Author | Flames

Flames Rising is an online resource for fans of Horror and Dark Fantasy entertainment. This horror fanzine offers reviews of Games, Fiction, Movies and more ranging from Top-Selling authors to the coolest Small Press and “indie” publishers. The popular Interviews at Flames Rising include Horror authors, artists and other creators of dark entertainment. Stay tuned to the Flames Rising news feed for the latest news on upcoming products, genre conventions and industry developments.

Flames Rising continues to add new Features and expand the Fiction and Articles sections of the site with topics of interest to Horror and Dark Fantasy fans the world over.


The Age of Cthulhu is Upon Us

Posted on April 30, 2012 by

It is the Age of Cthulhu, and the cold tentacles of primeval madness reach across the globe!

Age of Cthulhu 6: A Dream of Japan is now in stores and at RPGNow.com. A search for a missing socialite leads to the Aokigahara forest at the base of Mount Fuji. Eerily quiet, strangely lifeless, and infinitely desolate, this mysterious forest hosts more suicides than any other location in the world — and, as the investigators will discover, is home to an alien intelligence far beyond our comprehension!

Look for AOC6: A Dream of Japan in your local game store or download at RPGNow.com!

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Streets of Bedlam: A Savage World of Crime + Corruption is now available for pre-order!

Posted on April 27, 2012 by

Missed out on the Kickstarter? Don’t sweat it. Streets of Bedlam: A Savage World of Crime + Corruption is now available for pre-order!

Bedford and Lamrose. Two sides of the same river. Two sides of the same coin. One, an affluent metropolis teeming with industry and aspiration. The other, a cesspool of crime and vice. Both dirty, both begging for the match that will set this whole city on fire.

Bedford and Lamrose. Locals call this place Bedlam. It’s a fitting name.

Streets of Bedlam: A Savage World of Crime + Corruption is equal parts neo-noir, pulp detective fiction, and a bit of the ol’ ultraviolence thrown into a cement mixer and poured on top a heap of nameless bodies no one will ever miss.

It’s a modern urban setting full of despicable people doing awful things in the name of G*d, money, politics, or to pay off old debts. The stories shine light on the dark places of the human heart but it’s about finding diamonds in the rough, about good people in bad situations. The heroes may have questionable means but they have good intentions.

Of course, you know what they say about good intentions.

This setting requires the Savage Worlds Deluxe rulebook from Pinnacle Entertainment.

Save $5 off print, $5 off the pdf, or order both and save $15 of your order. Get it fast, get it cheap.

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Deadlands comics from Visionary Comics go digital!

Posted on April 26, 2012 by

Visionary Comics and Pinnacle Entertainment Group are proud to present Deadlands, the critically acclaimed and fan favorite new comic series, now available at DriveThruComics.com. The work of masters such as Jeff Mariotte (Desperados), Brook Turner (Golly!), Ron Marz (Artifacts), Bart Sears (Conan), Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray (Jonah Hex), Lee Moder (Shinku), David Gallaher, and Steve Ellis (High Moon) brings the Weird Western World of the Role Playing Game to the world of comics with style.

This collaboration of industry all-stars has created four brand new stories that delve deeply into the mystery and mayhem of Deadlands. Set against a backdrop of the Old West gone slightly weird, these stories range from the mad invention of The Devil’s Six Gun to the masterful horror of Death Was Silent. We are also excited to bring you, for the first time in one complete issue, The Kid: Origins; the backup story that ran through all four print editions of Deadlands from Visionary Creators C. Edward Sellner, Oscar Capristo, and Ale Aragon now collected together under an exclusive new cover. Telling the origin of the fearsome werewolf stalker Billy the Kid, this story sets the stage for the upcoming mini-series.

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Don’t Read This Book Pre-Order at Evil Hat

Posted on April 24, 2012 by

Down a lonely alleyway, under a starless sky, lies a city that never was, yet is: the Mad City, where nightmares walk the streets, and a good night’s sleep can get you killed.

Here, then, is a book from that place. Within these recovered pages are the tales of the Awake, insomniacs who’ve walked those perilous streets, bringing a bit of the power of dream with them to fight back the night—always at a terrible cost.

For many, it will not end well. For a few, they might just become heroes—or at least find their way back home.

For you, a choice. Turn away. Don’t read this book. And maybe you’ll continue to rest easy. Or open the cover and enter a world unlike any you’ve ever dared to imagine…

Pre-Order the softcover edition at EvilHat.com today.

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Delta Green: Strange Authorities eBook Available Now!

Posted on April 23, 2012 by

“Born of the U.S. government’s 1928 raid on the degenerate coastal town of Innsmouth, Massachusetts, the covert agency known as Delta Green spent four decades opposing the forces of darkness with honor, but without glory. Stripped of sanction after a disastrous 1969 operation in Cambodia, Delta Green’s leaders made a secret pact: to continue their work without authority, without support, and without fear. Delta Green agents slip through the system, manipulating the federal bureaucracy while pushing the darkness back for another day—but often at a shattering personal cost.”

