Green Eyes by Maxwell Grant. I know everyone focused on the big ol’ schnozz last time, but for goodness sake people, stop being such shallow dipsticks and enjoy the beauty of the whole cover. Or I swear, I’ll grab the Shadow’s twin .45 pistols and shoot you with them.
Personal:
Both Mrs B and I came down with some sort of cold/respiratory infection that just about killed us for a week and then left us hacking up our lungs for 2 more weeks after that. I got it first and then a week later, Mrs B followed the exact same path. It was extremely unpleasant and left us both exhausted. When you wake yourself up coughing, even with having taking cough suppressant, it just hurts the ribs. That really dominated everything. We got through work each day, recovered as best we could over our days off and just prayed for death.
Had dinner with another couple at church and he and I played a couple games of parcheesi while the women folk took a nice long walk. I love parcheesi. I could play it for hours.
Plans for Next Month:
With being sick in May, I’ll probably be taking Fridays off again in June. My ooomph is just completely gone.
I was talking with Nic and she gave me a good idea for a potential new monthly series of posts. I’ll be posting that in the next week or two. Give me some time to cogitate about it.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Cossacks Series: (The Russians) Author: Leo Tolstoy Translator: Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Fiction Pages: 230 Words: 66K
A story of a young man without a guiding hand trying to figure out the best way to live. Olenin is a rich young man who leaves the city life, with all of it’s problems, including his debts, both monetary and social, to join up with the army and be stationed in some Cossack village. He is an outsider, not knowing how to fit in with the Cossacks, or his army buddies or himself for that matter. He makes a friend of an older cossack and falls in love with the beautiful daughter of the headman of the village. The story ends with her refusing to marry him, him leaving the village and nobody caring at all that he is leaving.
What a roller coaster this was to read. I went from being totally disgusted with Olenin and his thoughts and behavior (not that he did anything bad, but he was so unsure of himself and everything) to feeling sorry for him to thinking “Boy, this guy is going to have to grow up fast if he wants to survive”. The biggest issue is that Olenin is by himself in trying to figure out how to live life in a way that suits him. He’s tried the “idle rich” of Moscow lifestyle and it didn’t work. Now he’s trying the “simple life” of a cossack peasant and by book’s end, he realizes that isn’t for him either. It made me incredibly thankful for all the mentors I had throughout the years growing up, from my teens and up into my 20’s. It’s not that I didn’t have questions, but people who had already gone through those same questions could tell me their experiences and what they found out. I didn’t need to repeat all the same mistakes, if I was willing to learn from others. But I had to be around them, I couldn’t be by myself. And that is the thing, Olenin was by himself. It was sad to see.
I found the ending to be truly sad though. He’s leaving the village and the guy who he thought was his friend just ignores him, because he’s gotten everything from him that he could. Since Olenin is leaving, there’s nothing more to be got from him and so he is no longer worth paying attention to. The issue with the headman’s daughter did leave me confused. I was under the impression that she was willing to marry Olenin, but then suddenly, she’s not. There’s a lot of unsaid stuff alluded to and I couldn’t tell if that vagueness was in the original writing or the translator’s fault. Either way, it felt like walking into a brick wall when you were expecting an open door.
Glad to have read this but I doubt I’ll ever attempt to re-read it.
★★★✬☆
From Wikipedia
Synopsis – Click to Open
The young idealist Dmitry Andreich Olenin leaves Moscow, hoping to start a new life in the Caucasus. In the stanitsa, he slowly becomes enamored of the surroundings and despises his previous existence. He befriends the old Cossack Eroshka, who goes hunting with him and finds him a good fellow because of his propensity to drinking. During this time, young Cossack Luka kills a Chechen who is trying to come across the river towards the village to scout the Cossacks and in this way gains much respect. Olenin falls in love with the maid Maryanka, who is to be wed to Luka later in the story. He tries to stop this emotion and eventually convinces himself that he loves both Luka and Maryanka for their simplicity and decides that happiness can only come to a man who constantly gives to others with no thought of self-gratification.
He first gives an extra horse to Luka, who accepts the present yet doesn’t trust Olenin on his motives. As time goes on, however, though he gains the respect of the local villagers, another Russian named Beletsky, who is still attached to the ways of Moscow, comes and partially corrupts Olenin’s ideals and convinces him through his actions to attempt to win Maryanka’s love. Olenin approaches her several times and Luka hears about this from a Cossack, and thus does not invite Olenin to the betrothal party. Olenin spends the night with Eroshka but soon decides that he will not give up on the girl and attempts to win her heart again. He eventually, in a moment of passion, asks her to marry him, which she says she will answer soon.
Luka, however, is severely wounded when he and a group of Cossacks go to confront a group of Chechens who are trying to attack the village, including the brother of the man he killed earlier. Though the Chechens lose after the Cossacks take a cart to block their bullets, the brother of the slain Chechen manages to shoot Luka in the belly when he is close by. As Luka seems to be dying and is being cared for by village people, Olenin approaches Maryanka to ask her to marry him; she angrily refuses. He realizes that “his first impression of this woman’s inaccessibility had been perfectly correct.” He asks his company commander to leave and join the staff. He says goodbye to Eroshka, who is the only villager who sees him off. Eroshka is emotional towards Olenin but after Olenin takes off and looks back, he sees that Eroshka has apparently already forgotten about him and has gotten back to normal life.
Today class, I, Sensei Bookstooge, will attempt to beat some facts into your head in the vain hope that maybe one, just one, will remain there. I am not hopeful. But a player of the game, one who is seeking The Championening, must ever strive against nigh impossible odds.
We will be focusing on the Villain Play Area today. Last week, we looked at the Hero Play Area and I hope some of that has stuck in your head. If not, simply nod and pretend. The most important parts of the VPA are the Villain, the Main Scheme and the Encounter Deck.
The Villain!Main Scheme!
There are two ways to lose the game and one way to win. The one way to win is to defeat the Villain. But you have to do that twice. The first time you defeat him, you replace him with his next iteration, which is usually slightly better than the previous iteration. The two ways to lose are by having the villain and his minions kill you (the hero) OR for the Main Scheme to acquire the number of tokens shown in the upper left corner of the card. A threat token is placed there each turn, so it is something you have to deal with at some point. During the villain’s phase, you go through the following steps in order.
