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More Bits and Pieces…

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I’m now officially into the last week and a half of my sick leave and it has done me a lot of good; I didn’t expect to be off this long but I’m glad that I made that appointment with my GP back in September :o) Just one more meeting with Occupational Health and, fingers crossed, I should be good to go back to work next month. All of which is a round about way of saying that once again, I did very little yesterday; literally just what the doctor ordered. I did watch a couple of movies though, and read a couple of short stories, because well, of course I did ;o) Let me tell you all about it, movies first… ‘Good Boy’ (2025) Not to be confused with the 2022 horror movie of the same name (not a bad movie at all, just a whole different relationship between a man and his ‘dog’…) but to be honest, there’s very little danger of that happening. Everyone (and their dog) has been talking about ‘Good Boy’, this year, and I finally got the chance to watch it yesterday morning. Todd suffers from a ch...
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‘Robin of Sherwood’ – Richard Carpenter (Puffin Books)

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  Page Count:158 Pages Before we go any further, I just want to ask a quick question… When you saw the cover art posted here, how many of you immediately had the theme tune start up in your head? No judgment here, I didn’t even need to Youtube it, that music has been going through my head for years (with breaks of course, don’t worry). While ‘Robin of Sherwood’ was on (back in the early/mid eighties), it was regular ‘tea-time telly watching’ in my house and I was lucky enough to have a copy of the tie-in book as well. That original copy disappeared, on its own journey, years ago but I’ve been after a little nostalgia just recently so tracked down another copy and settled down for a read last night. Everyone knows the story of Robin Hood so I was half inclined not to include the blurb here, until I read it again. I couldn’t help but chuckle at a situation where no-one knew what to write but also, no-one wanted to leave a big blank space on the back cover of the book… Traditional adv...
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‘Bug Wars – Book One: Lost In The Yard’ – Aaron, Asrar, Wilson, Carey (Image)

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  Page Count: 160 Pages, collects #1 - #6 of 'Bug Wars' I saw this in Forbidden Planet and after one look at the cover… I didn’t need an awful lot of encouragement to pick it up. Seriously, is there anything cooler than a warrior sat on a giant stag beetle (ichor dripping everywhere)? No, I didn’t think so either ;o) As always, with my TBR Pile, it has taken me a little while to get to ‘Bug Wars’. I got there in the end though :o) A chunk of last night was spent trying to find somewhere to print out my youngest daughter’s homework (I found it but ‘Lewisham by Night’ isn’t pleasant…) and when I got home, I sat myself down for a read in the comfy chair. The Old Slaymaker House. Neighbors whisper about it, children dare each other to step foot in its overgrown lawn. Exterminators refuse to visit and shudder at the thought of what multi-limbed monsters may burrow in its earth. For Slade Slaymaker and his brother Sydney, it’s the last remnant of their father, a dedicated entomologi...
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‘The Hitcher’ (1986) & ‘Angst’ (1983)

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I read absolutely nothing yesterday, it ended up being a mix of ‘Warhammer 40K’ with my youngest (her Tyranids rolled over my Space Marines, repeatedly…) and ‘Walking Dead’ night with my eldest. I regret nothing though; well… apart from some truly atrocious dice rolls that is… Anyway :o) I spent this morning with a couple of movies that are worth mentioning here. Let me quickly tell you about them. ‘The Hitcher’ (1986) Jim Halsey is delivering a car, from Chicago to San Diego, and thinks that picking up a hitcher will help him stay awake on the long drive. Staying awake will soon be the last thing on Jim’s mind however. Once the hitcher makes his plans known, all Jim wants to do is stay alive… It has been such a long time since I watched this movie (roughly thirty years) so when I saw it was available on ‘Shudder’, it was definitely time to give it another go :o) It had been long enough, since that last viewing, that I thought it would be like going into it fresh but it ended up being ...
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‘Fever House’ – Keith Rosson (Black Crow Books)

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  Page Count: 515 Pages After reading a couple of reviews for ‘Coffin Moon’, I was keen to find out, for myself, what Keith Rosson was all about. I couldn’t quite stretch to a hard-back copy of ‘Coffin Moon’ (that has since changed) so I thought I’d start with ‘Fever House’ and see where the journey took me. I’d already polished off a few chapters and as yesterday was a quiet one, I took the opportunity to sit in the comfy chair and see how far I could get with the rest of the book. The next thing I knew, it was the evening and I was finishing the last few pages. I can’t remember the last time that happened so that should really tell you all you need to know but that wouldn’t make for much of a post here. Lets see if I can go a little deeper than just a sentence… ;o) A small-time criminal. A has-been rock star. A shadowy government agency. And a severed hand whose dark powers threaten to destroy them all. When leg-breaker Hutch Holtz rolls up to a rundown apartment complex in Por...
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Reading Plans...

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The TBR Pile changes on an absolute whim these days but this is what it looks like right now... There's a nice mixture of long books, shorter books and a couple of short story collections (that I can dip in and out of) here so I'm hoping that I can make a decent dent in this pile of books, maybe over the next week or so.  The position of the bookmark is a little misleading, I'm further into 'Fever House' than it looks ;o) It's looking good so far but I'm hoping for more of the apocalyptic rather than one of the leads reminiscing about his parents rock star days. Not that I've got anything against that, it's just not what I'm here for. Time will tell but I'm feeling positive about this one :o)  'Darkness Eternal' and 'Era of Ruin' are all about getting a little more 'Horus Heresy' and 'present day' (you know what I mean...) 40K reading under my belt. I've actually already read a few of the tales in 'D...
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‘Skinbreaker’ #2 and ‘Savage Sword of Conan’ #10

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It has taken me a little longer, than planned, to get to these two comics but yesterday ended up being the day I finally opened them for a read. I am a good way into Keith Rosson’s ‘Fever House’ (which has been brilliant so far) but there was no way I was going to finish it, for a post today, so I took a short break to catch up with ‘Skinbreaker’ and ‘Savage Sword of Conan’ instead. Quick thoughts follow (yesterday was a little heavy going and today could well be more of the same)… ‘Skinbreaker’ #2 – Kirkman, Finch (Image) The challenge has been made and a new Elder will be chosen through trial by combat. Can Anok do the right thing for his tribe though? And whatever the outcome, what will the future hold…? Okay, I did not see that coming… The fight between Anok and Enor is handled just right; it has to end one way but there is a lot of subtext happening that fleshes things out and says a lot about Anok’s character. This approach dovetails with more superb artwork to create a really co...
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