Spudguns!, It's book club day. This month's selection was Queen Victoria Demon Hunter by A.E. Moorat.
plot: It's the mid-1800's and young Victoria has just both had her eighteenth birthday and been informed she is now Queen. At the same time across town, Quimby and his manservant Perkins have just survived a horde of zombies that have broken out of their captivity. Well, mostly survived, as Perkins is half eaten by a zombie before Quimby is able to save him. Perkins then becomes the latest zombie. As well a large pack of rats have begun chasing people through the streets. The information reaches the ears of Maggie Brown, head of the Royal Protektors, and she is called into action to the Queen's side. Maggie manages to fight off an attack by a succubus saving the Queen. With their assassination attempt a failure, the Queen's enemies lay dormant for the next few years. During this time, the Queen marries her beloved Albert and gives birth to both a daughter and son, all the while unaware that her enemies have been living with her. As we learn, Sir Conroy, the very human familiar to the Queen's uncle; had a hand in setting up the royal marriage. Meanwhile, while this is happening, Quimby, who has managed to create a serum that causes reanimation, has been blackmailed by Conroy into helping the Queen's enemies overtake the Parliament by turning half the members into zombies. The Queen's enemies, who are in fact demons, kidnap her husband Albert, forcing Queen Victoria to rescue him. The Queen, along with Maggie and another member of the Royal Protektors, Vasquez, find themselves first having to deal with the chaos caused by the zombied members of Parliament, before tracking Albert to Bedlam where he's being held captive. And which turns out is also the entrance to hell.
There are so many sub-plots going on here. They do eventually come together to make one cohesive story, but at first glance, they seem almost not to have anything to do with each other. You're about midway through the book before they really connect.
I liked this a lot more than some of the others in this mash-up genre I've read. About the only real complaint I have on this novel is that the last 50 pages becomes one long action scene. Some of the characters could have been a little more fleshed out, such as the Royal Protektors Hudson, Hicks and Vasquez, as it is they ended up being sort of flat. One of the most interesting characters other than the character of Victoria herself; happens to be Egg, and he's only given a few scenes with little to do. I kept expecting him to have a more important role in the whole thing, but sadly he didn't. There are also the mysterious creepy children who are Conroy's bodyguards. A little bit of a back story on them would have upped the game just a notch. There is also, an entire group of werewolves that at first seem like the center of the villains, and are given some depth, but you quickly learn they are just the comic relief.
I don't have a whole lot else to say about this one. It's a lighter book, which sways between action-gore and dramatic-comedy. You're drawn between the relationships which focus on the mentor/student dynamic of Maggie and the Queen, and the buddy/odd couple of Quimby and Perkins more so than anything else.
I'll be back in a day or two with the official announcement for April's selection.
Sunday, March 31, 2019
Thursday, March 21, 2019
The Nosferatu Adventures s13 p17
The Nosferatu Adventures
page 347, chapter 347
The Seer snapped his fingers freezing the hallway. "You've got less than 30 seconds before they unfreeze, you need to leave." he grabbed our heroine's wrist as he was speaking, and bit down hard.
"Damn it!" she pulled back from him nearly hissing. The Seer wasn't paying attention to her sudden rant, instead just waved his hand causing someone's water bottle they'd been holding to fly twenty feet across the hallway. Grabbing it in midair, he bit his finger squeezing a few droplets of blood into it.
"Drink this after you go through the portal. It will link us psychically for a few minutes. I've got a lot to fill you in on, and blood swap is the fastest way." he nodded towards the props room. "Nosferatu, I'm serious! Every second you're here, the more dangerous the situation will become." he gestured towards the burly ex-boyfriend wide eyed. The Seer sighed then making a shoving gesture sending our heroine flying backward into the props room.
"Come on. We'd better go." Edric mumbled grabbing Seward by the collar of his shirt and dragging him along. The male hybrid shoved his sire through the mirror wanting nothing but to get her as far away from her exes as possible. The three landed in a heap on the ground.
