Saturday, 26 August 2017

Chuckles Weekend Roundup



Welcome to my new feature Chuckles Weekend Roundup where I will be looking at what books I've received, anything interesting I've done or bought or watched and other random stuff. I'll be taking a look back at what happened in my blogging world too, sort of like The Sunday Post that some of you do! 

Please note that I'll be visiting your STS/SP as normal, but I don't follow or leave comments on blogs run by Google Plus, or DISQUS as I refuse to join something just to leave comments, and I won't allow DISQUS to follow new people, update my profile or post tweets 'on my behalf'. I am the only one who does that on my social media! I won't comment on any blog that makes me sign in using another account. Sometimes, I have problems leaving messages on blogs hosted by Wordpress-they try to block me because I deleted my account with them but I will persevere as it only happens the odd time!
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This was my second week of Deep Blue Terror, where I have tried to look at films and books about sharks and nasty things living in water. I read the three planned books this week but my focus appears to be shifting onto next month's theme so not sure how productive the end of this month will be! I watched The Reef (great!) Open Water 1 & 2 (dull with dreadful characters) and Jurassic Shark (really bad!) Still, the books made up for it! I read J Kent Messum's 'Bait', Chris Jameson's 'Shark Island' and two Kraken stories by Eric S Brown. I'd recommend all of them and reviews will come next month! I didn't watch anything last night and got some more shark reading in. Hope to fit in more this week.

Book buying stepped up this week with the recent release of four apocalypse books coming out in paperback in series I've already started buying so I just had to get them y'know? I now have one entire shelf just for Darrell Maloney's apocalypse books! I plan to read them all this winter! The other new ones are by Grace Hamilton, Chris Pike and GR Carter. I did download a few new things too. Need to get back onto my sampling next weekend with my shark stuff coming to an end!  I have samples of a few apocalypse books ready to go!

DOWNLOADS:



PAPERBACKS:





Chuckles Blogging World: 
My blogging was a bit more organised this week and I have got to a few more blogs but still not as much as I'd like. Please bear with me and I'll try to stop by more often. Sometimes I lurk and read blogs but don't always leave a comment if I have nothing sensible to say! As always, a link is provided for each blog post from last week to take you straight to anything you missed.
Comments are moderated so it might take a day or two to see it on the blog! Check out my Next Week section to see what is coming next at the Book Cave...

Book Reviews: 
 With all the shark films I've been reviewing, my blog has been kind of full of film reviews rather than book reviews but I do have lots of good books to tell you about in the coming weeks. I just need to get on with piosting them! They will be reviews from June-August but probably not in any real order. I'm hoping to mix it up so that there are horror, UF, monsters and apocalypses each week where possible rather than just focusing on one genre.

Dan Hodges-One Minute To Ten

Mike Kraus-Prip'Yat The Beast of Chernobyl

Joe Pike-Project Fear

Regular Features:
This week on Cover Love I featured Louisa Klein, I brought you the best of the bloggyverse in Around The Blogs With Chuckles. Top Ten Tuesday continued with required reading at school books, Can't Wait Wednesday I featured The Law of Retaliation. No Chuckles Goes Sampling this week as I had no samples to fit my current Deep Blue Terror theme.

Chuckles Cover Love-Louisa Klein

Around The Blogs With Chuckles

Top Ten Tuesday-Required Reading At School

Can't Wait Wednesday-The Law of Retaliation

Discussion Posts: 

Chuckles Chat this week looked at TV We Loved As Teenagers/Adults, while my Game of Thrones Gossip looked at Sandor Clegane! I also reviewed episode six of my Game of Thrones Season 7 analysis and posted a discussion on who should marry who in Westeros.

