Lord Samper's Library

Page Count: 145 Pages The last few days have seen me trying to clear a little space on my bookshelves because damn they need it… It’s like trimming a hedge back; every so often the books start to encroach and I have to be a little bit ruthless about what I keep and what goes. I say that though… What’s actually happened is another TBR pile of books that I’d forgotten I had but quite fancy reading now I remember. Oh well, it looks like some books will be leaving the house a little slower than normal… :o) I had totally forgotten that I had a copy of John Russo’s ‘Undead’ (collecting the novelization of ‘Night of the Living Dead’ along with ‘Return of the Living Dead’) so when I found it lurking on a shelf, I figured I was due another read. I was also interested to see if my opinion changed since the last time I read it, years ago. I didn't enjoy it then, had a little rant about it in fact :o)  I’m a little more mellow about my reading these days so ‘Night of the Living Dead’ wasn’t a...

Today’s post was originally going to be about a couple of Robert Bloch short stories and then (while having an overdue purge of the shelves yesterday) I came across my copy of Joe R. Lansdale’s ‘Bestsellers Guaranteed’. I’d completely forgotten that I had this book so I thought I’d check out a couple of these stories instead. I ended up enjoying what I read so much that I decided to go for it and read the whole book. Honestly, it’s a great read. And so, today’s post was going to be about ‘Bestsellers Guaranteed’; that was the plan until the book literally came apart in my hands while I was reading it. Turns out that some books don’t age well ;o) While I’m waiting for the glue to dry then, I thought I’d read something where the pages don’t come loose in my hands. Yep, it’s back to the Kindle and a couple more entries in the Black Library… ‘We Were Brothers’ – Richard Fox. Page Count: 32 Pages Lord Straxis of the Red Corsairs boards a strike cruiser of the hated Executioners Space Marine...

Page Count: 126 (and a bit) pages My last couple of trips to Greenwich Market have turned up quite the little treasure trove of old ‘Doctor Who’ books and I’ve made sure to come home with a few. When I saw ‘Doctor Who and the Mutants’ on the table, I knew I had to grab it; not only have I never seen the TV serial (planning on doing something about that soon) but I was all of about eight or nine years old the one and only time I read the book. Yep, ‘The Mutants’ was another loan from the library van at the top of the hill :o) So definitely one that I had to pick up then. This is going to be a short post then (look at the page count) but I’ve still got some stuff to talk about. Lets go ;o) A massive shape scuttles out of the darkness and strikes the earth Overlord down. It is a mutant – a huge insectoid creature; it moves in a crouch, its back arched and scaly, with huge knobbly vertebrae. The controlling Overlord, the Marshal, has ordered all such mutants killed on sight. What has happe...

The last week has been a heavy one so I took advantage of the 'Shudder' subscription (yep, it's a subscription now, the free trial ended) to switch off a little and watch some horror. Let me tell you about it. 'The Horde' (2009) A police raid on a derelict Paris tower block goes wrong in the worst possible way... Now, not only are the police being held hostage, there are zombies outside the flat and it doesn't look too good for the rest of Paris either. Drug dealers and police must work together if anyone is going to survive... I'm cheating a little bit here as this was a rewatch (not for a long time though), but it's on 'Shudder' and at the time, I was after something that I knew I'd enjoy and... 'The Horde' is still a great movie with some interesting things to say and just constant non-stop zombie action along the way. I couldn't ask for a lot more than that really, it was just what I needed and I won't leave it too long be...

Because if there's one thing you can count on me to do, it's buying a whole load more similar books if I've enjoyed one. That's what happened with 'Deadnoughts Vol, 1' and now, here we are, looking at some more of that ilk. Who knows, I might even get a chance to finish them; actually, that's a little too far fetched, even for me... ;o) Anyway, lets take a quick look at some books that came home with me over the last week. Lets start with the obvious choices. Like I said a few lines up, I thoroughly enjoyed 'Dreadnoughts Vol. 1' so Vol.2 pretty much bought itself. Although I did tell myself to wait until next payday so, erm... Anyway here we are and I reckon I'll polish this off over the weekend. And 'Judge Dredd: Origins' is a classic story that ties into what I've already read. The fact that it was only a fiver, off eBay, helped a fair bit too ;o) And here are the books. Even if you haven't already read the review, you can prob...

