We were just contacted by Thomas Malafarina, who will be doing a guest blog post in the near future. Thomas is a horror writer, with a couple of awards under his belt. From now till Friday (02-10-12) Thomas’s book 13 Nasty Endings will be available free for the Amazon Kindle.

I can’t think of a better time to get acquainted with a new horror author than when the book is free, so be sure to check it out!

The book is described on Amazon as follows:

Not all stories have a “happy ending”. Sometimes the forces of evil are just too strong to allow the characters, whether protagonist or antagonist, to survive unscathed. Sometimes it is because of revenge or sinister forces or simply bad Karma.

Welcome to “Thirteen Nasty Endings”, a collection of short horror stories by Thomas M Malafarina. In this disturbing world of terror and foreboding, virtually every story has the potential to end badly for someone. There will be no “happily ever afters” in this collection! This is definitely not a “feel good” compilation. Thirteen Nasty Endings guarantees that someone, whether deserving or not, will get it in the end.

Thomas has put together an incredibly upsetting anthology of some of his most gory, horrifying, disturbing and bizarre tales for your reading pleasure.

Head on over to 13 Nasty Endings: A Compilation of Short Stories on Amazon. Also, check out Thomas Malafarina’s own website.

Here is a killer mini-documentary about the death and return of superman, by Chronicle writer Max Landis. Hugely entertaining and somewhat educational, check it out! Oh yeah, there are some famous people in here too, collect them all! Also, kiddies there is some adult language in there too.

So, who has seen Chronicle?

It’s that time again! It is time for a new Humble Bundle! We at Moon Books love what Humble Bundle does for both indie game developers and charity and fully support them. This time around, not only do the games work on Linux, Mac and Windows, but there are also versions for ANDROID!  This is an exciting new development for Humble Bundle, and gives Android fans a chance to enjoy some great games on their Android based phones and tablets!

Basically you pay what you want, and you get a excellent pack of indie games, which include Anomaly: Warzone Earth (11 Bit Studios), Osmos (Hemisphere Games), Edge (Mobigame), and if you pay above the average, you also get the excellent World of Goo (2D Boy).

Humble Bundle gives you a chance to not only support starving game developers, but also great charities such as Childs Play.

So, RUN (don’t walk) and buy this latest Humble Bundle!

This is where it all started, folks.

Fabulous Secret Powers from SLACKCiRCUS on Vimeo.

Want to see what the actual video looks like?

Here you go!

Barnes and Noble has taken away the ability to side load apps on the Nook Tablet with the latest automatic update. While it looked like the Nook Tablet was a real competitor to the Amazon Kindle Fire, this move by Barnes and Noble has further handicapped the more expensive Nook Tablet in the low end Android Tablet race.

Here is a brief summary of bad moves by Barnes and Noble, and the equivalent features or lack of features on the Amazon Kindle Fire.

Storage Space:
Originally (on paper) the Nook Tablet looked like the clear winner, offering 16 gigs of storage space AND a micro SD slot for even more storage space. Upon release we learned that the Nook Tablet’s 16 gigs of space was true, but only for Barnes and Noble purchases, leaving only 1 gigabyte for user content.  The Kindle Fire’s 8 gigs of storage doesn’t look too bad on second inspection does it?

App Stores:
Both the Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire use proprietary app stores and neither offer access to Google’s App Market. Amazon’s app store offers a growing number of paid and free apps, with a paid app free every day. Barnes and Noble’s app store however is not nearly as robust, marks up the price of apps, including apps that are free elsewhere.

Side Loading Apps:
Until Barnes and Noble’s latest update both the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet were on even ground in regards to adding your own apps, so either tablet would allow you to download apps from other sources, or use the device as a development platform. Unfortunately this is no longer the case, and only the Kindle Fire is still an open platform.

As someone interested in getting into game and app development, I find this latest move by Barnes and Noble makes their tablet an non-option for me, which is a shame as it was on my to-get list once the money was available.

Time for me to look at alternatives. I notice that Acer has released a nice new Android 3.2 tablet, the Archos G9 Tablet.

ESPOO, FINLAND – December 19, 2011 – It was announced today that Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, Remedy Entertainment’s stand-alone digital spin-off for Xbox LIVE Arcade, will include a relentlessly intense arcade mode called “Fight till Dawn”. Published by Microsoft Studios, the game will be released in middle of the first quarter of 2012.