Chuckles Chat-Favourite Things to Watch As Teenagers/Adults

Game of Thrones Review-Season 7 Episode 6

Game of Thrones Gossip-Sandor Clegane

Game of Thrones-The Game of Weddings

Film Reviews:
Finally I am getting time and motivation to sit down and get some films watched! My Deep Blue Terror viewing so far has been all about the sharks and alligators. Have you seen the films? Stop by and share your thoughts!
Avalanche Sharks
Dino Shark

The Shallows

Ice Sharks

The Reef

Sharktopus

Special Features: 

The Many Trials of Sloth Chuckles

Book Tags: 
none this week

Book Challenge Updates:

My Goodreads Challenge total currently stands at 170/250.

TBR total of books I own but haven't read yet stands at 821. *grimaces* I hope the sampling for the second half of the year instead of impulse buying helps. My total went up as I bought a fewbooks in series I'm following and a few horror downloads for Horror Month in October. Not greatly happy with myself for my total going up!

Currently Reading/Next Up:  
I read the three books I planned to read-Bait, Shark Island and The Last Colossus. I liked the first two but was disappointed by the dreadful characters in the third. The other two I would love to see as films! These are what I plan to read next: 



Next Week On The Blog? 
Chuckles Cover Love features Amber Garr, Top Ten Tuesday features Top Ten Hidden Apocalypse Gems, Can't Wait Wednesday features a very long awaited book, Game of Thrones Gossip features Samwell Tarly, Chuckles Chat looks at Author Newsletters. There will also be a Game of Thrones special post on S7 Ep 7 to enjoy, and some more blog posts I've enjoyed this week on my travels online! I'm hoping to have film and book reviews and a book tag!

That's all for this week! Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to visit my blog and leave comments. You guys are great! 

 
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Friday, 25 August 2017

Film Review: Sharktopus


My first Deep Blue Terror weekend was a huge success with 7 films watched and 3 books! This weekend I've already looked at four films. Here I share with you my thoughts on another one I looked at.

Starring Eric Roberts, Kerem Bursin, Sara Malakul Lane
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1619880/?ref_=nv_sr_1 

A scientist called Nathan Sands has designed a half shark half octopus hybrid to be a killing machine for the US navy, controlled by a special headset and implant. During an early trial, the headset becomes damaged and the sharktopus escapes, killing everthing it finds. Nathan wants to capture his invention at all costs but former employee Andy wants to kill it.

I like this film. Ever since watching Jaws as a kid, I never felt a great urge to go in the sea. After watching Piranha the same went for rivers! Now consider the idea of a shark hybrid that can leave the water and chase people on land, and can use huge tentacles to drag people off boats and beaches into the water. If that ain't scary I don't know what is! You don't even need to be near the water to get eaten!

The acting in this film is good and Eric Roberts, one of my favourite actors is in it, playing the mad scientist. I always feel he is a better actor than he gets credit for. The plot keeps going at a good pace and there are a huge number of gory deaths to enjoy which is the point of the film. The special effects of the sharktopus are pretty good and it certainly looks scary enough. It is one of the better films for me in this shark massacre type genre.
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Book Review: Project Fear by Joe Pike

As the clock struck 10 p.m. on Thursday 18 September 2014, polling stations across Scotland closed, signalling the end of two and a half bruising years of debate for the Yes and No campaigns. Dubbed ‘Project Fear’, the unique Better Together alliance was relieved as victory was secured and a weary and dejected Alex Salmond tendered his resignation. But the relief proved to be premature.

Despite the defeat, the Scottish National Party grew in strength and gained unprecedented momentum, transforming its referendum failure into stunning general election success. The SNP went on to dominate the polls in Scotland, and the party ’s tsunami surge of support created a dynamic new force in Westminster.

Now, Joe Pike delves deep into the nail-biting back-room operations of the referendum’s No campaign, examining the striking shift in Scottish political attitudes and its effect on the most unpredictable election in a generation. Based on over fifty private interviews with those at the heart of the action, this exclusive account explores what really went on behind closed doors as Better Together kept a kingdom united, but left a country divided.

