Lord Samper's Library

There aren't as many authors on the list these days but there are still a few where I will buy their latest book as soon as I know it's on the shelves. You have to, right? Aaron Dembski-Bowden is very much on that list, an author who it seems is physically unable to write a bad book, he just can't do it and he is writing in my favourite grimdark, far future and full of war setting. So yeah, there may well be a bit of bias here; I'll try my best not to make it too obvious. What really struck me about 'Spear of the Emperor' (before I started reading and got struck by everything else) is that Dembski-Bowden was writing about the Emperor's Finest for a change, rather than those traitorous denizens of the Warp. It's not like I wasn't going to read the book anyway but I was now particularly interested to see if he would bring the same humanity to regular Space Marines as he regularly does to the traitors. Why did I waste my time even asking myse

I’m not going to lie, this was meant to be a review of Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s ‘Spear of the Emperor’ but I fell asleep halfway through writing it, last night, and never finished it… You’ll get that tomorrow instead, today is now all about ‘War of the Realms’. I’m normally what you’d call ‘fashionably late’ to all the big Marvel events; ‘War of the Realms’ is actually marks the earliest point that I’ve ever read one of these ‘events’ and I’m still a few months late to the game. Still, better late than never right? Reading ‘Avengers Vol. 4: War of the Realms’ encouraged me to pick up this book and fill in a few gaps in that storyline. Reading ‘War of the Realms’, I wasn’t all that surprised to find a few more gaps in my reading but, on the whole though, it was a lot of fun (and I do mean a lot ) and I’m really glad that I gave it a shot. Could it form the basis for a future phase of MCU films? I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see that happen… The War of The Realms is upon

So I'm currently on my third copy of this comic...I collected the four issue mini-series, way back in the day, and promptly had to sell it (bad times). Then I treated myself to the trade, a couple of years ago, which ended up in the 'Box of Lost Things', a box of various things that got lost between various house moves. One day, I will find that box... All good things though... I found another cheap copy of the trade on Amazon and as of yesterday evening, it's all mine. Not yours, mine :o) Can you tell that I love this book...? Well, let me tell you again... Cash stolen from the botched bank job $125,000 Two loaded shotguns keeping the hostages quiet $675.00 A half-tank of gas in the getaway car $27.50 Smashing through a police roadblock and fighting for your life against hundreds of flesh eating zombies? Priceless Looking at the trade collection of 'Zombie', you'd be forgiven for thinking that you'd actually picked up one of the

I told you it might be a while before I was reading books again, didn't I? Bloody 'Survivor'... Actually, hopefully it won't be that long, just a question of finding something that won't have me falling asleep on the bus on the way to work... Stay tuned. In the meantime, welcome to the conclusion of my very small rewatch of 'Seoul Station' and 'Train to Busan'. 'Seoul Station' was alright but lightweight (for this zombie fan anyway) and not particularly memorable. Luckily, I'd seen 'Train to Busan' before and knew what I'd be letting myself in for. ' Train to Busan' has been out for a few years now so I'd be surprised if you haven't seen it already. If you haven't though and you like zombie movies, I can promise you won't regret giving it a go... As an unidentified virus sweeps the country, the Korean government declares martial law. As the country descends into chaos, one city, Busan, is r

We all love the genre but with so many books to read, and only so many hours in the day, there will inevitably be classics that we've just never got round to picking up, no matter our good intentions. I'm no different to the rest of you. When I 've got my groove on, I can get through books at a good rate but there are still loads of fantasy books that I've never read. 'The Last Unicorn' is one of those books... I know right? I don't think I've ever heard a bad word said about it and it sounds like one of those books that will happily wear the term 'classic' like it was born to it. But I've never read it, always wanted to but never did Until now. Well, I say 'until now' but it was the graphic novel adaptation that I happened to come across, in a Lewisham charity shop, and not the original book. You can't win em' all (especially when a copy of the book is priced somewhat outside my means...) and sometimes you just have t

