EVE Online: Empyrean Age will introduce Factional Warfare to the largest sci-fi MMO this June

CCP, one of the world’s leading independent game developers, has announced the features for the upcoming free expansion, EVE Online: Empyrean Age. Slated for a June 10 release, Empyrean Age brings an explosive end to the fragile peace that has existed for one hundred years between the four central races of New Eden and entices players to pledge fealty to their faction of choice to gain fame, wealth and power.

The first victim was found, mutilated beyond recognition, inside a bathroom. The door was locked from the inside. The second victim was torn to pieces, and the damage was so severe that the body was initially thought to belong to two victims. The coroner’s report indicated that cause of death was suicide. It’s going to be another one of those days…

Neoplastic Press is pleased to announce the release of Pent: The First Gospel of Pandemonium.

The War is Over. The Vampires have Won. But a new campaign is about to begin …

The first battle is over and Nero is dead. Now the human survivors will pull themselves from the ruins of their base to find that the world is a very different place outside Nero’s territory.

Nationally, the vampires have organised themselves into cabals but the scramble for power, raw materials and humans for their food, have led to an uneasy peace. Below the surface each state plots against the other and only the far-reaching power of the Vampire Council holds all-out war at bay.

Their control is slipping. And Peter Harris and his team have a plan that might just push them over the edge…

The setting for this ‘script’ is negotiation over the surrender of a fortress manned and protected by a contingent of Templars. Also present are merchants from a secret society with a very deadly secret, servants, priests and monks and the forces of the Muslim leader who is demanding surrender.

On the surface this is a parley to determine the exact nature of this surrender and how it is to be conducted but under the surface each faction has their own secret agenda and these intermingle between the various forces at work. It’s a nice, tangled knot of interwoven motivations and goals that should be ideal for a one-off convention-type scenario.

Review by James ‘Grim’ Desborough

Death has never looked so good

Love them or hate them, the Daeva are the ones you die for. Tempters and priests, madonnas and horrors, these vampires feed on the blood and vices of the World of Darkness — and feed well. From the best parties to the worst parts of town, be seduced by the beautiful among the Damned. For the Succubi, a good-looking corpse is only the first step in the Danse Macabre.

Readers familiar with Permuted Press‘ back catalogue know what to expect when picking up one of their books: post-apocalyptic mayhem, more often than not including zombies.

Empire does not disappoint. The novel follows a group of survivors in Jefferson Harbor, decades after the zombie apocalypse. Although this may not sound that special, Empire does differ from the standard zombie fare.

Review by Leah Clarke

Marvel Zombies: Dead Days (Hardcover Edition)

At last – experience the birth of the Marvel Zombies as told by the creative team of the best-selling limited series, and then witness their rise as they attempt to slake their hunger across two universes!

First, Kirkman and Phillips pull out all the stops as they reveal the secret story of the day the Marvel Heroes became brain-eating monsters in Marvel Zombies: Dead Days! Next, follow the Marvel Zombies into the pages of Millar and Land’s Ultimate Fantastic Four!

The Man in the Hat returns once more to the Big Screen, and no one is more excited than us folks at RPGNow.com. Prepare yourself for two-fisted adventures in strange lands, facing off against diabolical villains and mysterious threats beyond mortal ken. Why? Because we’re celebrating with a special sale featuring Pulp Adventure themed products! […]

CCP, one of the world’s leading independent game developers, has announced the results for the election of nine delegates to the Council of Stellar Management (CSM), a democratically-elected representative council of players chosen by fellow EVE Online players after an exciting two-week voting period that ended May 16.

“Since the earliest days of EVE’s development, we have relied heavily on collaboration with our playerbase regarding world issues. CCP has followed and nurtured what governing and organizational structures emerge within EVE and also brought best practices from the real world into the virtual world,” said CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Petursson. “The formation of the Council of Stellar Management signifies to us that that EVE has extended beyond the parameters of being ‘just a game’ into something more meaningful. As this first group of Councilors works with us over the course of the next six months, we look forward to seeing how our combined efforts can further expand the potential for virtual worlds to entertain, educate and inspire.”

Recovering con artist Ciara Griffin is trying to live the straight life, even if it means finding a (shudder!) real job. She takes an internship at a local radio station, whose late-night time-warp format features 1940s blues, 60s psychedelia, 80s Goth, and more, all with an uncannily authentic flair. Ciara soon discovers how the DJs maintain their cred: they’re vampires, stuck forever in the eras in which they were turned.

To boost ratings and save the lives of her strange new friends, Ciara re-brands the station as “WVMP, the Lifeblood of Rock ’n’ Roll.” In the ultimate con, she hides the DJs’ vampire nature in plain sight, disguising the bloody truth as a marketing gimmick. But the “gimmick” enrages a posse of ancient and powerful vampires who aren’t so eager to be brought into the light. Soon the stakes are higher-and the perils graver-than any con game Ciara’s ever played…

Review by Jenn Moffatt.

