Well you know my love of all things retro — steampunk, dieselpunk, etc. Imagine my glee when seeing this game trailer.
In my mailbox: Paperbacks From Hell
I want to thank the good folks at Quirk Books ( link ) for sending me this free advanced reader copy of “Paperbacks From Hell” by Grady Hendrix. The book will be available September 19th so keep this one on your radar screen if you love vintage horror.
Take a tour through the horror paperback novels of the 1970s and ’80s . . . if you dare. Page through dozens and dozens of amazing book covers featuring well-dressed skeletons, evil dolls, and knife-wielding killer crabs! Read shocking plot summaries that invoke devil worship, satanic children, and haunted real estate! Horror author and vintage paperback book collector Grady Hendrix offers killer commentary and witty insight on these trashy thrillers that tried so hard to be the next Exorcist or Rosemary’s Baby. It’s an affectionate, nostalgic, and unflinchingly funny celebration of the horror fiction boom of two iconic decades, complete with story summaries and artist and author profiles. You’ll find familiar authors, like V. C. Andrews and R. L. Stine, and many more who’ve faded into obscurity. Plus recommendations for which of these forgotten treasures are well worth your reading time and which should stay buried.
Free ebook: The Watson Letters Volume 3
Free this weekend! ( http://amzn.to/2vQVKZ3 )
The Watson Letters Volume 3: Curse of the Baskervilles
by Colin Garrow
Intrepid investigators Holmes and Watson continue their fight against crime in a not quite Post-Victorian, steampunk parallel universe.
In three more adventures, the intrepid duo tackle a ghostly locomotive, journey to Dartmoor in search of a gigantic hound, and team up with bloodthirsty psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter in the hunt for a murderer. Adult humour throughout.Curse of the Baskervilles is book #3 in this Victorian comedy adventure series.
If you love historical mysteries, buy something else instead, but if you’re into fart-gags and innuendo this’ll be right up your Victorian street. Download your copy or buy the paperback version of The Watson Letters Volume 3: Curse of the Baskervilles now
Review: Fairies, Pookas, and Changelings
Fairies, Pookas, and Changelings: A Complete Guide to the Wild and Wicked Enchanted Realm
by Varla Ventura
Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Weiser Books
ISBN-10: 1578636116
ISBN-13: 978-1578636112
Product description:
While it’s true that fairy folk love a good garden and take great pleasure in a tulip, there are dozens of beasties who fall under the fairy domain that are not quite as delightful as the quintessential flower fairy. This book is an exploration of the many things that go bump in the night near the fairy mound. Along with an exploration of folklore and historical literature, readers will delight in fairy tales that demonstrate everything from striking a bargain with a fairy to staving off changelings to laughing with the dwarves.
Included are fairy tales and myths from Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and Scandinavia plus classic stories by Thomas Crofton Croker, Joseph Jacobs, Clara Stroebe, the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Yei Theodora Ozaki, and others on goblins, trolls, gnomes, pookas, changelings, banshees, and more!
Chapters include:
- A Fear of Little Men: Elves, Trolls, Leprechauns, Tree Spirits, Brownies, Coblyns, Dwarves, Goblins, Bonga, Trolls and Other Fairy Folk of Glen, Forests and Hearth
- The Hand That Rocks the Cradle: Changelings and Other Greedy Kidnappers of the Fairy Kingdom
- I’m Not Drunk, It’s Just My Pooka: Tales of the Trickster Fairy and Its Wild Counterpart
- Is That All There Is? Faries Who Give, or The Barter System
- Whoops, There It Is: How to Enter the Fairy Kingdom (or How Not To)
If you think fairies are merely delicate beings who follow you about on gossamer wings, you are in for quite a shock: the kingdom of the fairy is one of vengeance, thievery, trickery, and wild creatures. Consider yourself warned!
My Thoughts:
I loved it. Fairies, Pookas, and Changelings is packed with folklore of the Fairyfolk. You might be reading about a pooka one minute or a troll statue under a bridge the next. Everything Varla covered was interesting and my only complaint was that I wanted more.
I won this book in a contest that Varla held and she has added a fan for life to her list. Along with Among the Mermaids and Banshees, Werewolves, Vampires and Other Creatures of the Night, Varla has added another must-have title for your esoteric home library.
5 out of 5 stars!
George RR Martin
George RR Martin in a sombrero … because there are some things that the world needs now.
Review: The Castle in Cassiopeia
The Castle in Cassiopeia
by Mike Resnick
http://amzn.to/2uZF9R4
Series: DEAD ENDERS
Paperback: 285 pages
Publisher: Pyr (August 22, 2017)
ISBN-10: 1633882314
ISBN-13: 978-1633882317
My thoughts:
Space opera at it’s best. I enjoyed the previous books in the series The Fortress in Orion, and The Prison in Antares. I gave them 4 stars out of 5 and I’d give this book the same score.
As with the other books in the series, The Castle in Cassiopeia gets a little dialogue heavy and I hated the cover art but the book is excellent. It has an awesome pace and an entertaining story. If you can say anything about Resnick, you have to admit that he’s a great storyteller.
If you are new to the series, I think that you can jump straight into this book. Resnick sets up the story nicely. That being said, I think you’d get more out of it by starting with The Fortress in Orion.
It’s a fun summertime read. 4 stars out of 5.
Product description:
A crisis has arisen. On their first mission as a team, Pretorius and his Dead Enders kidnapped the real General Michkag and substituted a clone who had been raised and trained in the Democracy. But now they find that the clone likes being the most powerful man in the hundred-world Traanskei Coalititon—and having been raised on Earth, he knows how humans think and react.
This becomes a many-layered problem for Pretorius and what is left of his Dead Enders. As the only humans on a totally militarized alien world, they must first find where the best-guarded member of the enemy’s military – Michkag – is hiding and how many aliens, or regiments, or divisions, are guarding him, and then they must find a way past all his lines of defense to kill or capture him.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Pyr. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Tiws Day August 15th
When high the sun in noonday glory rides,
Where willows keep the lake’s green margin cool,
The speckled trout amid their shadow hides,
And dragonflies haunt every shaded pool.
–Thomas S. Collier (1842–93)
Un-bookshelf
A friend has been sending me pictures of bookshelves. I like to see how people are storing and displaying their books. When I received this picture, I had to comment that this was NOT a bookshelf. In order to be a bookshelf, it needed to store —- ummmmm books.
