Lord Samper's Library

I didn't manage to read an awful lot, over the weekend, but my comfy chair was still exactly the right place to try and make a little dent in my Prime watchlist so... That's what I did :o) My watchlist has a habit of continuing to grow, no matter how many films I get through (I wonder how that happens...?) but I did get through a few. Let me tell you about them... 'Anonymous Animals' (2020) The balance of power, between humans and animals, has shifted and in the depths of the countryside, this plays out in particularly brutal ways... One of those films where I know nothing about it other than that it has a cool title and that's why I'm watching it. And then the next thing I know, I've watched the whole thing without even thinking about it. I'll be honest, I don't think it's as clever as it wants to be but the no holds barred delivery makes up for a lot and makes for a compelling watch. Bit of a random choice but I'm glad I went for it. 'R...

I am slowly, but surely, getting rid of books that I’m either never going to read again or should never have bought in the first place (far too easily done at the moment, if you’re me…) It’s making me feel a little happier about myself and it’s also got me in the mood to keep going and read more of the books that are left. Although, having said that, payday tomorrow… Anyway :o) I’ve picked up a few of the books from the ‘British Library Tales of the Weird’ collection but up until now, have only read a couple of stories from ‘The Lure of Atlantis’ . I thought I’d do something about that and check out a couple of tales from ‘Spores of Doom’. I’ve always seen fungus more as background scenery for the main event, lets see what happens when it takes centre stage. Quick thoughts follow then on Mark Samuels’ ‘Cesare Thodol: Some Lines Written On A Wall’ and Aaron Worth’s ‘The Mykophagoi’ (quick thoughts I’m afraid, my medication is giving me a bit of a kicking so I need to pace myself a littl...

Page Count: 125 Pages Another Monday has crept up on us so while we’re all wondering where the weekend went, lets kick things off here with a quick look at the only book I managed to finish over the last couple of days. No regrets by the way, I spent Father’s Day with my girls and it was brilliant, wouldn’t swap it for anything. Way back in early 2020, when I reviewed the ‘Planet of the Daleks’ TV serial , I mentioned that I used to own a copy of ‘The Dalek Omnibus’, which was where I first came across the novelization of ‘Planet of the Daleks’. That book left my possession a long time ago now, long enough that back then, I was sure that I’d never see another copy. And I was right, I’m not counting the copies on eBay that have a different cover (I’m fussy). Not so long ago though, I did come across a copy of ‘Planet of the Daleks’, on Greenwich Market, and made sure that it came home with me. This weekend felt like the time to finally read it so… That’s exactly what I did ;o) Jo peered...

‘The Stronger Spell’ was first published in the November 1953 edition of ‘Fantasy Fiction’ and also appeared as part of the ‘Tritonian Ring and Other Pusadian Tales’ collection, also published in 1953 (thanks for the save Wikipedia, appreciate it). I found it in my copy of ‘The Mighty Barbarians’ collection, a book that had been sat on my shelf (without being read) for far too long. Last night, I thought I’d finally do something about that and read something by L. Sprague de Camp that wasn’t a ‘Conan’ book… After ‘singer of sweet songs’ Suar Peial rescues the druid Gleokh from a murderous affray, the two celebrate the latter's deliverance in a local tavern. Gleokh holds forth on his revolutionary new weapon, an experimental gun, but by the end of the evening, Peial and his friends will learn that even the concept of a gun is dangerous; especially when they are sharing a tavern table with a wizard… ‘Tavern conversation’ isn’t something I normally look for in my fantasy reading but...

It's been another monster of a week but I did round it off, yesterday, with a days leave and a trip to the cinema (with my eldest daughter) to see 'Clown in a Cornfield' and that made up for a lot :o) For the record... I'm not the target audience (by about roughly 35 years) but 'Clown in a Cornfield' was still a lot of fun with a twist that I didn't see coming and the kind of death scenes that make me chuckle. Can't ask for a lot more than that really ;o) Now I need to dig out my copy of the book and read it, just so I can chat about it with my eldest. In the meantime, there are probably things that I need to do today but I'll be honest, I'm going to sit in my comfy chair all day and read. I feel like I deserve it ;o) I'm not a hundred percent sure over what I'll be reading though, here's a 'Random TBR Pile' that I put together yesterday... There will be a number of short stories read this weekend, which is about all my focus ...

It’s Friday so you’d normally be looking at a post on whatever I read, on the bus to/from work, yesterday. Not today though… I had a touch of insomnia followed by a day in the office so while I had a book in my bag (I always have a book in my bag…), I was in no state to actually read it. Luckily, I had a couple of Black Library audiobooks on my phone so I listened to them instead. As a rule, I don’t tend to do too well with audiobooks that are hours long and just a narrator narrating. Black Library though, have a nice line in audiobooks that have a full cast, run for just over an hour and are full of immersive sound effects I thought I’d see how that worked with a couple of ‘Warhammer Horror’ tales… ‘The Way Out’ – Rachel Harrison In the midst of a vast gas nebula lies a remote watch-station, hanging silently against a tapestry of dying stars. It sits alone, patiently awaiting lost travellers adrift in the freezing vastness of the void. To such souls it appears as a blessing, a safe h...

