Showing posts with label 2025. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2025. Show all posts

Sunday, August 10, 2025

The Idiot (The Russians) 2Stars

 

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 Idiot
Series: (The Russians)
Author: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Translator: Richard Pevear
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic
Pages: 888
Words: 241K
Publish: 1868

I shouldn’t have read this at this time. I’d have done better to just skip “The Russians” on this rotation. But that’s what happens when you’re under stress, decision making skills go right out the window.

I was miserable, reading about a miserable situation that ended up as horribly miserable as you could think of.

My 2006 Review adequately sums up what this novel is about. I have nothing more to say.

★★☆☆☆


From Wikipedia.org

Part 1

Prince Myshkin, a young man in his mid-twenties and a descendant of one of the oldest Russian lines of nobility, is on a train to Saint Petersburg on a cold November morning. He is returning to Russia having spent the past four years in a Swiss clinic for treatment of a severe epileptic condition. On the journey, Myshkin meets a young man of the merchant class, Parfyon Semyonovich Rogozhin, and is struck by his passionate intensity, particularly in relation to a woman—the dazzling society beauty Nastasya Filippovna Barashkova—with whom he is obsessed. Rogozhin has just inherited a very large fortune due to the death of his father, and he intends to use it to pursue the object of his desire. Joining in their conversation is a civil servant named Lebedyev—a man with a profound knowledge of social trivia and gossip. Realizing who Rogozhin is, Lebedyev firmly attaches himself to him.

The purpose of Myshkin's trip is to make the acquaintance of his distant relative Lizaveta Prokofyevna, and to make inquiries about a matter of business. Lizaveta Prokofyevna is married to General Epanchin, a wealthy and respected man in his mid-fifties. When the Prince calls on them he meets Gavril Ardalionovich Ivolgin (Ganya), the General's assistant. The General and his business partner, the aristocrat Totsky, are seeking to arrange a marriage between Ganya and Nastasya Filippovna. Totsky had been the orphaned Nastasya Filippovna's childhood guardian, but he had taken advantage of his position to groom her for his own sexual gratification. As a grown woman, Nastasya Filippovna has developed an incisive and merciless insight into their relationship. Totsky, thinking the marriage might settle her and free him to pursue his desire for marriage with General Epanchin's eldest daughter, has promised 75,000 rubles. Nastasya Filippovna, suspicious of Ganya and aware that his family does not approve of her, has reserved her decision, but has promised to announce it that evening at her birthday soirée. Ganya and the General openly discuss the subject in front of Myshkin. Ganya shows him a photograph of her, and he is particularly struck by the dark beauty of her face.

Myshkin makes the acquaintance of Lizaveta Prokofyevna and her three daughters—Alexandra, Adelaida and Aglaya. They are all very curious about him and not shy about expressing their opinion, particularly Aglaya. He readily engages with them and speaks with remarkable candor on a wide variety of subjects—his illness, his impressions of Switzerland, art, philosophy, love, death, the brevity of life, capital punishment, and donkeys. In response to their request that he speak of the time he was in love, he tells a long anecdote from his time in Switzerland about a downtrodden woman—Marie—whom he befriended, along with a group of children, when she was unjustly ostracized and morally condemned. The Prince ends by describing what he divines about each of their characters from studying their faces and surprises them by saying that Aglaya is almost as beautiful as Nastasya Filippovna.

The prince rents a room in the Ivolgin apartment, occupied by Ganya's family and another lodger called Ferdyschenko. There is much angst within Ganya's family about the proposed marriage, which is regarded, particularly by his mother and sister (Varya), as shameful. Just as a quarrel on the subject is reaching a peak of tension, Nastasya Filippovna herself arrives to pay a visit to her potential new family. Shocked and embarrassed, Ganya succeeds in introducing her, but when she bursts into a prolonged fit of laughter at the look on his face, his expression transforms into one of murderous hatred. The Prince intervenes to calm him down, and Ganya's rage is diverted toward him in a violent gesture. The tension is not eased by the entrance of Ganya's father, General Ivolgin, a drunkard with a tendency to tell elaborate lies. Nastasya Filippovna flirtatiously encourages the General and then mocks him. Ganya's humiliation is compounded by the arrival of Rogozhin, accompanied by a rowdy crowd of drunks and rogues, Lebedyev among them. Rogozhin openly starts bidding for Nastasya Filippovna, ending with an offer of a hundred thousand rubles. With the scene assuming increasingly scandalous proportions, Varya angrily demands that someone remove the "shameless woman". Ganya seizes his sister's arm, and she responds, to Nastasya Filippovna's delight, by spitting in his face. He is about to strike her when the Prince again intervenes, and Ganya slaps him violently in the face. Everyone is deeply shocked, including Nastasya Filippovna, and she struggles to maintain her mocking aloofness as the others seek to comfort the Prince. Myshkin admonishes her and tells her it is not who she really is. She apologizes to Ganya's mother and leaves, telling Ganya to be sure to come to her birthday party that evening. Rogozhin and his retinue go off to raise the 100,000 rubles.

Among the guests at the party are Totsky, General Epanchin, Ganya, his friend Ptitsyn (Varya's fiancé), and Ferdyshchenko, who, with Nastasya Filippovna's approval, plays the role of cynical buffoon. With the help of Ganya's younger brother Kolya, the Prince arrives, uninvited. To enliven the party, Ferdyshchenko suggests a game where everyone must recount the story of the worst thing they have ever done. Others are shocked at the proposal, but Nastasya Filippovna is enthusiastic. When it comes to Totsky's turn he tells a long but innocuous anecdote from the distant past. Disgusted, Nastasya Filippovna turns to Myshkin and demands his advice on whether or not to marry Ganya. Myshkin advises her not to, and Nastasya Filippovna, to the dismay of Totsky, General Epanchin and Ganya, firmly announces that she is following this advice. At this point, Rogozhin and his followers arrive with the promised 100,000 rubles. Nastasya Filipovna is preparing to leave with him, exploiting the scandalous scene to humiliate Totsky, when Myshkin himself offers to marry her. He speaks gently and sincerely, and in response to incredulous queries about what they will live on, produces a document indicating that he will soon be receiving a large inheritance. Though surprised and deeply touched, Nastasya Filipovna, after throwing the 100,000 rubles in the fire and telling Ganya they are his if he wants to get them out, chooses to leave with Rogozhin. Myshkin follows them.

