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It would have been more than twenty years ago when I first picked up the book Rules of Life by Richard Templar, more than a quarter century since I picked up the 48 Laws of Power by Richard Greene, and in the time since then, I’ve seen similar books published with slight variance to the Rules and Laws they describe as being essential. With this in mind, I wasn’t expecting a lot from a book called 101 Laws of Power, perhaps an expanded treatise on the original 48, perhaps a

Looking darkly upon Hector, Swift footed Achilles answered, “I cannot forgive you. As there are no trustworthy oaths between men and lions, there can be no love between you and me.” “I am done with this bullshit war.” Both of the lines above are paraphrasing parts of the Iliad, and while I understand that the second is more in keeping with a modern retelling, using modern language and syntax, to me, it feels wrong. The full disclosure Iliad is a bold undertaking, to re

One of the best books I’ve read in recent years And I read a lot, so I don’t say that lightly There’s a difference between a book that makes you nod briefly and consider something else, and a book where you sit there nodding like a toy dog on the dashboard of a car covering thirty miles of bad track on punctured tyres. AI is a contentious issue at the best of times, particularly in the field of creativity. I have friends on both sides of the equation, those who all but

I have always loved Event Horizon the film, it remains one of the few horror films in space that actually works on all different levels, the characters are realistic, the stakes could not be higher, and the narrative works even without the ultra-detailed scenes of horror. And it’s been thirty years, so perhaps a prequel was only inevitable, and here we find the story of what happened to the crew of the Event Horizon when they went on their ill fated mission. This would h

Most people are familiar with Mahjong, at least the versions found on the computer, matching two tiles to eventually clear the board, interesting enough, but nowhere near the real game. This starts with an overview of how the game evolved, from the game of Madiao as it was originally, to the variants played as the game went on and the changes of rulers blocking the playing of games (which I’d never realised, thinking of games as harmless), all the way to the creation of soc

I love War of the Worlds, have done since I first encountered it through the medium of Jeff Wayne back in the 70’s, in particular the last minutes of the Silent, Gray Ironclad, Thunder Child. It’s clear from reading this, that the writers also loved War of the Worlds in the same way, and while this is the story of the days prior to the last stand, and the things that the Thunderchild and it’s crew encountered in the run up to that moment, there’s never any point where you g

Review of Wild Cities I love architecture, but more than that, I love the planning of cities, the largest constructions that humans have ever created are found within cities, and without careful planning, those cities can easily become rat traps for humans, so this book was of particular interest to me. Within are examples of 12 different cities and how they take a different approach to life in what they do. There’s not enough space to go through all of them, so I’m goin

Ambitious, I’ll certainly give it that, to take a story and have it combine aspects from most of the different star trek series out there, and have it somehow be coherent? It starts with the Burn, and the cataclysmic event that it was, leading to the remains of the universe as it became, and the possibility for what would come afterwards. By all accounts, not much, to have a civilisation as dependent on warp technology as the Star Trek Universe is, it’s akin to removing al

Some games you remember for the wrong reasons, some games you remember for the right ones. Way back when Covid was around, I and several friends came up with a concept for a game called Pantheon, It wasn’t going to be a regular game where one person came up with the plots and then ran the game through to completion, this was going to be a game where everyone got on board, everyone built the world, everyone put the ideas in, everyone was invested, and most importantly. Ever

Got to be honest, I asked for this one because my Nephew is a very avid fan of it and I was curious as to what he loved about it. I mean, Hunger Games meets Professional Football, how would that work? Actually really well, this is the story of the Japanese football league trying to find their next top striker, and the best way of doing this? Get 300 of the best players in Japan and put them in a secret bunker called Bluelock, where they all play football till one of the

Godzilla, so it’s going to be a fight or two between giants, with not much inbetween? That’s how its seen by many people, you’re not watching/reading Godzilla for the plot, you want it for the fights, certainly if you’re watching the American versions, there’s little else in there, you don’t root for the humans, they’re just there to provide the backdrop. Well, if that’s the sort of Godzilla you’re after, you can avoid this, there’s altogether too much plot in here. It

In a world where light is available at the touch of a switch, meaning that we have no more reason to fear the darkness, we can do anything, at any time, surely that’s a good thing, right? You may be surprised. From the cover of the book, I’d imagined that this would have been something more to do with nature and how animals and plants rely on the natural cycle of sunlight and darkness, but it turned out to be something more interesting. To be sure, some of the book doe

Lido’s are a particular feature of UK culture that many know comparatively little about, but when I was young, as a working class kid, they were a place where you could go and be amongst not just your people, but all people. They weren’t just seen as something for rich or poor, but for everyone. This book covers many (but not all) of the different Lido’s across the UK, their history, when they were built, in many cases why they were built, and the struggles to keep them ar

I haven't studied Zen before now, but I do study hoplology, the art of human combative behaviour, and finding a new perspective upon which to contemplate fighting with swords was the reason I asked for this book, and while there was some aspects of learning how to use a sword, the majority of the book was in the teaching of how to think and act in the discipline of Zen. Throughout, there were few mentions of the sword itself and how that would tie into the nature of Zen thin

A world not far removed from the cyberpunk universe, a detective with a complex life who works with an cybernetically enhanced talking cat to solve crimes… With me so far? This is how the book starts, no explanation to anything else, just straight in with the story, Detective Lynx is the protagonist, brought in to work on a murder case that turns out to be far more than it started out as. Her cat, Skua, is her constant companion throughout adventure and provides interest

Language is a thing that I’ve always found most interesting, from writing and the construction of stories, to the differences and similarities between all the dialects of the world. Some time ago, I found a book called Lost in Translation, a book of words that could not be translated from their own language without a significant explanation, and I’d hoped to find something similar here. While this book is interesting, it’s not the sort of book that brings that nuance, the

In advance, I love cats, and I love travel stories, so on the surface of it, this book should have been everything I was after. This is the story of Archie, the streetwise east end cat who finds himself in distant lands through no fault of his own, looking to find a way to get home. Archie’s a cockney, there’s no two ways about that, but one who’s got the memories of a human at least in their forties, as they make reference to the Krays and the old ways of the east end, al

Sometimes books are clever… Sometimes books want you to think they are clever… Sometimes they’re both… I loved the idea of this book, of the notion of considering the past and the future at the same time, of holding the key to realities before and after the fact and of the challenge of time travel without the invariable chronological entropy. That and I’ve always enjoyed Neil Jordans other work, it’s always thought provoking and that’s always appreciated. Take this b

Oyster is a small time thief in a small time part of London, there’s little to look forwards to, and that which you can, you’ll find that you won’t like it when you eventually get it. He’s in with gangs and trying not to get further in, whilst realising that being further in is the only way that he’ll ever make the money he needs to get a better life. This is the London that Oyster is trying to make a life for himself in. Until one day it isn’t… Oyster finds himself in

Review of The Night Ship A story should go somewhere, that’s the central tenet for anything that’s been put on paper, if you haven’t got to a different place, found different people, different perspectives, what was the point of the story in the first place. The Night Ship is a story where things change and do not change, told in the claustrophobia of a vehicle as it journeys onwards to destinations unclear. There’s the danger outside the vehicle, the danger of what they