Lord Samper's Library

I had big plans to get loads of reading done this holiday, I'll give you three guesses how that one turned out... To be honest though, I wouldn't swap what I have done though and not only because it includes the now infamous game of 'Daleks vs Sylvanian Families'. Christmas used to be about nothing but reading, now it's about hanging out with my kids and having fun :o) I have got a little reading done though, just a little ;o) There are many TBR piles in my flat and one of them is for those moments where I've got a little time free and fancy a comfort read. These days, that invariably involves some 'Doctor Who' so when I saw 'Gaze of the Medusa' in Forbidden Planet, I grabbed a copy as a little insurance against one of those moments. I also grabbed it because it had the Fourth Doctor on the front and I love the Fourth Doctor. The other night, I was no good for anything else except reading a comic book, and that's when 'Gaze of the Medus...

At the end of Season Two of 'The Mandalorian', we saw Boba Fett take out Bib Fortuna and then take the throne held by Fortuna and Jabba the Hutt before him. It's not just any old throne though with whoever is sat on it holding sway over the criminal underworld of Tatooine. To maintain that grip on power though, you've got to do a lot more than just sit on a glorified chair... Can Boba rule the underworld with respect...? Just as one really cool show finishes on Disney+, another one begins and just in time for us to have something to look forward to after Christmas is over. I've had half an eye open for 'The Book of Boba Fett' for a few months now and it's finally here. Is it any good though? Well, we're talking about a whole show about probably the coolest character in the Star Wars universe (sorry Han but, you know...) so yes, of course it is but at the same time... Look, it's not perfect but there's a lot of potential here for another more ...

There used to be a time, when I was a lot younger than I am now, when pretty much my whole Christmas Holiday was planned around what films were on the telly and what time they came on. I'm mostly talking the obligatory Christmas 'James Bond' and 'Star Wars' movies of course but those holidays seemed to last forever so there was always time to watch another ;o) These days? Not so much... I've got other stuff going on and not having a TV licence, I couldn't even tell you what is on the terrestrial channels these days. I did watch few films though, all four of them... ;o) There's a post, on here, about 'Shang Chi' already (which I watched with my eldest daughter) so I won't go on about that again. I did manage to get three other films under my belt though, let me tell you about them... 'Apocalypse of the Dead' (2009) Transporting a prisoner across Serbia, Interpol agents find themselves in the middle of a zombie infestation after a ...

And that's that for 'The Wheel of Time'; well, for this Season anyway ;o) You've probably guessed this already but I've actually enjoyed this show a lot more than I thought I would. In a world that's pretty dark already, it's been really nice to have a show that doesn't shy away from the dark moments but doesn't base its whole identity around being grimdark. It's been a long time since I've read the books but I still came away with the feeling that even though some liberties have been taken with the story (and that's the way TV goes, I'm cool with it), it is still taking place in Robert Jordan's world. I'm really looking forward to seeing how Season 2 plays out now but we'll get more into that in a minute. Right now though, and for the last time this Season, it's that time of the post where I say that I'm not going to recap the plot and if you're after that, click Here for the Tor.com post. Honestly, their rec...

After watching 'Terror of the Autons' back in July , I'd had it in the back of my head since then to watch 'Spearhead from Space' when I got a chance. That took a little longer than I planned but I got there in the end :o) I know I could just subscribe to Britbox but I really enjoy hunting these DVDs down in the wild, as it were. A random trip to Greenwich, yesterday, saw me find a copy of 'Spearhead from Space' in the 'Music Exchange' shop and a day off sick, today, saw me watch it. How did I find it? Let me tell you... Exiled to Earth, in the late twentieth century, by his own people – the Time Lords – the newly regenerated Doctor arrives in Oxley Woods alongside a shower of mysterious meteorites. Investigating these unusual occurrences is the newly formed United Nations Intelligence taskforce (UNIT), under Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart, and things are about to get even more weird when people and meteorites start to disappear. Most puzzling of all ...

