Dennis Wheatley - The Island where time stands still

It took some time until a new post. Sorry readers!

Bought this one in a used book store, without knowing the author. A little research showed that this one is quite interesting.

During WWII, the author Dennis Wheatley was hired by Winston Churchill to be a part of a highly confidential group of strategists. He was one of the only civilians to be recruited, on the strength that he had shown a flair for deception and cover stories in his novels, particularly through his incarnation of Gregory Sallust - widely regarded as the inspiration for Ian Fleming's James Bond.

And this story is the ninth one in a series of 11 novels. Its a Arrow Book from 1964. Originally, it was first published in the year 1954.

On a pleasure cruise on the South Seas, Sir Pellinore Gwaine-Cust's yacht hits a coral reef and sinks in minutes. Only one survivor is washed to the safety of the shore: Gregory Sallust.

But this is no ordinary Pacific island. When Gregory regains consciousness he finds himself among a Chinese community, ruled by descendents of the ancient Imperial House. Within days the throne becomes vacant, and Gregory joins an expedition to find the true heir - a hazardous search that takes him to San Francisco, and deep into the forbidden heart of China itself.


Check it out, and if you like it, you will find the whole series over at Amazon.

Tomorrowland Movie

Startling Stories - Nov. 1952

To start the new year, here's my latest addition to my collection. Startling Stories from 1952!

It has everything - nice cover, rockets, girls, interior illustrations that are really great, interesting stories.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

After a rather crappy 2013 (for me), everything went well in 2014.  Of course there were ups and downs, but overall it was a good one. In 2014 I had the luck to travel to some beautiful places (well - at least in Europe...). I was visiting Vienna, had one week in Carcassonne,  and spent 10 days in my most favorite town, in London. And not to forget the Comic-Convention in Erlangen, Germany.

This year, my mind was blown away with "The Guardians of the Galaxy", "Winter Soldier" "Interstellar" or "Days of Future Past".  A good time for sci-fi and comic fans.

We lost some great actors and artists in 2014 - for an example, HR Giger, Lauren Bacall, Robin Williams, Maximilian Schell and Bob Hoskins. May they rest in peace. Their art and their movies will never be forgotten.

In terms of comics, its an interesting time, but also a little bit disturbing. The "Big Two" are jumping from event to event, and as a longtime reader, I get tired of it, especially of Marvel`s way to do it. I reduced my list of Marvel titles to just a few comics (Guardians of the Galaxy and Deathlok) because these constant relaunches of series get on my nerves. It is difficult to follow a hero, when he has several no. 1's during the year. What are they thinking at Marvel? An now they dug out "Secret Wars" for 2015 - is that necessary? Are they running out of ideas?

DC is a little bit better in these things."Futures End" is promising, even though I had to buy many of these 3d-covers. The Godhead Story at the Green Lantern Books is also interesting, combining the New Gods and the Green Lanterns. Next year we will see the "Crisis"-anniversary, lets see what happens.  I look very forward to the Darkseid War!

Well - that it from my side. Good luck and seize the day!

 Happy holidays and all the best for 2015!

By the way: Today its Dr. Who Christmas Special-Day! Don't miss it!

The Guardians of the Galaxy

As a reader of the Marvel Comic by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, I was very exited to hear that a movie of my favourite band of heroes was in the pipeline. I hoped that there won't be a disappointment, that they didn't get the "cosmic part" of the Marvel Universe right. My fears were not necessary. 

Yesterday, I was in the movie, and boy, they delivered. The movie had everything: action, fun, mystery, great music.

An assassin, a brute with a big knife, a tree, a raccoon with a love for guns and explosions, and a human who was abducted by aliens - this works really well. How the band of outlaws gets together – in prison – and how they learn to accept each other, is really good moviemaking. I love this film.

The chemistry between the actors is great – they must have had real fun doing this movie. And no other movie from Marvel hat more easter-eggs than this one, I swear!

Just the Collectors museum is a feast for the eyes. In every corner you discover something interesting. Even Beta Ray Bill? – I didn't see him, I have to check the blue-ray. But I saw a dark elf (from Thor 2), and of course Cosmo, the russian telepathic dog in the spacesuit, a fan-favourite from the comic. Or Adam Warlocks cocoon.

Remember the bad guy at the end of Avengers? This time, we saw Thanos in full, sitting on his chair, like I always imagined him. (ok, with a more metallic armor than in the comics, but its all right.) 



Like in the comics, one day (maybe in Avengers 3) Thanos will posess all the gems and sets the gems into the gold glove we saw in the first Thor Movie,  which he refers to as the Infinity Gauntlet. With it, he tries to destroy (half) of the universe, no less, to impress his Mistress Death. We'll see....

The other bad guys – Ronan, the fanatic Accuser, and Nebula (played by Doctor Who Companion Karen Gillan) are also great. 

What else is to say? Well, on my way to work this morning, I listened the "Awesome Mix, Vol. 1". Thanks youtube!

Go see the movie! 

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