Lord Samper's Library

 Hi all, how's it going? Slightly misleading film blurb to one side, see my thoughts on 'VFW' , I'm having a pretty good one as it happens. Next week feels pretty ominous (mid-year review, at work, for one thing...) but right now, it's Sunday and all of that stuff can wait for a bit. I've got the kids today and my eldest wants to me to play 'Miitopia' on her DS; I'll give it a shot but I think she's going to be really disappointed... I'm more of a 'Mario Kart' guy myself... Whatever happens, it will be a good one :o) It won't leave me with a lot of time for reading or blogging though, hence the 'books' post at a silly time of the night. Not many books this week (I'm trying to be a little cleverer about my money, payday is a long way off...) but the quality should more than make up for the lack of quantity ;o) Over the last couple of weeks, I've come to realise that I've been focusing on older horror books at th

It's been a busy old day today. Okay, a 'busy old half a day'; I slept through the first half of today, all of it, and I don't regret a single snore. If the guy hadn't turned up to fix my intercom thing (he couldn't but I did get a new doorbell), there's a strong possibility that I'd still be asleep right now. But anyway... For those of you that are interested, the rest of my day involved trying to get my kids to do what they were told (pro-tip: don't play 'Exploding Kittens' with a 10 year old and a seven year old that can't stand each other, just let them play on their DS' instead) so tonight was about kicking back with a movie and letting my brain check out for a while. Little did I know it, but the evening would also be about not believing everything the back of a DVD case tells you... A typical night for a group of war veterans at the local VFW (an organization supporting 'Veterans of Foreign Wars') turns into an all-ou

It's been a monster of a week this week; nothing major, just everything happening all at once and needing to be sorted out all at once. You know what, I got through it and dealt with the most important stuff needing to be dealt with (without losing any more hair from my poor balding head). That's a win for me, as far as I'm concerned, so onto the weekend! :o) Before that happens though, we all know what else Friday is good for. Yep, it's 'WandaVision' time, an event that, for me, has well and truly overshadowed all the good stuff about 'The Mandalorian'. Yes, even Baby Yoda... The first three episodes have been all about setting a really weird scene, a cozy sit-com world that just doesn't seem quite right. What happened? And given what we already know about Vision... What happened and what is going on? Well, 'We Interrupt This Program' gives us a few clues and raises a few more questions at the same time... Before we kick off, I'm aware

So today was going to be another book review (I've got a few books in reserve) but the other night, I tried to watch 'Red Sonja' and fell asleep, during the film, not once but twice... It was a mixture of a number of things (well, two things... work and home-schooling my youngest daughter) Sheer bloody-mindedness meant that I couldn't post anything else on the blog until I'd managed to sit through 'Red Sonja' without falling asleep. Last night, I managed to stay awake for the whole film so here I am to tell you all about it. I thought I'd seen most of the sword & sorcery films of the 1980s but 'Red Sonja' apparently slipped the net, which made some of what I saw seem even more... odd. When her sister dies at the hands of an evil queen, the fearsome warrior Red Sonja sets out to seek her revenge. Joining forces with the only man who can match her in a fight, Sonja battles all the monsters and magicians who stand in her way, until she finally

I’ll be honest, today was meant to be about my posting some quick thoughts on ‘Red Sonja’, another stop on my journey through ‘Sword and Sorcery’ movies. It clearly hasn’t happened though, has it? I tried watching it last night but I fell asleep twice and missed large chunks of it. From what I did see, I don’t think it was just a busy day that had me falling asleep at all the wrong moments… I don’t know for sure though, I’m going to give it another go tonight and see what happens. Where does that leave things today though? Well, my copy of ‘The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Twelve’ turned up yesterday and seeing as I’ve got ‘The Only Good Indians’ on the TBR Pile, waiting to be read, I thought I’d give ‘This was always going to happen’ a read and see what Stephen Graham Jones is all about. So I did and here I am, saying ‘what the hell…?’ but in a good way. If ‘This was always going to happen’ is anything to go by, I’m going to be in for a bit of a treat when I get to reading the

I f you've read this blog for a while (or if you started reading yesterday, either way...), you'll already know that I love zombie movies. Good, bad or that vague area in between, I'll watch them all. What's slightly less well known, but just as true, is that I love my zombie fiction as well. The only difference is that any zombie books that I read have to hit the mark every single time. I've got no idea why I'll let films get away with all sorts but come down really hard on books that don't make the grade. That's just the way it goes round here, but anyway... I've been looking for zombie books to read and remembered that (way back in the day, when I was a lot more in touch with what was happening with genre fiction) Abaddon Books had a nice little line in zombie fiction, namely the 'Tomes of the Dead'. A quick stop at Amazon reunited me with some old favourites, which I'll get to another time, but also pointed me at 'Dead Stop',

