Brian Stabler > Recent Status Updates

Did I say I'd only been approved for two of Sarah Pinborough's Tales from the Kingdoms? I've just been approved for a third: the final book in the series, Blood.

I'd planned to continue my Sandman re-read with The Dream Hunters & Endless Nights and the Death minis and shorts The High Cost of Living, The Time of Your Life, The Wheel & A Winter's Tale, but the library got a couple of reservations in for me and there are waiting lists for both.

It's hard to believe that though this is my fourth wander through the pages of The Sandman (The others were late 80s/early 90s, late 90s/early 00s and one lockdown or another.) this is the first time I've read it all and in something like published order.

I've just received a signed copy of John Connolly's The Land of Lost Things. Yes, I know I've already listened to it on audio, but I couldn't resist owning a print copy signed by JC and the cover artist plus a signed woodcut bookmark!

This is... strange. It must be all of thirty years since I last listened to an audiobook, but I wasn't going to turn down the chance of an advance copy of The Land of Lost Things.

Another early read thanks to NetGalley. Alternate timelines have been done many times before, but it's Lauren Beukes.

I've managed to rejig my library reservations, sadly dropping one, and have started my NetGalley advance copy.

'You can trap someone in a book, their soul - make a prison of the words. A cage.', but who, if anyone is trapping who?

I'm lucky to be reading this right now. My library reservation was showing as 'in transit' for a few days, but when I checked my account yesterday it had switched to 'collection expired! I popped in to see what had happened and the copy was fortunately still in branch and able to be issued to me.

I can't help noticing an omission from the timeline of published work. 2000AD Prog 2000 which was published in 2016 is included, but the 'Annual Prog' 2000 which was published in 1999 isn't. The latter contains DG's final 'chronological' Rogue Trooper story referred to in the entry Rogue Trooper (3).

Mention of Pocket Chiller Library has me wanting to dig out the bundle I was given years ago and see if Gibbons' The Dead are Awake and Walking is among them.

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year everyone!

Returning to this one after way too long.

So far, so good. There's more than a hint of Odd Thomas about Quinn Quicksilver. Hopefully, Koontz has learned his lesson and doesn't write Quinn in to the ground like he did with Odd.

Reading three books at once! How did that happen? I seem to have found myself in possession of a copy of this art book, opened it and found myself heading down the rabbit hole again.

One of those rare occasions were I've borrowed a book, picked it up, started flipping through and before I know it a couple of hours have passed. Seeing the covers at a larger size and stripped of all cover copy reminds of just how good some of the Virgin Who covers were. It almost makes me want to reread the series. It's just a pity that most of the books are long out of print and some cost-prohibitive.

The Ritual of Chud, deadlights and a possessing entity referred several times, albeit in lower case, as 'it'. Are these yet more signs that The Losers Club didn't actually defeat Pennywise at the end of It?

As if things weren't bad enough already, now book releases have started to be affected by that damn virus!

I'm starting to think about what to read next, after The Scarlet Gospels, and can't decide if now's an appropriate time to read the copy of Kim Stanley Robinson's The Years of Rice & Salt that's been sat on my TBR read since it was published.

I've nothing on loan from the local library, and I strongly suspect they'll close soon due to the virus, so I'm delving into my TBR pile.

Yes, I'm reading the last few Discworld books out of order, but after reading Wintersmith I couldn't help reading the last two books in Tiffany Aching series.

I've started, and should hopefully soon finish, one of my Belated Bookish Resolutions. I say hopefully because the last Discworld book I read, Unseen Academicals, took about a decade to read from originally starting to finally finishing it!

Daisy's thought: 'Oh, how I long to rush forward in time and simply become twenty.'

My thought: We have an author who's announced the next book will be the last in the series, but 'though this feels like the end, it’s really just the beginning'.

Is it possible that she's about to jump Daisy & Hazel forward a few years, from mid-teens to early twenties, or am I reading too much into what's merely a throwaway line?

I was surprised to find this in the local Tesco, it's not supposed to be out for another month, but that didn't stop me buying it.... and it's not going to stop me reading it!

Belated Reading Resoltion #1

To finish one, if not all, of the three books I've currently got in various stages of read.

Belated Reading Resolution #2

To read at least one of the six (?!?) Discworld books I've still not got round to reading!

I'm not sure what I think about this at the moment. I wasn't that hot on the last Reacher book, I thought the character had started to become too ultra-violent for me, but I'll no doubt give 'Andrew Child' a chance before writing the series off :

https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...

I find myself in the unusual position of wanting to read the previous two books in this trilogy (I skip ahead and it turns out this is the finale of the Christina Light trilogy! Though it does almost work on its own.) while also really wanting to read the next book in the series. Whenever that's due.