Just like the last couple of years, February has been the month where Winter bared it's arm and smacked us as hard as it possibly could. Multiple snow storms kept us busy and made work a real bear (pope) of a time.
Yes, the Pope DOES wear a hat...
Readingwise, this month also felt bad. Getting three 2-2.5star books in a row in the second to last week was like getting kicked in the sensitives. If you're wondering, that is NOT a good thing. If it wasn't for those books, my average would have stayed the same or even gone up a tiny bit from last month.
Cover Love:
Veruchiaby Edwin Tubb. Really no surprise. Nothing else really came close to even challenging it. Curse of the Spider Kingwas the only challenger but with all the "dark" on the cover, I said "no".
Plans for Next Month:
Magic cards will be moving to noon or 1pm while the book review for that day will go at 5am. So still a double posting on Monday but in a different order, as what I consider more important goes first.
Mr Zip will be making an appearance one Monday, so for all his fans, you now have something to look forward to. You are welcome.
Other than that, it is all the usual magic, journal/my week, reviews and blatherings you can cope with.
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 Village of Miggledy Series:
Groo the Wanderer
#37 Author:
Sergio Aragones Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre:
Comics Pages: 25 Words: 2K
This is a game of telephone, but with
Groo being the message and the consequences being the destruction of
an entire village. The very IDEA of Groo is enough to wreck a
village, and it’s funny. Now that is incredible work by Aragones!
While Groo is trying to be a hunter,
and failing miserably, the village self-destructs and things escalate
at an incredible rate. I’m going to leave the synopsis unhidden,
because it’s so amusing (to me anyway).
★★★✬☆
From Bookstooge
Groo
is hungry but has no money. He tries to train Rufferto to hunt and
fails miserably. He decides to go to the nearest town to beg some
food. Several villagers overhear him and return to the village with
the bad news. By the end of the comic, the king’s army is in the
town to protect it, the villagers have all been driven out by pimps,
gamblers and land speculators and villagers from the next village
over have bought all their houses dirt cheap. THEN Groo shows up
while the town is burning to the ground.
This
review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained
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copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions.
Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted
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Title:
Curse of the Spider King Series: The
Berinfell Prophecies #1 Author: Wayne Batson &
Christopher Hopper Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre:
Middle Grade Fantasy Pages: 335 Words:
107K
After
how my last ya/middle grade book went (The
Beggar Queen by Lloyd Alexander) I was just about ready to
bag the whole idea of reading books geared toward the younger
audience. Before I called it quits I asked some of the kids at church
what they were reading. I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect much.
But I ended up with a suggestion for the Berinfell Prophecies and
after reading the synopsis, I decided it certainly couldn’t be as
bad as the Beggar Queen. And it wasn’t, at all.
It
IS more middle grade than young adult, as the main characters
involved are all 13 year olds. There are also 7 of them. That
concerned me a bit at first, because finding the right balance for
points of view is hard and the more pov’s authors introduce, the
harder the balance is to find. Thankfully, Batson and Hopper did an
admirable job of giving each kid just the right amount of page time
to tell the story they needed but without artificially giving more or
less pages to each character.
Another
thing that I liked, but wasn’t expecting, is that the authors are
Christian and insert Christian elements into the story. No in a
preachy way, but in many regards like Lewis does with his Chronicles
of Narnia books. I only noticed it three or four times too,
so it’s not like they are trying to drown their readers in it
either.
This
book is all about the gathering of the seven kids and how the elves
were trying to get them all back to their original world. It had a
good beginning, an exciting middle as all the kids had adventures and
then the ending sees them all just crossing over. I am looking
forward to the next book to see how things work out.
One
final note. As this is middle grade, don’t expect any of the adults
to be “actual” adults. They are adults per children’s views and
act accordingly. Hence the “surprise” ambush near the end I saw
coming from a mile away, but a kid wouldn’t, so the adults in the
story didn’t.
★★★☆☆
From
Fandom.com
Elves
ruled over the land of Allyra for thousands of years until, in a
great battle, the capital, Berinfell, was overtaken by an army
of Drefids, Gwar, Warspiders, and Wisps under the command of the
Spider King. Now as he rules the land, the remnant of the Elven race
lives, hidden, in a network of subterranean passages called Nightwish
Caverns.