"Shack!" our heroine growled as she rubbed her elbow. "Not cool." She stood then, brushing the dirt from her, before opening the plastic water bottle downing the mixture. "Gross." she stuck her tongue out grabbing the canvas bag from Seward feeling the extreme desire to hold onto the spellbook.
"The Seer's blood?" Edric asked getting to his feet looking around, realizing they were not in the warehouse. "Uh where are we?"
"No. Gross the Seer's blood in vodka. I hate vodka. Whoever this had belonged to, they were drinking on the job." she barely got the sentence out when she sucked in a large gasp. Her eyes turned then to the pure white of the banshee. Images flashed in a crazy 3D effect in front of her. She saw Loki in chains being tortured; which rapidly turning into an image of Damen being struck with an energy ball from Odin, another image overtook that one of someone trapped in stone but she was unable to make out their features, which quickly melted into a vision of complete destruction. A grown up William stood in the middle of a burnt circle, bodies smoking around him, blood covering him like muddy paint, Reuben's heart in his hand. That shifted just as rapidly to an image of Edric in the bathroom of the warehouse talking to someone in the mirror.
Our heroine then heard the Seer's voice ask if she could hear him?
"Yes." she spoke out loud trying to get her barrings. Seward reached for the canvas bag again gingerly taking it from her, and the plastic bottle dropping it into the bag. The look on his face was shock as he continued to look around, trying to figure out where they were as well.
"William can be stopped. But you need your soul back first."
"I don't want my soul back. I had to go through a lot to get rid of it." she started to answer but The Seer's voice spoke over her's.
"It's the only way to keep William from growing up to become king. You have to get your soul back and accept the werewolf part of you again. You have to activate the Frankenstein family curse. Only two kids per generation. The man you saw Edric talking to in the mirror must be born. A Van Helsing must be born so that William dies."
Tune in again for another installment of the Nosferatu Adventures starring your heroine...me (straight up story. Bet you didn't see that coming eh?)
page 347, chapter 347
The Seer snapped his fingers freezing the hallway. "You've got less than 30 seconds before they unfreeze, you need to leave." he grabbed our heroine's wrist as he was speaking, and bit down hard.
"Damn it!" she pulled back from him nearly hissing. The Seer wasn't paying attention to her sudden rant, instead just waved his hand causing someone's water bottle they'd been holding to fly twenty feet across the hallway. Grabbing it in midair, he bit his finger squeezing a few droplets of blood into it.
"Drink this after you go through the portal. It will link us psychically for a few minutes. I've got a lot to fill you in on, and blood swap is the fastest way." he nodded towards the props room. "Nosferatu, I'm serious! Every second you're here, the more dangerous the situation will become." he gestured towards the burly ex-boyfriend wide eyed. The Seer sighed then making a shoving gesture sending our heroine flying backward into the props room.
"Come on. We'd better go." Edric mumbled grabbing Seward by the collar of his shirt and dragging him along. The male hybrid shoved his sire through the mirror wanting nothing but to get her as far away from her exes as possible. The three landed in a heap on the ground.
"Shack!" our heroine growled as she rubbed her elbow. "Not cool." She stood then, brushing the dirt from her, before opening the plastic water bottle downing the mixture. "Gross." she stuck her tongue out grabbing the canvas bag from Seward feeling the extreme desire to hold onto the spellbook.
"The Seer's blood?" Edric asked getting to his feet looking around, realizing they were not in the warehouse. "Uh where are we?"
"No. Gross the Seer's blood in vodka. I hate vodka. Whoever this had belonged to, they were drinking on the job." she barely got the sentence out when she sucked in a large gasp. Her eyes turned then to the pure white of the banshee. Images flashed in a crazy 3D effect in front of her. She saw Loki in chains being tortured; which rapidly turning into an image of Damen being struck with an energy ball from Odin, another image overtook that one of someone trapped in stone but she was unable to make out their features, which quickly melted into a vision of complete destruction. A grown up William stood in the middle of a burnt circle, bodies smoking around him, blood covering him like muddy paint, Reuben's heart in his hand. That shifted just as rapidly to an image of Edric in the bathroom of the warehouse talking to someone in the mirror.
