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: Shadowed Millions Series:
The Shadow #21 Authors: Maxwell Grant Rating:
3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Crime Fiction Pages:
142 Words: 44K Publish: 1932
The amount of money involved in this story was
10million dollars. I used one of those online inflation calculators
and in terms of today’s money, it is about 235million, almost a
quarter billion dollars. Can you imagine a group of people handing
over a quarter billion in cash and bonds to one man, on the strength
of his word and some papers “certifying” that he’s the guy to
work with. No oversight, no triple checks, no one accompanying him. I
don’t know if the world has changed that much (I suspect it has)
but the thought of trusting someone I don’t know with a quarter
billion is more than I can imagine.
It is all complicated by the fact that the
Carrier has something shady going on and we as the readers do not
know if he’s actually trustworthy or not. Right up until the very
end in fact. I rather enjoyed that ambivalence.
Of course there is a shadow’y mastermind in
the background, but par for the course, The Shadow is one step ahead,
if not two or three. I was never in doubt about the outcome, but how
it would play out was another matter completely. That’s part of
why I enjoy these pulp stories so much.
The Shadow wins. The End.
★★★✬☆
From
Bookstooge
A
group of Capitalists stake 10million on a small South American
Country for exclusive mineral rights. The carrier of said 10million
appears to have his own agenda. At the same time, the carrier appears
to be involved with powerful men who don’t want the country to
succeed. It’s up to The Shadow to make sure the 10million gets to
where it is going. Along the way there will be fisticuffs, gunfights
and general mayhem.
Carteggio is translated as "Correspondence" in English. The front cover has a page from Verdi's letters, hence the name.
I am particularly keen on these yellow/gold covers from Paperblanks. So far I have this one, Maya Angelou's, Verne's and Cervante's. There are one or two more I'd like to get and I'm sure Paperblanks will be bringing more out in the future. I can wait :-D
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:
Blood Debt Series: Victor the Assassin
#11 Author: Tom Wood Rating: 4 of 5
Stars Genre: Action/Adventure Pages:
328 Words: 98K Publish: 2023
Victor
is a consummate professional and I absolutely love that about these
books. That aspect is brought into sharp focus near the end of the
book when Victor is facing off against an assassin who fought him to
a draw earlier in the book. The other assassin is just as good as
Victor but when he gets the upper hand, he begins bragging about how
he’s always wanted to test himself against Victor to prove that he
was the better assassin. Victor uses this tiny distraction to kill
the guy, because he’s not allowing his emotions to control him
during this time.
Very.
Slow. Clap.
I
read the previous book, Traitor,
almost a year and a half ago. I was wondering if there was going to
be any friction with sliding back into this world but I needn’t
have worried. Wood does an admirable job of bringing the reader up to
date without spending more than a couple of paragraphs on the
subject. In epic fantasy series, I appreciate a whole prologue
bringing me up to date, as it may have been up to 5 years between
books. But for a series like this where Wood has been banging out the
books steadily since 2010, that is simply unnecessary. We get a quick
reminder of why Victor is working for the Russian Mob Boss and then
we move on. Quick, efficient and economical. Much like Victor himself
in fact.
I
gave this book the “Favorite” tag. I didn’t do that because I
thought that this book was particularly stronger than any of the
previous ones (although A
Quiet Man was pretty pansified) but because at book 11, I am
still loving this series, very much. Just like when I began bumping
up my ratings for the Nero Wolfe books, it is time to acknowledge
that I look forward to these books and thoroughly enjoy them. That’s
what my ‘Favorite’ tag is all about, books that I enjoy the most.
At some point I will be going through and re-reading the series and I
hope it will live up to the test. Victor the Assassin has withstood
many attacks over the years, so I have high hopes that he’ll
survive Bookstooge too.
★★★★☆
From
Bookstooge
Victor
is working off his debt to a Russian mob boss. At the books start, he
has just finished a job that gives him his freedom. On his way back
to report everything, he interrupts an assassin who has killed the
Russian. All the circumstances point to Victor being the assassin and
the rest of the Mob Bosses give him three days to prove his
innocence.