It has been far too long since the exploits of Head Lopper (he'd really prefer it if you called him by his actual name...) and Agatha Blue Witch (still without a body) graced the pages of this blog so I thought that I really ought to do something about that... Having said that though, this is the most recent trade, and I have no idea when the next one is publishing (they need to collect another four issues so that's another year at least...), so make the most of this review and settle down with me for a long wait until that next trade. If you've read the reviews for the last two volumes, you'll already know that I've really enjoyed making my way through this series. It won't surprise you then to find out that volume 3 was a lot more of the same, and in a good way... Norgal and Agatha have come to the city of Venoriah, finding it in utter chaos. The great egg at the center of the walled city has begun to crack. Goblins gather in the field, pike and spe

It's been slim pickings this last week but sometimes that's just the way the hunt goes. To be honest, I was kind of hoping that there would be a post Christmas/New Year surge in books being donated to charity but that was clearly wishful thinking. And to be fair, if I'm not really getting rid of any books then how can I expect anyone else to do the same? Looking on the bright side though, though the quantity wasn't what I'd been expecting, the quality was definitely there. Check these beauties out (as always, apologies for the state of the pictures that come out of my phone)... I'm slowly, but surely, building up my Moorcock collection again :o) This time, with the help of Oxfam in Greenwich, I was able to find a copy of 'The Ice Schooner' (which is particularly awesome as I've been hunting for a copy for what has felt like ages...) and 'The Chronicles of Castle Brass' (three books in one which is always good). It's very likel

After finishing 'Survivor' the other day, there's no way I'll be reading anything, that's not a comic book, any time soon. 'Survivor' is just too intense for me to be able to just click my fingers and be on to the next book without a second thought; sometimes you just have to sit and let those 'book feelings' just work their way through you. So, what's a Graeme to do in the meantime? Well, last night saw me get started on a 're-watch' that I've been wanting to do for a while. Nothing too major or long-term, I enjoy a good zombie film (and several bad ones too, I'm 'equal opportunities when it comes to zombie films) and thought it was way past time that I gave 'Seoul Station' and 'Train to Busan' another watch. So I did, kicking it off with the prequel to 'Train to Busan', 'Seoul Station'... As the sun sets around Seoul Station, an old man thought to have died sinks his teeth into th

I wouldn't normally do this right at the start but 'Survivor' is as much a tale of certain people indulging their every sexual urge as it is a tale of one woman's fight to escape death (and what this ultimately does to her). They don't call 'Survivor' extreme horror for nothing so this review comes with a trigger warning for extreme sexual assault. Still here? Ok then... Reading 'Clickers Forever' got me in the mood to check out more of J.F. Gonzalez' work and the short stories 'Shooting Schedule' and 'Mabel's Recipes' pretty much sold me on what book I'd pick up next. You see, if something is labelled as 'extreme horror' or 'the most horrifying book you will ever read' etc then part of me takes as a personal challenge and I'm there reading it. I did a little reading around 'Survivor' and that was the vibe I got so I had to read it; I'd read Edward Lee's 'Header&

So there I was, all finished with 'Clickers Forever' and looking for Twitter recommendations for my next read. I was pointed in the direction of 'Silverwood: The Door', a book that I'd had half an eye on anyway, so once I'd been paid I thought I'd give it a shot. Sometimes, picking the next read is really that simple (I wish everything else was...) Bit of a side note before I start. I'm not sure how it all works but it looks to me like if you buy from Amazon then it's just an eBook but if you buy directly from the   Se rial Box site then you get the audiobook as well and the two formats sync so you can switch between the two. So there you go. Either way though, you're in for a good read. I n the forest of Silverwood you won't just lose your way, you'll lose your mind. Deep within the forest of Silverwood, California, a crack between dimensions has appeared. A dark force that lurks among the trees is growing stronger, det

What's that? Another 'Did Not Finish' in less than a week? We'd better have a look at this... This time round, it was Katherine Kerr's 'Daggerspell' and an abortive attempt at joining in a readalong . This just goes to show that I am rubbish at joining in with others but does it show anything else...? Here's the blurb, A broken promise, a curse and a magic beyond imagining…   The powerful sorcerer Nevyn broke a promise long ago and a curse has trapped him ever since. He waits for the one who might break him free of his prison. A wait that may soon finally come to an end.   Jill is the daughter of a Silver Dagger, a band of wandering swordsmen who fight for money, not honour.  After her mother died when she was young, father and girl took to the road, living from town to town, never settling.   Jill’s only friends are the mysterious spirits known as Wildfolk: gnomes, sylphs, sprites and undines. Their magical presence in her life marks her out