The thing about Christmas on the TV is that you know exactly what’s coming and that’s the whole point of it really. A journey home, family and lots of laughter and present opening in the midst of a mass of Christmas decorations and a big ol’ tree. It’s what you’re already doing with your family and if you’re not… well, you’ve got a ready made family on TV that you can feel a part of, even if it’s only until the end credits roll. That’s the way I see it anyway and I have a lot of Christmas ‘telly watching’ behind me these days 😉 Christmas TV has to run in a certain way then, it just wouldn’t be Christmas TV if it didn’t. What do you do though when your latest MCU series is due to end on the 22 nd of December and you’re left with a situation where you’re trying to keep the tension buzzing, for the finale, but everyone knows that it’s Christmas and it just has to end with presents around the tree. That’s the situation that ‘Hawkeye’ finds itself in and I’m pleased to report that it ma...

It's going to be another fairly short post today I'm afraid... This is mostly because of work, child-care and Christmas all coming together, in a big mob of 'priorities', and insisting that I dealt with them before I did anything else. Which leaves me not very long to post something today ;o) The other reason? Well, we'll get to that in a minute. Before anything else though, I can now finally say that I've actually read something by Tim Powers! After years of trying to get into his novels (and failing, and feeling like I was the only one who 'didn't get it'), all it took was one short story and I can now see what the fuss was all about. Kind of... I'm getting ahead of myself again. Having no prior experience of Tim Powers (apart from several of his books, unread on various TBR piles), I thought I'd start at the beginning of 'Strange Itineraries' and see where the journey took me. I'm still not sure where it took me but the journe...

I know I have a habit of saying this about everything that I watch (at around about this time) but I’m here again and it’s still true… 😉 Where did the last six weeks go? It really doesn’t seem like that long ago when I started watching ‘The Wheel of Time’ and now here we are and the Season is almost done. I won’t go into loads about that here though, just click Here if you want to read about my thoughts on earlier episodes. Right now, it’s all about ‘The Dark Along The Ways’ and what is at the other end of those ways, and just who is that following our heroes along the ways? And it’s all about what a show does when everyone watching it (well, pretty much everyone) knew the ‘big reveal’ way ahead of it’s revealing. As ever, I’m not going to recap the plot (Tor.com have far more patience and do a much better job ) but I will more than likely be all spoilery here so be warned… Not that it should be a big deal, I’m assuming everyone has watched it and is gearing up for the finale, but ...

I had such a great time reading 'The Christmas Invasion' , the other day, that I thought to myself, 'It has been one of those weeks mate, why don't you just keep comfort reading and try out those other two Doctor Who books that have been sat on a pile on books for however long it has been' (since August which isn't that actually, not compared to other books). So that's just what I did, with 'Twice Upon A Time' and 'Damaged Goods'. Give me a couple of days and I'll get my head round just how different a 'Doctor Who' story 'Damaged Goods' is; for now, let me tell you all about 'Twice Upon A Time' instead... Still reeling from his encounter with the Cybermen, the First Doctor stumbles through the bitter Antarctic wind, resisting the approaching regeneration with all his strength. But as he fights his way through the snowdrifts, he comes across the familiar shape of a blue police box, and a mysterious figure who intro...

Just a few more hours to go and then it’s a long weekend for me. And probably a pizza too… Actually, make that ‘definitely a pizza’ 😉 Thanks for bearing with me this week. It hasn’t been a bad week but it has been an intense and stressful week so thanks for letting me offload a little (even if you just skipped those paragraphs and went straight to the book stuff, I’m cool with that) 😊 This week’s reading has kind of reflected that mood with a lot of comfort reading going on, which always sounds a little weird when that involves horror fiction but… you know what I mean, right? 😉 All of which leads me to my latest excursion into the horror fiction of Guy N. Smith. Let me tell you all about ‘Snakes’… Motorway Madness, the papers called it once again. The piled, burning cars and trucks. The blood and wreckage. But this time there would be an added horror. Snakes. In transit and now escaping. Snakes that would coil and climb, creeping into garages, into houses, into bedrooms… Whether...

