Feed the Fire

New Amsterdam

Sun, 11 May 2008 13:27:37 GMT

I've been watching this show over on Hulu as I get time over last couple of days. I'm three episodes in and I'm enjoying it.

A little "cop show" mystery and a little "highlander" style flashbacks.

Anyone else watching this?

The GUMSHOE System

Sat, 10 May 2008 21:48:51 GMT

I already had the Esoterrorists core book from a trade a few months ago. It reminded me a little of Delta Green and a little of X-Files. Neither of which is a bad thing. The system is pretty easy to pick up and character creation is a breeze.

We've got a review of some of the Gumshoe books on Flames Rising already. Grim takes a look at Esoterrorists, Fear Itself and The Book of Unremitting Horror that he picked up at Gencon UK.

In today's mail was Trail of Cthulhu, Stunning Eldritch Tales, Albion's Ransom and Profane Miracles. Quite the haul, it might take me a bit to get through all of them.

Albion's Ransom and Profane Miracles are adventures for Esoterrorists. I will probably review Stunning Eldritch Tales first, but I'm not completely sure. So far, they all look pretty cool, so it is difficult to pick just one of them. I've been flipping through all of them at random and digging into different chapters.

The Colbert Report: Oil Profiteering

Fri, 09 May 2008 19:09:24 GMT

Stephen Colbert looks at the miraculous profits realized by oil companies despite their claim of the high cost of providing the oil.

As you can see here, 72% goes to the price of crude oil. Another 16% is eaten up by refining, distribution and service stations, and the last 12% is taken away by taxes. That is a total of 100%. That is right, Nation. Oil is a zero-profit business. [..]

And yet somehow, in 2007, Exxon/Mobil earned $1,300 a second. $1,300. Yes, that’s a lot of money, but it is an unlucky number of 100s. Nation, that means even though 100% of gasoline prices are canceled out by costs, these companies are somehow able to wring mind-bending revenue out of their not-for-profit venture. I think it’s pretty impressive.

Video at Crooks & Liars

Shadowrealm

Fri, 09 May 2008 14:49:17 GMT

Forgotten Realms author, Paul S. Kemp, has offered up a preview of his upcoming novel Shadowrealm.

Drop by Flames Rising for a look at the preview.

Birthday

Fri, 09 May 2008 12:14:38 GMT

Happy Birthday to madmoses!

Translated...

Thu, 08 May 2008 18:47:26 GMT

I've been picked up by a blog in Brasil apparently:

Spoilers de Hunter: the Vigil

Anyone know what that first paragraph says?

Justice League

Thu, 08 May 2008 12:07:09 GMT

I really enjoyed the first season of Justice League Unlimited. Lots of great characters, a few clever twists, plenty of cool bad guys. I was really looking forward to Season Two quite a bit.

Wow, what a disappointment. It had all kinds of potential, a secret gathering of villains, General Eiling going rogue, the Hawkgirl-Green Lantern-Vixen triangle, Martian Manhunter on walkabout. How could they screw-up the ending of the series so badly?

New Stuff!

Wed, 07 May 2008 13:22:56 GMT

Lots of new stuff...

New Trail of Cthulhu products

New Hunter: the Vigil LiveJournal Community

New Reviews at Flames Rising

New horror fiction at Horror Mall

Hunter: the Vigil

Tue, 06 May 2008 18:40:43 GMT

The first Hunter: the Vigil post is up on the Flames Rising website:

Light in Shadows

Expect to see more teasers and other goodies as I get permission to post them.

Feel free to share the link.

New Folks!

Tue, 06 May 2008 12:42:15 GMT

So, lots of new folks on Friends-list in the last couple of days...

Who are you?

How did you find me?

What topics are you interested in reading about here?

For those of you more interested in the Flames Rising website we've got an LJ feed set up -here- (you know you want to read it).

We also have a MySpace Page and a Facebook Group.

New Game Stuff

Mon, 05 May 2008 14:53:28 GMT

Two new items from a couple of great game designers:

At RPGNow you can get Monte Cook's Book of Experimental Might II, which looks pretty interesting for folks playing Fighters in D&D. The first Book of Experimental Might was pretty popular, should be interesting to hear what folks think of this one.

Over at IPR John Wick's Houses of the Blooded went up for pre-order today. There is also a Limited Edition up for grabs, but only 100 copies of them...

Mon, 05 May 2008 14:11:39 GMT

Link stolen from paulskemp:

Jesus Made Me Puke

Matt Taibbi Undercover with the Christian Right

Xenagia Book Club

Sat, 03 May 2008 22:54:42 GMT

Head over to Xenagia and place your vote for the upcoming book club selection. This, however, requires you to join the forum and actually read the book...

[Book Club]: Vote for a Book for June

Some of the interesting titles in the mix this time around are Dragon Champion by E.E. Knight and No Loyal Knight by John Wick. Feel free to vote for whichever books appeal to you the most though.

Birthday

Fri, 02 May 2008 21:10:27 GMT

Happy Birthday to alanismanson!

