Lord Samper's Library

I'm feeling a little better than I was yesterday but still rough. Not rough enough though, I suspect, to avoid going into work tomorrow... Oh well, at least I'm working from home and there's only the one more day until the weekend ;o) Today then... I couldn't get into any of my books and to be honest, I'm feeling a little burnt out there what with one thing and another. I think I might just end up picking up some old favourites and building up a little stockpile over the weekend. Nope, today was about watching a couple of movies instead. As is often the case, it wasn't meant to be the case but they ended up having something in common... Giant Sea Monsters! 'Underwater' (2020) A crew of oceanic researchers working for a deep sea drilling company try to get to safety after a mysterious earthquake devastates their deep water research and drilling facility located at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. I saw the trailer for this, ages ago now, and thought ...

I've been as sick as a dog today which has left me with loads of time to watch TV but not a lot of energy to work out how I feel about it. This is typical when it's finally time to watch 'Moon Knight'... I've only ever read the one 'Moon Knight' book, and that was years ago now, so I'm coming to this show fresh, as it were, and it's also a show that I've been looking forward to for what seems like ages. It feels like we're slowly moving away from the alien tech, of the early movies, to something that's a little more mystical with 'Shang Chi' and now 'Moon Knight'. Lets see what we get... As always, and particularly with the way that I'm feeling today, I'm not even going to try and recap the episode. If that's what you're after (and you don't mind spoilers along the way) then Tor.com have you covered . For everyone else still here, lets talk 'Moon Knight' and 'The Goldfish Problem'. It...

I always felt like I came along too late to get into Critical Role, I'm rubbish at catching up with stuff and there's loads of it to catch up on so as cool as it sounded, I left it. And then 'The Legend of Vox Machina' came along and (I think) I was able to get caught up really quickly, at least for Season 1. I would go on about how much I enjoyed the show but if you haven't read the posts already, you can read the whole lot over Here ;o) Since then, I've been waiting for word of Season 2 and getting all impatient, as you do ;o) Until some idle searching turned up 'Origins' comic books on Amazon and I was excited all over again. It will be a little longer until I find out 'what happened next' but until then, I get to find out what happened before Season 1. And it's all good, a little confusing but all good. The band of adventurers known as Vox Machina will save the world. Eventually. But even they have to start somewhere. Six would-be hero...

Well, here's another title that I suspect will see 'copy and paste' do a lot of the heavy lifting over the course of this post. You can find 'Geheimnisnacht' in the 'Trollslayer' collection as well as 'Gotrek & Felix: The First Omnibus'. I was lucky enough to find it in the 'Ignorant Armies' anthology which is what I ended up reading, this evening, after a day at work that really didn't agree with me... It's only twenty six pages long so a very short story and an even shorter post (sorry about that but seriously, that was about all I was good for tonight...) Never get drunk with a dwarf, especially a Trollslayer who is searching for a glorious death and will happily accept a drunken promise to chronicle his violent exploits. Felix Jaeger did both of these things recently and is just beginning to understand what his drunken promise has let him in for, on Geheimnisnacht, beneath the standing stones... 'Gotrek and Felix' ta...

At this point, I'm not even going to try and pretend that I will stop buying books now. It's pretty clear that if I see a book then I'll buy it. This week is going to be a busy one though, work-wise, so I'm looking at it as a little care-package to my future self ;o) It may not sound like it, sometimes, but I do try and give the charity shops and second hand bookshops a chance to fill up again before I revisit. Because of this, I hadn't been in the Greenwich Oxfam for ages but I happened to be in Greenwich today so thought I'd poke my head round the door and see what was what. Three books came home with me and if I'd had my wits about me it would have only been two. Let me show you... There is loads of Moorcock in Greenwich Oxfam (if you're interested and happen to be nearby) but this was the only one I brought home as I couldn't remember what I still needed and didn't trust myself to make that call ;o) This was basically the only book that I kne...

It took me a while but I finally got round to watching 'Dune' last night. I wasn't going to bother to be honest, I read the book when I was a kid and it was a little too dry and heavy going for my taste, but Youtube kept throwing me clips (when I should have been working) and I thought, 'you know what...?' So that's what I did last night. Well, and a little bit of this morning as well, 'Dune' is about fifty minutes over my tolerance threshold (for movies) so I had to do it in two installments. God, I am so middle-aged... But anyway. I'm really glad that I gave it a go actually. I might even have to catch Part 2 in the cinema when it arrives. Paul Atreides, a brilliant, gifted young man born into a destiny beyond his understanding, must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet's exclusive supply of the most precious resource in ex...

Well, the plan was to finish the week off with some 'Vox Machina' comic book action but the day I've just had (well, still having actually) at work put paid to that bright idea... I won't go into too much detail, because that's not what you're here for, but my new pet hate is people trying to drop you in it for stuff that's actually all on them... But anyway. With plans of a book post now looking like it's going to happen next week instead, I thought I may as well treat you to tomorrow's post a day early ;o) Despite all that stuff I said last week, I had several moments of weakness and the results...? I'll show you... Well, I had Book 2 already (read my review of 'Killer' over Here ) so I pretty much had to buy the other two books in the series, for the look of the thing and also because there are some names here that I really want to check out (I've never read anything by Manly Wade Wellman for a start). Expect to see the odd story f...

