Lord Samper's Library

  Page Count: 202 Pages The hospital was pretty busy yesterday so there was a bit of a wait to see the Doctor and then, an even longer wait to pick up my tablets afterwards. Was I annoyed though, or even slightly bothered? Not this Graeme... If I’m going to be sat in a hospital waiting room, you can be damn sure that I’ll have a book or two in my bag and that’s exactly what I had yesterday ;o) It’s been a little while since I read some Warhammer 40K but I’m not quite ready to jump into another long series (not yet anyway) so Mike Brooks’ ‘Huron Blackheart: Master of the Maelstrom’, and its slim page count, seemed like a good alternative. A bite sized chunk of ‘grimdark far future’ and a leading man whom I’d heard a lot about but never really seen much of. It couldn’t go wrong, could it…? Of course it couldn’t, and it didn’t. The renegade leader of the Red Corsairs must adapt to an Imperium led by Roboute Guilliman, all while struggling to retain power in the face of dissension amon...

This should have been yesterday’s post but we all know what happened there… Right, lets have another go at writing this post… :o) Just a couple of short stories for you today (because that’s all I was good for the other day). I’m trying to make inroads into some of the ‘non-Warhammer’ fiction on my shelves but I missed the good stuff and decided to compromise by dipping a toe into the setting. Not literally of course, dip a toe into some of those battlefields and you stand a good chance of losing your whole leg, and that’s if you’re lucky ;o) C.L. Werner is always a safe bet for a good ‘Warhammer Fantasy’ or ‘Age of Sigmar’ read and this time, I thought I’d go for a ‘Warhammer 40K’ read of his as well. One ended up being a lot more enjoyable than the other; it’s not too hard to work out which one was which… ;o) ‘Black Dawn’ (Victories of the Space Marines) Page Count: 31 Pages An artefact from the Great Crusade - a bolt pistol used by Roboute Guilliman himself - is unearthed on the pla...

  A little bit of a 'cheats post' today as I had my oldest daughter over last night, to watch 'Stranger Things', and today I've got my youngest daughter for a chunk of the morning... until my oldest joins us. The bare minimum of reading happened last night; I'd be very surprised if any reading at all happened today. We shall see... So that's why you have a 'recycled' review today (just to give me a chance to breathe) and just also so I don't come across too much like the 'Laziest of Bloggers'. I also like bringing old posts out of retirement and giving books a last shot at centre stage. You can see the original post Here but to be honest, I've left it more or less unchanged here so, it's up to you which one you read ;o) And that's enough of that, lets head back to the Old World and see what kicked things off for Archaon... In the north of the world the forces of Chaos gather, awaiting their moment to strike. At their head is ...

  I try to vary my reading, as much as I can, but I can never stay away from the Black Library for too long :o) The ‘why’ is probably a post for another time but for now, lets just say that the setting very rarely lets me down when I’m in need of a decent tale. I have a large pile of unread Warhammer books (40K, Age of Sigmar and even some Old World) and over the weekend, ‘Darkness Eternal’ had its turn in the spotlight; mostly because I was after bite sized stories but, being completely honest, I’d already read a few of the tales here and it was a slightly easier route to getting another book under my belt. I’ve got some momentum and I don’t want to lose it ;o) So, blurb? Go on then… In the grim darkness of the far future, the galaxy burns as its disparate races fight for resources, territory, and divine purpose. The Imperium faces threats both alien and heretic, and the touch of the warp is ever a moment from seeping into reality, with deadly consequences. Survival is earned in b...

  Page Count: 546 Pages My ‘absolutely out of order’ readthrough of ‘The Siege of Terra’ continues with ‘Mortis’, chosen because there really is nothing cooler than cover art featuring a traitor Titan (‘Dies Irae’?) attacking the palace with loyalist soldiers trying to look like they stand half a chance against it. Seriously, if you know of cover art that is better, point me at it ;o) This wasn’t going to be todays post but I finished ‘Mortis’ yesterday and given the state of my memory at the moment… If I don’t post something today, I’ll completely forget to post at all and that would be a shame as ‘Mortis’ was a very good read. One hell of a slog, it took me about three weeks to finish, but a very good read all at the same time. The victories of Saturnine and the sacrifices of the Eternity Wall space port have faded into the hope of yesterday. Denied but not defeated, the traitors intensify their assault on the Imperial Palace. With the principal space ports in Horus’ hands, th...

Am I back? Sort of… Things are still busy here (okay, really busy…) so for now at least, you won’t see a post every day; I just haven’t got the capacity for it right now. Every few days though…? That’s a little more do-able, I think. Lets see how it goes ;o) I want to have a little go at ‘Cimmerian September’ for a start. In the meantime though… Reading hasn’t come easy the last few days but I did manage to get a couple of short stories under my belt last night; one re-read and one new. I’ve got some longer books on the go but for now, lets have a little chat about these… ‘The Box’ – Jack Ketchum (Crossroad Press) What is in the box? Our narrators son knows and now he won’t eat; and when he tells his sisters… they stop eating too. ‘The Box’ is chilling, all the more so because it is told in such a matter of fact way. It almost doesn’t matter what’s in the box, it’s the inevitability of that knowledge that drives our narrators family to their death and makes the tale a compelling one. T...

