Three Shades of Night offers a look into each of the “big three” supernatural races of the World of Darkness; all three novellas in this book take place in Chicago, and all of them also involve a supernatural virus that is killing innocents throughout the city.

SLA (read ‘Slay’) Industries was a landmark game when I first bought it many years ago and I rather regret the series of events that saw my copy deposited on the bed of the River Han in Seoul. It is with considerable joy, therefore, that I found that the original is now available as a free PDF download. Once again there is the chance to become immersed in the nasty doings of the Planet Mort, where 900 years of deception have led to the exploitation of just about everyone by the infamous SLA Industries itself and, above all, where it always seems to be gloomy and raining. This is the future as a Glasgow tenement, or at least so it always was in my imagination.

Review by John Walsh

Myriad is described a universal role-playing system and is released under a Creative Commons License which permits readers to make such use of its material as they may wish in their own games and books, so long as various fair use provisions are followed. It would be wrong to describe it as a complete game, as the author declares in the foreword, “Myriad is not a complete RPG in its own right; some assembly is required.

Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd. has reached an agreement with Warner Bros. Television and DC Comics to produce role playing game products based on the hit television series, Supernatural.

“We like role playing games that feature a great mix of character, action, and story,” says Margaret Weis, New York Times best-selling author and game publisher. “Supernatural delivers on all three, and the show’s premise is perfect for games. The show is like a new horror movie each week, and now we’ll be bringing that experience to the game table.”

Dying To live is not only an intricate novel, but it also makes the reader think. Paffenroth is very intelligent in the way he tells a story, especially how he uses the way people think and react to a situation to make the characters seem more real. He does this by creating Jonah Caine, and by telling his story in first-person.

The prequel to this book did itself good by creating a story that made itself stand out, but with the sequel, the book seems to jut out on the bookshelf with a bloody and violent cover, one that official says, ‘Do not be alarmed, everything is under control . . .’

Dracula has held our fascination for centuries, and yet his life, and his death remain a mystery to us. So it is only natural for him to star in many novels and games, making the hunt for him a focal point in the plot. The novel The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova, features the history of Dracula. The fear and danger of searching for him are wonderfully depicted in this novel, keeping the reader glued to its pages.

I can’t remember the last time I was as entertained by the audience’s reaction to a movie as I was the movie itself. People laughed hysterically, burst out in fits of applause, and “ewe-ed” and “ah-ed” their ways through all 3 hours and 11 minutes of Grindhouse. The movie-going experience for me was outstanding, more so than the movie itself. Here’s the thing, though: The movie is pretty darn good too, which makes writing this review a bit less of a daunting task than it could’ve been. And for that I say, “Thanks, Robert. Thanks, Quentin.”

From role-playing games to television series, Flames Rising horror webzine offers hundreds of reviews on products from every world of horror imaginable. We feature nationally-distributed and licensed products like Hellboy, to small press ventures like the game InSpectres from Memento Mori.

Our philosophy on reviews is simple: we encourage our horror reviewers to channel their inner Poe to write reviews that are easy-to-read and provide you, the horror fan, with the best information possible.

Whether you enjoy paranormal romance or post-apocalyptic horror, this list has a little something for the monster in all of us. If you would like to be a horror reviewer for Flames Rising, we encourage you to visit our submission guidelines. We go out of our way to reward our regular horror reviewers, and encourage you to add your voice to our choir.

Our reviews are listed in alphabetical order by type of review category (click on the “Read more…” link just below this paragraph). For an alternative means of navigation, feel free to take advantage of the search box on our site to find what you’re hunting for.

300 is adapted from Frank Miller’s graphic novel of the same name about the 480 B.C. battle at Thermopylae between a monolithic and massive invading Persian army led by King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and merely three hundred of the most brave Spartans led by King Leonidas (Gerard Butler). As both history and the laws of probability dictate, our noble Spartans lost, but they did inspire the rest of their fellow Greeks to resist which ultimately preserved the genesis of Western Civilization.