Victor
tracks everything down. He survives multiple assassination attempts
by various mob bosses, gets involved with MI6 (again) and has to
clean that situation up. He figures out the assassination was
contracted by the Mob Boss’s top henchwoman and gives the info to
the Boatman, the Russian assassin tasked with keeping relative peace
amongst the mob. The Boatman executes the guilty parties and Victor
is once again on his own, flying free in the wind.
Man, April's reading stank to high heaven! Two 1stars and nothing above 3.5stars really did my average rating in. I feel like I was mugged and then stabbed in the back when it came to reading books in April. I had plenty of "decent" books but nothing great and I WANT great books.
Work was all over the place. New Guy came and went and came and I ended up being with him, or Tall Guy or by myself. Each week was a new adventure and it was extremely unsettling to me. I like stability.
Weatherwise, April gave us a black eye at the beginning with a weekend snowstorm that dropped 5-6inches of snow! Of course, it was all gone within 3 days and we hit 80 a couple of days. The buds are on the trees, little leaves are popping out and there is sunshine, sunshine, sunshine! So April turned out ok in the end.
Yesterday I got my tri-monthly eye injections so today is going to be a bear. I think I'm going to have to start getting the injections done in the mornings and just take the day off from work, instead of having them done in the afternoons and then suffering the next day at work. Balancing it all with taking vacation time is a real pain!
We started going back to the Seventh Day Adventist church on Saturdays full time this month. While I love the sermons at our Sunday church, and Mrs B loves the people, the music is completely out of control. One time there was a group of us praying in another room while the music team practiced. The drums were so loud that we couldn't hear each other pray. And that's from being in another room, imagine what it is like where they actually are! So while I am having to give up listening to expository preaching, at least I am getting a proper reverence in the church. God is not the God of chaos and bedlam and out of control emotionalism. It wasn't like this when we started attending this Sunday church back in '17 but has crept in over the years, with the leadership's full approval. Ahhhh, life is complicated isn't it?
And I think that's enough "ramblings" for now :-D
Cover Love:
The Hanging Stones, the next Silver John novel wins easily. Believe it or not, that "creature" is supposed to be a were-wolf. Wellman put were-wolves in the proper place!
Plans for Next Month:
A little bit of a change, but not much. My reading is picking up so I will have more book reviews than this month. Instead of doubling up on Monday's though, I'm going to shift some reviews and the My Week posts to Saturdays. It's been a great break to take Saturdays off of writing (since October!) but since the words keep piling up, I'd rather get them out each day instead of doubling up a day. I'm not a huge fan of multiple posts by bloggers each day. No idea why exactly, but I suspect it stems from that leading to burn out and them leaving without a word. You'd think by this point that my skin would have turned into callouses by that, but nope, if anything, every time a blogger leaves now it just hits me all the harder. That means I do whatever I can to make sure that I don't become one of those statistics.
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 Hanging Stones Series: Silver John
#4 Author: Manly Wade Wellman Rating:
3 of 5 Stars Genre: Folk Fantasy Pages:
178 Words: 56K Publish:
1982
So,
it might be hard to make out, but that cover shows John hiding on one
of the capstones of the New Stonehenge while a werewolf carries a
body over its shoulder.
The
werewolves in this story are sad, pathetic creatures eking out a
miserable existence. They are not alpha predators, they are
scavengers of the lowest sort. I rather like that. Puts them into
their proper place. The downside is that they aren’t much of a
threat, except at the end where they come together in a massive
group. While John and Co have to face them, it ends up being taken
care of by a group of magically resurrected neanderthals. Yeah, it’s
like that.
This
was just as low key as the previous Silver John books and boy, it
kind of grated. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed this but it was
like eating rice with a couple of grains of sand mixed in.
Irritating.
Still
the best Wellman stories that I’ve read though. Understated folk
fantasy, it just works.
