#noir Sam is scary lol

[jaxxypoo]

I’m on the last chapter of devils playhouse and my soul is dying ;-;

Redraw of this drawing from 2021!

[lee-scribbles-and-doodles]

S3 ep4

LEEEEETS GOOO!

Girl Stinky fighting Grandpa for Sal's honor 😍

So many Sams😲

Can the narrator pls shut up

"After they yanked it away they turned their attention on us." "actually I think they were more interested in me."

"Looks like it's time to boil the haggis" I love u Grandpa Stinky

"Need any help?" "No, I've been dreaming of this for years." *Continues to shoot Sam clones*

Skunkape loosing his mind

Oh geez, the dogglegangers kidnapped him

Girl Stinky still denying her obvious relationship with Sal

Oh hey I can make toast... Never mind then 😕

"Ah, I remember when I was a toaster."

Max and Grandpa are having a little too much fun shooting the clones

Why does Stinky have a picture of the DeSoto???

Well, the plan to turn into the DeSoto failed

I really didn't need to read minds to figure out how to get out, but I guess it was a good way to remind players of the tunnel

"Max is so powerful now... Soon he won't even need a partner."

Ew, Grandpa wants to sell clone meat 🤢

Sam struggling to not eat a fudgcicle is super relatable

Oh the tunnel is blocked. Knowing Girl she probably has a backup

I knew it.

"Happiness is a warm gun." "My gun is always warm... and a little bit moist." WHAT

*Gives clone a peanut butter ball* "Ew. It has peanut butter dog mouth. I hate when I do that."

Haha I made Sam eat a peanut butter ball now he's doing that dog lip smack thing

Oh hey, we can take a fudgcicle now. ...Oh, I know what to do!

Presidential Alert: The Stinky's are fighting!

Why does Girl Stinky's tunnel lead to a cloning facility?

The clone Sam approves of Sam's outfit

He stole Sam's hat!!!

"That's strange." yeah, you think!?

"--unholy army of sexually provocative Sam clones" What you just call them Max 👀

Cthulu tenticles!!!

They have spikes

"I'm thinking of a number between--" "Potato!" "That's uncanny."

Sam

"Momma sure does love a nicely turned Sam gam."

This episode is quickly turning into Max repeatedly saying how hot he thinks Sam is 👀

I guess let's explore the tunnels

Ooh the museum

Doctor Norrington? We get to meet him?

Nope :(

When they jumped back into the tunnels Max raised his hands up and Sam picked him up 😭😭😭🥰🥰🥰

Back through the tunnels

The shadow physics are all messed up

Boscotech!

Harry and Superball are trying to contact Momma. Can she not appear anymore?

Queen? Where are you?

"Keep your eyes peeled, Max." "Ugh, that's disgusting, Sam."

"What do you know about these scary--" "But dashing!" "--toy stealing Sam clones." oh max

"So you don't know where Momma Bosco is?" Sam says with a huge sad face

Superball my love

Max smokes Cuban cigars

"Yes sir, quite the coinkydink."

"I'm going to stand over here and try to shake off the memory of you saying balliwick." *,Literally stands in corner shaking his arms side to side* Max. I love you

*Harry insults Sam* *Max jumps to his defence*

"I'm afraid the contents on my mind is classified, sirs."

I'm going to find Sal

The hat thief stole the car!!!

Buster Blaster!!!

"Max." "that's what they call me at the manipedi." The boys get manicurs

I can't get to Sal or Buster Blaster because of the clones :(

Look a buster blaster's future and he's just floating through space shouting "This is totally awesome!"

Back to Stinky's

Flint Paper!!!

Flint's mind is just noir narrative... As it should be

Girl Stinky realized Max has been reading her mind

Sam and Max role-playing as Flint and Girl has me laughing

Girl tied Sam up into her lies

The fact that the boys don't realize who Mr. S is is astonishing

Great I have to find a cake. Back to Sal?

The clone Sam hugging the stuffed Bunny 🥰

Sam was doing the same to Max 😍

Love for legomorphs is stored in the dna

Oh hey I missed Charlie the first time

Max shares the creeped out feelings Charlie gives me. Good

Sal knows how to cook 💖

Sal is an artist 🥰

I love Sal

OMG is there actual blood on the cake

No! Don't eat Max!