Place threat token on Main Scheme and any Side Schemes
The Villain and Minions attack the Hero or add a threat token to the Main Scheme if the Hero is in Alter-Ego mode
Deal and Reveal an Encounter Card (the top card of the Encounter Deck, ie, the villain’s deck)
When a villain or minion attacks the hero, you reveal the top card from the Encounter Deck and add the value of the boost icons to the villains attack value. The boost icons are the red triangles in the lower right of the card. The following card is a Minion card and has 2 boost icons. So if Rhino attacked me, and I flipped Titania, I’d add 2 to the Rhino’s base attack of 2 for a total of 4.
If you are in alter-ego form, you follow the same procedure but for adding threat tokens to the scheme. So once again, if I flipped Titania, I’d add 1 threat token from Rhino himself (1 SCH) and then 2 more from the boost icons on Titania.
Not Gru’s Minion, that’s for sure!
Once the attack/scheme is done, then you would flip the top card of the Event Deck and follow directions. For instance, if I flipped Titania as my Encounter Card, she’d immediately attack my hero. Along with Minion cards, the Event Deck also has Treachery cards (that is something bad that happens to the hero), Attachment cards (attaching to the villain and increasing their attack/thwart capabilities or even giving them a whole new ability) and Side Schemes (one more headache for the hero to deal with). So while the Villain Phase might seem to have less steps, it’s just as complicated and tricksy as the Hero Phase.
Well, I think that’s enough Explainening for you all. I hope to get back to more Playening posts next month.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: A Subtle Agency Series: The Metaframe War #1 Author: Graeme Rodaughan Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: Urban Fantasy Pages: 212 Words: 84K
When I featured this series in a Shelf Control post, I was under the impression that the final book was coming out this year. I later found out it had been released at the end of ‘23. That decided me right away and I added the series to my kindle to read. Waiting seven years for the series to be written was long enough in my opinion.
Unfortunately, for me, it didn’t start out so well. I featured a quote in a Currently Reading post and it was pretty much the epitome of an indie urban fantasy and it encapsulated every single reason why I tend to avoid UF as a genre. Thankfully, for the book and author, things did improve after that disastrous start, but it never truly recovered in my mind.
The writing was decent, nothing bad stood out, no egregious grammatical errors or butchering of the English language. At the same time, it wasn’t very good writing either. It didn’t flow. It was choppy. There were quite a few instances of “He said, she said, he did, she did” kind of writing. Rodaughan came across as an author who was working hard to do the right thing, but was someone who didn’t have an instinctual grasp of the art of writing. “General Chloe Armitage” made a lot of appearances, with that title attached every time.
The ideas presented were what saved this book. Things start off in Ancient Egypt, with two brothers. The wife of one of them has just died and he is using the power of the Metaframe Engine to bring her back to life. His brother is trying to stop him. She is revived, as a vampire and thus the race of vampires is born and the hidden course of history is set. The surviving brother starts a hidden group bent on fighting the vampires to keep humanity free. That group, over the years, has schismed into two groups, one that wants to fight the vampires and protect humanity and the other, which just wants to fight the vampires. Oh, the vampires secretly rule the world too. We get to follow a possible “Chosen One” on his “Coming of Age Journey”. All tropes that I really enjoy.
I definitely plan on continuing the series and hope that as the years passed for the author, that his skill increased. I guess I’ll be finding out in the coming months 😀
★★★☆☆
From the Publisher
Synopsis – Click to Open
ACTION STATIONS! A Thrilling Suspense-Filled Fantasy Action Adventure in a complete series of seven books.
Hunters and vampires are fighting a secret war for control of the fabric of reality. Whoever acquires mastery of the reality shifting powers of the Metaframe will become the new gods of the universe.
“Imagine if you could change the rules of the game, what rules would you choose?”
Witness to a brutal murder, eighteen year old Anton Slayne is inducted by the mysterious Mr Wu into the secret society of vampire hunters, the Order of Thoth. He soon discovers that vicious local gangsters, determined Boston Police Detectives, and relentless Shadowstone operatives pale into insignificance as he is drawn into the machinations of the enigmatic vampire general, Chloe Armitage.
Heir to a legacy of extraordinary powers, Anton joins a team of hunters, but that is no guarantee of survival against the most powerful vampires in the world, especially when they’re equipped with the latest available technology and super weapons.
When I watched Dune Part I, I knew the director Villeneuve was taking liberties with the story but didn’t mind that much. So going into Part II, I knew he would continue to make changes and I mentally and emotionally prepared myself. And it was good that I did, because there were some significant changes from the book.
Paul and Chani never had their first son, so he was never killed by Rabban.
Alia, Paul’s preborn sister, was not born in this movie. She was totally in-vitro the entire time. So she never killed the Baron. That fell to Paul.
Chani was a fremen warrior and nothing else. She was not the protege of Lady Jessica, a Wise Woman in training.
Paul’s transformation into Muad’dib was very understated. His visions were ones of billions starving, instead of a monstrous galaxy wide jihad where billions were killed. His prescient sight was almost non-existent.
I could live with those changes. I didn’t care for them and I thought the director was wrong, but I was ok. I was fine with this movie and those changes.
Until the last five minutes of the movie. Then I exploded at the last scene. I was angrier than I have ever been about changes from a book to a movie. I was angrier than when Lucas changed the dvd release of Return of the Jedi and cgi’d in Christian Hayden at the ghost scene with Yoda, Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker. I was ready to take a dull spoon to Lucas then.
And that was nothing to how I felt at the ending of this movie. I had gotten this bluray for my b-day and after that ending, I will be throwing it into the garbage along with Part I. I am so done with Villeneuve that I will never watch another movie by this expletive expletive expletive guy if I can help it. If there is a Dune Part III (which it really seems necessary as this doesn’t complete the book’s story at all), I will ignore it harder than I did Star Wars episodes 7, 8 and 9. Villeneuve is not only dead to me, he is the devil incarnate and the source of all evil in the world.
In Part I, Villeneuve kept the relationship between Paul and Chani kind of at odds, which made sense. But in the second part of the book, Chani and Paul were not just lovers, but soul mates. They had a child together. Chani knew that she had to share Paul as Duke Paul Atreides, Muad’dib the Fremen Leader and The Kwisatz Haderach, the genetic superman that was the next step in humanity’s path. She knew all this, even knew what the cost was, and she not only accepted it, she gave her heart and soul to support Paul. She was the bedrock upon which Paul rested. He knew his time was limited with her and he knew that any outcome that would prevent her death would make the Jihad unimaginably worse, trillions dead instead of billions. They were the two sides of one coin. In the book, Paul had to marry the daughter of the Emperor, Princess Irulan. But it was a marriage of politics and Chani was always his love and the mother of his children. Irulan was simply a figure head. Lady Jessica had to go through the same thing with her Duke Leto, being his concubine and mother of his heir, but leaving marriage open to other Great Houses. Jessica counseled Chani on the reality of the situation and Paul reassured Chani of his love and devotion. Chani knew what she had to sacrifice and chose to still love Paul.
