Cubicle 7 Entertainment is producing a roleplaying game based on the award-winning Laundry series (The Atrocity Archives, The Jennifer Morgue, and the forthcoming The Fuller Memorandum) by the even-more-award-winning Charles Stross, and uses the also-award-winning Basic Roleplaying System by Chaosium Inc.

“We love the Laundry Files novels, so we’re really excited about this game,” said Dominic McDowall-Thomas, Cubicle 7 Director. “The world of the Laundry is a perfect mix of espionage, conspiracy and tentacled menace from beyond the stars.”

“The books are Lovecraftian spy thrillers. The best elements from both genres are thrown together with a sprinkling of long lost Nazis, terrorist cultists, other foreign governments wanting a piece of the action, as well as Her Majesty’s Civil Service.” added Cubicle 7’s Angus Abranson.

The Laundry is a branch of the British secret service, tasked to prevent hideous alien gods from wiping out all life on Earth. Players take the part of Laundry agents, cleaning up the mess after things go wrong or, sometimes, even managing to prevent the manifestation of ultimate evil. Agents have access to the best equipment they can get their superiors to approve, from Basilisk Guns to portable containment grids to a PDA loaded up with Category A countermeasure invocations.

The game has been designed and written by industry veterans Gareth Hanrahan, Jason Durall and John Snead. “I’m really excited to be working with Cubicle 7 to bring the sinister world of the Laundry to a wider audience,” says Charles Stross, Hugo award-winning author of “The Atrocity Archives” and “The Jennifer Morgue”.

The Laundry RPG is a self-contained rulebook and will be supported by a number of sourcebooks and adventure campaigns. The game is due to be released in July 2010.

C2E2 ANNOUNCES “AN EVENING WITH NEIL GAIMAN”

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

The last time Gaiman performed theatrical readings was ten years ago when he did the “Last Angel Tour.” On that tour, he criss-crossed the country doing sold-out evenings reading stories and poems, new material and beloved tales in order to draw attention to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. The “Last Angel Tour” was meant to have been the last ever such tour, and it produced the long-since sold out LIVE AT THE ALADDIN film. Even the posters from that tour now sell for hundreds of dollars.

That was ten years ago. A generation has grown up who have not seen an evening with Neil Gaiman. In these ten years he’s published such books as American Gods, Coraline and The Graveyard Book. He’s made movies and operas. He even started keeping a blog.

“Neil Gaiman is an enormous personality and it is a genuine privilege to have him perform at the inaugural C2E2 to bring attention to the important work that is carried out by the CBLDF,” states Lance Fensterman, Group Vice President for the Reed Pop Culture Group and Show Manager for C2E2.

“The Reed Pop Culture Group’s commitment to the CBLDF is tremendous, and we’re honored to work with them to create this unforgettable evening of storytelling to raise funds for the CBLDF’s important work,” says Charles Brownstein, the CBLDF’s Executive Director.

An “Evening with Neil Gaiman” will be Mr. Gaiman’s only public appearance at C2E2. Tickets for the event will be available at www.C2E2.com beginning Monday, March 8th at 12pm Central Time. You do not need a ticket to C2E2 to attend. Tickets for the general public start at $30 and C2E2 VIP Ticket Holders can attend for as low as $12. Ticket prices will increase at the door. Visit www.C2E2.com now for full details and ticket pricing.

For One Night Only. On the 17th of April 2010, at 7pm in the Arie Crown / IGN Theater at McCormick Place in Chicago. In support of the First Amendment. Neil Gaiman. You don’t want to miss this.

Know Just Enough To Be Dangerous

Everybody knows rock salt keeps out ghosts and silver kills werewolves. That’s just Folklore 101. But when you need to get rid of a crocotta, banish a tulpa, or deal with an Angel of the Lord, you’re going to need a really good guide.

Centuries of monster lore meet years of seasoned hunting experience and a handful of potentially unreliable Internet files in this essential sourcebook for the Supernatural Role Playing Game.

This full-color hunter’s manual features dozens of spooks, freaks, and threats that have challenged the Winchester brothers on nearly five seasons of the CW network’s hit show, Supernatural.

Each monster is fully detailed with Cortex System game statistics and plenty of lore, ready to drop into any campaign. With extra material on how to play monsters as hunters and create your own supernatural threats, the Guide to the Hunted is an indispensable resource.

The Guide to the Hunted is available now at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop.

IT’S TIME AGAIN TO MARCH FO(U)RTH AND CELEBRATE GM’S DAY!

