Skirmisher Publishing LLC has announced that it will be conducting a "Fall Cleaning" sale through the first week of October through its eBay store.

During this sale, every item in the Skirmisher inventory will either be substantially reduced in price, accompanied by a variety of free items, or both. Skirmisher is also offering a number of unique and collectible items that can make perfect gifts (for others or oneself).

"We have so many new items coming out over the next few months that we both need to make space in our warehouse and drum up extra revenue for an unprecedented number of printings," said Michael J. Varhola, Skirmisher editor-in-chief and publisher. "This is definitely in the interests of our customers, and that's fine with us; our main goal has always been to get our books and other products into people's hands, and this will help us accomplish that."

Examples of sale specials include:

* Free copies of Skirmisher's H.G. Wells' Little Orc Wars quick-play rules with all sets of the company's Orcs of the Triple Death hand-painted miniatures.

* As a special promotion, copies of Skirmisher's H.G. Wells' Little Orc Wars quick-play rules marked down for a limited time from $2.95 to just $.99.

* Free temporary tattoos designed by artist Matt Beman of Beaumont Miniatures with both print copies of Skirmisher's popular Nuisances d20/OGL parody book and the Nuisances: Director's Cut PDF.

* Up to 60% off cover price on starting bids for signed, collectible copies of Skirmisher d20 books, including its popular Experts v.3.5, Warriors, and Tests of Skill.

* A collectible, insulated Gen Con mug signed by d20 author Perry Frix.

* And much more, all at Skirmisher's eBay store!

Resident Evil: Extinction, the latest offering in the movie trilogy based on the popular horror video game, lives up to the standards of its predecessors and will not likely disappoint fans of apocalyptic zombie films (of whom this reviewer is one).

In Extinction, omnipresent action star Milla Jovovich reprises her role as little-red-dress-and-jackboot-wearing monster hunter Alice, and is ultimately joined by former compatriots Oded Fehr as soldier Carlos Olivera and Mike Epps as L.J. Other returning players include Iain Glenn as the gloatingly evil Dr. Isaacs (and the equally malevolent Manfred Powell in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider).

In Extinction, the effects of the zombie-generating T-virus have spread far beyond Raccoon City and decimated not just the human population of the planet but also the environment, creating widespread desertification. Survivors in this undead-haunted world include hidden enclaves of Umbrella Corporation minions, pockets of cannibalistic scavengers, an armored convoy of nomads led by Olivera, L.J. and Claire (Ali Larter), and, naturally, Alice, attired for the post-apocalyptic world in renegade biker garb and armed, among other things, with a pair of Nepalese kukris.

Survival in the harsh, zombie-ridden wasteland of the future would likely be difficult enough without anyone trying to make it worse, but that is, of course, what Dr. Isaacs endeavors to do, in the course of his interminable experiments.

One element in Extinction has got to be either a tribute to classic Mel Gibson action film The Road Warrior, or a rip-off from it, is the armored tanker truck, complete with fighting platforms and flamethrower. Hell, it might actually be the same truck for all I know (although it would not likely have made its way from Australia to the various Mexican venues where Extinction was filmed).

There are a few potentially minor weak points in the film that might chafe even fans of the genre a little. One of these is the use of fragmentary flashbacks that are not likely to mean much to people who haven't seen the previous films (if there are any that have seen this one and not the others). Another is a super-monster that, while more than adequate, is not quite as interesting or impressive as those that appeared in the previous Resident Evil movies. And, with no cobbler being apparent in Isaacs' Nevada facility, one might wonder why the profligate Umbrella Corporation does not bother to reuse boots no longer needed by their wearers (you'll see what I mean).

Those points aside, however, there are a number of fun twists and revelations in Extinction that help to fill in the blanks in the Resident Evil story and plenty of zombie-killing action -- and the necropolis-like remnants of the Las Vegas strip alone make this film well worth watching.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars

Skirmisher Publishing LLC is proud to announce the launch of a new online Forum! Readers can access it from the Skirmisher homepage at http://www.skirmisher.com by clicking on "Skirmisher Publishing LLC's Online Forum" near the top of the page, or visit it directly by going to http://www.skirmisher.com/forum.

Anyone is welcome to register, become a member of the Skirmisher community, and discuss any aspect of its books, miniatures, other products, and the games they support — often with the authors, artists, and developers who have created or contributed to them.

Dedicated sections within the Forum include ones devoted to:
* Skirmisher's wildly popular Nuisances OGL/d20 parody book;
* Its H.G. Wells historic reprints and rules inspired by them, including the H.G. Wells' Little Orc Wars miniatures warfare rules;
* d20 material in general and Skirmisher's Experts, Warriors, and Tests of Skill books in particular; and
* The Cthulhu Live 3rd Edition live-action horror role-playing game;
* The Control self-standing conspiracy RPG.

"Many of our customers have been asking for something like this for a couple of years now," says Michael J. Varhola, Skirmisher's publisher and editor-in-chief. "While we did not really have the resources to do it right before, however, we now have a talented, technically-oriented staff capable of launching and supporting a high-quality, interactive Forum that can be a really useful tool for our readers."

Check out Skirmisher's Forum at http://www.skirmisher.com/forum — and feel free to start posting to it right away!