Lord Samper's Library

I'm not going to go into loads of detail about my week off, that's not what you're here for and I get that. For now, lets just say that I'm 'Best Dad Ever' and leave it at that ;o) Yep, the half term continues and the rule seems to be that if you can't keep up, you will be left behind. Which seems to be an incredibly apt way to describe my reading... I'm getting a page done here and there, not much more than that though If the girls go camping at the weekend, I'm hoping to catch up a little then. In the meantime though, I've been able to watch a few films here and there; it's about all I'm good for at the end of the day ;o) Let me tell you what I thought of them... 'Sea Fever' (2020) Marine biology student Siobhan is out on a research excursion with a trawler crew fishing the West Irish seas, when an unfathomable life form ensnares the boat. The crew manage to free themselves but what has the creature left behind...? I really...

It has been a long old day today, a good day but a long one. Loads of books shopping, donuts and I've somehow managed to get my two daughters into 'Age of Sigmar' (which was unexpected but very cool). This hasn't left me much time for the blog though, which I suspect will become a familiar refrain over the course of the week, so it's a good job I've been squirrelling away a few books and movies for a week like this (I knew there was a reason why I was doing it)... ;o) First up then, a quick look at 'The Return of the Living Dead'... When a bumbling pair of employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air, the vapours cause the dead to re-animate as they go on a rampage through Louisville, Kentucky seeking their favourite food, brains. 'The Return of the Living Dead' is one of those movies that I should just love, full of zombie attacks and zombies making smart ass comments while the human cast grows steadi...

There's no rest for the wicked... ;o) I've somehow managed to get through the last few weeks of work, now I've got a week off but so have my daughters and I've somehow got to keep the feral little beasts occupied. I'm not sure what that will mean for the blog; less books and more TV/comics I reckon. Lets see... In the meantime, I'm still promising myself that I'll actually read the books in my flat but then going out and buying more because apparently I'm the human equivalent of a Jackdaw, only with books dammit... I've picked up some good ones though (although I would say that, wouldn't I?) so lets take a look, Well, it wouldn't be a 'Books for the TBR' post without at least one book from Guy N. Smith ;o) Another eBay find that might have to just wait it's turn before being read (the 'Guy N. Smith TBR Pile' is growing...) I'd never heard of 'The Black Veldt' until I got tagged on Twitter, saw the book and thou...

I'm not quite sure when it happened but I have become someone who has real trouble working unless I've either got some music on or a film in the background. I suspect it's a 'dealing with lockdown' thing that hasn't quite shifted yet but anyway... For a while now, I've had the 2004 version of 'Dawn of the Dead' as background noise (screams mostly...) but I fancied something a little different last week and you can't get much more of a leap from 'Dawn of the Dead' than to land on 'Battle Beyond The Stars' so... here we are ;o) The peaceful planet of Akir has been issued an ultimatum by the evil Sador and his army, surrender or be destroyed by Sador's stellar convertor... There may be a third option though if would be hero Shad can escape the planet and bring back help but there are a lot of planets out there and time is running out... It is very hard to hate on a sci-fi movie that was clearly made to hoover up money from peo...

Sorry, this post was meant to be up a lot earlier but I hit the 'perfect storm' of having to sort all my work out (I'm on leave next week) and having a big ol' hangover all at the same time. Not the best day to be me then (although I would absolutely do last night again, I don't regret it at all...) but I got there, eventually, and I've had a bit of time to get caught up with 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' as well. So... Here we are :o) Disney+ has got into a good routine of alternating between Marvel and Star Wars and it's given me loads of both for my money so I can't complain. I wasn't sure what to expect from 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' though... Before I started watching, it felt like one of those shows where you wonder what the point of it is. 'Old Ben' lived out beyond the Dune Sea and then Darth Vader kills him in 'A New Hope', do we really need to fill in that backstory? And then I watched it and realised that yes, we really need tha...

I'm not sure that this is a story that needs to be told (given that we all know what happens to Cassian Andor in 'Rogue One'...) but 'Rogue One' was awesome, and I'm horribly hungover today, so here's the trailer... ;o)   Oh who am I kidding? It looks brilliant, of course I'm going to watch it :o) Keep an eye open for 'Andor', at the end of August, on Disney+.

