conclusion?

Dinocalypse Now is based on the world of the RPG Spirit of the Century published by Evil Hat Productions. It’s interesting to see Evil Hat producing fiction to support the line; classic pulp tales like this are the inspiration for Spirit of the Century in the first place, so it makes sense that things should come full circle with Evil Hat publishing a fiction line.

I liked this story a great deal; it’s fast-paced and full of action. The characters are believable and sympathetic; I liked them from the start and cared about what happened to them from page 1. The only negative I found – which may be a positive aspect for a great many readers – was the rapid turn-over of chapters. Most chapters are only a couple of pages in length before cutting to the next scene featuring other members of the cast. In this post-MTV age of rapid jump-cuts, it’s probably a really picky criticism, but I found myself wanting more story from one group at a time. The timing of the events in the story is fairly critical, however, making these rapid jumps important and necessary.

That perhaps is the key phrase to remember from this review; I wanted more. Wendig is a wonderful storyteller and writer, and his tale sucked me in from the beginning. There’s a lot going on in this story, too – almost too much to keep track of. The fact that the ending is a monumental cliffhanger had me shrieking with frustrated rage; I don’t know how I’m going to wait until the second book comes out.

I highly recommend Dinocalypse Now. Not only is it a fun, fast read, it also gives insight into a delightful tabletop role-playing game. It’s well worth your time to check out Dinocalypse Now and Spirit of the Century; frankly, you couldn’t do much better in either case.

Find out more at Kickstarter.com and Dinocalyse.com.

Review by Bill Bodden

No related posts.

Available from RPGNow.com

Carthians
A Covenant book for Vampire: The Requiem
White Wolf Publishing
224 pages

Predators are competitors. They compete with other types of predators for food; they compete with others for territory. And they compete with others of their own kind for both food and territory as well. Sometimes, predators will form alliances with like-minded individuals to protect a larger area, making survival – even prosperity – more likely for all within the group. So it is with apex predators like vampires; they don’t care much to be around each other, but when faced with threats too big for one to handle, they band together to form protective groups. Those groups of like-minded vampires are called Covenants, and one of the most interesting of those is the Carthians. Based on the premise of greater equality and of emulating the institutions of their prey, Carthians hope to both blend in better – be less obviously a predator among the flock – and keep the stifling, unchanging nature of near-immortality at bay.

Carthians begins with a fine piece of fiction by Greg Stolze to set the mood, then launches into a dissection of the Carthian Movement – its history, goals, and styles of governance. Carthians are no less monstrous in nature than other vampires, but are more inclined to help other Kindred within the movement, fully expecting that, when those others are on their feet and doing well they’ll help their fellow Carthians in return. This is about as selfless an attitude as one can expect from Kindred in the World of Darkness, making them fairly unique.

Because of the Movement’s egalitarian notions, the Carthians are a popular covenant choice for Kindred only a few years into their Requiem. They tend not to have amassed the temporal control of other covenants, or have the monstrous supernatural abilities of ancient creatures found among the Invictus or the Circle of the Crone, but they do have one thing going for them: unity. Say what you will about factional in-fighting – and in any group of Kindred there’s plenty to say – but when the chips are down, Carthians will unite against common enemies more readily than other Kindred. Due to being favored by neonate Kindred, Carthians are frequently more up to date on popular culture – including the latest technology – than their more hidebound rivals. This is a quirk the covenant as a whole encourages for its obvious advantages.

One issue I had with this book is not trivial: I found myself feeling deja vu as I read through the free PDF copy graciously supplied by White Wolf/CCP; the first two chapters seem as though they repeat information somewhat extensively. The words may be slightly different, but it ends up feeling repetitive and dull, and makes for a tough slog as a read. It’s as if they felt the concept of vampires trying to adopt a parlimentarian style of government would be too alien to grasp all at once, repeating the information like zen masters trying to drum a lesson into a dull student. It made for a lackluster reading experience, though it’s likely most interest in this book will be for reference rather than solely as a pleasurable read. Unlike the Invictus covenant book I reviewed several months ago, Carthians failed to hold my interest for long; I fully admit that may originate from my own biases, but again the repetitive nature of the material as presented plays a part.

