My Winter Reading List

I haven’t listed links to these epubs, however I download these titles from either Feed Books or Project Guntenberg.

Stolen Treasure, Howard Pyle

A General History of the Pirates, The Life, Adventures & Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton, From London to Land's End, & A Journal of the Plague Year, Daniel Defoe

The Door in the Wall and Other Stories, H.G. Wells

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson

The Phantom Ship, Fredrick Marryat

Halloween 2015

Halloween has its beginnings in the ancient Celtic festival of the dead. The Celtics carved Jack O' Lanterns out of turnips or beets and were carved to stave off unwanted visitors.

Here is a set of pumpkins that have set out well beyond their time adding to their dubious aspects.

This concludes my horror and otherwise themed month. Perhaps I will have other months with themed posts.

Posts for the Month of October

To celebrate the run-up to Halloween I have decided to make the month of October a theme month and will feature posts dedicated to all things creepy, horrifying and gruesome. I will be revisiting some of my earlier posts on these topics and will be making some new posts featuring monsters, horror, dragons, dudgeon crawl, and pumpkins.

My Fall and Early Winter Reading List

It seems that I am to continue my reading of sea yarns and of pirates.  Within this list I have three novels by Captain Fredrick Marryat; two of those being sea yarns, and one being upon the War of Roses.  I have listed one title by Samuel Merwin, which tells a tale of the French and Indian War and one title by Brain Jacques, Mattimeo which I am looking forward to reading. It has been a while since I read anything in the Red Wall series.

Captain Marryat:

The Pirate

The Phantom Ship

The Children of the New Forest
It is set in the time of the English Civil War and the Commonwealth (War of the Roses).

Samuel Merwin:

The Road to Frontenac
A novel taking place during the French and Indian war. High adventure and intrigue.

Brian Jacques:

Mattimeo

Howard Pyle:

Book of Pirates (non fiction) (currently reading)

My Late Summer Reading List

Here we go again. You must be thinking that I have a lot of time on my hands to be able to read all these novels. Well, you are right, but perhaps that is about to change.

1. Under the Black Flag, David Cordingly : nonfiction
2. Captain Blood, Rafael Sabatini (epub)
3. Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe (epub)  
4. The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe (epub) 

Future Reading

Although most my reading is done on an Android tablet I still like to read hard copy books. These books for instance are are on my reading list for sometime in the near future. Perhaps during the winter.

An Update to my Summer Reading List

1. Bohemians of the Latin Quarter, Henri Murger
The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter takes place in Paris and in the 1840s. It is a story of several artistic types: a poet, painter, musician, and philosopher who meet up by chance and create a little confederation between themselves. When one prospers, they all prosper, and they live recklessly and extravagantly. Instead of sticking a little of their good fortune away for a rainy day they spend all they have until they are once again destitute. The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter tells of the artists affairs: their successes, their impoverished times, and of their mistresses.

Although there were a few times when the story seemed to drag on, all and all the story was interesting and entertaining.


2. Poor Jack, Frederick Marryat
Poor Jack is a novel by the Frederick Marryat, and tells the story of Thomas Saunders, a sailor's son. Saunders is a neglected and mistreated by his mother and struggles to survive in Greenwich, London as a street urchin. He survives by doing odd menial jobs and begging.

A pensioner takes the poor lad under his tutorage teaching him how to read. As the lad grows older he is recommended to an old friend of the pensioner and starts an apprenticeship to a river pilot. Thomas excels in his studies, passes his exams, and becomes a certified pilot.
The book mentions many adventures. I have skipped a lot of the details, but the lad is very helpful to those around him and makes many friends. Let it be said the boy might have started off poor but ends up becoming very wealthy.


3. The Arabian Nights, Muhsin Mahdi
The Arabian Nights is a compilation of short stories depicting characters from the Middle East. Sinbad the Sailor might be the most notable, but there is much mention of genies, dervishes, sultans, grand vicars, princes and princesses, enchanted lands and treasures, and merchants traveling to foreign lands.


4. The Missing Merchantman, Harry Collingwood 
5. The Troll in the Garden and other Stories, Willa Cather
   A collection of short stories by Willa Cather, which depict life in Nebraska, Kansas, and Montana, for the most part. Interesting frontier characters and a few cosmopolitans thrown in for a change of pace.
   

Projects for August

There as been a snap-Fu with last month’s projects post, and I am still working on those Dreadfleet ships from last month. I have made some head way and I have just about completed these miniatures. In addition, I also painted twelve desert cactus plants.