The main story mode in Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is part of the ‘Night Springs’ TV show fiction and offers an exaggerated pulp action adventure where the horrors of reality have the all too easy habit of coming true. Alan Wake finds himself stuck in an altered reality filled with dangerous shadows; he must leap into action and pursue his evil doppelganger, Mr. Scratch, across the Arizona mesa towards the town of Night Springs. Scratch, a supernatural serial killer, has his evil plans set on Wake’s wife, Alice. Wake must learn to control reality itself and unravel the secret to Mr. Scratch’s demise while using the power of light to put an end to the darkness.

The previously unannounced “Fight till Dawn” arcade mode places Wake in the battle of his life. Players must survive a full night of enemy onslaughts while racking up their score. With loads of new enemies to battle, players will require a deep arsenal of weapons; from old stalwarts like the flare gun to wild new favorites like the nail gun and old school Remedy favorites like the Uzi. Thankfully, safe havens and unlockable weapons dot the landscape, allowing for a momentary respite from the darkest of nights. Surviving until dawn is only the beginning as online leaderboards pit friends head to head to see who the real champion of light is.

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare will be published by Microsoft Studios and will be available for Xbox Live Arcade in mid Q1 2012. The game is rated T for Teen by the ESRB. Please keep an eye out for updates on Facebook www.facebook.com/alanwake and Twitter @Remedygames.

December 15, 2011 (Rockville, MD) – ZeniMax® Media Inc. today announced that 10 million units of Bethesda Softworks’® The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim have been shipped for the Xbox 360® video game entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, and PC, representing approximately $650 million in retail sales since its release on November 11. The PC version of Skyrim in North America outsold all other PC games by a factor of over three to one in the month of its release. Large retail reorders across all platforms and record-breaking digital sales reflect the ongoing global demand by consumers excited to explore this extraordinary fantasy epic.

Bethesda Softworks’® Skyrim has already garnered over two dozen ‘Game of the Year’ awards from major outlets worldwide, including winning the top honor of Game of the Year at the 2011 Video Game Awards which are voted on by a panel of editors from the industry’s most respected magazines and websites. In addition, Skyrim has received ‘Game of the Year’ awards from numerous other game critics, which, to date include such respected media outlets as G4TV, Official Xbox Magazine and Machinima.com. Skyrim was named ‘Most -Played Game of 2011’ by Raptr, based on research data which confirms its highly popular gameplay experience.

“We are gratified that Skyrim continues to garner high review scores and accolades around the world,” said Robert Altman, Chairman and CEO of ZeniMax Media. “We are most grateful to our fans for their support and enthusiasm for the game, and their love of the hundreds of hours of gameplay it offers. We continue to strive to deliver the highest quality entertainment experience for everyone. 2012 will be another huge year for our fans, with the release of the Creation Kit, as well as exciting DLC which will add to the richness of this epic adventure.”

“Skyrim is the fastest selling title in Steam’s history” said Jason Holtman, Director of Business Development at Valve Corporation. “Bethesda’s commitment to and understanding of the PC as a gaming platform shows in the great review scores, spectacular launch, and continued high player numbers that Skyrim has received.  We are delighted that Bethesda chose to use Steamworks to support Skyrim both at retail and digitally.”

 Skyrim Is the third consecutive game developed by the team at Bethesda Game Studios® to earn ‘Game of the Year’ honors.  Bethesda Game Studios, which was named ‘Studio of the Year’ at the 2011 Video Game Awards, also created the 2006 ‘Game of the Year’, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion®, and the 2008 ‘Game of the Year’, Fallout® 3.

 To date, Skyrim has received well over 200 perfect review scores worldwide, earning the highest praise from some of the industry’s most influential critics including: USA Today, G4TV, The New York Times, GameSpy, Wired, Eurogamer, Destructoid, GamePro, Official Xbox Magazine, Joystiq, The Guardian, Famitsu and GamesRadar. G4TV describesSkyrim as “one of the greatest games ever” and Eurogamer was one of many outlets to call it a “masterpiece.”

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has been rated M for Mature by ESRB. For more information on Skyrim visit http://elderscrolls.com.

Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith return to save the world from the scum of the universe on 5/25/12.