My Review: 
One thing I enjoy in political books is a true behind the scenes look at a campaign or government, where you really get to see the bitching, backstabbing, disunity and chaos. This book provides exactly that and more, looking at the No Campaign in the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum.

The Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties were in favour of Scotland remaining part of the UK while the SNP led the Yes campaign to be independent. Having three warring parties with totally different policies all on the same side was going to be a problem, with everyone having different ideas about how to run the campaign. Joining together under one banner of 'Better Together' implied a unity that wasn't there. This book looks into all that disunity and it is fascinating!

Within the Labour party itself, things were not good. Douglas Alexander and Jim Murphy, two party heavyweights disliked each other, and Alistair Darling distrusted them both. Darling did not want to front the campaign but each possible candidate was rejected by someone in Labour, forcing him to do it himself. Gordon Brown declared there should be a leader debate despite Darling being adamant that it should not happen. Scottish leader Johann Lamont was fighting with Ed Miliband over Westminster interference in her party. Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberals fired his Scottish Secretary Moore after he negotiated the New Scotland Act, replacing him with the hapless Carmichael. The Orkney Lib Dem office were asked to do a train station leaflet campaign like at Glasgow's Central station which was a real DOH! moment!

Then there was a problem with David Cameron managing to stuff up all the plans that the campaign had agreed on. The Scottish Office wanted a quick and immediate campaign while the SNP favoured a longer campaign and a vote in two years time. Cameron told the press he wasn't bothered when it happened, allowing the SNP to choose the timeframe, infuriating Better Together. A UK government spokesperson said there would be a currency union if a Yes vote won, despite No ruling this out as an option. The campaign was also threatened by bankrupcy and disagreement over Jim Murphy doing his own soapbox tour of Scotland which was seen as campaigning to topple Lamont as Scottish Labour leader.

Frankly when you read this book, it is amazing that No managed to get a win at all. It was fascinating to read about all the problems they had, the clashing egos of the politicians and the dreadful decision making. I think the parties learned from their mistakes when looking at cooperation for the EU Referendum. A great book for anyone interested in referendum campaigns or Scottish and British politics.
Read May 2017.
4 stars.
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Chuckles Chat #31 Favourite Things To Watch as Teenager/Adult

Welcome to Chuckles Chat where great blogging minds unite to discuss the topics of the day mainly in the book and blogging world. I'll be sharing my thoughts on a topic and then inviting you all to share your thoughts. It's ok to disagree but PLEASE be respectful of each other's views! All of the comments on my blog are moderated and offensive posts ie racist, bigoted will not be published!

This week I continue talking about tv tastes by looking at what we watched on tv as teenagers and adults.

The popularity of satellite and cable in the 1990's opened us up to a whole new world of entertainment and UK channels started to show a ton of US imports. I started to watch Buffy, Angel, Twin Peaks, Friends, Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, and a lot more. I was also watching more sport especially winter sports, cricket and darts which kept me really entertained! This was during my spell of not reading much due to the demands of college, then work. Nothing like that to suck the joy out of your leisure time!

By 2000, it soon became clear that there were so many tv options that I couldn't keep up with things! There were reruns of old favourites and so many new shows that you just couldn't watch them all. I would start a series and like it but within a week or two, I'd forget about them and be weeks behind and then give up. It was around this time that I started to rediscover my love of books which put paid to hours in front of the TV! I discovered great things through the 1990's and 2000s like The West Wing, Alias, Lost, 24, NCIS, Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis, The Shield, The Tudors, V (original series), Prisoner Cell Block H. Most recently, I have become addicted to Game of Thrones!

 There is also my obsession with reality tv...by that I don't mean things like Big Brother and the darn Kardashians. No I mean reality as in dangerous jobs and things with real people. I love watching people do jobs that would scare the living crap out of me! I love cookery competition ones, people on oil rigs, drilling, mining, fishing, logging etc. My favourites include Deadliest Catch, Bering Sea Gold, Ax Men, Masterchef UK, Masterchef Canada, Masterchef Australia, Masterchef New Zealand, Gold Rush, Yukon Gold, Wicked Tuna...I love things about cooking, fishing and gold hunting! Do you watch any kind of reality tv?