In the movie, Chani storms out of the Imperial Hall and calls a worm to go off by herself into the desert. She abandons Paul. She abandons Duke Paul Atreides. She abandons Muad’dib. She abandons the Kwisatz Haderach. She abandons who she was in the book.
If Villeneuve will make such a fundamental change to a character, he has completely lost my trust.
From a purely technical side of things, I didn’t like this movie either. First, the bass track also contained the audio track, so if I wanted to hear what anyone was saying, I had to put up with floor rumbling noise that I could literally feel from 20feet away, while sitting on my couch. There is no need for crap like that. The other thing that annoyed me greatly was how dark many of the scenes were. There were times I turned my tv on and off to make sure it wasn’t misbehaving. There is no need to make a movie so dark that the audience HAS to sit in complete darkness to make out the details.
So between the technical annoyances and then the utter betrayal of the relationship between Paul and Chani. I ended up hating this movie. I don’t know what the normal person who has never read the book will think of this. They might be just fine. But I AM NOT JUST A NORMAL PERSON WHO HAS NEVER READ THE BOOK. Dune is as close to a sacred text as I’ll ever have in the fiction department.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Betrayal Series: Jet #2 Author: Russell Blake Rating: 2 of 5 Stars Genre: Action/Adventure Pages: 238 Words: 75K
I am a fan of the Bourne movies, not the books. The books are slow and while not technically boring, are not action/thriller books. They are 1980/90’s spy books. I bring this up because in the synopsis it claims that fans of the Bourne trilogy will be delighted by this book. They lied. I was NOT delighted. I wasn’t enthralled. I was not even amused slightly.
Pretty much everything I wrote in my review for Jet (book 1) applies to this one as well.
Jet is not professional. In fact, I might be a better assassin than she is. She’s just lucky. All the time, every time. Even when she’s not, she’s still lucky because she lives and doesn’t die.
Jet is stupid. Plain and simple. This book starts with her heading to the US to kidnap her daughter from the family she was hidden with to protect her from any enemies that Jet has. Does she give ANY thought to the family she is taking her daughter from? Exactly zero fucks were given by Jet about them. As far as I could tell, she didn’t even research who they were, beyond where they lived. Are they good people, are they bad people, are they stable people? None of those questions are asked by Jet because all she wants is her daughter and she doesn’t take even one second to think if she SHOULD take her daughter or what is best for her daughter. It is all about Jet and nobody else.
Jet is too emotional. In fact, Jet reminded me of Agent Zero, in every worst possible way. She regularly jeopardizes whatever current mission she is on because she reacts to circumstances she encounters. She also regularly has emotional outbursts that translate into violence to those around her, with no regard for what those outbursts will lead too. Which in most cases would her being killed, if it weren’t for the author making her so lucky and staying alive (see the first point above).
The action was still awesome. In some ways, it was even better than the first book. But that is not enough.
I will be abandoning this series and I’m going to be avoiding this writer. Someone who writes such stupid people and saves them from their decisions by authorial fiat is not a writer who I want anything to do with. That is bad writing folks, just plain bad writing. There is no need for it and I won’t contribute to its perpetuation any more.
So adios Blake. You’re a wanker, a bad writer and you are making the world a worse place with your subpar crap.
★★☆☆☆
From the Publisher Twenty-eight year old Jet, the former Mossad operative from the eponymous novel JET, must battle insurmountable odds to protect those she loves in a deadly race that stretches from the heartland of Nebraska to the corridors of power in Washington, D.C., from the lurid streets of Bangkok to the deadly jungles of Laos and Myanmar. Fans of Kill Bill, The Bourne Trilogy, and 24 will be delighted by this roller-coaster of action, intrigue and suspense.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
I felt like something different today and so I delved back into my collection of comics. Don’t expect this to be a monthly thing though, this is pure mood.
I quite enjoyed this. Each chapter was a self contained story where we learned a little about Usagi (the Yojimbo is a title meaning bodyguard) and how he became a Ronin and how he got the title Yojimbo. This is a linear story with some flashbacks. I liked the straightforwardness of it.
The author/artist, Stan Sakai, also does a good job right from the get go. His drawings at the beginning of the book look just the same as those at the end, which considering these were released individually over time, means he was already skilled when he started. Unlike, say, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, where the art looked like it was done with a number 2 pencil on a napkin, this was well done from top to bottom. I enjoy looking at something that is well executed from the start. The lines are clean and I can actually see what is going on, even in the action sequences.
Because this takes place in the 1600’s in Japan, when the Shogunate was just coming into being, it felt very similar to the manga Rurouni Kenshin, which takes place in the 1800’s at the ending of the Shogunate. No magic or super powered villains though, just plain skilled warriors and a rough and tumble lifestyle. I thought the mix of anthropomorphic animals and humans together wasn’t going to work, but I have to say, it really did. Sakai didn’t try to give each animal set of people some “animal” trait and thus they were able to simply be another set of people. It definitely makes for a more fun reading time.
I had a good time reading this but feel no need to pick up the next volume. Which means when the mood strikes, I’ll probably enjoy the next volume quite a bit too.
Oh, oh, oh, I ALMOST FORGOT THE MOST IMPORTANT BIT!!!!!!!!!!! (that’s what happens when I start blabbing, the important bits go right out the window)
Groo the Wanderer is referenced AND he makes an appearance. Now that is totally awesome awesomesauce.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Hahahahaa, another great entry. I just love these comics. This starts out exactly how I would react to Groo being on a demolition crew. I just laughed my head off.
One interesting thing I found in this comic was that the lettering for the comic is done by a guy named Stan Sakai. I know that name. You’ll know that name too. If you read tomorrow’s post 😉
★★★✬☆
From Bookstooge.blog
Groo destroys a building, sets a royal dog free and then when the dog follows him, tries to eat it. It remains loyal to Groo and when Groo falls into some quicksand, the dog gets some villagers to rescue Groo. They recognize Groo and begin shoving him even quicker into the quicksand. Royal Soldiers track them all down and take the dog back. A random villager accidentally saves Groo. Groo sees a reward poster for the dog, attacks the royal palace and takes the dog for the reward, not realizing who the true owners are.
The Eternal Lowlander, Bookstooge MacLeod, realized that most of the “sheep” of his flock were dumb as stumps and wouldn’t understand a word he uttered. Which could be a problem as he had vast swathes of wisdom to impart. Thus the Lowlander, in his pursuit of the Championing, decided that some “splainin to do” was necessary. You all might not be named Lucy, but take these drops of wisdoms and cherish them.
