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Good news

Aliens: The Original Years Omnibus volumes 1 through to 4 is just those very same comics reprinted recently in hardback. So they are still on the shelves and VERY worth getting.

They've also done them for the Predator and AVP series though I've not yet picked those up.


I'm still sad that the Colourised Conan comics that were coloured by Dark Horse aren't being reprinted and the reprints that have been done now that Marvel has the licence were in black and white. I suspect those are lost to time as DH likely holds the colour copyright and hasn't sold that or Marvel aren't interested in it.

Oh nice! I’ll sniff out the AvP ones. I do hate having a gap in my collection.

But when the cheapest I can find is over £200 after delivery? It can eff off, can’t it.


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And yeah, I’ll definitely support that the Dark Horse comics, in any collected format, are worth getting.

They’ll make you sad though that Hollywood could ignore such cool and interesting stories in favour of the movies AvP, AvP Requiem, Predators, The Predator, Prometheus and that Prometheus Sequel where C-Creepio done invented the Aliens because Reasons.

And remember, I like Predators (no, not like that. No need to phone Chris Hansen). But these comics are just downright superb.

I wish Dark Horse would do better cause they really feel like they get how to make really good comics.

Sadly DC and Marvel strike me as very one-trick-ponies with how dominated they are with their superhero structure such that everything they get and touch has to become a super hero.

It was a big shame when comixology sold out to amazon who then proceeded to basically gut it and messily integrate it with kindle. I used to read a lot more comics then esp from France and other territories. Comics that just never got a physical release (or so little of one that you'd be hard pressed to get them even when new and no chance at all after they've done being released)

That’s Volume One down. Just under 400 pages of mostly joy.

Interestingly, the Space Jockey’s buddy shows up twice as a Player in the tales, but the second time they’re actually kinda close to the Engineer, and have been redesigned artwise.

Essentially, seeking revenge for its pal as we see them in Alien, it decides to terraform Earth as a new home, using advanced technology. And doing so subtly at distance from space.

Vol 2 is of course next. Really looking forward to that one, as it includes Colonial Marines, which I first read serialised in the comments way back when. But as supply and demand of comics was in the UK then, without ever completing it.

After falling deep into the Jonathan Maberry rabbit hole I am currently reading the first book in his newer sci-fi series, NecroTek. Think "lost in space" in a Lovecraftian universe, but it is an entire space station that gets accidently flung across the galaxy. Interestingly blends sci-fiction themes/tropes with those of cosmic horror, and I will be looking forward to the second book in the series that will be coming out this October, called Cold War.

For anyone on the fence about checking it out, I have two words for you that might help you with that decision (one way or another):
Shoggoth Starfighters

5th edition of 101 Whiskies to Try before you Die by Ian Buxton. Nice to see which distilleries have been added since the last edition, and an easy way to find out about new bottles to try. I like that it's a book for whisky drinkers, rather than collectors.

I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade, but I’ll never understand Whisky Collecting.

By all means, have super special stuff for extra special occasions and people.

But to just have it for the sake of having it and presumably letting other peeps know you have it baffles me.

Same with Wine, really.

Money; whisky up until recently had one of the best returns on investment, so a lot of people buy limited and hard to get bottlings and hold onto them for a decade before selling them on at a huge profit. Not so lucrative now that most distilleries are owned by huge conglomerates and production levels are at an all time high.

It does amaze me that people buy bottles for thousands knowing that no one will ever actually drink it, so the distillers may as well fill the bottles with apple juice for all the difference it makes. Such a waste of good whisky sitting in bottles slowly evaporating.

A few years ago, after one of my elderly relatives had died, his wife turned up to our family reunion with a bunch of different bottles of champagne that he’d laid down in the 60’s. We asked if she’d looked up what they were worth (there was definitely some DP and Bollinger amongst others) and she said “no, don’t care, we’re going to use them to drink to his memory”. I don’t normally like Champagne, but this tasted good, so I suspect we drank a small fortune! I like to imagine the look on the face of snobby wine collector seeing us knock back that stuff

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade, but I’ll never understand Whisky Collecting.

By all means, have super special stuff for extra special occasions and people.

But to just have it for the sake of having it and presumably letting other peeps know you have it baffles me.

Same with Wine, really.

Is it any different than Toy Collectors who never open the package?

I’m gonna argue that’s a “possibly”.