Part 2

For the next six months, Nastasya Filippovna remains unsettled and is torn between Myshkin and Rogozhin. Myshkin is tormented by her suffering, and Rogozhin is tormented by her love for Myshkin and her disdain for his own claims on her. Returning to Petersburg, the Prince visits Rogozhin's house. Myshkin becomes increasingly horrified at Rogozhin's attitude to her. Rogozhin confesses to beating her in a jealous rage and raises the possibility of cutting her throat. Despite the tension between them, they part as friends, with Rogozhin even making a gesture of concession. But the Prince remains troubled and for the next few hours he wanders the streets, immersed in intense contemplation. He suspects that Rogozhin is watching him and returns to his hotel where Rogozhin—who has been hiding in the stairway—attacks him with a knife. At the same moment, the Prince is struck down by a violent epileptic seizure, and Rogozhin flees in a panic.

Recovering, Myshkin joins Lebedyev (from whom he is renting a dacha) in the summer resort town Pavlovsk. He knows that Nastasya Filippovna is in Pavlovsk and that Lebedyev is aware of her movements and plans. The Epanchins, who are also in Pavlovsk, visit the Prince. They are joined by their friend Yevgeny Pavlovich Radomsky, a handsome and wealthy military officer with a particular interest in Aglaya. Aglaya, however, is more interested in the Prince, and to Myshkin's embarrassment and everyone else's amusement, she recites Pushkin's poem "The Poor Knight" in a reference to his noble efforts to save Nastasya Filippovna.

The Epanchins' visit is rudely interrupted by the arrival of Burdovsky, a young man who claims to be the illegitimate son of Myshkin's late benefactor, Pavlishchev. The inarticulate Burdovsky is supported by a group of insolent young men. These include the consumptive seventeen-year-old Ippolit Terentyev, the nihilist Doktorenko, and Keller, an ex-officer who, with the help of Lebedyev, has written an article vilifying the Prince and Pavlishchev. They demand money from Myshkin as a "just" reimbursement for Pavlishchev's support, but their arrogant bravado is severely dented when Gavril Ardalionovich, who has been researching the matter on Myshkin's behalf, proves conclusively that the claim is false and that Burdovsky has been deceived. The Prince tries to reconcile with the young men and offers financial support anyway. Disgusted, Lizaveta Prokofyevna loses all control and furiously attacks both parties. Ippolit laughs, and Lizaveta Prokofyevna seizes him by the arm, causing him to break into a prolonged fit of coughing. But he suddenly becomes calm, informs them all that he is near death, and politely requests that he be permitted to talk to them for a while. He awkwardly attempts to express his need for their love, eventually bringing both himself and Lizaveta Prokofyevna to the point of tears. But as the Prince and Lizaveta Prokofyevna discuss what to do with the invalid, another transformation occurs and Ippolit, after unleashing a torrent of abuse at the Prince, leaves with the other young men. The Epanchins also leave, both Lizaveta Prokofyevna and Aglaya deeply indignant with the Prince. Only Yevgeny Pavlovich remains in good spirits, and he smiles charmingly as he says good-bye. At that moment, a magnificent carriage pulls up at the dacha, and the ringing voice of Nastasya Filippovna calls out to Yevgeny Pavlovich. In a familiar tone, she tells him not to worry about all the IOUs as Rogozhin has bought them up. The carriage departs, leaving everyone, particularly Yevgeny Pavlovich and the Prince, in a state of shock. Yevgeny Pavlovich claims to know nothing about the debts, and Nastasya Filippovna's motives become a subject of anxious speculation.

Part 3

Reconciling with Lizaveta Prokofyevna, the Prince visits the Epanchins at their dacha. He is beginning to fall in love with Aglaya, and she likewise appears to be fascinated by him, though she often mocks or angrily reproaches him for his naiveté and excessive humility. Myshkin joins Lizaveta Prokofyevna, her daughters and Yevgeny Pavlovich for a walk to the park to hear the music. While listening to the high-spirited conversation and watching Aglaya in a kind of daze, he notices Rogozhin and Nastasya Filippovna in the crowd. Nastasya Filippovna again addresses herself to Yevgeny Pavlovich, and in the same jolly tone as before loudly informs him that his uncle—a wealthy and respected old man from whom he is expecting a large inheritance—has shot himself and that a huge sum of government money is missing. Yevgeny Pavlovich stares at her in shock as Lizaveta Prokofyevna makes a hurried exit with her daughters. Nastasya Filippovna hears an officer friend of Yevgeny Pavlovich suggest that a whip is needed for women like her, and she responds by grabbing a riding-whip from a bystander and striking the officer across the face with it. He tries to attack her but Myshkin restrains him, for which he is violently pushed. Rogozhin, after making a mocking comment to the officer, leads Nastasya Filippovna away. The officer recovers his composure, addresses himself to Myshkin, politely confirms his name, and leaves.

Myshkin follows the Epanchins back to their dacha, where eventually Aglaya finds him alone on the verandah. To his surprise, she begins to talk to him very earnestly about duels and how to load a pistol. They are interrupted by General Epanchin who wants Myshkin to walk with him. Aglaya slips a note into Myshkin's hand as they leave. The General is greatly agitated by the effect Nastasya Filippovna's behavior is having on his family, particularly since her information about Yevgeny Pavlovich's uncle has turned out to be completely correct. When the General leaves, Myshkin reads Aglaya's note, which is an urgent request to meet her secretly the following morning. His reflections are interrupted by Keller who has come to offer to be his second at the duel that will inevitably follow from the incident that morning, but Myshkin merely laughs heartily and invites Keller to visit him to drink champagne. Keller departs and Rogozhin appears. He informs the Prince that Nastasya Filippovna wants to see him and that she has been in correspondence with Aglaya. She is convinced that the Prince is in love with Aglaya, and is seeking to bring them together. Myshkin is perturbed by the information, but he remains in an inexplicably happy frame of mind and speaks with forgiveness and brotherly affection to Rogozhin. Remembering it will be his birthday tomorrow, he persuades Rogozhin to join him for some wine.