Today, we shall be going over the Player Play Area, it’s various parts, phases and phrases used and some general “This is what it all means” kind o’splainin. That way, when I talk about things in future posts, there is at least a 10% chance you’ll know what I’m saying 😉
The most important part of the PPA (player play area) is your Hero and their Alter-ego. Both of these are on one card and you can flip between them once per turn. The next most important part of the ppa is the deck. From it you draw your hand, draw cards in general and use in a variety of ways.
The game is played in a series of Rounds, which consists of a Hero Phase and a Villain Phase. Today’s post will just be about the Hero Phase. During the Hero Phase, you can perform the following
Change Form – flip your hero to alter-ego, or your alter-ego to hero. You can only do this once per round.
Play an “Ally”, “Upgrade” or “Support” card. You can do this as many times as you have resources in your hand to pay for them.
Use your alter-ego’s Recovery Ability, or your hero’s Attack or Thwart ability. You must exhaust your hero/alterego to do this (turn it sidewise. it can no longer “do stuff” until it becomes un-exhausted)
Use an “Ally” to attack the Villain or thwart their Scheme. The same “exhaust” action occurs for allies as for your hero.
Trigger an “Action” ability on a card in the ppa.
Once you have finished all of these steps, you declare you are done and complete the following steps
Discard any number of cards in your hand (or discard down to your hand size if you drew a bunch of cards during the turn)
Draw up to your hand size (as stated on the bottom left of the Hero/Alter-ego card)
Un-exhaust all your cards
It is now the villain’s turn and we’ll be going over that next week, in this same format. I realize this is pretty much just an explanation of some of the rules, but the terms used are ones I’ll be using whenever I do more Playening posts. Hopefully it will enhance your understanding of the posts, if not your enjoyment. If it doesn’t, don’t worry. I’ll just send War Machine after you to put you out of your misery.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Convergence Series: Galaxy’s Edge #13 Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: Military SF Pages: 311 Words: 107K
This really felt like a straight up Military-SF story rather than a space opera. I don’t WANT to read that. I want the Star Wars that might have been, and I am not getting that. At all.
This is what happens when you place authors as people on pedestals. They without fail will let you down. I am becoming very disillusioned with this duo and I don’t know whether to continue to see if they turn things around, or if they just go down the path they’ve apparently set out on. I DO NOT WANT MILITARY SPECIAL OPS STORIES. They have enough other series to do that in. Give me that sweet, sweet space opera.
I know I will finish this series but I question if I will read anything else by them. Which is too bad, because they are talented writers and they “could” be telling some enthralling stories.
★★★☆☆
From Galaxysedge.fandom.com
ALLIES AND ENEMIES GROW THEIR FORCES…
As the galaxy marches headlong toward the greatest threat to peace since the Savage Wars, the flames are lit in the most unlikely of places.
Trapped inside a Savage mini hulk, Prisma faces a future where little is as she expected it would be, and a past that is even more troubling than she knew. Aboard a Cybar ship, Andien Broxin fights for her life with the most unlikely of allies at her side. And on the Kimbrin home world, Masters joins a Legion Special Operations Group tasked with checking a resurgent MCR… only to find himself embroiled in the flashpoint that will again plunge the galaxy into war.
Goth Sullus has fallen. Tyrus Rechs is a memory. But those who are enemies of both men are now set to step forth and reveal themselves on the galactic stage—unless the Republic, and the Legion, can answer the call to sacrifice.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Conan the Hunter Series: Conan the Barbarian #18 Author: Sean Moore Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Fantasy Pages: 197 Words: 81K
This was pathetic, just sad. It wasn’t a Conan story, it was a Forgotten Realms fantasy story with the warrior figure renamed to be Conan. Plus, the author was a young computer programmer. He’s dead now, so he’ll never get better.
This had gods and demons directly interacting with Conan. Not only that, but Conan being helpless in the face of it all. That’s the thing that Howard, the author of the original Conan stories, made sure to emphasize, Conan had an indomitable will that nothing could conquer or thwart. Plus, there is no good magic and there are no good gods. They are all evil, despicable shadow beings that are best left in the dust of ruins and history.
This really was just a generic fantasy story in a Conan wrapper. It was the Mona Lisa, only to find that she had 6 fingers because it was AI generated and not the real thing. It was a delicious pepperoni pizza, only to find out on the first bite it was just gravel glued to a paper plate. I could go on but I won’t.
The only good thing about this story is that it is the only Conan story by Moore that I have access too. Apparently he wrote two more, but thankfully the decision whether to read them or not has been taken out of my hand. Boo yah for the good guys!
(that makes zero sense you know. But I write a lot of things that don’t particularly make sense and nobody seems to mind. So really, it is your fault. I hope that makes you happy)
★★✬☆☆
From Wikipedia
After facing a sewer monster, Conan is enlisted against a demon sorceress’s conspiracy in restoring the wealth of her ancient race. In their struggle against Valtresca and Azora, the Cimmerian and his allies Salvorus, Kailash the hillman, and a young priest, Madesus, encounter numerous traps and divine intervention in an adventure culminating in a ruined temple with legions of gargoyles and the resurrection of the horrific villain Skauraul.
" My eyes open with a burst of stars; magic drips from my fingertips. Flora spreads quick and far; the mighty waves slow down to gentle drips. Grass blooms with every sweep of my feet; my dance quells the raging heat . I rise at dawn, and the Earth smiles. Wherever I go, they call me Spring's Delight. " ~Shruti Pandey 2024
Last year, I had done some online work for Miss Ross. In exchange, she gave me access to a sketchbook and my choice of several drawings. You’ve seen these ones already:
I had seen this one and it really struck me as the Essence of Spring, but considering it was the dead of winter, it wasn’t the right time for it. But now it is May. The trees are leafing out. The sun is shining (when it’s not raining 🙂 ). The black flies are swarming, hahahaa. So I decided it was time. I wanted this to be a bit different, so I sent a sample to Shruti and asked her to compose a poem based on her impressions of the drawing. I was very pleased with the results. I like spring time a lot. I enjoy seeing the color coming back, the sun shining strongly, the warmth returning. While it is not my favorite season, I think it is the one I need the most.
Can you believe it, two poetry posts in a month? I feel very accomplished, like I’m a Real Blogger™️ now 😀 Next thing you know, I’ll be wearing a little black beret, sipping a teen weeny cup of over priced coffee at some cafe and writing in my journal about how terrible life is and the misery of existence itself. How wonderful. It must be spring time!
