#queens avowed saga

[queen-scribbles]

Day Nine and I still can’t get Avowed working :)

[cerastes]

My thoughts on Save The Queen as a whole are:

Bozja Southern Front is wack. It’s okay in a group but I didn’t enjoy doing it solo. A large part of it is because of, in my opinion, how badly designed the enemy placement is. If you want to go anywhere, “anywhere” being Skirmishes, because let’s be honest, you are not there for anything else that doesn’t involve Skirmishes in one way or another, you have to go through enemies tightly packed together and risk getting a Bloodborne-tier aggro distance found only in here (or, at least, not anywhere in the normal overworld of FFXIV) of 1 to 3 enemies on your tail while you just want to get to Skirmishes before they get vaporized, OR you can make a looong safe turn that wastes time and is objectively Not Fucking Fun because of how much you’ll have to do it (and even during Skirmishes, you have to stick to the ‘center’ because if you stray a little too far, BOOM, aggroed enemies from outside the Skirmish). It took me a lot of thinking to figure out why I just didn’t like Southern Front at all, and among the other, lesser, subjective reasons, I think this one is pretty objective: The enemy placement sucks, and having to do big, wide, time-wasting circles just to not aggro some Rank 3 or 4 enemies that’ll just fuck you the hell up if you have no Essences on and will pester you while you just try to do Skirmishes every single time is just bad game design. It feels like almost all direct ways from one Skirmish to the next just have these, deliberately or otherwise, but still, it’s really a big damper when you Want To Play The Damn Game and you have to instead make sure to pray a strong mob doesn’t just turn around while walking past it and aggroing you, or else, waste time taking the scenic route.

Castrum Licorice Lithuania or whatever the name is, is pretty ok. It’s deliberately got a lot of old school MMO raid design but otherwise it’s nothing to write home about. The final boss drags on for too long, though, especially during the Lyon phase. It’s cool in concept but the execution is kind of annoying, with a trillion adds and their respective aoes that they are wired to launch at the same time.

Delubrum Regina is deadass one of my top favorite if not my top favorite raid in the game. VERY fun. I LOVE the Twice Come Ruin mechanic (if you get hit by two mechanics in the space of 2 minutes, you die, period, no ifs and buts, even if you survive the HP damage), the bosses and midbosses are really fun, Trinity Avowed and The Queen are legitimately my favorite bosses in the game, and I think the whole experience is just packed, condensed high impact Fun. It doesn’t fuck around, it needs you to be awake, and punishes your mistakes while rewarding your successes. I think it’s the best designed challenge overall in the game.

Zadnor is a huge step up from Southern Front and I enjoyed it a lot. I was dreading it being Southern Front 2, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The one weakness it has is that it is too damn big of a map, and that’s it. Everything else feels like a step up: More varied Skirmishes (Southern Front Skirmishes were, for the most part, pretty boring, generic tank and spanks with a few exceptions), not necessarily easier but better designed Critical Encounters (much easier to break into learning the CEs without making them easier! That’s good game design!), and THANKFULLY, much better enemy placement. There’s a bigger “outer ring” where the non-Skirmish mobs hang around the Skirmish area, meaning you can move more without fear of instantly aggroing 2-3 mobs, and it also means they are less densely packed together, meaning it’s MUCH easier to go from Skirmish to Skirmish without needing to waste time looking for a safe way through. Every Skirmish is also surrounded by Magitek enemies this time, which are the ones the majority of people will want to be killing between Skirmishes in order to trigger CEs. It’s such a huge quality of life improvement I don’t think is appreciated enough, and I think the devs deserve credit for it: You’re done with a Skirmish and there’s no other active Skirmish in your zone? No problem, just kill the conveniently place Magitek enemies to accelerate CE spawn rate and farm Bozja Clusters in the meantime, then, when one pops up, just mount and go to it! It’s seriously good and it immediately tells me the devs must have noticed just how incredibly annoying it was just to move around Southern Front. I did a bit of it in a group but I mostly did Zadnor solo and it was VERY fun.

The Dalriada is strictly good, not incredible, not average, just good. Not much to say about it because it’s a properly conceived finale for the Save The Queen saga with a comprehensive game flow, a pretty good final boss, and a really, really fun second to last boss. It gets the job done and deserves a nice tip when it’s time to ask for the check.