They find that a large party has assembled at his home and that the champagne is already flowing. Present are Lebedyev, his daughter Vera, Ippolit, Burdovsky, Kolya, General Ivolgin, Ganya, Ptitsyn, Ferdyshchenko, Keller, and, to Myshkin's surprise, Yevgeny Pavlovich, who has come to ask for his friendship and advice. The guests greet the Prince warmly and compete for his attention. Stimulated by Lebedyev's eloquence, everyone engages for some time in intelligent and inebriated disputation on lofty subjects, but the good-humoured atmosphere begins to dissipate when Ippolit suddenly produces a large envelope and announces that it contains an essay he has written which he now intends to read to them. The essay is a painfully detailed description of the events and thoughts leading him to what he calls his 'final conviction': that suicide is the only possible way to affirm his will in the face of nature's invincible laws, and that consequently he will be shooting himself at sunrise. The reading drags on for over an hour and by its end the sun has risen. Most of his audience, however, are bored and resentful, apparently not at all concerned that he is about to shoot himself. Only Vera, Kolya, Burdovsky, and Keller seek to restrain him. He distracts them by pretending to abandon the plan, then suddenly pulls out a small pistol, puts it to his temple and pulls the trigger. There is a click but no shot: Ippolit faints but is not killed. It turns out that he had taken out the cap earlier and forgotten to put it back in. Ippolit is devastated and tries desperately to convince everyone that it was an accident. Eventually he falls asleep and the party disperses.

The Prince wanders for some time in the park before falling asleep at the green seat appointed by Aglaya as their meeting place. Her laughter wakes him from an unhappy dream about Nastasya Filippovna. They talk for a long time about the letters Aglaya has received, in which Nastasya Filippovna writes that she herself is in love with Aglaya and passionately beseeches her to marry Myshkin. Aglaya interprets this as evidence that Nastasya Filippovna is in love with him herself, and demands that Myshkin explain his feelings toward her. Myshkin replies that Nastasya Filippovna is insane, that he only feels profound compassion and is not in love with her, but admits that he has come to Pavlovsk for her sake. Aglaya becomes angry, demands that he throw the letters back in her face, and storms off. Myshkin reads the letters with dread, and later that day Nastasya Filippovna herself appears to him, asking desperately if he is happy, and telling him she is going away and will not write any more letters. Rogozhin escorts her.

Part 4

It is clear to Lizaveta Prokofyevna and General Epanchin that their daughter is in love with the Prince, but Aglaya denies this and angrily dismisses talk of marriage. She continues to mock and reproach him, often in front of others, and lets slip that, as far as she is concerned, the problem of Nastasya Filippovna is yet to be resolved. Myshkin himself merely experiences an uncomplicated joy in her presence and is mortified when she appears to be angry with him. Lizaveta Prokofyevna feels it is time to introduce the Prince to their aristocratic circle and a dinner party is arranged for this purpose, to be attended by a number of eminent persons. Aglaya, who does not share her parents' respect for these people and is afraid that Myshkin's eccentricity will not meet with their approval, tries to tell him how to behave, but ends by sarcastically telling him to be as eccentric as he likes, and to be sure to wave his arms about when he is pontificating on some high-minded subject and break her mother's priceless Chinese vase. Feeling her anxiety, Myshkin too becomes extremely anxious, but he tells her that it is nothing compared to the joy he feels in her company. He tries to approach the subject of Nastasya Filippovna again, but she silences him and hurriedly leaves.

For a while the dinner party proceeds smoothly. Inexperienced in the ways of the aristocracy, Myshkin is deeply impressed by the elegance and good humour of the company, unsuspicious of its superficiality. It turns out that one of those present—Ivan Petrovich—is a relative of his beloved benefactor Pavlishchev, and the Prince becomes extraordinarily enthusiastic. But when Ivan Petrovich mentions that Pavlishchev ended by giving up everything and going over to the Roman Catholic Church, Myshkin is horrified. He launches unexpectedly into an anti-Catholic tirade, claiming that it preaches the Antichrist and in its quest for political supremacy has given birth to Atheism. Everyone present is shocked and several attempts are made to stop or divert him, but he only becomes more animated. At the height of his fervor he begins waving his arms about and knocks over the priceless Chinese vase, smashing it to pieces. As Myshkin emerges from his profound astonishment, the general horror turns to amusement and concern for his health. But it is only temporary, and he soon begins another spontaneous discourse, this time on the subject of the aristocracy in Russia, once again becoming oblivious to all attempts to quell his ardour. The speech is only brought to an end by the onset of an epileptic seizure: Aglaya, deeply distressed, catches him in her arms as he falls. He is taken home, having left a decidedly negative impression on the guests.

The next day Ippolit visits the Prince to inform him that he and others (such as Lebedyev and Ganya) have been intriguing against him, and have been unsettling Aglaya with talk of Nastasya Filippovna. Ippolit has arranged, at Aglaya's request and with Rogozhin's help, a meeting between the two women. That evening Aglaya, having left her home in secret, calls for the Prince. They proceed in silence to the appointed meeting place, where both Nastasya Filippovna and Rogozhin are already present. It soon becomes apparent that Aglaya has not come there to discuss anything, but to chastise and humiliate Nastasya Filippovna, and a bitter exchange of accusations and insults ensues. Nastasya Filippovna orders Rogozhin to leave and hysterically demands of Myshkin that he stay with her. Myshkin, once again torn by her suffering, is unable to deny her and reproaches Aglaya for her attack. Aglaya looks at him with pain and hatred, and runs off. He goes after her but Nastasya Filippovna stops him desperately and then faints. Myshkin stays with her.