Sam got a kiss from Stinky, lucky dog. I can't tell if he's surprised or grossed out 😂

Flint and Max are disgusted by the kiss

Oh to be kissed by Girl Stinky... or Sybil... Or Momma Bosco.

Sal doesn't want to kill. Good man

Girl and Sal are my new otp

Oh no, power het couple are possessed

Ok, I'm going back to boscotech for now to mess with Harry now that I have Charlie

Max really hamming it up

Oh hey, Max actually summoned Momma

Agent Superball just teleported?!

What is going on with him?

Also he has OTHER superiors

Momma are you hiding something?

"mmm-mm-mm, those shorts sure don't leave anything to the imagination, do they?"

Was Max right, does Momma have a thing for Sam?

Lol she was lying.

She seems to feel guilty about selling her cloning machines.

Max don't you dare mention the poppers in front of me!!!

It's pretty obvious it's Papierwaite

I like it when she spins

Oh, are we going to track down Bosco to get more DNA for her new body?

I'm going to take to Buster Blaster

"Hey, you wouldn't happen to know anything about those Sam clones running around?" "THOSE ARE REAL?" "Yeah." "HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!!!"

He gave us a letter to give to Momma from Bosco.

"See ya Buster." "I AM BECOME DEATH!"

Sam called Bosco "baby Bosco"

Oh hey, I probably should have tried reading Papierwaiite's mind already

Sam picked Max up so he could type in the code

Ew, Norrinton is a chest burster cthulu

Everyone keeps making fun of Sam's weight :(

Max's reaction to Norringron's grandson being named Junior is great

I used the destabilizer to look for the weapon and now Sam is crying profusely

That Romeo and Juliet reference tho

He's fine now

Well that was a lot of trial and error

Got the new toy and killed the tentacles

Time to get Momma a new body

Momma is bald. That's fine

Love that she's fully clothed even though that doesn't make any sense

Yay shooting things!

Oh no we made Sal fall

Momma is so excited to telport

Aw, she held Max's hand while Sam patted his head ❤️

She punched out Girl! Go Momma!

Ha, we made the clones dance.

Yay, we figured out where the toybox is.

AAAAH

I knew Charlie was going to be evil!

I hate evil dolls

The clones knocked the boys out

We're at the statue of liberty now???

Ew, she's got tenticles

Charlie wants to be reunited with Junior. Can't let that happen since it'll cause the apocalypse

Max is more concerned for Sam than the world

Charlie kidnapped Norrinton

Sam is still struggling against the thrall

Oh hey, got Charlie to let Sam talk

Let's mess with the sheet music

The liberty puzzel was fun

Oh shit, did Charlie just kill Norrington and Papierwaite

Ooooh, Max is all glowly

Ok, that last puzzel was kinda easy

Sam got his hat back!

Max, oh no he fell

Sam looked so scared

Oh Max, scared us for no reason

Oh God, he's scaring us for real now

OMG is this because he swallowed some demon yolk?

He's so big and Cthulu-y now!!!

Shut up narrator!

"Well, this is new." oh Sam

Wait the episode just ends there!?

Gaaahd now I have to stay up and play the next one or die from suspense.

After credits scene... Did we kill Sal!? Nooo!!!!

[medeafive]

I can tell from your wonderful fics that you have many AU ideas for Natasha and Bucky. Any ones that you've thought of, or would like to see? Do you prefer to write mainly MCU, or would you be interested in writing more 616 based ones, say in their happier days as a couple? I hope this isn't too forward, but I wanted to ask it, and let you know your writing is always welcome and appreciated.

Hey anon, that’s such a nice ask! Yeah, I have a lot of AU ideas, (un)fortunately :D I can’t talk about it abstractly so I’ll give you the concrete ones I’m thinking about/working on:

My vampire AU, Blood and Stone (obviously)

An AU where Nat is a cop working on organized crime and Bucky is a veteran and they’re both navigating their sad traumatized lives while annoying the fuck out of each other. This actually came from a prompt about them fighting about the last piece of gourmet chocolate (that I could swear I posted on here but I can’t find it right now edit: found it) and I got so hooked on their dynamic in this specific AU I wrote over 50 chapters of it (still not finished). Probably the most intense and hottest dynamic I’ve ever written for them and the Natasha&Sharon relationship is honestly wonderful but the plot needs... work.

