Showing posts with label Sunday Post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sunday Post. Show all posts

Sunday, July 21, 2024

{Sunday Post} — Bad Hombres, Lost to Eternity, and Reckoning of Fallen Gods


What Am I Reading? 


Hey, I received a new ARC this past week—Star Trek: Lost to Eternity by Greg Cox—and I've already read seven chapters.

Sunday, July 14, 2024

{Sunday Post} — Bride, Confessions of the Dead, and Red Sky Mourning


What Am I Reading? 


I finished Douglas Preston's Extinction, moved on to R.L. Stine's Shark Night, and read a graphic novel. I've placed a bookmark inside Craig Johnson's First Frost and will begin reading it today.

Sunday, July 7, 2024

{Sunday Post} — The Fate of the Phoenix, Shark Night, and The Rise & Fall of ECW


7/5/24 - I can't sleep—the cup of coffee I'm drinking isn't helping the problem—and I'm listening to Iron Maiden at nearly 2 a.m. on Friday. Instead of working on reviews—I've started two—or setting up today's Book Blogger Hop, I'm writing my Sunday Post early. 

Song of the Week


What Am I Reading? 


I finished The House That Horror Built on Wednesday. I took a reading break yesterday, the 4th of July, and plan on starting Douglas Preston's Extinction sometime today. Then I'll probably move on to Craig Johnson's First Frost

What's New in the Mailbox? 


Yes, two books are in the above photo, but only one came in the mail—R.L. Stine's Shark Night. I'll probably read it sooner than later; maybe I'll post a review for it during the upcoming "Shark Week." 

I picked up Iris Johansen's The Survivor the other day at Walmart

What's New on the Bookshelf?


I might've stated a few times on this blog that I don't care much for audiobooks. So, it might be a shock that I bought a slew of 99-cent audiobooks at the thrift store. If I counted correctly, there were 25 total. Yes, I feel a bit crazy getting these. 

Eighteen of the titles are William J. Johnstone's Westerns: Eagles: Blood of Eagles, Eagles: Eyes of Eagles, Eagles: Dreams of Eagles, Eagles: Talons of Eagles, Eagles: Scream of Eagles, Eagles: Crusade of Eagles, Eagles: Pride of Eagles, Eagles: Revenge of Eagles, Eagles: Destiny of Eagles, The Last Gunfighter: No Man's Land, The Last Gunfighter: Rescue, The First Mountain Man: Absaroka Ambush, The First Mountain Man: Preacher's Pursuit, The First Mountain Man: Preacher's Showdown, The First Mountain Man: Preacher's Fortune, The First Mountain Man: Preacher's Justice, The First Mountain Man: Preacher's Peace, and Hell's Half Acre: Cold-Blooded (written by William's niece, J.A. Johnstone).

The other audiobooks include Dean Koontz's Seize the Night, Preston & Child's Two Graves, Preston & Child's Cemetery Dance, Iris Johansen's Stalemate, Iris Johansen's Quicksand, and Iris Johansen's Countdown.


While at the thrift store, I bought one 25-cent hardcover, The Last Patriot by Brad Thor; four Iris Johansen paperbacks—Dark Summer, Blood GameAnd Then You Die, and Deadlock; and three other paperbacks: Star Trek: The Fate of the Phoenix by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath, and Cold Fire by Dean Koontz.


Dollar Tree put out a bunch of books this week. I picked up The Annihilation Protocol by Michael Laurence, The Sin in the Steel by Ryan Van Loan, High Treason by Sean McFate, and Titan's Day by Dan Stout.


New titles on my Kindle are Star Wars: The Force Awakens by Alan Dean Foster; Star Trek: The Rings of Time by Greg Cox; Star Trek: The Disinherited by Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, and Robert Greenberger; and The Rise & Fall of ECW by Tom Loverro.



Sunday, June 30, 2024

{Sunday Post} — Blind Alley, Never Lie, and Thunderball


Weekly Tidbits 


  • I'll attempt to play catch-up on reviews this week. 
  • The KC Royals won back-to-back series but are still seven games behind. 

Song of the Week 



What Am I Reading? 


What am I reading? That is a good question. Hmm. I'm thinking. I'll probably be reading The House That Horror Built by Christina Henry, a library loan I recently checked out with two other books, First Frost by Craig Johnson and The Path to Paradise by Sam Wasson. It's a Gothic horror tale; its premise is intriguing, so it won't take long to read. Then, I'll move on to one of the three ARCs, to one of the library loans, and vice versa.

What's New on the Bookshelf?