In accordance with Nastasya Filippovna's wish, she and the Prince become engaged. Public opinion is highly critical of Myshkin's actions toward Aglaya, and the Epanchins break off all relations with him. He tries to explain to Yevgeny Pavlovich that Nastasya Filippovna is a broken soul, that he must stay with her or she will probably die, and that Aglaya will understand if he is only allowed to talk to her. Yevgeny Pavlovich refuses to facilitate any contact between them and suspects that Myshkin himself is mad.

On the day of the wedding, a beautifully attired Nastasya Filippovna is met by Keller and Burdovsky, who are to escort her to the church where Myshkin is waiting. A large crowd has gathered, among whom is Rogozhin. Seeing him, Nastasya Filippovna rushes to him and tells him hysterically to take her away, which Rogozhin loses no time in doing. The Prince, though shaken, is not particularly surprised at this development. For the remainder of the day he calmly fulfills his social obligations to guests and members of the public. The following morning he takes the first train to Petersburg and goes to Rogozhin's house, but he is told by servants that there is no one there. After several hours of fruitless searching, he returns to the hotel he was staying at when he last encountered Rogozhin in Petersburg. Rogozhin appears and asks him to come back to the house. They enter the house in secret and Rogozhin leads him to the dead body of Nastasya Filippovna: he has stabbed her through the heart. The two men keep vigil over the body, which Rogozhin has laid out in his study.

Rogozhin is sentenced to fifteen years hard labor in Siberia. Myshkin goes mad and, through the efforts of Yevgeny Pavlovich, returns to the sanatorium in Switzerland. The Epanchins go abroad and Aglaya elopes with a wealthy, exiled Polish count who later is discovered to be neither wealthy, nor a count, nor an exile—at least, not a political exile—and who, along with a Roman Catholic priest, has turned her against her family.



Saturday, August 09, 2025

Jondelle (Dumarest #10) 3Stars

 

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: Jondelle
Series: Dumarest #10
Author: EC Tubb
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 209
Words: 56K
Publish: 1973


Sadly, the synopsis is an almost total lie. Dumarest is no closer to Earth here than he was in book two. Thankfully I didn’t read the synopsis before reading so I didn’t have a false set of expectations.

This is just like the previous nine books. Dumarest has adventures and is almost killed and kills other people while searching for Earth/Terra. At least this time there were no Cyclans involved. That was a plus.


Now we come to the covers. The reason I chose this abomination of a cover (oh my goodness folks, how BAD is that monstrosity?) is because the other main cover is of the flowery variety and shows Jondelle’s face but it makes him look like a girl so you think that “Jondelle” is the romantic interest like in previous books. That’s just sick and I don’t care why the publisher’s did what they did. I’ll have no part in a deception like that. So it was either this, showing Earl Dumarest as some sort of disfigured stick guy or that boring yellow cover from the SF Gateway line which is so boring that even paint drying is more exciting. Ahhh, the trials of a book reviewer.

I don’t know how I have survived this long. It might be because I’m so awesome. Maybe it is because I’m smarter than all the publishers and authors in existence. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because of who I am. Psssst, wanna know my secret identity? I’M BATMAN!!!!!!

Surprise! Betcha didn’t see THAT coming in this review, eh? And with that stunning revelation, I’ll leave you to contemplate life, the universe and everything.

★★★☆☆


From the Publisher

'Earth is real,' Dumarest insisted. 'A world old and scarred by ancient wars. The stars are few and there is a great single moon which hangs like a pale sun in the night sky.'

In the quest for his legendary birthplace, Earl Dumarest has traversed galaxies. Now, at least, he reaches Ourelle, a planet close to Earth - out along a far arm of the Milky Way. There he finds Jondelle, a boy who may hold the key to Earl's search.

But then Jondelle is kidnapped. And Dumarest's pursuit of the imperilled boy leads him to a city of paranoiac killers - madmen whose terrible violence is always on a hair-trigger!


Friday, August 08, 2025

[Art] The Summer Maiden

 

This completes the Maidens of the Year cycle. Maiden of Spring, now The Summer Maiden, then the Lady of the Fall and finally The Maiden of Christmas Solstice.

I like that the sunlight is that syrupy gold that just whispers of drowsy sleepiness as the insects drone in the background. It is so quiet you can hear the butterflies as they flap their wings. August is always the height of summer here. Hot, humid, sunny. Makes you want to sit on a porch swing and just look out over the landscape while your brain slumbers. 

Thursday, August 07, 2025

Wizardborn (Runelords #3) 2.5Stars

 

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: Wizardborn
Series: Runelords #3
Author: David Farland
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 477
Words: 148K
Publish: 2001



Sigh. This is not a good series and Farland isn’t a very good author. It doesn’t help at all that this is the book I was reading while in the ER and hospital while I was originally dealing with my eye palsy. I was stressed to the breaking point. But even with that, this just isn’t very good. There’s a reason why (besides Farland dying before finishing the series) this never became “the next big thing” in the literary fantasy world. Too many words and too many pages are used to describe completely unnecessary things. Which means Farland skimps on the things that actually DO matter.

I have one more book to finish this story arc in the series and then I’ll be done with it. I’m not staying until the bitter, unfinished, end. Just until this particular arc is done.

★★✬☆☆


From the Publisher

After Raj Ahten attempts to murder the Earth King at the end of Brotherhood of the Wolf, his men turn on him and declare him a marked man in his own kingdom of Indhopal. Raj Ahten, fleeing the battlefield and struggling with wounds inflicted to him by Binnesman's wylde, encounters some of his flameweavers, who warn him that his earthly body is dying from the Earth's curse. However, Raj Ahten has no time to waste, as word reaches him that the Lord of the Underworld himself has arisen in Kartish, and he races off to defend his people.