For carded figures (Star Wars, He-Man and that spring to my mind), no it’s not the same. Those have a visual appeal of their own, compared to loose figures. And for other toy collectors like myself, a well done display can be a kick in the nostalgia, reminding us of old toy shops.

Whisky? Man, that’s some nice amber coloured liquid right there! Look at how liquid it is, and….amber.

The investment angle I get. But surely if you love your Whisky, you want to be at least sampling such rare vintages?

Whiskey also comes in containers and bottles which can be an artform in their own right for some.


Every collectible that ever makes it big is going to have lots of prospectors who are in it purely for the investment. Whiskey, comics, toys, clocks, gemstones - whatever it is there's always those who are primarily invested for the financial return.
For some its profiting off a hobby for others they purely only appreciate the value of the thing.


But alongside that you've a myriad of other collectors who collect for other reasons.

You can also have those who enjoy the thing but collect the rarities. So a whiskey drinker who collects prized bottles but drinks other kinds whilst preserving the rare/best/limited editions.




Honestly there's no right nor wrong - heck in wargaming we've more than a few who only ever collect grey models nad don't play; and those who paint but never play; etc....

Finished reading The Forever War, the author certainly had some strong opinions about the direction America took after Vietnam, but it was an interesting read. I'm surprised the concept of relativity doesn't pop up more often in sci-fi (I've only encountered it before in Gunbuster), but I'm guessing it's probably kinda hard, or at least quite limiting to write about.

Also read a triple bill of Discworld stuff with The Last Hero, Educated Maurice and his Amazing Rodents and The Wee Free Men. I had been planning on skipping the books for younger readers but I'm glad I didn't. The Last Hero was very much the extremely simple story I was expecting (Although the art is gorgeous!), but the other two were surprisingly good.
I'm looking forward to reading more of the Tiffany Aching books now.

Working my way through The Belgariad at the moment, and am currently half way through Queen of Sorcery. I read the first book in the series earlier in the year and quite enjoyed it. I was surprised I'd never come across David Eddings or any of his works before.
I was lucky enough to have picked up Eddings full collection of works last week off a trading site and I've started them again with the aim to polish off at one a week.

 aku-chan wrote:
I'm looking forward to reading more of the Tiffany Aching books now.

Wee Free Men was my introduction to Prachetts works, so maybe I'm biased towards the Tiffany Aching books, but I really rate them. I wouldn't be so bold as to say they're among Pratchetts best, as I've not read all his books yet, but they're certainly my favourites and I highly recommend them.

I have read almost all of the Discworld and I would rate the Tiffany Aching books as some of his best. He sort of got to start again, but with 20-years experience in how to write Discworld books.

Finished The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. Pretty awesome, a unique take on vampires while still being recognizably a vampire story. Reminded me somewhat of Interview with a Vampire, but with Native Americans and the Old West.

Onwards to Senseless by Ronald Malfi. A murder/mystery set in LA that's slightly tinged with horror elements. About halfway through and its good enough to keep going, though only 1 of the 3 perspective characters are truly compelling. There's a detective literally haunted by his dead wife and 2 linked murders, a woman about to marry a Hollywood exec who has a creepy, possibly serial killer son, and a young adult man with limited social/mental skills who is obsessed with a woman who may or may not be a vampire.

I found a copy of Don Pendleton's The Executioner # 379: Deep Recon.

If the series has reached book 379, it's gotta be good, right?

(I like how the ghostwriter gets a nod on the copyright page... but I opened the book and found its written by Star Trek author Keith R. A. DeCandido. I guess you gotta pay the bills somehow.)

The Executioner series is the defining standard of "modern" pulp!

I've read what's published of Vagabond twice. It's an unfinished manga about a fictionalized account of Miyamoto Musashi's life.
The first time I found it decent, but not spectacular.
The second time I loved it, particularly the farming arc.

I think it's akin to Watchmen, The Killing Joke, etc (from western comics) in that it transcends the genre and is worth a look for anyone.

The character development of Takezo/Musashi is exceptional and, to use the same word again, transcendant.

I recently re-read the Halo: Forerunner Saga trilogy. I enjoyed it a lot more this time around, not sure why.

Ploughing through Vol 3 of the Aliens Omnibi.

Aliens Rogue may have been a strong influence on Alien Resurrection.

Mad scientist on a remote station up to silliness? Check!

