Lord Samper's Library

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: 125 Pages Another Monday has crept up on us so while we’re all wondering where the weekend went, lets kick things off here with a quick look at the only book I managed to finish over the last couple of days. No regrets by the way, I spent Father’s Day with my girls and it was brilliant, wouldn’t swap it for anything. Way back in early 2020, when I reviewed the ‘Planet of the Daleks’ TV serial , I mentioned that I used to own a copy of ‘The Dalek Omnibus’, which was where I first came across the novelization of ‘Planet of the Daleks’. That book left my possession a long time ago now, long enough that back then, I was sure that I’d never see another copy. And I was right, I’m not counting the copies on eBay that have a different cover (I’m fussy). Not so long ago though, I did come across a copy of ‘Planet of the Daleks’, on Greenwich Market, and made sure that it came home with me. This weekend felt like the time to finally read it so… That’s exactly what I did ;o) Jo peered...

Page Count: 161 Pages. It’s Monday and that can only mean that it’s time for some ‘Classic Doctor Who’ in book form ;o) The old Target novelizations are what really got me into ‘Doctor Who’ when I was a kid (and into sci-fi and fantasy books in general, horror came a lot later) and recently finding a whole pile of these books, on Greenwich Market, has sent me down the most nostalgic of rabbit holes :o) I’ve supplemented that pile with a few Amazon purchases and ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ was on offer so… Here we are ;o) If you want my thoughts on the TV serial then click Here . We’re talking about the book here though so lets get to it. The Time Lords have a mission for the Doctor. Together with Sarah and Harry, he finds himself stranded on the war-torn planet Skaro where the conflict between the Thals and the Kaleds has been raging for a thousand years. Chemical and biological weapons have started a cycle of mutation among the planet’s inhabitants that cannot be stopped. But Kaled scien...

I am absolutely shattered today so I thought I’d take another stab at that big ol’ pile of comic books (I showed you a couple of weeks ago ) and I see if I could cut it down to size a little. And I did, just not in the way I was hoping… As I get older, I’m finding it a hell of a lot easier to just not finish books that aren’t working for me. Too many other books to read, not enough time and all that. Comic books though, they’re a little easier on my eyes so I generally stick with them to the bitter end, no matter the quality. Not this one though… Pitiless war machines committed to universal conquest, the Daleks have terrified and enthralled Doctor Who fans for generations. Collected together for the first time, Panini Comics proudly presents the first volume of Dalek stories taken from Doctor Who Magazine’s 40 years of award-winning comic strip. Growing up, I was all about watching ‘Doctor Who’ on the TV and filling in any gaps by reading whatever I can lay my hands on in the library. ...

Yesterday was a day in the office so, of course, I needed a little something for the bus ride in and the journey home (and for some of lunchtime too, once I’d found something to eat). I’ve been really enjoying revisiting some of the old Doctor Who novelisations and figured it was time to go back and read ‘Day of the Daleks’, one that I always enjoyed as a kid. Way, way back in the day (and it’s a bit scary how long ago that was now), I used to have ‘Day of the Daleks’ as part of the ‘Dalek Omnibus’ collection, I’ve no idea where that book is now but Amazon saw me coming and so, when I left for work yesterday morning, ‘Day of the Daleks’ came with me... UNIT is called in when an important diplomat is attacked in his own home - by a man who then vanishes into thin air. The Doctor and Jo spend a night in the 'haunted' house and meet the attackers - who have time-jumped back from the 22nd century in the hope of changing history. Travelling forward in time, the Doctor and Jo find...

For someone who says he doesn't do 'reading resolutions'... Here comes another one. Yep, I know... I've got a really bad habit of buying armfuls of books, with all the best intentions of reading them, and then shoving them up a corner when something new and shinier appears. Not this year though! My target is that for each armful of books that I bring home, I'll try and read at least one book as soon as possible after the inevitable 'Books for the TBR Pile' post. We'll see how that pans out but for now, it's a resolution that has taken me to the 'Finally Arrived' books and 'War of the Daleks' in particular. My purchase of 'War of the Daleks' really was born out of wondering whether it was a book that I'd actually read or if my head was making the whole thing up (it's not like it hasn't happened before). When I realised that it was an actual book, I immediately bought it and the last few days felt like just the ri...