Lord Samper's Library

  Page Count: 152 Pages Was it really five months ago that I read ‘Invincible Vol.1’ and… wasn’t a hundred percent convinced? Well, I trust my blog a lot more than I do my memory, these days, so yes, yes it was ;o) To be fair, I did enjoy Volume 1, I was just left wondering how much mileage there could be in a story where Invincible had it all laid out for him, ready to have it all. The powers, the costume, the evil father… Hang on :o) The Guardians of the Globe are dead. Now, Mark Grayson must try to fill their role as Earth’s newest superhero – Invincible. But there’s one question on everyone’s minds: who killed them? Think, Mark. Think! Sometimes, being the last one to the party can actually be a good thing as I don’t have to worry too much about spoilers when I’m writing these posts ;o) I’m going to assume that if you haven’t read the books already then you’ve more than likely watched the show on Prime. Or maybe you just read the Wikipedia entries and never got round to either...

  Page Count: 270 Pages As a kid, I used to be scared of flies (especially the big fat bluebottles) but that was a long time ago now. It took a little longer with bees but I got stung a few times and that pretty much got it out of my system. Wasps though… I fear and hate them in equal measure; angry, vicious grudge-bearing little bastards that seem to exist purely to make your summer miserable. And it has been a long, hot summer… :o( In the (slightly altered) words of Kyle Reese, "They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear! And they absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead!" So when I heard that there was a new horror novel that was all about wasps… Of course I had to read it ;o) Jaws with wasps. By the time Scarlett Sutton arrives at her dad’s cabin in the Smoky Mountains, two locals have already been eaten alive by wasps. Of course, she doesn’t know this yet. All Scarlett knows is her mom finally ...

I didn't have a lot to say about 'Black Sheep', when I watched it in October last year , mostly because I was on sick leave and struggling to say much about anything... Anyway. Despite my reticence, I always enjoy watching 'Black Sheep' so when I saw that a sequel was on the way? I said 'finally...' and came straight here to post the trailer :o) Check it out... I'll be honest... 'Black Sheeps' looks like it's really only going to be for those of us who found 'Back Sheep' funny back in 2006. I count myself fortunate enough to be one of those number though, so... :o)

Yesterday was one of those days where I woke up feeling pretty rough, took myself to the comfy chair, for breakfast, and then dozed until lunchtime. I woke up, still feeling pretty rough, so decided to take the hint and not push it. I left job hunting for the evening and settled down with a little reading, and some TV on the side. Let me tell you about it… ‘Hellraiser Resurrections: The Deep Gospel #1’ – Howard, Cha, Simpson (Boom!) In which the Female Cenobite finds a new identity, and new companions… Two issues in, or so I thought… Yesterday, I found out that the series is actually three issues old and I missed the first one. I’ll have to do something about that.  In the meantime, ‘The Deep Gospel’ has a lot going for it, whether it stands alone or is the start of something longer. I’ll admit that I don’t know a lot about the setting, outside of the ‘Hellraiser’ movies, so Howard’s deep dive into the realm of the Cenobites really filled in those gaps, all grimly drawn by Jenna Ch...

Yep, I'm one year older (again) and despite the various bits and pieces going on right now, I can confirm that my 'fifties' are still much better than my 'forties' were. Trust me, if you're hovering at forty-nine and feeling a little nervous... you've got nothing to worry about ;o) Anyway... For the sake of a little alliteration, yesterdays Birthday was all about the 'Four Bs'; bacon, burgers, bonbons and books (I mean, plenty of other stuff happened as well, and it was awesome, but, you know...) I ate the burgers & bacon and I'm working my way through the bonbons but, that's not what you're here for; lets take a look at the books... I've heard a lot of good things about 'There Is No Antimemetics Division' and going by the first couple of chapters, I'm even more certain that I'm in for a good read. I've officially bumped this book up to the top of the TBR pile so am hoping to have something a little more detai...

  Page Count: 142 Pages Apologies for the lack of blog post yesterday… I’m not quite sure why my laptop decided to act up but it got to a point where I had to choose between blog and job-hunting and unfortunately, there was no contest. Anyway, we’re here now, lets see how it goes… :o) After a day spent wrestling with (quite frankly) a ‘sulky laptop’, I wasn’t really up for too much reading but wanted to keep a little momentum going. Luckily for me, I have a small pile of ‘Doctor Who’ novelisations on hand for just this kind of situation ;o) This time round, I thought I’d go for ‘The Invasion of Time’; a book that I’d read, way back in the day, but never actually seen on TV. And I’d pretty much forgotten the plot anyway so it was like picking it up for the first time ;o) A traitor to the Time Lords? Can the Doctor really be in league with the evil Vardans, spearheading a treacherous invasion of his home planet, Gallifrey? Or is he playing a deadly double game, saving the Time Lords ...