In that battle, the seven heirs to the thrones of
Berinfell were captured as babies and taken to the realm of the
humans, known as Earth. Disguised among the millions of people on
Earth, these Elf Lords have no clue of their identity until, around
their thirteenth birthdays, some strange events start happening. Some
are stalked by mysterious, creepy strangers, and others receive odd
books from teachers, librarians, or bookstore owners. Eventually, the
people, who had given the Elves the books, reveal to the Seven Lords
their true identity, and the fact that they are being hunted by
villainous creatures. These assassins, once held back by an old
curse, are now free to kill the Seven. This they intend to do in
order to keep the teenagers from returning to Allyra and rallying the
Elves against their oppressor, the Spider King.
Autumn and
Johnny are attacked in their house by a pack of Drefids, Jett and his
family are assaulted by Cragons, and a Wisp of Jimmy's neighbor comes
to the boy's school and attempts to quietly kill Miss Finney. Kat and
Anna are pursued in a vicious car chase by Drefids, and Kiri Lee is
later almost assassinated by Wisps posing as her parents in her own
home. Tommy, Goldarrow and Mr. Charlie are forced to fight off
another group of Drefids in an abandoned asylum while attempting to
find a portal to Allyra.
In the final scene, all the Elven Lords
and their escorts (except Autumn, Johnny, and Nelly) have assembled
for a concert in Scotland before entering the nearby portal. In the
middle of the performance, attended by humans and disguised Elves
alike, a massive army of Gwar, Drefids, Cragons, and Wisps attack. In
the midst of the chaos, Johnny, Autumn and Nelly arrive. They join
the desperate rush of fighting Elves attempting to reach the portal.
When they arrive, it is rapidly shrinking. Unbeknownst to everyone
else, at the rear of the group Mr. Wallace is killed and replaced by
a Wisp. As the final few Elves are diving into the portal, the Wisp
kills Mr. Charlie and enters Allyra just before the doorway is
completely closed. Once in the Elven world, the returning group of
warriors are met by Grimwarden and a team of Elves, who assist the
Lords and their guardians into the Underground. Mr. Wallace's Wisp
accompanies them, a spy among their number.
This
review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained
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copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions.
Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted
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Title:
Monster Hunter Nemesis Series: MHI #5 Author:
Larry Correia Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Genre:
Urban Fantasy Pages: 336 Words:
133K
I
made the mistake of reading my review from 2014. Boy, everything I
was going to say now, I said it a decade ago.
The
only difference is that I gave a bit more weight to the theological
side of things and thus removed yet another half star. God is
presented as the Ruler of just our universe and just one amongst the
multiverse, which while perfectly fine within Mormon theology goes
directly against what the Bible says. Which is one more reason
Mormonism is accounted a cult instead of just another denomination.
A
good time reading and lots of fun. I think most people would just
read this and enjoy it. I recommend you try that.
★★★★☆
From
MHI.Fandom.com & Bookstooge
Agent Franks of
the U.S. Monster Control Bureau is a man of many
parts—parts from other people, that is. Franks is nearly seven feet
tall and all muscle. He's nearly indestructible. Plus he’s animated
by a powerful alchemical substance and inhabited by a
super-intelligent spirit more ancient than humanity itself.
Good
thing he’s on our side. More or less.
Sworn
to serve and protect the United States of America from all monsters
by one of the country’s founding fathers, Franks has only one
condition to the agreement: no matter what the government learns of
him, no matter what is discovered concerning his odd physiology or
the alchemy behind the elixir that made him, the government is never,
ever allowed to try and make more like him. Such is absolutely
forbidden and should the powers-that-be do so, then the agreement is
null and void.
Project
Nemesis: in a secret location, using sophisticated technology and
advanced genetic engineering, the director of the very agency Franks
works for is making more like him. And the director is not content
with making one. Nope, he’s making thirteen.
Now
all bets are off, and Hell hath no fury like a monster betrayed.
Particularly if that monster happens to be an undying killing machine
capable of taking out vampires and werewolves with one hand tied
behind his back.
Agent
Franks is center stage in a Special Task Force Unicorn vendetta.
Franks is on the run while he must clear his name, destroy a whole
set of bodies based upon him AND prevent an invasion of the original
fallen angels.
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:
B is for Burglar Series: Kinsey Millhone
#2 Author: Sue Grafton Rating: 3 of 5
Stars Genre: Mystery Pages:
230 Words: 81K
I
enjoyed this a good bit more than A
is for Alibi. Most of that comes down to Kinsey not being the
unlikeable jackass she was in A. I also came to the
realization that I had spelled her last name wrong the entire review
of that book. I had written “Milhone” while it is supposed be
“Millhone”. That extra L is a killer.