Some things are just inevitable... Yesterday was a day in the office and by the time I got round to catching the bus back home, I had just enough remaining in me to read a few Black Library short stories (and even then, I had a little nap between two of them, damn I'm old...) I know I said I was going to switch it up a little but the state I was in yesterday evening, you're lucky you're getting these to be honest ;o) Anyway, enough of that. Let me tell you about what I read... 'The Last Psyker' - Shauna Lawless Page Count: 48 Pages (on my phone) Karleth, a primaris psyker, is despised and feared by the troopers he accompanies into battle. Only the pragmatic Captain Ollana seems to value his function. When their regiment is sent to investigate a planet evacuated during the outbreak of the Great Rift, Karleth is targeted by forces more appreciative of his gifts… I still have an unread copy of 'The Children of Gods and Fighting Men', giving me reproachful looks...

The plan, yesterday, was to have a little time to write a post on... I don't know, the aim was to definitely write something though, I was really up for it. And then... There was a major incident at work that I had to dial into a meeting for and I was trying to spend time with my girls at the same time and... By the time that was all done, I was wiped out and good for precisely nothing :o) I like posting stuff here regularly though, it satisfies an itch, so it was time to root about in the ol' 'blogging archives' (sounds a lot cooler than just saying 'my old blogs') and see if there was anything that deserved a little time in the sun. And I settled on George R.R. Martin's 'Sandkings'. I'm not even sure that I have my copy of 'Dreamsongs' anymore but I've always had a soft spot for 'Sandkings' and this old review from 2012 sums up my feelings perfectly, even though they're not all good. The old review can be found Here if ...

YouTube has a habit of throwing up AI created trailers which I hate, mostly because I'm awful at seeing them for what they are, at least for the first minute or so. Having watched this trailer, I had to go away and Google 'Predator - Badlands' because I still really wasn't sure what I was looking at... But no, 'Predator - Badlands' is actually a thing and... I'm not sure about this one. On the one hand, my daughter and I love watching 'Predator' movies together so there's no doubt that we'll be watching this but... It feels like they're trying to make a 'Star Wars Expanded Universe' out of the Predator universe and I'm not so keen on that. Maybe I'm completely wrong, I'll watch this in November and let you know ;o)

I love reading comic books but the one thing that stops me really going for it is the nagging, inevitable feeling that with some titles, there is just far too much backstory for me to ever get my head around. ‘X-Men’ is one (lets be honest, all of the Marvel comics now), ‘Judge Dredd’ is the other. I mean, I’ve read a number of the stories but the fact that the ‘2000AD’ comic is pushing what, fifty years old now? I’m never going to catch up with it all. So when I realise there’s a chance to get in on the ground floor, just a little bit, and maybe get a little bit of that backstory after all… I’m in :o) The year is 2035 and American society is crumbling. State brutality in response to public protests sparks even greater restrictions on what American citizens are free to do. The police force are being replaced by Judges, paramilitary cops who can dispense summary justice on the streets, and the public are about to learn just what it means to have a Judge in your neighbourhood. Judge Vera...

Page Count: 300 Pages You’ve probably figured it out already but Black Library books have really been there for me over the last week or so. Not that things have been particularly terrible, I’ve just had a lot on and a bit of Warhammer 40K is the only thing that I’ve been able to focus on for more than a few pages at a time. While I’ve been polishing off all those short stories (and a couple of other bits), I’ve had a longer 40K book on the go as well. I didn’t get on so well with ‘Krieg’ ( not a bad book but… ) but I’ve read some decent ‘Death Korps’ short stories as well and I’ll be honest, there’s something about these faceless soldiers that will always have me picking up a ‘Death Korps’ book. This time round, Lyons asks the big question… If the crimes of your ancestors are effectively beyond redemption, can you die a hero in the service of the Emperor…? Vraks has fallen. Mustering an army from the ranks of the Death Korps of Krieg, the Astra Militarum embarks on a long and despe...

