by William Meikle

Goodreads Link

Two partners, Sam and Steve, come across a spaceship that was lost mysteriously and accidentally unleash a blue plasma that feeds on everything it touches…

The bit about the ship was a nice touch “Sailors have the Marie Celeste; airmen have flight 109 … spacefarers had the Vordlak.” Experiments were done on it to harness energy from what was thought to be the supernatural but were actually drawing from another place with a Lovecraftian being living in it… Unfortunately, all the creepiness is done away soon after because the blue, glowing blob, basically another Shoggoth retread, while obviously dangerous, just isn’t that interesting. There are things about dreams and a black pyramid, but it’s not the main focus. It’s all just another setup to do a blob story.

This follows two sets of main characters because what happens on the ship causes a breach on Mars as well, with another blue blob consuming and growing. The main characters are OK, but nothing special. All the side characters are terrible, soldiers that just keep shooting at the plasm even though it was shown to be ineffective, and other spacefarers that, of course, don’t believe the things happening are real and choose to ignore them. It’s really obvious they were only there to die, and they were mostly pointless characters to the story.

The setup to this is great, as well as the short story that is used throughout, but it really lost steam in the second half and just became another generic story with Lovecraft stuff thrown in.

*** Three out of Five Stars (Average)

by William Meikle

Goodreads Link

Three fantasy stories that are well written and full of adventure and fun.

The Cauldron of Camulos sees a warrior taken captive after a failed raid on an enemy, and he ends up being used for the magic in him, the Wyrd. Action-packed and features a giant beast battle that the author always does well.

The Last Magician is a wonderful tale about a boy who comes across three colorful floating lights who ask him to tell them a story in exchange for a gift. The gift ends up being magic, and the boy’s attempts at using them don’t go very well… It’s just a great enjoyable tale, quite a nice change of pace to how these usually go.

A Knight In the Lonesome October is about Galahad and some creature sent by Merlin to guide him to be a hero and stop Morgana… To be honest, this story irritated me a little; there are just too many ideas and concepts, and most of them went over my head. It was full of action, and I liked the writing, though. I just didn’t really get it.

This was a good collection to read through, so check it out.

**** Four out of Five Stars (Good)

by William Meikle

Goodreads Link

With a cursed, bloodthirsty flaming sword, a warrior roams around Scotland battling all sorts of myths and legends. The character of Seton is good, and the action is great.

This is a collection of short stories, but they are in order and build off the previous ones making it sort of a novella. Most of them are well done but eventually, Seton becomes a sort of a private eye, and it really clashes with the themes the book starts. Those parts also have characters that seem too modern.

Seton and his friend sell their souls and get ten years to “enjoy” their bargains. Realizing time is up for his friend, he races to him to save him, battling a cold version of the Grim Reaper. This is the first story, and it’s the most well-written and done of the book, and it sucked me in right away.

I really couldn’t get enough of the swords and sorcery, themes of redemption, and just the wonderful fight scenes. I just wish the private eye parts didn’t drag it down.

Those stories have been mostly recycled into the Derek Adams stories and are better there as the themes fully fit the character, so if you liked this, be sure to check them out.

Really fun and action-packed with loads of gore as usual, per the author. I’m sure it’s a long shot, but I’d love to see a conclusion to Seton’s tale.

**** Four out of Five Stars (Good)

by William Meikle

Goodreads Link

Like usual with creature features, you’re just here for the monster. A shoggoth mixed with seaweed terrorizes the coast. That should be pretty lame, but the action scenes are fun and full of gore.

It starts with some commentary on environmentalism, but that is quickly dropped as people begin getting eaten, which is fair enough, I suppose. The characters aren’t really well developed, just your standard action movie kind that are just there to drive the plot forward.

The author has two other short stories mixed in throughout he did, and it greatly expands on the idea. Unfortunately, however, he also does that thing where the characters stop reading the journals and then pick them up again and gain new knowledge that, of course, is suddenly relevant. I hate that.

Your usual fun, action-packed monster movie in book form that this author loves to do. Great to read if you’re in the mood; otherwise, you’ll pick it apart.

**** Four out of Five Stars (Good)