As with the previous edition the tactic with Exalted in this addition appears to be the release of ‘uber’ splatbooks. Apparently a successful model as it’s one that’s spread across various of the larger companies now in selling their products. While you have some fill-in material to use to play the various high-powered factions in Exalted they only come into their own with these larger splatbooks where they’re properly filled out, given access to all their powers and secrets and become a force in their own right.

This splatbook – or ‘Manual of Exalted Power’ – (a touch unwieldy as a name in my opinion) addresses the Abyssal Exalted, after the Dragon Blooded perhaps the most persistent enemy of the Solar Exalted, their twisted ‘undead’ antithesis.

Review by James ‘Grim’ Desborough

There has over the last couple of years been a resurgence of various “Old School” games to hit the market. We have companies dedicated to giving us the feel of the first time we have gamed with newer rulesets, companies that give us updates on old rulesets, and companies again that publish supplements for older games. The fact that these companies can co-exist in this market must mean there is at least enough financial interest to give this resurgence some credibility.

Review by Timothy Brannan

This is a supplement to the role playing game created by Evil Hat called Don’t Rest Your Head. It is a game that has more than a few horror aspects to it. If you are unfamiliar with the game you can read a review of it -here-.

WARNING! This is an adult game and this supplement is a VERY adult book. If you decide to check it out someday you should know that. Adult language and adult themes are prevalent in this book. If you are easily offended or squeamish, it may not be the right one for you. Just felt like I should warn you.

We now return to your regularly scheduled broadcast.

Review by Stacey Chancellor

Within the realm of fantasy books, there are often stories that wander behind-the-scenes of a traditional sword-and-sorcery plot, describing knights, princesses and faraway places as real as if the author imagined Merlin himself lived right next door to you.

In James P. Blaylock’s The Knights of the Cornerstone, due out on December 2, 2008, we meet Calvin Bryson, a recluse deeply affected by his broken engagement and his love of rare books and pamphlets. Carefully living off of his family’s inheritance, Calvin dabbles in drawing cartoons and doesn’t really care to think much about what’s going on in the world.

I’ll start this with a confession. Witchblade Volume 5 is the first example of the Witchblade universe that I’ve had the pleasure of reading. I wasn’t completely ignorant of the series. I wrote a profile of artist Mike Choi a few years ago which required some research, but Witchblade is one title that’s never screamed, “Read me!” Why does this matter? Because this review will split everyone into one of three camps – Those of you who, like me, have never read the series, Witchblade fans curious to read a rookie’s perspective, or Witchblade fans who angrily utter the word, “Duh!” over the next few minutes more times than is ever appropriate. The value you get out of this review will depend squarely on where you decide to camp.

Review by Jason Thorson

This is the final book of the Genesis of Shannara trilogy. Since I am a huge fan of the Shannara books, I will try to be as unbiased as possible. Although I doubt I can. Things have come to a head in the world.

Angel Perez, a Knight of the Word, lies wounded and recovering from her battle with a ferocious demon. Kirisin and Simralin (elf brother and sister) make the difficult decision to leave Angel to heal and take the Elfstones and Loden stone back to the elvish city of Arborlon.

Also a demon army has approached the elvish city and is on the verge of attacking it. Findo Gas, the highest ranking demon leads this army and he is determined to crush them.
Review by Stacey Chancellor

The newest CD from Spirit Creek, A Culture of Unaccountability, is the much anticipated CD release from them for several years. After a too long sabbatical from the band, they appeared out of nowhere on the scene again in Milwaukee, bringing with them their original lead guitar, Drew Ingle, and new bassist, Mike Jakubiak, as well as a brand new sound. Taking inspiration from Pearl Jam, Lacuna Coil, and The Cure, A Culture of Unaccountability has breathed new life into the Spirit Creek lineup.

After the introduction, The Black Co. bursts into the speakers, driving home the concept behind the album title.

Review by Crystal Mazur

Book two of the series starts where the first one left off.

Hawk and his girlfriend Tessa had been pushed off the building for crimes against the compound. Only to disappear in a bright light.

Knight of the Word, Logan Tom has found they gypsy morph (Hawk), but he cannot get to him before he is pushed toward what could be his death. He is left with the Ghosts (the small street gang that Hawk led) and they begin a search to find the young man.

Review by Stacey Chancellor

To be honest, I’m not really a comic book fan. There are only a couple select comics I’ve ever gotten into. This comic was pitched to me by David as Gilmore Girls meets Call of Cthulhu. He was selling 3 of the comics, issues 1,2 and 5, and an accompanying activity and coloring book for $15. His hook was great, and he grabbed me with the coloring and activity book.

Overall the art is really fitting for the story. It is more aimed for a more mature audience, so the artwork is on the revealing side. It is a cross between the classic American superhero art style and hints of anime thrown in. It is dark and trashy, and utterly fitting.

Review by Crystal Mazur

When manga comic book styles meet a popular author’s work, the results can be either spectacular or disappointing. Christine Feehan’s Dark Hunger is paranormal romance mixed with a highly stylized art form that does what it sets out to do — entertain fans and entice new ones with a bit of passion and lust.

What I liked about this particular manga interpretation, was that this product is the whole package; the cover art shows the two main characters (Riordan and Juliette) as they appear in the book. With cover copy that shows off the “romance” in the work, you know what you’re getting into when you read it.

There’s more to paranormal creatures than mechanics in the opener of Patricia Briggs’s popular urban fantasy series.