As reviewers, we are trained to assess the strength of a book by its readability as well as its marketability. In other words, we understand that the art of writing and publishing is also a business, and one that always seems to have many twists and turns. Sometimes, we read books that don’t seem to fit in one place or another, but the story is amazing. Other times, we read a book that when you’re done you know it should be found smack dab in the middle of the fantasy, horror, or science fiction section in your bookstore. Often, though, it becomes increasingly difficult to read a book that stretches beyond the boundaries of genre to simply be a “good book.”

Review by Monica Valentinelli

Down the Road is a relatively short read, wrapping up in 168 pages or so. I read it in one day while traveling across the state of Wisconsin. The adventure George has throughout the book is a fun and scary read for anyone who enjoys zombie fiction. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the sequel.

It is not often that a role playing game makes you think. It is also a rare occurrence when a role playing game tackles a controversial subject, with grace and understanding. Upon reading Little Fears I was happy to have my first impressions of the game shattered. At first glance Little Fears is a game simply about childhood fears, which it is, but it is also about much more.

Mythmaker, while affording Key and Ogre their individualism as musician and artist and possessing the “updated” sound of the current iteration of Skinny Puppy, reaches back in time. Back into the closets. Back down into some of the hidden holes and shallow graves that the band had dug with their bare hands back in the day when they began pioneering away from Winnipeg and into the faces of the rest of the world, changing the meaningless term of “post-punk” into the force to be reckoned with genre of modern industrial music.

There does seem to be a terrific appetite for new systems for governing role-playing games, despite there being more already in existence than it would be possible to play even in a very extended lifetime. If anyone really needs a new mechanism for a generic setting with a GM willing more or less to improvise action, this would be a good candidate and, being a few download, the price must be right. I would hope that the author will feel encouraged enough to put some thought into how the basic system could be used in a more fleshed out background world.

I fear not only a lack of appreciation for fine horror films like Psycho, but also I wonder if modern teeny boppers and fans of bloody horror understand the nuances presented? While Psycho is gore free, the spooks might still scare kinds under 10. Truthfully anyone with a heart condition should avoid Psycho. If you’re new to classic films, old movies, or Alfred Hitchcock, Psycho is a must see. Study it and appreciate it thoroughly.

There is a lot to like about The Creep Chronicle — indeed, in many ways, it’s the PG-rated successor of Little Fears that several people were hungering for back in 2001. If you’re looking for a “kid friendly” horror RPG that still has some teeth, you need look no further than The Creep Chronicle.

Shadowplay is the second book in the Shadowmarch series, written by veteran novelist Tad Williams. Truthfully, I have not read Shadowmarch, the first of the three books in this trilogy—but I have read almost every other book that Williams has ever published. Picking up Shadowplay was an experiment, in the sense that I wasn’t sure whether or not I would need to read the first book. The result?

Shadowplay has very little recap from its predecessor—you can glean the details as you read on—and the first hundred pages proved difficult to me as a reader simply because I hadn’t read the events leading up to the scattering of the royal Eddon family and the takeover by the Tollys.

Let me begin by writing something positive about director, Francisco Plaza’s, Werewolf Hunter. It’s ambitious. But really. What do you get when you try to combine a monster movie, a serial killer thriller, a period piece, a docudrama, and an episode of National Geographic Explorer? Answer: A disjointed mess that never commits to any of these. Rather than pulling us through a compelling narrative, we watch while Mr. Plaza meanders in circles for 89 minutes. What’s left in his wake is a movie so disengaging that the most frightening experience I had watching it was the possibility that I may fall asleep and have to watch it again so that I can write this review.

Prophecies, magic, and a powerful darkness come to life in the novel End of Heroes, written by an up and coming author. Although this is a fantasy novel, there are many elements that do not follow the mainstream cutouts you might find in your local bookstore hidden away on the shelf. First and foremost, it is strongly apparent that there is an intelligent author behind the planning of this book. Herbst has created a very, well-detailed setting with a complex wizard society and magical rules.

Review by Monica Valentinelli