College AU! Nat is a grad student struggling with her thesis (projecting much?), strung incredibly tight, academic, ambitious, and Bucky is on the football team, confident, a total flirt, much more demonstratively relaxed. They once again annoy the fuck out of each other (Bucky goes to the Russian literature class Nat is teaching just to have a transparent excuse to see her and Nat gives him awful grades) though they get closer over the semester buuuut then the term is over and Nat has to go back to Russia for family/professional reasons and they just have a few days of being really together before losing touch (because I’m cruel and I like sad endings). Really can’t remember whether I posted the first part or not, can’t find it right now.

Also writing a soulmate AU for Marvel Trumps Hate where I use all the tropes.

There’s one fic lying around where Sam is a Christian king in Central Europe in the 9th century CE and Bucky is his brother who is arranged to marry the only daughter of the leader of a pagan tribe they’re (at least nominally) christianizing. Except the daughter is Natasha and she has no intention of going along with that, so she first takes Bucky hostage (during their wedding night) and threatens to kill him so she can escape, then comes back and nominally goes along with the arranged marriage so her tribe is left alone. Of course, that’s only lip-service and she constantly blackmails Bucky into enabling her pagan rituals and Bucky just... doesn’t really resist. I don’t really know where this goes but I was really obsessed with it for a while.

I was gonna write a lockdown AU because I read an article where the government of the Netherlands advised singles to find one lockdown buddy to have sex with in order to limit contacts, and that felt very courtship-like to me because you have to determine the one person you want to spend the next months (or year) with but you don’t really get to get to know them personally and once you’ve picked one, you can’t redecide. This also didn’t really go anywhere story-wise.

Somebody asked me for a Russian mafia AU a while back and my head produced this: Bucky ended up as the hitman/enforcer for some Russian mob group because he needed money to pay for Steve’s treatments which didn’t even really work, and now Steve is dead (or being kept hostage by the Russian mob or something, not sure on that yet) and Bucky doesn’t care about anything anymore, so much so that he develops a reputation as a completely cold and scary guy who’ll just do as he’s told and is famously not interested in anything (drugs, women, money). Natasha is the mob boss’s trophy girlfriend, famous ballerina, underwear model, international socialite and partygirl, the whole shebang. Then there’s a gang war and Natasha has to be protected and brought to safety (roadtrip!) and the mob boss decides Bucky is the only one to be trusted to do it (read: won’t sleep with her). Of course, it doesn’t go that way. I havent written a word of this but it already has a noir-style playlist.

I think that’s it? I hate that everything where Natasha is ALIVE is technically an AU these days so I didn’t include all the more canon-divergent stuff (plenty of those lying around).

Writing this made me realize how many of these are about them annoying each other :D It’s just that that helps me make the main plot them getting together, if there was no conflict between them, it’d either be a one-shot or I’d have to think of an actual plot and we can’t have that xD

I know I pretend on here to have read comics but I actually haven’t, all I know is from meta and second-hand accounts. Which is not a problem if I write AUs because then I can just take pieces from Natasha’s 616 background (for Blood and Stone, fighting the Nazis, Ivan, Alexei) and twist them, or if I write oneshots where I don’t need to know storyline details. So it’s not that I purposefully write MCU based AUs, that’s just what I know more about, and I do take 616 elements as well.

Re: AUs about their happier days as a couple, it’s those two things: if it’s happy couple stuff, I’ll need to think of other stuff going on (and I’m not that good at plot), plus I tend to start mentally from MCU canon. I mean, if you have something more specific you’d like to see, feel free to ask! (No promises, though, because I already promised way too many people lol)

Long reply... I hope that answers your questions! Thanks for asking, always love talking about WIPs and story ideas :)

[nicol3houghts]

STOP WATCHING THE OFFICE:   other things to watch this summer

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE ZIE OFFICE!! But as much as it pains me to say, the office isn’t a personality trait, so I’ve decided to make a list (e.g. Buzzfeed lists) of my top 16 recommendations for TV and podcasts to watch and listen to—since we all need to stop being basic bitches and FOCUS! 

I hope you listen to me when I say these shows are amazing and actually watch them if you have the time. I'm doing this because I care about you and your TV preferences.