And
once again, the cover is probably the best part :-)
★★★☆☆
From
the Publisher &
Bookstooge
This
Silver John adventure takes the honey-voiced folksinger to the site
of a rising replica of Stonehenge, which selfish and ruthless
millionaire Noel Kottler is building in Appalachia as a money-making
tourist attraction. A pack of werewolves who live nearby spell
trouble for his plan, though --- and even they may not turn out to be
his worst problem. Eventually, a warlock raises a tribe of
ghost made flesh neanderthals who destroy the werewolves and hang the
millionaire on the Hanging Stones to prevent him desecrating what
Stonehenge stood for.
In the previous arc (The Dark
Tournament) one of the badguys was trying to bore a hole through
dimensions from the the demon world to our world. Yusuke put paid to
that idea when he won the dark tournament. Unfortunately, someone
else has taken that idea and run with it. And worse, it is the former
spirit detective that Yusuke has replaced. Nothing worse than an
ex-employee with a grudge!
This was another great entry. I
think I binged all 28 episodes in a week? What made it different from
the slam-bang fights of the Dark Tournament was that the main bad
guy, Sensui, has gathered seven psychics and their powers are quite
different from just brute strength attacks. Of course Yusuke, his
frenemy Kurabara, the demon Hiei, the half-demon Kurama and Yusuke’s
psychic mentor Genkai overcome all the odds, but it is not a repeat
of the fights of the Tournaments.
The different psychics kept each
battle fresh and I never felt like “been there, done that”.
Sensui wsn’t much of a bad guy though, just a whiner who saw some
really bad things and let them break him. His revelations that the
main badguy (Toguro) from the Tournament was just a B Level demon was
eye opening though. Of course, that was just a side revelation
compared to the revelations about Yusuke’s own ancestors, aye yi
yi. Yusuke with long spiky demon hair was hilarious looking though.
With the enemies being people
with psychic abilities and not just brute strength, the power up
sequences of each of the protagonists wasn’t a rinse and repeat.
Yes, their core abilities went up, but HOW it went up was the big
difference and I enjoyed that.
While Yusuke and Co are
successful in stopping Sensui from destroying the human world with a
demon invasion, their victory borders on the pyrrhic as Yusuke now
has activated dormant super-powerful demon genes and has made an
enemy out of the King of Spirit World due to that fact. Yusuke now
borders on the S-Class power level (S stands for Super, which is
above A) and has demon genes, not exactly a good place to be.
Overall, I was very happy with
this story arc and it held up to my rewatch. I wasn’t bored, I
wasn’t rolling my eyes at cliches and I didn’t feel talked down
to or that I had to dumb my brain down to enjoy the story. I guess
this was a good anime. Just have to hope it stays that way for the
final story arc.
Episodes
& Summaries
The
Dark Tournament has come down to a final grudge match, and Yusuke
unleashes his full wrath in a fight to the end. Worn out but
victorious, he finds there’s no time for rest or recovery, when a
new enemy threatens the boundary between worlds. A tunnel is being
carved and once it’s completed, it will lay waste to the World of
the Living. Up against former Spirit Realm Detective Shinobu Sensui,
and the scourge of the Demon World, Yusuke must awaken a new, demonic
power.
Episode Guide - Season Three
Episode Number
English Title
Summary
Original Air Date
67
Return
to Living World
After he returns to his hometown from the Dark Tournament in
Hanging Neck Island, Yusuke Urameshi runs afoul of three high
school boys, Asato Kido, Mitsunari Yanagisawa and Yu Kaitou. Using
his psychic abilities, Kito paralyzes Yusuke by stepping on his
shadow, and they kidnap him in the process. Kido, Yanagisawa, and
Kaito leave a message for Kazuma Kuwabara and Botan, who decide to
rescue Yusuke.
February 5, 1994
68
Setting
the Trap
Kuwabara and Botan gather Kurama and Hiei to aid them in rescuing
Yusuke. Although Hiei is reluctant to do so, Kuwabara convinces
him to come with them. The four head to the mansion where Yusuke
is held, and find Yu Kaito in the first room.
