Posts

‘Mood Swings’ – Dave Jeffrey (Black Shuck Books)

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  Page Count: 151 Pages And here’s the other book that I read over the Bank Holiday Weekend :o) I’ve been looking at the ‘Black Shuck Shadows’ series, for a while, but had no idea where to start. I mean yes, I could have started right at the beginning but the fact that there were another thirty-six books, following on from the first one, felt a little off-putting to be honest (even if each book is a slim one). In the end, I went with the tried and tested method of ‘picking the book that was half the price of the others’ (thanks Amazon) and that book was number thirty-six in the series, this one ;o) I’ve never read anything by Dave Jeffrey so came into ‘Mood Swings’ completely cold but if this sampler is anything to go by, I wouldn’t mind reading more of his work. I’ll be honest, I didn’t get some of the stories but at times, that didn’t matter; I was still left distinctly unsettled by the time I spent with each tale. While I wouldn’t call this collection ‘cosmic horror’ at all, the...

‘Doctor Who And The Pyramids Of Mars’ – Terrance Dicks (Target Books)

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  Page Count: 125 Pages Look at who’s all proud of himself :o) I managed to get through a whole week, looking after the cats, without calling the emergency vet out through my own forgetfulness. Long story, lets just say that the eldest cat will only look at me if I have food. Anyway… :o) How did I celebrate? Well, I didn’t exactly celebrate as the kitten and I got on just fine and I miss her. What I did do though, when I got back to my place, was sit in the comfy chair and read ‘Doctor Who And The Pyramids Of Mars’ because I’m very much on holiday now and I needed something fairly easy going to round off the day. Before I talk about the book though I really need to say something about the cover… I love the old ‘Doctor Who’ cover art but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cover artist manage to make Sarah Jane Smith look so unlike herself yet unmistakably her, all at the same time. A part of me is slightly in awe of that achievement, especially how hung-over she looks… Anyway, lets get ...

‘Invincible – Volume 1’ – Kirkman, Walker, Crabtree (Image)

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  Page Count: 208 Pages Every so often, I’ll be watching Prime Video and it’ll throw me an advert for ‘Invincible’; the one where this huge creature tells a bunch of superheroes to surrender and Omni-Man just says ‘No!’ I don’t know why but that always makes me laugh. Anyway… I’ve seen that advert enough times now that the other day, I finally shrugged my shoulders and figured I’d give it a go. As someone whose ‘soap opera of choice’ was the X-Men cartoon, it was always going to happen. Me being me though, I thought I’d pick up Volume 1 of the book and give that a go first. And I’ve got to ask… Does it get better? Mark Grayson is just like everyone else his age; except his father is the most powerful superhero on the planet – Omni-Man. When Mark develops powers of his own, it’s a dream come true. But living up to his father’s legacy is only the beginning of his problems… ‘Invincible Vol.1’ isn’t a bad read, lets get that straight from the start. It knows the assignment and duly del...

Books for the TBR Pile... 'Greenwich Oxfam' Edition

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It hasn't been a bad week but it has felt like there's been more of it than I'd normally expect, mostly because I've been trying to fit five days of work into a four day week (Easter Bank Holiday Weekend and all that). I got there though and now I'm looking at a week's holiday next week, I reckon I'll do better managing my time there ;o) Anyway... I started things off yesterday with a trip into Greenwich and a little nose around the market for books and lamb samosas. I was successful in my hunt for lamb samosa (they were lovely!) but the market didn't really yield anything in the way of books. I mean, there were a few 'Star Wars' books but they all seemed to be 'middle of the series' books and I didn't fancy playing that game. Oh well, that's the way the 'hunt' goes every now and then. Luckily for me, a quick stop at the Greenwich Oxfam turned a 'fruitless book hunt' into a 'fruitful book hunt' so my plans ...

‘Alien: Black, White & Blood’ – Various (Marvel)

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  Page Count: 136 Pages How cool would it be if I could have coloured the word ‘Blood’ in red…? Yep, I’m looking at ten days with no work and I’m feeling just how you’d expect at the prospect of not doing an awful lot ;o) Anyway… I may well be fifty now but I’m still not above doing things like promising myself a new comic book if I made it through last week’s MRI scan without freaking out. Look, I know how I work and what the pressure points are ;o) I made it through the scan (just waiting on the results, I don’t think there’ll be anything to worry about though) so the next time I found myself near a Waterstones, I had the ideal reason to go in and not come out until I’d bought something. I always enjoy the ‘Alien’ movies but while I’ve got a few of the books on my shelves, I’ve always shied away from them as I can’t help but wonder… How many times can you tell what is essentially the same story? And again, don’t get me wrong (love the movies) but the whole point of the Aliens is ...

‘Black Dawn’ & ‘The Wolf and the Rat’ – C.L. Werner (Black Library)

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This should have been yesterday’s post but we all know what happened there… Right, lets have another go at writing this post… :o) Just a couple of short stories for you today (because that’s all I was good for the other day). I’m trying to make inroads into some of the ‘non-Warhammer’ fiction on my shelves but I missed the good stuff and decided to compromise by dipping a toe into the setting. Not literally of course, dip a toe into some of those battlefields and you stand a good chance of losing your whole leg, and that’s if you’re lucky ;o) C.L. Werner is always a safe bet for a good ‘Warhammer Fantasy’ or ‘Age of Sigmar’ read and this time, I thought I’d go for a ‘Warhammer 40K’ read of his as well. One ended up being a lot more enjoyable than the other; it’s not too hard to work out which one was which… ;o) ‘Black Dawn’ (Victories of the Space Marines) Page Count: 31 Pages An artefact from the Great Crusade - a bolt pistol used by Roboute Guilliman himself - is unearthed on the pla...

Official Trailer: 'Backrooms' (2026)

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This was meant to be a book post, then it became a comic book post and then it was going to be a post about a couple of short stories that I had on the go. And then... I fell asleep last night and I'll be honest, I'm struggling to stay awake today. Bloody chemo tablets... :o) Anyway... All the book stuff has been pushed back a day or two and what we have instead is another trailer for 'Backrooms'. I'm up for this, how about you? Normal service to resume tomorrow (fingers crossed)