Our heroine then heard the Seer's voice ask if she could hear him?
"Yes." she spoke out loud trying to get her barrings. Seward reached for the canvas bag again gingerly taking it from her, and the plastic bottle dropping it into the bag. The look on his face was shock as he continued to look around, trying to figure out where they were as well.
"William can be stopped. But you need your soul back first."
"I don't want my soul back. I had to go through a lot to get rid of it." she started to answer but The Seer's voice spoke over her's.
"It's the only way to keep William from growing up to become king. You have to get your soul back and accept the werewolf part of you again. You have to activate the Frankenstein family curse. Only two kids per generation. The man you saw Edric talking to in the mirror must be born. A Van Helsing must be born so that William dies."
Tune in again for another installment of the Nosferatu Adventures starring your heroine...me (straight up story. Bet you didn't see that coming eh?)
Monday, March 18, 2019
The Cinema Files s1 p17
The Cinema Files
page 17, chapter 17
Gumshoe Intermission
"Ever notice how the building's cleaning lady always sounds like she's breaking the doors down when she vacuums the hallway?"
"No." Rudolph said without thinking. "But I have noticed the neighbour on the other side of me seems to always wait till he's right in front of my door before he coughs. Like he's hacking up a lung."
"Oh yeah, I've heard him too. So, you mentioned the store. What's on your mind?" I was already standing in front of his crime board. My eyes were stuck on the photo at the far right of it, a blurry black and white print out from a 1950's newspaper clipping. Rudolph had marked it with a green sticky note.
"Not why I brought you here." his hands were on my shoulders gently guiding me towards the kitchen table. There was a chickpea salad, mushroom risotto, grilled beets and peppers with roasted cauliflower. All sitting around an unlit candle in a very pretty short vase. "This is." he gestured towards the meal before taking his phone out of his pocket. I had to lean back slightly as the phone was under my nose before I could think, Rudolph was scrolling through shots of not just this meal, but two others in a blur.
"Hold up." I snatched the little contraption out of his hand. "Explain with words."
"My boss decided to dump the Lifestyle section on my lap while the regular girl is off on her honeymoon." he wrapped his arms around my shoulders, leaning on my right one. He smelled like cantaloupe and limes. "He's got me doing that on top of my regular columns. I'm over my head. I don't know a thing about this stuff."
"And you thought I would why?" I took another deep breath, just breathing him in.
"Your aunt wrote that sort of column. I saw a few of them in the archives."
"So translate that for me. Are you asking for my advice and input or are you asking more?"
"For you to cover it for me. Please? It's just for two weeks, just two articles on any topic." his left hand was now down to my elbow as he moved around to face me. Bringing both hands then up together in a begging gesture. "Please Desdemona. I'm begging and I will make it up to you." He looked so helpless all of a sudden. "Starting with dinner."
"Fine. But something tells me I'm going to regret it." We sat down to eat, a look of relief washing over his beautiful grey eyes. "So you still haven't told me why you were thinking about the store from this morning?" I watched as Rudolph lowered his face, slumping his shoulders tight as he leaned over his plate.
"I don't want to talk about it right now. I just want to have a pleasant dinner." he sighed then stuffing a large amount of food into his mouth, nearly biting the fork in frustration. He chewed noisily for a long moment before dropping his fork to his plate. "You don't have any girlfriends." Rudolph shook his head. "The group today was all men." I found myself unable to stop a smile suddenly at his jealously.
"No I don't have any female friends. But I don't see why that matters?"
"Because." he didn't continue, just stared at his plate wide eyed pushing a single chickpea around. "I like you. I need to know if I am going to have to work for your attention? What kind of walls am I up against?"
"I'm not sure I really know the answer to that?" I was blushing at this point, unable to catch my breath. There was no way I could tell him the true about my last 24 hours with Detective Whitechapel. I was brought back to the moment by the sound of Rudolph's phone buzzing wildly.
"It's the newspaper." he mumbled as he moved from the table to answer. I didn't hear him say much beyond a few 'okays' and 'are you sure'; but he did grab a pen and jot something down on an envelope. Hanging up he copied the info then into his phone.
