Lord Samper's Library

Page Count: Four pages and about four lines. I found ‘Sadastor’ in the collection ‘Out of Space & Time: Volume 2’ but if you can’t find a copy, you can always read it over at ‘Eldritch Dark’ ( Link ). It takes barely any time at all to read but is definitely worth the time you put into it. Quick thoughts follow (you’re really not going to get much more than that from a story that’s only a few pages long…) ‘Sadastor’ is ‘the tale that was told to a fair lamia by the demon Charnadis as they sat together on the top of Mophi, above the sources of the Nile, in those years when the sphinx was young’. It’s a lot more than that though, of course it is. We’ve got a beautifully told travelogue through the outer realms of Clark Ashton Smith’s universe and it’s a universe of wonders that you feel privileged to have been shown. The journey may only be a few paragraphs long but Ashton Smith literally fits an entire universe into those few paragraphs, seemingly without any effort at all. And the

Every time Halloween comes round, I promise myself that I’ll watch more horror films and read more horror fiction; we’re halfway through the month and you can see how that’s going so far… There’s still plenty of October left though so lets see how I do from now until the end of the month ;o) First up is ‘Hellraiser 3’ which I watched last night, mostly because I love it (you can tell how this post is going to go, sorry…) but also because it was cheap on Prime and I’m still just on the wrong side of payday. Here goes… TV reporter Joey Summerskill’s life is changed forever when she witnesses the horrific death of a teenager, torn apart by bloody chains. Joey’s search for a story leads her to the Lament Configuration Box but it has already been opened, waking an old evil from its slumber… Now Pinhead walks the earth once more, creating a new army of Cenobites from the transmuted flesh of his victims; his one desire to reclaim the Box. Even with help from an unexpected source, Joey Summers

I saw this not so long ago, on sale (four pounds) in the British Heart Foundation shop, and thought to myself, ‘you can’t go too far wrong for four quid, especially when you’ve just been paid and you’ve definitely got four quid spare.’ And that was that settled. ‘Mr. Higgins Comes Home’ came home with me but it took me a little while longer to finally get round to reading it. ‘Mr Higgins Comes Home’ is a very slender graphic novel, there are no page numbers but you can tell just by looking at it; that and the fact that it all it took was a bus ride to the pharmacy, and back, to finish it off. There’s still stuff to be said about it though and we are here, so… Lets do that, shall we…? Preparations begin at Castle Golga for the annual festival of the undead, as a pair of fearless vampire killers question a man hidden away in a monastery on the Baltic Sea. The mysterious Mr. Higgins wants nothing more than to avoid the scene of his wife's death, and the truth about what happened to hi

This never works normally, but there's a little part of me that's still an optimist so... here goes :o) Books are coming into the flat a lot faster than they're leaving (you can always tell how depressed I am by the number of new books that I order...) and I'm already way behind on my reading plans. To be fair, I've been way behind on my reading plans for a few years now but I'm feeling it today :o) With that in mind then, I'm going to try and read just the books I already own between now and Christmas. Yeah, I know but I've got to give it a go ;o) With all that said then... Lets take a look at the books that came home with me (or turned up on the doorstep) over the last week ;o) It hasn't been the worst week but it wasn't the best either so, here we are! Apologies in advance if the photo is a little out of focus; I suspect that I need new glasses ;o)  Not as a bad haul really, looks like there's something here to cater for all tastes (well,

Because damn that was an assault on the senses and I'm still trying to process it... In a good way though :o) You're probably after a little more than that though. I know I said 'quick thoughts' but don't worry, not that quick! It's not often that you'll see me go to the cinema these days, I'll happily wait for most stuff to make its way onto Prime now, but there are definitely exceptions to the rule (and Catford Mews cinema is nice and cheap). 'Terrifier 3' is one them. I've been looking forward to this movie, ever since the end of 'Terrifier 2' , so bear that in mind as you read on... Five years after Art the Clown's Halloween massacre, Sienna and her brother struggle to rebuild their shattered lives. As the holiday season approaches, they try to embrace the Christmas spirit and leave the horrors of the past behind. That's easier said than done though, Art the Clown has returned to Miles County and he has brought a friend wi

Both tales are taken from the collection ‘The Lure of Atlantis’, edited by Michael Wheatley. But you knew that already, the cover art was probably a bit of a giveaway ;o) Anyway… Before I get onto the short stories, have a little blurb about the collection as a whole, All about us on the stairs was some of the most exquisite statuary I have ever seen... save for a few pieces carved in the form of some hideous beast, the like of which I have never seen on earth...' The sunken continent of Atlantis has dwelt in the collective imagination of writers and artists for centuries; a bejewelled paradox bubbling with themes of irrecoverable loss and quixotic faith in its rediscovery. This new anthology collects stories from the vast, yet seldom recognised, vault of Atlantean fiction from the Golden Age of Weird Tales magazine, presented in four core sections, perfect for diving into: - Atlantis Rediscovered – in which the ruins of ancient Atlantis are found again. - Atlantis Revisited –