Meanwhile, Gaborn and his companions rest in the nearby village of Balington until dawn, when they will give chase to the fleeing Reaver horde. Binnesman, sensing strong Earth powers within Averan, promptly begins to train her, as well as train his own wylde, Spring. Binnesman also does his best to heal the injured Sir Borenson, and Gaborn, upon learning of Averan's special powers, hatches a plan to track down and extract information from the Waymaker, the only Reaver that knows the underworld path to the One True Master of the Reavers.

While Erin Connal and Prince Celinor travel north to gain support for the Earth King, Gaborn and his company move south, attacking and harassing the Reavers whenever possible. Borenson and Myrrima travel south towards Inkarra, to seek out Daylan Hammer, the Sum of All Men, and to ask the Storm King Zandaros for aid.

In a final battle, Gaborn and his warriors defeat the remaining Reavers, sending the few remaining creatures scuttling back into the underworld. Averan finds the Waymaker and learns from him the path to the One True Master, afterwards agreeing to lead Gaborn to him. Raj Ahten, after a disastrous battle against the Reavers in his own nation of Indhopal, manages to slay the Reaver Fell Mage, but his own life fails him. In order to remain in the world of the living, he gives himself to the element fire, transforming into Scathain, Lord of Ash. Borenson and Myrrima are attacked by wights on their journey to Inkarra, and Myrrima apparently dies from her wounds. Stunningly though, she comes back from near death, and we learn that she is in fact a water wizard.


Wednesday, August 06, 2025

Mrs Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha (Mrs Pollifax #7) 3.5Stars

 

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: Mrs Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha
Series: Mrs Pollifax #7
Author: Dorothy Gilman
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 166
Words: 58K
Publish: 1985



A good story, but ugh, two issues.

First, Mrs Pollifax is kidnapped and tortured. I was not happy with having that in this series. I don’t like women being tortured and I really don’t like older women being tortured. It wasn’t graphic, but the very idea really blunted my enjoyment.

Second, once again, was Gilman’s deliberate blind eye to how evil the Chinese Communist Party was/is. This story revolves around the silent civil war that went on between Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek after their deaths. The Nationalists (led by Kai-shek) were not good people. They were corrupt and despotic, like any other tyranny. Gilman focuses on that, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. My problem is that she deliberately turns a blind eye to the atrocities committed by Zedong and the Communists. Much like in “Mrs Pollifax on the China Station, Gilman sounds more like a propagandist for the Communists than anything else. I can’t turn a blind eye to that. I wondered about looking more into this, but so far, most of the time when I look into an author’s personal life, it doesn’t turn out well. I think I’ll save that for when I’ve finished the “Mrs P” series.

The story itself is filled with exciting twists and turns and Mrs P once again mostly figures things out using her outsiders perspective. Since she is now married, that adds a bit of tension as we get things from her husband’s perspective as well. Given that she was tortured and almost killed, and given how her superior (an agent named Carstairs) reacted to that, I don’t see how Mrs P won’t be forcibly retired. If I was her husband, torture is where I would draw the line. So I’m looking forward to how that conundrum is going to be solved, since we’re only at the halfway mark of the series :-D

★★★✬☆


From Wikipedia.org

Mrs. Pollifax flies on a moment's notice to Hong Kong, to contact Sheng Ti, whom she met in an earlier book, and find out what is going on at Feng Imports where Sheng Ti is working for an agent named Detwiler. Detwiler's reports to the CIA have proved to be false, so he is suspected of being a counterspy and giving evidence to the enemy. Mrs. Pollifax meets some other interesting characters, including a psychic and another old friend, who is a reformed cat burglar, while in pursuit of the truth about Feng Imports. She is captured and tortured, but prevails as always.



Tuesday, August 05, 2025

As You Wish (Non-fiction) 3.5Stars

 

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: As You Wish
Series: -----
Author: Cary Elwes & Joe Layden
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 244
Words: 79K
Publish: 2014



I chose this because Mrs B and I had recently rewatched the movie The Princess Bride and we enjoyed it so much (again!) that I decided to upgrade my dvd to a bluray. When you buy something on Amazon they immediately “suggest” other things you can also buy. This popped up and I was already looking for more non-fiction to add to my list, so voila! Here we are. The full title is “As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride”. I think you can understand why I didn’t include that subtitle :-)

If nonfiction books are coffee, that strong, bitter, scalding hot that perks you right up kind of reading, then this was a double latte mocha soy frappucino with whipped cream on top and caramel syrup with cinnamon sprinkles. It is “technically” still coffee, but the reality is something else. That perfectly describes this book. Frothy, sugary and light. It was yummy and delicious, but there wasn’t one dark bitter taste like coffee should have.

This was a fun read and considering everything, I can see why the authors went this route. They weren’t out to tell all or dish the dirt, but to enhance the positive about the movie. It does that job admirably. Elwes relates little anecdotes that will make rewatching the movie MORE fun as I’ll remember snippets here and there.

This was deliberately not a critical take on the movie production. I kind of wanted that because I always want the full picture of what went on in the past. But that’s not what this is, so I just had to shrug and accept it. I enjoyed it and had a good time, so it was in no way any kind of failure. It just wasn’t the kind of non-fiction I want to read very much of. I want something with a bit more weight.

★★★✬☆☆


From the Publisher

Standing on the stage for the twenty-fifth anniversary of The Princess Bride, I felt an almost overwhelming sense of gratitude and nostalgia. It was a remarkable night and it brought back vivid memories of being part of what appears to have become a cult classic film about pirates and princesses, giants and jesters, cliffs of insanity, and of course rodents of unusual size.

It truly was as fun to make the movie as it is to watch it, from getting to work on William Goldman's brilliant screenplay to being directed by the inimitable Rob Reiner. It is not an exaggeration to say that most days on set were exhilarating, from wrestling André the Giant, to the impossibility of playing mostly dead with Billy Crystal cracking jokes above me, to choreographing the Greatest Sword Fight in Modern Times with Mandy Patinkin, to being part of the Kiss That Left All the Others Behind with Robin Wright.