It has been another one of those days, there seem to be far too many of these at the moment but what can you do apart from just do what you can and make it through one way or another? I’ve got a day off on Friday, which I am really looking forward to now (there will be book shopping and loads of it) and then it’s just one more week until Christmas 😊 One step at a time, I’ll get there. Luckily though, although today was one of those days, it was also one of those days that gives you a new episode of ‘Hawkeye’ and after what happened in last week’s episode , I really needed to see what happened next. I mean, we all knew it wouldn’t be the end for Kate and Clint but half the fun is seeing how it happens, you know what I mean? All of which leads me here to tell you all about it 😉 The short answers are ‘damn…’ and ‘bloody hell…’ Stick with me for a bit and I’ll see if I can elaborate on those a bit for you. Before I kick off though… As always, I’m not going to go into the plot in a...

I bought this book back in August and left it on a TBR Pile (there is more than one in my flat) to await the best time to give it a go. Well, who would have thought it? Turns out that the best time to give 'The Christmas Invasion' a go is Christmas of course! I can't promise too much along these lines but I thought I'd try and read some 'Christmassy' genre fiction this month and it doesn't get a lot more Christmassy than a book with 'Christmas' in the title. Can it? Of course it can't, lets get stuck in shall we...? Earth is under attack by power-hungry aliens. This is no time for the Doctor to be out of action. When a British space probe is intercepted by a sinister alien vessel on the eve of Christmas, it marks the beginning of an audacious invasion of the Earth by the Sycorax – horrifying marauders from beyond the stars. Within hours, a third of humanity stands on the brink of death with not a single shot fired. Our planet needs a champion –...

Once again, I’ve totally missed the boat as far as this post being on time goes. Oh well, it’s (almost) Christmas and everything seems to be popping up all at once, that’s December for you I guess 😉 We’re all here now though so lets get on and I’ll tell you all about Episode Six. Which won’t take all that long as… Well, you’ll see… Before I do though, here comes the standard warning about spoilers. I’m not going to recap the whole episode ( Tor.com does it far better than I ever could ) but it has been a few days since ‘The Flame of Tar Valon’ aired so I’m going to be a bit spoilery and that’s all there is to it. If you want to go and watch ‘The Flame of Tar Valon’ first then I’m cool with that, this post will still be here when you get back 😉 If you want to hang around, even better 😊 Let’s go… Like I said, I’m not recapping the entire episode but this paragraph is where I’d normally say something about the plot, even if it was just a sentence. Not today though because, well… No...

Thank you everyone who voted in my 'What Doctor Who story should I watch next?' Twitter poll, yesterday afternoon, and thank you even more everyone who voted for 'The Three Doctors'. That was my preferred choice but I'd started the poll and had to stand by the results. I owe you one ;o) 'The Three Doctors' actually first aired a couple of years before I was born but I managed to see it as part of the anniversary celebrations in 1981 ( I think it was 1981... give me a break, I was tiny back then...) I've seen 'The Three Doctors' precisely once since then so it was definitely overdue a watch... which leads me very nicely to this post... ;o) UNIT HQ comes under attack by an alien force, and the Doctor has no other option but to call on own people, the Time Lords, for help. Breaking the First Law of Time, the first two Doctors are lifted out of their time-streams and sent to help the third. But in a universe of anti-matter, an all-powerful figure ...

