...Mommy Frappuccino very, Very, VERY much, something magical happens.
Vikings from Newfoundland put a little Mocha Frappueggnogccino into a mug and deliver it and in just a few moments, a new delicious drink is born.
And immediately after that, the Big Bad Bookstooge comes along and drinks them all down, lock, stock and barrel!
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 Rainbow to Heaven DNF@21%
Series: -----
Author: Barbara Cartland
Rating: 1.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Romance
Pages: 134 / 28
Words: 52K / 11K
Publish: 1934
Chapter 1
We are introduced to our heroine, Diana Headley, as she prepares to go to a party. We learn that she's a thorough socialite but well off and sought after by the newspapers to have her picture taken. At the same time we're reassured she's not a vapid, empty headed numpkin but a woman of taste and talent, albeit one who is fast approaching that line of "tired" that overtakes many in the upperclasses.
We are also introduced to Lord Hugo Dalk, a 37 year old Lord who is independently wealthy and has decided that Diana is the woman for him. They get along well, like a pair of friends and Diana doesn't appear that she wants more than that, as something deep inside doesn't feel that Dalk is the one. Yet Dalk proposes to her in a casual, off hand manner that seems to imply he at least feels they are the only ones worthy of the other.
We also meet the hosts of the party, the Schnibers. They come from new money, as Mr Schniber made his fortune in "hooks and eyes", so I'm guessing women's undergarments? He's not comfortable nor are his wife and daughter, but they so want to be part of the "crowd" that even throwing a society party for complete strangers is not out of bounds.
The contrast between Diana, Hugo and Mr Schniber is well sketched. Diana is a worldly woman but not yet taken over by ennui. Hugo has all the hallmarks of a socialite bored with life itself while Schniber is the prototypical "country bumpkin", wide eyed and convinced all the socialites are better people than he.
Chapter 2
Diana doesn't want to deal with Hugo's proposal. She's very attracted to him but is contrary enough to not want him out of hand. She comes across some old friends, the Standish's and finagles a visit down to their home, thus giving her space and time from Hugo. Hugo is understandably upset but self-centered enough to think Diana will say yes eventually.
The Standish's introduce us to Barry Dunbar, "one of the most brilliant men" the Standish's have ever met as well as being "one of the greatest young intellects in Europe today." He's deep into Eastern mysticism and spends his days seeking out old scrolls to bring them to the eyes of Europe. Barry is convinced that Eastern Mysticism is the key to the spiritual salvation of Europe. We find out that the Standish's have given a part of their home over to Barry and he runs it like a tyrant, ie, his rules, his way. They admire him so much that they give way on everything.
Diana heads down to Standish Castle, still wondering why she hasn't accepted Hugo's proposal. Lots of garbage is thrown around but it amounts to "I just don't want to, so there".
I am not liking Barry from the get-go. Hugo is an arrogant ass, but I understand him. Barry is all second hand introduction and the way the Standishes fawn over him makes me sick. Plus, anyone who thinks that Eastern Mysticism is going to solve any problems is about as empty and shallow as possible. It's a new bauble, that is all and they are entranced by the shininess of it. I despise people like that.
Chapter 3
We start out with a background sketch of how Mrs Standish became Mrs Standish and how fulfilled she is now that she is married to Jack Standish. This gives her "spiritual" weight so her thoughts and pronouncements about and to Diana aren't just the blatherings of a busybody. But they are. Mrs Standish is presented as a "good person" because she tries to help others. This excuses any behavior by her, because "she is a good person". Then we get some more secondhand Barry praise and how deeply spiritual and philosophical he is, thus ALSO making him "a good person".
Diana meets Barry at dinner and is impressed that he's not a society bore and a shallow jackass (my words obviously) like her other acquaintances. Barry "only talks about important things" and this also impresses Diana while at the same time making her feel her inferiority, to which feeling she is not used to. After dinner Barry and Diana have a little one on one talk and Barry makes it quite clear that he considers her and her kind the bane of England and the beginning of the end for England's greatness.
This is a shallow romance and it touches on theology and philosophy, but sadly, in the same trite, pathetic and non-thinking way that it deals with romance. You do not treat theology that way. Theology, whether you like it or not, is what sets the boundaries of your world and defines everything you do for your whole life.
I should not have chosen this book. It was a big mistake considering how high of a regard I hold my theology in. I felt like Cartland spit in my face and then wondered what the big fuss was about. I am dnf'ing this now and this is my review. I sincerely apologize to anyone else who chose to read this and thought there would be several more weeks of lighthearted fun to be had. To expiate my literary sins, I will now commit seppuku, the practice of which people like Barry Dunbar are apparently fully in favor of. So screw that. I’m seppuku’ing Barry Dunbar. That’s him under the motorcycle helmet, not me!