After a Christmas and New Year spent working my way through the 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Hobbit' movies, as well as various 'Conan' movies and 'Krull' of all things, I am very much in the mood for more of the same. Over the coming weeks (more than likely when I'm trying to finish a book off or have run out of time to post a review, I'm nothing if not honest...) you'll see a few more 'Sword and Sorcery' style movies pop up here, today it's the turn of 2009's 'Solomon Kane'... I'll be completely honest, I find it so easy to get into 'Conan' that I end up forgetting that Robert E. Howard was very much not just about the Cimmerian. Howard knew his market and was prolific as far as writing characters, that would hit all the things his readers looked for in a story. I personally would never have guessed that the readers of the late nineteen twenties, and early thirties, were after tales of a sixteenth century pu

 I know it's a bit early for me to be posting this (especially after yesterday's post went up really late) but they're forecasting snow here tomorrow and if it happens, I just know that I'll be out in it all day with the kids. I'll get back to the flat and before I know it, it'll be half eleven at night and I'll be rushing to post something! Nope, today is going to be a bit more laid back so you're getting this post now, right now ;o) So, how's it going? You know that bit in a book where you suddenly know that you're in and will be reading until the very end? Well, that's me and R. J. Barker's 'Call of the Bone Ships' which is brilliant. If you haven't read 'The Bone Ships' then do something about that. If you have but haven't got round to reading 'Call of the Bone Ships' yet, you've got a bit of a treat in store for you. But then you knew that already, didn't you. 'The Bone Ships' was very

Just some quick thoughts today as it's been a busy , sleeping for half of the days counts, well... kind of and I'm not ashamed (well, a bit ashamed) to admit that I've just looked at the clock and seen the time... So no time for anything in-depth today, not that I'm a particularly 'in-depth blogger' at the moment, more of a quick 'here are my thoughts' thing. And before we get started, one of those thoughts is 'doesn't it feel like the end credits are almost as long as the episode'? Seriously, it's like Marvel are so used to doing film credits that they've forgotten that they're actually doing TV. Who's going to tell them, you or me? There you go, that's your warm up thought ;o) Lets get on with the rest of it... Wanda is pregnant and not only are things moving quicker than anyone expected, it's playing merry hell with her powers. Vision is busy being an expectant father but he's starting to realise that there

I have got some reading done this week… It’s been a few minutes here and there, over several days, but I actually managed to finish a whole entire book. Yay, look at me and my being able to finish a whole book! I’d forgotten what it felt like… It was still comfort reading although to be fair, most of what goes into this blog is comfort reading ;o) It’s particularly the case at the moment though. January is a crazy busy time of the year for work and easy reading/viewing is all I’m good for by the time I turn the ol’ laptop off. So, what was the comfort read? Terry Pratchett of course! I used to love the Discworld novels back in the day and looked forward to getting the latest paperback as a Christmas present. I’d actually play to lose the traditional ‘family game of Monopoly’ as quickly as possible so I could get back to the tales of Vimes, Granny Weatherwax or whoever it was. And then I gradually fell out of love with the series as it slowly became less of a ‘fantasy piss take’ and

Work, and life in general really, has been giving me a bit of a kicking this last week. Nothing serious, just the odd tap here and there to let me know that life keeps ticking on and there are loads of things that should have been handed in or done an hour ago. Loads to do and not quite enough time in the day to get them all done (or Graeme to do it all). It's the way it goes and it could be a lot worse so I won't complain too much, just going to be really glad when it gets to the weekend... So, not a complaint then but definitely me getting all my excuses in early for why there haven't really been any books (apart from a Judge Dredd story) mentioned this week. I'm working on it and hopefully things will get back to normal soon, fingers crossed. In the meantime though, what does a Graeme do when he's been up against it all day, wants to relax but is too tired for a book? Put a movie on course but you knew that already :o) Watching 'Conan' movies has got me

The 'Judgement Day' storyline was originally published back in 1992 (so thirty years old next year, way to make a Graeme feel old...) and was collected in Progs... Oh I don't know, I had trouble remembering what courgettes looked like yesterday (seriously) so don't expect too much from me right now. I do know that The 'Judgement Day' storyline is collected in 'Judge Dredd: The Complete Casefiles Volume 17' though, which is where I read it (this time round) funnily enough, so that's where you need to go if you want to find out more. 'Judgement Day' was one of those stories where I'd pop off up the road, during my breaks at 6 th Form, and read the newsagent copy of 2000AD. Yeah I know... You can judge me if you want, I wasn't eactly flush with cash those days but it still wasn't a cool thing to do. It kept me coming back each week so definitely did something right. . Or maybe it didn't and I was just reading it for the zombies

 Today has been a tough one and left me pretty much shattered (wandering round Asda trying to remember what courgettes were, but that's another story) and with nothing left in me for anything more than a movie trailer blog post... Which worked out really well actually as I saw the trailer for 'School's Out Forever', on Twitter earlier, and thought I'd share :o) I don't know if any of you read Abaddon Books' 'Afterblight Chronicles' back in the day (far too long ago now) but they were a lot of fun if your thing is seeing people trying to survive in the burnt out remnants of a world riddled with disease... but not taken too seriously. I liked the 'Robin Hood' series also managed to vicariously live out a childhood dream with the 'School's Out' books which ended up being a lot more fun than I originally gave them credit for. And now they've made the first one into a movie. I'll have some of that but for now, check out the tra