February 12, 1994
69
The
Power of Taboo
Kaito reveals that they are in his territory, a separate dimension
in which he can alter reality. Hiei attempts to attack Kaito, but
Kaito simply creates an impenetrable barrier. Kaito explains that
in his territory, he who says "hot" will lose their soul
unless Kaito loses. Hiei, Kuwabara and Botan unexpectedly fall
victim to using the word "hot". As time passes, Kurama
realizes that neither of them will slip and challenges Kaito to a
game of taboo in which words starting with different letters
become taboo over the course of the game; if a contestant says a
taboo word, they will be killed. Kurama hides while Kaito is in
the restroom, emerging when only 2 letters are left and yelling
"BAA!" to scare him. Kaito who manages not to cry out,
but falls down laughing as Kurama makes faces at him, the laugh
noises breaking the taboo and causeing him to lose his own soul
while reversing the effects on the victims.
February 19, 1994
70
Genkai's
Ruse
One of the kidnappers, Mitsunari Yanagisawa, disguises himself as
one of Yusuke's friends, forcing Yusuke to determine who is the
impostor. Unable to determine who actually is the imposter, Yusuke
manages to use his intuition to successfully determine that
"Kuwabara" is the imposter.
February 26, 1994
71
The
Tunnel
Genkai and Koenma explain the new threat: someone wants to open
the tunnel to Makai. They explain that humans have been
spontaneously been acquiring powers as a result of the tunnel
opening, causing chaos in the Living World.
March 5, 1994
72
The
Reader
Murota, another psychic human with the ability to tap into peoples
minds appears, and Yusuke attempts to recruit him. Yusuke defeats
Murota, who agrees to find the person who wants to open the Makai
tunnel.
March 12, 1994
73
The
Doctor's Disease
While Kuwabara, Kurama, Kaito, and Botan survey the cave, Yusuke's
group goes to the hospital after Murota was injured by Sniper and
runs afoul of Doctor, who creates a mysterious poison that
incapacitates both Yana and Murota.
March 19, 1994
74
Sleep,
Doctor, Sleep
Yusuke battles Doctor, and is forced to come to a decision whether
to kill him to save the people in the hospital. Ultimately, Yusuke
blasts Doctor outside of his territory, rendering him unconscious
and resolving the situation.
March 26, 1994
75
Caught
in the Rain
After Kuwabara and friends attend a concert, they run afoul of Sea
Man. While Seaman traps Kuwabara's friends inside his aquatic
creature, Kuwabara's inability to use his powers force him into a
critical situation. Meanwhile, Kurama goes to see Koenma, as he
suspects that Koenma may already know the identity of who is
behind the plot to destroy the barrier.
April 2, 1994
76
Kuwabara:
Awakening
Kuwabara and Sea Man continue their fight as Kuwabara's dormant
powers awaken, and Sea Man realizes that Kuwabara is that can
shatter barriers between different dimensions. Using his new
spirit sword, Kuwabara frees his friends and defeats Sea Man.
April 9, 1994
77
Sensui's
Fall
Shinobu Sensui, the former Spirit Detective, is revealed to be the
mastermind behind the plot to remove the barrier to Makai. Koemna
discusses his fall into insanity with Yusuke's group.
April 16, 1994
78
Divide
and Conquer
Sensui makes his appearance, and battles Yusuke, Kuwabara, and
Kurama. Sensui's abilities enable him to battle all three on equal
footing. During the battle, Sensui manages to kidnap Kuwabara.
April 23, 1994
79
The
Human Race
Sensui travels away while Yusuke is forced to contend with Sniper.
Sniper sends hundreds of projectiles at Yusuke with pinpoint
accuracy, and eventually marks Yusuke, enabling his projectiles to
be sent without him even having to aim.
April 30, 1994
80
Moving
Target
Sniper continues his battle against Yusuke and is nearly
victorious until Hiei arrives. In a swing of his sword, Hiei
incapacitates him.