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 Tau Empire
Series: Warhammer 40K: Tau
#5
Author: Braden Campbell
Rating: 3
of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages:
399
Words: 139K
Publish: 2016
Holy
smokes, it has been TWO YEARS since I read the novella Farsight.
Where does the time go? I bring this up because Farsight is
the anchoring novella to this collection of stories centered around
the Tau. I did decide to skip reading it again, so that definitely
helped me move things along.
One thing I have appreciated about reading the Commander Farsight novels (Farsight, Crisis of Faith, Blade of Damocles, Empire of Lies) is that he is a pretty positive and upbeat character. He really believes in the Greater Good and that he and the Tau can make the universe a better place. That is very unusual in the Warhammer 40,000 literary univerise and to be honest, I kind of took it for granted. Then I read this book and realized I shouldn’t.
Most of the stories here involve other Tau besides Farsight. He is the lead for Farsight and is also featured in Fire and Ice but more as a side character. The other stories deal with other Tau who have orbited Farsight’s sphere of influence in the previously mentioned Tau books. They are much more aligned to the grim darkness of the far future in WH40K. That’s not necessarily a pleasant thing at all.
Peter Fehervari in particular seems to absolutely relish writing stories about death and decay and the collapse of the mind, will and emotions of the characters in his stories. It’s not that everyone dies (as in a Russian story) but that everyone gets broken, very broken, in some manner. It might be their body or their mind or their emotional psyche. After reading these couple of short stories by him, I think I’ll avoid his full novels and collections. I suspect they would be too much for me to handle.
The other two authors, Campbell and Smillie were decent enough but once again, the stories were grim.
I am realizing that much like my foray into Cthulhu’ic Cosmic Horror, I need to limit my reading time in the WH40K universe. I also have to be mindful of which faction I am reading about. I know I enjoy reading about the Necrons (terminator like aliens millions of years old) and to this point, the Tau. What I most enjoy though are the ordinary people in the Empire of Man which I’ve read through the likes of Commissar Gaunt & his Ghosts and Commissar Ciaphus Cain, Hero of the Imperium. I need to seek out some Astra Militarum books (that’s the fancy way of saying the plain old soldiers in WH40K speak) and hope there’s some hope in them :-D I’m not holding out much hope though. Hahahahahahaa.
★★★☆☆
From the Publisher:
It is the manifest destiny of the Tau Empire to rule the stars. Guided by the principle of the Greater Good and driven by the orders of the mysterious ethereals, they conquer worlds, by words or force, and defend them by the might of the fire caste, noble warriors armed with advanced weaponry and powerful battlesuits. 'Shas'o' contains ten tales of the Tau Empire at war, featuring mighty battlesuits battling Imperial tanks, fire warrior snipers duelling with Space Marines and stories of some of the tau's greatest heroes, including Farsight, Shadowsun and Aun'Shi.
ToC:
Farsight – Phil Kelly
Fire and Ice – Peter Fehervari
Aun’Shi – Braden Campbell
A Sanctuary of Wyrms – Peter Fehervari
Commander Shadow – Braden Campbell
Out Caste – Peter Fehervari
Shadowsun: The Last of Kiru’s Line – Braden Campbell
The Patient Hunter – Joe Parrino
The Kauyon – Andy Smillie
The Tau’va – Andy Smillie
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
Permission
Title:
The Farthest Shore
Series: Earthsea Cycle
#3
Author: Ursula LeGuin
Rating: 4 of
5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy / Middle Grade
Pages:
135
Words: 66K
Publish: 1972
This
just didn’t grip me the same way as the previous two books did. It
is still a rousing tale, but in this, LeGuin preaches up a storm and
while it doesn’t overshadow the story, it is still in the sky, like
a harpy, scree’ing at the reader.
But man, can LeGuin spin a tale. Magic is draining from the world and things are getting worse, even though the Ring of Erreth Akbe has been restored (the story told in The Tombs of Atuan). And it is all springing from a time when Sparrowhawk, Ged the Highmage now, dealt with a necromancer in an arrogant and high handed way. LeGuin is trying to make the point that we should all hold hands and sing kum-by-ya together. The lesson “I” learned was to never leave an enemy alive behind you. Cobb, the aforementioned necromancer (and how awesome is it that a guy who is cheating death and destroying the world itself is just called Cobb? LeGuin’s wit is rapier sharp!) was playing with dark powers and Ged tried to “rehabilitate” him (by scaring the living daylights out of him), only for Cobb to return 10x worse. If Get had put his staff through Cobb’s head at their first meeting, none of this would have happened. And yet that leads into even more goodness. Because not only does Ged have to face Cobb again, now much older, wiser and gentler, but he picks up the prince Arren and in the process fulfills a prophecy about the final king of the Archipelago, who of course through their journey, turns out to be Arren. The story is just fantastic.