This
takes place two weeks later and sees Kinsey gallivanting from
California to Florida in the quest to find a missing woman, the
sister of Kinsey’s client (notice how I am calling her Kinsey? No
more of that Millhone balogna). Things get complicated and it ends up
being a murder.
The
reason this doesn’t get an extra half star bump is because Kinsey
acts like a total fool at the end. Instead of going to the police,
she goes to an abandoned house to “prove” the murder, doesn’t
take her gun AND runs into the murderous couple, which she KNEW was a
distinct possibility. She does everything wrong and is only saved by
pure luck. What an idiot.
I
have this feeling I am going to be saying that a lot throughout this
series :-(
The
non-idiot parts were well done and carried me through. I hope that
happens a lot in this series too :-)
★★★☆☆
From
Wikipedia
Private
investigator Kinsey Millhone is hired by Beverly Danziger to locate
her missing sister, Elaine Boldt, whose name is needed on some
paperwork regarding an inheritance. Elaine was last seen getting into
a cab with the intention of flying down to Boca Raton, Florida,
where she spends her winters, but appears to have disappeared along
the way. It seems a relatively straightforward matter, so much so
that Millhone is not sure Beverly needs a PI; but she agrees to take
the case.
Things
are not as easy as they seem, however, as Millhone can find no trace
of Elaine anywhere in Florida, although she does find a woman called
Pat Usher, who claims Elaine agreed to let her sublet the
Boca Raton apartment where Elaine lived while she was off travelling.
This claim rings false, since no one but Pat Usher has received a
postcard from Elaine on her supposed trip. Millhone secures the able
assistance of Elaine's elderly neighbour, Julia, to keep an eye on
things in Florida while she goes back to California.
Millhone
suspects there is a link between Elaine's disappearance and the death
of her Santa Teresa neighbor, Marty Grice, who was apparently killed
by a burglar who then set fire to the Grice home a week before Elaine
left. Someone breaks into the home of Tillie, the supervisor of
Elaine's Santa Teresa apartment complex, apparently on the track of
some of Elaine's bills that Tillie was holding ready to forward to
her. Someone also searches the detective's apartment, and Millhone
realizes the thief is after Elaine's passport.
Gravely
concerned for Elaine's safety, Millhone suggests to Beverly that
Elaine's disappearance should be reported to the police; but Beverly
objects so violently that Millhone terminates their relationship and
starts working for Julia instead. Kinsey reports the disappearance
and meets Jonah Robb, a recently separated cop working on missing
persons. A visit from Beverly's husband Aubrey complicates matters
further, as it turns out he was having an affair with Elaine, which
Beverly had discovered. This raises suspicion around whether Beverly
could have had a hand in Elaine's disappearance.
Millhone
is increasingly convinced that Elaine is dead and that Pat Usher is
involved. Pat disappears after vandalizing the Boca Raton apartment.
Millhone discovers that Pat Usher has applied for a driver's license
in Elaine's name, thus proving Pat's involvement.
Marty's
nephew Mike, a teenage drug dealer, confesses that he was at the
Grice home the night of the murder. From the discrepancy in times
between his account and what was told to the police, Millhone
realizes that it was Elaine who died in the Grice fire, not Marty.
Marty and her husband killed Elaine to steal her identity and her
money. They then passed Elaine's dead body off as Marty's by
switching the dental records. Marty departed for Florida as Elaine
and arrived as Pat Usher, with some cosmetic surgery to help. Unable
to find Elaine's passport, she and her husband were forced to wait
for a new one to come through before they can skip the country.
Kinsey returns to the Grice home to look for the murder weapon; but
the Grices find her. Marty Grice is shot in the left arm during the
fight that ensues, but Kinsey manages to detain the two criminals and
call for help.
Hiei, Kurama, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Keiko and Botan (the Grim Reaper)
Title: The Spirit Detective Saga
Series: YuYu Hakusho (1992 Anime)
Episodes: 1-25
My Thoughts:
Another long series that I own on dvd. 112 episodes spanning 32 dvd’s. That dwarfs even Cardcaptor Sakura! Since CCS wasn’t working for me, I needed to try another way to watch anime, one that would work for me. Well, it turns out that watching larger portions in shorter periods of time worked a treat.