 Welcome to the first 'Books for the TBR Pile' post for 2021, a little on the late side admittedly but better late than never and all that :o) It's not a massive haul because, well... everywhere is shut isn't it? What it is though is a gentle reminder that perhaps I ought to stay offline when I'm laid up in bed with nothing to read. Not that it helped as the post round here isn't in great shape, understandably, and one of these books only arrived today as a result. Still, things could be a lot worse so I'm not going to complain.  A small haul then but as I've said before, that's the way the hunt goes every now and then. The important thing is that each of these books was exactly what I was after so, lets take a look shall we...? I love this book, ever since I read it in my first year of high school, and I've had a couple of copies over the years. I had a massive 'Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit' movie-watch, spread out over the

It's been a bit of a week, what with one thing and another (well, mostly work), so last night I didn't even try to pick up a book, just settled down with Prime and tried to find something mindless that would let my brain sort itself out while it went on in the background. That something ended up being 'Songbird', a movie that is one of the first to take the COVID pandemic, run with it and see where it ends up. Given that COVID is happening right now, you can't help but wonder whether it's really in good taste to dash something out while people are dying of the illness that you are giving the big screen treatment. I mean, there's no law against it but in that respect, it almost feels a little seedy to try and make a few quid off it. But I watched 'Songbird' anyway. The post apocalyptic feel, to the trailer, had me interested and the mention of Michael Bay's involvement (producer) suggested that it would be the kind of mindless fare that I was l

So there I was, looking for another TV show to get stuck into and as far as that goes, 'The Last Kingdom' is looking good (more on that another time) but Season 1 of 'American Horror Story' really needs to work out what it wants to do and then do it. I'm going off on a tangent though. Basically, I was sat there trying to get into something (anything) and then all of a sudden, 'WandaVision' kind of crept up on me and started streaming yesterday. Now that Phase whateveritis of the MCU has ended, I've been waiting for Disney to get itself together and start streaming whatever is ready to stream. I'm not fussy, okay I am a bit fussy but right now I'll take anything with a Marvel superhero in it so two episodes of 'WandaVision' last night was just what this Graeme needed. Even if it was about two of the more peripheral Avengers (sorry but they are), I'm taking it. And I'm glad I did. 'WandaVision' isn't like any MCU piece

This book had been sat on my Amazon wish list for a long old time and when New Year came round I thought I'd treat myself to a copy. Because I need an excuse to buy comic books... Any excuse will do :o) It took me a little while to get round to 'Spookhouse' but it's Eric Powell, there was never any doubt that I'd pick it up. I love his work (bear that in mind as you keep reading) so am pretty much guaranteed to pick up anything with his name on it. Until now that is, if there's a Volume 2 for 'Spookhouse', I'm not sure that I'd pick it up. It's not really the book's fault though, let me explain... 'Spookhouse Volume 1' collects issues #1-5 of the anthology series which is essentially the comic book version of something like Creepshow or Tales of Halloween. Horror, and the supernatural, can be a far ranging genre and this volume of 'Spookhouse' does it's level best to dip a toe in as many aspects as it can. We're

The plan was to pop the 'Dinosaurs!' anthology back on the shelf and come back to it when I was in the middle of 'Reader's Block' or otherwise stuck for something to read. It certainly wasn't to dive straight back in after the solid but ever so slightly disappointing 'Poor Little Warrior' (yes, it's right below this post but I'm linking to it anyway...) But you know what...? When you're looking through the contents pages and see a story called 'Dinosaur on a Bicycle'... Well, I defy you not to go straight to it and start reading. I did and here we are, with a story of dinosaurs and time travelling that I'm pretty certain you will never have read the likes of. Unless you have a copy of 'Dinosaurs!' of course then in which case... 'Dinosaur on a Bicycle' was great, wasn't it? It's the nineteenth century and Harry Quince-Pierpoint Fotheringay is about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime, a trip back in

Dinosaurs are cool and that's pretty much the long and short of it. They are the closest we'll ever get to all those other cool monsters that live in fantasy fiction, but nowhere else, and we still managed to miss out on them by several million years. Although maybe that's not such a bad thing... In the meantime though, we have more dinosaur movies than we know what to do with, we've got dinosaur comic books (check out 'Flesh' if you ever get the chance, it's great) and we have, erm... dinosaur books too? Now, for me, the whole thing about dinosaurs is how they look when they're chasing down some dumb tourist or whatever, Brilliant on the big screen, still pretty cool in a comic book but are you going to get that visceral action in a book? I wasn't sure so when I saw a copy of Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois' 'Dinosaurs!' Anthology, I knew I had to give it a go. It was only 50p on Deptford Market (which was great for books for about a fort