I'm starting to realize that I might have a bit of a bookish problem with buying new books I already own. For example, this past week, I bought Brad Taylor's The Devil's Ransom in paperback. I checked the copyright first and concluded that I didn't own it. While I'm not 100% positive, I might've gotten the hardback for free a while back at the library, along with other titles by the author. Also, I might've mistaken Brad Taylor for Brad Thor. Nevertheless, I now have The Devil's Ransom on paperback. 

I bought The Camp by Nancy Bush after reading the blurb, which reminded me of Friday the 13th, though instead of Camp Cyrstal Lake, it's Camp Luf-Shawk (nicknamed Camp Love Shack and later renamed Camp Fog Lake). 

Additionally, I picked up Never Lie by Freida McFadden.


Dollar Tree got in a bunch of former Walmart $5.97 hardbacks. I got Preston & Child's Old Bones, Tom Clancy's Power and Empire by Marc Cameron, Tom Clancy's Line of Sight by Mike Madden, and Tom Clancy's Oath of Office by Marc Cameron. Yes, I'm double-dipping here, but on purpose because I wasn't sure if I had two books, Oath of Office and Old Bones, and the store only had one copy of each title. It turns out that I already have the Oath of Office, but the second copy is in much better shape than the first, so I'll be donating the old one. I'm pretty sure I already have Old Bones, but I haven't gone through my books to find out yet. 


On my second visit to Dollar tree, I picked up All the Broken People by Leah Konen and The Hush by John Hart.


In the "free" section at the library, I found a 1951 hardback of Three by Heinlein: The Puppet Masters, Waldo, and Magic, Inc. by Robert A. Heinlein.


Why am all of a sudden am I finding Star Trek books in my area? I found two 25-cent Star Trek books at the thrift store last week: TNG: Reunion by Michael Jan Friedman and The Nitpickers Guide for Next Generation Trekkers by Phil Farrand. Additionally, I grabbed Star Wars: The Mighty Chewbacca in the Forest of Fear! by Tom Angleberger. 


For ten cents apiece, I got three old Ian Fleming's 007 paperbacks: Thunderball, Dr. No, and From Russia with Love.


I also got three Dean Koontz paperbacks: Whispers, Shattered, and The House of Thunder. The latter is replacing a battered copy that I'll donate or trash.


I picked up two 25-cent Robin Cook hardbacks: Death Benefit and Chromosome 6.


Lastly, I got three Iris Johansen books: Quicksand, Eight Days to Live, and Blind Alley.

What's New on Billy's Kindle?


New titles on my Kindle are: Up Until Now by William Shatner and David Fisher, The View from the Bridge by Nicholas Meyer, Do Not Disturb by Freida McFadden, and The Perfect Son by Freida McFadden.













Sunday, June 2, 2024

{Sunday Post} — Mountain of Mirrors, Pliable Truths, and Stargate


My Current Reads 


Once again, I'm in between books, though I did read the prologue to Friday the 13th: Mother's Day over a week ago. I placed bookmarks in multiple books, but I was on the fence about what to read next. I should probably read The Chaos Agent, but part of me wants to read Pliable Truths (Star Trek: The Next Generation) by Dayton Ward, which I just received in the mail yesterday afternoon. No, it's not an ARC; I ordered it from Amazon. I was supposed to receive an ARC, but my gallery contact has been MIA for several months. Sometime, I need to read ARCs of Extinction, Acts of Defiance, and Lost Birds. Also, I've added Freida McFadden's The Housemaid and The Housemaid's Secret to my current reading list. There's a third book coming out soon, so I'm wanting to read these two first.

Monday, May 27, 2024

{Sunday Post} — Act of Defiance, Micro Adventures, and You Like It Darker

Happy Memorial Day! 


Yep, I'm posting a late Sunday Post on a Monday. I was going to skip this week's post, but I have extra free time today; I'm writing it now. 


Song of the Week 


My Current Reads 


I'm nearly finished with Star Wars: The Living Ghost and should finish it tonight. Then I'm moving on to Argylle; I plan on reading it fast. These two loans are due June 6th. At the same time, I'm reading an old YA book, Friday the 13th: Mother's Day.

Stephen King is Back!


It should be no surprise to anyone that I picked up Stephen King's newest book, You Like It Darker. It's a short story collection; one of the stories, Rattlesnakes, is a sequel to King's 1981 novel Cujo. I'm a bit behind on King's recent releases; I might start reading You Like It Darker today and just read a story or two here and there. 

What's in the Mailbox?


I received a copy of the newest Jack Ryan novel, Tom Clancy's Act of Defiance, written by Andrews & Wilson (Brian Andrews and Jeffery Wilson). I believe "Act of the Defiance" is the first Jack Ryan story written by these authors. There's a submarine on the cover, and I love subs, so I can't wait to tread on this one.

What's New on the Bookshelf?