Another issue is chapter five’s definition of Carthian Law in a domain where Carthians hold praxis. Carthian Law in the instances given is a potent enough force unto itself to literally cancel out the attempted use of Theban Sorcery, Cruac, and other disciplines; this seems to wildly unbalance the game. Naturally, White Wolf repeats in each book the worthy mantra that these are not rules so much as guidelines – interesting suggestions a Storyteller may choose to incorporate if she so wishes. There is nothing forcing anyone to institute such rules regarding the psuedo-magical effects of Carthian Law. Perhaps this choice was seen as a measure to level the playing field against the powerful weapons at the disposal of the other covenants; point taken. Experimentation with rules in an RPG is a given so tossing out ideas is par for the course. Carthian unity is still a powerful weapon at the Movement’s disposal; even an ancient, evil Kindred will think twice about taking on a half-dozen younger Kindred. They may not be a match in terms of sheer power, but getting lucky and putting a stake into the heart of even so mighty a creature is vastly easier with more hands to try.

The Carthian Movement is an intriguing concept within Vampire: the Requiem. While the Carthians covenant book may have flaws, they don’t diminish the intriguing possibilities inherent in such a faction. Carthians does a solid job of informing the reader of the workings of the Carthain Movement, fulfilling its intended function more than adequately.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Review by Bill Bodden

Related posts:

1. Invite Only (Vampire) RPG Review
2. The Invictus (Vampire: the Requiem) Review
3. Keep Your Friends Close: An Ongoing Chronicle for Vampire: the Requiem

Available at DriveThruRPG.com

Night Horrors: Immortal Sinners
White Wolf Publishing

The amount of source material produced for the World of Darkness role playing universe is truly impressive. Not all of it is useful to players – much of it being useful primarily to the game master for the purposes of fueling any individual group’s adventures – and some is of benefit to all players. Night Horrors: Immortal Sinners is a book that is fascinating to read for any aficionado of the setting, but is likely best left to the GMs (or “Storytellers” in White Wolf’s World of Darkness parlance) as it spends most of its 160 pages detailing powerful vampires that the players’ characters could bump into in-game.

The personalities detailed here run the gamut of vampire experience. The book leads off with Solomon Birch, a notable in the Chicago area and leader of the local chapter of the Lancea Sanctum – vampires who believe they are God’s instruments, intended to torment humans in order to keep them on the straight and narrow. Birch is powerful and mean, but like most vampires he takes the long view; his plots and schemes take years to fully bear their tainted fruit.

There are many surprises to be found in this book. Some of the creatures within can pass for human; some are truly monstrous, their only real connection to the humanity they left behind ages ago is, perhaps, language and material goods. Their habits, their attitudes, their very thought processes are now so totally alien to humanity as to represent something entirely different. The final example in the book, The Unholy, is a creature out of a vampire’s worst nightmare. Terrifyingly fast even by a vampire’s standards, she is so ancient that mere human blood is no longer sufficient to sustain her – she requires the blood of vampires to keep her moving. She also has a nasty quirk that frightens vampires more than anything else; her regular habit of diablerizing other vampires; that is, draining them of their blood and consuming their very soul as well. She can occasionally be bargained with – as the running flavor text throughout the book artfully demonstrates – but in the end she will have her prey, come hell or high water.

Night Horrors: Immortal Sinners is part of a series of Night Horrors volumes, including Wicked Dead (also for Vampire: The Requiem); Grim Fears for Changeling: The Lost; The Unbidden for Mage: The Awakening and Wolfsbane for Werewolf: The Forsaken. Each is usable with any of the World of Darkness setting books, but the creatures presented within are most highly recommended as encounters for their primary setting by virtue of meshing more easily within that world. At the same time, it could be a dazzling conundrum for vampires to tangle with some ancient Fey creature, or for werewolves to have to come to grips with a coven of mages or an immensely powerful lone sorcerer; the possibilities are many, and hopefully inspiring.

Reading Night Horrors” Immortal Sinners is an intoxicating journey, drawing in the Storyteller and suggesting numerous plot hooks and storylines for years worth of game nights. Its relatively low rating is only because of its limited usefulness – intended for Storytellers rather than all players. Regardless, it’s an excellent read for any fan of vampires and the World of Darkness settings, and is a worthy addition to any bookshelf. Players, check with your Storyteller before reading about these nasties… you wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise, would you?