Tune in again for another installment of the Cinema Files starring your heroine...me(straight up story. Emotional boy)
page 17, chapter 17
Gumshoe Intermission
"Ever notice how the building's cleaning lady always sounds like she's breaking the doors down when she vacuums the hallway?"
"No." Rudolph said without thinking. "But I have noticed the neighbour on the other side of me seems to always wait till he's right in front of my door before he coughs. Like he's hacking up a lung."
"Oh yeah, I've heard him too. So, you mentioned the store. What's on your mind?" I was already standing in front of his crime board. My eyes were stuck on the photo at the far right of it, a blurry black and white print out from a 1950's newspaper clipping. Rudolph had marked it with a green sticky note.
"Not why I brought you here." his hands were on my shoulders gently guiding me towards the kitchen table. There was a chickpea salad, mushroom risotto, grilled beets and peppers with roasted cauliflower. All sitting around an unlit candle in a very pretty short vase. "This is." he gestured towards the meal before taking his phone out of his pocket. I had to lean back slightly as the phone was under my nose before I could think, Rudolph was scrolling through shots of not just this meal, but two others in a blur.
"Hold up." I snatched the little contraption out of his hand. "Explain with words."
"My boss decided to dump the Lifestyle section on my lap while the regular girl is off on her honeymoon." he wrapped his arms around my shoulders, leaning on my right one. He smelled like cantaloupe and limes. "He's got me doing that on top of my regular columns. I'm over my head. I don't know a thing about this stuff."
"And you thought I would why?" I took another deep breath, just breathing him in.
"Your aunt wrote that sort of column. I saw a few of them in the archives."
"So translate that for me. Are you asking for my advice and input or are you asking more?"
"For you to cover it for me. Please? It's just for two weeks, just two articles on any topic." his left hand was now down to my elbow as he moved around to face me. Bringing both hands then up together in a begging gesture. "Please Desdemona. I'm begging and I will make it up to you." He looked so helpless all of a sudden. "Starting with dinner."
"Fine. But something tells me I'm going to regret it." We sat down to eat, a look of relief washing over his beautiful grey eyes. "So you still haven't told me why you were thinking about the store from this morning?" I watched as Rudolph lowered his face, slumping his shoulders tight as he leaned over his plate.
"I don't want to talk about it right now. I just want to have a pleasant dinner." he sighed then stuffing a large amount of food into his mouth, nearly biting the fork in frustration. He chewed noisily for a long moment before dropping his fork to his plate. "You don't have any girlfriends." Rudolph shook his head. "The group today was all men." I found myself unable to stop a smile suddenly at his jealously.
"No I don't have any female friends. But I don't see why that matters?"
"Because." he didn't continue, just stared at his plate wide eyed pushing a single chickpea around. "I like you. I need to know if I am going to have to work for your attention? What kind of walls am I up against?"
"I'm not sure I really know the answer to that?" I was blushing at this point, unable to catch my breath. There was no way I could tell him the true about my last 24 hours with Detective Whitechapel. I was brought back to the moment by the sound of Rudolph's phone buzzing wildly.
"It's the newspaper." he mumbled as he moved from the table to answer. I didn't hear him say much beyond a few 'okays' and 'are you sure'; but he did grab a pen and jot something down on an envelope. Hanging up he copied the info then into his phone.
Tune in again for another installment of the Cinema Files starring your heroine...me(straight up story. Emotional boy)
Sunday, March 17, 2019
Sunday Randomness
Spudguns! We are sitting at 228 Days till Hallowe'en. I was checking the coming soon listings on Cineplex.com, and here are some listings I'm looking forward to this summer.
April 10th - The Man Who Killed Don Quiote
April 19th- Curse of La Llorona
April 26th- Avengers Endgame
May 3rd- The Long Shot
May 10th- The Hustle
- Tolkien
May 17th- John Wick Chapter 3
June 14th- MIB: International
- Shaft
June 21st- Child's Play
July 5th- Spiderman Far From Home
August 2nd- Fast and Furious 9 Hobbs and Shaw
The movie The Hustle is a remake of the 1988 film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Child's Play is a reboot of the franchise, Shaft is a sequel and reboot.