GM’s Day!He regularly stabs, mangles, perforates, burns, and otherwise damages your precious character. She delights in torturing your PC’s emotions, thwarting their every plan, denying every desire.

And you love your GM for just these things and more!

Celebrate the teller of interactive tales with the rest of us, as we present “One Fourth Off for the Fourth” – GM’S DAY! 25% off hundreds upon hundreds of titles!

Great deals on products from Archaia Entertainment, Cubicle 7, AEG, 12 to Midnight, Pinnacle Entertainment, Evil Hat Productions, Green Ronin, Malhavoc Press and even Flames Rising Press (including the brand new Queen of Crows)!

The sale runs from March 3rd to March 8th. Make with the clicky-click!

Centered around a short story entitled “The Queen Of Crows,” this unique product was designed by author and game designer Monica Valentinelli. At a retail price of $4.99, readers will receive a magazine-style layout of THE QUEEN OF CROWS, a professional illustration of Mahochepi and more!

This product is the first digital release set in the world of the Violet War and is also the first fiction product published through Flames Rising Press. The short story, which is entitled “The Queen of Crows,” takes place during the 1860s and focuses on the tough decisions that a Navajo elder named “Tse” must make to save his people. Will he summon Mahochepi, the Queen of Crows, without knowing who–or what–she is? Read the story and find out!

Here’s what readers can expect to receive when they purchase THE QUEEN OF CROWS:

To keep up-to-date with news about this product set in the Violet War, be sure to visit VioletWar.com.

What are you waiting for? THE QUEEN OF CROWS is available at DriveThruHorror.com now!

About the Contributors

MONICA VALENTINELLI is a professional author and game designer. Described as a “force of nature” by her peers, Monica is best known for her work in the horror, dark fantasy and dark science fiction genres and has been published through Abstract Nova Press, Eden Studios, White Wolf Publishing, Apex Magazine and others. Her credits include: a short story titled “Pie” in the award-winning Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas anthology through 12 to Midnight, an original flash fiction piece entitled “Prey,” which placed an honorable mention in a Mirrormask writing competition and “Twin Designs,” a science fiction novella for the Tales of the Seven Dogs Society collection through Abstract Nova Press.

LEANNE BUCKLEY is a professional illustrator with over ten years of experience under her belt and has worked for both the comics and gaming industries. Her clients have included: Image Comics, Mattel, White Wolf, Paizo, Wizards of the Coast and several others. In addition to her freelance illustrations, she was a Senior Artist for four years at Humanhead Studios, a video game design studio. Her work includes: Put the Book Back on the Shelf: A Belle and Sebastian Anthology through Image Comics, Cthulhutech through Catalyst Game Labs, the Exalted line for White Wolf Publishing, and layout as well as concept work for Mattel. For more information about Leanne and her contact information, visit http://leannebuckley.com/.

SHARI HILL is a professional editor, layout artist and writer with over 15 years of experience in non-fiction, gaming, and academic publishing and communications. She is currently a communications coordinator at a private university. As a freelance editor, she contributed to the All Flesh Must Be Eaten line by Eden Studios, and her credits include the Worlds of the Dead setting collection, the Book of Archetypes series and the Eden Studios Presents series. The Queen of Crows features her first credit as a cover artist.

Download your copy of THE QUEEN OF CROWS today at DriveThruHorror.com.

Publisher New Baby Productions announces that a graphic novel adaptation of Derek Gunn’s acclaimed Vampire Apocalypse novel series is in the works. “I’m really thrilled with this new direction as I always felt that (Vampire Apocalypse) really lends itself to this format,” stated Gunn. Vampire Apocalypse: A World Torn Asunder was published in September 2006, and has been optioned by producer/screenwriter Richard Finney to be a feature film. A script has already been penned by Finney and Franklin Guerrero Jr. Fallout, the third book in the series, was released this October from Black Death Books.

Now you can download the Vampire Apocalypse: Prologue mini-comic for free at DriveThruComics.com!

According to Gunn, “The stories are set in the near future in a world grown insular after a brief war has left the world depleted of resources. Fuel is rationed, states close their borders, communities die, and technology stagnates. As the world struggles to cope with these problems, the vampires come from the shadows and quietly begin to take over community-after-community. They offer power to those who will join them, and death to those who don’t. It doesn’t take long and, after a brutal but brief war, they take control. They use a serum and Thralls to control the population, wall the cities off, and breed humans as stock. The Thralls are humans who have been bitten but have not fully become vampires. They have enhanced speed and strength and guard the vampires during the day when they could be vulnerable.”

