Posts

Another 'Mini-TBR Pile'

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These posts seem to be helping, right now, in terms of my having a little something to aim for each week. So... Here we are again with a little look at my reading plans, for the next week at least.  Yep, that's a pretty ambitious 'Mini' TBR Pile, there is no way I'm even going to try and read all of those books over the next week (one or two will be a good showing). I had one of those moments where I was picking books up and others caught my eye at the same time... ;o)  I'll probably go for just one of the 'Doctor Who' books, I just can't decide between them at the time of writing this post. Any suggestions? And while I've had my eye on re-reading the 'Black Company' books for a while, the Book Stooges review of 'The Black Company' prompted me to finally take it off the shelf. I'm trying to avoid rash 'reading promises' this year but there may well be a re-read of the series... We'll see ;o) The Pile is also looking...

‘Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?’ - Philip K. Dick (Gollancz)

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  Page Count: 193 Pages I’m not sure why they felt the need to have ‘Blade Runner’ in large type, on the cover, with the actual title all tiny and almost like an afterthought. Hmmm… Oh well, I’ve always loved the film art which is funny because I’m not actually a big fan of the film itself (apart from the bit at the end with Roy Baty’s speech). That’s probably a post for another time though ;o) It has been a number of years now since I last read ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’; long enough that I’ve managed to lose my original copy, and possibly two others, in the meantime. It felt like a re-read was long overdue then and one cheap Amazon deal later… Here we are :o) World War Terminus had left the Earth devastated. Through its ruins, bounty hunter Rick Deckard stalked, in search of the renegade replicants who were his prey. When he wasn't 'retiring' them with his laser weapon, he dreamed of owning a live animal - the ultimate status symbol in a world all but bereft o...

‘Event Horizon: Dark Descent #5’ – Ward, Jones, Martin (ID Dark)

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  Today’s post will be shorter than normal, yesterday was a bit intense in places so, erm… yeah :o) There may be another post today, lets see how it goes. Anyway… As someone who normally goes for the trades (my memory for collecting single issues is atrocious), I’m feeling a little bit pleased with myself that I managed to collect all five issues of ‘Event Horizon: Dark Descent’; one after the other as well. It was ‘Event Horizon’ though so of course I was going to make sure I got the whole story. And on the whole, ‘Dark Descent’ has been a welcome return to the setting, promising good things from the ‘Event Horizon’ sequel (more comic books, not another film) that is due out this year. How would it all end though? Especially given that ‘Dark Descent’ is a prequel and we know what’s coming… Well, I’m kind of ‘half and half’ about the whole thing… With Captain Kilpack dead, only two sane crew-members of the ‘Event Horizon’ remain and their mission is clear. Stop the ship from retu...

A Couple of Heists from ‘Swords & Larceny’

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Yesterday was a busy one… I had a few things to get done, at work, and one of those was my Mid-Year Review; not something that I ever really look forward to but this one had the added ‘plot twist’ of having been on sick leave for a large chunk of that review period. I got through it though, now it’s a straight shot to August and my End of Year Review :o) And then, being all optimistic at the moment, I thought I’d sit down and read ‘Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?’ last night. It’s not even two hundred pages, I thought to myself, it shouldn’t take that long to read… should it? Dear reader, I managed about a quarter of the book before taking a break; there’s a lot going on here and I was in the mood for something a bit more light-hearted. Which led me to my copy of ‘Swords & Larceny’, a book that has been sat on my shelves since September, threatening to be read but never quite managing it. Have some blurb, FIND THE MARK The dragon’s hoard. The dwarves’ hidden mine. The mage’s ...

‘Something is killing the Children’ Volumes 1 & 2 – Tynion IV, Dell’Edera, Muerto (Boom Studios!)

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The unofficial resolution, for 2026, is to focus a little more on the books that I’ve already bought rather than buying too many more. Erm… I’m not doing too badly at the moment, it’s early days :o) With that in mind then, I thought I’d pay a little more attention to some comic books, that I’d picked up fairly recently, and having thoroughly enjoyed ‘The Nice House On The Lake’, I thought I’d spend last night with the first two volumes of ‘Something is killing the Children’. So, that’s exactly what I did and you know what…? I think I’ve discovered another series that I need to collect. Not exactly a chore but my wallet is suddenly looking a little nervous. Oh well :o) Volume One. Page Count: 128 Pages IT’S THE MONSTERS WHO SHOULD BE AFRAID. When the children of Archer's Peak—a sleepy town in the heart of America—begin to go missing, everything seems hopeless. Most children never return, but the ones that do have terrible stories—impossible details of terrifying creatures that liv...

‘Lioness of the Parch’ – Evan Dicken (Black Library)

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  Page Count: 348 Pages There is nothing quite like starting the week off with some ‘Age of Sigmar’ cover art; it’s almost the equivalent of a strong coffee, just when you need it (and I think I’m going to need that today). Anyway… :o) Since I’ve been blogging here, I’ve been lucky enough to read a few of Evan Dicken’s ‘Age of Sigmar’ short stories (links at the bottom of the post) and my thought has always been that I’d love to see how Dicken did with a whole novels worth of story to play with. Well, it turns out I blinked and now I’ve got a few to choose from :o) I went for ‘Lioness of the Parch’ as while I have nothing against any of the factions in the setting, I do have a bit of a soft spot for the regular humans just doing their best to make it through, no matter what side they stand on. And that’s what I read over the weekend :o) Let me tell you about it... Rogue. Mercenary. Champion. Tahlia Vedra is all these things and more. But overcoming the new threat facing Hammerhal ...

Movie Night! ‘Background Noise’ Edition

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I’ve been more about the books just recently but at the same time, the flat has been a little quiet as well so in the evenings, I’ve had a few movies playing, just for a bit of background noise (and also to drown out the singing from the pub over the road…) The movies weren’t brilliant but that’s ok; I wasn’t after ‘brilliant’, just something to occupy my eyes when I wasn’t reading ;o) Even so, I still managed to find a movie that I really shouldn’t have bothered with. Lets start with that one first… ‘Evilution’ (2008) When an alien life form resurrects the dead and turns them on the human race, a young scientist must fight to contain the catastrophe and eradicate the alien menace. One of those films where I wish I’d paid a little more attention, just so I knew what was going on, but at the same time, it was so dull that my attention kept sliding. That will teach me for insisting on watching every single zombie movie I find… :o) All I’ll say is… If the young scientist really wanted to ...