I'm skipping my weekly thrift store stop today because the store is closed for Memorial Day, and I probably won't go there again until next week, though you never know with me. However, I did buy quite a few books last week, all for a dollar. Yep, there was a $1 bag sale again. So I got everything for $1

Up first is a Doubleday jacket-less hardcover of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. It has a copyright of 1938, but no edition is listed. Rebecca is one of my favorite books; I now have four or five copies. 

I got a paperback of Preston & Child's Cemetery Dance. I thought I already owned the book; apparently, I didn't. I must've read it from the library. Also, I got a paperback of The Killing Game by Iris Johansen.


While I'm not the biggest fan of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, I got a July 1983 paperback edition—only because I liked the artwork on the cover. I got a 1980 tie-in edition paperback of Florence Engel Randall's The Watcher in the Woods. I've heard of it but never read it or seen either movie adaptation. Also, I grabbed an Archway paperback, The Greatest Monster in the World, by Daniel Cohen.


I found three Choose Your Own Adventure Paperbacks: The Mystery of the Chimney Rock (Special Book Fair Edition) by Edward Packard, The Abominable Snowman (Special Book Fair Edition) by R.A. Montgomery, and Mystery of the Sacred Stones by Louise Munro Foley.


From 1984 to 1985, Scholastic published a YA book series, Micro Adventures, created by Ruth Glick and Eileen Buckholtz, that combined adventure stories with computer programs. Each books have several short Basic type-in programs that can run on the IBM PC, PcJr., Apple II +, IIe, COMMODORE 64, VIC-20, ATARI 400/800, RADIO SHACK TRS-80 (Level 2 or greater), and RADIO SHACK COLOR COMPUTER. There were ten books published and four Magic Micro books. 

Guess what? I found nine books in the Micro Adventure series. The titles are Jungle Quest by Megan and H. William Stine, Million Dollar Gamble by Chassie L. West, and Time Trap by Jean Favors, Mindbenders by Ruth Glick and Eileen Buckholtz, Robot Race by David Anthony Kratt, Doom Stalker by Ruth Glick and Eileen Buckholtz, The Big Freeze by Jean M. Favors, Dead Ringer by Chassie L. West, and Spellbound by Megan Stine and H. William Stine.


I got five Goosebumps reprints with new covers released to tie in with the first Goosebumps movie. There's only one that I don't already own, Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls, first published in 1998 as part of the Goosebumps 2000 series. Unfortunately, the book had a few pages torn, and others were missing, which I realized later. I fixed the r pages with tape and will keep the book as a "placement" in my collection until I can find a better copy

The other books are One Day at Horrorland, The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena, Please Don't Feed the Vampire (Give Yourself Goosebumps), and Say Cheese and Die!


My favorite finds from this thrift trip are R.L. Stine's Fear Street: The Secret Bedroom and the novelization of Gremlins by George Gipe. Despite the cover damage, I was on a high when I came across the Secret Bedroom because I knew, for a fact, that I didn't have it in my Fear Street collection.
 
It's rare to find an 80s novelization in the wild, and Gremlins makes the fifth of my recent finds. Remember, I found The Terminator and three Knight Rider books a few weeks ago; I imagine Gremlins was part of the same donation. Oddly, I found Gremlins mixed in with the kid's books. The 1984 film is a horror film, not a kid's movie. Nevertheless, there were (and still are) plenty of Gizmo plushes marketed for kids. I still have the one from my childhood, though it's seen better days. 

Here's a fact: George Gipe also wrote the novelizations for Back to the Future and Explorers. Sadly, he died on September 6th, 1986, from a bee sting. Weirdly, my birthday is September 7th (five years earlier), and I'm also allergic to bees. 


I stopped by a different thrift store and got Max Brand's Smiling Charlie for fifty cents. At Dollar Tree, I bought Exile by James Swallow (this guy also writes Star Trek books) and The Mother Code by Carole Stivers.


New titles on my Kindle include Phasers on Stun! How Making (and Remaking) of Star Trek Changed the World by Ryan Britt, Nightmare Hall: The Silent Scream by Diane Hoh, Forever and a Day: A James Bond Novel by Anthony Horowitz, Supernatural: Bone Key by Keith R.A. DeCandido, Fire by Caroline B. Cooney, Brainchild by Andrew Neiderman, Immortals by Andrew Neiderman, Blood Spell by Janice Harrell, and The Valancourt Book of Horror Stories, Volume 4.


Other new titles on my Kindle are The Perfume by Caroline B. Cooney, The Vampire Promise: Evil Returns by Caroline B. Cooney, The Vampire Promise: Fatal Bargain by Caroline B. Cooney, Night School by Caroline B. Cooney, The Yearbook by Peter Lerangis, Driver's Dead by Peter Lerangis, The Dark Chronicles: The Calling by Barbara Steiner, Blindfolded by Diane by Hoh, The Photographer by Barbara Steiner, and The Photographer II: The Dark Room by Barbara Steiner.