Yuyu Hakusho is split up into four story arcs. The first one is about Yusuke (pronounced Yous-kay) dying and coming back as a spirit detective, someone who hunts down demons in the human world. Hence the Spirit Detective Saga title.
This covers the origins of Yusuke becoming a spirit detective to several of his assigned cases to the final one where he meets the demon brothers, The Toguro’s, who force him into the next story arc. As an origin arc, we learn about Yusuke, the spirit world, the demon world. We are also introduced to several other key characters like Kuwabara (a human) and two semi-reformed demons who team up to help Yusuke. These four characters form the nucleus of this anime.
It’s a shonen anime, so the focus is on fighting. A LOT of fighting. Each time Yusuke is forced to face a slightly stronger enemy and he must either out-fight or out-think his opponent. Either way, his abilities and strength increase over each case and by the time he reaches the final case, he’s fighting fully fledged demon fighters used by the underworld. There is also the necessary old lady trainer and the training montage.
What I especially enjoyed was that there were no filler episodes in this story arc. Every episode stuck to the point and advanced the storyline directly. Also, the fights weren’t Dragonball Z level of people grunting and powering up and doing nothing. Yusuke and Co fought like the devil and either beat the snot out of the enemy or had the snot beaten out of them. Either way, you knew you had watched a fight. It was great.
I watched these 25 episodes over two weeks and that worked out very well for me. I had fun, I wasn’t bored and I actually wanted to immediately go watch the next arc, the Dark Tournament Saga. But I restrained myself, which bodes well for the rest of the series. I do have plans to buy the complete set on bluray once I finish this run through of my dvds.
Just for comparison sakes of how anime USED to be released, here’s a timeline. YuYu Hakusho was originally released in ‘92. It ended in ‘94. It wasn’t until 2002 that an english release happened. 8 YEARS of waiting. Now that is Old Skool. To put things in perspective, The Demon Slayer anime (I am reading the manga) came out in the fall of 2019. It was released in North America in the summer of 2020. Not even ONE YEAR. Kids can’t wait for nothing these days, sigh. They have no idea how spoiled they are. Of course, the tradeoff is that they aren’t getting awesome quality anime like YuYu Hakusho anymore. I feel bad for them.
Summary:
Yusuke
Urameshi is nothing more than a 14-year-old trouble-causing-punk,
who's always ready for a fight! But a single, selfless act results in
Yusuke sacrificing his life for another person. Now, he's been given
a second chance at life, instead of spending time in the afterlife.
Put to work as a Spirit Realm Detective with amazing powers, he's
tasked with tracking down demons and humans who desire to rule over
the three realms of reality.
Yusuke's
Ordeal
Yusuke
Urameshi is 14 years old at the start of YuYu Hakusho. He is the
toughest student at Sarayashiki Junior High School. He brawls with
Kuwabara on a frequent basis. He is a stereotypical bad egg, with a
bad attendance record and picks fights with other kids at school. In
the manga, he is even revealed to be drinking, smoking and gambling.
While
skipping school and being neglected by his mother, Yusuke wonders
around the town. [1]Yusuke comes across a little boy playing in the
streets and scolds him for it. This upsets the child, so Yusuke
entertains a child by making silly faces. The little boy disregards
his advice and walks into the street again chasing his ball and, you
guessed it, a car comes speeding down the street and Yusuke shoves
him out of the way. Yusuke is struck by the car, and killed.[4] As a
ghost, Yusuke is greeted by an atypical version of the Grim Reaper; a
bubbly, cheerful young woman named Botan.[5] She informs Yusuke that
no one in Spirit World had expected him to die, risking his life to
save the little boy. The boy would've survived; Thus, Yusuke's
interference was unnecessary and only resulted in the kid having a
minor scratch. They have no place for him in the afterlife because of
his abrupt death. The Spirit World is also amazed how Yusuke, known
for his bad attitude, could save a boy, and for these reasons, he was
given the chance to live again. Botan remarks that Yusuke can return
to life, but he initially declines.[6]
Yusuke's
mind changes after he attends his wake, where people he knows pay
their condolences to his mother. Atsuko(Yusuke's mother) is extremely
distraught & borderline catatonic about losing her son. Keiko
Yukimura (his classmate) sobs uncontrollably, yelling Yusuke's name.