Mercedes “Mercy” Thompson is a hereditary walker, brought up in a werewolf foster home. Now Mercy runs her garage specializing in German vehicles, and takes on a new assistant – who happens to be a werewolf with a lot of trouble on his back. But it’s hard to make friends when you’ve been kept in a cage, and experimented on.

When a corpse is dumped on her front step, and next door there’s more destruction, and a teenage girl is missing…it all leads to Mercy working with werewolves, vampires and fae to get everything resolved.

This review of an author that is one of my favorites. Terry Brooks. I first read The Sword of Shannara when I was fourteen and although it had many (and I say many) similarities to the Lord of the Rings, I still liked it enough to read more by him.

The story is this. It is the near future, civilization has fallen into chaos. Nuclear war has left the land barren of food and water and people struggle to survive anyway they know how. Demons are pushing the world farther into oblivion, and there are only a few that stand up to them. Knights of the Word. Logan Tom and Angel Perez are those knights and it is there job to take the remnants of humanity to find a safe haven for their survival.

Review by Stacey Chancellor

We’re back from GenCon and so are the Flash Fire Mini-Reviews.

This week we’re going to take a look at some of the cool new books we picked up over the weekend in Indianapolis. This mix of Horror and Dark Fantasy game products from large publishers and small press shows off just a few of the interesting items that were available at the convention.

I’ll be upfront and admit I have not completely read these titles yet. GenCon was only a few days ago and some of these books are quite hefty (Starblazer Adventures alone is 600+ pages). So, these are first impressions and notes from playing demos at the convention.

Science and magic come together to decimate Las Vegas’s population in the second volume of the Signs of the Zodiac series.

Joanna Archer is still living a double life as a superhero and a socialite heiress, going under her sister Olivia’s name. But someone else knows her as Joanna: a Shadow initiate whose metamorphosis isn’t far away. Regan DuPree seems both a helper and a hindrance, and Jo trusts her when she probably shouldn’t. As a result, she unintentionally spreads the deadly virus that the Tupla let loose, and things worsen from there.

Review by Tez Miller

Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden is back and invading the world of comics in a series entitled, Welcome to the Jungle. Don’t know who Harry Dresden is? Well, if you haven’t met Chicago’s favorite wizard yet, this four-part comic series is a good introduction to the world of Harry Dresden and his friends.

In Welcome to the Jungle, Harry Dresden has an unusual innocent to save–a gorilla named “Moe.” Accused of violently murdering a victim in Lincoln Park Zoo, Harry Dresden rushes in to investigate, spurred on by Lieutenant Murphy. Just when he picks up the trail of the “real” killer, things get sticky as our lucky hero gets right into the middle of a death match with supernaturally-charged lions. With a little help from his partner-in-crime, Bob, Dresden tracks down the source of the possessed animals–but is it too late? Will Dresden be able to stop a big evil from taking over Chicago?

Cy is an ordinary guy with a beautiful fiancee — until his uncle’s suicide changes his life forever. Consumed with discovering the motive behind his relative’s sudden and painful death, he finds notes and scribblings about a nonsense word he doesn’t recognize… Cthulhu. Obsessed, he seeks out answers to questions he should have never asked. A horrifying glimpse into a modern day Lovecraftian world filled with nightmares and excursions into Lovecraft’s Dreamlands!

The Fugue collects the first several issues of the Fall of Cthulhu comic book series. This is a modern tale of the Cthulhu Mythos featuring several well-known elements of the setting that have been built up over the years in various novels, anthologies and role playing games. The treatment of Miskatonic University is a great background element throughout the story, for example.

Do you like slasher films? How about the one where this really, gorgeous girl gets chased by a guy in mask? Ever wonder what would happen if the girl fought back?

Enter Cassie Hack, a girl with a violent past. You see, Cassie wasn’t well-liked as a teenager in her school; kids would taunt her, call her a freak. Her mom–in her own, over-protective way–tried to stand up for her daughter by killing those vicious snobs and serving them up to other students as mystery meat. Of course, with an influx of protein into the diets of those kind, innocent kids, someone had to notice. When Mrs. Hack was confronted to pay for her crimes, she committed suicide by sticking her head in a pot of boiling gravy.

Eryn James is a medical secretary by day who the police have asked to become bait. Five women who’ve been to LifeMate have been murdered; Eryn looks similar and she’s a shifter – though I’m not sure if it was explained how she met the police and how they know she’s a shifter. But Eryn’s not just a shifter – she’s a beagle shifter. Okay, that’s something new, and it causes for perhaps unintentional hilarity…

Review by Tez Miller

Filmed on location in gorgeous Marin County, California, The Beckoning is an independent horror film based on the legend of Sir Francis Drake. In 1579, Sir Drake landed in California, claiming the land as “Nova Albion” or “New White.” The story of the film is a look at a legend surrounding this historical figure; Drake’s burning of a Native American woman at the stake for setting a pox upon Natives and English alike.

Vicki Pettersson brings fresh ideas, deep psychology and Las Vegas’s underbelly in this flashy first volume in the Signs of the Zodiac series.

Since her almost-deadly assault about nine years ago, Joanna Archer has been tough and hard, with an empty façade that keeps even her nearest and dearest away. A blind date ends in violence and death, and Jo’s not just an innocent bystander. Turning twenty-five has awakened powers that have made her a target of the warring Zodiac factions, Light and Shadow. With a parent from each faction, Jo could go either way, and though she chooses to align with the Light, a traitor walks among the troop and exposes them all to the Shadow agents…including Jo’s father.

Review by Tez Miller