Book Review: Autobiography of a Werewolf Hunter by Brian P Easton

This is a review of the Kindle version.

This, my friends is one of the best Werewolf books out there. Brian P. Easton is bang on the target and delivers plenty of Werewolf Action. Equally thrilling are a couple of encounters between the main protagonist and a hulking bounty hunter. The first one of these encounters comes out of nowhere and will catch the reader totally unawares. 

The story deals with an individual, who loses his near and dear ones to Werewolves and is hell-bent on getting vengeance. He gets trained by a spiritual mentor and this section of the book really delivers. His first werewolf kill is as exhilarating to the reader as it to the protagonist himself.

Click on the link below to buy the book:

The protagonist's encounter with a huge werewolf in Russia is another section of the book, where Easton scores big time.

The book has a lot of other action sequences that are as good as this, if not better.

Best parts of the book: The description of the main protagonist's training, his encounters with the bounty hunter and of course, for the superbly-crafted werewolf action scenes.

Highly recommended for all fans of the Werewolf genre and/or horror genre.

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to this blog by clicking here.

Image Source: AuthorsDen.com 

You might also like:

City under the Moon

Bigfoot War

Book Review: Intensity by Dean Koontz

I read Dean Koontz's Phantoms and then came to this book. Perhaps, Phantoms set the bar too high or maybe I am more of a fan of horror/supernatural genre than of suspense genre. Either way, Intensity failed to hold my attention till the end.

Chyna Shephard is visiting the family of her friend, Laura Templeton. Chyna had endured a tough childhood, marked predominantly by a lack of parental care and is very happy when she is provided warmth and acceptance by her friend's family. Her joy is short-lived, when an intruder breaks into the house and quickly proceeds to kill her hosts.

Consumed with rage and grief, Chyna sets out to avenge and jumps aboard the killer's vehicle. Soon the killer is aware of her presence and takes her to his house. In addition to the killer, Chyna has to contend with a pack of trained vicious Dobermann pinschers.

Click on the link below to buy the book:

The starting is good. The middle secton is OK. Then it kind of got repetitive. I just lost interest and skipped to the end of the book.

I would recommend Phantoms to any reader looking for their first Dean Koontz book to savor.

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to this blog by clicking here.

Image Source: Flickr

You might also like:

City under the Moon

Autobiography of a Werewolf Hunter

Movie Review: Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

Director Brad Bird with the cast of Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol is the best action movie in a long long time.

When it comes to some specific genres such as action or horror, what separates a run-of-the-mill movie from a great movie is the acting prowess on display. Granted that it is too much to ask for great display of thespian skills in an action movie, there have been many movies where the actors have tried their best to infuse some life and energy into a genre that is well known for playing it safe with some action set pieces. The actors often prove to be just eye candy while the movie lurches on from one action set piece to another. And this is where the Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol proves its superiority.

Tom Cruise looks stylish as Ethan Hunt

Tom Cruise returns to his usual self as the dashing IMF Agent Ethan Hunt, we have loved since the very first movie in 1996. He performs most of the stunts himself and deserves credits for the same.

The movie’s ensemble cast includes Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg and Paula Patton as Cruise’s teammates.

Click on the link below to buy the movie:

Simon made quite an impression in Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Star Trek. Cast as Benji Dunn, the tech expert on the team, Simon provides the much needed comic relief amidst the insane action happening around him most of the time.

Paula Patton brings great gravitas to her role as Jane Carter, the team leader who has lost one of her men to a rogue agent.

Paula Patton and Simon Pegg in Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol

But, all these great actors are upstaged by Jeremy Renner, who proves to be the dark horse of the team. Renner is cast as William Brandt, an intelligence analyst, with a lot of tricks up his sleeve.

Jeremy Renner in Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Brad Bird shows a very deft hand in his very first live action movie. Perhaps, this should not come as a surprise considering his earlier movie The Incredibles. He has also directed couple of episodes on The Simpsons. Both these animated works contain families coming to terms with one another, while they adapt to the world changing around them all the time.

Bird brings all these experiences on board to helm a gem of a action movie, that boasts of excellent ensemble acting and jaw dropping action.  The sequences inside Kremlin and atop Burj Khalifa tower deserve special mention. He successfully makes the transition from animated to real action movies and I look forward to his continued work on this series.