Kuwabara appears, angry and upset that Yusuke died before they could
finish their battles. When two of Yusuke's teachers belittle him at
the wake, Mr. Takenaka, another teacher, berates them for insulting
him. He pays his respects to Atsuko and sobs at Yusuke's passing;
only then, Atsuko reacts, collapsing in tears at the mention of
Yusuke. Lastly, the child whom Yusuke saved and his mother show up,
and when the child asks if he can play again with Yusuke, his mother
cries and hugs him. Understanding that he meant more to others than
they let on, he decides to come back.
Yusuke
is given an egg by Koenma, acting lord of Spirit World (in place of
his father, who often left to work in other places), and is told that
it will hatch a Spirit Beast, which will help him get back to life.
However, he must be a genuinely good person. If he is evil, the beast
will devour him. While Yusuke only accomplishes two good deeds in the
anime, he does a lot more in the manga due to the timeline of events
being more stretched out. This includes helping a boy named Shouta
get over his dog's death, helping a girl who had died get over her
obsession with a boy, (who didn't really care for her) so she can
move on, and also being temporarily revived to keep his body fresh so
it won't die out. The last deed involves not allowing Keiko to know
about this, though Kuwabara encounters him and Yusuke explains to him
what is happening before he returns to being a ghost. Keiko, who had
received dreams and messages from Yusuke's ghost telling her he would
be returning to life, needed to take care of his body so that he
would be able to return to it. However, a fire starts in Yusuke's
home and his body runs the risk of being incinerated. Keiko runs into
the fire to protect it, and is trapped in the fire. Yusuke gave up
all the power gained from his good deeds after his death to have
Koenma save her. Koenma used this to put out some of the flames and
opened up a path for her to escape from the fire.
Due
to this incident, with Koenma directly in contact with Yusuke's soul,
[2]Keiko kissing Yusuke to resurrect him he figured that the wave
cycle of Yusuke's power is extremely long and has to meet the right
time to be resurrected or he would have to wait for another fifty-two
years (fifty years in the Japanese version and English manga)[7]
before the next chance and decided to let Yusuke return to life
earlier even though the fire incident should have delayed the process
since his power gained from good deeds were used up (In the manga,
Yusuke had to go through one more good deed to be eligible for this
by possessing an old acquaintance named Matsuo Suekichi to help him
gain the confidence to achieve his dream of becoming a boxer). The
only way for Yusuke to be resurrected is by a kiss from someone who
is very close to him until midnight. Yusuke could tell, by dream, to
three people he knew in order to do this, but he only told Keiko and
Kuwabara since his mother started drinking and would not go to bed.
Kuwabara did not believe the dream, due to its homosexuality, and
Keiko got delayed by her mother's illness. Botan possessed Keiko's
mother to leave a message saying Yusuke was in a more dire state than
she was. Keiko manages to kiss Yusuke in time, and Yusuke is returned
to life.
Artifacts
of Darkness
After
returning, Yusuke is surprised to notice a demon inhabiting the body
of a street punk. Botan shows up and tells Yusuke that his experience
with death allowed him to do these things. He is to become Earth's
Spirit Detective, and protect the human race from demons by solving
cases involved with the apparitions.
Yusuke
engages in many difficult trials in his first assignments as Spirit
Detective. The first is to recover three items bound by Hiei's Jagan
Eye Curse stolen artifacts from Spirit World. Koenma trains him by
teaching him how to fire his spirit energy, energy possessed by
humans and spirits, as a weapon. This technique is called the Spirit
Gun, and becomes the signature attack of Yusuke. Yusuke attempts to
combat these three thieves: Goki, who stole a soul-stealing article
called the Orb of Baast; Kurama, who stole a mirror called the
Forlorn Hope; and Hiei, who stole the Shadow Sword. Yusuke was able
to defeat Gouki the aid of Botan (anime only) and his Spirit Gun.
Kurama willingly turns over the Forlorn Hope, as he only wanted to
use its power to save his mother's life. Kurama intended to sacrifice
his life for the mirror to save hers, but Yusuke selflessly asked the
mirror to take his so Kurama can enjoy his mother's life. The mirror
granted Kurama's wish, taking half of each of their life force, but
killing neither, and Yusuke took the mirror. Yusuke and Botan then
went to fight Hiei, who kidnapped Keiko and tried to turn her into a
demon by slashing her with the stolen sword. While Botan staved off
the transformation, Yusuke fought the extremely-fast demon, and
managed to defeat him by reflecting his Spirit Gun off of the Forlorn
Hope, intentionally missing Hiei to strike it and causing the
arrogant demon to believe Yusuke missed. They found the antidote in
the hilt of the sword to stop Keiko's transformation. After the
ordeal, Yusuke turned over the three artifacts to Koenma.