So, last night was all about me enjoying ‘Eater of Dreams’ (review Here or just scroll down the page a little, either works) and over on Twitter, Marc Collins very kindly pointed me in the direction of it’s prequel. Now, I’m always up for new stuff to read, on the commute to work in particular, so I was all over this recommendation and just about managed to save it for my trip into work this morning. And… Let me tell you about it, In the dark hive sumps beneath Terra, Chief Librarian Fel Zharost of the Night Lords Legion is being hunted. Having abandoned his insane Primarch and brothers many years ago, he doesn't know what he's done wrong, but he's sure he doesn't want to be captured. What will happen when he discovers that his Legion has fallen into heresy? And where will his loyalties lie? My trip into work is a grim journey shared with grim people and as such, I’m always grateful for anything that can take me away from that (even for a few moments). I’m happy to...

I didn’t have any time, today, to get into a longer read but I had to read something (just to de-stress a little after having to run a meeting this morning, I’m no public speaker…) so had a little mooch about on Amazon and settled on ‘Eater of Dreams’ as a bite sized read. I’ve accepted, by now, that I will likely never catch up on all the Black Library ‘short reads’ but in the meantime, I’m finding that they make for nice little interludes between other books (well, you can’t really call the grim darkness of the far future nice but you know what I mean…) And that’s where I found myself today, in need of a little interlude, so… Former Chief Librarian of the Night Lords, Fel Zharost, has exiled himself to the warrens of old Albia. Yet Malcador the Sigillite, searching for recruits for his Knights-Errant, has taken an interest in Zharost, offering him the chance at redemption by confronting and wiping clean a sin from his past. First things first (and not the book’s fault to be fair ...

Work kind of exploded this morning so you'll be getting a review this evening instead (I still haven't forgotten my challenge though , don't worry, I'm just saving it for an actual review). What do you get in the meantime though? Well, you get proof that 'Thor' movies are becoming the best thing to come out of the MCU right now... ;o) I think this could be even better than 'Thor: Ragnarok', how about you? Now I need to see if I can find my copy of 'The God Butcher'...

I'm really not the sharpest tool in the shed sometimes... Way back in March last year , I read and enjoyed the hell out of 'Queen of Plagues' and resolved to get onto volume 2 as soon as I could. And then a trademark 'Graeme Act of Self Sabotage' came into play... I somehow contrived to read 'The Art of Blood and Fire' as The Art of 'Blood and Fire' (a small but vital difference) and spent the best part of a year looking for a book that didn't exist... Sometimes I wonder how I manage, I really do ;o) But anyway... It took me a little while but I got there in the end and found myself faced with the question, 'when is a Sword and Sorcery book not a Sword and Sorcery book...?' A dying emperor has a last request of Sonja. He is throwing the ultimate send-off party, and needs the six greatest artisans from all the known lands: the greatest chef, swordsman, courtesan, and more. If Sonja brings them in time, he will free a thousand slaves......

My 'Guy N. Smith Readalong' continues, this time with the help of a glorious sunny afternoon and a large(ish) Long Island Ice Tea that ended up turning traitor and trying to stop me. You know what I mean... ;o) 'The Wood' should have found it's way into yesterday's 'TBR Pile' post but I ended up reading it instead as it's a book that I've been hunting for ages and when I finally grabbed a copy... I couldn't wait to get stuck in. And as it turned out... 'The Wood' is a bit bonkers but in a good way, I'm glad I got cracking with it when I did. Cold as death, the sudden mist seeped and coiled through the wood. Naked and terror stricken, the girl floundered ever deeper through the undergrowth and the clinging black mud, desperate to escape her pursuer. But in front a worse horror waited. For with the mist came the figures from the past - from many pasts - lurching through the blinding whiteness, reaching out to clutch, choke and smot...

