Book Review Nov / Dec

Conflicted Men
By Jason G. Long
ISBN 9781291130973

The début novel from Jason G. Long introduces us to two men at opposite ends of their existence, Mark middle-aged, established with a reputation, and Jake, a young lad just coming out and new to the scene. They are brought together by a mutual acquaintance and thus thrown into each other’s lives. It is no secret that recreational drugs and alcohol have featured heavily in Mark’s past and we are delivered into his world with all the trauma this life style can bring, but the story is not delivered in either a judgemental way or as a lecture on drug use, and also successfully avoids glorifying the subject, giving the reader a refreshingly realistic account alongside characters you actually care about as their lives unfold around you. Humour and tragedy run parallel in this well paced story.

For more details you can visit Jason's website, purchase from Lulu.com
or follow him on Twitter:
@Long_Tweets
http://www.jasonlong.co.uk

http://www.lulu.com/shop/jason-long/conflicted-men/paperback/product-20475359.html

 

Patrick Troughton,

The Biography of the Second Doctor Who

By Michael Troughton

Originally published by Hirst Publishing

Michael, Patrick’s son, lifts the lid on the mystery that was the Second Doctor.

In a candid and revealing book Michael tells the story of what it was like to have the Second Doctor Who as your father, and a father that was not always there. Patrick Troughton lived a double life and negotiated between two families. This books tells about life in one of the Troughton households and the career path of one of this country’s finest character actors.

 

For more details you can follow Michael on Twitter, or vsit his website:
@mwtroughton
http://michaeltroughton.co.uk

Paperback: 291 pages
Publisher: HIRST publishing; 1st edition (2012)
ISBN-10: 1907959491
ISBN-13: 978-1907959493

I am still here...

I’ve just received a blog award without having done anything recently, if I had known it would be this easy I’d have not posted anything much sooner. Actually I think being nominated by my old mate BigLee over at Big Lee's Miniature Adventures was more of a subtle poke to remind me that I haven’t posted, and to think I made the resolution this year to do better on the blog. 

Sorry!

The main reason I haven’t blogged is to avoid going off topic too often, I simply have not been model building recently. Gasp shock horror. What I have been doing is a mixture of Doctor Who signings and conventions, work on the Karl trilogy and trying to get some order back into the house. This has resulted in a temporary suspension of model building.

There are rules to this blog award, I promise I shall read them and follow them in due course.

My aim at the moment is to complete the Karl trilogy one way or the other, which brings me on to the subject of these books.

A STATEMENT REGARDING THE KARL TRILOGY.

It has come to my attention that people have been trying to order my book via some major retail outlets. It should be possible to obtain it from them, however Hirst Publishing which own Hundred Publishing are currently not trading and orders are not being processed.

The books ARE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE.

If you order via the Hundred Publishing link this is set up to pay the authors direct NOT Hirst Publishing, and the authors distribute the books signed and dedicated. Any orders placed via the links on this blog will be fulfilled. The retail outlet Tenth Planet Events (link also available from this blog) also hold a stock of the books and are also able to complete any orders they receive. Please follow these links if you still would like a copy before they go. Once the last copies are sold it will be a while before any more are printed.

My main aim at the moment is to get the first volume available as an e-book by the end of the year, there were reasons this was not done before, but I am not going into those here.

The second book is written and has been edited. I have received some feedback from selected readers which I am working through, and some maps are being drawn up to accompany the second book. The aim is to have this as an e-book early next year, with number three towards the end of the year.  I have not given up on having books two and three physically published but this may now take longer than originally planned.

Thank you to those that have already purchased.

Best regards

D. J. Kettlety

Book Review March / April

Here is this the second of my bi-monthly round ups of my reading list.

“Gallimaufry”, “Look Who’s Talking” & “Second Thoughts”

By Colin Baker

Yes, The Colin Baker of the multicoloured Doctor Who coat fame has penned a collection of short stories. Any viewers of Mr Baker's time as The Doctor will recall his Doctor's love of language, which was obviously an injection into the character by the man himself. Colin's two earlier books were collections of his articles as a columnist from the “The Bucks Free Press”, this time we are treated to ten original short stories of mystery, suspense and recompense and three short stories featuring his incarnation of the space and time travelling Time Lord. And a splendid read they are too. It is one of those books that time literally flies by whilst reading.

This month I have also read the two compendiums of Colin Baker’s articles. The first volume ‘Look Who’s Talking’ covers many topics that he has felt compelled to pen comment on over the last fifteen years. Some articles would put the gathered members of ‘Grumpy Old Men’ to shame with their wit and quite frankly just observations on life. These are a timeless read, irrespective of their age, many articles written fifteen years ago are as pertinent today as they were then.

