Books I read in 2018

I'm a little late with this, but this site probably wouldn't even qualify as a book blog anymore if I didn't show you the (small) pile of books I read this year.

I apologize for the low quality, but as I broke my smartphone and haven't gotten around to buying a new one yet I've been reduced to other, older means of taking pictures.

I didn't keep track of the random short stories or the comics that I read this year but I did write down the novels that I immersed myself in. I'll do better this year, but for now you'll have to do with just a list of the novels.

In the order in which I read them:

1. Titus Groan

2. Voice of Our Shadow

3. Sigvald

4. The Island of Doctor Moreau

5. Weaveworld

6. A Dreamer's Tales (Time and the Gods SS collection)

7. The Book of Wonder (Time and the Gods SS collection)

8. The Last Book of Wonder (Time and the Gods SS collection)

9. The Gods of Pegana (Time and the Gods SS collection)

10. Van Horstmann

11. Ignorant Armies (SS collection)

12. The Postman Always Rings Twice

13. Gormenghast

14. Red Country

15. Titus Alone

16. Doomstalker (Darkwar Book 1)

17. (The Epic of) Gilgamesh

18. Summer of Night

19. The Last Wish (The Witcher SS collection 1)

20. Sword of Destiny (The Witcher SS collection 2)

21. The Collector

22. Blood of Elves

23. The Devil's Apocrypha

24. The Exorcist

As you can see, it's been a slow reading year for me. Life intervened, as it usually does, and trouble and personal issues ended up having quite a negative affect on both the blog and my hobbies in general.

As a result I didn't even get close to the reading goals that I had set for myself last year:

- Read 12 Fantasy Masterworks

- Read the first 10 books of the Michael Moorcock Collection

- Read The Mark of the Beast (1/12 FM)

- Read Time and the Gods (1/12 FM)

- Read the Eldritch Tales Short Story collection

- Read the remainder of Paradise Lost

-Read the Gormenghast trilogy

- Read Glen Cook's Darkwar and Winter's Dreams

I read only 2 Fantasy Masterworks, skipped out on Paradise Lost completely and didn't even touch anything of the Michael Moorcock collection, No complete Cook books got read either (that's 'Glen', to be specific), even though I got through 1/3 of the Darkwar omnibus.

I did finish the Gormenghast trilogy though, which I'm pretty pleased with, as it was a daunting project to take on. But I ended up really loving it, probably more than any other books I read last year.

With the abject failure of 2018 reading goals in mind, I'm setting my reading goals for 2019 down here to make myself really commit to it, though I've really kept it down to a minimum as I'm still quite uncertain and anxious about enough things right now that I can barely keep my attention on whatever I want to read these days.

Without further ado:

- Eldritch Tales

- Darkwar trilogy + Darkwar Short Story + Winter's Dreams

- Infinite Jest

-Beowulf + Grendel

- As a God Might Be

That's a very short list, I know,

but I really do need to ease myself back into it in the most gentle way possible.

Book Porn: Spear of the Emperor Limited Edition

Here's the Limited edition release of Aaron Demski-Bowden's Spear of the Emperor.

It arrived last month but I only just now got around to giving it my attention.

I went overboard in taking pictures again, but it's very much warranted, believe me.

It's hard to say if the people at the Black Library have ever done a better limited edition than this one.

It's unlikely.

I mean, the last Gaunt's Ghosts box was similar to this one, at least in pricing, but in most people's opinion there weren't enough incentives included to pick that one up; which is why you'll find that limited release still available on the site.

Maybe it's just because that box looked drab and boring that it didn't sell out, because there was actually some really neat stuff in it. The two box sets are actually fairly similar in their included merchandise so it's hard to immediately see why you'll be hard pressed to still get a copy of  this one.

Most likely it sold out almost immediately because this one is only the first installment of a new story, rather than book 14 in a long-running series.

So let's have a look at the contents.

Tat first:

A heavy coin-thing, not sure what it actually is but it's quite cool.

The Manticore of the Adeptus Vaelarii on the front.

The Adeptus Vaelarii are the three space marine chapters tasked with the defence of Elara's Veil, a region of space on the side of the Dark Imperium.

