I have never seen the movie The Last of the Mohicans. But I heard the soundtrack back in the 90’s and immediately bought the cd. Ever since, it has been a staple in my (admittedly sparse) musical repertoire.
It has also led to one of those situations that married couples will find happening to them after being together for years. I don’t know how it started, but whenever we have a favorite food and one of us is about to devour the last of it, I’ll just randomly break out with “The Last of the Delicious Food X!” and start booming away with this theme song. It’s funny because we can always just buy more of whatever we’re eating on our next grocery run 🙂
But sometimes, like today, it’s not funny. Because food items stop being made if they’re not popular enough. And when you come to the last one, it is a very bittersweet moment. You are filled with the goodness of the item being devoured but sad on the inside because you know you’ll never be able to consume it again.
So it is with those very mixed feelings that I present the Last of the Pineapple Coconut Rockstar Recovery! I have eulogized this before, in the form of An Ode to Energy Drinks, but now I must mourn. As this post goes live at 0500 Eastern Standard Time, I will be sitting on my couch, reading all of your posts, slowly, ever so slowly, sipping the last can of this delicious nectar. So rejoice with me as I savor the delicious flavor and mourn with me as I know this is the last I will ever taste this nectar.
♪ ♪ ♪♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪♪ ♪
Pineapple Coconut Rockstar Recovery, I who am about to drink you, salute you!
Today is the day that Americans are supposed to give Thanks to God for the many blessings they have received over the past year, whether they deserved them or not. In this day and age of Hyper-Commercialism, Uncertainty and Fear, it is all the more important.
If you haven’t figured it out yet (or read my About page), I’m a committed Christian. In this context, it means that I’m specifically giving thanks to Jesus Christ and not just some idea of a greater power. So without further ado, here are the things I am thankful for.
First and foremost, among the people and things I am thankful for, Mrs B continues to top the list. As I swing on the pendulum of my emotions, as Life is Greater than Great one moment and Horribly Horrible the next, she is always there to remind me that they are just my feelings and do not reflect the reality of the situation. She sees my blind spots and makes sure I don’t crash as I’m driving through life. I can’t ask for more in a loving wife.
I am very thankful for my pastor and church family. They continue to remind me that my goal in life is to be like Jesus and to be a faithful witness for Him. They encourage me when I’m not doing that so well and rejoice with me when I am. They are kind and show the love of Christ by their actions to both me and Mrs B. The Bible is taught every week and I’m never getting some feel good message, but the Scripture itself.
With all of our health issues, I am very thankful for our doctors and various medical practitioners and their application of knowledge upon ourselves. I do not take this for granted at all.
On a lighter note, I am thankful for magic cards and the fun they represent in my life. Whether it is showing off the cards of my youth here on the blog, or playing a game over whatsapp with “those continental guys”, I have fun with this game. Being thankful for the little things is just as important as being thankful for the big things.
Finally, what would a thankful post from Bookstooge be without a salute to our favoritest drink ever, that delicious nectar from heaven, Eggnog? Yeah, that’s the stuff!
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 Fearless Series: Conan the Barbarian Author: Steve Perry Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Fantasy Pages: 176 Words: 62K
Each author that has authored multiple Conan stories seems to bring their own slant to things. Perry is definitely all about the monsters and over the top sorcerers and rather silly naming conventions.
In this, the sorcerer is trying to collect all four children of the elements (gotta catch’em all!) and create (and I will quote here) “The Thing of Power”. How original, how amazing, how powerful. /sarcasm. I knocked off a whole star just for that ultra mega totally stupid name. I mean, latinize or greekenize it for goodness sake, don’t be so flipping lazy!
As for the sorcerer, he is one of the Black Square sorcerers and he is opposed by one of the last remaing White Square sorcerers. If you know your Conan lore, or are even semi-familiar with it, you’ll know that the Sorcerers of the Black Circle are a much feared group in the world. One of the original stories by Howard is entitled “People of the Black Circle”. I reviewed it here in fact:
It was with actual disgust that I saw Perry’s bastardization. I mean, come on! Write like you care more than a plugged nickels’ worth, you sot.