Sunday, May 19, 2024

{Sunday Post} — Extinction, This Side of Hell, and The Shadow: Gray Fist


My Current Reads 


What am I reading? That's a great question. I finished reading V.C. Andrews's Chasing Endless Summer on Wednesday, and on Thursday night, I read Creepers: Mirror, Mirror by Edgar J. Hyde. (That's has to be a pen name!) I placed a bookmark inside Douglas Preston's Extinction (an ARC) and another inside a library loan, Star Wars: The Living Force by John Jackson Miller, so either one will probably be my next read. I have one other library loan, Argylle by Elly Conway (a penname for Terry Hayes and Tammy Cohen), and two other review reads, Mark Greaney's The Chaos Agent and Anne Hillerman's Lost Birds, that I need to get to soon. 

Sunday, April 21, 2024

{Sunday Post} — A Calamity of Souls, No Filter, and The Scottish Prisoners


4/20/24 - I had planned on having this post written, edited, and scheduled by this morning, but it seems Google was having some sort of issue with the Blogger platform and wasn't allowing me to work on drafts. The good news is that whatever the problem was seems to be fixed. 

I believe I jumped the gun a bit a few weeks ago when I said the KC Royals were playing just as badly as last year. This isn't true at all. After losing their first two games, the Royals pitching and hitting have improved a lot. They're currently in second place in the American League Central Division, just two games behind Cleveland with a record of 13-8. 

Sunday, April 7, 2024

{Sunday Post} — Creepers, Fear Street, and Are You Afraid of the Dark?


4/5/24 - Hello, bookworms! I have some exciting news to share. I have decided to revamp my 'Sunday Post' outings and created a brand-new banner, which you can see above. If you're wondering how I made it, I used an AI image creator instead of spending tireless hours creating it myself. I'd love to hear your feedback on the new banner, so please leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Sunday, March 31, 2024

{Sunday Post} — Alien: Enemy of My Enemy, Rogue Warrior, and Star Trek: Phaser Fight

The Caffeinated Book Reviewer's Kimberly hosts a weekly meme called "The Sunday Post"! 


* Weekly Tidbits *


  • Happy Easter! 

  • The Kansas City Royals have begun the 2024 season with two losses, continuing their losing streak from last year. Perhaps a new stadium will help them turn things around. LOL! 

Sunday, March 24, 2024

{Sunday Post} — End of Story, Final Option, and Goblin Monday

The Caffeinated Book Reviewer's Kimberly hosts a weekly meme called "The Sunday Post"! 


* Weekly Tidbits *


  • I'm back after taking a few Sundays off from blogging.

Sunday, March 3, 2024

{Sunday Post} — The Aquitaine Progression, Heroes and Monsters, and Three-Inch Teeth

The Caffeinated Book Reviewer's Kimberly hosts a weekly meme called "The Sunday Post"! 


* Weekly Tidbits *


  • The Royals won 13-12 against the Cleveland Guardians yesterday; it was a spring training game, but they still won. I believe their record is 7-3 so far. The season opener is on March 28th.

  • A big tree in the front yard got cut down. Yes, it was costly.

  • The temp was in the 70s on Tuesday until late afternoon; I believe the wind chill dropped to below zero during the early morning hours on Wednesday and snowed a little bit-melted by that afternoon. It's supposed to hit 80 sometime this afternoon.

  • Hopefully, the winter weather is over because I've already seeded the lawn.

Sunday, February 25, 2024

{Sunday Post} — Heinlein Paperbacks and Star Trek eBook Overload

The Caffeinated Book Reviewer's Kimberly hosts a weekly meme called "The Sunday Post"! 


* Weekly Tidbits *


  • Sorry for being late with this week's post; I've been under the weather the last few days and slept this morning.

  • I hope The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live lives up to expectations and isn't a complete bust tonight.

Sunday, February 18, 2024

{Sunday Post} — Did I Say You Could Go, I Am Spock, and The Teacher

The Caffeinated Book Reviewer's Kimberly hosts a weekly meme called "The Sunday Post"! 


* Weekly Tidbits *


  • Hooray! The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl last Sunday. Not so ecstatic following the players' excessive drinking during Wednesday's Chiefs parade and rally. Seriously, there were kids there; the players should be role models. Even worse, following the terrifying shooting at Union Station, Mahomes, Kelce, and a few other players threw a party that night. They could have at least held off for a few days, showing some consideration for the victims. (Full disclosure: I did not attend the event; I saw it on television, securely at home.)