The lion stands for the Celestial Lions, the Tail for the Star Scorpions, and the trident for the Emperor's Spears.

Up next is an honest to the God-Emperor's Purity Seal (not actually made of wax).

Corrupted Grey Knight in progress for scale (not really, calm thyself, it's just going to be a Word Bearer).

And an Emperor's Spears badge, inscribed with the name Nemeton, the Spear's home World.

But after those cool little shiny things which will be reasonably appealing to all and sundry, the Library went and outdid themselves, and managed in a deceptively simply way, to entice a core group of their fan base to definitely pick this edition up.

Some pretty decent artwork of the novel's three primary characters (or at least; those that will probably live the longest, given Bowden's penchant for delivering a good tragic narrative) .

From left to right Amadeus of the Mentors chapter, Our narrator Anuradha and Breac of the Vargantes, an Emperor's spear.

These pieces of artwork get better the more you look at them.

I'm particularly taken with Anuradha.

And then here's what I was talking about earlier;

the reason why most of the buyers made sure they got this one when it got released.

By the simple inclusion of a custom transfer sheet for the novel's main space marine faction the Library have managed to make sure that, even with the ridiculous pricing, this one was going to sell out. Most Warhammer hobbyists are readers and a fair portion of those get inspired enough by what they read to build and paint some models at the very least, if not an entire army. Transfer sheets then  become quite the incentive to pick this up.

Also included is a background booklet containing literally anything to do with the Adeptus Vaelarii.

You should probably read this before reading the novel as the information contained herein is comparable to what Amadeus has access to at the start of the novel.

At times it can help if you have some of this under your belt already as the lore can be a bit vague in the novel.

And damn me if this doesn't look cool.

And the pièce the resistance, the internal build-up of space marine armour.

And of course, the box wouldn't be complete without the actual novel would it?

The Spear of the Emperor is very good, of course.

I blew through it in under a few days and it has the honour of being the first Dark Imperium novel that I've read and though I must say that I had my doubts and reservations about the evolution of the 40k setting, this one persuaded me that it's probably a good thing.

The Dark Imperium is a dark and dangerous place, where half of the Imperium of Man has been severed from the light of the Emperor, making warp travel a more harrowing affair than ever, and reinforcements hard to come by. Where before I thought that the evolution of the setting gave too many advantages to mankind, this book opened my eyes to the reality: From a minute to midnight we now have arrived in darkest night and it's probably more grimdark than ever.

Aaron Demski-Bowen's lightning autograph.

Besides the novel itself we also have a preface and an afterword detailing the circumstances surrounding the creation of the story, and The First Primaris short story, which serves more as an afterthought to the novel rather than as a short tale that could possibly stand alone.

And there you have it.

Another sweet collector's item.

Oh yeah, and a silver bookmark-ribbon.

Lessons From The Goon: Life's Gauge

Here's a bit I've been wanting to share since I first read it.

From The Goon: Once Upon A Hard Time.

Do yourself a favour and go read the Goon.

It's a beautifully drawn comic that has made me laugh out loud more times than I remember (though that was mostly in the first omnibus) and, at times, it had me in tears as well (see omnibi three to five). There's not a lot of comics that can do that, off the top of my head I can think of Saga having gotten the same response out of me, but overall this one's nothing like Stars Wars for perverts (guilty!).

This is comedy-horror, with a little bit of everything thrown in.

 The Goon is outrageous, it's funny and silly, but it goes to some really dark places too. Tonally, it starts out in a very different place than where it ends. It's got a very satisfying overarching narrative with a good conclusion, which will nonetheless be continued on from in some way, shape or form later this year. What that means I'm not sure but I do trust Eric Powell to deliver the goods.

Bring on The Lords of Misery!

The Storyteller

This art, by Eric Powell, who is, coincidentally, also the artist responsible for The Goon (see previous post's art), is the final page of a short but incredibly poignant Conan comic.
It is in every way the ending to the story and thus obviously constitutes a major spoiler if you're interested in reading it but as it's really quite a short tale, only tangentially related to the Dark Horse Conan series, and a one-off at that, I'm of the opinion that it isn't necessary to be up to date or even to be familiar with Conan as a character to get the gist of what is being presented. More than that, this page on its own, as a whole, speaks volumes.