Overall, I feel like Save The Queen is backloaded in terms of quality, there’s clear growing pains with a start I personally feel kinda eh that transitions into a midgame and finale that I can confidently say are very fun, well designed, and good. It’s worth noting that my initial thoughts on Southern Front weren’t as negative, just painfully average, but upon seeing what they did with Zadnor, which effectively rectifies everything I didn’t know I hated about Southern Front to the point it made me aware of these flaws, it really makes me see not how lacking Southern Front is, but rather, how willing the devs are to look at their product, say “ok this isn’t too good, huh” and then do better and address these things in the next release, which I think is incredible not only as a fan of the game, but as someone who had very much lost all faith in Square after every game that came out after Final Fantasy X was just a huge stinker in my opinion, in particular because of how stubborn and proud Square has been throughout the years.

It might be a YoshiP thing more than a Square thing, to be honest, but the praise still stands.

[booomcha]

Virtual Book Blast for Laws of Nature

Virtual Book Blast for Laws of Nature - Meet Jacqui Murray and grab her latest prehistoric fiction novel! #bookblast

I am absolutely thrilled to bring this post to you by prolific author, extraordinary teacher, and queen of wordsmithing, Jacqui Murray! A boy blinded by fire. A woman raised by wolves. An avowed enemy offers help. Summary In this second of the Dawn of Humanity trilogy, the first trilogy in the Man vs. Nature saga, Lucy and her eclectic group escape the treacherous tribe that has been hunting…

[aion-rsa]

Gamescom 2021: Opening Night Live, Schedule, Dates, Games, Stream, and News

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The final gaming expo of the summer is finally here. Gamescom 2021 will bring us the latest and greatest from many of the industry’s top studios and publishers, including Xbox, PlayStation, Ubisoft, and Electronic Arts. You can expect brand-new trailers, first look gameplay footage, and even a few surprise reveals.

Here is everything you need to know about Gamescom 2021:

Gamescom 2021 Schedule: Dates and Times

Gamescom 2021 will run from Aug. 24 to 27, and while Europe’s premier games expo doesn’t host as many conferences as E3 does, there are still some big showcases you won’t want to miss. Here’s a schedule of the conferences you’ll want to watch this week:

Destiny 2 Showcase: Tuesday, Aug. 24 – 12 pm ET

Xbox Conference: Tuesday, Aug. 24 – 1 pm ET

Opening Night Live: Wednesday, Aug. 25 – 2 pm ET

Awesome Indies: Thursday, Aug. 26 – 2 pm ET

Future Games Show: Thursday, Aug. 26 – 4 pm ET

Gamescom 2021 Live Stream and How to Watch

Want to catch all of the big Gamescom 2021 announcements, reveals, and trailers? You can tune in to all of the events below:

Gamescom 2021 Games: Rumors, Leaks, and Predictions

With Bungie and Xbox set to present during Gamescom 2021, there are a few games you should expect to see at this year’s show. Destiny 2 is getting its very own showcase where it’s rumored fans will finally get a look at the game’s next big expansion, The Witch Queen, and the DLC’s new big bad Savathun.

Meanwhile, Xbox could use Gamescom to show off more of Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 as well as some of the first-party games it didn’t bring to E3 2021. We’d love to see more of Obsidian’s new fantasy RPG Avowed, for example, although it’s possible that release has been bumped down the schedule so that the team can work on The Outer Worlds 2. And where is Ninja Theory’s Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II? It’d be great to see some new footage from that highly-anticipated sequel.

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And could the Xbox showcase be a good time for Bethesda to drop a few surprises? It seems unlikely at the moment considering the publisher just made some announcements at QuakeCon 2021 earlier this month. But you never know!

Geoff Keighley’s Opening Night Live is the main event, though. Featuring a stacked lineup of games, this showcase will be where most studios participating in Gamescom will reveal their latest and greatest. Keighley recently dropped a trailer for the showcase that teased quite a few heavy hitters, including Far Cry 6, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Death Stranding Director’s Cut, Battlefield 2042, Call of Duty: Vanguard, Back 4 Blood, and many more games.