I had my daughters over, last night, so not a lot of time for reading but just the right amount of time to listen to a couple of short audiobooks after I got back from dropping them off at their place. The ‘Horus Heresy’ is always good to visit in audiobook form, especially in the shorter stories where the accompanying effects are superb, so I picked a couple of tales from David Annandale and away I went. Just quick thoughts this time round as both tales were very quick listens, just what I needed last night ;o) ‘Veritas Ferrum’ – David Annandale Run Time: 11 Minutes. When Horus' treachery was declared, the Iron Hands primarch Ferrus Manus sped to the Isstvan system with his elite forces to confront the traitors...and fell into their trap, losing the battle and his life. The Tenth Legion warship Veritas Ferrum arrives in the Isstvan system in the second wave of Imperial forces. Battered by the foes and forced to retreat, the crew must make a difficult choice when survivors of the...

Back to work tomorrow and right now, I'm not sure if I'm really dreading it or just dreading it at the normal level I would dread a looming Monday... Either way, dread is in the air so while I try and deal with that (possibly by reading but my kids might be over so Playstation is also a possibility), I thought I'd round off the weekend with the final post for C.L. Werner's 'Black Plague' trilogy; part of the old 'Time of Legends' series from Black Library. And yes, I am swiping another old post from an older blog, fingers crossed normal service should resume tomorrow. Anyway... The original review can be found Here but all the important stuff is below. Have a nice Sunday ;o)  It’s always a funny feeling to finish a series isn’t it? Something that you’ve invested a lot of your time in is suddenly gone and you’re left thinking, ‘oh, what now?’ There’s also that wrench where you have to leave that fictional setting for the last time (I know you can re-read...

I am swiping old reviews, from older blogs, left, right and centre at the moment; not the content I really want to be posting but needs must and all that :o) Like I said yesterday, it's been a busy week and my reading time took a hammering as a result. The plan is to try and claw back a little time, over this weekend, and catch up with some reading; we'll see how that goes... In the meantime then. I thought now would be a good time to continue posting about C.L. Werner's 'Black Plague' trilogy. Well. borrowing old posts but... You know what I mean ;o) The original review can be found over Here ; all the relevant bits (i.e. me not going off on tangent for no good reason) can be found below. Have a great weekend! The Black Plague spreads across the Empire, followed by a tide of monsters from legend: the skaven. In Altdorf, Emperor Boris’s troops valiantly hold off the ratmen while the corrupt Emperor escapes to safety. In Middenheim, Graf Gunthar and his son Mandred d...

It has been a great few days off work but next Monday has appeared on the horizon and my thoughts are starting to turn in that direction. Oh well, just a couple of weeks and I'll be headed into another weeks worth of leave; and that's the great thing about having daughters who are off school for the summer ;o) A great few days, with my girls, then but as ever, my reading has taken a hit and I'm horribly behind all over again. With other stuff going on, my energy has gone on my girls and I haven't been good for much come the end of the day. Oh well, hopefully I'll be able to catch up over the weekend. In the meantime then, I thought I'd start drawing a little attention to the old 'Warhammer' fantasy books that the Black Library seem perfectly happy to let slide out of print and into the realm of obscenely priced second hand books. Which is ok if you have these books in your collection but not so great if you don't. No worries, both 'past' and ...

Page Count: 88 Pages I hate saying this, because it’s only Tuesday dammit, but this week is already looking like it’s going to be another tough one so I’ve got a funny feeling you’ll be seeing mostly short stories here over the next few days. Maybe a couple of comic books as well. I’ll try and pick some good ones ;o) Today then, lets go to the darkest corners of a grimdark universe that’s already dark enough as it is; what with the constant warfare and all. I used to wonder whether, given the nature of the setting, a ‘Warhammer Horror’ line was over-egging the pudding but I’ve been proved wrong on a number of occasions now. That’ll teach me… I’m used to the line turning out some decent stories so it was no surprise then that ‘The Colonel’s Monograph’ was another one ;o) When invited to catalogue the antiquarian book collection of the late Colonel Grayloc – a celebrated hero of the Imperium – former archivist Teresina Sullo is swift to accept. Grieving for her dead husband, she sees an ...

