Lord Samper's Library

I’ll be honest, I’m really not sure how Wednesday has turned up so quickly, given that the last couple of days have gone so slowly. I’ll take it though, just a few more days until the weekend :o) Yesterday was a day in the office and I had a book in my bag all ready for the bus ride there and back. That was the plan anyway… What actually happened was that I overslept and had to take a train instead. Have you ever tried reading on the rush hour train? Yeah… And if that wasn’t bad enough, I fell asleep on the bus going home; not the best day for reading then ;o) And that means today’s post is one about the little bits and pieces that I’ve managed to read/listen to over the last couple of days. Hope you don’t mind… ‘More Sinned Against’ – Karl Edward Wagner Page Count: 15 Pages I’ve had a copy of Karl Edward Wagner’s ‘In A Lonely Place’ sat on my shelf for far too long now and I thought I’d dip into it and pick a story, at random, for a read. For a little context, I’ve read some of Wagner...

I’ve spent the week trying to cheer up a depressed cat (Cat 1) while trying to keep a hyperactive kitten (Cat 2) from wrecking my ex-wife’s place. Lets just say it’s easier said than done and my reading has taken a bit of a knock, just at the time when I wanted to finally finish some ‘long unfinished’ stuff before the year wraps up. Also, while I’m in a much better place than I was a couple of months ago, this year has still been one hell of a slog and I’m really (really) tired and still forgetting all sorts. Like, reading books for example :o) Oh well… I did manage to read a little yesterday and listened to a quick audio-book, both Warhammer 40K (to absolutely no-one’s surprise) Let me tell you all about it… ‘The Wrath of Kharn’ – William King (Black Library) Page Count: 15 Pages Of all the enemies that the Berzerkers of Khorne wage war against in the 41st Millennium, none are so hated by their blood-soaked god as the servants of his rival, Slaanesh. As Khârn, champion of the Blood Go...

The first couple of days back have gone ok, can’t ask for a lot more than that really :o) Now I just need to get my Christmas Shopping in order and I think we’re all good (fingers crossed). When your twelve year old daughter has no idea what she wants though, there will be twists and turns to come… Anyway, this is another of those posts where I round up all the little bits and pieces I’ve read over the last few days. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a few more of these to come as I fit blogging round my return to work. Lets see how it goes. For now then, lets take a quick look at what I mentioned in the title… ‘Honour to the Dead’ – Gav Thorpe (Black Library) Run Time: 1 Hour, 14 Minutes As Calth burns, the Battle Titans of the Fire Masters legion take to the streets of the city of Ithraca, ready to massacre the fleeing civilian population in the name of their new, dark masters. But the remaining loyalist engines of the Legio Praesagius - the True Messengers - still stand ready to...

I had my daughters over, last night, so not a lot of time for reading but just the right amount of time to listen to a couple of short audiobooks after I got back from dropping them off at their place. The ‘Horus Heresy’ is always good to visit in audiobook form, especially in the shorter stories where the accompanying effects are superb, so I picked a couple of tales from David Annandale and away I went. Just quick thoughts this time round as both tales were very quick listens, just what I needed last night ;o) ‘Veritas Ferrum’ – David Annandale Run Time: 11 Minutes. When Horus' treachery was declared, the Iron Hands primarch Ferrus Manus sped to the Isstvan system with his elite forces to confront the traitors...and fell into their trap, losing the battle and his life. The Tenth Legion warship Veritas Ferrum arrives in the Isstvan system in the second wave of Imperial forces. Battered by the foes and forced to retreat, the crew must make a difficult choice when survivors of the...

  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...

Just a fairly quick post today… I took yesterday as leave and although I got stuff done, I would have had a quieter day if I’d stayed in the office. Today is looking like a busy one too. Oh well, just a few more hours and then it’s the weekend :o) So not a lot of reading happened yesterday but I did take a little time out, in the evening, to sit and listen to a Black Library audiobook that I’d kept to one side, just for this sort of situation. In the real world, the ‘Horus Heresy’ series is done and dusted; even the ‘Siege of Terra’ series has more or less concluded now. My reading is all over the place though, jumping backwards and forwards over the timeline as the fancy takes me, and this time round, we’re looking at a pivotal event taking place within the Imperial Palace while the galaxy burns… Even as the Imperium faces the renegade Legions of the Warmaster, the ruling Council of Terra is becoming paralysed from within by increasingly petty bureaucracy. Fabricator General Kane has ...

It’s Friday so you’d normally be looking at a post on whatever I read, on the bus to/from work, yesterday. Not today though… I had a touch of insomnia followed by a day in the office so while I had a book in my bag (I always have a book in my bag…), I was in no state to actually read it. Luckily, I had a couple of Black Library audiobooks on my phone so I listened to them instead. As a rule, I don’t tend to do too well with audiobooks that are hours long and just a narrator narrating. Black Library though, have a nice line in audiobooks that have a full cast, run for just over an hour and are full of immersive sound effects I thought I’d see how that worked with a couple of ‘Warhammer Horror’ tales… ‘The Way Out’ – Rachel Harrison In the midst of a vast gas nebula lies a remote watch-station, hanging silently against a tapestry of dying stars. It sits alone, patiently awaiting lost travellers adrift in the freezing vastness of the void. To such souls it appears as a blessing, a safe h...