May 7, 1994
81
Let
the Games Begin
Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei, Genkai, Sea Man, Yana, and Kaito face Game
Master, a young boy and a stellar gamer whose territory lets him
bring any video game to life.
May 14, 1994
82
If
You Could Play Forever
When Yusuke's group shows their skill at the games, Game Master
plays himself, handily defeating Kaito. Kurama steps forward for
the group to challenge him.
May 21, 1994
83
Game
Over
Kurama and Game Master play a puzzle game. Kurama's emotional
control and intimidation result in Game Master losing the game,
and his life in the process.
May 28, 1994
84
Kurama's
Anger, Gourmet's Guest
Kurama, still torn over the outcome of the game, attacks Gourmet,
who is revealed to been taken over by the Elder Toguro. Kurama
traps the Elder Toguro within the Sinning Tree, which forces him
to hallucinate his worst fear for all eternity.
June 4, 1994
85
Spirit
Detective Showdown
Yusuke's group finally reach Sensui. While Sea Man, Kuwabara,
Kurama, and Hiei are placed into another dimension by Gatekeeper,
Yusuke must face Sensui alone. Sensui's experience and
long-trained abilities as a Spirit Detective put Yusuke at a
disadvantage.
June 11, 1994
86
The
Difference Maker
As Yusuke manages to gain the advantage through sheer
determination, Sensui switches personalities to Kazuya, a
merciless killer. As Yusuke is about to lose his life, Koenma
appears.
June 18, 1994
87
Power
Between the Teeth
Koenma threatens Sensui with his Mafūkan, a defensive spell that
can trap even S-class demons. Yusuke stops Koenma and handily
defeats Kazuya; Shinobu, the primary personality, takes control of
Sensui's body.
June 25, 1994
88
The
True Face of Sensui
Sensui reveals his Sacred Energy, which places him on par with
S-class demons. To stop him, Koenma releases the Mafūkan, but
Sensui's power enables him to break the Mafūkan, making the
situation seem hopeless.
July 2, 1994
89
Death
of a Spirit Detective
Yusuke fares poorly against Sensui's Sacred Energy, while his
allies desperately attempt to break through Gatekeeper's
dimension. As Kuwabara manages to do so, Yusuke is struck down by
Sensui.
July 9, 1994
90
Attempting
Revenge
Incensed by the death of Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei
increase their power and pursue Sensui through the tunnel. Kurama
transforms into Yoko Kurama, as Hiei releases the Dragon of the
Darkness Flame. Finally, Kuwabara slices through the barrier
between worlds to pursue Sensui into Makai.
July 16, 1994
91
Waking
the Lost
King Yama dispatches the Spirit Defense Force to destroy Yusuke's
body and seal the tunnel. Yusuke, however, discovers his
half-demon nature and awakens.
July 23, 1994
92
The
Proof
A newly-revived Yusuke resumes his battle with Sensui. However,
Yusuke's body is taken over by a mysterious force, fully awakening
his demon side.
July 30, 1994
93
Sensui's
End
Yusuke's enhanced powers easily enable him to overcome Sensui, and
he discovers Sensui's reasons for opening the gate to Makai.
August 6, 1994
94
Topside
While Kido, Kaito, Yanagisawa, and Sensui's former companions
resume normal lives, Yusuke feels unsatisfied that his match with
Sensui was interrupted, and is conflicted over his half-demon
nature.
This week wasn't as tumultuous as two weeks ago (when I wrote the last My Week post), but man, it was NOT smooth sailing.
Resurrection Sunday was the kick off to the week. We had foregone going to our usual Sunday church and had turned down an Easter Dinner invitation to go support one of Mrs B's friends who was going to be in a choir. Only we found out the night before that she had gone to the first practice and didn't like how much work was going to be involved and so quit and hadn't told us. There are personalities involved, so there was no way I was going to sit through a Resurrection Service with this lady the whole time. I really like her husband and he and I get along great, and Mrs B gets along great with him and with her. So I ended up not going to church that Sunday. I felt terrible about it, but I knew I would have felt even worse if I had gone.
