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When is a copy of Robert McCammon's 'Night Boat' NOT a copy of Robert McCammon's 'Night Boat'...?

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The answer is simple, When you remove the packaging and find that the book you ordered has somehow 'mysteriously' become this book while in transit... My first glance had me had me wondering if this was a tale of the galaxy's smallest policeman (because that is exactly how my mind works when I'm working from home and haven't spoken to anyone in hours...) but then I remembered the blurb, on the back, and that set me straight. It was an honest mistake though, especially as I've never read anything by Lois McMaster Bujold. It feels like everyone else probably has though, is 'The Vor Game' worth a read or would you start with something else instead. ?Leave a comment and let me know. (And not only did I get a refund from the seller, I don't have to return the book either. Not the luck I was looking for yesterday, but I'll take it)

‘I Hate Fairyland, Volume Six: Last Gert Standing’ – Young, Bean (Image Comics)

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  Page Count: 128 Pages For all my ‘I really won’t leave it too long before reading the rest of I Hate Fairyland’… It has been a while since I read ‘Volume 5’ . And that’s just the way it goes with this series; as much as I love it, I have to be in exactly the right mood to pick it up or it just doesn’t work for me. Well, after another stressful day at work yesterday, it suddenly struck me that I was in just the mood for something irreverent, anarchic and more than a little bit violent, all at once. And when that mood strikes me, this is where I end up! Lets have a little chat about ‘Last Gert Standing’… Death by a thousand Gerts! King Cloudeous is determined to finish what his sister, Queen Cloudia never could: kick Gert out of Fairyland FOR GOOD! And the only way to do that is to have every Gert who ever lived battle each other to the death. Who said that there’s only so many Gerts to go round?! They clearly haven’t read this comic… OG Gert returns to find the last key to escape,...

'Hungry' (2026) - Trailer

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Yesterday was an absolute write-off in terms of getting anything read. I mean... I got some work done, got my eldest over to an interview (for 6th Form) and then hung out with both of my daughters, so I can't really complain, but... You know ;o)  Anyway, fingers crossed that reading happens today, we'll see. In the meantime, I came across this trailer yesterday and thought I'd share it here; mostly because of the movie title (made me laugh) but also... Look at it and tell me that you wouldn't watch it. Keep an eye open for 'Hungry' in June... 

‘Frighteners: New Stories of Horror and the Unknown’ – Edited by Mary Danby (Fontana)

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  Page Count: 159 Pages Given that this book was first published in 1974, the word ‘New’ (in the title) is starting to look more and more redundant but… Given that I’m of an age now where shaving my head actually makes me look less bald (seriously), I’m a fine one to talk ;o) Anyway… I saw this collection in Greenwich Market, a few months ago, and had to grab it as it reminded me of the lesser frequented shelves, at my old primary school, where a kid like me could find all the old horror and supernatural anthologies, and did. It is surprisingly easy to lose a book at my place, a flat that is literally full of books, but I came across ‘Frighteners’ the other day and last night, finally settled down for a read. A beach inhabited by man-eating jellyfish… A death-mask which returns to life… A village of monster-mad zombies… A hideous body which refuses to die… A hospital menaced by a ghostly visitor… A withered corpse in search of a friend… Stories of stark originality and chilling hum...

‘The Savage Sword of Conan: Volume 2’ – Various (Titan Comics, Heroic Signatures)

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  Page Count: 208 Pages My ongoing journey to read more of the books that I buy is going… Well… You all saw yesterday’s post :o) It’s not going brilliantly but not only do I really enjoy reading fantasy and horror, I’m also dogged and relentless with my TBR pile. Erm… Well, more the former than the latter ;o) I’ll get there, eventually… Anyway. The other day, said journey saw me take a little trek through the Hyborian Age with some quick detours along the way to take in 16th Century France and Hungary, as well as 1930s Egypt. Yep, I finally read that copy of ‘Savage Sword of Conan’, that has been been giving me reproachful looks for far too long. Lets talk a little about it :o) The second volume of ‘The Savage Sword of Conan’ collects issues #4-6 of the ongoing series and kicks things off with one of my pet hates about comic books… The humble ‘crossover’ event. That’s not the book’s fault, lets be clear, but here we are. I’m the kind of guy who settles on a title and sticks with it...

Books For The TBR Pile... 'Mini-Reset' Edition

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Just a mini-reset, I bet you didn't even realize that I'd gone ;o) With one thing and another (and then another), last week wasn't a good one; mostly work stuff and mental health. I thought I'd give myself a little 'time off' this weekend, just to get my head straight. Still, new week and all that, fingers crossed for a better week this week. Let's see... :o) Backing up a little bit though. Payday was last Friday and that meant 'Walking Dead Night' (for me and my eldest) was accompanied by Dominos Pizza. It also meant that on Saturday, I was able to take my daughters to Greenwich for nachos and book shopping. They like nachos and I 'really deserved' a little book shopping ;o) Lets take a little look at what came home with us... The lady who runs the bookstall, on Greenwich market, saw me coming and immediately pointed me at the small pile of 'Doctor Who' books on the table. I've never read 'Time-flight' (and I've only...

‘The Song of a Mad Minstrel’, ‘The Tavern’ & ‘Dead Man’s Hate’ – Some Poems by Robert E. Howard.

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  This was originally going to be a post about the REH short tale ‘The Black Stone’; well, that was the plan until I realised that I’d already posted about it, way back in 2022 . No worries, I thought to myself, ‘The Little People’ is an intriguing title, I’ll give that a go. And to be honest, it wasn’t a bad tale either; for an entry in a collection of horror stories it certainly didn’t end how I’d expected it to (and that’s not a bad thing). The only problem I had with the tale is that while it’s certainly not a ‘fragment’, a page was missing from REH’s typescript and so ‘The Little People’ has a gap in the middle where the only thing I could gather was that the narrators sister was still annoyed with him. Not a bad tale to read, maybe not one for a whole post here though. I wasn’t in the mood to be beaten though so I took a chance and decided to do something that I very rarely do, if ever. Yep, I thought I’d read me some poetry :o) It might be the poetry that I had to study at s...