During the last days of the year the more morbidly inclined of us (or those more thoughtful than others) traditionally tend to dwell on the lingering pain of the past and the sorrows yet to come.
And sorrow will come because logic and reason dictates us that it will. Pain is an inescapable part of the human condition. We suffer from loss, loneliness, guilt, feelings of inadequacy, from having no purpose, no direction, from a sheer host of anxieties and uncertainties and, at times, things can get awfully bleak. And for some of us, overwhelmingly so.

Robert E. Howard wrote many stories and has had an incalculable influence on the fantasy genre as a whole. He created Conan, the world's most famous barbarian. A character around which entire libraries' worth of books, fiction and non-fiction, have sprung up. The Conan stories themselves however number relatively few. There aren't many of them. And the panel above comes from a story called The Storyteller that was never even written by Howard.

He could've written it, maybe, but we'll never know, because Robert E. Howard committed suicide at the age of 30. He shot himself in the head, after he had received news that his mother had slipped into a coma from which she would never regain consciousness.
Despite the choice of his way out, he didn't die instantaneously and lived for another 8 hours. His mother only died the next day.

In The Storyteller, through the medium of dispassionate but earnest narration, we are introduced to our tragic protagonist as he works on his father's farm, uncomplainingly doing his duty, providing the hard labour that his father has ceased being able to provide, all the while dreaming of the wider world stretching out around him, the colourful characters it might contain and the wild and dangerous adventures they undoubtedly have.

 In the evening, at the tavern, fuelled by the stories of travelers, he spins his tales and shares his dreams to a rapt and appreciative audience.

But this very imagination sets him apart and though his audience cheers and gasps in all the right places, it also silently calls him touched, it calls him fool, and for his virtue, they demean him.

Knowing he will never have his own adventures the young nonetheless sets out to do what is expected of him.

And then a barbarian rides into town dragging his own wild and dangerous adventure with him.
As a priest casts a spell to keep the monsters out for as long as possible the barbarian commands the townspeople to fight alongside him as their village is threatened to be overrun by slavering monstrosities.

And for a time, through violence and bloodshed, the monsters are held at bay.

Until the moment when our young storyteller remembers the stories told to him by others, by those already familiar with the darker creatures of the world.

And so, the boy tries to rally his fellows to prevent what is a certain doom. 

But, they ignore him.

Dismiss him.

He is the storyteller, the fool, so his warning is just another tale, and not to be taken seriously.

And so, without options, the boy does his duty.

And while the battle rages outside, he goes to the mine on his own.

Where his worst fear meets him with tooth and claw.

And the night wears on and the desperation grows on all fronts 

In the face of fear and certain death, there are incredible acts of bravery and courage as men fight for their lives, for their families and all that they have.

And when the sun's earliest rays finally bathe the besieged village, their brightness burns away the horrors of the night.

 And as the men rejoice it is noticed that the young storyteller is not among them. He is presumed to have fled.

They don't find his body for two weeks. Having sought some privacy, two young lovers find his bruised and battered body in the mine where he made his stand.

He fought long enough to prevent most of the monsters from getting past him until they rushed out into the sunlight. With only gashes and a nicked and dented sword as evidence of having done his duty, they name him coward. Madboy.

And as the story closes, the dispassionate narration reveals itself to be filled with hidden feeling. With respect and admiration, and sorrow. It acknowledges the skill, passion and creativity of the dead boy, even if nobody else ever will.

At its close, the Storyteller reveals itself as a lament for the stories never told, and a lament for those that didn't get to tell them. A lament for Howard who could have written so much more. It's not an accident that the boy was drawn in his likeness.

I read the tale a week ago, when I was stuck in one of the worst periods in memory, and it served me well. It reminded me that people still love me, and that they love the things that I do, and that I shouldn't take my love, my promise and potential away from them.

We all have stories, we all have creativity to share and though I'm not exactly planning on writing any novels, I think I'll stick around and keep being creative for a while yet.