Highly recommended to all Cruise fans and fans of the spy thriller/action movie genre.

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to this blog by clicking here.

Image Sources: Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, Tumblr 

You might also like:

The Dark Knight Rises

X-Men: First Class

Book Review: Phantoms by Dean Koontz

This is a review of the Kindle version.

This is the first book by Dean Koontz that I have read.

The protagonists, Lisa and Jennifer Pailey, return to their home town, only to find that the town is mostly deserted. As their investigations slowly start revealing the extent and the cause of this situation, help arrives from outside. Soon, a small band of survivors is formed, setting up the stage for the inevitable showdown with an unique breed of evil.

Click on the link below to buy the book:

Great setup. Excellent character development. Best of all, an exciting and engrossing horror story.

I also liked Koontz's references to Lord of the Rings (a character named “Underhill”) and Batman (characters named “Isley” and “Arkham”).

Highly recommended for fans of the horror genre and/or readers interested in Dean Koontz's works.

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to this blog by clicking here.

Image Source: The Swash

You might also like:

City under the Moon

Autobiography of a Werewolf Hunter

Movie Review: Iron Monkey (1993)

Donnie Yen and Yu Rongguang in Iron Monkey

Yuen Woo-ping directed this classic martial arts movie. Yu Rongguang plays the role of a good-hearted doctor, who moonlights as the titular character. Iron Monkey steals from the rich and corrupt and helps the poor and needy. The corrupt government forces Wong Kei-ying (Donnie Yen) to capture Iron Monkey in 7 days by holding his son Wong Fei-hung as hostage. 

While Wong Kei-ying pursues Iron Monkey, there is a change in the government for the worse. Rest of the movie should be familiar to anyone who has watched similar movies of this genre or any action movie for that matter. 

The action sequences in the movie are top-notch, which should not be surprising considering the cast and crew involved. Woo-ping is renowned for his martial arts choreography work in martial arts movies in the East. His fame was to shoot through the stratosphere shortly, following his work in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Matrix Trilogy.

Yuen Woo-ping, the director

Rongguang and Yen are both very accomplished martial artists and their skills electrify the screen in the insanely choreographed action sequences in the film.

Donnie Yen is one of my favorite martial artists and his work in this movie is as good as ever. I have enjoyed all of his movies from Once Upon a Time in China II to Hero to the recent hit Ip Man series. His role as Snowman in Blade II was one of the best things in that movie.

Iron Monkey has a lot of the action sequences and boy, do they pack a punch... 

Click on the link below to buy your copy:

If you are a fan of the martial arts movie genre or action movies in general, I would highly recommend this movie to you. Trust me, you will not be disappointed!

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to this blog by clicking here.

Image Source: Missing Reel 

 You might also like:

The Dark Knight Rises

Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Book Review: Vargulf by Tim Garrity

This is a review of the Kindle version.

A by-the-numbers book. Opens with a werewolf attack… proceeds to the character(s) setup.. more werewolf attacks... Rinse, Lather, Repeat... Very Generic...

The two main protagonists reminded me of the 2 leads from the movie Se7en. One is the experienced and calm and the other young and hot-headed and has a family. The resemblance to the movie stops there. The book possesses none of the suspense or the thrills provided by that movie, despite the obvious advantage of having a lycanthropic villain.

Click on the link below to buy the book:

I would recommend Autobiography of a Werewolf Hunter by Brian P. Easton and City underthe Moon by Hugh Sterbakov. Both these books are, in my humble opinion, near the top of the list when it comes to Werewolf fiction and will enthrall the readers. 

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to this blog by clicking here. 

You might also like:

Autobiography of a Werewolf Hunter

City under the Moon

TV Review: Murder Rooms: Mysteries of the Real Sherlock Holmes (2000 - 2001)

Ian Richardson and Charles Edwards as Dr Bell and Arthur Conan Doyle

This TV series features Ian Richardson as Joseph Bell, the man credited by Arthur Conan Doyle as the inspiration to create his most famous fictional creation, Sherlock Holmes.

Conan Doyle is played by Robin Laing in the first episode and by Charles Edwards in the rest of the series.