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Toyman Series: Dumarest #3 Author: EC Tubb Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: SF Pages: 158 Words: 46K
I am thoroughly enjoying these adventures of Earl Dumarest. He’s a man’s man with just the right amount of bravado and nonchalance balanced with a caring side that comes out at the oddest times. In this adventure, he comes to the planet Toy, can’t immediately pay his way off the planet and thus is drafted into a game where the corporate owners of Toy bet stock options on the outcomes of battles. The Toyman, the leader with the most stock, is a megamaniacal murderer who wants to be the supreme leader. He’s being helped by the Cyclans and Earl gets caught up between the factions.
In one scene, he has to fight a cage full of spiders, each the size of a basketball or larger. With his bare hands. There was some major pulp action going on! It was great.
Also on the plus side, there was no woman for Dumarest to get involved in. There is the sister of the Toyman, and she controls the next largest chunk of stock, but she’s in love with one of the other leaders and her brother uses that against her.
The whole point of Dumarest coming to this world was to ask the Super Computer about Earth. But of course, the Cyclan’s plot destroys the ONE part of the machine that had that info. Dumarest does learn that Earth is also called Terra, so he got one crumb. One measly crumb. But as I pointed out in the previous review, Dumarest getting back to Earth doesn’t make sense, so it has really lost its meaning to me.
The covers. Man, there were some weeeeeeeird ones. I chose this one because it showed the least amount of nakedness. One has Dumarest in a plastic codpiece with giant plastic shoulder pads wielding a sword while another has a naked mutant lady with flippers and wings in a giant tank with Dumarest looking on. Neither were covers I wanted to showcase, so you ended up with this monstrosity. I have zero idea what it is supposed to represent, but I figure it some artists drugged out idea of Dumarest and the world of Toy.
★★★✬☆
From the Publisher
Space-wanderer Earl Dumarest is on the planet Toy to consult the giant computer which may contain information on the whereabouts of Earth, his lost home-world. But soon he realises Toy is a place that gives away nothing for free. Before Dumarest can gain the information he needs, he must take part in the Toy Games – must fight like a tin soldier in a vast nursery. And there is nothing playful about the Games on Toy. The pain is real enough; the wounds, the blood – and death.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Restaurant at the End of the Galaxy Series: THGttG #2 Author: Douglas Adams Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: SF Pages: 196 Words: 53K
This is why I don’t usually read “Introductions” to the books I read. Some jackass, who nobody has heard of before, has to write about his impressions of a book/series/author, much like a blogger in fact. And all they do is totally screw up your expectations of the story because of their determination to put their own spin on it
This series is a pointless, silly, humorous and totally empty little series. It means nothing and in another decade or so, will totally be forgotten. And I would read it that way and let it go it’s merry little way, tra-la-la’ing into oblivion without a care in the world.
EXCEPT
I read the introduction and the stupid dumbkopf talks about how meaningful this book is/was to him and a whole generation and how it changed the blah blah, blahhhhh, blah. You get the idea. So now when I am reading this, I have this idea kicking around in the back of my mind that this book changed peoples’ lives and I’m forced to take it seriously. Anyone who read this book and series, and it changed their lives, is so stupendously stupid and shallow that that change would be comparable to me dipping my pinky finger in the Atlantic Ocean and claiming that I had changed the ocean.
This is silly nonsense! Pure and simple. Hopefully after this book, I can treat it as such.
Acting on a thought from the portion of his brain unaffected by his lobotomy, Zaphod goes looking for Zarniwoop, the Guide’s lead editor, though his staff insist he has been out on an intergalactic cruise. A man named Roosta takes Zaphod to Zarniwoop’s offices. Frogstar fighters arrive and attack the building, towing it to one of their home planets, Frogstar World B, a planet whose society collapsed through an economic process called the “Shoe Event Horizon” which rendered its economy unable to support any enterprises besides shoe stores. The planet eventually became the site of the Total Perspective Vortex, a device that drives those who experience it mad due to showing them their insignificance compared to the infinite universe. Following Roosta’s instructions and escaping through Zarniwoop’s office’s windows, Zaphod is caught by Gargravarr, a disembodied mind undergoing a trial separation from his body, who takes Zaphod to be exposed to the Vortex. However, Zaphod is unfazed by the Vortex, suggesting to a perplexed Gargravarr that it showed Zaphod that he was the most important being in the universe.
Left on his own, Zaphod eventually finds a long-abandoned spaceliner whose passengers have been forcibly kept in 900 years of suspended animation by the autopilot after the collapse of their civilization until a new one could develop to load the ship with lemon-scented paper napkins. On the ship he discovers Zarniwoop, who reveals that Zaphod stepped into a computer simulation of the universe when he walked into his office, allowing Zaphod to survive the Vortex since the universe was designed for his benefit. Zarniwoop further reveals that the Heart of Gold had been microscopically shrunk and placed in Zaphod’s pocket so that they can use it to find the true ruler of the universe, whom Zarniwoop has located. However, Zaphod abandons Zarniwoop, reunites with Ford, Arthur, and Trillian, and escapes to the nearest restaurant. This turns out to be the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, built atop the ruins of Frogstar World B and existing in a time bubble near the end of the universe, which it offers its guests spectacular views of. At the restaurant they meet Ford’s old acquaintance Hotblack Desiato, a member of the rock band Disaster Area, which is known for making the loudest sound in the universe and only perform their concerts remotely from an orbiting spaceship. During their dinner, Zaphod receives a telephone call from Marvin, who has been stranded on the planet for billions of years and is now working as a valet in the restaurant’s parking lot.
Zaphod suggests they leave, trying to steal a sleek, all-black spacecraft next to Hotblack Desiato’s limoship. With their ship on complete autopilot and unable to wrest the controls away from it, an agitated Zaphod admits that he still wants to solve the Question to the Ultimate Answer. Marvin abruptly tells them that the question is imprinted in Arthur’s brainwaves, but they are distracted before they can ask further. They learn that the ship is actually an uncrewed stunt ship for Disaster Area, which is programmed to fall into a local sun to create solar flares in synchronization with the climax of the band’s concert. They discover a partially installed emergency teleporter without a guidance system and Zaphod volunteers Marvin to stay behind and operate it so the others can escape. Zaphod and Trillian find themselves back aboard the Heart of Gold under Zarniwoop’s control, where he is using the ship’s Improbability Drive to penetrate the Unprobability Field that is protecting the home planet of the Ruler of the Universe. On an unpopulated planet, they find the Ruler who has no idea he is the ruler, is not convinced of a broader universe outside of his home, and is even skeptical if anything around him exists. While an enraged Zarniwoop tries to reason with the Ruler, Zaphod and Trillian strand him and make their escape in the Heart of Gold.