Run Time: 22 Minutes Just a quick one today because, well… Look at the run time here ;o) I had to nip over to the pharmacy, yesterday, and the bus ride there and back was just the right length for a little audiobook action. As you know full well by now, Black Library audiobooks are my ‘go to listen’ so, here we are :o) On the world of Solennes, the battle between the forces of the Imperium and the heretics has become a stalemate of seemingly eternal artillery bombardments. The land is devastated, and the attempts to gain ground by either side end in disaster. Morale is low, and when Trooper Arehn is caught apparently fleeing the front lines, Commissar Selander does not hesitate in condemning him to a very public execution. When Selander starts to see Arehn after his death, he follows the apparition, wracked by doubts - but what will he find? ‘Judge of the Wastes’ is a very atmospheric piece, great script work from Annandale (with the gradual breakdown of Commissar Selander) which is de...

December was a quiet month for reading but, at the same time, it was also a great month for lying in bed (dosed up on codeine) and listening to some old Black Library audiobooks. And yep, I know that audiobooks count as reading but if I don't have an actual book in my hands (or a Kindle) then it doesn't feel like it, you know? That's just me though :o)  Anyway, in the interests of me remembering what I've read, I thought I'd post some quick thoughts here. These were all re-reads (re-listens?) so I'm swiping those thoughts from older posts posted way back when. Cut me a little slack, I'm going to be away over the weekend so wanted to get a couple of things posted before I go ;o) And with all that said, check out some of what I've been listening to... Formerly of the Death Guard Legion, Captain Nathaniel Garro is now on the business of the Regent of Terra himself. Garro doesn’t fully know what this business is as yet but there is only one minor task yet to...

The other day, I remembered that I've got Audible on my phone so thought I'd revisit a book or two while I worked. It only turned out to be the one book, in the end, but it was 'Throne of Lies' so that was ok ;o) It's actually been years since I last listened to 'Throne of Lies' , long enough ago that it was on a CD, but my opinions of it are pretty much the same so I thought I'd do myself a favour and post the review that I posted back in 2010. As ever, time is at a bit of a premium, you know how it is. I've tweaked this review a little, mostly because I'm not listening to a CD now but other little reasons as well, so if you want to, you can read the original review over Here . If that's not your thing, no worries, just keep reading... ;o) The traitorous Night Lords Space Marines chapter strikes from the shadows, feeding on the decaying remnants of the Imperium of Mankind. They are not sworn to any one of the Chaos powers but their quest rem...

It's kind of late in the day but, what a day it's been. Not going to lie, you're lucky to have this post as what I really want is to go to bed and try to get a head start on tomorrow ;o) I'm here now though and while I am, I'll bring you another one of those short stories that I've been squeezing into the gaps between work and other things... So the Audible subscription crept up and surprised me again but that's ok. I've been enjoying going back and listening to some older Warhammer 40K audiobooks which are proving to be just as good at getting me through the commute as they were back in the day. I'm a little bit older now but selfish commuters still annoy me, just as much as they did when I was in my twenties, so a little bit of 'grimdark war' in my ears can really go a long way to keeping my blood pressure on an even keel (the tablets help more though). With that said then, lets talk about an old favourite of mine then... On Malinter, th...

Runtime: One hour and eighteen minutes. Just a quick one today as today has been rather busy… Not a bad day, just a busy one, but I’ll still be glad when it’s over. In the meantime… It’s also that time of the month where my bank statement reminds me that I have an Audible subscription and Amazon tells me that I have an Audible credit that needs to be spent. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll keep the subscription for, there’s one audiobook that I want to listen to but after that…? Audiobooks are fun but I’ve got a definite preference for regular books and I can’t see that changing any time soon. I used to listen to a lot of ‘Black Library’ audiobooks back in the day (on CD though, showing my age a little…) and I remembered ‘Fireborn’ being a favourite so I thought I’d spend my credit on that and see how (or maybe if…) it had held up over the years. No ‘review recycling’ this time though, not so soon after the last one… The world of Sepulchre IV stands on the brink of destruction. ...

Runtime: One Hour, Fourteen Minutes. I’m normally very much a book or comic book kind of person; nothing against audio-books, they just don’t pop up on my radar (these days) as a method of consuming books. Especially with kids like mine who are annoyingly persistent until they get what they need… They are books though, lets be clear on that 😉 But anyway… I don’t normally listen to audio-books but Audible decided it was time to chuck me a couple of free credits and I thought it would be rude to say no… I grabbed a copy of ‘Realmslayer’ right away, just because Brian Blessed was born to play the part of Gotrek, and I’d been hearing good things about ‘The Watcher in the Rain’ so grabbed that too. I had a listen to ‘Watcher’ last night, well… More like a couple of listens as the day kind of caught up with me and I had a little nap… 😊 After that false start though, I went back and listened to it the whole way through and… Damn, that was creepy. In the far reaches of Imperial space...