In this book I've gathered many more behind-the-scenes stories and hopefully answers to many of the questions we've all received over the years from fans. Additionally, Robin, Billy, Rob, and Mandy, as well as Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn, Fred Savage, Chris Sarandon, Carol Kane, Norman Lear, and William Goldman graciously share their own memories and stories from making this treasured film.

If you'd like to know a little more about the making of The Princess Bride as seen through the eyes of a young actor who got much more than he bargained for, along with the rest of this brilliant cast, then all I can say is...as you wish.


Monday, August 04, 2025

Hurkyl's Recall - MTG 4E

 

Drafna, that dawg. Somebody should punch him in the head for stealing his own wife's work. And then give him another punch in the head for hitting on his own student. Shame on Drafna!


Sunday, August 03, 2025

Behind the Death Ball 3.5Stars

 

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: Behind the Death Ball
Series: ----------
Editor: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 155
Words: 58K
Publish: 1974


Whenever I see August Derleth’s name in these collections, I grimace, because I know I am getting a “Solar Pons” story. Pons is a poorly executed Sherlock Holmes ripoff and Derleth’s story telling just isn’t up to the original. So I grit my teeth, read as fast as I can and try to get it done with, much like eating broccoli. Thankfully, other stories were much better.

Voodoo Doll had an ending I simply did not see coming. I WAS expecting the voodoo doll (it was going to be a toyline) to end up having real power, but when it was given to the little girl who always broke her toys, well, the story ends with one of the creators sitting in a chair while his head is on the other side of the room. It was absolutely ghoulish :-D

The Hitchhikers was also rather ghoulish. It had something like 4-5 double crosses within the story and it was like getting walloped with a couple of left-right-left-right-right in the boxing ring. I did see the final double cross coming, but it was so obvious that I didn’t feel “clever” knowing it was coming. It had that “inevitable” feel more than anything.

The Fat Jow stories, unlike the Solar Pons, are always a good read. I suspect Fat Jow is a ripoff of Charlie Chan, but I am not familiar enough with Chan to know for sure. Jow is a student of human nature and the stories just kind of flow, not a lot of drama. But they still have kick and I like that.

The final story, The Ghost & Mr. Grebner, was amusing, quiet and yet possibly horrific. It didn’t strike me as horrific when I read it, unlike The Hitchhikers. In fact, I thought it was a gentle, amusing end to the collection. A widower is contemplating marriage to a widow and his dead wife’s ghost appears to him and tells him “no”. He argues with the ghost in that distracted, old man way and the ghost goes away. Mr Grebner proposes and leaves the building. Once he gets to the street, he sees a crowd clustered around a body that obviously came from the apartment he was just in. And it ends. So we’re left with that ambiguity of did the ghost somehow force the widow out the window? Is Mr Grebner completely insane and he threw the widow out the window? Is he having hallucinations about everything? We simply don’t know. The entire story is written in that distracted old man way. He doesn’t question talking to his wife’s ghost, he’s more concerned about what is for dinner. It’s a very mellow story and I thought it was a great book end to this collection.

★★★✬☆


Publisher’s Blurb & Table of Contents
Any artist is only as good as his audience. That master orchestrator of terror, Alfred Hitchcock, is no exception. What good is his fearful brand of fiendish fun if he's no nerves to twist, no teeth to set chattering, no vocal chords to strum into high notes of terrified hysteria? That’s where you come in, dear reader. Just put yourself in his skillful hands. He’ll give you a screaming good time with personally selected stories & novelettes by masters of menace & the macabre


1. Perfect Shot-Lawrence Treat

2. The Amateur Philologist-August Derleth

3. The Glint-Arthur Porges

4. The Seventh Man-Helen Nielsen

5. Voodoo Doll-Henry Slesar

6. A Friendly Exorcise-Talmage Powell

7. Many Women Too Many-C.B. Gilford

8. Till Death-Fletcher Flora

9. The Hitchhikers-Bruce Hunsberger

10. Store Cop-Ed Lacy

11. Doom Signal-John Lutz

12. See What’s in the Bag-Hal Ellson

13. Fat Jow & the Walking Woman-Robert Alan Blair

14. The Ghost & Mr. Grebner-Syd Hoff




Friday, August 01, 2025

A Kiss Before Dying (Standalone) 1.5Stars

 

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 Kiss Before Dying
Series: ----------
Author: Ira Levin
Rating: 1.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 268
Words: 79K
Publish: 1953



I hated almost every second of this book. It was Levin’s debut novel and while his talent was top notch, his choice of material made me sick. We follow the trail of a psychopath as he murders his way through a family because he’s trying to marry into said family for their money. What really set me off was the first murder, where the main character pushes his pregnant girlfriend off of a tall building. That’s when I knew I was in for a bad time.

I think I reacted so strongly against this book because more attention is given to Bud Corliss, the murderer than anything. While some may claim that Levin isn’t glorifying such behavior because Corliss dies at the end, I find that fatuous given that Levin decided to make Bud the main character. It made me sick when we got into Bud’s head.

I regret reading this and I will be assiduously avoiding Levin’s works from here on out.

★✬☆☆☆


From Wikipedia

Burton “Bud” Corliss is a young man with a ruthless drive to rise above his working-class origins to a life of wealth and importance. He serves in the Pacific in World War II, and upon his honorable discharge in 1947 he learns that his father was killed in an automobile accident while he was overseas.

The most pivotal moment in his life occurs during the war, when he first wounds, then kills, a Japanese sniper, who is so terrified that he wets his pants and begs for mercy. Corliss is elated by the total power he holds over the soldier; at the same time, he is disgusted by the man's display of abject terror.