But with so much choice (and so little time!) there are lots I haven't even started yet or that I have to catch up with like Homeland, Strike Back, Hannibal, Elementary, Scandal, House of Cards, Nikita, Grimm, The Walking Dead, Arrow, The Flash, Agents of Shield, Supernatural, Lost Girl, Sanctuary, Prison Break, Sleeper Cell, The Crown, Vikings, The Newsroom, The Following, The Blacklist and a lot more! Now that depresses me! I know I keep saying that I need to get watching more stuff and never seem to do it but I really will have to!  

 What did you enjoy as a teenager? What are your favourite shows now? What do you want to watch and haven't had time for?
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Thursday, 24 August 2017

Book Review: Prip'Yat-The Beast of Chernobyl by Mike Kraus

    
Two Spetsnaz officers are dropped into the ghost city of Prip'Yat and tasked with investigating mysterious disturbances around the city and the nearby Chernobyl power plant. Unaware of the special forces operation, two cousins from Kiev sneak away and travel to Prip'Yat under the cover of night, excited to finally explore and experience the forbidden place....And in the abandoned city, a shadow has stirred.

A new book from bestselling author Mike Kraus, "Prip'Yat: The Beast of Chernobyl" is a horror/adventure tale that takes place in the ghost city of Prip'Yat and the nearby disaster zone of Chernobyl.

My Review: 
Dimitri and Yuri have been fascinated by the strange tales of Prip'Yat, abandoned in the wake of the Chernobyl explosion. Rumours of hauntings and monsters intrigue the boys who decide on an overnight trip into the forbidden zone to explore for themselves rather than the official guided tours . The Ukraine government have become concerned about something strange happening in Prip'Yat and ask the Russian government for help. The Russians decide to send a two man special forces Spetsnaz team in that night to investigate and report back.

The boys are exploring an apartment building when they find a strange gel like substance which has been secreted by something but no footsteps to indicate anything human or animal. The freaked out boys leave the building but become convinced that they are being watched. Strange noises occur and they run for the nearby children's hospital with something in pursuit of them...

The men start exploring near the hospital and notice a shadow moving at speed and decide to follow it. Finding nothing, they then stumble across the same gel substance, which frightens Iosif as he recognises it but refuses to tell Lucas what is bothering him. Lucas knows his partner is hiding something important and realises that he knows what it is they are looking for in the dark town. What exactly are they chasing and who is the hunter and the hunted?

It is difficult to say more about this without giving away the best of the plot. There is a ton of tension as the two boys explore the town, gradually becoming scared by strange noises and shadows. By the time they hide in the basement of the children's hospital, they know that there is something true in the horror stories that they have heard because they can hear it searching for them. Now they have to find some way of getting out of the basement without it catching them. It is pretty creepy being with the boys in the basement as the creature closes in on them.

It is the same with the military men. They are well trained and unsure of exactly what the mission is until he sees the gel substance. Now he knows what they are looking for and he is scared, forced to break confidentiality to tell his partner what they are dealing with. They also become aware that the boys are in the area and now have two things to find. If the special forces guy is scared, you know that this monster is going to be something bad and hard to kill, and boy does it live up to expectations!

The monster is different from anything that I was expecting which added to my enjoyment of the book. I liked the use of Chernobyl and the radiation as important roles in the story, and the author tells a very gripping story to entice the reader into this shadowy world. It is well written and makes you care what happens to the characters. I very much enjoyed having two Russian military characters as heroes instead of the bad guys which happens in so many books. I liked seeing Russian and Ukrainian characters working together as well.

There is just so much to like about this creepy horror thriller. It was my first book by the author and will certainly not be the last. I now look forward to reading his apocalypse books!

Read June 2017.
4 stars.
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