I'll break it up by streaming service, starting with Netflix then Hulu, YouTube, then Podcasts last.

*I apologize in advance for the lousy grammar and lack of editing, but also not really sorry bout it.

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On NETFLIX:

1. Arrested Development

Number of Seasons: 5

Number of Episodes: 91

Hours to Binge: 35

Okay, number one on my list is Arrested development. A lot of people I talk to, especially in my age range, don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about, but this show is GENIUS... on G*D. I’ve watched it around four times now, and each time it gets better and better. I read somewhere that it was created as a satire of Bush-era incompetence and idiotic hanky-panky during the Iraq war. But at its heart, the show’s about a rich family with four adult children—who are all goofy and quirky. Their dad get’s thrown in jail for doing business with terrorists or something like that and Micheal Bluth (Jason Bateman) has to get them out of weird ass situations.

Above is one of my favorite scenes  (Best clip I could find on youtube!!).

This show has a LOT of jokes and long running bits that you kind of have to pay attention to to get the storyline. It’s hella META, and at times, can be really weird (see George Micheal Bluth and Maeby Fünke’s little Les Cousins Dangereux). In conclusion, however, Jason Bateman is hot, Micheal Cera is hot, and Tony Hale is ~super~ hot.

P.S. a lot of memes come from this show that you would know but don’t know that it’s from this show.

2. The Haunting of Hill House

Number of Seasons: 1

Number of Episodes: 10

Hours to binge: 9

Scary as f*ck! Do not watch yourself or u will die. I warned you.

I'm not going to spoil it too much, but it's about a family living in a spooky house and crazy ass shit keeps happening to them. They eventually move out, but even 20 years after--when the kids are all adults--the haunting of the house follows them.

There's even a 17 min scene that they shot in one shot!!!!!!!! That's wiLD.

3. Schitt's Creek

Number of Seasons: 5

Number of Episodes: 66

Hours to binge: 25

Yet another show about a rich family loosing all their money. A bit different than Arrested Development. This show is about a rich ass family loosing all their money and resorting to live in Schitt's Creek--a town in Nowhere, U.S.A. the family bought as a JOKE. It's a really easy watch. The characters in this show are SO un-relatable and mean it's hilarious--only if u f*ck wit dry humor tho.

Here's my favorite character, Alexis Rose just being iconic:

Give it a try, the first few episodes are rocky, but it gets better. That's a guarantee.

4. American Vandal

Number of Seasons: 2

Number of Episodes: 16

Hours to binge: 9

A lot of people already probs watch this show, but it's honestly so beautifully written. The show is an homage to Making a Murderer, a true crime mockumentary of sorts. It follows two guys, Sam and Peter as they try to figure out a mystery: WHO DREW D*CKS ON THE TEACHER'S CARS?

Also, JIMMY TATRO!!!!!

Season 2 follows a different crime and it's... it's poopy.

5. Mindhunter

Number of Seasons: 1

Number of Episodes: 10

Hours to binge: 9

YUH. Just started this, already on ep. 8, very interesting. Mindhunter is about the first FBI agents to use profiling to catch serial killers. THE CHARACTERS IN THIS SHOW WALKED SO THAT HOTCH AND REID COULD RUN.

This show is no joke and based on true serial killers like the coed killer, the shoe fetish killer, and BTK, it's very.... very creepy.

ALWAYS carry pepper spray on ya, that's fer sher.

6. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

pinot noir, caviar

7. John Mulaney: The Comeback Kid

eat ass, suck a dick, and sell drugs

8. The Good Place

is it really the good place?

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On Hulu:

9. Broad City

Number of Seasons: 5

Number of Episodes: 50

Hours to binge: 18

One of the greatest television series of all time about two baller best fraaands who get into the schemes of the century in New York City. Illana, a ferocious kween wit ZERO f*cks, and Abbi, an aspiring artiste with a great ass. The two work min-wage jobs in NYC (so they're broke) and they're just trying to find luv and a good bacon egg and cheese.

Think Sex and the City but fresh and new and wild. Abbi and Ilana's dialogue and schemes are relatable af, it makes it seem like you're there with them. Their co-dependency is so powerful... yet at moments, a lil destructive. I once had a friendship like this.. and let me tell you... co-dependency is a wild ride.

