Lord Samper's Library

  Page Count: 293 Pages Now here’s a book that I would have read sooner (a lot sooner) but thanks to Amazon, I thought it was ‘ebook only’ and, apart from Warhammer/Conan short stories, I’m very much a paperback person. Sometimes hardbacks as well ;o) Then a month or so ago, I was browsing Wayland Games and came across ‘Callis & Toll’, along with a couple of other books, in paperback. I don’t need telling twice, One order later and I had my own copy to add to the teetering TBR towers in my living room. It has taken me a little while to get round to reading ‘Callis & Toll’ (plus a little longer to actually read it) but I got there in the end and here we are, lets have a quick chat about it. Cinderfall district, Hammerhal Aqsha. The Twin-Tailed City belches fire day and night, smoke chokes the skies, and ash lines the streets like so much filthy snow. Life is brutal in Cinderfall – crime is rife, and death is cheap. But even here, the ritualistic murder of a supremely powerfu...

  Page Count: 234 Pages My mental health hasn’t been in the best place just recently and on Tuesday, I agreed with my doctor that the best thing to do was for her to sign me off work for a fortnight; give me a chance to ‘reset’ a little and come back in a better state to actually be able to do my job. I don’t think I moved from the comfy chair for most of yesterday, just sat there and let the TV massage my eyeballs with some classic ‘Doctor Who’ and some films that I can barely remember. Lets just say that you’re more likely to get a post on the ‘Doctor Who’ serials than the movies (the only thing that I can remember about the movies is that ‘Night of the Reaper’ was rushed but was fun to watch). It was just what I needed but it did come at the expense of not finishing any of the books that I’ve got on the go (and that’s ok). So… I took a very quick trip to the HBR (Has Been Read) pile and that’s why we’re talking about ‘Empire of Death’ today. This is going to be a quicker post ...

Yesterday was a bit of a day so once I was back home, I pretty much just came to a stop and found some movies to watch for the rest of the evening. While I try and get my head round what to say about Robert Bloch’s ‘Midnight Pleasures’ collection (‘really good’ doesn’t make for much of a post…), let me quickly tell you about them. ‘Ick’ (2024) When a mysterious ooze, called ‘The Ick’, begins mutating in the small American town of Eastbrook, science teacher Hank Wallace must somehow find a way of stopping it while also trying to find out if one of his students is his daughter… For what it’s worth… Hank manages to do one but we’re left uncertain as to whether he manages the other. You can probably guess which is which ;o) As for the film itself… I’ll be honest, for a movie called ‘Ick’, it really needed to be a lot more ‘icky’ than it actually was. Which was a shame because I liked the humour on offer and there were moments where I thought, ‘yeah, that was pretty icky’. It just wasn’t ‘i...

  Page Count: 158 Pages I only had time for a couple of quick reads this weekend (which is better than I usually do these days so, mustn’t complain) and on my shelves, ‘quick reads’ don’t come a lot quicker than a ‘Doctor Who’ novelization. I went for ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ this time round, partly because I really enjoyed the TV episode but also because I didn’t want to leave it too long before starting my ‘Birthday Books’. And because I’m awkward, it appeals to me that I’m reading this particular set of ‘Doctor Who’ stories backwards ;o) Nothing wrong with the book as such but if I had to choose, I think I’ll stick with watching it on the TV… The Doctor and Donna are trapped on board a mysterious spacecraft. Fate of the crew: Unknown. Fate of the Universe if what’s on board gets out: Terminal. We all know that I love ‘Event Horizon’ so a ‘Doctor Who’ story set on a ‘haunted’ space ship at the very edge of the known universe… I was always going to be there for it :o) And it was brillia...

Well, I say 'unexpected' but... who am I kidding? Let me tell you about it. I was rattling around the flat by myself (had my daughters over on Saturday so had Sunday to myself) and was starting to go a little stir crazy so thought I'd head over to Greenwich and see what was what, maybe have a late lunch. As you know, I've got teetering TBR piles ( and wasn't planning to add to them) but I was walking through the market, stopped at the second hand book stall and... 'The Ribos Operation' is the only 'Key to Time' book that I haven't read so that was an easy purchase. 'The Horror of Fang Rock' and 'The Web of Fear' were all about the nostalgia, I didn't even try and fight it.  And then I went into 'Rare Books & Curios', just to have a quick look through the 'Sci-Fi/Fantasy' paperbacks. I wasn't expecting to find anything but couldn't head home without having a look first, you know how it is ;o) The ...