Upon returning to the U.S., he enrolls in college and meets Dorothy Kingship, the daughter of a wealthy copper tycoon. Seeing an opportunity to attain the riches he has always craved, he becomes Dorothy's lover. When she tells him she is pregnant, however, he panics; he is sure that her stern, conservative father will disinherit her. Resolving to get rid of Dorothy, he tricks her into writing a letter that, to an unknowing observer, would look like a suicide note, and then throws her from the roof of a tall building. He runs no risk of getting caught, having urged Dorothy to keep their relationship a secret from her family and friends. He continues to live with his mother, who dotes on him and has no clue as to what he has done.

Corliss lies low for a few months until the press coverage of Dorothy's death has subsided. Then he pursues Dorothy's sister, Ellen, who does not know he was Dorothy's boyfriend. The romance is going according to plan until Ellen begins to probe into Dorothy's death, convinced her sister did not kill herself. Eventually, Ellen uncovers the truth about Corliss and confronts him. Corliss nonchalantly confesses to the crime and kills Ellen as well.

Unfazed by this setback, Corliss courts the last remaining Kingship daughter, Marion. This affair is the most successful; Corliss sweeps her off her feet and charms her father, and soon he and Marion are engaged.

Local college DJ Gordon Gant, who met Ellen during her investigation of Dorothy's death, begins investigating the case, and is immediately suspicious of Corliss. He breaks into Corliss' childhood home and steals a written plan for meeting and seducing Marion to get her family's money. Days before the wedding, he shows up at the Kingship family home and presents Marion and her father with the evidence of Corliss' deception.

Marion, her father, and Gant all corner Corliss during a visit to one of the Kingship family's copper manufacturing plants, threatening to push him into a vat of molten copper unless he confesses his crimes. When they refuse to believe his protestations of innocence, Corliss panics and wets his pants – just as the Japanese soldier, his symbol of pathetic cowardice, had done. He begins to confess, then, delirious with fear and shame, falls to his death in the vat below. The accusers, whose threat was only a bluff, return home in shock. They face the prospect of explaining the incident to Corliss' mother.


Thursday, July 31, 2025

July '25 Roundup & Ramblings

 


Raw Data:

Novels - 14 ↑

Short Stories - 1 ↑

Manga/Graphic Novels - 1 -

Comics - 1 -

Average Rating - 3.06 ↓

Pages - 3044 ↓

Words - 1059K ↓


The Bad:

Usagi Yojimbo: Samurai - 2stars of realizing I'm done with comics and graphic novels in general

Tide of Unmaking - 1.5stars of young adultness


The Good:

Homicide Trinity - 4stars of Nero Wolf novellas

The Monster Hunter Files - 4stars of monster hunting short stories


Miscellaneous Posts:


Personal:

Batten down the hatches, Hurricane Blabbericus has arrived!

This month was completely taken over by me having a "6th Optic Nerve Palsy" in my left eye. Basically, one of the muscles froze up (it happens to type 1 diabetics) and my left eye couldn't track with my right, which gave me double vision. Thankfully, all of the tests came back clean, so it wasn't because of a mini-stroke or anything. It just happened. But I spent a day and a half in the ER and then 2 weeks of trying to get some doctor to give me a plain diagnosis. Thankfully, the eye specialist I see did an admirable job of explaining it all to me.

I have to wear an eyepatch on my left eye, because the double vision makes me nauseous, like perpetual motion sickness. Thankfully, the eyepatch takes care of that. It does mean I can't drive, I can't use sharp instruments and I can't do anything to jar my head (like walk through the woods and fall down), so I have been out of work all month. Originally, the eye doctor said I could probably go back to work mid-August, but after a follow up visit, she said the recovery was slower than initially expected so I will now be out of work until the end of August.

I do have short term disability through work, but that has been a nightmare. First they sent me the wrong paperwork and the insurance company rejected my claim out of hand, but didn't tell me or the HR person. It wasn't until I started calling (almost 2 weeks later) that I found this out and got the correct paperwork. The problem is, there are 3 different sections, one for me, one for my employer and one for the doctor. The first two are easy to get filled out, but getting the eye doctor to refill the paperwork is going to be something else, just because of how busy and swamped they are. But I'm hoping to get that taken care of next week.

Not being able to drive and be independent is a real killer. Thankfully, because I use an ereader, my reading hasn't suffered. My blogging didn't (on my own site) because of how far ahead I schedule. I was emotionally raw all month and it didn't take much to set me off online. I tried to minimize such times though by not going online as much, which did help. But there were a few times where I just blew up in a comments section, not a time I'm proud of :-( I burned a bridge or two, and I know I'll regret in the next couple of months, but right now, I don't have the emotional skin left to think anything more than this about it.

Speaking of bloggy things Wordpress.com also switched Ad partners. That led to a lot of problems, mainly that the partner they were using used scam ads and redirects and other scum moves. Here are the various posts on the Official Wordpress.com Support Forum talking about it. The "staff" (who I am not convinced are human any more) assured everyone it was all taken care of, but it obviously wasn't. It mainly hit the free blogs and many wondered if it was a pressure tactic by Wordpress.com to get the free people to upgrade to a paid plan. Several days later the complaints stopped coming in, so I assume the issue was fixed. But it never should have happened in the first place.

On the positive side of things, we took our car to a different mechanic and he passed it for inspection without any of the issues the first mechanic said the car had. Obviously, somebody was lying. But that means the car is set for another year, so one less stresser on my shoulders at the moment.


Plans for Next Month:

Read. I expect my reviews will be either a bit harsher than normal or shorter, given how I was feeling when writing them.


Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Atomic Conquerors 3Stars

 

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: Atomic Conquerors
Series: -----
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 38
Words: 12K
Publish: 1927



You know, it is really nice to just dive into a little novella. Hamilton gives us the very spare basics and then it’s over. I’m good with that. Lean, sparse, just the way I like it. I don’t want everything I read to be like that, but I would appreciate if more authors would get off of themselves and start cutting their bloated corpse of a book down to size to just tell the story.