The second collection, “Second Thoughts” contains another delve into the archives of Mr Baker’s output for The Bucks Free Press, again voicing his opinion on a world gone made, a world of call-centres, phone service menus, customer service (or lack thereof) , his life as The Doctor, as writer and school governor.  These books are worth reading for their humour and to convince yourself there is some sanity left in the world.

Look Who's Talking, Colin's column is available here

The Flight of the Budgerigar.  

By John Leeson

This is the autobiography of John Leeson, from the title you would never guess that he provided the voice for that much loved robot dog K9 from BBC’s Doctor Who, past and present. He was also, for a time, that cuddly talking bear Bungle in Rainbow. But this is the story of an actor who tells a tale of a child living in a haunted house to lecturing on wines and playing the fall guy for Jeremy Beadle.  Is this worth reading? As K9 would say, “Affirmative Master.”

Sherlock Holmes -The Breath of God

By Guy Adams

At the turn of the century Sherlock Holmes finds himself in a world where everything could change. A mysterious death in snow covered London starts a case of the macabre and mysterious. Not only is Holmes joined by his ever trustworthy Watson his path is soon to cross other characters from this period of literature, John Silence, the so-called “Psychic Doctor”; supernatural investigator Thomas Carnacki; and the real life Aleister Crowley as they investigate the cause of this and other strange events.

Personally I didn’t think the novel needed to draw on so many of the other characters, if you don’t know who they all are I suggest a visit to the ‘Wordsworth Editions, Tales of Mystery & The Supernatural’ however even though I was wary of a non Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes I did enjoy it and felt that Holmes and Watson were true to their original characters and the story is again told through the eyes of Watson in much the same way as Watson found himself investigating The Hound of the Baskervilles on behalf of Holmes.

The Shadow Saga - Book One,

Of Saints and Shadows

By Christopher Golden

Christopher Golden the New York Times bestselling author needs no introduction to readers of this genre. I first encountered his books in the Buffy range of books, so when looking for a good read and up came the first novel of The Shadow Saga came my way I just knew I would enjoy it. This is another collection of vampire detective novels, but ‘Of Saints and Shadows’ delivers a mix of Dan Brown’s conspiracy, Anne Rice’s depth of vampire mythology and the detective world of the PI. Should you trust a vampire, some maybe, but certainly not, and should they even trust us and each other.

Personally I can’t wait until I get my hands on the next in the series.

Tales of Mystery & The Supernatural,

All Saints' Eve

By Amelia B. Edwards

Amelia B. Edwards told tales of murder and mystery, and many of these tales were tinged with elements of the supernatural. Although by today’s standards these tales are not scare your pants off, they still provide an enjoyable read and provide sufficient suspense to keep you reading. The ‘Four-fifteen Express’ and ‘Was it an Illusion?’ stood out for me.

For more details:-

Hirst Books, Look Who's Talking By Colin Baker, 978-0-955-71492-4

http://www.hirstpublishing.com/Look_Whos_Talking_by_Colin_Baker/p384445_1156934.aspx

Hirst Books, Second Thoughts By Colin Baker, 978-0-956-64176-2

http://www.hirstpublishing.com/Second_Thoughts_by_Colin_Baker/p384445_1157314.aspx

Hirst Books, Gallimaufry By Colin Baker  Colin, 978-1-907-95902-3

http://www.hirstpublishing.com/Gallimaufry_by_Colin_Baker/p384445_1157152.aspx

Pocket Books, The Shadow Saga               

Of Saints and Shadows By Christopher Golden, 978-1-847-39924-3

http://www.christophergolden.com/shadowsaga.html

Wordsworth Editions, Tales of Mystery & The Supernatural, 

All Saints' Eve By Amelia B. Edwards,  978-1-840-22094-0

http://wordsworth-editions.com/book/edwards-amelia-b./all-saints'-eve

Hirst Books, The Flight of the Budgerigar By John Leeson, 978-1-907-95931-8

http://www.hirstpublishing.com/The_Flight_of_the_Budgerigar_by_John_Leeson/p384445_3668157.aspx

Titan Books, Sherlock Holmes -The Breath of God By Guy Adams, 978-0-857-68282-6

http://titanbooks.com/sherlock-holmes-the-breath-of-god-5415/

Book Review January / February

Instead of leaving it until the end of the year and loading up a large list of books I’ve decided to intersperse the model work every six to eight weeks or so with a summary of reading since the last update.

I think I may have mentioned before that I’m a Doctor Who fan, so it will come as no surprise that there are Doctor Who related titles in the current line up. I’ve also said that I think I’ve read nearly every Doctor Who novel published.

