Y (The King in Yellow Anthology #12) 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: Y
Series: The King in Yellow Anthology #12
Author: Simon Brake (ed)
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Cosmic Horror Anthology
Pages: 120
Words: 41K

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This was the last King in Yellow collection I could track down. While I know there are more individual short stories, the effort needed to find them and then track down where they reside is more work than I am interested. So I was hoping to go out with a bit of a bang with this collection. Sadly, I didn’t get that.

Nothing was really bad in this collection. But nothing stood out, nothing popped, nothing made me shiver. Reading a King in Yellow story should be like watching a train carrying hundreds of people derail, in real time. Horrifying, terrible but so compelling that you can’t look away even though you want to, even though you know you should.

Of course, things got off to a rough start because the editor, one Simon Brake, talked about how the King in Yellow wouldn’t have survived without being folded into the Cthulhu Mythos. That’s a lot of bunk, total bs and the kind of statement I wouldn’t even be bothered to wipe my bottom with. Even if there is a kernel of truth in it, sigh.

Then the stories sailed along. Nice and smooth. Predictable, with a small amount of tension, but nothing to make the hair on my arms stand up. I was expecting John Wick and I got He-Man the cartoon instead.

This concludes my KiY readings. Anything else will be accidental and I suspect will simply be part of Cthulhu anthologies.

★★✬☆☆

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Table of Contents

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Prologue –

In Service to a Distant Throne – John Linwood Grant 

Vignette I – April 1919

The Blind King of Bythesea Manor – Glynn Owen

Vignette II – November 1932 

The Cult and the Canary – Orrin Grey

Vignette III – August 1971 

Have You Found The Yellow Sign?  – Alison Cybe

Vignette IV – June 1983 

The Painter – Helen Gould

Vignette V – September 1996 

The Fairy King of Yellow – Tom Pleasant

Vignette VI – April 2017

Haxan – Adam Gauntlett

Epilogue

• The King in Yellow & Other Stories (Book 1)
• In the Court of the Yellow King (Book 2)
• The King in Yellow Tales (Book 3)
• A Season in Carcosa (Book 4)
• New Tales of the Yellow Sign (Book 5)
• The Hastur Cycle (Book 6)
• Cassilda’s Song (Book 7)
• The Yellow Sign (Book 8)
• Rehearsals for Oblivion: Act One (Book 9)
• Dedication of the High Priestess (Short Story 10)
• The Chromatic Court (Book 11)

Deathlace - MTG 4E

Conan the Defiant (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 Defiant
Series: Conan the Barbarian
Author: Steve Perry
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 133
Words: 60K

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So the author has a thing for making Conan fight against 500 year old wizards who are as stupid as turnips. He also has a thing for Conan getting involved with busty non-human women. This time around it’s a zombie. And Perry throws in a regular babe too. I just rolled my eyes.

Once again, Perry uses some generic fantasy language to describe items. The “Source of Light”? Really, that’s the best you can do? These were obviously churned out within a week and any thought was absent from the writing. Makes me wonder if Perry looks down on those who read Conan stories, since he couldn’t be bothered to put any effort into these.

I think I would say that these “Conan” adventures by Perry are generic fantasy adventures with Conan’s name and description simply tacked on. Talk about tacky…

★★✬☆☆

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From Wikipedia

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Conan falls in with Cengh, a priest of the Suddah Oblates, who is conveying a jewel known as the Source of Light back to his temple. Unfortunately, his talisman is coveted by a necromancer, Neg the Malefic, who plans on raising an army of undead warriors with the jewel’s magic. When an agent of Neg murders Cengh and steals the jewel, Conan seeks vengeance for his friend. Joining forces with a warrior woman, Elashi, and a beautiful zombie, Tuanne, Conan tracks the murderer back to his master. They overcome numerous menaces on the journey towards Neg’s stronghold, including the Men With No Eyes, henchmen of the One With No Name, and a swarm of spiders. Finally, Conan faces and kills Neg himself in a great battle.

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

[Art] ...Suffering

Suffering is what we go through when we watch those near and dear to us go through the gauntlet of Pain. This stood out to me simply because of the tear running down his face. Little things like that matter to me.

Divide and Conquer (Groo the Wanderer #25) 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: Divide and Conquer
Series: Groo the Wanderer #25
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 23
Words: 2K

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Groo is a pretty obvious comic, so when I saw this page (page 5), I knew exactly where the comic was going to go. I didn’t know how it was going to get there, but I knew the destination:

And sure enough, that is exactly what happens.

The fun is watching Aragones lead us down the path to that destination. Just because we know the destination doesn’t mean we know the path the journey will take. Especially as Groo is involved and no journey with him is straightforward or logical at all! 😀

★★★✬☆

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From Bookstooge.blog

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Groo rescues a town from bandits, only to have them be attacked by another group of bandits. He rescues the town from those bandits as well. Then the two bandit groups unite. Groo teaches the villagers how to fight and it is a three way fight. Then they realize they have destroyed the town and all three groups join up to go pillage a different village. Good job Groo!