The last couple of days have been more than a little busy, for good and bad reasons that left me no time for blogging; I’ll let you guess which were which ;o) Friday was work, followed by ‘Walking Dead Evening’ with my eldest daughter (finishing off Season 6 and making a start on Season 7). And Saturday was a day spent with both my daughters, we all needed that time more than I needed to post something here. I’m here now though :o) There wasn’t a lot of time for reading, over the last couple of days, but the beauty of short stories is that I can always find time for a quick read. They don’t come a lot quicker than the short stories that Black Library put out. I’m not quite sure how I found my way back to Robbie Macniven’s ‘Carcharadons’ space marines tales, especially as I didn’t get on with ‘Red Tithe’ at all ; I guess I’ve always had a soft spot for the concept of these killers in self-exile, guarding the frontiers of the Imperium, and that’s what ultimately led me to ‘Death Warrant’...

Today is a day in the office and there’s a fair bit to get through (and by a ‘fair bit’, I mean… loads) so while I try and get my head round that, have some quick thoughts on some bits and pieces that I’ve been reading and watching. ‘Event Horizon: Dark Descent #1’ – Ward, Jones, Martin’ (ID Dark) In 2040, the Starship Event Horizon disappeared on its maiden voyage to Proxima Centauri. Seven years later, it reappeared, its crew all dead. This is the story of what happened… I love ‘Event Horizon’ (you knew that already though) and had more or less got used to the idea that not only will we never see the full directors cut, there’s pretty much no more story left to tell. The ending is pretty final ;o) Well, luckily, Christian Ward had other ideas and has taken the tale back to way before Dr. Weir boarded the ‘Lewis & Clark’ to go on a rescue mission. I had no idea this comic was a thing so when I saw it in Forbidden Planet, I was all over it. And… Famous last words, and all that, but...

It doesn't take a lot for me to buy a book (if the day has a 'y' in it for example...) but when I'm enjoying a milestone birthday (it feels like one, after the way most of my forties went), it's only right that I take a step up from buying a book... to full on book shopping. So that's exactly what I did :o)  I didn't have a lot of time, in town, yesterday so book shops were chosen on the likelihood of yielding results rather than 'ooh, I've never been there before...' There was nothing to be had in Hatchards but it's such a lovely looking book shop that I didn't mind too much :o) The Piccadilly Waterstones and Forbidden Planet were a different story though. Let me show you what I came back with... This feels more like a Halloween TBR but there's time in September yet... 'The Babysitter Lives' feels like it's giving the game away far too early (at least let me open the book first...) but on the other hand, Stephen Graham J...

  It's a 'big birthday', one of those birthdays with a zero at the end; only one zero though and it follows a five so not a bad age to be :o) Between you and me, I'm glad to see the back of my forties, here's hoping that things calm down a bit between now and sixty. I'm going to go sit and look at all the books I bought (because of course I did) See you all tomorrow :o)

  Page Count: 138 Pages It has been so long since I read anything by Jack Ketchum that the other day I thought to myself, ‘I really should check him out’ and grabbed myself copies of ‘Offspring’ and ‘Ladies’ Night’. Turns out that way back in 2008, I read ‘Old Flames’ and didn’t think an awful lot of it. Oh well, If I’m having trouble remembering what I did yesterday, I’m not going to beat myself up for forgetting one book that I read seventeen years ago ;o) Either way, it’s been long enough that it was worth paying Ketchum’s work another visit, just to see if things were better this time round. ‘Ladies’ Night’ was the book I kicked off with. Tom Braun and his wife Susan aren't exactly a picturesque couple and it’s no surprise that Tom continually spends late evenings in bars and cheats on his wife. Unfortunately, their son Andy is caught in the middle of his parent's constant argument. One life-altering evening turns this family's, along with most of New York's, perc...

It hasn't been a bad week for reading, fingers crossed for more of the same next week. Lets see how it goes. Work is still intense but I've got a days leave on Tuesday, for my birthday, and a chunk of that will definitely be spent reading in the comfy chair :o)  For now, lets catch up with a couple of movies that I've watched over the last week. Two movies, with one thing in common; a moment where I did a little double-take and said to myself, "did I really just watch that?" And the answer was 'yes, I really did', although for one movie, I really wished that I hadn't... 'Humanoids from the Deep' (1980)  When mutated salmon starts walking on two legs, the residents of a fishing town find out that neither sea nor land is safe... Especially if you're a lady in a bikini. The residents must fight back to stand any chance of survival. 'Humanoids' also goes by the name of 'Monster' (for its original European and Japanese release) b...

  Wednesday evening was a bit of a blur (school parents evening and then moving furniture), and so was yesterday actually (work…), and that’s why there was no post. Sorry about that. Anyway... When giant mosquito-like alien creatures invade a rural seaside community, a frustrated sheriff and two oddball exterminators end up being the town's only hope for survival. A comedic and gruesome story for fans of Slither, Arachnophobia, and other classic creature-features! To be honest, I’m more of an ‘Eight Legged Freaks’ fan than ‘Arachnophobia’ (‘Arachnophobia’ is not a bad movie, it’s just that giant spiders will always trump any other kind of spider, simple facts) but I love ‘Slither’ and well, just ‘Creature Features’ in general really so the blurb still managed to sell itself rather well and… Here we are :o) And… There’s not a lot to say about ‘Skeeters’ really and despite what you’re thinking right now, that’s not a bad thing at all. ‘Skeeters’ doesn’t mess around, it knows what yo...

