Category Archives: Uncategorized

A Grim Future Of War

Leave a reply

Warhammer40K is one of my favorite SciFi universes to get lost in. I could spend ages reading book after book in this series only to pick up yet another book in the series and then another again. I’m not saying it’s addictive, I’m saying it is that damn good. I’m often asked where to start, where best to dive into the WH40K universe, or what exactly is this universe?


WH40K is a time in the distant future in which all is war. There is no bright hope. There is no peace. It is a soul crushing time of despair and devastation. Sound depressing? Well for the average person alive during this time I quite imagine it is! Humanity spread to the stars and formed the greatest empire in the history of mankind! The empire is protected by our military, and our military is aided by genetically enhanced superhumans known as Space Marines. Space Marines are the genetic offspring of the Emperor’s chosen and created sons, the long missing Primarchs. These Space Marines are the heroes of the Imperium and are larger than life characters who live only to battle humanities enemies. They are aided by the Imperial Navy and regular army troopers known as the Imperial Guard. 


  Fifteen Hours is one of my personal favorite WH40K stories as it highlights the plight and dangers of a new Imperial Gaurdsman. Now with such protectors as these why is humanity in such danger? Why is there no hope for the future? Why is this Imperium not a brighter place? Well once upon a time it was! Ten thousand years prior the Emperor himself walked amongst the people with his chosen and created sons The Primarchs from whom the Space Marines are descended from. Humanity was at its strongest and brightest point. There was no limit to what we might have accomplished. But alas, a darkness fell upon us all. The Horus Heresy. 


The Horus Heresy was the death of hope for humanity for in it the favored son of the Emperor, the Primarchs Horus, rose up and split the galaxy in two with his civil war. The Horus Heresy has long been a time of myth in the 40K universe but now those myths are coming to life in the 40+ book series being written. 


So what should you read? Where should you start? Well if you want a deep rabbit hole to jump down into I recommend picking up Horus Rising and encountering the Imperium as it should have been and witnessing the tragedy of the fall. If you’re wanting to get your feet wet first then picking up Let The Galaxy Burn would be a great start as it gives you multiple WH40K short stories to choose from. If you want to commit but don’t want a 40 book saga and want to see humans to connect to rather than superhumans then Gaunt’s Ghosts is for you! If you’re more of a mystery sort of person then consider Eisenhorn. 


Really most any book series you encounter in the WH40K universe will draw you in and be an excellent starting place. They’ve made their universe easily accessible. However please do remember that in the grim future there is only war. Take that to heart and be careful to not grow too attached to your favorite characters. War is hell, but the Emperor protects. 

Three Years Of Reviewing! 

2 Replies

Three years ago today I started the fun journey of being a book reviewer by sharing this photo of my bookshelves on Instagram:
 I hadn’t yet chosen the name RedStarReviews or created my website, I just knew I owned and read a lot of books and wanted to talk about books with likeminded people. Shortly after launching my Instagram profile I decided on the name RedStarReviews for various reasons, launched my website, joined Twitter, and started a Facebook page. The response and communication from likeminded lovers of books has been amazing and deeply appreciated! 


Three years later and I’m still here discussing books with people that love books! I’ve had the chance to meet authors, be a beta reader, review books prior to publication, and just share my love of books with people around the world. My bookshelves have changed and my collection grown, while my love for books has deepened. This is one of the joys of my life. I am so thankful for this opportunity and so happy for each of you that have taken the time to take part in the conversations and book tags and everything. 


My goals are to continue on! Life gets busy and puts a lot of claims to my time but I intend to continue shooting for my weekly comic book review, in January I’ll be working on VintageSciFiMonth yet again, February months will be devoted to clearing out my currently reading pile, return to finding and sharing one indie or small publishing co book a month, and just carry on with reading, reviewing, talking about, and enjoying books and the community!  


Thank you for being a part of three wonderful years! A special thanks to my wife who supports me in all things and believes in me always, and to our little puppy who loves books! Here’s to many many more years! 

RedStarTravels

3 Replies

Sorry for all the sounds of silence you’ve heard from me lately! My wife and I are currently vacationing in the amazingly beautiful country of Ireland! 