• All of My “Groo the Wanderer” Reviews

Shadow of Anubis (The Arcane Irregulars #2) 4Stars

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: Shadow of Anubis
Series: The Arcane Irregulars #2
Author: Dan Willis
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 256
Words: 83K

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I read the first book in this spinoff series, The Curse of the Phoenix, back in June of ‘22. It does not seem that long to me. But that’s why I keep records.

The original series, The Arcane Casebook, follows one Alex Lockerby, a magical detective who solves several mysteries each book that end up all tying together. In this Arcane Irregular series, we follow a series of people connected to Alex who solve various magical mysteries that are NOT related. That difference really threw me for a loop in the first book, as I kept waiting for Willis (the author) to tie everything into a nice neat bow. Thankfully, this time around I didn’t expect that and he didn’t disappoint. We’re both happy now.

Having a variety of mysteries to solve from a variety of viewpoints can be a hard thing to pull off. In fact, I’d usually bet against an author being able to pull such a thing off. But Willis manages it quite well. The switches between the various characters was done smoothly and I never felt a jarring change. He also introduced each change at a good point, so I wasn’t thinking “why can’t I stay reading THIS part?” My only issue is that Danny Pak feels shortchanged in this novel. I don’t feel that Willis has a good grasp of him as a person and so he’s almost a caricature or an idea of a person. The reason I mention that is because I did not feel that way about Agent Aissa. She had her own real voice and felt very distinct and separate and not just an Alex Lockerby clone with a name change (which can be the case in too many cases for indie authors). Despite what I said in Curse of the Phoenix about Willis seeming to have plateaued in skill, I have to admit I was wrong. Shadow of Anubis feels like a much better book and I hope that trend continues. And that wraps up my various thoughts on the book itself.

To end this review, I have to talk about the cover. I always have to talk about the covers that Willis uses in these Arcane series. They’re gorgeous! In this one, we see Agent Aissa on the left, Dr Bell (the real life Sherlock Holmes) in the center and the resurrected high priestess Sherry Knox on the right. I’m including a large version here just because it’s a very strong contender for Cover Love winner at the end of the month.

★★★★☆

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From the Publisher

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It’s been a year since the events of the Jade Phoenix, but its legacy is still being felt. When a magical assassin makes his presence felt in the city, Lieutenant Danny Pak has to bring in Dr. Ignatius Bell to help him track down a terrifying killer, preferably before the tabloids find out about him.

Meanwhile, FBI Agent Aissa Mendes gets her first solo case, the murder of a foreign national. At first the case seems fairly straightforward, but the deeper she digs, the more she uncovers, including a dark secret from the city’s past. Eventually, her pursuit of truth brings international scrutiny on Aissa that could end her career before it gets started.

With her boss, Alex Lockerby, mysteriously out of commission, Sherry Knox finds herself trying to keep the detective agency afloat with only Alex’s apprentice Mike Fitzgerald to help. She is keeping things together, at least until her cards show her a horrifying vision, predicting that one skeleton in her closet isn’t willing to stay buried.

• All My “Arcane Irregulars” Reviews
• All My “Arcane Casebook” Reviews

Empire’s Birth (Empire Rising #9) 3Stars

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Empire’s Birth
Series: Empire Rising #9
Author: David Holmes
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 424
Words: 164K

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I enjoyed this, but. Yes, a big fat but.

(And feel free to make all the jokes you want)

There was almost ZERO space marine action. They are mentioned, but pretty much only as elements that are getting their butts (ha, there’s that big fat but again) kicked and being destroyed. Space battles get all the attention this time around and that did not please Emperor Bookstooge. It made the book drag for me. So if your jam is big space battles, then you’ll absolutely love this. But (ha!) big space battles are NOT my jam, so I merely enjoyed this instead of absolutely loving it.

I reviewed the first book (The Void War) in February of 2023. I’ve been steadily reading this series and enjoying it. But now that the Empire has been officially formed, I think it’s time to take a break for a bit and come back in a couple of months. There are currently 18 books in the series and I’m guessing it’s going to be one of those “never ending” series. I’m ok with those, as long as I know that’s what it is. I just need to space things out appropriately.

★★★☆☆

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From Bookstooge.blog

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Commodore Happypants gets crowned King of Space England. Then he marries the Empress of Space China and creates the Empire, thus becoming Space Emperor Happypants.

While this is all going on, the evil Karachnids are going around conquering more space civilizations and nuking planets like there’s no tomorrow. Earth is doing what it can do cause problems but until they get united as a species, things aren’t looking too good. It’s up to Space Emperor Happypants to get humanity all on one page, by the scruff of the neck if necessary, and drag them to victory.

Watch out Karachnids, humanity has a Space Emperor and we’re not afraid to use him!

• All of My “Empire Rising” Reviews