��� Wednesday, celebrate what’s next in video games with @gamescom Opening Night Live! Here’s the hype trailer I edited to get us geared up for Wednesday’s 2-hour live show with 30+ games Tune in 🕚 11a PT / 2p ET / 7p BST / 8p CEST to see what we have in store for you 🙂 pic.twitter.com/P6hVM8YdJJ

— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) August 22, 2021

One big rumor surrounding Opening Night Live involves Hideo Kojima. For months, he’s been linked with another project, Blue Box Game Studios’ upcoming survival game Abandoned, which many on the internet believe is secretly a new Silent Hill game from the Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding creator. While it’s a long shot, there are a few strange coincidences between Blue Box’s mystery project and Kojima that lend some credibility to the countless fan theories. Some gamers believe all will be revealed at the end of Opening Night Live. We’ll fin out soon enough!

Gamescom 2021 Tickets and Registration

You don’t need to fly all way to Cologne, Germany to experience everything Gamescom 2021 has to offer. This year’s expo is completely digital and free to the public, which means you can watch all the big announcements and check out all the cool new games from the comfort of your living room. That said, attendees still have the option to register for the digital convention for a few additional perks:

Secure the chance for great prizes via gamescom EPIX

Benefit from exclusive promo codes and discounts on the pages of gamescom partners

Create your personal watchlist with your gamescom highlights

Don’t miss any updates on your favorite games

You can register for Gamescom 2021 here.

The post Gamescom 2021: Opening Night Live, Schedule, Dates, Games, Stream, and News appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[bytheanchorarchived]

ok but, j.alec!au where j.ace is arthur pendragon and a.lec is l.ancelot as told in mists of avalon:

“There is no such thing as a true tale. Truth has many faces and the truth is like to the old road to Avalon; it depends on your own will, and your own thoughts, whither the road will take you.”

"Arthur, their young king, like a hero out of legend."

"I have neither talent or taste for kingship, cousin. I am a warrior, and to dwell always in one place and live at court would weary me to death!"

"What sorrow is like to the sorrow of one who is alone? Once I dwelt in the company of the king I loved well, And my arm was heavy with the weight of the rings he gave, And my heart weighed down with the gold of his love. The face the king is like the sun to those who surrounded,. But now my heart is empty And I wander along throughout the world.”

"I miss him as much as you, Uncle," said Arthur. "I know not where to turn without Gawaine at my back, but I had to send him on a message to Tintagel, for none can ride so swiftly."

"Oh, you have plenty to guard you," said Lot sourly. "I see Lancelet never more than a step or three from your side, ready to fill the empty place."

Lancelet flushed, but he said smoothly, "It is always so, kinsman, all of Arthur's Companions strive with one another for the honor of being the closest to the King, and when Gawaine is here, even Cai who is Arthur's foster-brother and I who am Queen's champion must take a place further off."

She went back to her place beside Arthur. Lancelet and the King were drawing with the tips of their daggers on the wooden boards before them, while they ate absentmindedly out of the same dish. Biting her lip-indeed she might as well have stayed in Tintagel for all the difference it made to Arthur that she was there or not-she would have withdrawn to a bench with her ladies, but Arthur looked up at her and smiled, holding out his arm to her.

"Seven years we have been training them, and training mounted soldiers in their use," said Lancelet.

"Thanks to you, dear cousin," Arthur said.

Lancelet turned and smiled. "Thanks to you, my king, who had vision to see what we could do with them."

"Aye," said Arthur softly, "that we would. For what else have we worked since we were tall enough to hold a sword, Galahad?"

He smiled, his rare, sweet smile, and Gwenhwyfar thought, with a stab of pain, Never does he smile at me like that. Yet, when he hears what news I bear him, why then ...

For a moment Lancelet answered the smile, then he sighed.

She was troubled too about Lancelet. He was long past the age when a man should marry. Yet there were men enough who had no mind to women, seeking only for the companionship of their brothers and comrades under arms, and she had wondered often enough if Ban's son were one of them. Well, Lancelet should take his own road; she had consented to that when he left Avalon. If he professed great devotion to the Queen, no doubt, it was only that his comrades should not mock at him as a lover of boys.

Cai went to see to the servants, and Lancelet stayed to give Arthur a hand as he limped, with the help of his stick, to his chamber. Lancelet helped to settle Arthur in bed as tenderly as any nurse.

"If he needs anything in the night, see that you have them call for me, you know where I sleep," he said low, to Gwenhwyfar. "I can lift him more easily than any other-"

"Oh, no, no, I think there will be no need now," she said, "but I thank " you.