As now seems to be the way for a Friday, I’m rounding the week off with a little short story action and once again, my ‘Best of Glen Cook’ collection has come to my rescue. I read ‘Bone Eaters’, back at the end of November , and was left wondering just what Midnight and her friends were up to after deserting the Company. I thought I was going to have to give ‘Port of Shadows’ another go (didn’t get on with it so well, last time I tried, so was a bit wary about this) but it turns out that the last story in the ‘Best of’ collection is ‘Chasing Midnight (The Dark Lord As A Teen)’ and it’s all about what happened next. So, when is a Black Company’ story not a ‘Black Company’ story? When they’re right on the periphery and the focus is on Midnight and her gang… The Black Company have taken coin to work in the city of Rue, fighting a war against the Dank. Within the city itself, Midnight and her gang look to avoid the attentions of their former employer while looking to fend for themselves ...

Just a quick one today as while every other place of business seems to be winding down for Christmas, my place seems to ramping up … Actually, I don’t mind it as it keeps me busy, especially now we’re looking at working from home again, at least for the short term. And just as I was getting used to being back in the office… 😉 Oh well, let’s see where it takes us this time! So, not a lot of time for the bigger reads then (I’m hoping to have a go at a couple this weekend, fingers crossed) but there’s always a vein of shorter reads on Amazon, waiting to be tapped, so I thought I’d have a little browse during my lunch break. The Warhammer Horror line hasn’t let me down yet (and I’m just about over the whole ‘isn’t regular Warhammer horror anyway?’ phase that I got myself stuck in) and neither has David Annandale so a mixture of the two sounded like just the trick for a little lunchtime reading. And that’s just what I did with ‘The Hunt’ and… For many long years through the Age of Chao...

I know that I've left it right until the end of the day but it has been one of those days (again) and I needed an hour or two to breathe, and calm down a bit, before coming here and posting. I'd tell you but... you're here for some 'Hawkeye' and I respect that. Lets just say that I'm really looking forward to Christmas getting here and being able to switch off for a bit ;o) So without going into detail then, you've probably guessed that this latest episode of 'Hawkeye' was a bit of a lifeline today. Something to treat myself with once I'd got through the rough stuff. Did 'Partners, Am I Right?' do it's job though? I'll tell you more in a bit but for now... Yep, of course it did. As always, I'm not going to outline the plot here (Tor.com has already done it so you can read that if you want to ) but there's every chance that I'll get spoilery with what I discuss. Actually, lets not beat around the bush, I will get spoil...

Now I’m starting to go back into the office a little more, my reading seems to be naturally gravitating towards short reads that I can polish off over the bus ride to and from work. This inevitably means that I read more Guy N. Smith which isn’t really a big chore 😉 Smith was very good at saying what he needed to in around two hundred pages (give or take a few) and seems to be what I’m good for on my commute. My journey to read as much of Guy N. Smith’s horror as I can get my hands on, outside of the ‘Crabs’ books, continues with ‘Deathbell’; one of those books that I jumped on the second I saw it for an affordable price. Seriously… It’s not a cheap book but a little bit of patience paid off in the end and I grabbed it before anyone else could. And then ‘Deathbell’ came to work, and back, with me yesterday where it did everything it could to make my commute a little easier to bear. Did it succeed? Of course it did… 😉 The villagers of Turbury were intrigued by the new arrivals at ...

With high stakes action and big imagination, Norgal and Agatha embark on a quest to find an invisible staircase to the heavens, atop which sits Mulgrid the All-Knowing. With dark assassins everywhere, Norgal hopes the aid of Mulgrid will give him the upper hand. Slashing their way through gorgons, bombing their way past gargantuan spiders, and navigating the politics of a kingdom on the brink of collapse, the fellowship must make teamwork a priority to survive. Collects HEAD LOPPER #13-16 Back at the end of November, I was going through my comic book shelves and realised that it had been ages since I read, or had even seen, any new ‘Head Lopper. So I had a quick look on Amazon and saw, pretty much straight away, that there was a whole new volume waiting to be read. That’ll teach me to keep an eye out a little more thoroughly 😉 Anyway… I didn’t hang around and grabbed a copy straight away, only for life to really get in the way and for the book to sit in a TBR pile (and then my bag ...