Crew of a freighter getting caught up? Check!

Military presence? Check!

Freakish genetically modified Alien? Check!

It’s not completely identical, but I’d be extremely surprised if it hadn’t been an influence.

Finished Senseless by Ronald Malfi.

Pretty good murder mystery that all got tied together neatly at the end. Would make for a fine movie/limited series.

Liked it enough to check out another work by the same author, Come With Me. This one looks to be much more horror focused than Senseless.

Aaron Decker's life changes one December morning when his wife Allison is killed. Haunted by her absence—and her ghost—Aaron goes through her belongings, where he finds a receipt for a motel room in another part of the country. Piloted by grief and an increasing sense of curiosity, Aaron embarks on a journey to discover what Allison had been doing in the weeks prior to her death.

Yet Aaron is unprepared to discover the dark secrets Allison kept, the death and horror that make up the tapestry of her hidden life. And with each dark secret revealed, Aaron becomes more and more consumed by his obsession to learn the terrifying truth about the woman who had been his wife, even if it puts his own life at risk.

Its set (initially) in Maryland, as is the author, so it was a nice surprise to see places that I know about/have been to, be mentioned.

About 800 pages through The Stand. Started reading the first Witcher book, finished the first short story. That was crazy good, got me absolutely hooked already. Boy can that grumpy polish granda WRITE, dammit!

I really need to start Witcher again - I started after it became popular with the game, but before they'd translated everything into English so I'm way behind now.


And yes he might be grumpy, but he's a darn good writer!

 nels1031 wrote:
Finished Senseless by Ronald Malfi.

Pretty good murder mystery that all got tied together neatly at the end. Would make for a fine movie/limited series.

Liked it enough to check out another work by the same author, Come With Me. This one looks to be much more horror focused than Senseless.

Aaron Decker's life changes one December morning when his wife Allison is killed. Haunted by her absence—and her ghost—Aaron goes through her belongings, where he finds a receipt for a motel room in another part of the country. Piloted by grief and an increasing sense of curiosity, Aaron embarks on a journey to discover what Allison had been doing in the weeks prior to her death.

Yet Aaron is unprepared to discover the dark secrets Allison kept, the death and horror that make up the tapestry of her hidden life. And with each dark secret revealed, Aaron becomes more and more consumed by his obsession to learn the terrifying truth about the woman who had been his wife, even if it puts his own life at risk.

Its set (initially) in Maryland, as is the author, so it was a nice surprise to see places that I know about/have been to, be mentioned.

Thanks for the recommendation. Senseless was a quite a page turner.

 Overread wrote:
I really need to start Witcher again - I started after it became popular with the game, but before they'd translated everything into English so I'm way behind now.

Might be worth holding off on that for a month or two. The translation for his newest witcher book is due for release in sometime soon. Sep/Oct thereabouts.

Listen For The Lie by Amy Tintera.

A woman suspected of her friends murder returns to the town where it happened. A true crime podcaster also rolls into town, intent on solving the murder. Kind of a dark comedy.

Pretty fun read, and a few twists. Ever since I read Senseless, I’ve been looking at the murder/mystery genre which has never been a focus of mine until recently.

For the last half of the book, I listened to the audiobook, and it was neat how it almost felt like you were listening to a podcast. The intrusive, violent thoughts of our amnesiac suspect were fun too, as it made you question the sanity of the narrator/suspect and her guilt.


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 JoshInJapan wrote:
Thanks for the recommendation. Senseless was a quite a page turner.

Awesome, glad you digged it too!

Like a ooey-gooey chocolate sundae, I am indulging in the comfort food of books: Star Trek: The Original Series: The Antares Maelstrom by Greg Cox.

There's something comforting about classic Trek novels that I rarely find elsewhere in fiction.

Unlike new Trek episodes, the novels feel like Star Trek should. Moral Plays with a science fiction backdrop told by the classic trio of Kirk, Spock and McCoy.

The Starship Enterprise continues its 5 year voyage... and I couldn't be happier.

I finally finished The Throat by Straub and it was not what I expected. I expected a horror, but it was just a everyday mystery. It really did not need to be 700+ pages at all.

I am now moving onto a book called Gangster by Lorenza Carcaterra. My first Mafia book. So far, I enjoyed a look at the pre-WWII days of Organized Crime and how it morphed from Gangs of New York into The Godfather even if it is all fictional.