Thanksgiving 2023

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!

Conan the Fearless (Conan the Barbarian) 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: Conan the Fearless
Series: Conan the Barbarian
Author: Steve Perry
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 176
Words: 62K

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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:

The People of the Black Circle (The Essential Conan #2) ★★★☆½

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.

★★✬☆☆

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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.

• The “Essential Conan” Trilogy
• All of My “Conan” Reviews

Empire’s Doom (Empire Rising #8) 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: Empire’s Doom
Series: Empire Rising #8
Author: David Holmes
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 426
Words: 166K

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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…

★★★✬☆

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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.

• All of My “Empire Rising” Reviews

Cursed Land - MTG 4E

Sense and Sensibility (1981 TV Miniseries)

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.

Shelf Control: Warlock Holmes

Shelf Control is a weekly “feature” (?) hosted now by Mallika from Literary Potpourri.

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!

~Pow~ ~Bam~ ~Biff~ ~Sock~ ~Kapow~

Double Z (The Shadow #11) 3.5Star

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

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Good stuff. As I noted at the beginning of the month:

Currently Reading Cover Love: Double Z

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.

★★★✬☆

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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.

• All of My “The Shadow” Reviews