I actually managed to finish Ray Bradbury’s ‘The Illustrated Man’ last night (look at me, finishing books that I’ve bought) but there was a lot to wrap my head around there, and there was no way I was going to get all that in a post last night, so… I thought I’d clear my head a little with a couple of Black Library short stories that I found on my Kindle. One exercise in filling in the gaps in the ‘Horus Heresy’ and a ‘Warhammer Horror’ tale that, erm… wasn’t, not from where I was sat anyway. That sounds a little more harsh than was meant. These weren’t particularly bad tales, they just don’t rank highly amongst those that I’ve enjoyed. Still, not a bad way to round off an evening. Here goes… ‘ Massacre’ (Aaron Dembski-Bowden) Shunned by the rest of the Legions after the destruction of their home world, the Night Lords have fought without their disgraced primarch Konrad Curze for many years. But now the self-proclaimed ‘Night Haunter’ has returned and will lead them to the backwater ...

Run Time: 22 Minutes Just a quick one today because, well… Look at the run time here ;o) I had to nip over to the pharmacy, yesterday, and the bus ride there and back was just the right length for a little audiobook action. As you know full well by now, Black Library audiobooks are my ‘go to listen’ so, here we are :o) On the world of Solennes, the battle between the forces of the Imperium and the heretics has become a stalemate of seemingly eternal artillery bombardments. The land is devastated, and the attempts to gain ground by either side end in disaster. Morale is low, and when Trooper Arehn is caught apparently fleeing the front lines, Commissar Selander does not hesitate in condemning him to a very public execution. When Selander starts to see Arehn after his death, he follows the apparition, wracked by doubts - but what will he find? ‘Judge of the Wastes’ is a very atmospheric piece, great script work from Annandale (with the gradual breakdown of Commissar Selander) which is de...

Today’s post was originally going to be about a couple of Robert Bloch short stories and then (while having an overdue purge of the shelves yesterday) I came across my copy of Joe R. Lansdale’s ‘Bestsellers Guaranteed’. I’d completely forgotten that I had this book so I thought I’d check out a couple of these stories instead. I ended up enjoying what I read so much that I decided to go for it and read the whole book. Honestly, it’s a great read. And so, today’s post was going to be about ‘Bestsellers Guaranteed’; that was the plan until the book literally came apart in my hands while I was reading it. Turns out that some books don’t age well ;o) While I’m waiting for the glue to dry then, I thought I’d read something where the pages don’t come loose in my hands. Yep, it’s back to the Kindle and a couple more entries in the Black Library… ‘We Were Brothers’ – Richard Fox. Page Count: 32 Pages Lord Straxis of the Red Corsairs boards a strike cruiser of the hated Executioners Space Marine...

Page Count: 20 Pages There is no escaping it… By the time you read this post, my week off will be well and truly over and I’ll be back at work; trying to make sense of a weeks worth of email. And just in case anyone is wondering, I’m counting time spent lying awake in bed, worrying that something went horribly wrong while I was away. My head is at work, even if the office isn’t open quite yet ;o) But anyway… I’m sure you’ll excuse me if today’s post is a short one, I’ve got more than a few things to get done today. While I’m working my way through those, you can have some quick thoughts on another slice of ‘Grimdark’ fiction from the war torn universe of the Horus Heresy. The series, as a whole, has ended now (just the one anthology to come) but as far as we’re concerned right now, the Warmaster’s shadow hangs heavy over Terra and the end-game is about to begin… Malcador the Sigillite is troubled. The war fleets of the traitor Horus approach, and war on the Throneworld is inevitable. B...

Page Count: 507 Pages. At this point, I have absolutely given up even trying to read the ‘Horus Heresy’ and ‘Siege of Terra’ books in any kind of order. And I know that I really should have done but sometimes you just have to say ‘the hell with it’ and read whatever takes your fancy first, otherwise you’d never read anything at all. And that may well be my ‘Reading Resolution’ for the rest of the year but, anyway… So lets not worry too much about what has come before, if only because I may not have read it just yet ;o) Instead, let us skip to the final stages of the Siege of Terra where hope has almost disappeared… but not quite. The walls have fallen. The defenders’ unity is broken. The Inner Palace lies in ruins. The Warmaster’s horde advances through the fire and ash of Terra’s dying breaths, forcing the loyalists back to the Delphic Battlement, the very walls of the Sanctum Imperialis. Angron, Herald of Horus, has achieved immortality through annihilation – now he leads the armies ...

Yesterday was a day in the office and the commute is always a great time to catch up on a little reading. The journey home saw me finally start on Edward Ashton’s ‘Mickey 7’ which is shaping up to be a great read so far (actually, at just over 200 pages in, it’s a great read all in all), a review should follow in the next few days. The commute in though, that was about catching up with a couple of shorter stories from the war-torn times of the Horus Heresy. Let me tell you about them… ‘ Visage’ – Rich McCormick Page Count: 40 Pages Following the Battle of Signus Prime, the indignation shown by Erebus, Dark Apostle of the Word Bearers, is met with brutal retribution from the Warmaster Horus. After having his tattooed visage flayed from his scalp, Erebus seeks the power of the avatars of Chaos to restore his faith in the Dark Gods. So, Erebus has lost face… Sorry, I couldn’t help it ;o) Out of all the players in the ‘Horus Heresy’ series, Erebus is one of the most important charact...