VIZ Media Invites Readers to a Walk on the Wild Side with the New “Beast Master” Manga Series

from VIZ Media:

VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, expands its popular SHOJO BEAT imprint with the release of Kyousuke Motomi’s Beast Master manga on November 3rd. The new series is rated “T+” for Older Teens and will carry an MSRP of $9.99 US / $12.99 CAN.

Leo Aoi looks like a crazy animal with wild eyes — and no one at his new high school will go near him! He does seem to have a special connection with animals, which intrigues overzealous animal lover Yukio Kubozuka. In reality, Leo isn’t nearly as frightening as he appears, but Yukio finds out that he goes berserk whenever he sees blood! Will Yukio be able to get through to Leo during one of these violent fits? Or will his ferocious side eventually devour her? The debut volume also includes a special bonus short story called “Fly”.

Manga artist Kyousuke Motomi debuted in Japan’s popular shojo manga magazine Betsucomi with No Good Cupid in 2002, and she is also the creator of Handsome! Beads Club. Her latest work, Electric Daisy, is also currently being serialized in Betsucomi.

“Beast Master is part comedy, part romance, part drama and all fun as it adds a new twist to the idea of animal attraction,” says Gonzalo Ferreyra, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, VIZ Media. “Readers will empathize with Leo and his terrible secret and root for the tender relationship he forms with Yukio. Will she be able to tame Leo’s wild side? Will the pair find true love or will his secret destroy them both? Find out in this truly wild new series from VIZ Media!”

Plunge into the Fatal Last Case of Legendary Crime Detective in New Novel “Death Note: L, change the WorLd”

L Has Twenty-Three Days to Live, and Twenty-Two Days to Save the World
L Has Twenty-Three Days to Live, and Twenty-Two Days to Save the World

from VIZ Media:

VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, expands the thrilling psychological suspense of Death Note with the release of Death Note: L, change the WorLd, a new novel featuring the master detective from the hit animated and manga series. Death Note: L, change the WorLd is available now from SHONEN JUMP Fiction and carries an MSRP of $17.99 U.S. / $24.00 CAN.

In an alternative continuity in the Death Note setting, ace detective L’s name has been placed in a Death Note. He has twenty-three days to bring a terrorist group to justice, or they will use a deadly new virus to change the world… by killing off most of humanity.

“Death Note: L, change the WorLd offers a fitting finale to the Death Note saga and contains many events that did not take place in the film,” says Gonzalo Ferreyra, Vice President, Sales & marketing, VIZ Media. “The author, who adopts the nom de plume ‘M’ in tribute to the eccentric detective, creates an intriguing alternate continuity that will intrigue fans of the anime and manga series as well as new readers. Any thoughts of a quiet hospice vanish as L sacrifices his life to save humanity. Edge of your seat suspense awaits readers in this gripping new novel!”

Death Note: L, change the WorLd features the same format as the original Japanese printing with a hardcover and clear acetate jacket with metallic ink. The cover art is by Takeshi Obata, the artist for the Death Note manga series. Death Note is one of VIZ Media’s top 5 bestselling properties, with over 1 million copies of the manga sold in the U.S. The character of L is extremely popular with fans and has inspired various products such as apparel and stationery as well as spinoff novels and three live action Death Note films (available from VIZ Pictures).

For more information on Death Note, please visit Deathnote.viz.com.

ThinkGeek’s Pumpkin Carving and Costume Contests

from ThinkGeek:

BOO(lean) Fiends,

All Hallows’ Eve is fast approaching and as the good zombie monkeys we are, we’re preparing for a scary good time. Want to join in the fun? Check out our blog for details on how you can submit a geeky pumpkin template for our pumpkin template contest. Also be sure to tune in this Friday at 4pm Eastern Time for our latest live broadcast, including a costume contest, on Justin.TV! And in case you thought all we did around here was dabble in cosplay and gourd assault, don’t forget we’ve also found a metric ton of awesomeness for you to peruse. So run (or lurch if you prefer your Zombies in original George Romero style) to the following goodies before the trick’s on you…