The last few days kind of caught up with me all of a sudden, and I had my daughters over yesterday so... not a lot of reading has happened just recently. Okay, hardly any reading at all; sometimes that's just the way it goes. It left me in a bit of a spot for today though so I'm pinching an old review (written back in 2014 , 'where does the time go?' and all that...) and leaving it here while I try and catch up with some reading. Or watch 'Lord of the Rings' with my girls, could go either way :o) And it's just struck me that despite having a few of Vance's books on my shelves, I haven't read any of his stuff since reading 'Emphyrio'. I really should do something about that... It's funny how I'll read the Fantasy Masterworks books with a sense of eager anticipation (wanting to be transported somewhere amazing) but the Science Fiction Masterworks are read with a sense of, 'Masterwork eh? We'll soon see about that...' Years o...

Well, just about :o) 'Shudder' threw a 'Free Seven Day Trial' at me and it's been a while so I thought I'd jump back on; catch up with a few old favourites and see what was new. A bit of a mixed bag to start out with, lets start with the one that really didn't work first...  'Ruin Me' (2017) Alex reluctantly tags along, with her boyfriend, to 'Slasher Sleepout', an extreme event that is part camping trip, part haunted house and part escape room. When the fun turns deadly though, Alex must play the game if she wants to survive... I'm always up for a little 'Slasher in the Woods' business and 'Ruin Me' started out very strongly with a decent hook and loads of questions being asked, just when you thought you had a handle on it. The final twist though was a major letdown and really made no sense to me. I'm the kind of person who will always try and take the positive out of a film, if I can, but I really couldn't here. ...

I've been looking after my ex's pets, this week, while her and the girls are away. Now the rabbit is lovely, always up for having a fuss made of her, but the cat... That cat hates me although to be fair, I did put her through some stress when I called the emergency vet out for no good reason (I thought she'd eaten ibuprofen), she has never forgotten it. This last week has been full of her finding a quiet corner to glare at me from, or full on hissing if I get too close. She has also figured out what a 'dirty protest' is and that I'll have to clear it up... I am so glad that my ex, and the girls, are back today so I can get back to mine :o) Anyway... Yesterday, I thought I'd give the cat a little space (I've been looking after the house as well) and took myself to Greenwich Market for a spot of shopping and a bite to eat. I wasn't specifically looking to come back with books but funnily enough... There's a book stall, on the market, that has start...

It has been one of those weeks but it's the start of a four day weekend so I'm happy :o) I'm posting a little later than normal today because I'll be honest, I slept in and when I woke up, proceeded to go back to sleep and then sleep in a little more. Just what the doctor ordered, that and some McDonalds ;o) This week feels like it has been a little heavy on the Black Library short stories; I'll try and change it up a little, next week, but for now, we're going to round off this week with a little more of the same. I wasn't up for an awful lot this morning so polished off the following short stories while I woke up... When Tamaris of the Blades, Legionary of the Emperor’s Children, has his treasury raided by Drukhari, he makes it a point of pride to reclaim his relics single-handedly. But as he boards their ship, it is revealed to be a trap, and he soon finds himself a spectacle to the cruel xenos in their fighting pits. However, there are bargains to be mad...

'28 Years Later' comes out at the beginning of June and all of a sudden, that's only a few weeks away. Where has this year gone and why is it in such a hurry...? Anyway, here's a trailer :o) I still enjoy watching '28 Days Later', I'm not a 100% decided on '28 Weeks Later' though. Might be time to have a rewatch ahead of June...