All of the storylines were weak and I’m afraid this little venture into the 5 or 6 stories by Perry about Conan will be some of the weakest I’ve read so far. Stories like this are why Conan had/has a bad name as a franchise fiction series. You might wonder why such a rugged adventurer as myself would continue with such weaksauce but that is because my literary thews are tougher than iron. I will forge on, unafraid and totally victorious. And I will bash the ever living daylights out of these books by Perry until they collapse in defeat at my muscular calves, clad in boot cut jeans.
★★✬☆☆
From Wikipedia
Conan finds himself in the Corinthian city of Mornstadinos, after he enlists as a bodyguard defending a magician and Eldia, a girl who has control over fire elementals, against an evil mage named Sovartus. Sovartus is collecting such elemental whisperers and already has the other three. He wants Eldia to complete his set. This brings Conan into conflict with a host of other threats as well, including a demon employed by Sovartus and the witch Djuvula, who happens to be the demon’s half-sister, the rich senator Lemparius, who’s actually a were-panther, an avaricious thief named Loganaro, and various monsters. Plots and counter-plots build up to a climax at Sovartus’ stronghold.
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: Empire’s Doom Series: Empire Rising #8 Author: David Holmes Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: SF Pages: 426 Words: 166K
Normally with this series, I write a comedic (for me) review where I mock everyone’s name and make light of all of the circumstances. This won’t be happening for this volume and if the future books are as serious, I’ll simply be reviewing these as any other series.
This was a brutal book. While it was obvious what Holmes was doing, it didn’t mean it didn’t hit me any less hard. James’ wife Susannah dying partway through hit me like an express train. Especially since it was all politically motivated by scumbag politicians. If I had been James, I’d have taken my proto-space navy and nuked Earth myself.
Which brings up the ending where the aliens do just that. In the little chapter headings where the writer of the history (ie, this book, in the year 3000) blabs, it was always evident to any halfway observant reader that this event was going to happen. It wasn’t a surprise and for that I am glad, because I don’t know if I could have handled reading about Earth getting nuked 1800 times with no forewarning. The anguish that James feels as he watches it happen was as real to me as anything could be. I could imagine it, because it would be like September 11, just on a world wide scale. What keeps it from being overwhelming, emotionally, is the knowledge that the Empire arises from this and that humanity isn’t broken.
It also made me grin because the aliens assume that this event will break the Spirit of Humanity and that we won’t be in the fight as the Bad Aliens go to fight the Good Aliens. All I could think was “Oh boy, we are SO going to kick their butts!” The Bad Aliens were just as self-centered and egotistical as you could wish for in an Enemy of Humanity. It will be a joy to see them destroyed. None of this “Fear of the Other” bullshit that I see waved around like a white flag of social surrender as we try to understand the poor dears who just nuked us, because really, they have feelings too and aren’t really bad, just misunderstood. *&^%% that. These aliens want us dead or enslaved and will accept nothing else.
So I am looking forward to more of this series as Humanity gets off the ground and starts swinging in the big space bar room brawl that the bad aliens started. I’m hoping for some serious haymakers…
★★★✬☆
From Bookstooge.blog
The UN ignores James’ warning about the invading aliens. He begins preparing for the inevitable invasion even though this means breaking all existing laws. He is helped by a large group of individuals and groups that believe his message and expect the worst.
On the run and hunted, James must begin a proto-defense force that is strong enough to defend Earth and to help their alien allies.
James’ wife Susanna is killed by the UN in a bungled attempt to arrest her as bait for James. The aliens arrive and despite the best efforts of the UN Navy and James’ adhoc space navy, the Earth is nuked hundreds of times. The book ends with the aliens retreating, sure that the destruction of our homeworld will have broken humanity’s spirit. Oh how little they know.
When I popped this into the blurayer player to watch it with Mrs B, we both thought it was going to be another movie version like the 1995 version. So imagine our surprise when up popped a menu with Episodes 1-7. We looked at each other and immediately decided to watch just one episode a night.
We made the right choice.
I can’t say this was a horrible production, but one episode a night was all we could handle. It was from the BBC and they used their usual cast of ugly people. Why the BBC makes these kind of choices is beyond me.