  Page Count: 142 Pages There are a few things that will guarantee that I pick up a book, for a further inspection, and… A number of those things are on the cover of this book :o) I literally had no choice in the matter, I had to pick the book and take a look. The blurb pretty much sold it to me… A home to reavers and rakes, sorcerers and slayers, undead kings and undying things – expanding a page at a time in the stories added by its authors. In the once lands, a lineage of sorcerous wayfinders work to keep godlike monstrosities locked behind the crumbling walls of cursed cities, by allowing the vengeful ghosts of forest gods to inhabit their living flesh. In the wild wastes, tribes of cannibal huntresses fight to balance the old ways and new in a struggle to keep their culture alive by trading in death. In the sprawling city of Khyber, ambitions dance on sword edges while clans of thieves and reavers clutch at power. Welcome to… Shared World. Yep, I was sold. ‘Shared World’ came ...

I've smoked a bit of weed, in my time, but not for a long time and for very good reason. You see, my tolerance, for the stuff, is very much 'no tolerance at all' and I inevitably end up falling asleep in all sorts of weird places. It's not cool :o) Now I'm in my fifties, it has got worse (if you can believe it)... One of my neighbour's was smoking, yesterday, and just the smell was enough to send me to sleep and then wake up in the mood for a burger. So, off I went to Greenwich for a McDonald's and while I was there, did a little book browsing at the same time. Of course I did ;o) The pickings were slim but some determined foraging turned up the following... I told you it was 'slim pickings' but hopefully, it's a case of quality over quantity ;o) I had never heard of 'Zombies and Power Tools' but with a title like that, I was never going to pass up the opportunity of a read. You wouldn't either ;o) My 'poor old' eyes struggled...

I’ve been going a little ‘stir crazy’, these last few days, so yesterday afternoon, I took myself into town for a slice of pizza (spicy chicken, in case you were wondering) and a visit to Forbidden Planet to pick up a couple of comics. I say ‘a couple’ but I came out with three comics, I think that was remarkably restrained of me. One series ends, another begins and, ‘Conan the Barbarian’ just keeps rolling along… Just the way I like it :o) ‘Event Horizon: Inferno’ #5 – Ward, Carey, Honchar (ID Dark) There weren’t many surprises here, ok any surprises, but #5 rounds ‘Event Horizon: Inferno’ off in decent style with a strong vein of ‘be careful what you wish for’ vs ‘man really is unaware of his true standing in the universe’. Yep, I’m looking at you Durante… You were a little too villainish but at the same time, it somehow made the final outcome a little more sweet ;o) I’m half and half over where Starck’s arc (see what I did there?) ends up, as I think she deserved a little more, but...

(Blogger seems to have something against posting images at the moment so apologies for the 'wall of text'...) Thanks for bearing with me yesterday, I wouldn’t say that I got everything done (that I needed to) but it helped to park the blog, for a day, and give myself a little breathing space. I ended up giving myself the evening off and spent a little time with a couple of comic books that I really should have read a lot sooner. Better late than never though ;o) Let me tell you about them… ‘Mechanismo: Machine Law’ – Wagner, McCrea, Macneill (Rebellion) Page Count: 96 Pages Still understaffed from the Day of Chaos, the Justice Department prepares once more to trial a radical solution: the Mark-8 RV Mechanismo Unit. Responsive, resilient, empathetic and expendable; the upgraded robot Judges supposedly have none of the deadly flaws of previous models. Judge Dredd has never hidden his feelings on the machines, but is ordered to put aside his prejudices and conduct an assessment wi...

Today just got really busy... Job hunting, various phone calls and now I need to try and get my daughters' phone fixed. Nothing major, just loads to get done so I'm going to go and do that. I should be back tomorrow though :o) While I'm doing that, feel free to have a read, there's loads here to look at ;o) And do me a favour? If you're reading this and you're not a bot, leave a comment? I'm trying to establish a 'real person to bot' visitor ratio and I don't think bots can leave comments... Can they... ? ;o)

  Page Count: 240 Pages (As per the ‘Word Bearers Omnibus Edition) For ‘Dark Apostle’ and ‘Dark Disciple’ , I showed off the original cover art but with ‘Dark Creed’, I thought I’d go with the omnibus cover art because, well… Look at it :o) I’m assuming that’s Marduk on the cover but either way, have you ever seen a spikier Traitor Astartes? Nope, me neither. And it looks like Pinhead the Cenobite very kindly allowed our Word Bearer to pinch a few hooks and chains, just to round off the affect. That was nice of him :o) I’ve always liked the way that Warhammer 40K can be completely over the top and take itself seriously, all at the same time, and that’s exactly what we have here. But, anyway… I’ve been in and out of this trilogy, over the last few weeks, and last night felt like the right moment to finally finish it off. Let me tell you about it… :o) Dark Apostle Marduk faces challenges from within his own Legion as he wages war with the White Consuls. Harnessing the power of the N...