I’m going to end the review with that.
★★★★☆
From Wikipedia
An ominous, inexplicable malaise is spreading throughout Earthsea. Magic is losing its power; songs are being forgotten; people and animals are sickening or going mad. Accompanied by Arren, the young Prince of Enlad, the Archmage Ged leaves Roke Island to find the cause. On his boat Lookfar, they sail south to Hort Town, where they encounter a drug-addled wizard called Hare. They realize that Hare and many others are under the dream-spell of a powerful wizard who promises them life after death at the cost of their magic, their identity, and all names, that is, all reality. Ged and Arren continue southwest to the island of Lorbanery, once famous for its dyed silk, but the magic of dyeing has been lost and the local people are listless and hostile.
Fleeing the stifling despair, Ged and Arren keep on southwest to the furthest islands of the Reaches. Arren is drawn under the influence of the dark wizard, and when Ged is injured by hostile islanders, Arren cannot rouse himself to help. As Ged's life ebbs, and they drift into the open ocean, they are saved by the Raft People, nomads who live on great rafts beyond any land. The spreading evil has not yet reached them, and they nurse Ged and Arren back to health. At the midsummer festival, the sickness arrives, and the singers are struck dumb, unable to remember the songs.
The dragon Orm Embar arrives on the wind, and begs Ged to sail to Selidor, the westernmost of all islands, where the dark wizard is destroying the dragons, beings who embody magic. Ged and Arren voyage past the Dragons' Run south of Selidor, encountering dragons flying about and devouring each other in a state of madness. On Selidor, Orm Embar is waiting for them, but he too has lost the power of speech. After a search, they find the wizard in a house of dragon bones at the western tip of Selidor – the end of the world.
Ged recognises the wizard as Cob, a dark mage whom he defeated many years before. After his defeat, Cob became expert in the dark arts of necromancy, desperate to escape death and live forever. In doing so, he has opened a breach between worlds which is sucking away all life. As Cob paralyzes Ged with the staff of a long-dead mage, Orm Embar impales himself on it, crushing Cob in a final effort. But the undead Cob cannot be killed, and he crawls back to the Dry Land of the dead, pursued by Ged and Arren. In the Dry Land, Ged manages to defeat Cob and closes the breach in the world, but it requires the sacrifice of all his magic power.
They travel even further, crawling over the Mountains of Pain back to the living world, where the eldest dragon Kalessin is waiting. He flies them to Roke, leaving Ged on his childhood home of Gont Island. Arren has fulfilled the centuries-old prediction of the last King of Earthsea: "He shall inherit my throne who has crossed the dark land living and come to the far shores of the day." Arren will reunite the fractious islands as the future King Lebannen (his true name).
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: The Fingers of Death
Series:
The Shadow #25
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating:
3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages:
137
Words: 42K
Publish: 1933
Someone is killing people and only the Shadow can stop it. I thought I knew who the villain was part way through, because it wasn’t too obvious. Then it became obvious who the villain really was. Only it wasn’t, because it was obvious. Then I realized what was really going on and what do you know, I was FINALLY right. Only took three tries, hahahahahaaha!
See, this is one of the things I like about these Shadow novels. I can never tell what the correct solution is. The author is always switching things up and doesn’t repeat a himself.
★★★✬☆
From the Publisher & Bookstooge
One by one, the city's most prominent citizens fell prey to an ingenious and macabre series of murders. A mysterious, pitiless agent of evil on a single-minded mission of destruction was at work - a terrible power whom hapless victims, in their last living moments, came to know and dread as the Fingers of death. Authorities grew more baffled as the ring of horror spread ever wider. One man and one man alone could penetrate the veil of secrecy and reveal the grim living presence behind those murderous fingers. A man more spectral than night itself, a phantom in a dark slouch hat and flowing cloak, whose eerie laugh of triumph sowed terror in the hearts of criminals everywhere.
Decades ago a civil servant stole millions from a bank and hid the money before dying without telling anyone where it was. The rest of the people involved knew it was somewhere in the town. One man begins killing off the others so when they figure out where the money is, he’ll get it all. Only the Shadow knows what is going on and only he put a stop to things and return the stolen money to the honest townsfolk.