Meanwhile, Arthur and Ford find themselves aboard Ark Fleet Ship B, which is loaded with 15 million passengers from the planet Golgafrincham and is commanded by an inept captain who is only concerned with taking baths. Although the Golgafrinchans were ostensibly evacuated to escape a planetary disaster, in actuality the disaster was made up by the Golgafrinchans to divest themselves of a useless third of their population, later going extinct from a pandemic caused by dirty telephone receivers after they expelled all telephone sanitizers. The Ark crash-lands into a swamp on an undeveloped planet. Arthur and Ford leave to search for a signal from any passing spaceship, traveling for hundreds of miles around the continent. Along the way the planet’s primitive yet friendly hominid-like inhabitants usher them away from their home settlements and leave them fruit. After finding a glacier with a Magrathean inscription honoring Slartibartfast, they realize they are on pre-historic Earth in 2,000,000 BC, that the hominids are Neanderthals, that they have traveled across Europe from the future site of Arthur’s home city of Islington in Great Britain to Norway, and that the Golgafrinchans are the ancestors of the modern human race.
They return to the Golgafrinchans, only to find that they have been too preoccupied with trying to form council meetings about documentary-making, fiscal policy, searching for hot springs for the captain’s baths, and declaring war on uninhabited continents to bother with trying to discover fire, invent the wheel, or solve pressing issues. Ford tries to warn them that they will be annihilated in 2 million years, but they ignore him. Desperate, Arthur tries to teach the Neanderthals, who have been mysteriously wasting away since the Ark’s arrival, through a makeshift Scrabble set. When one of the Neanderthals spells out the word “forty-two” with the letter tiles, Ford realizes that the Neanderthals were part of the matrix of Deep Thought’s computer to determine the Ultimate Question and that the Golgafrinchans are interfering with the machination by displacing them. However, they also remember Marvin’s claim that the Ultimate Question was embedded in Arthur’s mind. Hoping that remnants of the programming exist in Arthur’s subconscious, they have Arthur pull out tiles at random from the Scrabble set, only to discover that the Question is “What do you get if you multiply six by nine?” Ford thinks this explains why the universe is a giant “cock-up”, and the two resign to make the best of their life on prehistoric Earth. They go on a date with two Golgafrinchan women, and Arthur throws his copy of the Hitchhiker’s Guide in the river.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: A Phule and His Money Series: Phule’s Company #3 Author: Robert Asprin & Peter Heck Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars Genre: SF Pages: 343 Words: 90K
This is where I don’t follow my own advice. This was a very mediocre book. Not bad, but 100% mediocre. If I saw someone else read this book and say the things I will say, I would recommend, very strongly to them, that they abandon the series and let it go. My problem, at least as I tell myself, is that I don’t actually have that many “new to me” series or authors to replace it. Most of what I am reading is stuff in a longer running series (Discworld, Nero Wolfe, 87th Precinct, The Shadow, etc) and it takes more time and effort on my part to search out a new series or author than it does to simply slog through the oatmeal books.
Peter Heck joined the authorial crew here but to be honest, I never would have known it. I suspect Asprin gave him a rough outline and Heck did all the heavy writing in Asprin’s style and they called it a day. I was down for the count when I read this (really bad cold again, put me out of work for a day with all the coughing) but even still, there was no energy to the story or characters. It was boring.
If any of you can suggest some stuff to me that is pre-2000 and that I haven’t already read and sounds semi-interesting to me, I’ll gladly dump this and try that.
★★✬☆☆
From the Publisher
Captain Willard Phule has whipped his troops into shape, turning Phule’s Company from the laughingstock of the Legion into…a crack team of casino security guards.
Now his company is deployed to help an underdeveloped planet. And what better way to utilize their major area of expertise—goofing off—than to turn the planet into the biggest intergalactic playground ever?
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
First, I’d like to say that this particular post is being shared over at the Irresponsible Reader. He didn’t steal this, or clonk me over the head and hold it hostage. I willingly and of my own free will let it be cross posted. Just so we’re clear. None of you need to take vengeance on my behalf or boost his Lamborghini or steal all that money he’s got squirreled away. No, I can do all of that on my own, thank you very much. But I appreciate your willingness to do such nefarious things on my behalf, I really do. Ok, on to the actual book review.
I first read a Mrs Pollifax story back in 2000. I labeled it a “mystery” and accidentally thought it was written by Agatha Christie. I went close to two decades thinking Mrs Pollifax was just another version of Miss Marple and as such, I avoided the series. It wasn’t until I was getting the Hotel Bookstooge in final order that I realized that Dorothy Gilman was the author and that it wasn’t really a mystery series at all. I eventually tracked down the series and added it to my tbr pile.
Imagine my surprise when I found out this was a series about a little old lady named Emily Pollifax and that she works for the CIA. That immediately threw it out of the cozy mystery genre and straight into the cozy thriller genre. Only, as I read the book, it really wasn’t that cozy, so I decided Mrs Pollifax deserved to go straight to the big leagues and just get the “Thriller” label. I mean, she gets kidnapped by Chinese Commies, escapes their remote fortress and makes it out to sea to get rescue. AND she fulfills her original mission of picking up some super secret ultra superdooper important info. She does all of this without turning into the Black Widow and doing crazy acrobatic stunts that no real person could possibly do.
There are moments of genuine threat and while Emily doesn’t go all Black Widow on the situation, neither does she break down and fall part. She’s what I’d describe as a tough old bird. The world needs more people like her. I thoroughly enjoyed her as a character and am looking forward to see what else Gilman has in store for her creation.
This is also a good time capsule of the times and I enjoyed seeing what the 60’s were like from a non-commie-hippy viewpoint.
