Lord Samper's Library

Taking a spot of annual leave is great, I should really do it more often. I’m no longer looking after my ex’s cat (both the cat and I are very pleased about that) and I’ve been spending a lot of time with my daughters; can’t ask for a lot more than that from a week off ;o) One thing I haven’t been able to do though is get much reading done. It’s the same old story (no pun intended, unless you liked it…) I’ve got a few books on the go but I haven’t been able to make much headway on any of them. We’ll see if that improves, over the rest of the week, but for now, lets take a look at the films I’ve watched instead. Bit of a mixed bag this time round but that’s the way it goes sometimes. Here goes… ‘Zombeez’ (2023) When bee hives start dying off and dead bodies start appearing in a small Florida town, the local coroner is forced to team up with the apiologist who left her at the altar years ago, to try and solve this deadly mystery. It’s well known, in these parts, that if a movie has ‘zomb...

Sorry for the 'blogging silence yesterday... I'm on annual leave this week so yesterday was all about hanging out with my daughters and trawling the bookshops of central London for Manga. That and trying to deal with some side effects of the chemotherapy medication. Lets just say that the Manga shopping went a lot better (I'm getting on top of it though)... Anyway :o) After last week's little blowout , the plan was to try and rein things in a little bit but... You know how that ends up, and it did ;o) Only three books this week though so I'm taking it as a win. Let me show you what I found... Black Library books can sometimes be a little tricky to track down; if it's not Warhammer 40k, the print run is never that great and if you forget that a book is due a release (very easy for me to do at the moment), then you're cast into the lawless wilds of the second hand market. And that's never a great place to find yourself... The paperback edition of 'Dark...

It really is the wrong end of the week for me to try and get ‘creative’ with post titles but… Here I am :o) I really should make a decision and stick with either collecting trades or single issues but every time I find myself in Forbidden Planet, I end up walking out with whatever ‘Conan the Barbarian’ comic happens to be on the shelf. Last week’s ‘Forbidden Planet Trip’ saw me leave with two comics; ‘Conan the Barbarian’ #21 and ‘The Savage Sword of Conan’ #9. I’ve had a bit of a nightmare getting into the first ‘Savage Sword’ collection, no idea why but I didn’t want to miss out so I thought I’d see how I got on with what looked like a fairly self contained single issue. Let me tell you what I thought, ‘Conan the Barbarian’ first… ‘Conan the Barbarian #21’ – Zub, Dagnino, Rodriguez (Titan/Heroic Signatures) Fresh from an eldritch confrontation in the Vale of Lost Women, Conan and his companions chance upon something far stranger, a Stygian village where the inhabitants are overjoyed...

I was doing fairly well, this week, and then it all caught up with me... :o)  I'm on leave next week so have a fair bit to get done before the end of today (that's if I want my weekend to be free) but I'm also getting over a short, sharp dose of something icky, more than likely chemo related. The plan was to feature a little 'Conan' today but there's a still a little more reading to do there so 'Past Me' stepped up (again) and let me use one of his old reviews. 'Past Me' is awesome, it has to be said ;o) This time round, we're looking at a stand-alone work from Brian Ruckley that features one of my absolute favourite tropes in fantasy, the not so humble mercenary. The full review can be found Here but all the important bits are right below, They are the most feared mercenary company the kingdom has ever known. Led by Yulan, their charismatic captain, the Free have spent years selling their martial and magical skills to the highest bidder - w...

  According to Amazon, I bought my copy of ‘Paperbacks from Hell’ back in March 2023 and then presumably, completely forgot about it. Easily done, I’ve had a fair bit going on these last couple of years, that and a lot of books to read while it was all happening ;o) Anyway… I’m looking after my ex’s place along with her/my daughters pets, the rabbit with a dislocated toe (she’s been to the vet, there’s nothing they can do with it) and a cat that absolutely cannot stand me. The cat does have good reason for this but… That’s another story. I’m digressing though. Being stuck in a house with two animals that aren’t particularly communicative is exactly the right time to try and catch up with some reading (work too, you know what I mean…) and I figured that ‘Paperbacks from Hell’ would be a good choice for the mini-TBR Pile… Take a tour through the horror paperback novels of two iconic decades . . . if you dare. Page through dozens and dozens of amazing book covers featuring well-dresse...