He was so tall as he stood next her; he laid his hand gently on her cheek. "If you want to go and sleep among your women, I will stay and watch with him-you look as if you were wanting a long night of unbroken sleep. You are like a nursing mother who has no rest till her babe can sleep through the night without stirring. I can care for Arthur-there is no need for you to watch with him now! I can stay in the room within earshot."

"It will be full spring before I can sit a horse again," he observed gloomily to Gwenhwyfar, who stood close to the courtyard wall, her blue cloak wrapped tight around her.

"It may well be," Lancelet said, "and longer, my dear lord, if you take cold in your wound before it is full healed. Come within doors, I beg you -look, there is snow on Gwenhwyfar's cloak."

"And in your beard, Lance-or is that only the first grey?" Arthur asked, teasing, and Lancelet laughed.

"Both, I suppose-there you have the advantage of me, my king, your beard is so fair the grey will not show when it conies. Here, lean on my arm."

Arthur would have waved him away, but Gwenhwyfar said, "No, take his arm, Arthur, you will undo all our fine leechcraft if you fall-and the stones are slippery underfoot, with this snow melting as it comes down."

Arthur sighed and leaned on his friend's arm. "Now have I had a taste of what it must be like to be old." Gwenhwyfar came and took his other arm, and he laughed. "Will you love me and uphold me like this when indeed there is grey in my beard and hair and when I go on a stick like the Merlin?"

"Even when you are ninety, my lord," said Lancelet, laughing with him. "I can see it well, Gwenhwyfar holding you by one arm and I by the other as our ancient steps totter toward your throne-we will all be ninety or thereabout!"

Arthur laid his hand gently on Lancelot's wrist. "You need never fear that, my friend," he said, "all men know you are the best of my knights, and closest to my throne.

Lancelet raised the cup in his hand and drained it. "I too have had enough of music and feasting, I think-I have ridden since before daylight, since I would come to your games this day, and soon, I think, I will beg leave to be away to my bed, Arthur." Gwenhwyfar gauged his drunkenness by that offhanded Arthur; in public he was always very careful to speak formally to Arthur as "my lord," or "my king," and only when they were alone did he say "cousin" or "Arthur."

"Come, cousin-Gwydion! There's none to carry you to bed-I'll give you my arm. Here, come up, there's my brave fellow," he said, as if he spoke to a child, and Arthur opened his eyes and staggered to his feet. Lancelet's steps were none too steady, either, thought Gwenhwyfar as she followed the men, nor for that matter were her own ... a fine sight they must look, if any servants were sober enough to notice, High King and High Queen and the King's captain of horse all staggering to bed on Beltane-eve too drunk for their feet to carry them ... .

Gawaine watched as the boy loped away, with his long awkward stride, and then said, "You should be one of those old Greeks, as it was told in that saga we read when we were boys. How was he called-Achilles- whose true love was the young knight Patroclus, and neither cared anything for all the fine dames of the court of Troy-God knows every lad in this court worships you as their hero. Pity you have no mind to the Greek fashion in love!"

Lancelet's face turned dusky red. "You are my cousin, Gawaine, and can say such things to me-I would not hear such things from any other, even in jest."

Lancelet turned his eyes away and at last said in a whisper, "I know not if what he said is true. I should take Gwenhwyfar and be gone from here, before it becomes a scandal to all the courts of the world, that I love the wife of my king, and yet ... yet it is Arthur I cannot leave ... I know not but what I love her only because I come close, thus, to him."

"But you do not know all," he whispered. "As we lay together- never, never had anything so-so-" He swallowed and fumbled to put into words what Morgaine could not bear to hear. "I-I touched Arthur -I touched him. I love her, oh, God, I love her, mistake me not, but had she not been Arthur's wife, had it not been for-I doubt even she-" He choked and could not finish his sentence, while Morgaine stood utterly still, appalled beyond speech.

"What can a priest know of this?" he demanded in despair. "No man, I think, has ever felt such-God knows I hear enough of what men desire, they talk of nothing else, and now and then some man reveals something strange he may desire, but never, never, nothing so strange and evil as this! I am damned," he cried out. "This is my punishment for desiring the wife of my king, that I should be held in this terrible bondage -even Arthur, if he knew, would hate and despise me. He knows I love Gwenhwyfar, but this not even he could forgive, and Gwenhwyfar-who knows if she, even she, would not hate and despise me-" His voice choked into silence.

"At times," she said, her face set like stone, "it has seemed to me that you loved Lancelet more than me. Can you say in truth that it was to give me pleasure, or was it for the pleasure of him you loved best of all-?"