★★★✬☆
From Wikipedia.org
Mrs. Pollifax is an elderly widow who has come to find life dull and is almost ready to end it all out of sheer boredom. Inspired by a newspaper profile of an actress who began her career in later life, she decides to fulfill a childhood ambition and apply for a job as a spy at the CIA. Meanwhile, Carstairs at the CIA is looking for an agent who can pass as a tourist in order to pick up an important package in Mexico. Due to a slight confusion, he thinks Mrs. Pollifax is one of the candidates and decides that Mrs. Pollifax is ideal; Carstairs decided this assignment carries so little danger that even one who is relatively untrained may be sent. So with minimum explanation, Pollifax is ushered off to Mexico City to meet a bookstore owner/secret agent, exchange code phrases, and leave with the package. The courier mission does not go as planned, and Mrs. Pollifax finds herself imprisoned in the Socialist Republic of Albania, facing harsh questioning and possible torture. But she proves to be unusually resourceful, and with her companion’s assistance, manages to outwit the enemy and save the day.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Northanger Abbey Series: ———- Author: Jane Austen Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Genre: Classic Pages: 175 Words: 81K
For this read through, I did my best to peer past the parody asides that Austen threw in and just see the romance story she had written. It was a pretty plain jane, vanilla flavored romance. It was also very much a coming of age story. Catherine is a sheltered young woman and this story was more about her seeing a wider world and the evil side of people, which she hadn’t been exposed to at home, than it was about her meeting and eventually marrying Henry Tilney.
It was also a good reminder of just how insecure and unsettled young people are. Catherine wasn’t confused, she just didn’t know enough to react properly to her so-called friend Isabella’s actions. She had to learn by experience. Overall, I’m a pretty confident guy and it can be hard for me to remember that not everyone else is the same. I have a feeling I’d fulfill the role of General Tilney (Henry’s father) and intimidate Catherine without even realizing it. I know I mock the idea of “special snowflakes” a lot, but I am aware that kids do need a little bit of care in handling, sometimes, but not often.
The other thing I noticed was just how much of a role letter writing played. It is in all of Austen’s stories, but here it just made me think. I am a texter and I write on my blog and I journal, so I’d like to think that I would have been a great letter writer back in the day. But there is a big difference between typing and writing. And there is a HUGE difference using a gel pen and a quill and ink stand. Upon reflection I suspect that I would not have been a huge letter writer unless I had an amanuensis to take dictation for me. If that was the case, I’d probably be sending letters every day 😀
You get a letter, you get a letter, everybody gets a letter! (well, except for you!)
Overall I enjoyed this more than my previous times and I suspect it had as much, if not more, to do with my appreciation of good writing than just having a good time with a story.
★★★★☆
From Wikipedia.org
Synopsis – click to open
Seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland is one of ten children of a country clergyman. Although a tomboy in her childhood, she is “in training for a heroine” and is fond of reading Gothic novels “provided they [are] all story and no reflection.”
The Allens (her wealthier neighbours in Fullerton) invite Catherine to accompany them in their visit to the city of Bath and partake in the winter season of balls, theatre and other social activities. Shortly after their arrival, she is introduced to a young gentleman, Henry Tilney, with whom she dances. Mrs. Allen meets an old school friend, Mrs. Thorpe, whose daughter, Isabella, quickly becomes friends with Catherine. Isabelle introduces Catherine to Ann Radcliffe’s 1794 Gothic novel Mysteries of Udolpho. Mrs. Thorpe’s son, John, is a friend of Catherine’s older brother, James, at Oxford University where they are both students. The two young men come to Bath, where John is then introduced to Catherine.
The Thorpes are not happy about Catherine’s friendship with the Tilneys. They correctly perceive Henry as a rival for Catherine’s affections even though Catherine is not at all interested in John Thorpe. Despite Thorpe continually attempting to sabotage her relationship with the Tilneys, Catherine tries to maintain her friendships with both the Thorpes and the Tilneys. This leads to several misunderstandings, which put Catherine in the awkward position of having to explain herself to the Tilneys.
Isabella and James become engaged. James’ father approves of the match and offers his son a country parson’s living of a modest sum, £400 annually, but they must wait until he can obtain the benefice in two and a half years. Isabella is dissatisfied, but to Catherine, she misrepresents her distress as being caused solely by the delay, and not by the value of the sum. Isabella immediately begins to flirt with Captain Frederick Tilney, Henry’s older brother. Innocent Catherine cannot understand her friend’s behaviour, but Henry understands all too well as he knows his brother’s character and habits.
The Tilneys invite Catherine to stay with them for a few weeks at their home, Northanger Abbey. Once at Northanger Abbey, Catherine and Eleanor Tilney, Henry’s and Frederick’s younger sister, get to know each other better on a personal level.[7] Catherine, in accordance with her novel reading, expects the house to be exotic and frightening. Henry teases her about this as it turns out that Northanger Abbey is pleasant and decidedly not Gothic. However, the house includes a mysterious suite of rooms that no one ever enters; Catherine learns that they were the apartments of Mrs. Tilney, who died nine years earlier due to a serious illness,[7] leaving Mr. Tilney with three children to raise by himself.[8] As General Tilney no longer appears to be affected by her death, Catherine decides that he may have imprisoned her in her chamber, or even murdered her.
Catherine discovers that her over-active imagination has led her astray as nothing is strange or distressing in the apartments. Henry finds and questions her; he surmises and informs her that his father loved his wife in his own way and was truly upset by her death.[9] She leaves the apartments, crying, fearing that she has lost Henry’s regard entirely. Realising how foolish she has been, Catherine comes to believe that, though novels may be delightful, their content does not relate to everyday life. Henry does not mention this incident to her again.
James writes to inform her that he has broken off his engagement to Isabella and implies that she has become engaged instead to Captain Tilney. Henry and Eleanor Tilney are sceptical that their brother has actually become engaged to Isabella Thorpe. Catherine is terribly disappointed, realising what a dishonest person Isabella is. A subsequent letter from Isabella herself confirms the Tilney siblings’ doubts and shows that Frederick Tilney was merely flirting with Isabella. The General goes off to London, and the atmosphere at Northanger Abbey immediately becomes lighter and more pleasant from his absence. Catherine passes several enjoyable days with Henry and Eleanor until the General returns abruptly in a temper in Henry’s absence. He forces Catherine to go home early the next morning in a shocking and unsafe mode that forces Catherine to undertake the 70 miles (110 km) journey alone.
At home, Catherine is listless and unhappy. Henry pays a sudden unexpected visit and explains what happened. General Tilney (on the misinformation of John Thorpe) had believed her to be exceedingly rich as the Allens’ prospective heiress, and therefore a proper match for Henry. In London, General Tilney ran into Thorpe again, who, angry at Catherine’s refusal of his earlier half-made proposal of marriage, said instead that she was nearly destitute. Enraged, General Tilney, (again on the misinformation of John Thorpe), returned home to evict Catherine. When Henry returned to Northanger, his father informed him of what had occurred and forbade him to think of Catherine again. When Henry learns how she had been treated, he breaks with his father and tells Catherine he still wants to marry her despite his father’s disapproval. Catherine is delighted, though when Henry seeks her parents’ approval, they tell the young couple that final approval will only happen when General Tilney consents.