In many respects this felt like a stage play instead of a movie. The actors spoke their lines to each other instead of having conversations naturally. Even how they moved and their body language felt like they were posing. It was uncomfortable to watch and wasn’t something we looked forward to.
We came to Friday night and had 3 episodes left. We were planning on watching our usual one episode and double up on Saturday. I had eaten two eclairs and the sugar coursing through my veins gave me an unparalleled amount of fake courage. With Mrs B’s blessing, we powered through the final 3 episodes. The series ended with neither of the Miss Dashwoods actually being married, nor even engaged. It was all implied that it was going to happen. Which given the whole issue is that Willoughby didn’t give his word to Marianne, seems to go against everything they were trying to show. It was a very anticlimactic ending.
We were both happy it was over and I have zero interest in ever rewatching it. Not a terrible experience but this version is not one I’d ever recommend anyone ever watch. I wish I could have kinder, more positive things to say, but I can’t and I don’t. I don’t even want to go into more details, sigh.
The gist seems to be to pick a book or series on your TBR shelf and write about it as a way to get you to either read it or toss it in the eternal battle of trying to trim our TBR’s. This month I chose the Warlock Holmes series by Gabriel Denning. Here’s the blurb from the first book, A Study in Brimstone:
Sherlock Holmes is an unparalleled genius. Warlock Holmes is an idiot. A font of arcane power, certainly. But he’s brilliantly dim. Frankly, he couldn’t deduce his way out of a paper bag. The only thing he has really got going for him are the might of a thousand demons and his stalwart companion. Thankfully, Dr. Watson is always there to aid him through the treacherous shoals of Victorian propriety… and save him from a gruesome death every now and again.
I saw this when it came out in 2016 but I had just begun my “Don’t start a series until it is finished policy” and so I was determined to wait until the series ended. As each book came out, I made sure I had access to them and added them to my TBR pile, but never read them. I had high hopes though, as Denning was pumping them out one a year and in 2020 released the 5th book, The Finality Problem. Apparently, it ends in a massive cliffhanger and left fans drooling for more.
And here we are, three years later, with nary a word nor a peep nor even a hint from the author that he has any inclination or monetary carrot to carry on. This series has been on my TBR since 2017 when Mogsy from Bibliosanctum reviewed it.
Since this has been the first book on my Long TBR, and it has been 6 years, I have come to a decision. Either Denning gets his backside back in the game and puts out the next, and it better be the FINAL, book in 2024 or I’ll just wipe this series from my Calibre TBR Library. There are too many books for me to mess around with some author who doesn’t have his head screwed on right any more.
Now that’s Shelf Control! No messing around, no excuses, no mercy. Just Pure Sweet Bookstooge Justice, meted out with an iron fist!
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: Double Z Series: The Shadow #11 Authors: Maxwell Grant Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Crime Fiction Pages: 188 Words: 60K
Good stuff. As I noted at the beginning of the month:
I really liked the cover. We will see what else the month holds, but I suspect this will earn that coveted (oh so coveted!) award of Cover Love of the Month. Doesn’t get much more honorable than that, let me tell you!
The story itself was pretty good too. We get another “Agent” of the Shadow introduced. At this point I’m not even trying to remember who is who, I just read “Character Agent X” and nod my head and continue reading. The Shadow faces off against an old Chinese guy who has a booby trapped house and that was pretty cool. Sadly, Old Chinese Guy isn’t Double Z. He should have been though. He has the booby trapped house. He has poisons. He has a young protege. He has underworld connections. So of course Double Z turns out to be some disgruntled, too rich, businessman. It was kind of anti-climactic to find out it was him. I mentally went “Really, that guy? He’s not even oatmeal, much less Villain of the Month Flavor”. Thankfully, I got all the flavor I needed with Old Chinese Guy. Soy sauce baby!
Another successful entry in the Shadow series. I recommend this series if you like pulp stories.
★★★✬☆
From Bookstooge.blog
Double Z, a mysterious underworld figure, has leaked information to the police about people who are going to get killed. Now he has decided to move into the game himself, thus setting himself on a collision course with The Shadow. Utilizing the services of corrupt old chinese triad leader, Double Z intends on being the one to survive that collision.
In the end, Double Z is unmasked as a bored businessman with too much time on his hands and not brains in his skull. The Shadow and his servants prevail and Right is Victorious.