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review by Bill Bodden

Related posts:

1. Night Horrors: Unbidden Review
2. Night Horrors (Werewolf & Vampire) RPG Review
3. 30 Days of Night Movie Review

Being a fledgling author, I had often pondered what it would be like to participate in a public reading of one’s own work. I recently had the chance to find out. I agreed to assist in the promotion of Haunted: 11 Tales Of Ghostly Horror (FR Press, 2011), particularly since, as a contributor to the anthology, I have a personal stake in how well the book sells. Knowing that readings could help us immensely by generating interest and word-of-mouth advertising, I cast about town looking for likely venues.

It turns out that bookstores are good choices for readings, as one might expect. Also good, and perhaps not as obvious a choice in our Internet-driven culture, are public library branches. Always looking for ways to generate foot traffic, libraries are a great venue for hosting readings. Coffee shops are another venue with potential, though this last is one avenue we haven’t had time to pursue yet.

A word about attendance: Most writers will tell you of the soul-crushing possibility that no one will show up for your reading/autographing. I discovered I had a decent chance of avoiding this unfortunate occurrence with some extra planning and due diligence. Using social networking – Facebook, Twitter and countless other sites – to help promote your event is essential. You’ll be reaching your friends and relatives this way, which is helpful to add a friendly face or two to your audience. Also important: press releases sent to local media. While television and radio stations may seem an unlikely fit for such announcements, occasionally snippets or summaries of those press releases will get read on the air during the obligatory “what’s going on around town?” segments. In that same vein, sending press releases to local newspapers helps spread the word too. It’s important not to rely too heavily on only one medium to get the word out.

Our readings worked out well. Our first event – held at a public library branch on the night of Halloween – drew more than 20 people to hear two local authors read their creepy stories. The second event – at local bookstore A Room Of One’s Own – drew fewer people. Because of a small snafu in the publishing process, we did not have books available to sell at the library reading – definitely a missed opportunity. On the other hand, sales at the bookstore were fairly robust, and nearly everyone in the audience at the store walked away with a copy in hand. My understanding is that not all libraries allow sales on-site; check beforehand to confirm. In our case it was not only kosher but encouraged.

L to R: Georgia Beaverson; Monica Valentinelli; Jason Blair; Alex Bledsoe; Bill Bodden.

In our situation, we have four of the eleven authors who are local to the area, as well as the editor and publisher. Even so, organizing such that everyone’s schedules mesh successfully is no mean feat. We had two of the local authors for the library reading; all four of the locals turned out for the reading at the bookstore. Future readings are likely; with luck we’ll be able to organize a brief road trip or two to spread the word farther.

Working with a micro press for publication often gives the writer a great deal more control over their work, but is not without it’s difficulties. For one thing, getting the book into stores means someone is going to have to do a lot of leg work contacting independent bookstores to make it happen. Forget about Barnes and Noble; without a major publishing house behind the effort, they just aren’t interested in taking any chances. Can you special order a book from them to force them to carry it? Possibly. That doesn’t mean they’ll actually have it on shelves, but if you want to pay them in advance for a small press book, I’m sure even a behemoth like B & N will cheerfully try to order a copy in for you.

Participating in a reading was an enjoyable, though sometimes nerve-wracking experience. I would guide anyone considering reading their own work in public to a post by friend and fellow Haunted contributor Alex Bledsoe with helpful tips on the subject. The advice he’s collected in this post is well worth your time to read, even if you don’t have any wish to read to an audience. But if you do, it can turn an ordinary reading into a memorable and successful one.

No related posts.

Available at DriveThruComics.com

Carl Kolchak, hard-bitten reporter of the supernatural from the TV series “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” of the 1970s returns to action courtesy of an ongoing series of comic books and graphic novels from Moonstone Books. This time, Carl’s been fired by the owner of the newspaper that used to employ him, and he must find another way to make ends meet. He’s approached by a young couple, Otto and Mo Brerhahrer, who are ghost hunters in their spare time, and Kolchak can hardly say no, particularly when they offer to buy him lunch.

Through three related vignettes, the reader learns more about Kolchak, and why he has such a close connection to the supernatural. The first, titled “Fifteen Minutes,” find Kolchak at his wits end regarding where his next meal is coming from. He decides to get in touch with a young couple he met at a recent funeral – their interest in the supernatural seemed fortuitous, and at the time they had expressed an interest in hiring him to do some writing work for them. As it turns out, the offer wasn’t completely genuine but it was sincere, and Kolchak is intrigued.

In the second story, “Blood,” Kolchak is attempting to network with other reporters at a press conference to find work. The company holding forth, Windsor Chemical, is being investigated for illegal dumping. Abandoning the networking effort as a lost cause, Kolchak heads home; later that night, a mysterious and beautiful woman visits him, wanting to hire him to investigate the circumstances surrounding Windsor Chemicals. What Kolchak finds is murder, and more deaths to come.