Genkai's
Tournament
Yusuke
then was sent to the compound of Master Genkai, an aged, experienced
fighter who was looking for a successor to her powerful Spirit Wave
technique (Reikō Hadō Ken or Spirit Light Wave Fist in the original
Japanese version). To decide her successor she decided to hold a
tournament which Yusuke and Kuwabara enter. Botan warned Yusuke that
a demon named Rando would probably try to inherit her technique and
it was his job to stop him. Yusuke fought through her tournament and
defeated Rando in the end, becoming her successor. For the next two
weeks (in the Japanese anime, it is a month and in the English anime,
it is six months), Yusuke undergoes tough training with Genkai. As a
result, his strength radically heightens, push him from a D-class to
a C-class.
The
Beasts of Maze Castle
Yusuke
was then sent to Maze Castle in Demon City to defeat the Four Saint
Beasts and stop them from taking over the human race with demon
parasites. Kuwabara decided to go with Yusuke, and Koenma sent Kurama
and Hiei, who were on probation in the human world, to assist. Yusuke
and the others fought their way to Suzaku, the leader of the group,
and Yusuke managed to defeat him, but at the cost of his own life
energy. Kuwabara, the only human of the group, saved him by
transferring part of his own life energy.
Rescue
Yusuke
teams up with Kuwabara (and Botan in the anime) to rescue a beautiful
ice apparition named Yukina, to whom Kuwabara becomes smitten.
However, Yukina is actually Hiei's twin sister, a fact that Kuwabara
and even Yukina herself is unaware of. Yusuke fights all the way to
the Toguro brothers. Yusuke and Kuwabara defeat them with awesome
teamwork and rescue the maiden, but it turns out that the Toguros
threw the fight on purpose. The Younger Toguro brother coerces Yusuke
to join the Dark Tournament (Ankoku Būtsukai or Black Martial Arts
Tournament in the original Japanese) and defeat him in a real fight.
This is the dark side of love. There are times when the feelings of love simply cannot be. That is when you must decide what is most important to you: your feelings or what you know is right? I feel so bad for people caught in a web like that :-(
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: Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery
Magazine Series: September 2012 Editor:
Linda Landrigan Rating: 2 of 5 Stars Genre:
Crime Fiction Pages: 122 Words:
45K
Yeah, no. This was no better than the
previous editions of this magazine and the stories didn’t have any
oomph, any chutzpah, any “grab me by the throat and choke me to
death”ness. Landrigan either can’t get a decent set of short
stories to publish, or she doesn’t know what a good story is OR,
and this is my bet, what she thinks is a good story is so vastly
different from everyone else’s definition that it’s impossible to
get a good story here. So I’m done with this magazine. I’m going
to hunt down as many of the old “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” books
as I can. At least those old stories had some guts.
Man, this just not my week for getting
along with various series. DCI Roderick Alleyn got kicked to the
curb. Then I savaged Conan, which just shouldn’t have been
possible. Now I’m striking out with an ongoing publication that
carries Alfred Hitchcock’s name. If it weren’t for me reading
that Nero Wolfe book on Monday, this week would have been a complete
reading waste. I haven’t had a week this bad in YEARS. It also
means my average for February is going to plummet like the
temperatures outdoors.
★★☆☆☆
Table of Contents:
Department:
EDITOR'S NOTE: ESOTERIC KNOWLEDGE by Linda Landrigan
Department: THE LINEUP
Fiction: THE VAUDEVILLE DETECTIVE by
Garnett Elliott
Department: MYSTERIOUS PHOTOGRAPH
Fiction: BEEHIVE ROUND by Martin Limon
Fiction: BIG WATTS by Doc Finch
Fiction: FOOL'S GOLD by Dee Long
Department: BOOKED & PRINTED by
Robert C. Hahn
Fiction: BRUTAL by Robert Lopresti
Fiction: THE BEST LAID PLANS by Jim
Ingraham
Mystery Classic: NIGHT AT THE INN by
Georgette Heyer, selected and Introduced by Jane K. Cleland
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Title: Conan the Hero Series:
Conan the Barbarian #22 Author: Leonard
Carpenter Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars Genre:
Fantasy Pages: 220 Words:
77K
I’ve been in a “mood” recently
and I can tell it has made me much judgier about the books I’m
reading. There has been no mercy dropping gently from the hands of
Bookstooge. Instead, there’s been angry imprecations and authors
scotched. Carpenter isn’t getting scotched like Ngaio Marsh did
yesterday, but he’s on probation for sure.