THIS IS THE END AND THE BEGINNING

Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes merges Lovecraftian cosmic horror with techno-thriller espionage in these four stories and a novel interconnected by a web of deceit.

Delta Green: Strange Authorities is now available in ePub format at DriveThruFiction.com!

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Plague Town Pandemic Tour: Stop 8

Posted on April 19, 2012 by

A zombie virus of guest articles, Q&As and excerpts from new urban fantasy novel, Plague Town, will be infecting websites, blogs and social media accounts across the globe to offer readers the chance to win a signed copy of Plague Town and have a character named after them in the next novel in the series!

Flames Rising is the 8th stop on the ‘Plague Town Pandemic Tour’.

Collect the 8th word hidden in CAPS at the end of this article along with a sequence of eight others on blogs and websites outlined in the link below; tweet the sentence you’ve discovered to @TitanBooks and @zhadi1 with #PlagueTown before April 23rd.

Happy Hunting.

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Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land’ Summoned to PC via the Intel AppUp center

Posted on April 18, 2012 by

Whispers in the darkness today confirmed that the critically acclaimed ‘Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land’ today announced their hit game is coming to PC. The developers, Red Wasp Design, revealed the existence of a Cyclopean pact with the Intel AppUpSM program to spread the insanity onto laptops, Ultrabooks and desktops worldwide. The Intel AppUpSM center is a service that aggregates, curates and distributes validated digital content delivering a fuller, richer experience on the PC.

The game will launch on the AppUpSM center on 5th May 2012 at the RPC Germany international RPG event. The games developers will also be at the event demoing the PC version of the game to fans and fellow gamers. The price point will be confirmed on the release date. AppUpSM is free to install and has lots of games and applications on it for Windows PCs. The PC version of the game runs in widescreen and has been optimised to run on laptops, Ultrabooks™ and desktops including support for Windows 7 touchscreen powered PCs.

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National Center for Missing & Exploited Children RPG Bundle

Posted on April 17, 2012 by

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and RPGNow.com has partnered with several publishers to raise funds for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Check out the NCMEC Bundle with over $146 worth of RPG PDFs for only $25

A number of publishers including White Wolf, FunSizedGames, Skirmisher Publishing, Troll in the Corner, Tricky Owlbear Publishing, Melior Via and more have each donated some very cool products to this collection with all proceeds for the Bundle going to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. This special fundraiser Bundle will only be available this month, so be sure to scoop up this great deal and support a cause while you get the chance.

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Call of Cthulhu: Masks of Nyarlathotep, 4th Edition Available Now!

Posted on April 15, 2012 by

At last the stars are almost right!

Soon Nyarlathotep’s plans will come to fruition. Then the world will be changed irrevocably — but not quite yet. Pesky human investigators have learned much. Now they must survive long enough to make sense of what they know, and take resolute action.

Masks of Nyarlathotep is a Lovecraftian exercise in horror and mystery. This Call of Cthulhu roleplaying classic is a series of linked adventures forming one long and unforgettable campaign. Horrifying deeds and dangerous sorcery dog those who dare attempt to unravel the fate of the Carlyle Expedition.

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Top Cow’s Dragon Prince arrives at DriveThruComics!

Posted on April 14, 2012 by

Writer Ron Marz has revitalized Witchblade and is the architect behind the acclaimed First Born and Broken Trinity crossover events. Now, joined by artist Lee Moder (First Born: Aftermath, Painkiller Jane), Marz debuts Dragon Prince, a five-part modern fantasy with equal doses of magic and martial arts mayhem.

Like a lot of teenagers, Aaron Chiang feels he’s never fit in, though he’s never known why. But all that changes when he learns the truth of his heritage: He is the Dragon Prince, last of his kind and heir to the bloodline of all dragons. Hunted to the brink of extinction by a secret society of wizards, dragonkind’s survival is now in Aaron’s hands.

The Dragon Prince series is now available at DriveThruComics.com!

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Archaia Blows Into The Windy City for C2E2 2012

Posted on April 13, 2012 by

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

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Fantastic Stories of the Imagination Review

Posted on April 13, 2012 by

Fantastic Stories of the Imagination is Warren Lapine’s new anthology, taking an SF magazine sensibility into the anthology market. He brings 14 very diverse stories by a wide range of authors from great masters such as Mike Resnick and Harlan Elision to more recent discoveries (at least to me) Fans of the Liaden universe will be glad to see a Sharon Lee and Steve Miller story.

The tales go from pure science fiction through to urban fantasy. There is no theme to the anthology though many of the stories deal with the intersection between man and machine and the question of where one leaves off. Most of the stories deal with ethical and moral issues characters face, about when to intervene in someone else’s life or situation. Love is encountered, succeeds, disappoints, fails and rises from the ashes as we learn to cope, to hold and to release.