After I finished work yesterday (the afternoon was back to back meetings followed by my end of year review, all I was good for was a nap and belated feeding of the cat and the rabbit. No reading happened last night but I do have some bits on the go which I’m hoping will make it onto the blog before the end of this week. Fingers crossed and all that :o) I did have a little browse through the ‘Classic Doctor Who’ stuff on Prime Video though, just to see what was what, and came across something called ‘Season 131’ that was only £2.99. I thought I’d have some of that and it turned out to be ‘The Awakening’. I don’t know why they couldn’t have just advertised it as ‘The Awakening’, it is clearly shown in the title sequence… Oh well :o) I’ve got vague memories of watching ‘The Awakening’ back in the day but couldn’t really remember it (to be fair, the story is a two-parter and I was all of nine when it first aired…) so I thought I’d do something about that last night. And… It’s 1984 and the ...

For the first time in a long time, I had a whole weekend to myself. Just me :o) Okay, I was looking after the cat and rabbit but the cat had no use for me (until dinner time) and the rabbit was trying to sleep so, what is a Graeme to do when he has time on his hands? No... He goes shopping for books of course ;o)  As much as I miss my girls when I'm not with them, I love the whole 'guilt free' feeling of being able to browse for as long as I want and only have to worry about what I need (McDonalds, usually). And that's just what I did in the Warhammer shop, Forbidden Planet, a Waterstones and a sweet little bookshop (in Cecil Court) that I've forgotten the name of. It has a big Dalek inside the shop, along long with a whole load of old kids books and I fancied some 'Doctor Who'... Enough of that, take a look at the pictures. I found 'The Nightmare of Eden' and 'The Giant Robot' in Marchpane Books (that was the name!) in Cecil Court. I'v...

I know... Two posts, two trailers. It's not how I normally do this but in my defence, I am looking after a cat that is steeped in evil and hates me with every piece of her dark soul (except when I feed her). To be fair, she has very good reason to hate me but that's a story to be told in the comments if anyone wants it ;o) On a slightly nicer note, I'm also looking after a rabbit with a dislocated toe; she's not happy but all she wants to do is be made a fuss of, I can do that :o) So yep, no book post today but we do have a new trailer for 'Predator: Badlands' and it looks like fun...

After a half decent start, my reading dropped right off over the rest of this week; I've got a quiet weekend lined up though so am hoping that I can tick a few more books off the ol' TBR pile. Fingers crossed and all that :o) In the meantime, have another trailer for 'Alien: Earth' (out next month)... I love the 'Alien' movies (even 'Resurrection') so am feeling pretty optimistic about this one :o)

This week has been a better week for reading, better than last week anyway, but I’m still struggling a little for time so figured last night was a good time to open up my Kindle and have some time in the Grim, Dark Universe of the far future. Just a couple of short stories this time round; a little Space Marine action and a mission that will literally reunite Cadians under one banner. ‘The Strength of Symbols’ – Carrie Harris Page Count: 36 Pages Cadian medic Cathris Korr, a Valhallan transplant, is part of a squad sent on a special mission to retrieve a regimental banner stolen by the opposing ork army. When their Chimera is destroyed, Cathris must overcome her fear of the Orks and put her skills as a healer to good use in order to bring the banner where it is needed most, and earn her place amongst the Cadians. The narrative could have been a little tighter (although that could just be me, I don’t need loads of background scenery) but the plot itself was a very effective mix of a hig...

  I was up against it yesterday (just work this time) so I thought I’d have a little ‘Horus Heresy’ happening in my ears, just to take the edge off everything else ;o) And it worked, to a degree, it turns out that I work better with music in the background rather than an audiobook… Oh well, I’ll know better for next time ;o) I’ve been getting into John French’s ‘Horus Heresy’ work, for a little while now, so when I saw ‘Dark Compliance’ was there to spend my free Audible credit on, it wasn’t a hard choice to make. Let me tell you about it... For more than 200 years, the armies of the Emperor of Mankind fought to reconquer the galaxy - led by the superhuman primarchs, the Space Marine Legions brought countless worlds back under the rule of ancient Terra. Now Horus, once honoured Warmaster and favoured son of the Emperor, has been corrupted by the whispered promises of Chaos. At his command the Imperium is torn apart by a terrible and bloody civil war, the likes of which the galaxy...