This vacation has been a dream come true. I’ve wanted to visit Ireland for ages so I am thankful for the opportunity I’ve had to visit. 

Every where you go you see something more beautiful than the last place you just saw! The level of green just can’t be explained. It can only be experienced. The people of Ireland are amazingly friendly. This country is incredible and if you’ve considered visiting you should! I’ll be home soon and updating the website more, but for the next few days I’ll be wandering around the country! Cheers!

Like Fire From Heaven

Leave a reply

Children Of Fire by Drew Karpyshyn has an interesting premise. I should know as I’ve added the book to my to be read pile five times. Other commitments and scheduling kept separating me from this book so this time I didn’t just add it to the pile I picked it up and started it and I am glad that I did! 
The interesting premise is imagine a world in which the gods are dead or dying and their protective magic is dying alongside of them. That magic is all that stood between humanity and an ancient force that attempted to overthrow the gods and is angry at years of being banished from the mortal realm. What if that ancient force found a way to send parts of its essence through the barrier and implant its essence within four unborn children. Would those children of fire grow to become champions of the gods and fight off the ancient force? Or would they become its pawns and unleash it into the world?


This is the intriguing concept within this story, and what a story it is! Epic in nature, vast in scale, ambitious in its grasp, and overall very well done! The author introduces many POV Characters right from the start and continues to do so quite frequently for the first quarter of the book, but does it in such a way that it isn’t confusing and it actually adds to the story. The story itself hurtles forwards skipping years at a time as the characters grow and develop. The inevitable clash that you see building up doesn’t disappoint when delivered. This is a fast paced, well told, interesting story peopled with compelling characters who face repercussions to their choices. This is a story you rush to finish and then grab the sequel like I did. 

Midnight Burning Burns Bright In The Starry Sky

2 Replies

I can’t think of a better way to return to my Stars In The Sky Indie/Small Publishing House reviews than with a review of Karissa Laurel’s incredible book: Midnight Burning!


Midnight Burning is an excellent story that is extremely well told! The pacing keeps you turning page after page, not wanting to set it down. The characters are so fully realized that you care about them from the start and continue caring after you set down the book. Their conversations and interactions are so perfectly well done and that draws you more deeply into their world! 


And what a world!! Set primarily in Alaska this story is a mystery, adventure, urban fantasy, magical, Norse God filled tale! Yes I said Norse Gods! In Alaska! An easy way to get me to want to give a book a try is to set ancient deities within it, but then you have to convince me of the reality of it to keep my interest. Karissa does just that. 


On top of all the details above let me add that the lead POV character is excellently realized and a very strong character to see this world through! You are immediately brought into her life and world and see everything through her eyes and heart. This is a book you’ll deeply enjoy and will have a difficult time setting down! I can’t wait for the sequel which is available in July! You can find Midnight Burning here: Midnight Burning

I’m looking forward to hearing what you think of this bright star in the sky of books! My puppy and I loved it. 

Our Weekly Dark Horse Presents Volumes 15 And 16

Leave a reply

Our Weekly Dark Horse Presents Vols 15 & 16


This week I’ll be reviewing two volumes at once due to missing last week and because volume 15 was very dull. We’ll start with volume 15 first


Babes ‘N Arms by Randy Stradley and Michael Ebert is just as shallow and boring as you would expect. Really Dark Horse? Really? 


Masque by Mark Badger continues to be an inaccessible and confusing story that encourages me to quit reading it. 


Captain Crusader by Gary Martin Bridges the volumes 15 and 16. It is cheesy but it at least shows what might happen if a normal person decides to try being a superhero. Quite the tragedy. This story had potential. 

Concrete’s Sky Of Heads by Paul Chadwick shows us something about our need to connect and to pass along the stories that are a part of our lives. Great stuff!


Volume 16 ends with the first installment of Paleolove by Gary Davis. Throughout this anthology series Gary Davis will return with interesting stories and excellent artwork. Paleolove is a great addition to the series. 