As far as I can tell, "Jandor" is not a named character in the Arabian Nights stories. He is a made up character exclusively for Magic the Gathering. That doesn't mean WotC didn't do a good job of creating a character out of just a couple of sentences on some cards :-D I'd love to have a modern version myself, called Bookstooge's Saddlebags. It would fill up with rockstar, eggnog and cold pepperoni pizza every night, with maybe a little bag of chips to fill things out ;-)
Raw Data:
Novels - 9 ↓
Short Stories - 0 -
Manga/Graphic Novels - 0 -
Comics - 1 -
Average Rating - 2.85 ↓
Pages - 3385 ↑
Words - 1250K ↑
The Bad:
Resolve of Immortal Flesh - 2star dnf of plain old fashioned bad writing
Rise of the Warrior Cop - 1star dnf of a lying scumbag drug junkie
Tower Lord - 1star dnf of moral perversion
The Good:
Stone of Farewell - 5stars of Fantasy Done Right
Tower of Silence - 4stars of Fantasy (almost) Done Right
Miscellaneous Posts:
Personal:
Oh hurray, another guy has started at my work place. I am calling him Short Guy, because he's only 5'4", which means he's my height, which is great for working. He has previous Land Survey experience and is in his late 20's, so those are both big checks in his favor. After my last disastrous experience with the Tattle Tale Guy who told my boss everything I said to him, I am reserving judgement AND keeping my lip buttoned up a lot tighter. Short Guy doesn't seem like a whiny complainer Gen Z'er, but fool me once. I remain hopeful though. But just in case you think it is ALL peaches and roses, he talks. We had a job 75 minutes away from the office one week. He talked the entire time there AND the entire time back. Non-stop verbal diarrhea about everything. All I had to do was say the occasional "uh uh, yep, oh that's interesting" and he just kept on going. How is it physically possible to even talk that much? I am hoping that my natural close mouthedness will rub off on him, once he runs out of original things to say. My fear is that he'll turn into one of those people who tell the same stories time after time because they just have to have words coming out of their mouths. I'll know for sure by New Years either way.
The Time Change at the beginning of the month took me a week to adjust to. I kept waking up at 4am and my body wanted to fall asleep by 8pm. It was not a fun week. Thankfully, once "I" got the message, things settled right down into the new time routine.
Partway through the month I came down with the flu, possibly covid. Either way, it was fever, headache, sore throat, muscle and joint pain and enough snot to make even Slimer go "ewwwww". I was out of work for 3 days because all I could do was lie on the couch, taking pain reliever and drinking hot tea. Once the fever and aches went away, I had to deal with a lingering cough. That sucker kept waking me up during the night every 30-90minutes. It was a 2 week process from start to finish and just tore me down to the foundations.
This past Thursday was Thanksgiving, and since I also had Friday off, meant I had a four day weekend this weekend. I really needed it just to finish up my recovery from being sick.
Went out to a Mexican/American place for Date Night with Mrs B. Had a good time talking and she gave me her thoughts on my taking a break from blogging in January. That was extremely helpful to me, as it gave me a place to work from. I've been feeling burnt out on blogging and several weeks of not writing seems like what I need most. How exactly that will work out is still to be determined, but I have the "big picture" now, which is already helping me.
Bookwise, my reading slowed down a lot. It wasn't helped that I had 3(!!!!!!!) dnf's this month, which totally tanked my average rating. April was the only month this year that has a lower average book rating than this one :-( With that said, my page and word count still went up because I read some big ol' chunksters and even taking the dnf's into account, I still read a lot of pages. The stress of "reading more" was taken care of by not posting on Wednesdays. That really helped a lot and is one of the factors that made me realize I need to stop blogging for a bit. I have a feeling my reading numbers will drop in December, but I'm really ok with that at the moment.
I did manage to participate in SciFiMonth2025 this year with a non-review post. Thank goodness for the Friday Five theme posts! I really wish I could have participated more, but the reading cards said "no" and who am I to disagree? Hehehehe. At least I got to use the cool banner, which is the main reason I wanted to participate in the first place :-D
Cover Love:
The Hand of Fu-Manchu is deliciously creepy. Sadly, this was the best and largest version I could find online.
Plans for Next Month:
READ LESS SO I DON'T HAVE TO WRITE REVIEWS. I know, that seems obvious to you, right? Well, it doesn't to me because I read so much (usually) and I record everything I read. So my goal is to deliberately cut down on my reading in December. Which I'm hoping will lead to a few more creative posts. Which actually leads into my next paragraph very well.
Let the Barbara Cartland Buddy Read begin! The schedule for A Rainbow to Heaven is as follows:
Which means you have this week to read the first 3 chapters and write a post about it. I think this is what is going to monopolize most of my time in December. Given how November went for reading, having some light romance to browse through each week is something I am looking forward to. Unencumbered, uncomplicated and a happy ending. Please be sure to add the tag "Barbara Cartland Buddy Read" to any posts to make it easier for anyone else to find your posts on the WP Reader.
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...