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Dark Legends Now Available Exclusively On Google Play and Chrome Web Store

Posted on April 12, 2012 by

Spacetime Studios, working closely with Google, is introducing the world’s first MMO to launch simultaneously on mobile and desktop platforms. The mobile MMO Dark Legends is now available exclusively for a two week period on Google Play for Android devices and on the Chrome Web Store for PC, Mac and Linux.

The commercial launch of Dark Legends across both mobile and desktop simultaneously is another industry first by Spacetime Studios and furthers their goal to create a ubiquitous social gaming experience. The company’s Legends series are the only 3D MMOs in the world that allow people to play the same game together on desktop computers, smart phones and tablets.

For more details visit www.darklegends.com.

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Land of Verne: A Steampunk Fantasy Combo

Posted on April 12, 2012 by

This steampunk fantasy combo contains the children’s novel Scourge: A Grim Doyle Adventure as well as the short story, Simian’s Lair: A Tale from the Land of Verne!

Also includes the first chapter of the eagerly awaited Choose Your Own Adventure Novel, Billy Bones: Beyond the Grave!

Land of Verne: A Steampunk Fantasy Combo is available now at DriveThruFiction.com!

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SLA Industries RPG Film Rights Acquired

Posted on April 11, 2012 by

Romark Entertainment has acquired the film and television rights to the critically acclaimed Role-Playing Game, SLA Industries, from publisher Nightfall Games. As part of the acquisition, Romark and “SLA” creators Dave Allsop and Jared Earle are also announcing a partnership that will see the two sides come together under one banner to focus exclusively on the expansion of the 20-year running series into the comic book, video game and art worlds.

Independently released in 1993, SLA Industries is set in a futuristic dystopia where players, wielding advanced weaponry and arcane abilities, take on the roles of Operatives working for an omnipresent and ruthless corporation hellbent on controlling the universe. In the game, appearance, style and branding are emphasized just as much as combat, politics and subterfuge.

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Werewolf Translation Guide Available Now!

Posted on April 11, 2012 by

Have you always wanted to include lupus Garou in your Forsaken game? Or perhaps the Hunters in Darkness into your Apocalypse game? This guide will help you translate the feel and core elements from each version of Werewolf into the other game system and background.

The Werewolf Translation Guide includes:

Translations of all of the tribes and auspices between versions of Werewolf
Conversions for the breed rules into the current World of Darkness rules, including lupus and metis
Guidelines for converting Gifts between systems

The Werewolf Translation Guide is now available in PDF and Print editions at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop!

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Wisconsin Bat Festival May 12, 2012

Posted on April 10, 2012 by

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

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

– Meeting a Malayan Flying Fox at the 2011 Bat Festival

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

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Laura Anne Gilman on the Cosa Nostradamus Kickstarter

Posted on April 6, 2012 by

Today, FlamesRising.com sits down with author extraordinaire Laura Anne Gilman to talk about Miles To Go / Promises to Keep: a Cosa Nostradamus Kickstarter which ends on Saturday, May 5th.

Let’s listen to Laura as she dives into what the Cosa Nostradamus series is all about and why she’s pursuing new stories on Kickstarter.

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Degenesis RPG now available in English from Posthuman Studios

Posted on April 4, 2012 by

Degenesis is the story of mankind’s struggle in the wake of Earth’s greatest catastrophe: a rain of massive asteroids. Europe and Africa have been cut off from the other continents and battle against each other for control of the known world. In Europe, the people are finally emerging from a dark age that spanned half a millennium, whereas Africa has become complacent and corrupt after centuries of wealth and splendor.

From the ashes of the Eschaton, seven new cultures arose. They span from the frozen northern regions of Europe across the Mediterranean and down into Africa. They are mere children compared to their ancestors and yet they rule over the known world.

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Chapter One of Pure by Julianna Baggott

Posted on April 4, 2012 by

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . .
Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.

Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . .

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11 Tales of Ghostly Horror

    Reviews Wanted!

    The new Review Guidelines have been posted on the Flames Rising website. We are currently seeking a few good reviewers to help us expand our collection of horror and dark fantasy reviews. RPGs, fiction, movies, video games and more are all welcome on the site...

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    Beyond helping out fellow Flames Rising readers by letting them know what you think of these products, we're giving away some pretty cool stuff. Regular Reviewers can earn free products to review, which is their to keep after the review is submitted to the site.

    Note: We are especially looking for folks interested in reviewing eBooks (both Fiction & Comics). We have lots of great titles in digital format and even get advance copies sometimes.

    Use the Contact Page to submit reviews or let us know if you have any questions.

    The Devil’s Night WoD SAS

    Free Devil's Night | White Wolf