Long before I started blogging again, one of my reading resolutions was to find a Marvel comic book series and stick with it for a while, see where the journey took me and all that. With the Marvel Cinematic Universe being in particularly good health (what, you hadn't noticed...?) the decision more or less made itself, I'd give 'The Avengers' a shot and see what the comics were like. Well, I won't go too much into how I've found the series so far; lets just say that, well... I'm still here aren't I? It's got to be doing something right considering work is pretty stressful right now and I don't need much of an excuse to drop a book, or series, halfway through and try something else instead. Not perfect then but plenty to keep this reader occupied and there's always the promise of more to come in the future. Which leads us rather neatly to Volume 4, 'War of the Realms' and a book that encapsulates everything that I love and h

I've been a fan of Stephen King's' books since, wow... way to go and make myself feel old... Dammit. Lets try again. If I had to pick a favourite Stephen King book, it would be 'IT', no question about it. 'The Stand' comes a very close second (and you can tell now that I love it best when King goes epic) but there's something about King's tale of childhood innocence lost, and ravenous child eating clowns, that hits the spot for me. Pennywise is evil, sure, but navigating childhood can be far scarier. You know I'm right. If you were that kid on the outside of everything (me) then 'IT' will resonate with you like it did with me. All of this had me looking forward to the big remake of 'IT'; that and having grown up in the late eighties/early nineties, a time when good Stephen King adaptations were really hard to come by. Don't get me wrong, the 1990 tv series had its moments but would you seriously tell me that if T

Wow, what a week it has been and it's going to be exactly the same next week. I'm finding out, the hard way, that January is an incrediby busy month at work but you know what, that's cool. The last few months, I've realised that I'm the sort of person who needs to keep busy at work otherwise I get really depressed and it's not like there isn't loads of other things that already do that... So this weekend then is a little oasis of calm between yesterday and all the stuff that is going to kick off next week. Let me show you some of the little bits and pieces that have come through the post and will be getting reviewed here... I've given up trying to take decent pictures on my phone so you're just getting pictures that I've swiped off Google ;o) I've been waiting patiently for the right combination of the DVD being released and me being paid and now, everything has aligned... :o) I never saw this in the cinema but I loved the first instal

Have you ever bought a whole anthology, just for one story that you can't find anywhere else? That's exactly what I did with the 'Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos' collection which appears to be the only place (that I've heard of anyway) where you can find a copy of Karl Edward Wagner's 'Sticks'. I've read a few of Wagner's 'Kane' books but never really found any of his horror fiction to check out, at least not only recently when I had a little disposable income to, erm... dispose of. If you follow the right people on Twitter, sooner or later you will see the conversation turn to short fiction which inevitably leads to the statement that 'Sticks' is one of the best (if not the best) horror short stories that you will ever find. Now, in my world that kind of talk sounds suspiciously like a challenge to me so of course I went out, found a copy of 'Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos' and read 'Sticks' straight away. And

So 'Cannibals' ended up being a book that I didn't finish but I was still in the mood for some grim n' gory pulp horror, just like they used to make it back in the eighties. What was a chap to do? The answer was as simple as ever. All of that stuff lurks in my Kindle, where my kids can't get to it, so I had a quick glance over my library and remembered that I had 'Assassin', a book that I'd read before and knew would give me what I needed on that score. What about the rest of it though...? London is gripped by the bloodiest outbreak of gang warfare ever seen. Shootings in the street, kidnappings, bombs and car chases have become commonplace. The gutters are running red with blood and the Police are powerless to stop it. Frank Harrison had ruled gangland unopposed for more than two years and yet someone is out to wipe him and his men from the face of the earth. Who and why? The answer, when it comes, will test not just Harrison's courage