There are some authors in the range that I just can’t wait to read and Jacqueline Rayner is one them. I always enjoy Jac’s work, it is fresh, lively and entertaining which is what reading for pleasure should be all about.

Doctor Who

Magic of the Angels

Jacqueline Rayner

Random House / BBC Books       

978-1-849-90286-1

This is one of the books in the £1.99 Quick Reads range, books designed to draw in the more reluctant reader. Please, if you’re not into reading and you like Doctor Who give one of these books a try, there are several Doctor Who titles in the range.

As you may have guessed from the title and cover this features the Weeping Angels, one of the scariest monsters to come from Steven Moffat. Although the plot is simple, the Doctor, Amy and Rory are on a sight seeing trip around London when they land themselves in trouble again with the Angels, the pace is quick and the adventure entertaining as the drama builds up to its climax. It’s very easy to imagine this as a TV episode as you read it. Reading this on the way to work I almost missed my stop.

****

Also from the world of Doctor Who are two autobiographies from companions from the classic series:-

Daddy's Girl: The Autobiography of Deborah Watling

Deborah Watling & Paul W. T. Ballard

Fantom Films Limited

978-1-90626-341-6

“Daddy’s Girl” as the name suggests is certainly dedicated to the late great Jack Watling, Debbie’s father. Debbie recounts with love her childhood, her acting career, and life outside of show business.  The writing is truthful, encapsulating both the light and dark sides of life, in a book that comes over very much from the heart. Reading this is like having Debbie at a guest panel all to yourself, you can hear her telling her own story as you read.

Deborah Watling played Victoria Waterfield during the Patrick Troughton (2nd Doctor) era of the program.

The Flight of the Budgerigar

John Leeson

Hirst Books

978-1-907-95931-8

John Leeson voiced most of K9's appearances with Tom Baker (4th Doctor) and was also known as Bungle Bear from Rainbow.

I’m currently reading “The Flight of the Budgerigar”, I will review that next time.

****

I started the year’s reading in the same way as I finished last year with a couple more books from the Tales of Mystery & The Supernatural range published by Wordsworth Editions.

The Bishop of Hell & Other Stories          

Marjorie Bowen              

978-1-84022-537-2

Uncanny Stories

May Sinclair

978-1-84022-492-4

Just like modern works some of the older pieces are very readable and some can be hard going especially with the shift in language over time. Both of these are quite readable, you need to excuse a couple of phrases which are a bit anachronistic with today. I did however tend to find the stories in these two books somewhat predictable, although interesting, the ‘twists’ were quite obvious and often telegraphed. Again I think this shows how style as well as language has changed.

Karl - Birth of Mystery

Shameless Self Promotion Alert

Karl – Birth of Mystery

By D. J. Kettlety

Yes, I’ve finally gone and done it. I’ve written the first part of Karl’s story and got it published.

So a little background to the creation of the character. Karl Axilion was the first character I played in a fantasy RPG. He needed a back story as he joined into an existing campaign. Then many years later when a new campaign started a new GM who was a player in that old game suggested I dust off Karl, revamp the story and use him in the new setting. So I did, I took the character, re-worked the story a bit and introduced him into that campaign, into a whole new specially created world.

This story is again a piece of the original, a piece of the new and a whole lot more besides. It is not a blow by blow account of the game. This is the first part of a trilogy, and is a completely removed from the games, just borrowing favourite characters and using them for my own devices. Book two is almost complete and the third is well plotted out to conclusion.

Welcome to the town of Miltonburg, where Karl and his family live, (for now). During the adventure you’ll find yourself in a bar down by the dockside called ‘The Ship and Hankor’, and one day on here I’ll explain why it has that unusual spelling, as I start to build a model of the place.

Karl – Birth of Mystery

By D. J. Kettlety

Published June 2011 

by “100 Publishing” an imprint of Hirst Books.

Cover design by Robert Hammond

ISBN 9-781-90795929-5

Karl should never have been born.

His grandmother, Zandina, knew that; even though she had tried to hide it from Karl's mother, her own daughter.

Karl's birth now secured her future. Her status as a Guardian of the Knowledge was in jeopardy; but what could she do?

Many signs had been seen by the Guardians of Knowledge, but none had seen enough of them to be aware that the portent they foretold was going to come to pass in this lifetime.

Karl's birth; on the night that celebrated evil was the last sign, the last warning to those that were supposed to be vigilant.

For some, the purpose of their existence was now over.

For Karl, death threats, magic, divine intervention, betrayal, abductions and murder - his adventure was just beginning...

If this has your interest and you’d like to pre-order then please follow this link, all orders placed through the Hundred Publishing Website will be signed and dedicated.

http://www.hundredpublishing.com/derek.html

Click here for a preview of the Prologue.