This was meant to be yesterday's post but in a stroke of irony, I somehow managed to mislay the books in a tiny flat that's full of books. Talk about the perfect camouflage... ;o) I finally found them, just far too late to make it a 'Saturday Post', so here we are :o) Lets take a look... The 'Catch-Up' Books... I really enjoyed 'Priest of Bones', back in February , and figured it was way past time that I continued reading so I found myself a copy of 'Priest of Lies'. There are loads of books that I need to get to first but I'm hoping that I can get to 'Priest of Lies' when I go on leave next week. We'll see. I found myself a copy of David Gemmell's 'Bloodstone', not so long ago , and it very quickly became clear that I needed to start from the beginning of that series if it was going to make any sense to me; that's where 'Wolf In Shadow' comes in ;o) This is a definite 'holiday read', I'm really...

Well, it hasn't exactly been the week from hell but the last couple of days in particular have been purgatory... ;o) That's another week where I can safely that I'm glad to see the back of it! There hasn't been an awful lot of reading done this week and today was no different, my work laptop went off and I couldn't even look at a book, not tonight. A couple of movies it was then ;o) I try to keep my Prime watch list topped up with movie fodder, for days like this, and I was able to find a couple of movies that looked like they'd help me unwind a little and get me through to the weekend proper. As it happened, maybe I should have read the blurb (for one of them) a little more closely... 'Tag' (2015) Mitsuko is the sole survivor of a bizarre paranormal incident that kills all of her classmates. Running for her life, Mitsuko seemingly slips into an alternate reality, but death and chaos seems to follow her everywhere. Well, that wasn't the movie tha...

This has been a really awkward week for getting anything read... If I haven't been working or with the girls, I've come back to my flat and done that thing where you're faced with a veritable mountain of books and absolutely none of them appeal to you. Do you get that feeling? Well, this wasn't going to be another week where I read nothing so I thought I'd go a little easier on myself and read something from the comic book pile, just to keep myself ticking over until I was back in the mood for something heavier. And once I'd made that decision? There was only one comic book that I wanted to read next. The first 'Vox Machina Origins' book wasn't at all what I expected but I enjoyed the plot and I'm in love with the characters. That was all I needed to order the next volume and I finally got round to reading it last night. And...  (You won't be surprised to hear that this is another quickish post, I'm running on empty and just want to g...

Or just 'She-Hulk', either's good ;o) This one took me a couple of views but I'm on board, there was never any real doubt about it. I've never read any 'She-Hulk' so will be going into this one cold when it hits Disney+ in August. Have you guys read any 'She-Hulk'? What would be a decent story to read first...?

I've devoted a large chunk of this blog to the stories of Clark Ashton-Smith and while I really need to read more of his original works, it's very clear that Robert E. Howard is an influence around these parts as well. I was thinking about this last night and suddenly realised that H.P. Lovecraft hasn't featured here at all. While there are very good reasons why Lovecraft doesn't get talked about (we all know the ones or rather, the one), it feels a little off to let Ashton-Smith and Howard have their day(s) but not Lovecraft. So here we are :o) I can't promise that this will be a regular thing (for reasons that will become apparent) but I was stuck for a read, last night, and thought I'd give 'The Doom That Came To Sarnath' a go as I'd never read it. It's a funny read, highlighting what I see as Lovecraft's shortcomings, as a writer, but also a story that shows how shortcomings can be turned into a strength... There is in the land of Mnar ...

I don't know what it is with me... I've got a 'Shudder' subscription but I only ever seem to find out what's on it via Youtube adverts. I feel like I should be paying more attention to 'Shudder' but anyway... It won't surprise you to learn then that the first I heard of 'The Sadness' was via a Youtube advert ;o) You know me though, if there's word of a zombie movie that I haven't watched, the odds are that it won't remain unwatched for long. And that's exactly what I ended up doing with 'The Sadness Last Night'. A young couple trying to reunite amid a city ravaged by a plague that turns its victims into deranged, bloodthirsty sadists. First up... I hate being that guy who gets all precious about definitions but here I am :o) 'The Sadness' isn't a zombie movie, it just isn't. I don't mind whether zombies shamble or run but I'm afraid that I do have to insist on them being dead; that's the whol...