Guest Review Of Another Bloody Saturday

Leave a reply

One of the goals of RedStarReviews was to have my friends be able to share their reviews of books they loved on my website! I’ve enjoyed the variety these guest reviews bring. Today I am happy to share a guest review from my friend Indreni that features a very interesting sounding book on a topic I love! 


As American football season is a few months off yet, some of us, especially those of us who aren’t baseball fans, may find ourselves in a bit of a sports gap. What better opportunity than to enjoy the sunny days of summer outdoors with a book about that other football–Mat Guy’s Another Bloody Saturday: A Journey to the Heart and Soul of Football, which takes us around the world beginning in Salisbury, England, to Wales, the remote Faroe Islands, North Cyprus, Bhutan, France, and back again to the English lower leagues? 

A delightful collection of vignettes that span Guy’s earliest childhood memories of attending matches at the now-defunct Victoria Park with his Granddad to the present, he asks the question: Why be present at sporting matches? Why not just watch them from the comfort of your home on TV? It’s a question many sports fans, especially those who love underdogs and underachieving teams, will ask themselves as they brave another weeknight under-attended game, sometimes in the lashing rain and whipping wind. And British football fans are no stranger to agony and loss to begin with–now imagine the lower British leagues, which see their rising stars plundered by the Premier League again and again. Some of us college basketball fans (ahem) know their pain–as soon as the team gets good, the coach is snapped up by a bigger university or a college with a much larger sports budget. 

But Guy has tapped into something universal when he proves again and again with his stories that the long-suffering loyalty of the sports fan is richly rewarded in numerous ways–that magic goal, the miraculous win, the sense of community and camaraderie, and the serendipitous human connections that can spring from being out in the world, in a crowd that shares love for the game and the spirit of competition. 

Likewise, stories of healing and connection permeate this collection. Guy chronicles his volunteer work in developing football in Bhutan. He includes a beautiful chapter on how two tragic events that occurred on the same night, one to his closest football friend and the other to footballer Dan Seaborne, became an impetus to embark on recovery and meet in real life. But perhaps the most touching chapter, for me, is the one where he attends the ELF Cup in North Cyprus. The ELF Cup is a world cup for stateless football teams–think Tibet, Palestine, Greenland, North Cyprus, and more. These teams aren’t allowed to compete in FIFA or in FIFA’s World Cup because they don’t represent internationally-recognized nations. Guy points out that in Tibet, a person can be thrown in jail for singing their own national anthem, but at the ELF Cup, for a couple glorious minutes, that anthem can ring loud and clear, and for 90 minutes on the football pitch, the nation of Tibet, long occupied by China, can live again. This, to me, symbolizes everything Guy is standing for in his book–the real soul of the what the game can mean to an individual, to a community, to a nation, and the rest is noise. 

As a non-British reader myself, who likes football but isn’t any sort of devoted fan, the book gave me a privileged glimpse into a world I never knew existed: the magical network that is lower league and non-league football. It stirred up feelings of nostalgia for the childhood White Sox games I attended at the old Comiskey Park in Chicago with my family, when the team was terrible and that beloved stadium was in its last days on this earth. I think I cheered all the more loudly because the team was so bad. And somehow, I think that realization taps into Guy’s insights about the true soul of sports fandom. 

Another Bloody Saturday is available directly from Scottish indie publisher Luath Press  (paperback and e-book) where you can also sample the first chapter, Amazon, and fine UK bookstores.   

You can follow Mat’s amazing football adventures and insights on his blog, Dreams of Victoria Park.

Our Weekly Dark Horse Presents Volume 14

Leave a reply

Our Weekly Dark Horse Presents Vol 14


Yay! I’m posting this before the week officially ends! Maintaining my weekly goal of reading and reviewing an issue of Dark Horse Presents makes me happy. In case you missed my previous reviews on this Dark Horse Presents is my favorite comic book anthology and was published back in the 80’s and 90’s. I’m attempting to read and review my way through the whole series a week at a time. 


Concrete by Paul Chadwick is the flagship of the early part of this comic book series. It is a beautiful and magical take that somehow always touches the heart of what makes us human and this chapter is another fine example of that as Concrete considers his possible immortality. 