  Page Count: 127 Pages This last week has been awful for reading anything so over the weekend, I pushed every single half read book to one side (of which there are loads at the moment, I’m really having trouble finishing anything…) and decided to go with an old favourite that had somehow landed on a shelf that I very rarely look at. And… it worked. I say ‘old favourite’… They don’t come a lot more ‘old favourite’ than Douglas Hill’s ‘Last Legionary’ books, a series that I loved to read back in primary school and slowly collected over the last few years, just for that sweet nostalgia buzz :o) It has taken me a while to get round to it but this weekend was suddenly the best time to give this series another go; starting with ‘Galactic Warlord’. He stands alone… His planet, Moros, destroyed by unknown forces. His one vow – to wreak a terrible vengeance on the sinister enemy. But Keill Randor, the last Legionary, cannot conceive the evil force that he will unleash in his crusade agains...

Sorry for the no-show yesterday... I was feeling pretty sick and I also had my daughters round so something had to give and... you guessed it ;o) Because sometimes, the hunt doesn't go well and you know what...? That's ok :o) not every trip out can end up in a second hand bookshop or finding a hidden gem in a charity shop. It would be awesome if they all did but I'd run out of shelf space really fast ;o) And not only that, I really am trying to make more of an effort to read books that are already on my shelves. It's not going too badly but I'd like to read more; the summer holidays are fast approaching so I might be able to make a little more headway soon. We'll see... ;o) Having said all that though. I had a walk through Lewisham Town Centre, the other day (I was working from home and really needed to get away from my desk...) and still managed to come home with a couple of books, it happens :o) Let me show you what I found... I don't normally leave the pr...

  If you’ve been following the blog this week, you’ll know that this week has been the worst week, for reading, that I’ve had in a long time. I’ve been great at starting books, I’ve started loads (perhaps too many), but when it’s come down to finishing any of them… Yep, that’s when things went wrong :o) Apparently, ‘chemotherapy brain’ is a thing and can leave a chap short of concentration and memory. Thank goodness I was able to get more work done, than ‘books read’, this week… Fingers crossed for a quiet weekend and a better week, for reading, next week ;o) I did want to read at least one thing though, that wasn’t a work document, so on the way to a hospital appointment yesterday, I bought myself a copy of ‘2000AD’ to read in the waiting room. I didn’t read it in the waiting room, ended up talking to the man sat next to me, but polished it off on the way back home, go me ;o) I’m normally all about the trades (it’s the only way that I can guarantee getting the whole story, I’m rub...

'Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey' was pretty dreadful but one of those films that you watch because, well... You have to don't you? ;o) I'll be honest, 'Bambi - The Reckoning' looks like more of the same but it feels like a step in the right direction. It does for me anyway, I love a bit of 'animal horror' and that's what the focus looks like here, Not sure it's a 'pay for a cinema ticket' movie but I'll definitely catch it when it's streaming.

I know I'm kind of phoning it in, so far this week, but honestly, this week has been non-stop with all sorts of crap and it's only Wednesday :o( I haven't had the chance, or the energy at the end of the day, to open a book (let alone read one) so I'm relying on the generosity of 'past me' to dig me out of a hole and give you guys a post today. I'll see what I can do about a 'proper' post tonight; I'm hoping that things will have calmed down a bit, lets see. Having posted about 'The Fourth Faction' and 'Endgame' , it only seemed right to round things off with the third book in this series. The original review can be found Here , it's all here now though ;o) Over the years, I've become used to Mega City One being trampled all over and millions of citizens dying. It's like an extra season in a way; 'Spring', 'Summer', 'Autumn', 'Winter' and 'Mega City One being beaten to within an inch...

If I had to describe yesterday using only one word... I'd be hard pressed to choose between 'anxious', 'overwhelming' and 'crappy'. Which is why I didn't manage to read anything last night, not even a couple of 'Black Library' short stories. You'll probably see those later in the week ;o) And that is why today, I'm rescuing another old review from the 'Land of Forgotten Blogs' and giving it a little airing here. I do try and keep the 'blog post recycling' to a minimum here but the last couple of weeks have been challenging so bear with me, just for a little bit longer. I'd already posted about 'The Fourth Faction' so it wasn't too much a leap to post about the next book in the series, 'Day of Chaos: Endgame'. The following review was originally posted Here but now, it's here ;o) Visitors to Mega City One will know that the city has a habit of getting the stuffing knocked out of it on a fairly ...