Work went well the entire week, but it was very unsettled. Monday I worked with Tall Guy (he's 6'4" and I'm 5'3". For you non-imperialists, that's 33cm). We eased into the week gently and even had an hour's drive each way. Tuesday I was by myself. I had to drive 90min to meet a client, show him a lot corner (an iron rod in the ground) which took 15min, then drive 90min back to the office. I hate driving that much, that quick. Bleh. Wednesday and Thursday I was with New Guy. The very FIRST thing he says Wednesday morning is "did you miss me?", like we were best buds or something. I just looked at him for 10seconds and then said "No". Blabbermouths who tell my boss everything I say out in the field will never be my friends, ever. Work went well with him though, but man, he can't stand the quiet. He always had an earbud in or when we had some down time, would walk around talking on the phone. Today, I am back with Tall Guy. No idea what I'm getting into for the job itself. Guess I'll be finding out in 2hours.
In the last couple of months I've had an itch to play some video games again. It happens every 5-10 years and is pretty intense. I was considering going for a Nintendo Switch 2, but then Aywren did an article on it and at the price point, that was a deal breaker. I then wondered about going with a Steam Deck (a portable, independent gaming system) and docking it to my tv and playing that way. Well, the top of the line Steam Deck, with all the supplies, was even more expensive than the Switch2. What's a fellow to do? I then decided that I could hook my laptop up to my tv using an hdmi cable. That way all I needed was an hdmi cable, a wireless Xbox controller (they work automagically with Windows machines) and the actual games.
Since I had investigated the Steam Deck, I looked into the Steam website, which sells computer games. I had joined up YEARS ago when I was playing Magic the Gathering online (before that blasted Arena ruined everything), so I just had my password reset and started looking. There were some pretty good deals on the Heretic/Hexen franchise (first person shooter, like a Medieval Doom) as well as the whole Doom franchise. But to use them, I had to go through Steam's portal and be forced to be connected to the internet to play them. THAT is the whole reason I avoid the big-name consoles now anyway. I won't have my actions be dictated like that. So I ended up finding out about Gog.com and joined them. They do have a portal system, which helps with upgraded graphics and stuff, but most importantly, I can download the games themselves in drm free form and play them as I wish. And they were having a sale on Heretic/Hexen and some of the Doom stuff. So I ended up buying:
Heretic
Hexen: Beyond Heretic
Hexen: Citadel of the Death Kings
Hexen II
Doom I
Doom II
Final Doom
Diablo I
Diablo: Hellfire (unofficial expansion)
All that for about $15. Even if I only played Heretic, the time I put into that and the enjoyment I know I'll be getting is worth every cent. I mean, how can you not enjoy shooting mummies, dark wizard priests and other horrific monstrosities with a magical crossbow?
I played the first couple of levels with just the keyboard to make sure I actually would enjoy the game and oh yeah, it was a blast! Now I just need to get my butt in gear and start hooking things up and programming the Xbox controller. I doubt I'll become a video gamer, but much like my foray into Marvel Champions, this will give me another outlet besides reading. Multiple hobbies keeps things fresh.
And honestly, that's it. I'll end this post with a nice nature'y picture from work on Monday.
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 Groo’s Best Friend Series:
Groo the Wanderer
#39 Author:
Sergio Aragones Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre:
Comics Pages: 25 Words:
2K Publish: 1988
This was a GREAT wrapup to the “theft
of Rufferto” story Aragones had going. Once again, a single panel
really sums up the whole comic. I love when Aragones can do that!
★★★✬☆
From Bookstooge
Groo walks away
from the battle of the last comic. He ends up stealing another dog to
replace Rufferto, which leads to even MORE shenanigans. Pal and Drumm
get involved, another army is involved, the thieves who originally
stole Rufferto are involved and the owner of the stolen dog and his
guards are involved. In the end, Groo and Rufferto are united and
everybody gets the stuffing beaten out of them by Groo! A happy
ending for (almost) nobody, hahahahaa.