I found ‘The Black Stone’ in the ‘Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos’ collection but it can also be found here and there online as well, Project Gutenberg is a good place to look. You’re welcome 😉 It was originally published in the November 1931 issue of Weird Tales. I’m in that place, once more, where I’ve got two or three books on the go but am nowhere near finishing any of them; one day I’ll learn to settle on just one book at a time but today (well, this week…) is not that time. I wanted to keep things ticking along though (feels like ages since I’ve made it through a whole week of posting) so I figured it was time for another short story to have its moment on the blog 😊  I always mean to read more of Robert E. Howard’s horror stories so when I saw ‘The Black Stone’ in ‘Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos’, my mind was made up for me… Not content with having one of the few remaining copies of Friedrich von Junzt ’s ‘Nameless Cults’, our narrator decides on a trip to Hungary, and the vil...

If you’re a regular visitor here, you’ll know that I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ style books; mostly ‘Fighting Fantasy’ (okay, pretty much all Fighting Fantasy actually) but every now and then, I like to step off the beaten track a little and see what else I can ‘choose my own adventure’ in. If you’re a regular visitor here, you’ll also know that I love anything with zombies in it so ‘Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse’ was a great chance to combine two of my favourite things and see what state I was in when I came out the other side. Living, dead or undead… Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse? offers 150 Paths and 75 Endings (40 ending in death, 20 ending in zombification, and 15 ending in survival). No longer are you given the luxury of sitting back and watching the fools on the page or screen make all the wrong moves. All hell is about to break loose - and this time you have a say in humanity's survival. You're 27 years old. You live ...

I hate leaving a decent tale unfinished (and yep, I have no problem doing it with tales that are the opposite, that's for another time though)... I did wonder which one I was getting when I started on the first two issues of 'Valeria' but by the second issue came to a close, I was ready to keep going and here I am. I went for the trade collection in the end as I had a good feeling about this book and... I was right. This will probably be a shorter post than normal because I've already looked at the first two issues and bits of that still apply here. With that said, lets take a look at the rest of the story. Journey into the Hyborian Age with the hero from the classic Conan story 'Red Nails,' in a story set before that fan-favourite tale! Before she became a pirate and mercenary - before she crossed paths with Conan and the Red Brotherhood - Valeria was a young woman from Aquilonia seeking justice for a crime gone unpunished. But as she makes her way in the cr...

I'm talking about the sheer amount of books that there are in the flat now. 'Far too many' doesn't begin to cover it. I might just have to look at another 'book buying ban' while I try and get this lot under control but I've said that before and... Here I am, saying it again like I think this time will be the time when it all happens ;o) Lets be realistic, the only way I'm getting this under control is if I move to a larger flat! But anyway... Sorry about the lack of post yesterday. Without going into too much detail, I had loads of good intentions but it soon turned out that yesterday was just not a day for blogging, far too much other stuff going on that had to take priority. It's done now though, lets see if I can make up for it this week. And where better a place to start than with a whole load of books that have somehow turned up on my doorstep? Yes, I know, all of the first paragraph... Hush you ;o) Lets take a look, shall we? I couldn't fi...

I've been hankering for a little Bruce Campbell just recently, but not quite enough to make the effort to go looking for my 'Evil Dead' collection (it's been a long week...) so when I saw 'Black Friday' advertised on Prime Video, I thought to myself, 'I'll have some of that...' I can't quite make my mind up whether I'm too late for last Black Friday or too early for the next one, a little bit of both I reckon. Either way, I've only got time for a short post tonight so lets crack on... Overworked, underpaid and ready for the apocalypse. It's the biggest sale of the year and this time round the shoppers are out of their mind and out for blood. Fighting for their lives a misfit group of employees including shop manager Jonathan (Bruce Campbell - Evil Dead) find themselves fighting for survival against shoppers on a murderous rampage. So I watched 'Black Friday' this morning and it wasn't a bad film to kick off a slightly l...

For whatever reason (I work in IT but I have no idea how computers work or why they work) my work laptop has taken it upon itself to do loads of restarts just recently. Every time it happens, my work day pauses while I wait for all my documents to come back... That's ok though, my copy of 'Smoke and Mirrors' made it to the top of a TBR pile (there is more than one, much more...) and I've been reading through it while my laptop does its thing... An elderly widow finds the Holy Grail beneath an old fur coat. A stray cat fights and refights a terrible nightly battle to protect his unwary adoptive family from unimaginable evil. A young couple receives a wedding gift that reveals a chilling alternative history of their marriage... These tales and much more await in this extraordinary book, revealing one of our most gifted storytellers at the height of his powers. I've been putting this post off for ages because, well... I'm a little bit in awe of this book and how ...