He dropped his arm from her neck as if he were stung. "Is it a sin, then, to love my kinsman and think, too, of his pleasure? It is true, I love you both-"

"In Holy Writ it speaks of that city that was destroyed for such sins," said Gwenhwyfar.

Arthur was as white as his shirt. "I love my kinsman Lancelet with all honor, Gwen; King David himself wrote of his cousin and kinsman Jonathan, Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of woman, and God smote him not. It is so with comrades in battle. Dare you to say that such a love is a sin, Gwenhwyfar? I will avow it before the throne of God-" He stopped, unable to force further sound through his dry throat.

Gwenhwyfar heard her own voice cracking with hysteria.

"Can you swear that when you brought him to our bed ... I saw it then, you touched him with more love than ever you have given the woman my father forced on you-when you led me into this sin, can you swear it was not your own sin, and all your fine talk no more than a cover for that very sin that brought down fire from Heaven on the city of Sodom?"

He stared at her, still deathly white. "You are certainly mad, my lady. On that night you speak of-I was drunk, I know not what you may have thought you saw. It was Beltane, and the force of the Goddess was with us all. I think all your prayers and thoughts of sin have turned your mind, my Gwen."

"No Christian man would say so!"

"And that is one reason why I like not to call myself a Christian!" he shouted back at her, losing patience at last. "I am tired of all this talk of sin! If I had put you away from me-aye, and I was counselled to do so, and would not because I loved you too well-and taken another woman-"

"No! Rather would you share me with Lancelet, and have him too-"

"Say that again," he said very low, "and wife or no, love or no, I will kill you, my Gwenhwyfar!"

[queen-scribbles]

Just throwing this out there in case, but: - have you checked your GPU drivers? (Updated to Avowed release? Another AMD user mentioned this fixing it) - more than one person has mentioned forcing DX11 for AMD got past the shader compilation, but it seems the game itself won't run past CC without DX12, but it should get you to the menu? There's a mod ("No Shader Warmup No Warnings" Nexus) that stops it from compiling shaders (bc it will do it every time you load the game regardless, just quicker), but you need to have loaded it once first (and set the settings how you like + maybe one reload). So if the DX11 thing worked, I'd suggest changing settings on the menu, reload to recompile, then quit back to DX12 and add the mod? I'm sorry, this might not help at all but if there's a chance I wanted to mention it.

Hey, I'm so computer un-savvy I'll take any advice people have at this point bc I want SO BAD to play this darn game. I've seen the forcing D11 thing mentioned, but haven't tried it yet myself, so it's on the list.

I'll keep the mod in mind for if I ever get to the menu, that sounds helpful

[queen-scribbles]

I have three potential Envoys planned, but I can make zero of them until I get Avowed working. T_T

[queen-scribbles]

Just a heads up, if you plan to try forcing DX11 for Avowed they've blocked that in today's update. But they've also acknowledged that people were using that to get around launch issues. They suggested contacting them at [ support(.)obsidian(.)net ], brackets excluded, so maybe they might have an idea for how to get it running?

Hmm, well then, maybe I’ll try installing the update and relaunching, and contact them if that doesn’t work. I was a little nervous about that option tbh.

[aion-rsa]

Best New Horror Books in October 2018

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Looking for a good horror read? Here are some of the best new horror books to be released in October 2018.

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The Lists Kayti Burt

Horror Books

Oct 22, 2018

'Tis the spookiest of seasons, which means it is the absolute best time to read some horror! Here are some of the horror books coming out in October that we are most looking forward to checking out here at Den of Geek...

Have you joined the Den of Geek Book Club? You should!

Best New Horror Books in October 2018

Blood Communion by Anne Rice

Type: Part of the Vampire Chronicles series Publisher: Knopf Release date: October 2nd

The Vampire Chronicles continue with a riveting, rich saga--part adventure, part suspense--of Prince Lestat and the story of the Blood Communion as he tells the tale of his coming to rule the vampire world and the eternal struggle to find belonging, a place in the universe for the undead, and how, against his will, he must battle the menacing, seemingly unstoppable force determined to thwart his vision and destroy the entire vampire netherworld.

In this spellbinding novel, Lestat, rebel outlaw, addresses the tribe of vampires, directly, intimately, passionately, and tells the mesmerizing story of the formation of the Blood Communion and how he became Prince of the vampire world, the true ruler of this vast realm, and how his vision for all the Children of the Universe to thrive as one, came to be.