“In recent pop culture, vampires have been turned into beings that should be loved. Derek Gunn returns vampires to the blood-thirsty dangerous monsters that they should be,” stated New Baby Publisher Eric Mullarky. “This is the perfect story to launch New Baby into the horror genre.”

This new adaptation will be scripted by CJ Hurtt, an eclectic writer whose work has run the gamut from mainstream to horror to slipstream to political drama. His horror prose has been published in Lighthouse Magazine and Horrorfind.com; and his comic work has been showcased in the political drama One Last Song published by Brainscan Studios. He is the current Fiction Editor of Dark Recesses Magazine.

Assisting on the writing duties will be Gunn, an Irish author whose work has been widely praised on both sides of the Atlantic. His latest novel, The Estuary, was released in June 2009, and has been receiving some great reviews, including commendations from Fangoria, FlamesRising.com, and HorrorNews.net. Gunn is a member of the International Thriller Writers Association and the Horror Writers Association.

Argentinean artist Federico Combi will be providing the art for the graphic novel. Combi fancies himself a “Fine Arts Technician;” an illustrator and artist specialized in multiple concepts and artistic esthetics: fantasy art, pin ups, stories, children’s albums, youth novels, adult novels, paleo art, comics, and storyboards. He has worked for producers on several continents. Mullarky said that “Frederico’s realistic painted style will bring a unique visualization to this project that you will not want to miss.”

Vampire Apocalypse: the Graphic Novel is scheduled for an early 2011 release. A mini-comic preview edition will be available at various conventions during 2010 to start the pre-release marketing. Project updates will be posted on the New Baby Productions web site.

New Baby Productions is an independent comic book publisher formed in 2008 by Eric Mullarky with the intent to self-publish his Elemental Fources series. The follow-up series, Elemental Fources: Brothers in Arms, will be released in 2010.

“Kindred of Rome, but no Kindred of mine:

“You may seek right to appeal, but know also that the most you can expect from me is a swift destruction. You may choose the flames or my blade. But your end is assured.”

A story in the Storytelling Adventure System for Requiem for Rome (using Vampire: The Requiem)

Paterfamilias contains a collection of scenes, Storyteller character records, a number of hyperlinks to various portions of the text as well as bookmarks, so you can always jump right to what you need with just a click. There’s also a new hunter group provided, as well as errata for Requiem for Rome and Fall of the Camarilla.

Paterfamilias is available at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop.

Featuring 20 pulse-pounding short stories, including Mark Souza’s “Cupid’s Maze,” Love Kills: My Bloody Valentine celebrates the sinister side of romance. Forget flowers and candy-scare your lover into your arms this Valentine’s Day.

Including the talented works of Mark Souza, Lily Harlem, Phyllis Humphrey, Michael R. Colangelo, Marianne Halbert, Jack Horne, D.B. Reddick, Jessica A. Weiss, Jeffrey C. Pettengill, Neil Coghlan, Adrian Ludens, Harper Hull, David E. Greske, J. Troy Seate, Rebecca J. Vickery, John Pennington, C. Douglas Birkhead, Matthew Dent, Ruth Barrett and Rich Sampson.

This macabre collection of Valentine’s Day horror is a devil of a good time.

Love Kills: My Bloody Valentine is available now at DriveThruHorror.com from Pill Hill Press.

Other bloody romance stores at DriveThruHorror.com:

Anna Karnivora: A Vampire Novel – Coscom Entertainment
Ghosts and Other Lovers – ElectricStory.com
A Kiss of Shadows – Ballentine Books

As a testament to the continuing strength of the Mouse Guard brand and Archaia Entertainment’s commitment to its creators, the publisher announced today that after selling 80,000 copies of David Petersen’s Mouse Guard Vol. 1: Fall 1152 hardcover since its original release in 2007, the title is going back to press. Archaia’s third printing of 10,000 copies, which are scheduled to arrive in stores in March, was expected to last over a 12-month period, but a deluge of advanced ordering due to the announcement of more Mouse Guard volumes has prompted the possibility of a fourth printing to commence in the coming months.

“Fall is an amazing story with equally incredible art, especially the tremendous coloring David puts on display on every page,” said PJ Bickett, President of Archaia Entertainment. “So, it is no surprise to me that there continues to be a demand for this book. But it was a shock to see how overwhelming the demand has become since the release of Mouse Guard [Vol. 2]: Winter [1152].”