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 Devil’s Hand Series: Terminal List #4 Author: Jack Carr Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: Action/Adventure Pages: 466 Words: 138K
James Reece takes on embedded terrorists, a manufactured super plague and a senator who wants him dead. He overcomes all and saves the day. What a surprise! I was totally shocked.
While I had nothing in particular against this book, or even this series, I am just not THAT into fiction written by or about special forces. Too detailed and specs out the wazoo that don’t mean a thing to me as a casual reader. I’ve given this series four books and that’s enough of my time.
I didn’t particularly care about the story and nothing about Reece makes me want to stay along for the ride. He’s no longer terminal, he’s past losing his wife and daughter and he’s moved on. Now he’s just a special forces guy. And I like Mitch Rapp better, even the version written by Kyle Mills. So adios Reece, time for the door to hit you where the Good Lord split you.
★★★☆☆
From OfficialJackCarr.com
follows former Navy SEAL James Reece as he is entrusted with a top-secret CIA mission of retribution twenty years in the making.
It’s been twenty years since 9/11. Two decades since the United States was attacked on home soil and embarked on twenty years of war. The enemy has been patient, learning, and adapting. And the enemy is ready to strike again.
A new president offers hope to a country weary of conflict. He’s a young, popular, self-made visionary…but he’s also a man with a secret.
Halfway across the globe a regional superpower struggles with sanctions imposed by the Great Satan and her European allies, a country whose ancient religion spawned a group of ruthless assassins. Faced with internal dissent and extrajudicial targeted killings by the United States and Israel, the Supreme Leader puts a plan in motion to defeat the most powerful nation on earth.
Meanwhile, in a classified facility five stories underground, a young PhD student has gained access to a level of bioweapons known only to a select number of officials. A second-generation agent, he has been assigned a mission that will bring his adopted homeland to its knees.
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: Hedges Series: ———- Author: Jerry Jenkins Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Genre: Christian Self-help Pages: 173 Words: 50K
Part One was warning stories and showing how even good Christians can be taken unaware. It was nothing new to me but was a very good reminder of how little things can be turned into big things, so stop them when they are still little.
Jenkins also talks about what the Bible says about protecting your marriage. It came across like he was writing to people who had never read the Bible. Which I guess, sadly, is the case in too many Christian’s lives. I found myself repeating “Well duh, of course the Bible says that.”
Finally, in part one, he talks about how people willfully blind themselves to their actions and the consequences of those actions. He points out how much damage is done by people just doing what they want instead of what they know they should.
Part Two is where he discusses some of the hedges he has planted over the years in his life (he was about 40 when he originally wrote this). He outlines why he did each one and references earlier warning stories to show where the lack of a hedge leads to.
I found almost everything he wrote about were things I was already doing. Whether from my upbringing and training in the KCM church or my own innate inability to be around people long term, I was doing and had been doing, since my early 20’s. Most of it seemed like common sense to be honest, but once again Jenkins seems to be writing to people who have never thought about the subject. I guess I was hoping for something new and startling. That’s the problem with a lot of these Christian books, they are talking to the lowest common denominator and I wanted more. Of course, living the way I have, and do, has saved me from so much trouble and problems. I need to be thankful for that blessing.
It was a good refresher course though, to be reminded to keep on cultivating those hedges and to not let them wither and die away. Jenkins also talked about some of the positive, proactive hedges he has put in place, like remembering the good times and spending enough time together. Some hedges are passive while others require an active participation on our part. I was glad to read those bits.
The Final Part was dealing with with families with kids and some of the things a father can and should do regarding their kids to prepare them for their own marriages.
This was a very personal and personable book. Jenkins unapologetically makes his statements to men. This is a book by a man, about men, for men. It took me back at first, as we’re so used to things being for everyone nowadays, but it was refreshing. Men need to be active in their relationships and they need advice tailored to them. It is why mentoring is so important.
Overall, this was a good book but it did not have as much “new to me” info as I was hoping. A solid 4star book and one I would highly recommend to any man, the younger the better. It also adds a notch to my Non-fiction belt. I’m pretty proud of that fact. ~does the Rocky victory lap~
