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Showing posts from September, 2026

‘Fifteen Hours’ – Mitchel Scanlon (Black Library)

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  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...

Cover Art and (Newer) Blurb... 'The Splintered Sun' - Tad Williams

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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’ and ‘Where The Summer Ends’ – Karl Edward Wagner

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  ‘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...

Movie Night! ‘What the…?’ Edition

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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...

‘D’Orc Volume 1: The Book of Certain Doom’ – Brett Bean (Image Comics)

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  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...

A ‘Did Not Finish’… ‘Scourge The Heretic’ – Sandy Mitchell (Black Library)

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  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. ...