April 10th - The Man Who Killed Don Quiote
April 19th- Curse of La Llorona
April 26th- Avengers Endgame
May 3rd- The Long Shot
May 10th- The Hustle
- Tolkien
May 17th- John Wick Chapter 3
June 14th- MIB: International
- Shaft
June 21st- Child's Play
July 5th- Spiderman Far From Home
August 2nd- Fast and Furious 9 Hobbs and Shaw
The movie The Hustle is a remake of the 1988 film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Child's Play is a reboot of the franchise, Shaft is a sequel and reboot.
Thursday, March 14, 2019
Coffee Talk March 14th 2019
Spudguns!, Happy National Spider Day. That's very important for vampire/Dracula fans. Anyways, how's you? You might have noticed how much time has passed between posts on here. That's because...I've got nothing. Empty. Drained.
Okay, not totally true; as I've got two paragraphs written on the serials. As in one paragraph each. Hand written, which is about three lines each typed. I'm working on it, I'm working on it. I've also got three "what that movie inspired" lined up for ...soon. The movies are watched, the notes are taken, the recipes ...well failed. I need to remake the recipes or come up with better ones.
But I am slowly dusting off the cobwebs on here...get it, cobwebs cause it's both National Spider Day and I haven't been blogging much...well I thought it was funny.
Just thought I'd come in here and let you know I'm still working on stuff behind the scenes so to speak because, well I have massive blogging guilt. I had promised you all a weekly schedule and I haven't been able to keep it. I'm sorry for that. Look at it this way, at lest the blog has been given some attention once or twice a month the last few months, where as my youtube has been dry since last summer. And now a new wave of vlogging guilt has hit. Moths in the stomach as I realize I need to get a few videos edited now too.
Well, I have my homework assignment. I'll be back within the week with some of the above.
Okay, not totally true; as I've got two paragraphs written on the serials. As in one paragraph each. Hand written, which is about three lines each typed. I'm working on it, I'm working on it. I've also got three "what that movie inspired" lined up for ...soon. The movies are watched, the notes are taken, the recipes ...well failed. I need to remake the recipes or come up with better ones.
But I am slowly dusting off the cobwebs on here...get it, cobwebs cause it's both National Spider Day and I haven't been blogging much...well I thought it was funny.
Just thought I'd come in here and let you know I'm still working on stuff behind the scenes so to speak because, well I have massive blogging guilt. I had promised you all a weekly schedule and I haven't been able to keep it. I'm sorry for that. Look at it this way, at lest the blog has been given some attention once or twice a month the last few months, where as my youtube has been dry since last summer. And now a new wave of vlogging guilt has hit. Moths in the stomach as I realize I need to get a few videos edited now too.
Well, I have my homework assignment. I'll be back within the week with some of the above.
Saturday, March 2, 2019
March 2nd 2019 Night Bleeds
A new month means a new book club selection. We are in the month of March, and this month's selection is Queen Victoria Demon Hunter by A. E. Moorat.
Rules are fairly simple, read the book and blog about it. You must have a blog to join in and the post must be done in the current month, in this case March 2019. If you are at all inspired to cook/bake/craft etc something by the book, please add that to your blog post. If you do join in, leave me a comment with your post link so I know and can do a round up. Please link your post to either this announcement, the Night Bleeds page or on the day the actual post.
Due date is the last Sunday of every month, in this case Sunday March 31st 2019.
And as always, if you are in the Thunder Bay area and would like to be part of the physical bookclub, let me know.
Rules are fairly simple, read the book and blog about it. You must have a blog to join in and the post must be done in the current month, in this case March 2019. If you are at all inspired to cook/bake/craft etc something by the book, please add that to your blog post. If you do join in, leave me a comment with your post link so I know and can do a round up. Please link your post to either this announcement, the Night Bleeds page or on the day the actual post.
Due date is the last Sunday of every month, in this case Sunday March 31st 2019.
And as always, if you are in the Thunder Bay area and would like to be part of the physical bookclub, let me know.
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