The tale spills from Lestat's heart, as he speaks first of his new existence as reigning monarch--and then of his fierce battle of wits and words with the mysterious Rhoshamandes, proud Child of the Millennia, reviled outcast for his senseless slaughter of the legendary ancient vampire Maharet, avowed enemy of Queen Akasha; Rhoshamandes, a demon spirit who refuses to live in harmony at the Court of Prince Lestat and threatens all that Lestat has dreamt of.

As the tale unfolds, Lestat takes us from the towers and battlements of his ancestral castle in the snow-covered mountains of France to the verdant wilds of lush Louisiana with its lingering fragrances of magnolias and night jasmine; from the far reaches of the Pacific's untouched islands to the 18th-century city of St. Petersburg and the court of the Empress Catherine...

Read Blood Communion by Anne Rice

Read our full review of Blood Communion by Anne Rice here.

Plight of the Living Dead: What Real-Life Zombies Reveal About Our World—And Ourselves

Type: Standalone non-fiction Publisher: Penguin Release date: October 2nd

A brain-bending exploration of real-life zombies and mind controllers, and what they reveal to us about nature—and ourselves.

Zombieism isn’t just the stuff of movies and TV shows like The Walking Dead. It’s real, and it’s happening in the world around us, from wasps and worms to dogs and moose—and even humans.

In Plight of the Living Dead, science journalist Matt Simon documents his journey through the bizarre evolutionary history of mind control. Along the way, he visits a lab where scientists infect ants with zombifying fungi, joins the search for kamikaze crickets in the hills of New Mexico, and travels to Israel to meet the wasp that stings cockroaches in the brain before leading them to their doom.

Nothing Hollywood dreams up can match the brilliant, horrific zombies that natural selection has produced time and time again. Plight of the Living Dead is a surreal dive into a world that would be totally unbelievable if very smart scientists didn’t happen to be proving it’s real, and most troublingly—or maybe intriguingly—of all: how even we humans are affected.

Read Plight of the Living Dead by Matt Simon

Dracul by Dacre Stoker and JD Barker

Type: Prequel to Dracula Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Release date: October 2nd

The prequel to Dracula, inspired by notes and texts left behind by the author of the classic novel, Dracul is a supernatural thriller that reveals not only Dracula’s true origins but Bram Stoker’s—and the tale of the enigmatic woman who connects them.

It is 1868, and a twenty-one-year-old Bram Stoker waits in a desolate tower to face an indescribable evil. Armed only with crucifixes, holy water, and a rifle, he prays to survive a single night, the longest of his life. Desperate to record what he has witnessed, Bram scribbles down the events that led him here...

A sickly child, Bram spent his early days bedridden in his parents' Dublin home, tended to by his caretaker, a young woman named Ellen Crone. When a string of strange deaths occur in a nearby town, Bram and his sister Matilda detect a pattern of bizarre behavior by Ellen—a mystery that deepens chillingly until Ellen vanishes suddenly from their lives. Years later, Matilda returns from studying in Paris to tell Bram the news that she has seen Ellen—and that the nightmare they've thought long ended is only beginning.

Read Dracul by Dacre Stoker and JD Barker

The World of Lore: Dreadful Places by Aaron Mahnke

Type: Standalone non-fiction Publisher: Del Rey Release date: October 9th

Captivating stories of the places where human evil has left a nefarious mark, featuring stories from the podcast Lore—now a streaming television series—including “Echoes,” “Withering Heights,” and “Behind Closed Doors” as well as rare material.   Sometimes you walk into a room, a building, or even a town, and you feel it. Something seems off—an atmosphere that leaves you oddly unsettled, with a sense of lingering darkness. Join Aaron Mahnke, the host of the popular podcast Lore, as he explores some of these dreadful places and the history that haunts them.   Mahnke takes us to Colorado and the palatial Stanley Hotel, where wealthy guests enjoyed views of the Rocky Mountains at the turn of the twentieth century—and where, decades later, a restless author would awaken from a nightmare, inspired to write one of the most revered horror novels of all time. Mahnke also crosses land and sea to visit frightful sites—from New Orleans to Richmond, Virginia, to the brooding, ancient castles of England—each with its own echoes of dark deeds, horrible tragedies, and shocking evil still resounding.   Filled with evocative illustrations, this eerie tour of lurid landmarks and doomed destinations is just the ticket to take armchair travelers with a taste for the macabre to places they never thought they’d visit in their wildest, scariest dreams.

