(Initially posted 8/24/20) I only heard about this upcoming flick awhile back. A new trailer just came out, and needless to say I want to see it, preferably in a movie theater now that Covid nonsense allows, and not a year later on DVD.
Hammerfall
by C. J. Cherryh
The Gene Wars series #1
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My Rating: 
2 out of 5 stars
First Published: May 14th, 2004
Read from: Mar 28 – Aug 20, 2020
I love most of Cherryh’s work, but not this one which took me forever to read, likely due in large part because the book was such a drag. The writing style and prose is often quite good as typical with Cherryh, but in the context of what occurs it is all so drawn out, repetitive, and monotonous that it was hard to enjoy and make it to the few interesting or truly emotional bits.
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The Wind Through the Keyhole
by Stephen King
The Dark Tower series #4.5
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My Rating: 
5 out of 5 stars
First Published: April 24th, 2012
Read from: July 1 – 7, 2019
It’s been a LONG time since I’ve read any Stephen King. Not sure why, as I’ve always loved his work. I read the Dark Tower series several years ago, and enjoyed it for the most part. With the books of the series ranging from 3 to 4 stars of 5 and at least one a definite 5. Anyway, for whatever reason I have managed to pick up other authors’ works instead of King over the last few years, and somehow never managed to read this story added after The Dark Tower series was concluded. I’m glad I finally picked it up and read it, as it is one of the best tales by an author who is undeniably one of the best story-tellers of our day.
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Hellboy, Vol. 3: The Chained Coffin and Others by Mike Mignola
Hell Boy series #3
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My Rating: 
4 out of 5 stars
First Published: February 2004, stories first published in 1998
Read from: Apr. 1-13, 2016
This is the third Graphic Novel collection of the original Hellboy comics I have read. The second volume I didn’t like too much. I had liked it so little in fact that I had decided if the next in the series was equally disappointing, what with so much other things to read, I would move on to something else. Well, I’m glad I gave the series one more chance. I think I may have liked this volume even more than the first volume. Read the Full Review
Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey
The Expanse series #5
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My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
First Published: June 2nd, 2015
Read from: Mar. 1 – 10, 2016
For me that headline is saying a lot. I have really liked this series as a whole. But I have never given any of the novels (and only one of the novellas) my, “I loved it,” rating of 5 out of 5 stars…. Until now. Read the Full Review
Hellboy, Vol. 2: Wake the Devil by Mike Mignola
Hell Boy series #2
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My Rating: 
2.5 out of 5 stars
First Published: February 1994
Read from: Mar. 1-9, 2016
I felt this graphic novel, the second volume of collected Hellboy comics, lay somewhere between “it was ok” and “I liked it”. While there was so much that was potentially great in this graphic novel, it was thrown in a barrage that had no consistent thread and did not stay long enough with any one element to build any interest in me with what was going on. In some cases I’m not sure what was going on even had any explanation. Read the Full Review
Summer Knight by Jim Butcher
Dresden Files series #4
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My Rating: 
3.5 out of 5 stars
First Published: September 3, 2002
Read from: Feb. 18 – Mar. 1, 2016
I really liked this book when it started, but began to lose interest and see the “man behind the curtain” too much for my liking near the end. Still a very enjoyable read… Read the Full Review
Hellboy, Vol. 1: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola, John Byrne
Hell Boy series #1
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My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
First Published: 1994
Read from: Feb. 18-19, 2016
I liked the Hellboy movies, but had never read the comics from which they sprung. I decided I needed to correct that lapse. Read the Full Review
Zoë’s Tale by John Scalzi
Old Man’s War series #4
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My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
First Published: Jan. 30, 2016
Read from: Feb. 18, 2016
When I started this I didn’t realize it was basically a retelling of the previous book in the The Old Man’s War series, “The Last Colony”, only from the perspective of Zoë, the teenage daughter of the protagonist of most of the books. So I started off disappointed with this book. I checked some other people’s reviews just to make sure I wasn’t losing my mind and that, yes, I had indeed read this story before. There I discovered that besides the different perspective on the previous story there were some new things, and that much of it was… well, patching some of the parts of “The Last Colony” that had issues. So I took my time reading this, as I was not really “in” to it. I expected my disappointment would continue, and I considered giving the book the boot early on.
I’m REALLY glad I stuck with it. Read the Full Review
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
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My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
First Published: 1969
Read from: Jan. 24 to Jan. 28, 2016
I read Kurt Vonnegut‘s Slaughterhouse-Five at least once a long time ago. I remember that I liked it, but that it effected me in a negative way and left me of two minds on the experience: I liked the book but hated what it described and made me feel. It not so much described, as allowed you to experience and feel some thing that by nature we resist discussing, describing and by all means feeling if we can avoid it.
I reread the book this time around as there was a short story, Peace in Amber: The World of Kurt Vonnegut by Hugh Howey, that I wanted to read that was basically Howey’s tribute to, commentary on, and his literary attempt at describing and moving past some of the same issues exposed in Slaughterhouse-Five. Knowing this I wanted Vonnegut’s work to be fresh in my ever-more-forgetful mind. I’m glad I did, as the novel and short-story compliment each other. And I discovered in the middle of Howey’s story, he described his experience with reading Slaughterhouse-Five and in doing so described far better than I could what Vonnegut’s book did to me. Read the Reviews