Of course, I don’t think stories like this would fly any more. These were written for magazines and people just aren’t reading magazines any more. So I will gladly read these, enjoy them but I won’t be wishing to go back in time or that all authors would be like this nowadays.
★★★☆☆


From Bookstooge

A mad scientist discovers a sub-atomic civilization, unleashes it upon the world, whereupon said invaders invade Super-Space and they get their butts kicked and flee back to sub-atomic world. Super-Space aliens then seal them away and humanity goes on its way, barely knowing what it avoided.



Tuesday, July 29, 2025

Into the Breach (Empire Rising #15) 3.5Stars

 

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: Into the Breach
Series: Empire Rising #15
Author: David Holmes
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 396
Words: 151K
Publish: 2022



The adventures continue. I am at book 15 in the series and the characterization remains exactly the same as the first book. But unlike that Helldiver’s “Lost Years, it doesn’t bother me. I don’t know why and I’m not going to dig too deep lest I disturb something that is better left buried, like the Balrog in the Mines of Moria.

Humanity has its back to the wall, again (for about the 6th or 7th time) and yet no one is giving up or despairing. They are determined to fight to the bitter end and no one is off in the corner whining or feeling angsty about it. They don’t have time. I LIKE that kind of attitude in the characters I am reading about.

I think that might be the secret ingredient. Hope. Not necessarily grit and determination on its own, but the Hope that drives it. I’m a sucker for Hope, even in stories about humans fight giant alien wolf spiders ;-)




★★★✬☆


From the Publisher
Once again, the Flex-aor have rained down nuclear holocaust on Humanity. Led by their escaped High Queen Ala’ron, their fleet poses a deadly threat to every Human colony. Lacking the ships to defend all their borders, the Imperial Fleet has no choice but to hunt down Ala’ron as quickly as possible. Tasked with this mission, Emilie and Georgia will find Ala’ron to be far more cunning than they realise.

Yet the High Queen is but the beginning of the problems coming Humanity’s way. Sent on what is supposed to be a safe exploration mission, Jonathan and Achilles will soon discover there are greater forces than even the Flex-aor arrayed against Humanity. Mysterious new adversaries with a wealth of intelligence on the Imperial Navy threaten the Empire right at the moment the Karacknid Civil War appears to be coming to an end.

Surrounded by enemies on three fronts, the Imperial Fleet and its commanders will be stretched to their breaking point and beyond. Only by charging into the breach and facing their enemy’s most powerful forces can there be any hope of winning out. Yet attempting such a decisive move will incur a cost in ships and blood the Empire cannot afford.



Monday, July 28, 2025

Howling Mine - MTG 4E

 

In Magic, drawing extra cards is one of the top things you want to do. Card Draw is King, you might say. So a card like this is fantastic.

EXCEPT

It also gives your opponent card draw. Which is bad, very bad. As I found out every time I tried to play this card. I always got the short end of the Card Draw stick when I played this, so I ended up giving up on it. Even when I coupled it with Black Vise and jammed in 4 Howling Mines and 4 Black Vises, I lost every time. Looking back, I think it was because I wasn't a very good player ;-)


Sunday, July 27, 2025

Spaceballs 2 Trailer

Spaceballs 2: The Schwartz Awakens

 

I have never done a trailer post for a movie before. I think they are a waste of time, are about a subject (movies) that deserve zero attention and are for people who aren't disciplined enough to read a book, ie, the troglodytes amongst us.

But when a GREAT movie gets a sequel after 40 years, I think that is cause to do a post about. So without further ado, here is the trailer for Spaceballs 2, the greatest sequel nobody wanted!




ps,

I found this because Mrs B and I were wondering if Mel Brooks was even still alive and I went and googled it. And lo and behold, this was the top hit. 

Friday, July 25, 2025

The Lost Years (Hell Divers #1.5) 3Stars

 

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 Lost Years
Series: Hell Divers #1.5
Author: Nicholas Smith
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 79
Words: 25K
Publish: 2024



Hell Divers was written in 2016 and then Smith wrote a bunch more novels in the series. Then apparently in 2024 he wrote a novella chronicling what happened to X after the events from the first book and before the second one. I did not pay attention until AFTER the fact and so have read this out of publication order. I am a big fan of publication order, because it means you are reading the series as the author “intended” it to be.

This felt exactly the same as Hell Divers in terms of Smith’s writing ability. Even though 8 years had passed in the real world and Smith had written many more books, I never would have known by the writing that this wasn’t written two days after the first book. Smith can’t write characterization to save his life. X is the same hunk of plastic that he was in the first book. Now, sometimes that doesn’t matter and to some people, it doesn’t matter at all. I have found, and am finding, that it “can” matter to me. Most of the time I don’t care for a plastic piece being ham handedly moved from Point A to Point Q. In this series, I am finding that it does matter to me. I don’t like X, at all. I don’t care if he saves a puppy at the end, he’s still just a piece of plastic, nothing more and that bothers me.

Now, I like all the action and that is what is keeping this from getting 2.5stars, but I must say, I’m going to need Smith to up his writing game in Book 2 to continue the series.

The problem is, since Book 2 was written before this novella, and I noticed zero improvement, I have a VERY bad feeling the next Hell Diver book will be my last. I’m withholding judgement just to be on the safe side. Writers have surprised me in the past, so it could happen again.

*fingers crossed

★★★☆☆


From the Publisher

 he was Commander Xavier “X” Rodriguez—with ninety-six dives under his belt, the most experienced Hell Diver on the airship known as the Hive. Time after time, he dived through the electrical storms, returning with parts to keep his home in the sky. Then, on a jump into Hades, the most hostile environment in North America, he sacrificed everything for mission and team. They returned to the airship with the fuel cells needed to keep the Hive running, but X was left behind.

This is the story of how he becomes the last man on Earth. His will drives him to keep fighting, to survive the monsters and the radiation in the wastes, to find a way back home. But as the days pass, he feels the things that make him human slipping away. He has become a waif, a phantom, with little to live for. Then he stumbles upon something that makes him feel again.

This is the chronicle of those lost years, told for the first time ever.


The Idiot (The Russians) 2Stars

  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...