Read The World of Lore: Dreadful Places

I Am Behind You by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Type: Standalone novel Publisher: St. Martin's Press Release date: October 16th

A compelling, eerie new novel from the internationally bestselling author of Let the Right One In.

"At the top of his game, Lindqvist gives Stephen King and John Saul at their best a run for the money." —Library Journal (starred) 

"Dubbed the Stephen King of Sweden, Lindqvist lives up to the billing." —New York Post

Four families wake up one morning in their trailer on an ordinary campsite. However, during the night something strange has happened. Everything outside the camping grounds has disappeared, and the world has been transformed into an endless expanse of grass. The sky is blue, but there is no sign of the sun; there are no trees, no flowers, no birds. And every radio plays nothing but the songs of sixties pop icon Peter Himmelstrand.

As the holiday-makers try to come to terms with what has happened, they are forced to confront their deepest fears and secret desires. Past events that each of them has tried to bury rise to the surface and take on terrifying physical forms. Can any of them find a way back to reality?

Read I Am Behind You by John Ajvide Lindqvist

In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt

Type: Standalone Publisher: Little, Brown and Company Release date: October 16th

The eerie, disturbing story of one of our perennial fascinations--witchcraft in colonial America--wrapped up in a lyrical novel of psychological suspense.

"Once upon a time there was and there wasn't a woman who went to the woods."

In this horror story set in colonial New England, a law-abiding Puritan woman goes missing. Or perhaps she has fled or abandoned her family. Or perhaps she's been kidnapped, and set loose to wander in the dense woods of the north. Alone and possibly lost, she meets another woman in the forest. Then everything changes.

On a journey that will take her through dark woods full of almost-human wolves, through a deep well wet with the screams of men, and on a living ship made of human bones, our heroine may find that the evil she flees has been inside her all along. In the House in the Dark of the Woodsis a novel of psychological horror and suspense told in Laird Hunt's characteristically lyrical prose style. It is the story of a bewitching, a betrayal, a master huntress and her quarry. It is a story of anger, of evil, of hatred and of redemption. It is the story of a haunting, a story that makes up the bedrock of American mythology, but told in a vivid way you will never forget.

Read In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt

Slender Man by Anonymous

Type: Epistolary novel Publisher: Harper Voyager Release date: October 23rd

One man’s search for the truth about one of the most intriguing urban legends ever—the modern bogeyman, Slender Man—leads him down a dark, dangerous path in this creepy supernatural fantasy that will make you question where the line between dark myth and terrifying reality begins.

Lauren Bailey has disappeared. As friends at her exclusive school speculate on what happened and the police search for answers, Matt Barker dreams of trees and a black sky . . . and something drawing closer.

Through fragments of journals, news stories, and online conversations, a figure begins to emerge—a tall, slender figure—and all divisions between fiction and delusion, between nightmare and reality, begin to fall.

Chilling, eerie, and addictively readable, Slender Man is a unique spine-tingling story and a brilliant and frightening look at one of the most fascinating—and diabolical—mythical figures in modern times.

Read Slender Man by Anonymous

Alice Isn't Dead by Joseph Fink

Type: Standalone Publisher: Harper Perennial Release date: October 30th

From the New York Times bestselling co-author of It Devours! and Welcome to Night Vale comes a fast-paced thriller about a truck driver searching across America for the wife she had long assumed to be dead.

“This isn’t a story. It’s a road trip."

Keisha Taylor lived a quiet life with her wife, Alice, until the day that Alice disappeared. After months of searching, presuming she was dead, Keisha held a funeral, mourned, and gradually tried to get on with her life. But that was before Keisha started to see her wife, again and again, in the background of news reports from all over America. Alice isn’t dead, and she is showing up at every major tragedy and accident in the country.

Following a line of clues, Keisha takes a job with a trucking company, Bay and Creek Transportation, and begins searching for Alice. She eventually stumbles on an otherworldly conflict being waged in the quiet corners of our nation’s highway system—uncovering a conspiracy that goes way beyond one missing woman.

Read Alice Isn't Dead by Joseph Fink

What horror books are you most looking forward to checking out? Let us know in the comments below or in our Den of Geek Book Club on Goodreads...