Grimm Tales

Fri, 02 May 2008 18:34:48 GMT

The books I ordered from Noble Knight Games arrived today. It may be a bit before I get to them, but I think I'll start with Frontier Cthulhu and then maybe No Loyal Knight.

Also in today's mail was the new Nox Arcana CD, Grimm Tales. I've got it playing now and I think it is among the best work they've ever done. This is guaranteed to be part of the soundtrack for my World of Darkness game.

Iron Man

Fri, 02 May 2008 10:24:50 GMT

Saw Iron Man last night...

Fun movie. Great casting, cool visuals, awesome soundtrack.

The people watching the movie on the other hand, were not fun at all. Crying kids, loud (really loud) talking, kicking chairs, the works. I don't know why I keep going to the theater. Every movie is full of these people.

Swaptree

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:45:55 GMT

Anyone using www.swaptree.com?

I just listed a bunch of books and will be adding more tomorrow as I clean out the office.

FR Interviews

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:48:13 GMT

I've posted a master list of all of the interviews on Flames Rising -here- if anyone is interested.

Currently they are in chronological order, if someone has a suggestion of a different/better way to display them, let me know. There are currently 78 interviews on the site and at least 3 in progress.

For a trip down memory lane take a look at Joseph Vargo (September ‘06), Caitlin R. Kiernan (December ‘05), Keith Senkowski (February ‘05), Justin Achilli (November '04), Richard E. Dansky (May ‘04) or our very first interview, Ari Marmell (December '03).

As of this morning there are 104 "unfinished" interviews out on the web. That is, interviews that I've e-mailed questions to folks who have not replied to them. So, 104 people have agreed (or asked me) to be interviewed on Flames Rising and then not gotten back to me when I sent them questions. That is 104 in addition to the completed interviews posted on the website.

Aletheia

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:26:46 GMT

I'm getting some really cool outlines/plot summaries from the authors working on the Tales of the Seven Dogs novellas. These stories are based on the Aletheia RPG and the book should be available at GenCon this year.

Three separate tales of mystery and madness exploring the strange world of Aletheia. The Seven Dogs Society investigates the weirdness at reality's fringe. They believe a single truth underpins the unexplained and paranormal. By understanding such phenomena, they hope to discover the true nature of reality.

Each author has created their own version of the Seven Dogs Society and at least one mystery to explore. Writing for this book are:

Jim Johnson (contributor to the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds series and the upcoming EVE RPG from White Wolf)
Monica Valentinelli (contributor to Aletheia and Noumenon from Abstract Nova, Worlds of the Dead for Eden Studios and Co-Creator of Colonial Gothic by Rogue Games)
Philip Hansen (contributor to Permuted Press' Undead 2: Skin & Bones and the Library of the Living Dead podcast).

Tad Williams Interview at Flames Rising

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:03:58 GMT

Interview with the author of Shadowplay, Tailchaser's Song, War of the Flowers and more:

Tad Williams opens up about his writing style, favorite villains, and his new young adult fantasy series co-authored with Deborah Beale. So sit back and read along about veteran science fiction and fantasy writer Tad Williams, in this engaging interview.

Interview with Fantasy Author Tad Williams

New Books

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:56:28 GMT

I took advantage of the Noble Knight Games Sale this weekend.

I ordered Frontier Cthulhu (Chaosium), High Seas Cthulhu (Elder Signs Press) and NO Loyal Knight (John Wick)...three books I had been meaning to read for ages, but just haven't had the time.

Reviews will be going up on Flames Rising eventually. I have to get through a couple of other items first. I just started an ARC of Bentley Little's The Academy.

FR updates

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 18:08:27 GMT

Flash Fire Mini-Reviews are back at Flames Rising. This time zombies shambled their way into the mix. Let me know what you think and if you have ideas for future Flash Fire themes...let me know.

I also updated the About page on the site with bios of some of our reviewers and other info.

Advance reviews

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:06:29 GMT

There are a handful of publishers that send me "advance reader copies" or "uncorrected proof" versions of books for review. These are usually well in advance of the actual publication date.

At Flames Rising we've posted several reviews of these books before the "street date" of the actual book. Two recent examples are Plague of the Dead 2: Thunder & Ashes and Small Favor. Both of these reviews went up at least a month before the books were actually available. We posted links to where folks could pre-order the item on each review and they led to some interesting discussion on forums and blogs.

Now, there is a publisher that sent out ARCs to reviewers, but does not want reviews posted until the street date of the book. Does not make much sense to me. Why bother sending out the ARC if they don't want reviews posted? A good review could lead to more pre-orders and better sales.

Playtest Q&A

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:36:09 GMT

williamhessian has posted an interesting Q&A regarding the card game he has been working on. We talk about some of the playtesting we were doing at Forge Midwest recently.

Drop by and take a look. There are some other cool posts about the game as William further refines the rules, the art and everything else.

NKG sale

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:35:13 GMT

Just a heads-up that Noble Knight Games is having a big sale on just about everything in their catalog:

MEGA SALE at Noble Knight Games!

So, if there are some OOP books you are looking for to complete your collection, now is the time to scoop them up.