Some of the funniest scenes in this show is just of them talking on the street. Sometimes, when I'm walking with my friends, I pretend like I'm in the show lol.

I recommend you start from beginning to end because of the endless callbacks and running gags, but if not start with season 3, episode 7 B&B-NYC. Blake Griffin is in it.

10. Community

Number of Seasons: 6

Number of Episodes: 110

Hours to binge: 41

What can I say about this show to make you watch it? Well first of all the fact that Childish Gambino (Donald Glover) is in it should already have you clicking over to Hulu by now.

Community is about seven quirky misfits: a disbarred lawyer, a failed housewife, an activist everyone hates, a racist old man, a stupid jock who lost his sports scholarship, a high-strung know-it-all who took too much adderall, and abed. They all end up at Greendale Community College with a phsyco spanish teacher and a colorful dean. 

This show is kind of a parody of a sitcom, and it is VERY meta--often referring to themselves as TV show characters. The seven get into hilarious adventures and obstacles along the way. The show also genre hops from time to time. For example, they have a whole pillow fort vs. blanket fort episode (Pillows and Blankets, season 3, episode 4) in a Ken Burns documentary style, an episode in claymation for Christmas (Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas, season 2, episode 11), and a bunch of paintball episodes in style of Quentin Tarantino and StarWars.

Again, you should start at the beginning, but if you want to get into it quickly, I really loved Pillows and Blankets (season 3, episode 4).

11. The Mindy Project

As a "petite asian woman" who is not petite, this show is very relatable. About finding love and eating good in the big apple.  

P.S. If you don't like Kelly from the office, you're dead 2 m3.

12. Brooklyn 99

Cool. coolcoolcoolcool. Jake Peralta is the greatest detective/genius.

13. Superstore

If Walmart and the office had a baby and it was incompetent.

---------------------------------------------

On YouTube and Facebook Watch:

14. The Real Bros of Simi Valley

Number of Seasons: 2

Number of Episodes: 14

Hours to binge: 4

You straight up know these guys, fool. Four stoner/burn-outs who think your hometown's Mexican food is the best in the world. Amazingly written and surprisingly good acting. Lightweight lowkey thought they were speaking another language at first.

Jimmy Tatro, Cody Ko, Getter, and Nick Colletti. What more do you want? LITERALLY WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?

The unnecessary drama and endless quotable jokes in this show leads you wanting more with only 14 episodes totaling at around four hours.

Watch the first season YouTube here:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybcPQVipNAw

---------------------------------------------

Podcasts:

15. Tiny Meat Gang

Aha hah bro last night was a movie bro ON GOD.

Noel Miller and Cody Ko talk about literally anything, but goofy. I can listen to them talk for straight up hours.

I usually listen on Apple Podcasts, but you can also watch on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/ZCMs4FrC_c0

Just start listening, bro.

16. My Favorite Murder

No shade to Codel, but My Favorite Murder is my all time favorite podcast. Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark  are two hilarious women who love murder. Not murdering, but the psychology of murderers and survivors. Each Thursdays each of them tell a story about a murder. They don't make fun of murders, but it's their banter that makes it fun to listen to.

If you're a fan of true crime at all, please listen so I have more people to talk about it with. shouts outs Jenna for putting me on to the show!

Here are my favorite episodes!

*tip: skip the first 15-20 min to the first murder when first listening.

150: How Dare You Kill Kelli

The Hanging of Alice Riley and The Murder of Reyena Marroquin

131: The Uninhibited

The Murder of Standford White and The Case of the Boys on the Tracks

[theradioghost]

Can you pick your top 5 podcasts atm I need to know what to listen too lol

I’m gonna put my answer under a cut because in my wisdom I decided to provide short summaries, lol.

it is HARDER THAN I THOUGHT to narrow it to just five. There’s a definite perpetual top two,

The Penumbra Podcast, your one-stop-shop for genre-bending “queer AF” absolute wonderfulness and the thing that has taken over my life in the past six months. Centers on the misadventures of depressive nonbinary bisexual noir private eye Juno Steel on far future Mars and his interstellar master thief “homme fatale” paramour. Brief stops for oneshot horror stories, a fantasy series, and the greatest lesbian western ever. I cannot put into words how much I love this podcast. You should be listening to it already, probably.