  I’ll be honest, I have no idea how ‘Cimmerian September’ works… Is it REH stories only or does any tale, featuring Conan, count regardless of author? And am I putting far too much thought into something that is only meant to be a bit of fun? The answer to the second question is, more than likely, yes ;o) As ever on this blog, I will tackle things in my own way. I’ll find time for some original REH ‘Conan’ tales, later this month, but for now, lets kick things off with the latest ‘Conan the Barbarian’ trade from Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures. Jim Zub has done a superb job of adapting REH’s work while filling in the gaps with original pieces; lets see how he fares in ‘Twisting Loyalties’. Conan the Cimmerian and Bêlit, Pirate Queen of the Black Coast, are in their prime, enjoying a life of decadence and debauchery, but a flagrant flash of wealth brings unwelcome attention from thieves with a taste for danger and agents from Stygia on a dark mission for their serpent god! In ...

  Page Count: 70 Pages I’m trying to draw a line between work and a little time where I can recharge in the evening; there’s no better way for me to draw that line than by picking up a book and having a read ;o) I’ve been reading Scott Oden’s blog for a while now and love his passion for Robert E. Howard and how this comes out in his discussion of Howard’s work as well as ‘Sword & Sorcery’ and what Oden calls ‘Heroic Historical’ fiction. I was after something heroic, while I try and sort a mini-TBR pile for ‘Cimmerian September’ so I figured it was way past time I gave Oden’s work a go. I have a copy of ‘Old Gods and Other Tales’ lined up, ready to go, but last night I thought I’d kick things off with ‘The White Lion’... Acre, at the close of the 13th century. The last remaining Crusader stronghold, where the ideals of a Kingdom of Heaven - forged by saints and zealots nearly two hundred years ago - now hang by the slenderest of threads. It is a city menaced by Saracen warlor...

  Page Count: 546 Pages My ‘absolutely out of order’ readthrough of ‘The Siege of Terra’ continues with ‘Mortis’, chosen because there really is nothing cooler than cover art featuring a traitor Titan (‘Dies Irae’?) attacking the palace with loyalist soldiers trying to look like they stand half a chance against it. Seriously, if you know of cover art that is better, point me at it ;o) This wasn’t going to be todays post but I finished ‘Mortis’ yesterday and given the state of my memory at the moment… If I don’t post something today, I’ll completely forget to post at all and that would be a shame as ‘Mortis’ was a very good read. One hell of a slog, it took me about three weeks to finish, but a very good read all at the same time. The victories of Saturnine and the sacrifices of the Eternity Wall space port have faded into the hope of yesterday. Denied but not defeated, the traitors intensify their assault on the Imperial Palace. With the principal space ports in Horus’ hands, th...

The last few weeks haven't been great for reading but I have managed to get a few comics and a couple of books under my belt. I'm going to have to space posts out a bit (things are still very busy what with one thing and everything else...) but posts will happen ;o) In the meantime, I've got a few books on the go along with some others that I'd like to get to sooner rather than later (we'll see how that goes). Lets take a look, shall we? Apologies in advance for the photos... I am reading the 'Siege of Terra' books completely out of order, more or less based on whatever cover happens to catch my eye ;o) 'Mortis' has a massive Titan, attacking the walls of the Imperial Palace, so there was no contest really. It has been a slog to get through, more on that another time, but I'm on the home straight and the plan is to finish it today, Fingers crossed and all that ;o) 'Fifteen Hours' is in this pile as the Book Stooge had things to say about...

Am I back? Sort of… Things are still busy here (okay, really busy…) so for now at least, you won’t see a post every day; I just haven’t got the capacity for it right now. Every few days though…? That’s a little more do-able, I think. Lets see how it goes ;o) I want to have a little go at ‘Cimmerian September’ for a start. In the meantime though… Reading hasn’t come easy the last few days but I did manage to get a couple of short stories under my belt last night; one re-read and one new. I’ve got some longer books on the go but for now, lets have a little chat about these… ‘The Box’ – Jack Ketchum (Crossroad Press) What is in the box? Our narrators son knows and now he won’t eat; and when he tells his sisters… they stop eating too. ‘The Box’ is chilling, all the more so because it is told in such a matter of fact way. It almost doesn’t matter what’s in the box, it’s the inevitability of that knowledge that drives our narrators family to their death and makes the tale a compelling one. T...