I'm not knocking the Eurovision Song Contest, if that's your thing then fair play to you. It's not my thing though, just doesn't do anything for me, so when I got roped into watching it yesterday evening, I thought I'd sneak a little reading onto my Kindle App to get me through at least some of it. I'm getting ahead of myself but I've enjoyed some Warhammer Horror over the weekend (review to come) so I thought I'd treat myself to a little more and it ended up being Jake Ozga's 'Skull Throne'. I love a bit of Khorne you see (although my ideal Chaos Power would actually be a Khorne/Nurgle hybrid but anyway...) It's going to be 'quick thoughts' again as 'Skull Throne' is only eighteen pages long. I'll tell you one thing though, I'll definitely be looking for more stuff by Jake Ozga if 'Skull Throne' is anything to go by... Life in the wild places of Shyish is not as life elsewhere in the Mortal Realms. How c...

Yep, I've got nothing today as far as 'Post Titles' go, I'll let you come up with the good stuff  ;o) It's been a busy week, what with one thing and another, and I'm so glad that the weekend has finally decided to show up. I don't really have any plans (I'm on call for work, this weekend, so don't dare make any!), I'm just going to read some books and hang out with my kids :o) What are you guys up to...? In a move that should surprise absolutely no-one by now (because it's me), a few more books have found their way back to my flat this week. I keep telling myself to take a break, and actually work through at least one of the TBR piles, but then... Well, you know what happens next ;o) There were slim pickings in the charity shops this week but eBay proved to be a little more fruitful for my Guy N. Smith collection. Lets take a look... Charity shops books first :o) 'The Reapers are the Angels' is possibly one of the best zombie books ev...

A quick post for you guys today as I've spent most of the day on a training course and my brain is feeling rather like melted cheese; I'm too old for this shit... ;o) But anyway... I'll be honest, every time I see one of those 'pick up the first comic book, in the series, for £1.99' offers in WHSmith, I'm all over it. It's a great way to pick up entire stories, for not a lot of money, and when it's the wrong side of payday... You understand ;o) And that is why I'm sat here, ready to talk about 'New Ways To Die'. The book of course (sorry, couldn't resist...) Life's never been easy for the web-slinging, wall-crawling Spider-Man but it's about to get a whole lot worse! Norman Osborn, AKA the Green Goblin, has returned, and this time he has some serious back-up – the Thunderbolts. Tasked with hunting down rogue heroes who operate outside the law, this group of 'reformed' villains have got the web-head in their sights. They ...

Because sometimes, life is just far too much to be spending time on books that aren’t doing it for you. Unless they’re schoolbooks of course but sometimes, even then… 😉 School is a long way back in my past now (thank goodness for that…) so if I’m really not enjoying a book now, I get to put the damn thing down and never go back to it again. Books like Robert Asprin’s ‘Myth Conceptions’. Way, way back in the day, I was too busy working my way through (nearly) all the Terry Pratchett books to pay much attention to Robert Asprin’s ‘Myth’ series, time well spent to be fair 😉 And then, a few weeks ago now, I came across a copy of ‘Myth Conceptions’ in a charity shop and it was finally time to give Asprin a go. Well, at least I can say I gave him a go now. I don’t think I’ll bother with any more though… The Scenario… Skeeve, the apprentice masquerading as a court magician in Possiltum. Aahz, a clapped-out demon. Gleep, a dragon of very little brain. The Problem… One invadin...

In case you haven't been reading the blog all that long, I love the 'Clickers' series and I'd honestly be hard pressed to come up with another series of books that s as much fun as this one (links to all my 'Clickers' reviews are at the bottom of the page). Seriously, just when you think the books can't get any more enjoyable, something like 'Zombie Clickers' comes along and ramps the whole thing up to new levels of awesome. If I'm having a bad day, these are the books that cheer me up again. With that said, I was gutted when the series came to an end but of course I understood why it couldn't continue. And then I found out that there was a reboot in the works... :o) Stephen Kozeniewski and Wile E. Young have got good form, around these parts, for writing just the kind of horror/spooky fiction that I really enjoy (like 'The Perfectly Fine House' and 'The Magpie Coffin' ) so I was keen to see what they'd bring to a serie...