The Essential “Weird Al” Yankovic is Out NOW!

from “Weird Al” Yankovic:

That’s right — you can pick up your own copy of The Essential “Weird Al” Yankovic today! This jam-packed 2-CD collection features Al’s best work from his 12 studio albums, including hits like “White & Nerdy,” “Eat It,” “Amish Paradise,” “Like A Surgeon,” and “Smells Like Nirvana”! You’ll get 38 classic songs (hand-picked by Al himself) — over 2 1/2 hours of music — all beautifully remastered — plus a full-color 24-page booklet — and all for one amazing low price!

The Essential “Weird Al” Yankovic is available at record stores, online retailers… pretty much everywhere that music is sold. Click here for more information and pick up your copy today!

The Guild Halloween Special

from The Guild:

The Guild Halloween Special is now available on MSN, Xbox and Zune Marketplace. Written by Kim Evey and directed by Greg Benson, this standalone episode is a bonus video to Season 3 in the tradition of A Christmas Raid Carol. Enjoy!

Streaming on MSN | Downloadable in HD on Xbox | Downloadable on Zune

Also, this link to MSN’s Parallel Universe hub is handy.

Last few days to get the “Spires of Dragonor” Poster at pre-order price, now shipping to UK, Australia and Canada in addition to the US.

Evil Global Debuts New Comedy/Horror Series

from The Cabonauts:

Hey Cabonautees!

While gearing up for 2010’s release of The Cabonauts, we grabbed a few weeks to produce a brand new comedy/horror series. The Occulterers has just premiered and stars James C. Leary (Buffy), Ellen Sandweiss (The Evil Dead), Camden Toy (Buffy, Angel), Amy Kline (I <3 Vampires) and Hayden Black (Goodnight Burbank, The Cabonauts).

It’s about 4 dysfunctional ghost hunters and the 6 episode series follows them as they spend a night in a Transylvanian castle. It’s airing now at babelgum.com/theocculterers and a new episode is accompanied by a one hour “live” feed from within the castle so you can check in on the action yourself. The show airs every day this week and climaxes on Halloween!

You can read some press on it here:
joblo.com/arrow/index.php?id=19006
shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=12467
mobilizedtv.com/the-occulterers-halloween-fun-for-mobileweb

Let us know if you enjoy it!

All Hail 🙂

ElfQuest: Gathering all the cublings into one den

from ElfQuest:

Hello everyone!

You all know that the Elfquest.com site itself, and the Scroll of Colors forum, have been for years the primary feeds for news and announcements coming from ElfQuest Central. Recently, with the advent of MySpace and Facebook, I’ve attempted to use those tools as well to get the word out, and keep interest fanned (pun intended) in the Wolfriders and their adventures.

Perhaps things have been a little TOO successful. I’ve tried, but I just can’t keep track of all the groups, pages, and other manifestations of ElfQuest that have appeared on Facebook. Yet I still want to be able to make announcements, share news, and all that good stuff with everyone all at once. So I’ve created a brand new official ElfQuest page (not group). It is the ONE place I’ll be checking and posting to every day.

I know many many of you have been members of other groups for a long time, and I hope you don’t think I’m asking you to abandon them — not at all! I simply would be pleased as a Preserver if you also become a fan of the new Facebook official ElfQuest page as well, and spread the word!

Shade and sweet water to you all,
Richard Pini

PS — This does NOT mean I’m leaning away from the Scroll, or elfquest.com. In fact, just the opposite. By year’s end, you will see such a completely new version of elfquest.com, you won’t believe it. It’ll still be the same friendly, informative place — just made about 50 times more so! Stay tuned!

ABC’s First Look at V!