In story number three, “A Clue To The Truth,” Kolchak is sent by Otto Brerhahrer – a ghost hunter from the first tale – to interview a local expert on the supernatural in order to give himself a better background understanding of ghosts. Kolchak finds himself losing track of the time during his lengthy conversation with Doctor Robert M. Carter; he finally excuses himself hours after he arrived, thanking Dr. Carter profusely for being such an engaging conversationalist. When he meets with Otto the next morning, Otto has news that shocks Kolchak to the core.

This is an entertaining series of tales, and I found myself at the end wishing there was more to read and enjoy. Comics are a fantastic medium for this type of story, and the crew presented here – writers Dave Ulanski, Tom DeFalco and C.J. Henderson, Pencilers Dan Dougherty, Ron Frenz and Ron Harris, letters Bill Halliard and Nate Pride and inkers Sal Buscema and Keith Williams – do a great job on this issue. The story “Blood” particularly reminds me of the classic style of the Creepy and Eerie magazines from the 1970s.

Perhaps cheesy and sometimes predictable, Kolchak stories still entertain by virtue of the namesake character, a good-hearted everyman who has an affinity for the strange and peculiar, and while not totally fearless, Kolchak has the guts to do the legwork and actually get to the bottom of the situation. Kolchak Tales: Ghost Stories is a fun read and a great way to spend a dark stormy night.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Related posts:

1. Horrors: Great Stories of Fear and Their Creators at DriveThruComics!
2. Jason Dark: Ghost Hunter Review
3. World of Darkness: Ghost Stories Review

Available at RPGNow.com

Red Eye of Azathoth, published by Wolfgang Baur and the Open Design LLC, is an unusual adventure for Call of Cthulhu. This campaign pack has the investigators following an evil madman through centuries of effort to summon the Daemon Sultan Azathoth to earth, an event that would cause our planet’s near-total destruction.

In a unique twist, players take on the roles of different characters in each separate scenario – each time battling the same villain, who has possessed a different victim to further his diabolical ends. The pack is presented as being playable either as an extended campaign, or as a series of stand-alone adventures. Red Eye is currently only available in download or print on demand format. You can ask for it at your Favorite Local Game Store (FLGS) but chances are they can’t get it for you.

The premise of REoA is that evil entities seeded a phony, vague prophecy to lure someone into opening a rift in space so that Azathoth may enter Earth. Further, the dread god must be awakened to unleash the full force of it’s mindless fury on the world. A comet, the harbinger of Azathoth’s close proximity to our planet, passes close to the earth every hundred years as a signal that the time is right.

An ancient Chinese sorceror, Lei Peng, discovers this prophecy and, thinking it pertains to him, seeks to perform the necessary rituals. He also discovers alien technology that will allow his spirit to move from the Dreamlands to possess another human from a different time or place in order for him to be in the right location at the right time for each phase of the ritual. The alien technology requires someone to find one of these brass orbs in order for the scholar to possess that person, which means the likelihood of the scholar being present in consecutive arrivals of the comet is pretty slim. Further complicating matters are Denizens of Leng, who want to steal the technology of Lei Peng’s brass orbs so that they may possess humans, allowing the Leng-ites to inhabit other times and places besides the Dreamlands en masse, and to inflict their corrupt and terrible whims on on unsuspecting world. They do not want Azathoth summoned to destroy that which they fought so hard to conquer for themselves, though they do want to help achieve some parts of the ritual.

Red Eye of Azathoth represents a formidable challenge to the players as well as to the Keeper: in each scenario players must adopt the role of a completely different personality. Not only that, it’s conceivable they may not know what their previous selves learned in the past event. Utilizing a new skill, Incarnum, the Keeper assigns points in this skill to each of the Investigators. Players may roll against this skill in an attempt to remember critical pieces of information relating to this threat from past life experiences. The time periods of the various scenarios are 887 AD in Viking-ravaged Britain; 1287 AD in feudal Japan; 1487 AD in Spain during the Inquisition; 1587 AD in the Roanoke Colony in the New World and 1887 AD in the Arizona Territory.