My mental health is being gnawed at and my reading has taken a little hit, as a result, so I thought it would be a good time to avoid being bogged down by a longer read and go for the shorter reads instead. I’ve got a day off tomorrow and that might be the time to tackle something longer, we’ll see. In the meantime… I have finished a couple of comic books so let me tell you about them :o) ‘Uber: Volume 2’ – Gillen, White (Avatar Press) The first blow in the battle between English and German Ubers has been wrought and neither nation walks away whole. The war rages on in the Pacific Theatre as Japanese Kamikaze pilots attempt to drive the US forces out while delivering devastating losses to the enemy naval fleet. But the tides of war change as the Japanese deploy their own enhanced soldiers and the Germans deliver their devastating secret attack. Uber Volume 2 collects issues #6-11 of the comic book series. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure how the Japanese are suddenly able to deploy their o...

Yesterday did its best to defeat me but I fought it to a standstill. Well, a ‘standstill’ being about half five in the evening when I turned my laptop off and ordered a pizza ;o) I wasn’t in much of a state for reading so I ignored my latest TBR pile and settled down for a spot of TV instead… ‘Predator: Killer of Killers’ (2025) A Viking raider, a Ninja from Feudal Japan and a WW2 fighter pilot must each face a Predator on safari before going on a journey of their own… I’ll be honest, I love all the ‘Predator’ movies (even ‘The Predator’) so don’t expect too much objectivity here ;o) With that out of the way, ‘Killer of Killers’ is beautifully animated and looked superb from where I was sat. More importantly though, ‘Killer of Killers’ absolutely granted a longstanding wish of mine to see how a Ninja would do when facing off against a Predator; the inclusion of a Viking Shield Maiden was a very welcome bonus. I don’t want to give too much away other than to say that we’re left in no do...

Page Count: 88 Pages I hate saying this, because it’s only Tuesday dammit, but this week is already looking like it’s going to be another tough one so I’ve got a funny feeling you’ll be seeing mostly short stories here over the next few days. Maybe a couple of comic books as well. I’ll try and pick some good ones ;o) Today then, lets go to the darkest corners of a grimdark universe that’s already dark enough as it is; what with the constant warfare and all. I used to wonder whether, given the nature of the setting, a ‘Warhammer Horror’ line was over-egging the pudding but I’ve been proved wrong on a number of occasions now. That’ll teach me… I’m used to the line turning out some decent stories so it was no surprise then that ‘The Colonel’s Monograph’ was another one ;o) When invited to catalogue the antiquarian book collection of the late Colonel Grayloc – a celebrated hero of the Imperium – former archivist Teresina Sullo is swift to accept. Grieving for her dead husband, she sees an ...

Page Count: 161 Pages. It’s Monday and that can only mean that it’s time for some ‘Classic Doctor Who’ in book form ;o) The old Target novelizations are what really got me into ‘Doctor Who’ when I was a kid (and into sci-fi and fantasy books in general, horror came a lot later) and recently finding a whole pile of these books, on Greenwich Market, has sent me down the most nostalgic of rabbit holes :o) I’ve supplemented that pile with a few Amazon purchases and ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ was on offer so… Here we are ;o) If you want my thoughts on the TV serial then click Here . We’re talking about the book here though so lets get to it. The Time Lords have a mission for the Doctor. Together with Sarah and Harry, he finds himself stranded on the war-torn planet Skaro where the conflict between the Thals and the Kaleds has been raging for a thousand years. Chemical and biological weapons have started a cycle of mutation among the planet’s inhabitants that cannot be stopped. But Kaled scien...

The plan is very much to use today to catch up on some sleep as well as make some dents in a few of the TBR piles that have grown around the flat (they keep growing and the only way to keep them in check is to keep reading). We'll see how that goes :o) In the meantime, I'm giving myself a day off and letting 'Past Me' take up the slack. I found an old review of Brian Aldiss' 'Non-Stop' and figured it was due its time again. You can read the full review Here but all the important bits are below... The Green tribe have no time for idle speculation about their existence, spending their lives in cramped Quarters and hacking away at the encroaching plant life. Curiosity about their past is an idle luxury they cannot afford. Roy Complain has always secretly thought there was more to life though and he is about to get the chance to find out just what lies beyond his limited world. Complain and the renegade priest Marapper strike out into territory unknown and, on ...

