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Movie Night! ‘Relentlessly Positive’ Edition…

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Well, maybe not that positive, one of these films wasn’t actually that great, but the next week and a bit is (hopefully) going to be a pretty big deal for me so I wanted to start it off on the right note. Well, try any anyway ;o) Anyway… I did manage to get a little reading done over the weekend, there’s nothing like a long bus ride to make some headway in a ‘Siege of Terra’ book, but I started things off with a movie and ended up just continuing from there :o) And here’s what I watched… ‘Predator – Badlands’ (2025) In which a young Yautja warrior (I believe they answer to ‘Predator’ as well) is cast out from his clan but finds a new family on his journey to confront the ultimate adversary… I’ve got to admit, I was a little wary of what I think is the first ‘Predator’ movie to carry a ‘12’ certificate; I mean without the horror, gore and flayed bodies hanging in the jungle, is it really a ‘Predator’ movie at all? On the other hand though, my eldest daughter and I love to hang out and...
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Just The One Book For The TBR Pile... 'Booktempted by a Womble' Edition...

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The plan for 2026 is not to buy so many books and concentrate on the unread books, on my shelves, instead. That's still the plan but little did I know that I'd be the victim of a master book-tempter, and so early in the year... If you made the same resolution that I did, and you don't want to be book-tempted, then keep an eye open for this Womble as vigilance is the only thing that will keep your wallet safe ;o) The only problem is, if you do see this Womble then it's already too late and you are now the proud owner of a new book ;o) Anyway... I was reading through some of my favourite blogs, the other day, and came across this review for Clay McLeod Chapman's 'Acquired Taste' collection. I'd already read, and enjoyed, 'Wake Up And Open Your Eyes' so one payday later, and a little wait for delivery, I now have an 'Acquired Taste' as well ;o) They're feeding on you too. A father returns from serving in Vietnam with a strange and terr...
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‘Doctor Who and the Masque of Mandragora’ – Philip Hinchcliffe (Target)

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  Page Count: 122 Pages and about 5 Lines (yep, I'm in one of those moods...) It felt like a little while since I’d last read an old Target ‘Doctor Who’ novelisation (although looking back down the list of books posts, not that long as it turns out…) and it also felt like one of those weeks where you just want to round things off with a light read so… I put those two feelings together, paid a visit to my pile of unread ‘Doctor Who’ books and ‘The Masque of Mandragora’ was the book that I came up with for last night’s reading. I’ve never seen ‘The Masque of Mandragora’ (I was about a year old when it first aired so, maybe I did see it and just can’t remember…?) but I’ve got the vaguest memories of reading a library copy when I was little. From what I can remember, I didn’t particularly enjoy it back then (I’ll go into that later on) but when you’re looking through a pile of old ‘Doctor Who’ books and this one was only a fiver… You figure that maybe it’s time to give ‘Masque’ anothe...
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‘Argent (Vaults of Terra) ‘ - Chris Wraight (Black Library)

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  Page Count: 23 Pages What with one thing and another, Wednesdays are always busy, in and outside work, and while I wouldn’t swap it (well, I wouldn’t swap the bits where I get to hang out with my daughters); there’s never enough time at the end of the day to settle down with a good book. So, I settled down with (what I hoped would be) a good short story instead. And it was :o) I had seen that Chris Wraight’s ‘Vaults of Terra’ trilogy is due to be published soon, collected in one volume, so I thought I’d go and see if any of the accompanying short stories were available on the Kindle. ‘Argent’ was the first one that I came across so that’s the one I went with. And... Interrogator Luce Spinoza’s hunt for a traitor brings her to Forfoda and into the company of the Imperial Fists. Unearthing a den of corruption, Spinoza learns what it means to fight alongside the Emperor’s Angels, and vows to prove herself worthy of this honour or die in the attempt. It has been a long old time since...
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‘Death and Duty: An Astra Militarum Anthology’ – Various Authors (Black Library)

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  ‘No bold act is too small to be without consequence.’ The true strength of the Emperor’s largest military force lies not in their artillery, trenches and tanks, but in the courage of the ordinary men and women of the Astra Militarum. Against the countless foes of the Imperium, Guardsmen stand together. They fight to live and die not only for the glory of the God-Emperor, but for their fellow soldier. To survive against the Ruinous Powers and the overwhelming xenos tide, the trust and bravery of daring Catachan jungle fighters, indomitable Cadians, stoic Kriegsmen and more will be tested to the limits. Black Library’s authors give voice to the untold stories of heroism, determination and betrayal amongst the endless war of the 41st millennium. This is a little bit of a ‘cheat post’ as a number of the stories included, in this anthology, have already been covered here (as part of my ‘commuter reading’ on the Kindle app); I’ll link to these as we go ;o) I ended up buying the b...
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‘Devour: The Official Movie Novelization’ – J.R. Curtis

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  Page Count: 295 Pages I will always have an unashamed soft spot for movie novelizations, mostly because of my old copy of ‘Return of the Jedi’ and how it helped me bridge the gap between seeing the movie, at the cinema, and finally watching it on the telly one Christmas. That and my (slightly older, I think) copy of ‘Ladyhawke’. As a kid, movie novelizations were the best way for me to experience movies that I was far too young to see, and it really felt like they were all written by Alan Dean Foster ;o) Anyway… These days, I’m still reading movie novelizations before I see the actual movie; something that happened last night with ‘Devour’. The trailer looks absolutely awesome but my googling has completely let me down, I can’t find a single mention of when the movie is definitely coming out or where I can watch it. Oh well… I saw the novelization, on Amazon, and figured it would keep me going in the meantime. And… The Virginia Bitches: an all-female, all-vampire metal band, shro...
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‘The Savage Sword of Conan: Volume 1’ – Arcudi, Fafner, Zircher, Zub, Pace, Tieri, Nord, Quah (Titan Comics, Heroic Signatures)

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  Page Count: 208 Pages It’s that time of year where I find myself trying to finish off the books that I foolishly promised myself I would read before the New Year started. Books like ‘The Savage Sword of Conan: Volume 1’… Now here’s a book that has been sat on the shelf for the best part of a year; every so often, I’d grab it for a read but never get more than a few pages in before swapping it for something else. I don’t think there was any specific reason why, it just never seemed to be the right time to get into it (which was the same for a lot of books, to be fair, so this was more about me I think). It’s ‘Conan’ though so it was always going to be read, eventually… And ‘eventually’ ended up being last night, in a ‘now or never’ kind of way ;o) The Savage Sword of Conan is back from Heroic Signatures and Titan Comics! Featuring an epic new Conan epic from John Arcudi and Max Von Fafner, the rousing return of Solomon Kane written and drawn by Patch Zircher, an electric prose s...
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