  Page Count: 254 Pages I’m not a hundred percent where the weekend just went; it was there for a second and then all of sudden, we’re back to Monday… I hope you had a good one though :o) Mine wasn’t too bad to be fair, there just wasn’t an awful lot of time for reading, despite the carefully curated pile next to my chair. We’ll see how the rest of the week goes then but for now, lets talk about the one book that I did manage to read… Basic Training: Four Months Planetary Transportation: Seven Weeks Life Expectancy… Fifteen Hours The stalwart troops of the Imperial Guard are the first line of defence against the numerous foes of the Imperium. Their heroism and courage is renowned across the galaxy and their armoured might has crushed countless rebellions and invasions. A lone guardsman finishes basic training and is dropped straight into a combat zone where the average expected lifespan is a mere fifteen hours. Fighting hand-to-hand against the barbarous Orks, he must draw upon all...

I know, I posted about this, back in December , but I was mooching about on Amazon and saw that there was cover art to go with a different blurb from last time round. While I try and figure out what to make of today, I thought I'd share them here so, here goes... Vedra and Daley are fugitives, two children, one with a strange and powerful gift. When their flight ends in capture, they are claimed by Flann's Crows, Osten Ard's most infamous band of outlaws and the children must learn to survive or be swallowed whole. As whispers of a deadly plot coil around the throne of Hernystir, the Crows are drawn into a game far deadlier than bandit raids and border skirmishes. An immortal exile - ancient, dangerous, burdened with secrets that refuse to die - offers alliance. To trust him may mean salvation. To refuse him may doom the realm. For in the deep forests and ruined places of the old world, something stirs. Oaths will be broken. Blood will answer blood. And two hunted children ...

  ‘In The Pines’ – 31 Pages ‘Where The Summer Ends’ – 28 Pages I’ve been trying to make some room on my bookshelves, just recently, and… Yeah… You can guess how that’s gone ;o) It’s weird is what it is. I’ve managed to clear a couple of large bags worth of books, so I know I’ve got rid of a decent amount, but it has made very little impact on the state of my shelves… I guess I’m just really good at utilizing shelf space. Anyway... One good thing, that has come out of this, is that I’ve been rediscovering books that I’ve been meaning to read and then not only put them to one side but also covered them in books that I’ve been meaning to read. Now there’s a challenge for me, find a pile of books and read the book at the very bottom… I came across the Karl Edward Wagner collection ‘In A Lonely Place’, the other day, and remembered that while I’d meant to dip in and out of it, I’d never made it past reading ‘More Sinned Against’. I figured I take another shot at it and sat down for a re...

You know that feeling you get between Christmas and New Year? Where it feels like what’s left of the year doesn’t really know what it’s meant to be? Well, that’s been me this week :o) Since my job ended, I keep finding myself still stuck in a routine of ‘I really need to get ready for that meeting…’ and then having to remind myself that the input and output of said meeting is no longer up to me to sort out. First world problems and all that… It just takes me a little longer, than most, to adjust to changes like this. Luckily, I’ve had plenty to do to keep me occupied (and hopefully find a new routine) but the downside of that is that it has left me with little time, or inclination, to get stuck into a book. And that’s why I’ve had a few movies on instead, either as background noise or for a little down time. I’ll be honest, the quality hasn’t been great but sometimes, that’s not what I’m after ;o) I need to have a word with myself about that... ‘Penny Lane is Dead’ (2025) A quiet beach...

  Page Count: 128 Pages After I DNF’d ‘Scourge The Heretic’ , the other day, I decided to head back to my ‘Comic Book TBR Pile’ and try something a little different. You know, as you do when you’ve got all your ‘admin’ chores out of the way and fancy a little down time :o) Well, that was the plan until I went to Greenwich, to drop a few books off at the charity shop, and thought I’d have a quick look in Waterstones while I was there… ‘D’Orc’ is one those titles that I mean to file under ‘M’ for ‘Must Remember to Read’ but somehow ends up filed under ‘T’ for ‘Totally Forgot’. When I saw it in Waterstones, I moved that file to ‘B’ for ‘Better Buy it Right Now’ (okay, that’s enough of that…) and a couple of days later, here we are :o) D’Orc, the half Dwarf/half Orc, is fated to end the world because of some inconvenient doomsday prophecy from the Book of Certain Doom. Armed with nothing but a magical yet ambitiously violent shield and a chicken with its head cut off, ‘D’Orc is dropped...

  Page Count: 413 Pages (of which I made it through 153 Pages before saying to myself, ‘just because I’m unemployed now, doesn’t mean the time to stick with a book that isn’t working for me…) I hate to start September with a ‘Did Not Finish’ but I ended August on a ‘Did Not Finish’ so… Here we are :o) We all know how it goes here... Not every book is a winner and of these, there are books that I will finish out of a morbid fascination. Not so much these days though… Due to (resignedly gestures at everything…), my reading time is precious so I am much more inclined to drop a book, that isn’t working, and move on to something that I’ll enjoy. Which brings me round to ‘Scourge The Heretic’ and another lovely cover from the Black Library. It was a shame that the book itself didn’t work out… First up, lets have some blurb… While Space Marines and the Imperial Guard battle aliens among the stars, it is the job of the Inquisition to hunt down the heretics who corrupt society from within. ...