Lord Samper's Library

Today’s post was originally going to be about a couple of Robert Bloch short stories and then (while having an overdue purge of the shelves yesterday) I came across my copy of Joe R. Lansdale’s ‘Bestsellers Guaranteed’. I’d completely forgotten that I had this book so I thought I’d check out a couple of these stories instead. I ended up enjoying what I read so much that I decided to go for it and read the whole book. Honestly, it’s a great read. And so, today’s post was going to be about ‘Bestsellers Guaranteed’; that was the plan until the book literally came apart in my hands while I was reading it. Turns out that some books don’t age well ;o) While I’m waiting for the glue to dry then, I thought I’d read something where the pages don’t come loose in my hands. Yep, it’s back to the Kindle and a couple more entries in the Black Library… ‘We Were Brothers’ – Richard Fox. Page Count: 32 Pages Lord Straxis of the Red Corsairs boards a strike cruiser of the hated Executioners Space Marine...

Page Count: 126 (and a bit) pages My last couple of trips to Greenwich Market have turned up quite the little treasure trove of old ‘Doctor Who’ books and I’ve made sure to come home with a few. When I saw ‘Doctor Who and the Mutants’ on the table, I knew I had to grab it; not only have I never seen the TV serial (planning on doing something about that soon) but I was all of about eight or nine years old the one and only time I read the book. Yep, ‘The Mutants’ was another loan from the library van at the top of the hill :o) So definitely one that I had to pick up then. This is going to be a short post then (look at the page count) but I’ve still got some stuff to talk about. Lets go ;o) A massive shape scuttles out of the darkness and strikes the earth Overlord down. It is a mutant – a huge insectoid creature; it moves in a crouch, its back arched and scaly, with huge knobbly vertebrae. The controlling Overlord, the Marshal, has ordered all such mutants killed on sight. What has happe...

The last week has been a heavy one so I took advantage of the 'Shudder' subscription (yep, it's a subscription now, the free trial ended) to switch off a little and watch some horror. Let me tell you about it. 'The Horde' (2009) A police raid on a derelict Paris tower block goes wrong in the worst possible way... Now, not only are the police being held hostage, there are zombies outside the flat and it doesn't look too good for the rest of Paris either. Drug dealers and police must work together if anyone is going to survive... I'm cheating a little bit here as this was a rewatch (not for a long time though), but it's on 'Shudder' and at the time, I was after something that I knew I'd enjoy and... 'The Horde' is still a great movie with some interesting things to say and just constant non-stop zombie action along the way. I couldn't ask for a lot more than that really, it was just what I needed and I won't leave it too long be...

Because if there's one thing you can count on me to do, it's buying a whole load more similar books if I've enjoyed one. That's what happened with 'Deadnoughts Vol, 1' and now, here we are, looking at some more of that ilk. Who knows, I might even get a chance to finish them; actually, that's a little too far fetched, even for me... ;o) Anyway, lets take a quick look at some books that came home with me over the last week. Lets start with the obvious choices. Like I said a few lines up, I thoroughly enjoyed 'Dreadnoughts Vol. 1' so Vol.2 pretty much bought itself. Although I did tell myself to wait until next payday so, erm... Anyway here we are and I reckon I'll polish this off over the weekend. And 'Judge Dredd: Origins' is a classic story that ties into what I've already read. The fact that it was only a fiver, off eBay, helped a fair bit too ;o) And here are the books. Even if you haven't already read the review, you can prob...

Some things are just inevitable... Yesterday was a day in the office and by the time I got round to catching the bus back home, I had just enough remaining in me to read a few Black Library short stories (and even then, I had a little nap between two of them, damn I'm old...) I know I said I was going to switch it up a little but the state I was in yesterday evening, you're lucky you're getting these to be honest ;o) Anyway, enough of that. Let me tell you about what I read... 'The Last Psyker' - Shauna Lawless Page Count: 48 Pages (on my phone) Karleth, a primaris psyker, is despised and feared by the troopers he accompanies into battle. Only the pragmatic Captain Ollana seems to value his function. When their regiment is sent to investigate a planet evacuated during the outbreak of the Great Rift, Karleth is targeted by forces more appreciative of his gifts… I still have an unread copy of 'The Children of Gods and Fighting Men', giving me reproachful looks...

The plan, yesterday, was to have a little time to write a post on... I don't know, the aim was to definitely write something though, I was really up for it. And then... There was a major incident at work that I had to dial into a meeting for and I was trying to spend time with my girls at the same time and... By the time that was all done, I was wiped out and good for precisely nothing :o) I like posting stuff here regularly though, it satisfies an itch, so it was time to root about in the ol' 'blogging archives' (sounds a lot cooler than just saying 'my old blogs') and see if there was anything that deserved a little time in the sun. And I settled on George R.R. Martin's 'Sandkings'. I'm not even sure that I have my copy of 'Dreamsongs' anymore but I've always had a soft spot for 'Sandkings' and this old review from 2012 sums up my feelings perfectly, even though they're not all good. The old review can be found Here if ...