Wolf 359, the podcast that got me into this mess, still one of the very best. Take four assholes and stick them in a steadily disintegrating tin can orbiting a really weird star 8 lightyears from earth. add some mysterious space messages, one plant monster, an incredible sense of humor, and some of the best-written plot escalation I’ve ever seen. be prepared to cry. a lot. best described by Ron Weasley in Prisoner of Azkaban: “You’re gonna suffer, but you’re gonna be happy about it.”

as for what I’m enjoying most right now,

Greater Boston is experimental fiction set in an ever so slightly weirder version of Boston. Episodes are usually ~3 vignettes or monologues by/about this group of around 15 characters whose lives are intersecting and colliding because of two things: a petition for the Red Line of Boston’s subway to secede and form its own city, and a man named Leon, who dies as soon as he is introduced, but continues to inexplicably influence those who knew him and those who didn’t after death. The definite absolute highlight is the characters, who are so funny and heartfelt and wonderful, but the plot picking up in season two is also blowing my mind and in general it’s just incredibly well written.

The Bridge does atmosphere so well. it’s set in an alternate present where a traffic bridge was built across the atlantic but has now fallen into disuse and is about the crew of a watchtower along the bridge. it is also about people telling the urban legends and folk tales and ghost stories that have gathered around the bridge. and it is about ghosts, and cults, and abandoned places, and sea monsters, and reluctant immortals, and missing people, and the cold depths of the atlantic ocean, and chocolate fountains. and it is about Kate Burnham, who is my wife. it’s Spooky but not really Scary.

The Bright Sessions is about Dr. Joan Bright, therapist for “atypicals,” aka basically X-Men style mutants, and her patients – like Caleb, who has to deal with feeling the emotions of his fellow high schoolers; and Chloe, who can hear thoughts; and Sam, whose panic attacks result in time travel. I want to describe it as very chill and sweet most of the time? but to be fair it may not be for you if you have trouble with manipulation or rlly intense mental illness stuff (Sam is one of my favorite characters in the world but I personally often have to break up listening to her episodes because it fucks with my anxiety), bc that stuff is pretty central to the plot.

Bonus, since it only has three episodes: The Strange Case of Starship Iris is a brand new and really amazing space scifi about what happens to biologist Violet Liu after an accident (or was it?????) kills everyone else on her research ship. also, space wlw within three minutes, if that appeals to you.

Other podcasts I listen to and love: Wooden Overcoats, literally everything by the Night Vale Presents Network, The Bright Sessions, Inkwyrm, Wooden Overcoats, EOS 10, and so far I am loving Ars Paradoxica. I also made this thoroughly overcomplete list of podcasts.

[jenmedsbookreviews]

You have to admit – this is not a bad way to start a week huh? It was lush if somewhat sickly but highly recommended. I love Ole & Steen on Haymarket. Best Danish pastry I have tasted. If you are in London then you simply must go. Their sandwiches and coffees aren’t bad either.

After starting last week’s post with a puppy picture, I was asked for a cat this week so here you go.

Not what you were expecting? He’s still pretty cute though. For those wanting a kitty of a slighter small size and shape here’s one for you.

None of this has anything to do with books but then what is new. Well … the cake kind of links back to books as I did eat it prior to heading on over to City University and First Monday Crime last week. A wonderfully bookish night of entertainment courtesy of Barry Forshaw, Stuart Turton, Leigh Russell and john Connolly. Sadly, thanks to the sudden descent of fog upon the country Rachel Abbott didn’t make it but the panel still kept us wholly entertained with discussions on why kids don’t read much, whether Stuart Turton loves or hates Agatha Christie and whether John Connolly writes horror or crime or a hybrid. For more on the evening as a whole I recommend that you read Joy Kluver’s write up here. I was far to enthralled and entertained to take decent notes but I did grab a couple of pictures.

Now, you may or may not have worked out from my overly gushing post the other week about The Woman in the Woods that I’m a small fan of John Connolly’s Charlie Parker books. I did the thoroughly bookishly geeky thing of queuing to get my copy signed (even though I have a signed copy on the way from Goldsboro books anyway – this was personalised) and unlike me, I managed to get out more of a sentence than ‘I liked your book’. When Mr C remarked that I had already read it, I explained that I’d reviewed it the previous week. After a surprised ‘that was you!’ I got a totally unexpected and unsolicited hug of thanks from the man himself.