The reinvigorated popularity of Mouse Guard Vol. 1: Fall 1152 (full color, 192 pages, 8” x 8” hardcover with dust jacket, $24.95, ISBN 1-932386-57-2), the first volume in the popular all-ages series of books by Petersen, stems from newfound buzz in anticipation of three new projects coming in 2010:

• On Free Comic Book Day on May 1st, Archaia will release the Mouse Guard/Fraggle Rock flip book, which will feature a new, original 11-page story by Petersen. The issue will be distributed for free at comic book shops across the country. (Visit FreeComicBookDay.com for more information.)

• Also in May, Archaia will launch the Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard anthology. The four-issue limited series revolves around several Mouse Guard members in a tavern, each telling a tall tale. The covers and chapter breaks will be written and drawn by Petersen, while the tall tales will be contributed by some of the most popular creators in comics, including Gene Ha, Guy Davis and Ted Naifeh.

• In September, Archaia rolls out Mouse Guard Vol. 3: The Black Axe, a six-issue limited series. Set in 1115, this prequel will reveal the backstory behind the legendary Black Axe, the most powerful member of the Mouse Guard.

“I’m thrilled that readers are continuing to enjoy my stories,” said Petersen. “Going to multiple printings only means the audience is wider than we thought. Archaia is making sure that as that audience grows, my books are accessible without ever skimping on quality. Readers are passing along copies to friends and family in order to grow the audience, and that makes me grateful. With their help, and the work of librarians and teachers who are using Mouse Guard, I now have a heavy but enjoyable task of giving the audience more of this world. I’m excited to show them ‘what happens next’!”

The new printing of Mouse Guard Vol. 1: Fall 1152 arrives in stores in March and will feature an updated trade dress.

For more information on Archaia or any Archaia titles please visit www.Archaia.com.

Archaia can also be found on Facebook (facebook.com/archaiacomics), MySpace (myspace.com/archaiacomics) and Twitter (twitter.com/archaiacomics).

After 4 years in the making, Evil Hat Productions is not only pleased but proud to officially announce The Dresden Files Role Playing Game (RPG) will release at the Origins Game Fair, June 23, 2010.

Fred Hicks, one of the founding partners of Evil Hat, said, “Stars and stones! This project has been a labor of love for a great many people for a few years now. The thought of sharing these books with people, getting them in their hands, and having people role playing in the Dresden-verse is making me all misty.”

The Dresden Files RPG is based upon the wildly popular series of books by New York Times best selling author Jim Butcher. With eleven books published in the series, and Changes, the 12th book set to release on April 6, 2010, the Evil Hat crew had a wealth of characters and plot to draw from. “When Jim came to us a few years back, and asked us if we wanted to work on a role playing game based on his books, it took us about a millisecond to say ‘yes!’ He has been one of our biggest supporters on the project, and is just wonderful to work with” said Hicks.

Hicks went on to say, “We based The Dresden Files RPG on the ’Fate’ game system we used on the award-winning Spirit of the Century. We took everything we learned from Spirit, and then updated, revised, play-tested, and fine-tuned it to produce an experience that closely matches the novels themselves. That experience is also defined by the wealth of background we were able to add to the game from Jim’s amazing stories, including a comprehensive look at all the characters and creatures from the first ten books. We are sure that along with being a phenomenal game, it will also be a fantastic resource for fans of the books.”

“Originally, we were planning to do this game in a single volume. As time went on and word count grew…so did the amount of flat-out awesome we knew we had on our hands. And so our game grew out of the confines of one book, into two gorgeous volumes,” Hicks added.

The Dresden Files RPG: Volume 1 – Your Story and The Dresden Files RPG: Volume 2 – Our World will make their first appearance at the Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio June 23, 2010.

“We wanted to release these books in a bit more of an intimate setting, so we chose to make our big ‘coming out’ at Origins. It’s a small enough show that we feel like we will be able to spend more time with the fans, and thank the community that has been so supportive as we have been working on this. All plans point to physical copies of the books being available for the release event. But if Fate (ahem) intervenes and they do not arrive for the show floor, we will offer an ‘instant content pre-order.’ This will allow folks to walk away with full PDFs of the books right there, and have the books shipped directly to them,” Hicks said.

Preorders may begin prior to Origins, depending on how the production timeline works out. Shortly after Origins, The Dresden Files RPG Volumes 1 & 2 will then go on sale both to Retailers and Consumers through the Evil Hat online store, as well as through Indie Press Revolution.

Cubicle 7 Entertainment and Sophisticated Games are proud to announce that they are jointly developing The One Ring: The Lord of the Rings Role-playing Game.