Last week was a funny old week, for one reason and another, capped off by having a tooth out at the weekend. I've got a horrible feeling that another couple (at least) will need to come out, at some point, but one step at a time and all that ;o) It's a new week so hopefully things will calm down a bit, hopefully... I didn't do too badly with my reading, last week, but my head was all over the place and when that's the case, I end up going through Prime Video and seeing if there's anything that will take my mind off things. I add films to my watchlist at an absolute whim so there's always something there that will take my mind off things :o) Four films this week, a couple of which were re-watches, let me tell you about them... 'Dead by Dawn' (2020) A suicidal man, in a remote cabin, is suddenly faced with protecting a woman fleeing from three killers. Unable to contact the outside world and with night drawing in, a fight to the death ensues where only the...

Apologies for the 'blogging silence' yesterday, I was out at the dentist and when I wasn't at the dentist, I was sat at home feeling all sore and sorry for myself (minus one tooth). Okay, I watched some movies as well but 'sore and sorry for myself' were the order of the day, that and a little sleep ;o) Where does that leave me today then? Well, reading clearly didn't really happen yesterday so I thought I'd do myself a favour and swipe an older review from elsewhere, just to give myself a little breathing space today :o) Funnily enough, 'The Fourth Faction' was due a post here but until I can sort some new glasses out, certain 'Rebellion' collections are a nightmare to read so... Here we are ;o) The original review can be found Here but it's here in its entirety so, lets go. Sometimes comic book continuity can really trip me up (I'm looking at you Marvel) but, on the whole, I'm a big fan of storylines that can be traced right ba...

It hasn't been a bad week, this week, there's just been rather a lot of it so... No book post today but, a 'post about books' is the next best thing ;o) Due to a number of things going on at the moment, I've got the attention span of a coked up goldfish and very little ability to focus on what I'm reading. The Black Library short stories are helping, a bit, but I'm after something a little more substantial so... I took a little journey among the shelves and grabbed a few books that caught my eye. The following TBR pile is heavy on the Black Library books but that's what's catching my eye right now and sometimes, you've just got to follow your instincts ;o) Lets check out the TBR Pile then... I told you it was a little 'Black Library heavy' ;o) I've always wanted a copy of 'Into the Maelstrom' so I can't very well just ignore it now I have one. Loads of bite sized short stories should hold my attention. I started reading ...

  Page Count: 179 Pages It has been a rough couple of months, for reasons that I’ve touched upon (in a recent post) and a few that I’ve deliberately left unsaid; because books are far more interesting to people who stop by here (and that’s the way it should be). That’s the main reason it has taken me a while to get round to books that I really should have picked up a lot earlier. That and the fact that it’s far too easy to distract me at the moment, another book usually does the trick ;o) I’ve had a hankering for a little Sword & Sorcery, just recently, and I’ll never say no to a book with zombies in it. It seemed like the best thing to do then was combine the two and read Brian Keene’s latest foray into zombie fiction, with an added ‘Fantasy Twist’. Or is that the other way round? Either way, I’m glad I finally got round to reading ‘Island of the Dead’. Einar, an enslaved barbarian, plots his escape from a war galley transporting troops and a mysterious weapon to far enemy sho...

A trailer for 'The Long Walk' and now we're getting a remake of 'The Running Man'? What a time to be alive :o) I love the original movie but this new movie looks like it could be running closer to the original 'Bachman' story so... I'm going to give it a go and see what happens :o)

Page Count: 176 Pages No matter what it might look like in various ‘Books for the TBR Pile’ posts, I really am trying to concentrate on reading books that are already on my shelves. ‘The Fireborne Blade’ is a very slender 176 pages long so I’m not going to beat myself up too much for missing it until now. With that page count, this is a book that can’t help but hide amongst the other books once it’s on your shelf. What I’d say is that if ‘The Fireborne Blade’ is on your shelf, don’t let it hide away, grab it for a read, I think you’ll be glad that you did. Quick thoughts on a quick read today. I’m not sure quite how it happened but yesterday was a bit of a write-off and I’ve got a lot to catch up on today (and take my youngest daughter out for lunch, I’m looking forward to that)… Maddileh is a knight. There aren’t many women in her line of work, and it often feels like the sneering and contempt from her peers is harder to stomach than the actual dragon slaying. But she’s a knight, and ...