While it is debatable, how much of the series is based on actual facts, the series definitely is quite entertaining thanks to Richardson’s masterly portrayal of Bell. Ian Richardson was a Shakespearean stage actor and was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1989 for his services to drama.

His interpretation of Bell is (most probably, a deliberate decision on the part of the makers) heavily based on the character of Holmes. Obviously, it would be tough to sell the character of Bell as the inspiration behind Holmes, if Bell is portrayed any other way.

Click on the link below to buy the movie:

It is interesting to note that Richardson also portrayed Sherlock Holmes in the TV movies, The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983) and The Sign of Four (1985) and provided the voice for Conan Doyle in the TV series The Great War and the Shaping of the 20^th Century (1996). I do not know if any other actor in human history has had the privilege of portraying Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes and Joseph Bell. A rare honor indeed!

Ian Richardson as Sherlock Holmes in 'The Sign of Four' (1985)

The first episode, titled “The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes”, introduces Conan Doyle to Bell. Several of the exchanges between Bell and Doyle in this episode, are almost reproduced verbatim from A Study in Scarlet. In this episode, as in the rest of the series, Bell is positioned as the real life Holmes and Doyle as his real life Watson. In the pilot episode, Bell and Doyle investigate a series of grisly murders committed by a serial killer, Dr. Thomas Neill Cream.

In the next episode, “The Patient's Eyes”, the duo investigate the case of a woman who believes she is being followed by a ghost while bicycling along a lonely road. This is one of best mysteries in this series. It is interesting to note that the plot starts off in a very similar way to The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist. There are some twists down the road that makes this story different.

Perhaps, the writers wrote this episode to suggest that Doyle might have found the inspiration for some of his Holmes mysteries from his own real life experiences with Bell. In addition to his work with Bell, I believe Conan Doyle also personally investigated couple of closed murder cases, leading to two convicted men being exonerated.

Ian Richardson is an excellent Dr Bell

The next two episodes, “The Photographer's Chair” and “The Kingdom of Bones” deal with spiritualism and terrorist threat respectively.

The final episode, “The White Knight Stratagem”, is in my humble opinion, the best in the series. It features Bell and Doyle investigating a murder, with the police official in charge of the official investigation having a past history with Bell. This episode sees Sir Doyle coming into his own element as a detective and is a good farewell for the series.

While the series is quite brief (only 5 episodes) and some of the mysteries cannot hold a candle to the actual Holmes mysteries, I would commend this series to anyone interested in Sherlock Holmes. The sole reason is Ian Richardson. He is a master at the top of his game here and single-handedly elevates the series to a whole new level.

Click here to read all my posts about Sherlock Holmes.

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to this blog by clicking here.

Image Sources: Mpi Home Video, Amazon

You might also like:

Sir Vasily Livanov as Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock

Book Review: Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Berkun

This is a review of the Kindle version.

Scott Berkun lists various techniques to deliver presentations the right way. He also provides tips on how to prevent and rectify several commonly repeated mistakes in public speaking.

Click on the link below to buy the book:

Scott also provides examples of actual mistakes done by speakers, to inspire confidence in aspiring speakers.

Way to go, Scott. Looking forward to more outstanding work from you.

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to this blog by clicking here.

Image Source: Speaking About Presenting 

You might also like:

What Every Body is Saying

Peoplewatching

Book Review: Meg: Hell's Aquarium by Steve Alten

This is a review of the Kindle version.

The story moves forward at a steady pace and all the twists and turns should be easily predicted by astute readers. The focus here is on the Megs and how gruesome can each of their attacks on the human snacks be made out to be. In both these aspects, Steve Alten scores big time as he invests each of the Megs with distinct personalities.

Click on the link below to buy the book:

In addition to the adult Meg (Angel), we have 6 more Megs. One is Scarface, the only Male meg in the novel and remaining 5 are Angel's runts. 2 of these are particularly menacing, while the remaining 3 are just regular Janes as far as a Meg can be.

Steve Alten, the author

The climax features a fight to the death between Angel and a 122 ft long Liopleurodon.

Recommended to Megheads only.

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to this blog by clicking here.

Image Source: Pressthat 

You might also like:

Autobiography of a Werewolf Hunter

City under the Moon

Swami Vivekananda

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to this blog by clicking here.

You might also like:

Gorillas in the Mist

Save the Mountain Gorillas