“We’re tremendously excited about The One Ring,” said Dominic McDowall-Thomas, Cubicle 7 Director. “Our aim is to give our audience an authentic Middle-earth gaming experience, one that really captures the feel of Tolkien’s world.”

The designer and lead writer of this project, Francesco Nepitello, is a games industry veteran, best known for the hugely successful and critically acclaimed War of the Ring strategy board game, which he designed with The One Ring co-designer Marco Maggi and Roberto di Meglio. A recipient of the International Gamers Award, War of the Ring is recognized by many ‘Lord of the Rings’ enthusiasts and hobby gamers alike as one of the most engaging recreations of the world-renowned fantasy saga by J.R.R. Tolkien. Francesco and Marco are the designers of other immersive board game titles like Marvel Super Heroes and Age of Conan, but started their game-designing careers creating Lex Arcana, the most successful and popular fantasy role-playing game published in Italy.

Francesco has designed the new LOTR RPG game system to make sure that players are completely immersed in Middle-earth from the moment they begin creating their characters. As an experienced designer of games based on JRR Tolkien, as well as being a lifelong devotee of the Tolkien works, Francesco brings a dimension -and a depth- to this RPG which has probably never been seen before in a LOTR game.

Robert Hyde, head of Cambridge (UK) based Sophisticated Games said, “When we first acquired the rights from Tolkien Enterprises to publish this RPG – as part of our wider LOTR book based board game license- we had no hesitation in approaching Francesco to conceive a completely fresh LOTR and The Hobbit RPG, and for him to be the writer. We knew that he possessed both these skills and that the game would be in very safe hands. His presentation of Middle-earth, along with stunning artwork from John Howe and others, brings this incredibly evocative and exciting world to life.”

“We also approached Cubicle 7 to be our publishing partners on the new The One Ring RPG because we loved the quality of their previous publications and felt that Dominic and Angus (Abranson) had both the experience, and with the creation of Cubicle 7, the role playing game resources, to bring LOTR and The Hobbit to a very wide audience.”

The One Ring: The Lord of the Rings Role-playing Game will be published in the second half of 2010.

Visit www.cubicle7.co.uk for more information.

DriveThruRPG announced a major incentive to the roleplaying gamer community today to incite donations to aid in rescue and recovery in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Called the “Gamers Helping Haiti Bundle,” the product includes over a hundred products totaling over $1000.00 in retail value. For a simple donation of $20 – all of which goes to Doctors Without Borders to support their post-earthquake Haiti relief efforts – RPG fans can have this once-in-a-lifetime collection of gaming products.

DriveThruRPG already had opportunities to donate up and running within a day of the disaster. When publishers began asking how they could support the cause, the bundle was created to be an all-inclusive shared effort. Those who donated at the lesser levels won’t be left out, however; gamers who have already donated $5 or $10 will be receiving a special coupon code that lets them pay the difference from their initial donation to get the bundle.

“We are humbled by the generosity of both our customers and our publishers,” said Sean Patrick Fannon, Marketing and Communications Manager for DriveThruRPG, “all of whom have stepped up at this time of terrible tragedy to offer aid to a desperate people. We are also very proud to facilitate these collective efforts, providing the necessary tools and technology to bring it all together.”

More than tools and tech, though, DriveThruRPG is really putting their money where their mouth is, so to speak. “We have always believed in the power of giving and sharing to make the world a better place,” said Steve Wieck, President and co-owner of the site. “To that end, we are matching funds with everyone who’s making a straight donation at the $5 and $10 level.”

There is no set date for terminating the donation efforts, though the bundle will only be available until the end of January.

Brian Evenson’s Last Days, published by Underland Press, has been selected as part of the Reference User and Services Association’s 2010 Reading List.

The Reading List annually recognizes the best books in eight genres: adrenaline (which includes suspense, thriller, and adventure), fantasy, historical fiction, horror, mystery, romance, science fiction, and women’s fiction, and is selected by the association’s Reading List Council, composed of members representing libraries across the United States.

The association praised Last Days in a statement released this week: “Through spare language, a noir sensibility, and macabre humor, Evenson crafts a compulsively readable nightmare…”

The Reference and User Services Association, a division of the American Library Association, represents librarians and library staff in the fields of reference, specialized reference, collection development, readers advisory and resource sharing. RUSA is the foremost organization of reference and information professionals who make the connections between people and the information sources, services, and collection materials they need.