One possible drawback to this group of scenarios has been the relative lack of success for Call of Cthulhu scenarios set in times other than the 1920s/1930s. However, the style of this adventure pack would lend itself perfectly to convention play. Conventions could easily host an ongoing tournament using the Red Eye Of Azathoth, with players on a literal timetable to complete each scenario in succession  over the weekend.

This is an interesting concept for a Call of Cthulhu adventure. The players are required to do actual role-playing as opposed to going in guns blazing; most of the settings pre-date reasonably accurate gunpowder weapons anyway, so they’ll have to rely primarily on their wits to solve the problem. Each adventure represents a significant challenge in its own right; stringing them all together requires the Keeper to keep track of the previous adventures, as the results from the past scenario has a very concrete affect on events in the current chapter.

Red Eye of Azathoth is unlikely to appeal to every fan of Call of Cthulhu and the Lovecraft Mythos. However, it is a lovingly-crafted series of adventures that will present an interesting challenge to players with a good attitude and a reasonably high curiosity level. It is a challenging series of adventure to be sure, but well worth the effort to stave off the forces of trans-dimensional evil.

Rating: 3.5 out of Five stars

Related posts:

1. Age of Cthulhu: Shadows of Leningrad Review

Available at Amazon.com

The Grave Doug Freshley
Archaia Entertainment LLC
Written by Josh Hechinger
Illustrated by mp Mann

There aren’t many tales where the undead are the good guys; say what you want about Twilight or True Blood, but those aren’t in the same league as an undead schoolteacher seeking vengeance for the dead family of his pupil.
Thus we have The Grave Doug Freshley, about a tutor – Doug Freshley – in the Wild West who witnesses the death of his friend and his friend’s wife, and manages to save their son – his student – from the family farmhouse as it goes up in flames. The crime has been perpetrated by the Delancey family – a band of thugs, each one worse than the last.

The Delanceys are trying to expand their stake the easy way – by stealing from the locals and killing them so there’s no one to dispute the claim. While holding the dying body of his friend and employer,Shane McNally, Doug swears to protect Shane’s family. Shane’s wife is already dead, and in trying to save their son Bat, Doug is shot to death by one of the Delanceys. Doug swore an oath, and some things are more important than life and death, apparently; he rises up, finds Bat inside the burning farmhouse, and carries him to safety. They then begin to hunt down the Delanceys with vengeance on their minds.

Borrowing heavily from stories like Lone Wolf and Cub, this western-fantasy-horror mash-up follows Doug and Bat as they seek out the Delanceys. On the way, Doug encounters someone he should have expected all along; Death himself, come to claim what’s rightfully his – Doug Freshley.

This is an enjoyable, quick read, and Archaia Entertainment graciously provided me with a free ebook version. The art style is spare and simple, and the  tale itself shares those qualities. The dialogue is sufficient for the story though not snappy or clever. There is one small surprise in the main story that I won’t reveal; clever readers will likely pick it out long before I did, but that’s part of the fun. The story emphasizes the cowboy elements while downplaying the undead nature of the protagonist; most people seem a bit surprised that Doug can be riddled with bullets and walk away, but they aren’t freaked out by it, which aids the story but is at times a bit jarring. Fans of the Western genre will likely find much to like about this story; Horror aficionados may find this title leaving a bit to be desired.

Rating: 3 out of five stars

Review by Bill Bodden

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Warhammer Fantasy Battles Miniatures, paint job and crappy photography both courtesy of the author.

Among other things, I’m a gamer. One of my favorite aspects of gaming is painting miniatures. Whether it be an army of Dwarves or Goblins for Warhammer Fantasy Battles, or the Austrian 18th Regiment of infantry from the 1809 Campaign against Napoleon, painting miniatures is sub-culture of gaming I particularly enjoy.

People – non gamers especially – often marvel at how tiny the miniatures are (some no bigger than a dime) and express amazement that I can paint such a small thing so precisely. The truth is, there are numerous tricks to painting miniatures that help make even paint jobs done by a shaky hand like mine look splendid. To be fair, I can think of a dozen people off the top of my head who are vastly better miniatures painters than I. Having figures on the table that you’ve painted yourself can give one a sense of accomplishment and be a source of pride regardless of one’s relative level of skill. The process of painting is very zen-like; I find it calming and peaceful. Generally, slow and steady is the best method for me to achieve desirable results. It forces me to be patient, which is a quality I lack all too often. Sometimes I slip, and have to paint over a spot and start again – another thing that enforces calm and caution.