Page Count: 112 Pages When I was in Forbidden Planet last week, I thought I’d try and be good, sticking to the ‘Sale’ shelves while my daughters trawled through the Manga. ‘Freeway Fighter’ was sat there and it was only 99p so I thought, ‘why the hell not?’ ;o) I was a massive ‘Fighting Fantasy’ fan back in the nineteen eighties and am still partial to the occasional trip back to Darkwood Forest, Port Blacksand or Deathtrap Dungeon. I really need to go back to Firetop Mountain and finish it once and for all… Anyway :o) I didn’t spent a lot of time with ‘Freeway Fighter’, back in the day, but did enjoy and thought the setting would be worth exploring a little more so… that’s what I did. Bella De La Rosa was heir to a great I-400 racing tradition before the virus hit, before most of humanity was wiped out, and civilization fell. Eighteen months after the collapse of society, she and her blue and red Interceptor prowl the remnants of what once was America, eking out a life among the ruin...

Page Count: 120 Pages Twenty years ago, multiple Bram Stoker Award winner and World Horror Grandmaster Brian Keene's The Rising was credited with "revitalizing the horror fiction genre" and "giving zombies an upgrade". In the decades since then, the series has spawned three sequels and earned generations of eager fans from all walks of life– united in the hope that the author would return once again to the franchise. This is that return. The Rising: More Selected Scenes From the End of the World features a splattering of new stories set within the world of Brian Keene's The Rising franchise, complimented with original illustrations by Anthrax's Charlie Benante. Featuring tales set both before and after the events of the previous books, it will appeal to long-time fans and new readers alike. Brian Keene's The Rising: More Selected Scenes From the End of the World– zombies just got another upgrade. Have I really been reading Brian Keene for the las...

It turned out that work wasn’t so bad yesterday after all; it was busy but there were no nasty surprises hiding in my email so I’m counting it as a win. All I need to do today is exactly the same stuff all over again, just in the office this time :o) Anyway, I had to work pretty hard to carve out some reading time and there wasn’t an awful lot of it so… It was back to the ‘Horus Heresy’ again with another couple of stories that looked like they could see me through a short lunch break. And they did, let me tell you about them. ‘The Final Compliance of Sixty-Three Fourteen’ – Guy Haley (Black Library) Page Count: 11 Pages As Horus grinds the Imperium beneath his boot, emissaries from the XVIth Legion return to worlds sworn to the Warmaster during the Great Crusade to have them renew their fealty. With the Sons of Horus already at battle readiness over Sixty-Three Fourteen, a grim decision must be made... Eleven pages of story is pushing the limits of what I’m prepared to pay £1.99 for, ...

Page Count: 20 Pages There is no escaping it… By the time you read this post, my week off will be well and truly over and I’ll be back at work; trying to make sense of a weeks worth of email. And just in case anyone is wondering, I’m counting time spent lying awake in bed, worrying that something went horribly wrong while I was away. My head is at work, even if the office isn’t open quite yet ;o) But anyway… I’m sure you’ll excuse me if today’s post is a short one, I’ve got more than a few things to get done today. While I’m working my way through those, you can have some quick thoughts on another slice of ‘Grimdark’ fiction from the war torn universe of the Horus Heresy. The series, as a whole, has ended now (just the one anthology to come) but as far as we’re concerned right now, the Warmaster’s shadow hangs heavy over Terra and the end-game is about to begin… Malcador the Sigillite is troubled. The war fleets of the traitor Horus approach, and war on the Throneworld is inevitable. B...

Page Count: 112 Pages I am the worlds worst gamer, seriously. Anything longer than a game of Fifa (where my youngest daughter still beats me regularly) and I completely lose my focus, going off in directions that I’m positive the game developers never considered. I love to watch other people play though, especially when there’s an interesting plot. My eldest daughter loves playing ‘Little Nightmares’ (1 & 2) and I’m loving the gloomy aesthetic as well as the world building that has gone into the game. I could sit there for hours and just watch Mono and Six feel their way through this broken landscape. And I do :o) I’m pet-sitting this week and came across my daughters copy of ‘Little Nightmares Vol.1’; so I thought I’d give it a go and see what else I could find out about this world… Enter the world of Little Nightmares, where a young girl in a bright raincoat must face her deepest fears… A nine-year old girl named Six is kidnapped from her home and taken to work in The Maw, a sur...