My reading kind of tailed off towards the end of the week (yet again, I've ended up with four or five books on the go but am struggling to get into any of them) but when I've been able to stay awake for long enough, I have managed to watch a few more movies. And this is the post where I tell you all about them ;o) Quick thoughts today, I've got a few things that I need to get done, one of which is try and catch up on my sleep... 'The Coffee Table' (2022) A couple buy a new coffee table for the flat; by the end of the day, three people will be dead. These events are all connected... Well, damn... I saw 'The Coffee Table' on Shudder and naturally assumed that it would be a movie about a possessed coffee table. I think it's a fair assumption to make...  Gentle reader , 'The Coffee Table' is not about a possessed piece of furniture...  'The Coffee Table' is a very good film (as tense as hell) but not one that I'd easily recommend, due to ...

When the power went out the other night, I was lucky enough to have enough juice left in my phone to read a couple of short stories while I waited for everything to turn back on, Which it did, eventually, about an hour after I’d finally gone to sleep… I learned, the hard way, that my doorbell does a little ‘test ring’ when the power comes back. Dammit. But anyway, I’m digressing… It wouldn’t feel like a week without a couple of ‘Black Library’ short stories here so I found a couple and… Here they are ;o) A bit of a mixed bag this time round. I think I said, fairly recently, how I don’t like the idea of ‘Horus Heresy’ short stories that exist just to fill in a gap in the timeline, whether it needs filling in or not. One of the following stories comes across a little like that, the other has a little more purpose about it. ‘Stratagem’ – Nick Kyme One of the great things about the Horus Heresy series is learning about the characters and events that shaped the 41st millennium, and few hero...

Because there was a power cut in our block of flats, last night, and that kind of put paid to, well... everything really (couldn't see to read and had no wi-fi for blogging). And then I've been trying to catch up with work today, almost the weekend... This looks good though, I can see myself re-subscribing to Disney+ (for a couple of months at least) and watching the show. Check out the trailer... What do you reckon? Looks like fairly standard 'Alien' fare but... If it's done right, it will be awesome.

It took me a little longer than planned to get to ‘Dreadnoughts Book Two’ but, well… *Gestures hopelessly at everything* ;o) Last night suddenly ended up being a good time to do something about that so I didn’t hang around, just settled down for a couple of hours reading instead. And there were no surprises here (which was great, I wasn't after surprises in last nights reading), ‘The March of Progress’ is a very solid follow up to ‘Breaking Ground’ and I think I’m more or less following this series for the duration now. After a crime blitz in Boulder leads to riots against the Judges’ excessive use of force and violation of human rights, the Hemlock Cartel takes advantage of the chaos to declare all-out war against the Justice Department. It is up to Judge Glover to eradicate their threat – even if her crusade could risk revealing the long-buried secrets of her past. ‘The March of Progress’ keeps a little of the social commentary, of its predecessor, and what better way to do th...

It’s starting to look like this could be the week where I make a half decent dent in my ‘Comics TBR Pile’, lets see how we do... I’ve really been struggling with the ‘Savage Sword of Conan’ collection just recently (more than one reason but I want to finish the collection first before I talk about it) and I thought that I’d have to take a little step back from ‘Conan’ comics and come back when I was in a better mood for it. Until I realized that there was another ‘Conan’ comic lurking in the TBR pile and maybe I could give that a go instead. So that’s what I did. I’ve caught little glimpses of the ‘Black Stone’ storyline, in other ‘Conan’ comics, but I can’t help but feel that the event has kind of passed me by a little. That’s on me though to be fair, I’ve got the attention span of a goldfish right now and there are so many books that I just haven’t been able to focus on; I suspect a couple of them talk about a Black Stone… Oh well, I’m here now. Where better a place to catch up on ‘B...

I last read ‘Uber: Volume 1’ just a tiny bit over eleven years ago (click Here for my thoughts from back in the day); I had vague plans to work my way through the series but, as is typical for me, everything else seemed to happen all at once and I never got round to it. A tiny bit over eleven years later… ‘Uber’ had been on my mind, just recently, and the first two volumes for a tenner (thanks eBay) was the ideal chance to dive back in and see if I could make it a little further with the series. I think I’ll have better luck this time, and not just because I’ve got Volume 2 lined up and ready to go ;o) April 24, 1945. The world holds its collective breath as the war is only days away from ending. Russian troops move through Germany to the final objective... Hitler himself. As those around the mad dictator crumble, the much ridiculed threats of the "Wunderwaffen" materialize. A new weapon is delivered, one with unstoppable power - a weapon like no other and with a madman pull...

I've been absolutely shattered this last week (what with one thing and then, several other things all queued up behind the first thing) so haven't been much good, in the evenings, for much more than reading books and watching movies. Which funnily enough, is also exactly what I do when I'm in the mood to be a little busier... I am nothing if not consistent ;o) Anyway... I've spent the last week telling you about what I've been reading. Lets round the week off by looking at what I've been watching. And there haven't been many films this week so this won't be a long post ;o) Here goes... 'Flight 7500' (2014) Flight 7500 departs LA Airport bound for Tokyo. As the flight progresses, passengers and crew slowly realize that they are under attack by a supernatural force and there is every chance now that they won't make it to Tokyo at all... I've got into the habit of having the TV on for a bit of background noise while I'm reading, working ...