My back won’t allow me to paint for more than an hour at a time, and my schedule won’t permit me time to paint more often than three or four times a month. As a consequence I am slow at finishing any serious quantity of miniatures for a game, which frustrates my gaming buddies a fair bit – and reasonably so. Still, the pride I feel when lining up my finished, painted army on the gaming table is delightful.

Curiously, painting miniatures is a solitary hobby that leads to a more gregarious one – gaming. In this I find satisfaction as well; I am by nature reserved and introspective, yet the company of my peers is desirable at times too. With this type of pursuit I can enjoy both aspects of my social life as the two elements of miniatures gaming dovetail together nicely.

Miniatures by Old Glory (left, center) and Battle Honors (right); paint job and crapy photography by the author

Sweethearts of my past had expressed some concern at the time over me keeping up such a “childish hobby;” they didn’t understand that this is not only painting toy soldiers, it’s a creative act. I turn a molded lump of metal into a spearman of the Empire, bright scarlet and yellow livery blazing in the sun, helmet and shield shining, ready to conquer the enemies of the Emperor or die trying. Is what I do any worse than constantly shopping for that perfect, 30th pair of shoes, or being glued to the television on game day? Age is forcing me to make adaptations – my eyesight requires that I take off my glasses to see better close-up, and there’s the aforementioned back issue – but it’s still one of the most enjoyable hobbies I’ve tried, and my wife has no qualms at all about it.

In this pastime I find common ground with famed author and noted pacifist H.G. Wells, who is believed to have devised the first recorded rules for “floor” battles using toy soldiers. He hoped that such pastimes would help curb the human animal’s more warlike tendencies, by extension creating a better world. I can only speculate whether or not he was correct in his hope, but I cannot question the validity of his motive. The fact that I and my gaming brethren find ourselves in such august company as the author of The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine wouldn’t make me more of less interested in miniatures. The enjoyment I take from it is reason enough for me to continue with this hobby that provides me a nearly endless source of pleasure and keeps me off the streets.

– Bill Bodden

No related posts.

Available now at RPGNow.com

City of the Damned: New Orleans
A Sourcebook for Vampire: The Requiem
White Wolf Publishing, 146 pages
Authors: Ari Marmel and C. A. Suleiman

Setting books are a tough sell in most role playing games. For one thing, if the game master opts to set the adventures of the characters in a different city then those offered – or the players’ characters find themselves drawn in another direction entirely – setting books become less than completely useful. Also, since they will only sell – for the most part – to game masters, more than three-quarters of the potential audience is already uninterested in purchasing it.

Such is the problem with city guides for the World of Darkness; despite aiming for fascinating cities with a great many points of interest besides vampires, werewolves and the like, they just haven’t sold well enough to justify others in the line. However, they are well worth a GM’s time and cash outlay to obtain; besides a wealth of interesting NPCs that might show up in one’s own game, the city books are filled with fantastic plot hooks and useful information that is easily adapted to any chronicler’s setting.

The City of the Damned: New Orleans book has another problem, one that is unique to the Crescent City and the Gulf Coast: Hurricane Katrina. On sale mere weeks before Katrina devastated New Orleans, a good many bits of local color and specific geographical information in CotD:NO are now woefully obsolete. To be fair, this is likely to only be a real issue to people who reside in or know and love the city well. Besides the horrific death and destruction toll it took on real-life residents of the city, White Wolf had to be cursing their timing that something as seemingly safe as a reference guide to a fictional version of a major US city becomes partially obsolete literally overnight.

New Orleans, as reckoned in the World of Darkness, is a city under the sway of an ancient, Lancaea Sanctum Prince named Augusto Vidal. Because of this, the city is bursting with tensions – political, spiritual and economic. Vidal rules the city with an iron hand, and tolerates the presence of the Circle of the Crone – the covenant supported by one of his major rivals for power, the Nosferatu elder Baron Cimitiere – but only barely.

The city is also largely carved up into territories already; newcomers may have trouble feeding without stepping on the toes of others. This is precisely the way Prince Vidal wants it: the local Kindred are (mostly) beholden to him for their very existence. It helps him maintain control over the Big Easy – control that has lasted for more than 200 years. The information in this book expands on the data provided in the final chapter of the Vampire: the Requiem core book, adding many new minor characters, a handful of locations, and more background information plus a short, original adventure to introduce the new kids in town to New Orleans.