Another chapter of Masque by Mark Badger in which-oh look! Something interesting! A preview for the first Aliens’ comic book series! Dark Horse Comics rocked the Alien franchise! Expect to see some Alien stories within future Dark Horse Presents comics! Where were we? Oh? Masque? Yeah. Masque. By Mark Badger. 


Mr Monster by Michael T Gilbert is a little bit of comic book fluff. Scientist turned magical monster hunter. Not bad just cheesy. 


Dinosaur Tales by Mark A Nelson is just what it sounds like! And it was pretty cool. Dinosaurs always get you some points. 

AKIRA

2 Replies

I still remember how amazed I was when I first watched the movie Akira. It was one of the most impressive SciFi films I had ever seen and definitely the best animated film! The soundtrack drew me in, the story compelled me and the characters propelled me into this incredibly epic movie. I loved it. I watched it often. But strangely enough I never sought out and read the comic book series that it was based upon. This was a mistake. 
 I have finally corrected that mistake. I can report that the comic book series Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo gave me everything the movie gave me and more. It was awesome. Truly majestically awesome. Akira is one of the greatest stories ever told and it is told well. 
The characters are complex and varied. The comic book brings out such depth in them. They come alive in a way that the movie just couldn’t bring them to life. Tetsuo’s tragic character truly becomes a tragic character. Akira himself becomes something far more ominous and alive than the movie can convey. The city itself becomes more fully realized and more a part of the story. 


And dat art tho! So impressive! So full and vibrant and alive! Even the tanks. I’ve never seen more impressively drawn tanks. The amount of detail put into what others would consider throwaway panels is awe inspiring. 


Then the pacing of the story. It is so fast paced and action filled that you’re already fifty then a hundred then two hundred pages in before you realize any time has passed. I read the entire story within a week because it was near impossible to set it down. 2,187 pages of awesomeness. It is impressive how much you are drawn into the world. 


I was able to find all six volumes of Akira at my local library. It has an excellent selection of graphic novels! Libraries are awesome and I am thankful for the impact that librarians have had on my life through their quiet work. 


Would I recommend Akira to people who don’t normally read comic books? Yes. Yes I would because here within the pages of Akira you find one of the masterpieces of SciFi. Yes I think you should read Akira. 

Ten Years Of Heresy

Leave a reply

Imagine it is the year 40,000. You a part of a vast galactic empire that is based out of Earth. You only know war. On every border you are attacked. The enemy has struck deep into the heart of your territory. War is all there is. You long for the God Emperor to awaken and rescue humanity from itself but He has been locked away for 10,000 years and you aren’t even convinced that He is still alive anymore… yet you have lived your whole life for Him, and you know you’ll die for Him. For there is only war. 
This is the grim dark universe of Warhammer40K it is a universe in which humanity barely holds on, seems on the verge of destruction, but still fights. It is a harsh future which promises only destruction and the slow fight leading to it. What happened to humanity to set it on this path of constant warfare? 


To answer that you’ll need to turn back time 10,000 years to a golden age of expansion and enlightenment. To a time when the glorious Emperor walked amongst his chosen warriors and guided humanity. To a time before he was a God locked away from all of humanity. To a time when everything seemed possible and promising. To a time when the future was bright. To a time when the Emperor’s chosen sons took up the mantle of leadership. You would have to return to a time when his greatest son, Horus, turned his heart away from his own father and betrayed him. To when Horus split the galaxy into warring fragments. To a time when Horus believed the Heresy of Chaos and fell victim to it. To the time of The Horus Heresy. 


The Horus Heresy is an excellent Military SciFi series that covers the fall of the greatest galactic empire in epic heroic fashion. It is the tenth anniversary of the publication of Horus Rising by Dan Abnett. Ten years and over thirty books later the Horus Heresy is still going strong! I am twenty books into this excellent series. Each new book adds an extra layer to this epic story. It has kept me following year after year and book after book. The authors (there are several contributing authors to the series) keep the story fresh, interesting, engaging, and worth reading. This is an excellent series for anyone to read and if you are a fan of Military SciFi you’d be hard pressed to find something better to invest in. Here’s to a wonderful ten past years and here’s to many more stories in The Horus Heresy!