More praise for Last Days:

Horror magazine Fangoria chose Last Days as their Book of the Month. “You NEED to get yourself acquainted with [Brian Evenson] pronto. Remember discovering Thomas Ligotti? Or . . . that first brush with Dennis Cooper or Chuck Palahniuk? You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Zack Handlen at The Onion’s AV Club called Last Days “a grim, darkly hilarious riff on blind obedience…often reading like the twisted offspring of Raymond Chandler and David Cronenberg.”

The Village Voice’s Zach Baron wrote that “the book careens past biblical satire into full-on, blood-soaked, Beckettian absurdity.”

Time Out New York chose Last Days as one of its best books of 2009: “Evenson has always enjoyed chipping away at the distinctions between reality and hallucination, and here he gives us a seemingly straightforward narrative with plenty of action, without ever indicating if what we’re reading is really happening, or just the fancies of a narrator gone mad.”

About Last Days:
Intense and profoundly unsettling, Last Days is a down-the-rabbit-hole detective novel set in an underground religious cult. Still reeling from his brutal dismemberment, detective Kline is forcibly recruited to solve a murder inside a Fundamentalist society that takes literally the New Testament idea that you should cut of your hand if it offends you. Armed only with his gun, his wits, and a gift for self-preservation, Kline must navigate a gauntlet of lies, threats, and misinformation, discovering that the stakes are higher than he thought and that his survival depends on an act of sheer will.

Last Days is available now at Amazon.com.

Dark Matter Studios, producer of the well-received fantasy rpg Epic Role Playing, has released its latest offering, Audhüm, The Southern Reach of Vanier. Audhüm throws players into a cold and unforgiving bronze age world, a place for heroes of ferocity, mettle and ambition. Audhüm is completely compatible with Dark Matter Studios ENnie Award nominated Epic RPG system (Best Rules, 2008).

This original fantasy setting allows players and GM’s the opportunity to take the chariot reins of a harsh, adolescent milieu. Audhüm is a land that has just entered the Bronze Age, whose races are founding the first great civilizations. Heroes in single combat decide the fate of city-states. The gods speak to their anointed. Written language is less than 300 years old. This is the dawn of history. There are no elder cultures that possessed powerful technology or lore. The are no ancient organized civilizations at all, just tribes and city states who have only recently discovered the most powerful invention since fire: complex social organization.

“We’re very excited to share Audhüm with fans of Epic, as well as gamers who might be just getting to know us,” commented Chris Organ, one of the two principal designers, along with Kent Davis. “Our goal with it was to provide an Epic-style deep setting, but move away from a medieval feel toward something more primal – think of a love child between Hellenistic Greeks and the Vikings of the frozen north. Loyalty is not to a country, but to one’s city-state. There is no formal code of laws – that idea is just being invented. The spear and shield are judge and jury on the frozen plains of the Cold South.”

Audhüm, The Southern Reach of Vanier is a powerful supplement to the Epic RPG Game Manual, but gamers will have no problem getting it up and running with the five dollar Epic RPG Quick Start Guide or porting the setting to their own homebrew systems. Diverse cultures and races, plus over fifty organizations and professions promise a fierce, satisfying and complete experience for all manner of groups, whether their interest is high politics, low butchery or a little bit of both. There’s also supplemental rules designed specifically for the setting, as well as a bestiary with a tantalizing selection of new monsters and animals.

Audhüm is robustly supported on the Epic website and forums, and Dark Matter has provided its standard free four-color map and utility PDFs available for download on its website.

Available in both softcover ($18) and downloadable PDF format ($10), Audhüm, The Southern Reach of Vanier is available for purchase immediately from the Epic Role Playing store and at selected retailers.

The Dead Matter movie to be released on July 30th. Midnight Syndicate gives filmmakers chance to have their work featured on The Dead Matter DVD and win prizes with their 13th Anniversary Video Contest.

Midnight Syndicate Films has announced that The Dead Matter movie and soundtrack will be released on July 30th. Production on an interactive website that allows fans to delve deeper into the world and characters they will encounter in the movie is underway. A set of three new trailers, the first of which will be released in February is also in production along with a mini-documentary produced by Smudgeline Productions and other behind-the-scenes featurettes. All of these items and more special features to be announced soon will be included on the DVD release.

Midnight Syndicate Halloween Music is hosting a 13th Anniversary Video Contest where filmmakers and animators can create a silent film or music video to an existing Midnight Syndicate track. The winner will be featured on “The Dead Matter” DVD as well as win prizes from sponsors: Screamline Studios, Conquest Graphics, Robert Kurtzman’s Creature Corps, Van Helsing’s Curse Halloween music, and Midnight Syndicate. Other finalists will also win prizes and special promotions.