You can find 'Thunderstrike' in the collection 'Thunderstrike & Other Stories', the clue is in the name... ;o) You can also find a few of the other 'Age of Sigmar' stories, that I've covered here, in this collection as well and it's only a fiver so, just saying... But anyway. It's been another busy couple of days at work and I've been looking for a read that will do all the good stuff but won't be too taxing on what little headspace I've got left at the moment. That's just the way it is at the moment, give a chap a break :o) And don't think that I'm sneering at books that only entertain either. Books like that save my mental health on a regular basis, I owe them a lot and will always fight their cause. All of which eventually led me to the 'Thunderstrike' collection and the titular novella that kicks things off. And it's bloody good. I know I say this a lot but I really need to read more 'Age of Sigmar...

Last weekend was all about catching up on some of the movies that I’ve been leaving in my Prime Video watchlist, which is kind of a little insurance against weeks like last week (I’m so glad that’s all out of the way now). Normally, I’d apologise in advance for the quality of said movies (I do like the rubbish ones…) but my choices didn’t turn out too badly in the end. I say ‘didn’t turn out too badly’… Lets just say that two out of three isn’t bad…   ‘Assimilate’ (2019) Three friends making a web series about their town discover that their neighbours are being killed and replaced by creatures who are perfect copies of their victims. I’m not one of those people who get wound up by re-makes and re-boots but there’s no denying that there are some films that cast a shadow that their successors will never come out from under. The 1978 version of ‘Invasion of the Bodysnatchers’ is one those movies and ‘Assimilate’ sits very firmly in its shade. To be fair though, ‘Assimilate’ do...

Look at me finally reading an actual book :o) I haven't had a lot of headspace for books, this last week and a bit, so this feels like a little bit of a triumph. Now all I 've got to do is review it. Easy, I've got this. I'm pretty awful at keeping up with Marvel's 'Conan' output but I get there in the end. I reviewed Jim Zub's 'Into the Crucible' back in May last year and if I'd had my eye on the ball, I could have been reading 'Land of the Lotus' back in November. It's me though and four months later, here I am. I wish I'd read 'Land Of The Lotus' sooner though, it's worth grabbing hold of and reading straight away, seriously. Conan's march to Khitai has landed him as a prisoner of the imperial guard... but it will take more than chains to keep a Cimmerian down! Conan plans his escape, but what dreaded beasts lurk in the land of Khitai - and what new dangers will impede his quest to return the deadly Tooth...

I'll be honest, there's not a lot on the ol' update front. Work absolutely wiped me out last week so I spent most of yesterday in bed, apart from a few moments where I got up and made bacon rolls. It was just what the Doctor ordered ;o) Did I get any reading done though? Unfortunately not, yesterday was more about trying to find something decent to watch on Prime, which I didn't... Oh well, lets see if I get any reading done today (fingers crossed)... As far as the books go though... Well, it had to happen, it's all about Guy N. Smith this week ;o)  I could have just bought Guy N. Smith's back catalogue on Kindle but where would the fun have been in that? I love rooting around in old bookshops and I'm also known to keep an eye on eBay because well, you've got to really. There are only so many bookshops that I can get to and if I want to read all of Guy's books... then eBay it is. And this week I struck a rich vein of books that I've never been ab...

If you've visited the blog this week, you've probably gathered that it hasn't been the best week for getting books read. Not a bad week for watching 'Doctor Who' but books? I've read a couple of bits but nowhere near what I wanted to. Work demands have gone and stepped up a gear, recently, while everything else isn't letting up either. It's all do-able but doesn't leave me a lot of time for reading so if a book doesn't hit the spot quickly then I'm not going to stick with it for long. More often than not it's not the book's fault, I just need something off it that perhaps it's not built for. Which leads me onto 'Video Night' and this post... Have some blurb... Who better to repel a body-snatching alien invasion than a group of teenage horror nerds? Billy and Tom are best friends, but each knows that at the end of the school year they'll be moving in different directions. But why not go out with a bang and throw on...

I had a lot of fun with ‘The Tale of Satampra Zeiros’, last week , so when I realised that there was another tale featuring the rotund thief (thanks for the heads up @AnthonyPerconti) there was no chance that I’d leave it as long, as I did last time, before picking up my trusty copy of ‘Emperor of Dreams’ and giving it a read. And to cut a long story short, that’s exactly what I did this morning during my trip into work, finishing it off over a bacon roll in the office. ‘The Theft of the Thirty-Nine Girdles’ is a slightly different read to ‘The Tale of Satampra Zeiros’ but is no less fun for it… Let it be said as a foreword to this tale that I have robbed no man who was not in some way a robber of others. In all my long and arduous career, I, Satampra Zeiros of Uzuldaroum, sometimes known as the master thief, have endeavoured to serve merely as an agent in the rightful redistribution of wealth. The adventure I have now to relate was no exception: though, as it happened in the outcome...