Carpenter just doesn’t write Conan
like Conan. He’s not indomitable or incredible or anythingable,
he’s just a big guy with a sword who gets lucky a lot. In both
senses of the word. I don’t like that. Conan should be larger than
life. Instead, he’s just stumbling along like a normal Joe. I get
that Carpenter doesn’t want to write Conan like other pastiche
authors, but he’s not even writing him like Howard did for goodness
sake.
The adventures too just kind of happen
and Conan is along for the ride. Instead of being the subject of
something evil and fierce, it’s boring old politics with a dash of
ho-hum magic thrown in to keep it “fantasy”. It is like Carpenter
doesn’t “get” Conan at all. Even Steve Perry with his
disgusting monster girl love interests and stupid 500 year old
wizards wrote Conan as Conan better than this guy. Carpenter is a
loser as far as I’m concerned and if anyone has said anything good
about the Conan books I’ve read of his so far, they are liars and
fatheads. But because I’m so magnanimous, I’m reserving judgment
on the rest of his Conan books until I read them.
I should get an award for being so
nice...
★★✬☆☆
From Wikipedia
Conan and his friend Juma, both
soldiers in the army of Turan, are stationed in the far-off jungles
of Venjipur to defend its beleaguered royal family against the
rebellious Hwong tribe. Both comrades are dissatisfied; they and
those under them have been doing all the fighting, and see no chance
for advancement, as their timid superior officers never risk their
own lives in battle. In one skirmish, Conan rescues a girl named
Sariya from being sacrificed by Mojurna, an evil shaman. This
subsequently leads to trouble, when one of the Turanian officers
attempts to rape her and is killed by Conan.
There are orders for Conan's execution,
but he is the hero of Yaralet and a man whom King Yildiz has his eye
on. However, Yildiz's captain devises a plan to get Conan out of
circulation for a while by sending him deep into enemy territory.
Conan's unit is ambushed, and he calls for reinforcements, only to
have his request denied by one of the officers who has it in for him.
His men defeat their attackers on their own—barely. The wounded
Conan is carried back to camp by Juma. Meanwhile, his enemies plan to
have him disposed of by their corrupt Venjipoorian allies.
Accordingly, Conan is drugged and brought before the duplicitous
Pheng Loon, leader of a Venjipoorian tribe the Turanians are
supposedly there to help. Despite his hallucinations induced by the
drug, Conan is able to throw off its influence and escape.
In segments interspersed with those
detailing the main action, it's revealed that King Yildiz in Agraphur
has his eye on Conan almost literally. His court wizard has kept
Yildiz up-to-date on events in Venjipoor by scrying through a magic
mirror. Also, the king's known enthusiasm for Conan has both fanned
and inhibited his officers' machinations against the Cimmerian. Soon,
Yildiz's intervention partiality results in Conan being summoned back
to Agraphur for a ceremony. However, bureaucratic delays in his
orders give the officers once last chance to try to get him killed.
Again, Conan and Juma's forces are sent deep into rebel territory,
where they're ambushed by numerically superior foes—but again they
turn the tide and win. Their enemies now have no choice but to allow
them to return to the capital.
After a long journey, Conan and Juma
reach Agraphur, where King Yildiz gives Conan a medal and names him a
Hero of Turan. Days of feasting and revelry ensue, to lead up to an
official presentation ceremony. During these festivities, Conan works
to uncover the identities of his enemies. Everything comes to a head
at the ceremony, where Yildiz is menaced by a carnivorous vine sent
by Mojorna. Conan and Juma defend the king against the plant, but
delay destroying it long enough for it to consume the corrupt
officers whose incompetence has cost so many lives in Venjipoor.
Apprised of their plots and soured on foreign conquest, Yildiz
commissions the Cimmerian to take over the Turanian forces in
Venjipoor and set things right. Back in Venjipur, Conan shuts down
the Turanian mission there. He is aided by the fact that Mojurna died
when his plant was destroyed, but this development effectively denies
him Sariya, who has taken the shaman's place as leader of the Hwong.