With the premiere of the remake of the popular 80’s TV series V on November 3rd, ABC is sweetening the anguish of waiting with a look at the first nine minutes of the new series. V features several sci-fi familiars such as Morena Baccarin (Firefly, Stargate SG-1), Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost), Joel Gretsch (The 4400, Minority Report), Laura Vandervoort (Smallville, The Dresden Files, Mutant X). Other talented cast members include Scott Wolf (Party of Five, Everwood), Morris Chest (G.I. Jane, Half Past Dead), Logan Huffman (Lymelife, America) and Lourdes Benedicto (24, ER, Dawson’s Creek). You can learn more about V at ABC’s official website and at VisitorSite.Net.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen now available at RiffTrax

from RiffTrax:

At its heart, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a love story. A love story between two dogs, Mojo and Frankie, who are shown humping several times in the first fifteen minutes of the movie*. Stunningly, this remains a highlight over the next two hours of movie. We don’t see much of the dogs after their owner, Shia LaBeouf, leaves for college, but we found our thoughts frequently drifting back to them as the human characters dropped their pants, ran into things, and stammered incoherently. Who was feeding the dogs? Were they getting along with the other dogs at the dog park? How was Frankie adapting to the new diet the vet had put him on back in June?

Sadly, these questions go unanswered. In fact, any question you may have regarding Transformers will go unanswered, because Transformers movies are not in the business of answering your questions. Transformers movies are like the street corner rantings of a tinfoil hat wearing lunatic. You don’t expect that guy to actually stop and explain to you what he meant by “The IRS built Yellowstone National Park on the same evening 180 years ago that the Lizard People shot down Sputnik with a rifle made from Avogadro’s Number!” You just slink past him and try to wash the spittle off of your jacket when you get home. The same applies for Transformers. Don’t you dare ask it “How did these characters whose names I don’t know get to this location and what is their purpose once they get there and who is punching who right now?” Just lie back and think of the dogs. Focus on the dogs… Always on the dogs…

The tinfoil hat guy gave Mike, Kevin and Bill’s riffing of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen two thumbs up, a rating he had previously only given to a shopping cart wheel that he believed influenced the 2004 presidential election.

*This is not a joke.

Get it here.

Also available: Dragon Wars: D-War!

New Story from TOR! The Strange Case of Mr Salad Monday by G.D. Falksen

from Tor.com:

Tor.com is thrilled to present The Strange Case of Mr Salad Monday, by G.D. Falksen. Inspector Wilde is no stranger to the potential for bloodletting inherent in anonymous conversation; he is, after all, a top police officer, experienced in the vagaries of tit-tat and the allure of of a freshly-printed broadsheet. A bit confused? Don’t worry, so is Wilde’s boss. IHN — that’s “in Heaven’s name” for you non-tatters — do not fail to read this story!

G.D. Falksen’s adventure serial The Mask of Tezcatlipoca is currently appearing in Steampunk Tales, and his writing has appeared in Steampunk Magazine, The Willows Magazine, The Chap, and Egophobia. In addition to writing, G.D. Falksen is a student of history. He is a noted figure in the steampunk subculture, and, may we say, a snappy dresser.

Illustrator David Malki is the man behind the Harvey-, Ignatz- and Eisner-nominated comic strip Wondermark, a unique gag strip crafted entirely from 19th-century woodcuts. His fourth Wondermark collection, Dapper Caps & Pedal-Copters, will be released by Dark Horse Books in April 2010. David is also the Supreme Commander of Promotions and Publicity for TopatoCo, the world’s largest webcomics merchandise company.

If you want to keep up with our Steampunk Month offerings, you can visit the Steampunk Month index page; Tor.com being a well-oiled machine, we’ll naturally update it as each post goes up.

Squishable Poll and Halloween Sale

from Squishable:

Squishing should be democratic! We’ve got four new Squishable designs: Fox, Platypus, Dragon, and Owl… and a bad case of indecision. So vote for the next Squishable design and help us make up our minds!

Obligatory Halloween sale! Yes indeed! Squishable Bats and Squishable Devils are on sale until Halloween to get you in the mood for eating so much candy that you, too, will be spherical!