Eventually, General Tilney acquiesces because Eleanor has become engaged to a wealthy and titled man; he discovers that the Morlands, while not extremely rich, are far from destitute.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPresss & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Green Eyes Series: The Shadow #15 Authors: Maxwell Grant Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Crime Fiction Pages: 158 Words: 48K
For whatever reason, I really enjoy when the Shadow goes up against a Chinese villain. Part of it is that those villains tend to be extremely smart and clever and aren’t reliant on guns and muscle alone (like many of the mob bosses the Shadow regularly takes down). They have a brain and they use it. At the same time Grant (the author) isn’t promoting the “Oldskool Gangsta” lifestyle. The badguys get theirs every time. But it feels like a battle between almost equals instead of just the Shadow mopping everything up like a janitor.
In this story, the Shadow is on the West Coast of the United States, in that most evil and iniquitous state called California. The Feds are hot on the trail of a supposedly pacifist Chinese cultural movement that plans to start a new empire. Massive drug smuggling is involved and the Shadow is captured, good and proper. Sadly, the Mastermind falls into the typical villain hubris and doesn’t immediately kill the Shadow. Remember kids, if you’re going to be a villain, kill the good guy immediately! No gloating, no monologues, no torture. Just kill him. Or else he will escape and get you. It always happens that way, and it happened that way here too. Of course, I was rooting for the Shadow, so that was a good thing.
My one big disappointment was that Green Eyes did not end up referring to a Femme Fatale. I was picturing some sort of Shadow’ized Catwoman’ish lady who could take on the Shadow and then fall hopelessly in love with him. Nope. Green Eyes simply refers to a guy who can mesmerize people with his eyes. Poop to that!
But the cover. Ohhhhhh, that cover. Pure Awesomesauce! Twin automatic .45’s, the only thing better is an assault shotgun.
★★★✬☆
From the Publisher
There is a criminal empire being run by a mad genius out of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Nobody knows who they are or when they will strike again. Only one man can bring down the vicious criminal operations. The Shadow!
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Mary Poppins Series: Mary Poppins #1 Author: Pamela Travers Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Middlegrade Fiction Pages: 159 Words: 43K
An absolutely delightful book. Absolutely delightful! I had seen the Disney movie/musical way back when and enjoyed it as a child but even then I felt that Julie Andrews was simply too saccharine sweet and thus had no desire to ever explore the books, as I figured they would be more of the same, if not even sweeter. But as the years have gone by and I have learned just what “Disneyfied” means, I wondered if perhaps the books weren’t quite what the movie portrayed. Then some people I know were doing an amateur play production and I decided that now was the time to check things out.
I am very glad I did. Mary Poppins was not the saccharine character in the movie. She was extremely competent and yet, she was sharp as glass and boy, could she cut. She was vain, always looking at herself in mirrors or windows. She was sulky, refusing to talk to the children if they had done something she didn’t like. She was vindictive, giving the children “exactly” what they wanted when she didn’t want to. It was wonderful seeing an adult treat the kids like kids instead of acting like they were helpless snowflakes who would melt at one hot word.
Each chapter was one adventure. It was perfectly paced and when the story was done, it was done. I like that kind of finality. Also, Mary Poppins literally blew in on the wind and then the book ends with her blowing away. Perfect book ends.
It was just plain invigorating to read this and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.
★★★✬☆
From Wikipedia
Synopsis – Click to Open
The first book introduces the Banks family from Number Seventeen Cherry Tree Lane, London,[a] consisting of Mr and Mrs Banks, their children Jane and Michael, and baby twins John and Barbara. When the children’s nanny, Katie Nanna, storms out in a huff, Mary Poppins arrives at their home, complete with her travelling carpet bag, blown in by a very strong east wind. She accepts the job (agreeing to stay “till the wind changes”), and the children soon learn that their nanny, though stern, vain and usually cross, has a magical touch that makes her wonderful. Among the things Jane and Michael experience are a tea party on a ceiling with Mr Wigg, a trip around the world with a compass, the purchase of gingerbread stars from the extremely old Mrs Corry, a meeting with the Bird Woman, a birthday party at the zoo among the animals, and a Christmas shopping trip with a star named Maia from the Pleiades cluster in the constellation Taurus. In the end, in what is perhaps the most iconic image associated with Mary Poppins, she opens her umbrella and the west wind carries her away. She leaves behind a note letting the children know that they will meet her again someday.
He walked downstairs in his socks, wearing a simple gray, long sleeved BU Hockey T-shirt, and jeans that hid the rugged athleticism of his six feet one-inch frame. Anton arrived at the front door just as the doorbell rang for the third time.
He opened the door; before him stood the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen in his life.
She was tall, nearly the same height as Anton, brunette with vivid blue eyes, flawless complexion, wearing a professional black business pants suit with a short jacket, and a translucent scarlet silk chiffon shirt that displayed the round curves of her breasts within a stylish black bra.
Just standing still, she was a seductive mix of poise, elegance, and class, with a face that demanded attention.
I started A Subtle Agency, by Graeme Rodaughan, the first book in the Metaframe War series. I know it involves vampires, but that quote from the first chapter does not bode well. I swear, if “rippling abs” make even ONE appearance, I’m dnf’ing this like it has the bubonic plague.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Lady Killer Series: 87th Precinct Author: Ed McBain Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Crime Fiction Pages: 99 Words: 43K
With a threatening anonymous note saying the writer will “Kill the Lady”, the detectives of the 87th Precinct have a mere 9hrs to figure out who the lady is and how to prevent her death. Is the lady a high class whore, is she an actress, is she a dog? Of course, it’s nothing so obvious as that.
I had no idea what was going on the entire time and I loved it. I was as confused as the police and man, it was a great thrill ride. And with it being such a short book, I felt like I jumped into the police cruiser, jammed the sirens on as loud as they could go and went tearing down the highway at 120 miles per hour, slammed the brakes on, performed a vehicular military exfil and shot the perp dead with my SWAT issued automatic assault shotgun. It’s no nuclear bazooka, and Hawes is no Mitch Rapp, but I take what I can get. Nuclear bazookas come and go, but an assault shotgun is forever. Kind of like love in fact.
Awwww, look at that wittle cutie! Just makes you want to cuddle it, doesn’t it?
★★★✬☆
From the Publisher
Detective Cotton Hawes of the 87th Precinct scrutinizes a tip-off letter that says “I will kill the lady tonight at 8”–giving him nine hours to find the victim and the killer in a city of eight million people.