Now I am not prone to the old huggage, hand shakes are still somewhat of a necessary evil IMHO, even for work. I want to die when I meet my European colleagues with their strange air kiss/cheek rub ways. I can never remember which is which and who is going to fire in for one, two or even three kisses. Three!!! I mean, what the heck?Where I come from that’s borderline asking for your hand in marriage or at the very least an indecent proposal!

Those who know me well know that this hugging phenomenon is something I am struggling to come to terms with about the bookish world. You lot are very huggy people. This one though I did not mind at all. Not in any weird kind of freaky stalkerish way I hasten to add, but it was just so surprising as I am sure that authors such as John Connolly and the rest of the panel get hundreds of reviews and kind comments all the time, so to know that he read and was genuinely thankful for the review makes this whole blogging thing worth while. In it’s own odd way it’s kind of different to greeting people who you may have conversed with a bit on line or perhaps met before too as that’s where you expect a kind of happy but strange hug/air kiss/pre proposal type scenario 😉😬. I mean I’d have been as happy with a genuine and enthusiastic thank you but I’m not complaining.;) And I now have another book in my signed collection which also contains huge hugs (at least this is what we deciphered it as saying lol)!!! Good night out.

This was the most exciting thing to happen to me all week as other than this I have had a trip just south of Lille for another two hour meeting (and the kiss/don’t kiss, one two or three nightmare) and a lot of work twaddle to contend with. I completed week 4 of my Forensic Psychology – Witness Investigation course and week 1 of the Forensic Science course that I am trying to undertake alongside blogging and working and travelling and occasional sleeping so that is a bonus. I also got two other new signed books this week. First up was a copy of DM Mark’s The Zealot’s Bones (warning to the sensitive the cover has a scary rat and you may wish to scroll on) and a second signed copy of Written in Bones by James Oswald, simply because it was signed and dated on my birthday last year. That seemed like fate to me so it had to be done.

Ahhh. Book. Heaven. Not too shabby a week huh? Well apart from work but we can gloss over that part …

New book wise I have been ordering from Goldsboro again. This time it’s a signed copy of The Blood Road by Stuart MacBride which is released in June. Happy bunny time over here then. From Amazon my purchases have been limited (yeah right) and I only ordered the US hard cover of Ragnar Jonasson’s Black Out because it is stunning (and I have the first two in the set so it seemed rude not to). From the UK I ordered The Zealot’s Bones by DM Mark (I can’t read a signed copy…); Down To The Woods by MJ Arlidge; Counting the Dead by Victoria Jenkins and No Turning Back by Sam Blake.

Netgalley wise I have had a few books. It’s a mixture of tour requests, direct invites to review in the case of Peter James and Ruth Dugdall and ‘I just want to read these’ requests. I picked up Body and Soul by John Harvey; The Things You Didn’t See by Ruth Dugdall; The Retreat by Mark Edwards; Dead If you Don’t by Peter James and One Little Lie by Sam Carrington. I was also sent an early copy of The Chosen Ones by Carol Wyer which is absolutely bloody fabulous I might add.

Reading wise I’ve not had too shabby a week all things considered. I am still shattered so i think to have finished reading four books again this week is quite pleasing.

Books I have read

The Ice Swimmer – Kjell Ola Dahl

When a dead man is lifted from the freezing waters of Oslo Harbour just before Christmas, Detective Lena Stigersand’s stressful life suddenly becomes even more complicated. Not only is she dealing with a cancer scare, a stalker and an untrustworthy boyfriend, but it seems both a politician and Norway’s security services might be involved in the murder. 

With her trusted colleagues, Gunnarstranda and Frølich, at her side, Lena digs deep into the case and finds that it not only goes to the heart of the Norwegian establishment, but it might be rather to close to her personal life for comfort.

Dark, complex and nail-bitingly tense, The Ice Swimmer is the latest and most unforgettable instalment in the critically acclaimed Oslo Detective series, by the godfather of Nordic Noir.