If I have any complaints about this book – and they would be minor ones to be sure – it’s that the book seems a bit scattered; organization appears to be an afterthought here. It’s challenging to find the stats for the power players in the city, and it shouldn’t be so. This is not a new concept utilized for this book alone; it has been applied to a number of the WoD books I’ve purchased, and I find it mildly annoying. Rather than have a chapter where all characters’ stat blocs are collected, they are placed in scattered clumps. Sometimes there seems to be a reason to this dispersal – putting all of one particular faction together, for example – but usually the groupings are less tightly organized.

Also, I wish White Wolf had taken the same road with this book as they did with the World of Darkness: Chicago tome. There are clearly far more forces at work in the Big Easy than just vampires, but other types of supernatural creatures rate only a passing mention in sidebars. Keeping in mind what I mentioned earlier – that these guidebooks tend to appeal to fewer players by virtue of being primarily intended for GMs – it seems natural to make them as easy as possible to integrate into any type of WoD campaign, whether Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, or something else.

All that aside, City of the Damned: New Orleans is exactly what a guide to a specific setting should be; intriguing, full of mystery and potential, and offering intoxicating glimpses of another place. At an MSRP of $26.99 for a print copy (less for a PDF download), CotD:NO is well worth the money for the setting material alone.

Three out of Five Stars

Review by Bill Bodden

Related posts:

1. The Lost City RPG Review
2. City of the Damned: New Orleans Review
3. City of Ashes Fiction Review

Another GenCon has come and gone – my eleventh straight as an industry professional – and I wanted to reflect a bit on why GenCon is important for the gaming industry – not to mention just a great time as an attendee/gamer. For one thing, nearly all the major tabletop game companies – and most of the minor ones – have a presence at GenCon. If your favorite local Game Store (FLGS) doesn’t carry something from one of these companies, odds are better than average it can be found in the dealers’ hall.

Gaming at GenCon? Yes, there’s lots. Most of it involves paying something extra to play, which is a bit of a downer, but still affordable. If you plan to go, registering for events early is a good idea; they fill up quickly and there’s no guarantee of a last-minute opening in the game you really wanted to try. Many manufacturers run demos at their booths in the dealer’s hall; these will be short, use pre-gen characters they provide, but are an excellent way to sample something new before buying.

My day job involves managing sales for Green Ronin Publishing. I spend the vast majority of my dealer’s hall hours in the Green Ronin booth. I get out on my lunch breaks to walk the floor, but I don’t get to spend as much time perusing as I’d like. One thing I found and fell in love with was this set of Cthulhu cufflinks and matching tie bar from Dagon Industries. They are silver with a handsomely enameled black background to make the image pop. These were my favorite items from the show. I missed out on buying some Horror Clicks bricks at one booth; they were sold out when I went back. Perhaps it was fate telling me I’d spent enough money already.

But it wasn’t all gaming; on Wednesday night I stopped by the traditional, super-secret location of the Diana Jones Awards party, and was happy to hear that Jason Morningstar won this year for his fascinating RPG Fiasco. Thursday I went to an Indianapolis Indians game with Jim Lowder. Afterwards, we stopped by a gathering in honor of former Green Ronin writer/developer and current Wizards of the Coast author Rob Schwalb’s birthday. I’m not a night owl, nor am I an accomplished drinker; I turned in before 1 am that night, as usual.

I also tracked down a couple of books I’d been searching for. Cossack Girl, about Marina Yurlova, who joined the Cossacks in the Russian army at the start of World War 1. She never pretended to be anything other than female, and served for six years despite prevailing sentiments at the time being against women serving as active duty soldiers.

I also found a copy of The Zombie Feed, Vol. 1 by Apex Publishing including a story by Flames Rising’s own faithful reviewer and correspondent, Monica Valentinelli.

It’s a long drive there and back and it’s good to be home, but for me GenCon is always worth the trip. Good food to be had in Indianapolis, fun things to do, seeing old friends again and being around so much gaming are among the many things that make GenCon worth the trip for me every year.

Related posts:

1. Horror GMing by The Weirding
2. Back from GenCon 2011
3. Bill’s Month in Horror, March 2011

Available from Amazon.com

Chilling Tales: Evil Did I Dwell; Lewd Did I Live
Edited by Michael Kelly
218 pages
Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing

Horror is a subjective state; what one finds horrifying another might find merely gruesome or grotesque. It is within this ambiguity I find myself regarding Chilling Tales: Evil DId I Dwell; Lewd Did I Live. There was horror within to be sure; also within was loneliness, isolation, despair, and a lot of really good writing.