Judges include legendary frontman and horror fan Dee Snider (Twisted Sister, Strangeland), Horror FX-legends Tom Savini (Friday the 13th, Dusk Till Dawn) and Robert Kurtzman (producer From Dusk Till Dawn, KNB FX, Wishmaster), as well as Edward Douglas (The Dead Matter) and Gavin Goszka of Midnight Syndicate and producer director Gary Jones (Xena, Hercules, Boogeyman 3).

Additional information on the video contest can be found at www.MidnightSyndicate.com. The official rules are posted at www.MidnightSyndicate.com/videocontest.htm.

VAMPIRE APOCALYPSE will be a 140-page full-color graphic novel based on the critically acclaimed Vampire Apocalypse book series written by Derek Gunn. New Baby Productions licensed the graphic novel rights to the novels.

VAMPIRE APOCALYPSE is a profound re-imagining of the vampire genre that adds a touch of science fiction to the formula. In a dystopian near-future world, war has left the earth depleted of resources. Fuel is rationed, states close their borders, towns die, and technology stagnates. As Americans struggle to cope with these problems, a sinister clan of vampires emerges from the shadows and begins to take over community-after-community. They offer power to those who will join them, and death to those who don’t. The vampires use a serum and subservient Thralls to control the population, wall the cities off, and breed humans as stock. Thralls are humans who have been bitten but have not fully become vampires. They have enhanced speed and strength and are used to guard the vampires during the day when they could be vulnerable to attack.

This new graphic novel adaptation will be scripted by CJ Hurtt, an eclectic writer whose work has run the gamut from mainstream to horror to slipstream to political drama. He is the current Fiction Editor of Dark Recesses Magazine. Federico Combi, a visionary artist from Argentina with a comprehensive fine arts education, provides a realistic painted style that fits the dark tone of VAMPIRE APOCALYPSE perfectly. His exceptional ability to conceptualize complex story elements and generate captivating art within tight deadlines will be invaluable to New Baby.

New Baby Productions has launched a Kickstarter page to raise initial funds for marketing and pre-production costs for this graphic novel. Supporters of this project get access to behind-the-scene updates, previews and other exclusive materials.

Check out the Vampire Apocalypse Project at Kickstarter.com for more information.

Dear FlamesRising.com Readers,

Phew! It is really hard to believe that another year has gone by so quickly. First and foremost, thank you for your comments and your continued support. Your feedback has helped us tremendously, because that was the driving force behind launching a more reader-friendly design in February of 2009.

This year we also focused on ensuring that we had more features for you to interact with and read as well. The horror plot generator was a big hit, and even though we launched it late this year, it continues to be very popular among many of you. Right in time for GenCon 2009, we provided you with a contest, courtesy of the friendly folks at GenCon: Indy. One of the other popular features we added was our Previews category, where we supply game, fiction and comic previews of published (or soon-to-be published) works. The Previews feature is something that we can’t do alone because each and every preview on the site is supplied, with permission, from the publisher and/or the author.

Let’s take a look at some of the most popular topics and a few of my fiction review picks from this past year:

• DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS: Players Handbook 2 a look at the Shaman – Editor-in-Chief Matt M McElroy offered you a sneak preview at the Shaman class as part of a blog tour.
• THE GHOST KING by R.A. Salvatore review – Year after year, tie-in authors are a favorite among many of our readers. This review by R.A. Salvatore was a big hit and incurred several comments.
• Quotes from Neil Gaiman on CORALINE – In what probably qualifies as the shortest interview ever, Neil was kind enough to answer our questions three about the animated movie CORALINE.

Fiction reviews always do well here on FlamesRising.com, and I got the chance to review several books. I’d like to share with you some of the reviews that I had written, as well as my commentary on them.

• THE MAGICIANS review – Written by Lev Grossman, this book is one of my top picks for 2009.
• DEATH’S DAUGHTER review – Written by Amber Benson (GHOSTS OF ALBION), this review highlighted a urban fantasy “comedy.”
• DRACULA: the UNDEAD review – Billed as a sequel to Bram Stoker’s DRACULA, this review was one of the hardest I’ve ever had to write.
• FIRST LORD’S FURY review – My review of the conclusion to Jim Butcher’s fantasy novels brings a close to this militaristic tale against a terrible foe called the “Vord.”
• FINCH review – FINCH, a story set in the Ambergris Cycle by Jeff VanderMeer, competes with THE MAGICIANS for my best book of 2009.
• HIS FATHER’S SON review – In the world of modern horror, I not only reviewed, but recommended this book by Bentley Little to several people.