My review of this brilliant novel will be out later this week but I truly love the writing style and the feel of this Oslo based thriller. Slower in pace than most Detective novels it is still engaging and has so many hold your breath moments that you won’t be able to turn away. You can buy your own copy here.

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Body and Soul – John Harvey

From the master of British Crime Writing comes Frank Elder’s last case.

‘The heavy manacles around the girl’s wrists, perhaps not surprisingly, looked very much like the ones that had been found on the studio floor. For a moment, she had a vision of the chain to which they were attached being swung through the air, taking on force and speed before striking home.Then swung again.’

When his estranged daughter Katherine appears on his doorstep, ex-Detective Frank Elder knows that something is wrong.

Katherine has long been troubled, and Elder has always felt powerless to help her.

But now Katherine has begun to self-destruct.

The breakdown of her affair with a controversial artist has sent her into a tailspin which culminates in murder.

And as Elder struggles to protect his daughter and prove her innocence, the terrors of the past threaten them both once more …

The last in the series this is the first book I have read by John Harvey. Nothing new there for me. Fast paced and gripping from the off, it does contain spoilers for prior novels so be aware before setting off, but as a first read it also gives enough back ground to put everything in context and keep you on edge all along. My review will be posted later this week and you can buy your own copy here.

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The Chosen Ones – Carol Wyer

They had not been forgiven. And they would never be forgotten …. When a doting young father is murdered and his body discovered in a cornfield for his family to see, it’s a harrowing new case for Detective Robyn Carter. But just as Robyn starts to investigate, a popular local doctor and young mother, is found dead outside her surgery.

As Robyn tries to find the link between the victims, she uncovers a dark web of secrets. Were these much-loved members of the community as innocent as they seemed? 

The killer has a message for Robyn and the carefully chosen victims. Can Robyn get to the truth before she becomes the next target? 

If you love Angela Marsons, Patricia Gibney and Rachel Abbott, you’ll love the latest pulse-pounding thriller from Carol Wyer. The Chosen Ones will keep you guessing until the very last page.

What I love about this series, aside from the great characters and the brilliant writing, is that it is set very locally to me and I always chuckle when I see local references. Plenty of that in this book, alongside a chilling set of murders which will make your toes curl and keep you right at the edge of a very uncomfortable seat. Loved it. My review will be a long time coming as publication isn’t until later next month, but you can preorder a copy here. Totally worth it.

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The Girl Who Got Revenge – Marnie Riches

Revenge is a dish best served deadly…

A twelve-year-old girl is found dead at the Amsterdam port. An old man dies mysteriously in a doctors’ waiting room. Two seemingly unconnected cases, but Inspector Van den Bergen doesn’t think so…

Criminologist George McKenzie is called in to help crack the case before it’s too late. But the truth is far more deadly than anyone can imagine… Can George get justice for the dead before she ends up six-feet under too?

A heart-racing thriller packed with secrets, lies and the ultimate revenge, perfect for fans of Steig Larsson and Jo Nesbo.

Love this series, loved this book. George McKenzie and her lover Van den Bergen are back and boy what a case they are faced with. Human trafficking and unexplained deaths of admittedly quite aged men. Full of the humour, darkness and brilliant plotting that threads through this series, fans will not be disappointed. My review and an extract from the book will be up on the blog this weekend, but you can order your own copy here.

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Busy week on the blog so here is a recap:

A Grand Old Time by Judy Leigh

My Little Eye by Stephanie Marland

Too Close To Breathe by Olivia Kiernan

The Summer Theatre By The Sea by Tracy Corbett

Deadly Secrets by Robert Bryndza

Keeper by Johana Gustawsson

Cover Reveal: The Picture – Roger Bray

The week ahead is pretty tame in comparison although I do have a few tours on the cards for the Ice Swimmer by Kjell Ola Dahl; Body and Soul by John Harvey; The Dark Web by Christopher Lowery; East if India by Erica Brown (Mandie’s review) and The Girl Who Got Revenge by Marnie Riches.

Do have a fabulously bookish week everyone. I will be mostly reading, studying and possibly (maybe) thinking about starting writing myself. Only possibly maybe ish. But probably not. Bust, busy and all that.

Jen

Rewind, recap: Weekly update w/e 15/04/18 You have to admit - this is not a bad way to start a week huh? It was lush if somewhat sickly but highly recommended.