The 18 “Spine tingling Tales” contained in this volume represent work of some of Canada’s brightest writers. This is pointed out carefully in the editor’s introduction as a rarity, and while I had heard of several authors in the contents page, I was largely unfamiliar with all of them. In that respect I am grateful to Mr. Kelly for assembling this slate of authors into whose work I now wish to delve further. Mr. Kelly goes on to mention two other all-Canadian anthologies, including Tesseracts Thirteen, edited by David Morrell and Nancy Kilpatrick, and Evolve, a collection of vampire tales edited by Nancy Kilpatrick. Both volumes are also published by Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Standout stories for me in this collection included “Tom Chesnutt’s Midnight Blues” by Robert J. Wiersema and “404″ by Barbara Roden. Both are among the first three tales and get the anthology off to a great start. “Tom Chesnutt’s” is about a philandering folk singer who inadvertently causes his wife’s death. She haunts him now, not actively rattling chains and moaning but rather showing up at his gigs – a phantom only he can see – as a reminder of his misdeeds. “404″ is a distressingly familiar tale about office workers who discover their comrades simply disappear one day. As their numbers dwindle and their isolation increases, they each find themselves coming under the watchful eye of their supervisor.

“King Him” by Richard Gavin is told almost in a fairy-tale manner, about a brother and sister living alone in a small community. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that sanity is a fragile creature, and there are things than can enter this world that can cause sanity to crumble, bit by bit. Leah Bobet’s “Stay” emphasizes the isolation or northern Canadian winter, as a produce truck goes off the road near the tiny town of Sunrise. Since the produce will spoil before a replacement truck can get through to take it away, the townsfolk hold a feast, finding the fresh, exotic fruits and vegetables most welcome. The truck’s driver proves to be more than he appears – or perhaps less – and the townspeople must decide what to do about him.

“The Deafening Sound of Slumber” is Simon Strantzas’ busy tale of a man overly sensitive to noise who’s best option is working nights in a sleep research facility. This was a chilling tale indeed with a clever, intriguing concept, but I felt its effectiveness somewhat lost by the distracting foibles of the narrator. It could easily have been every bit as good by minimizing or leaving those bits of character development completely out of the story altogether; I found the man more aggravating than anything and it broke my sympathy for the character. Ultimately I was relieved at his demise, which I’m not certain was the author’s intent.

Likewise in Nancy Kilpatrick’s “Sympathy for the Devil” I found it difficult to sympathize – or even identify with – the main character because he’s such a turd of a man. In the end, he has a change of heart and feels contrition over what he’s done, but it doesn’t save him. His epiphany feels too forced, too (literally) last-minute to work, and his end is a fitting one. In “My Body” by Ian Rogers on the other hand, I found the mystery of the story intriguing, and was in the dark about the reveal until nearly the end.

I found myself perplexed at the inclusion of a number of these stories, particularly Suzanne Church’s “The Needle’s Eye”. While an excellent story, there is nothing particularly horrifying about it, unless one has a phobia about eye injuries. It is a bittersweet tale about medical personnel fighting against a new, lethal plague in Africa, and frankly I found the ending happy and hopeful despite the disability the protagonist has to contend with for the rest of his life – which seems to me the antithesis of the anthology’s theme. Still, it’s difficult to find too much fault with “The Needle’s Eye” itself; it is a great story well told.

The sense of isolation and despair is a strong, unifying undercurrent in this book, and that state of mind can be horrifying of itself, but mostly these stories convey the heavy oppression of loneliness and isolation. They were very effective stories – well-written, pacing and character development were good – but I found it difficult to call them all horror, or even dark fantasy, though some were closer than others. Being clearly labelled as a “Horror and Dark Fantasy Anthology” (it even says so on the back cover) I couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit cheated, though in truth, the term “Dark Fantasy” is a pretty broad and vaguely-defined category. Certainly nearly all were enjoyable stories and I found them entertaining at the very least, but not chilling or spine tingling as billed. Possibly this is a case of personal taste; I urge you to read the anthology for yourself and decide whether or not I’m right. The high level of quality of the tales in this collection is well worth the effort in any case.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Review by Bill Bodden

Related posts:

1. Pullman, His New Book, and the 200th Anniversary of Grimm’s Fairy Tales
2. The Best Of All Flesh Anthology Review
3. Pathfinder Tales: Prince of Wolves Review