Further reading: Best New Science Fiction Books

Further reading: Best New Fantasy Books

Further reading: Best New Young Adult Fiction

Kayti Burt is a staff editor covering books, TV, movies, and fan culture at Den of Geek. Read more of her work here or follow her on Twitter @kaytiburt.

Read and download the Den of Geek NYCC 2018 Special Edition Magazine right here!

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Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles' Blood Communion Trailer Drops

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Anne Rice's vampire Lestat receives his Blood Communion. New trailer promises he bows to no one.

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Tony Sokol

The Vampire Chronicles

Sep 27, 2018

Anne Rice

Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis

Interview with the Vampire

"This is my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. Take this, all of you and drink it," an old superstar once said. The rabbi Jesus of Nazareth also offered up at least a quarter pound of flesh but current Eucharistic recipient Lestat is no cannibal. The breakout star of Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles novel series will receive a sanguine transubstantiation when her upcoming book Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat spills out on October 2.

Lestat didn't bow to the devil, god or the Children of Satan or the dwellers of Atlantis, the trailer reminds us. He is not about to start bowing now, except maybe in conquest. He writes for all blood drinkers even as he takes his throne as the Brat Prince of bloodsuckers.

You can watch the trailer here:

Video of EXCLUSIVE Trailer: Anne Rice's New Vampire Chronicles Book, BLOOD COMMUNION

The eleventh book in the series will tell how Lestat came to rule the vampire world. He didn't do it by hosting Goth nights. He went toe-to-toe and fang-to-fang with all usurpers. The book will also get into how the Blood Communion was created so already doubly departed Vampire Chronicles characters can be resurrected for long-time readers.

Further reading: Anne Rice Drops Snippet of Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis

It just might be the dawn of a new vampire era for the Rice dynasty, Anne and her son Christopher have also been dropping teasers for the Interview with a Vampire-inspired series coming to Hulu.

"I frequently post about the forthcoming Vampire Chronicles TV series, but Lestat's adventures continue this October in print with the release of BLOOD COMMUNION." Christopher Rice tweeted on August 14. "Barnes & Noble is releasing a special SIGNED edition. You can pre-order it here."

The publisher offered up the following synopsis:

The Vampire Chronicles continue with a riveting, rich saga--part adventure, part fairy-tale--of Prince Lestat and the story of the Blood Communion as he tells the tale of his coming to rule the vampire world and the eternal struggle to find belonging, a place in the universe for the undead, and how, against his will, he must battle the menacing, seemingly unstoppable force determined to thwart his vision and destroy the entire vampire netherworld.

In this spellbinding novel, Lestat, rebel outlaw, addresses the tribe of vampires, directly, intimately, passionately, and tells the mesmerizing story of the formation of the Blood Communion and how he became Prince of the vampire world, the true ruler of this vast realm, and how his vision for all the Children of the Universe to thrive as one, came to be.

Further reading: Interview With The Vampire and the Origin of Remorseful Bloodsuckers

The tale spills from Lestat’s heart, as he speaks first of his new existence as reigning monarch–and then of his fierce battle of wits and words with the mysterious  Rhoshamandes, proud Child of the Millennia, reviled outcast for his senseless slaughter of the legendary ancient vampire Maharet, avowed enemy of Queen Akasha; Rhoshamandes, a demon spirit who refuses to live in harmony at the Court of Prince Lestat and threatens all that Lestat has dreamt of.

Further reading: The Vampire Chronicles TV Series Set to Arrive on Hulu

As the tale unfolds, Lestat takes us from the towers and battlements of his ancestral castle in the snow-covered mountains of France to the verdant wilds of lush Louisiana with its lingering fragrances of magnolias and night jasmine; from the far reaches of the Pacific’s untouched islands to the 18th-century city of St. Petersburg and the court of the Empress Catherine.

Lestat was supposed to have finally been put down in the final installment of Rice's Mayfair Witches book series. But long time fans didn't have to hold their breaths very long. Certainly not as long as Lestat did when he visited the mythical nautical kingdom of Atlantis in the previous book, Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis.

Further reading: Underworld’s Vampire/Werewolf War Is Not a Universal Battle

Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat will be available for purchase on October 2.

Culture Editor Tony Sokol cut his teeth on the wire services and also wrote and produced New York City's Vampyr Theatre and the rock opera AssassiNation: We Killed JFK. Read more of his work here or find him on Twitter @tsokol.

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