For any of you who were frustrated or disappointed with Midnight Alley (Book Three), you’re in for a treat with Feast of Fools. Feast of Fools takes all that we learned or thought we learned from Midnight Alley and puts it all together in a very entertaining package. I could not put Feast of Fools down, and there aren’t a lot of books that I’ve read lately that I can say that about.

There is a level of tension in the Morganville books that keeps you on the edge of your seat, even in the background scenes you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. And it always does. Rachel Caine abuses her characters like a pro, and she doesn’t shirk because these are YA books. Claire and her friends go through hell just trying to survive in Morganville.

Review by Jenn Moffatt.

Gen Con is pleased to announce that once again Wizards of the Coast, will be a co-sponsor of Gen Con Indy. Fans of all ages come to Gen Con each year to see and experience the latest in analog and digital gaming, and Wizards’ participation is a highlight for many fans. This year, Wizards of the Coast will be showing off their latest offerings, including the release of Dungeons & Dragons® 4th Edition.

“We are so pleased to have Wizards of the Coast once again be a sponsor of Gen Con. Its long history with the show, as well as the popularity of its products makes it an integral part of the entire Gen Con experience,” said Adrian Swartout, president of Gen Con.

In 2062, the Year of the Fiftieth Harvest, a Man confined to the sewers, tunnels and caverns of the underworld will venture above ground, into the cities-turned-wilderness left behind after the apocalypse, in a last bid to stop the alien Harvesters and the terrible Other Gods working their puppet-strings. Only a few things stand in […]

Elder Signs Press is excited to announce the title The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia by Daniel Harms, available in summer 2008.

This is the third edition of his popular and extensive encyclopedia of the Cthulhu Mythos. Updated with more fiction listings and recent material, this unique book spans the years of H.P. Lovecraft’s influence in culture, entertainment, and fiction. The voluminous entries make The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia invaluable for anyone knowledgeable about the Cthulhu Mythos and necessary for those longing to learn about the Cosmic Horrors from past and present decades.

With characters working for the CIA, this series is ripe for social commentary on what it means to work for the government, and how to deal with conflicts between their ideals and yours. Unfortunately, the author hasn’t picked up this golden opportunity to create fiction that would really resonate with readers. And I think this is why I’m not connecting with this series ?

It isn’t doing what it could.

Review by Tez Miller

Arc Dream Publishing and Pagan Publishing are working together again to produce a new collection of terrors for Delta Green.

Last year, Arc Dream and Pagan Publishing produced the long-awaited Delta Green: Eyes Only, a gorgeous hardcover sourcebook for Pagan’s award-winning Delta Green game setting. Despite having only 1,000 copies released, Eyes Only is now a finalist for the industry-standard Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Game Supplement of 2007.

We want to do it again with Delta Green: Targets of Opportunity. The authors of Delta Green have been working on material for Targets of Opportunity for years. This fundraiser will tell us if there’s enough interest to finish developing it and to print a limited hardcover edition of the same quality as Delta Green: Eyes Only.

The second installment of the Elemental Witches perhaps unintentionally brings up the question of who’s more evil: demons, or the warlocks who summon them. Or, if you prefer: guns, or the people who use them. The answer in this novel seems to be demons (guns), which is good news for me, who had a thing for hot French warlock Stefan Faucheux in a previous installment.

Another perhaps unintentional issue is what’s more important: being protected, or being independent?

Review by Tez Miller

Marcus Alexander Hart’s apocalyptic novel The Oblivion Society has been chosen as a semi-finalist in the Fantasy & Science-Fiction category of the Independent Publisher’s Book Awards (IPPYs).

With over 3,100 entries for this year’s competition, the Independent Publisher Book Awards (since 1996) award the best indie-published books of the year in 65 categories.

View the full list of this year’s semi-finalists here.

Like a lot of folks ’round these parts, I’m a huge fan of Robert E. Howard. I think he had all the imagination of Tolkien, and for my money, was a better writer. Your mileage may vary, of course, but that’s all moot.

I own all of the Del Rey collections: The Coming of Conan, the Bloody Crown of Conan, the Conquering Sword of Conan, Bran Mak Morn: the Last King, Kull: Exile of Atlantis, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, Crimson Shadows,and Grim Lands. I eagerly look forward to the day when they finally release collections of his western stories, and would love to own collections of his letters (though I currently don’t).

I guess you could say that as a writer I hold the man in high esteem.

Review by Jason Vey

Suddenly, there’s a new kid at school today. No one has lived in the Mayfair House for as long as you can remember, maybe even as long as you’ve been alive. Like a big gray toad nestled into the woods, it gazes down on the corner, eyes empty and soulless. But that’s all changed. You […]