For 2009, we also highlighted a number of dark fantasy and horror games, and even offered you with a free Storytelling Adventure System One Scene for Halloween. Dubbed THE DEVIL’S NIGHT, this free one-scene was offered to you in conjunction with our friends over at White Wolf Publishing.

Another game-related topic in particular that stands out is LITTLE FEARS: NIGHTMARE EDITION. Game designer Jason Blair offered us an exclusive preview to the game through his LITTLE FEARS: 13 Doors Preview series.

In addition, we reviewed several board games, RPGs, movies, comics and more! We had a lot of fun talking about horror, so here are some of your favorite posts about other games, movies and comics we wrote about.

• Eclipse Phase Review – Catalyst Game Labs released a new RPG under the Creative Commons license this year.
• A Deal with the Dead – We were one of the lucky sites that had an early copy of Geist: the Sin-Eaters
• Little Nighmares – Cardstock Scenes – Bill Bodden started his series of miniatures reviews this year and has more on the way.
• Ready Made World of Darkness – White Wolf released several collections of pre-made characters for the World of Darkness.
• Drag Me to Hell Review – Jason jumped at the chance to review Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell movie.
• The Prophet Review – The Prophet was one of the coolest indie comics we reviewed this year.

We are very excited about this year, because we have a lot more in store for you. We hope that you continue to enjoy FlamesRising.com. Cheers to a a terrifying 2010! (In a good way, of course.)

To learn how you can feed the Flames, feel free to Contact Us. We’re also @flamesrising on Twitter, too.

From all of us here at FlamesRising.com, thank you for reading!

- M

To help you kick off this auspicious New Year right, we’ve got twenty of the biggest and best RPG products on our site on sale for just $10! These are all “big ticket” books that normally sell for at least $20 or more (some for a LOT more), but we all want to jump start the gamer economy here at the start of the year, and you can help us by taking advantage of this unique and amazing sale!

“Hey, wait… there’s more than twenty products on this list!”

Well, yeah. You got us. The publishers thought this was such an amazingly cool idea, they committed more books than we asked for, and we just didn’t have the heart to choose. So you’re really getting “Twenty-Plus for $10!” Do us a favor and don’t tell the bosses, OK?

Some of the titles included in this sale are Geist: the Sin-Eaters from White Wolf, Mouse Guard from Archaia Studio Press, Grimm from Fantasy Flight Games, Etherscope from Goodman Games and Mutant City Blues from Pelgrane Press.

Twenty for $10 RPG Sale at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop.

Fantasy Flight Games’ Dark Heresy and Warhammer Fantasy

Now Available at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop!

Just in time for the New Year, two excellent sourcebooks for Fantasy Flight Games’ Dark Heresy RPG – Purge the Unclean (a trilogy of action, adventure, and horror in service to the Imperial Inquisition) and the Game Master’s Kit (featuring poisons and toxins rules, a xenos generator, quick reference charts, and a full adventure).

For fans of the brand new Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay game, three books are now available for download – the Tome of Mysteries (everything you need to play a Wizard or arcane character); the Tome of Blessings (for the priest and holy character player); and Tome of Adventure (an important guide for the Game Master of WH Fantasy Roleplay).

Visit the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop for all of Fantasy Flight Games’ products, including Midnight, Grimm, Fireborn and more!

Broken Frontier proudly presents the winners of its sixth annual Broken Frontier Awards!

For its 2009 edition, BF opened up its voting process to fans, creators and industry professionals after our staff had compiled four nominees each over a series of ten categories.

As such, the creators and projects that came out on top are the winners as determined by our voting public.

The winners are:

1. Best Writer – Mainstream: Geoff Johns
2. Best Writer – Independent: Terry Moore
3. Best Artist – Mainstream: Steve McNiven
4. Best Artist – Independent: Gabriel Bá
5. Best Publisher: Dark Horse
6. Best Ongoing Series: Walking Dead
7. Best Limited Series: The Umbrella Academy: Dallas
8. Best Debut Book: Batman & Robin
9. Best Original Graphic Novel: The Hunter
10. Best Webcomic: Girl Genius

Check BrokenFrontier.com for spotlight articles on each of the award winners. Congratulations to the award-winners and to everyone who voted! May 2010 field an equally amazing batch of comics as 2009 did.