Recent Book Hauls!

 

Good Evening Readers and Nerds.

Not much to report.  So thought I would share my 2024 book hauls so far.  I'm trying to cut down on buying books as I've about 200 books to read on my TBR shelves.

I purchased my Edge-lit drinking pals book - The View from Gallows Hill - by Nick Stead.  One day I will pick up his werewolf series too.  Plus I hope to see him in Derby again this year.

As I've been collecting the Alien and Aliens books, I thought I'd also try a Predator short story collection.  Also published by Titan Press.

 

I had bought Stephen Graham Jones other novel Don't Fear the Reaper, thinking it was a standalone.  Didn't realise it was the second book in a series so naturally needed the first book My Heart is a Chainsaw.  The final book in the trilogy is out this year. Titled The Angel of Indian Lake.  Out March 2024.  Apparently good solid books and homage to slasher films.

So far still reading The Last Dodo by Jacqueline Rayner and enjoying it.  Hopefully will post a review in a few days time.

What are you reading?  Leave a comment and let me know.

Happy reading!

Neil x

Book Review - Doctor Who - Forever Autumn by Mark Morris

Books Read in 2024  - No. 1

Hi Fellow Bookworms

At last I've finished my first book of 2024.  Still took longer than I wanted, as it's only a 244 page YA novel.  I started it on 22 January, so just under a Month.

This has to be my favourite of the Doctor Who novels I've read so far.  Not because I follow author Mark Morris on Facebook and seen him at a couple of Edge-lit events, but because his writing is fantastic.  It really brings out the Tenth Doctor's personality.  When I read the Doctor's lines, David Tennant's voice was in my head.  The same with Martha Jones.

All the characters were well rounded, and Mark gave good details to them in just 244 pages.  The aliens, the Hervoken, were excellent bad guys.  They were just trying to leave the planet, but their sinister agenda of using humans as fuel didn't go down with the Doctor well.

The way Mark described them reminded me of the Matt Smith aliens The Silence.  They had long fingers and arms and big heads.

The story also has some creepy scares, fitting for a Halloween themed novel.  These included killer clowns.

Mark also predicted a new Who meme which was in the 60th Anniversary specials, when Martha also says the below phrase.

Overall - so far my favourite Doctor Who novel.  Mark writes a satisfying conclusion to the story.   Some of the Doctor Who novel endings have been a bit vague and rushed.  I will definitely be picking up more Mark Morris novels in the future.

Score    10/10

Goodreads  5/5

February 2024 - Update

 

Greetings Nerds

Well, a dawn of a new month beckons!  Looks like 2024 will go as fast as last year.  February already.

Luckily I didn't procrastinate in January as I did in the whole of 2023.

Reading - At last I finished Wrath by John Gwynne!  An excellent action pack extravaganza.  Go read the Faithful and the Fallen Series.

I also started my first official book of 2024.  A smaller Doctor Who novel called Forever Autumn, by an author chum of mine called Mark Morris.  So far so good.  A review will follow soon.

Writing - And I've started writing again.  The first time properly since 2019.  The best thing is I'm really enjoying it.

As part of a Fire and Ice Challenge, set up by the Facebook writers group Write Magic, two groups of writers were challenged to write the most amount of words.  I was in the Fire team and we should find out the winner soon!

I didn't hit my target every week in January of 2000 words per week, yet it got me writing.  I would need to write a lot more to become a professional writer!

I even created by own Word Count sheet for 2024 which I'm going to continue to use throughout the year.

Other -  Well still in the same job, dreading going on incoming calls.  So much so I'm off with stress.  Not sure what I want to do other than be a writer.  Until that happens I fancy retail work.

I've still to get to the gym.  Although I have been walking more in the first month of 2024.

Well here's to a long February.

Neil x