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New Projects

None

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Old Projects

7 Dreadfleet Grand Alliance & Cogs ships

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Completed Projects

Reaper Miniatures
#03608: Aquatic Familiars II
Sea Monster (Aberration)
Mermaid
Octopus (Aberration) Warhammer Dreadfleet
Graveyard - Leech Wyrm
Warhammer Orc Arachnarok Spider – Trees
Bombshell Miniatures
Pumpkin Buddy

Other

Ristuls Market Halloween Basing Kit (10 resin miniatures)

An Update to my Summer Reading List #2

1. Bohemians of the Latin Quarter, Henri Murger
The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter takes place in Paris and in the 1840s. It is a story of several artistic types: a poet, painter, musician, and philosopher who meet up by chance and create a little confederation between themselves. When one prospers, they all prosper, and they live recklessly and extravagantly. Instead of sticking a little of their good fortune away for a rainy day they spend all they have until they are once again destitute.

The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter tells of the artists affairs: their successes, their impoverished times, and of their mistresses.
Although there were a few times when the story seemed to drag on, all and all the story was interesting and entertaining.


2. Poor Jack, Frederick Marryat
   
   Poor Jack is a novel by the Frederick Marryat, and tells the story of Thomas Saunders, a sailor's son. Saunders is a neglected and mistreated by his mother and struggles to survive in Greenwich, London as a street urchin. He survives by doing odd menial jobs and begging.
   
   
   A pensioner takes the poor lad under his tutorage teaching him how to read. As the lad grows older he is recommended to an old friend of the pensioner and starts an apprenticeship to a river pilot. Thomas excels in his studies, passes his exams, and becomes a certified pilot.
   
   
   The book mentions many adventures. I have skipped a lot of the details, but the lad is very helpful to those around him and makes many friends. Let it be said the boy might have started off poor but ends up becoming very wealthy.
   
   
3. The Arabian Nights, Andrew Lang
4. The Blazing World, Margaret Cavendish
5. The Missing Merchantman, Harry Collingwood 
6. The Troll in the Garden and other Stories, Willa Cather
   The Troll in the Garden and other Stories is a collection of short stories by Willa Cather, which depict life in Nebraska, Kansas, and Montana, for the most part. Interesting frontier characters and a few cosmopolitans thrown in for a change of pace.

A Revisit to My New Year’s Resolutions

It has been six months since I set my New Year’s Resolutions for 2015 and I thought it best to go back and assess how well I have been doing. First let’s take a look at what those resolutions were:

1. Back at least one KickStarter project. I will be looking to sponsor one new game this year.

2. Go through my labels to find topics I might want to expound on, delete labels and or posts that have become stagnate.

 a. Some topics I would like to give more "air-time" to:

  i. Dungeon crawl

  ii. Monsters

  iii. Reaper familiars

  iv. Evil toys

3. Games, game rules, and miniatures

4. Scenery and Scenic Pieces

5. Spend more time on forums

6. Learn more about the art of painting miniatures

Now let’s assess:

1. Back at least one KickStarter project. I will be looking to sponsor one new game this year.

I don’t know whether I will get to this resolution this year, unless of course I come into some wind fall.

2. Go through my labels to find topics I might want to expound on, delete labels and or posts that have become stagnate.

One change you might have noticed is that I have changed the name of this section from labels to collections. I thought collections better defined what I am trying to achieve through this blog. It may seem like I haven’t gotten too far in the way removing stagnate “labels”, but in fact I have removed a few labels. However, I have probably added twice as many “labels” to replace those that I removed.

 a. Some topics I would like to give more "air-time" to:

  i. Dungeon crawl

  ii. Monsters

  iii. Reaper familiars

  iv. Evil toys

Reaper familiars is the only collection that has been added to, so far, but I still do have plans on adding to “Monsters” and “Evil Toys”.

3. Games, game rules, and miniatures
I have added a few new games to our collection of board and card games.

4. Scenery and Scenic Pieces

Although I have made some head way here, I am still looking for more of these pieces to work into my inventory of “To complete a scene” props.

5. Spend more time on forums

I have completely forgotten about this one; shame on me.

6. Learn more about the art of painting miniatures

Although I have watched a couple of videos I have been very neglectful here.

An Update to my Summer Reading List

1. Bohemians of the Latin Quarter, Henri Murger
The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter takes place in Paris and in the 1840s. It is a story of several artistic types: a poet, painter, musician, and philosopher who meet up by chance and create a little confederation between themselves. When one prospers, they all prosper, and they live recklessly and extravagantly. Instead of sticking a little of their good fortune away for a rainy day they spend all they have until they are once again destitute.

The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter tells of the artists affairs: their successes, their impoverished times, and of their mistresses.
Although there were a few times when the story seemed to drag on, all and all the story was interesting and entertaining.


2. Poor Jack, Frederick Marryat
3. The Arabian Nights, Muhsin Mahdi
4. The Blazing World, Margaret Cavendish
5. The Missing Merchantman, Harry Collingwood 
6. The Troll in the Garden and other Stories, Willa Cather
   The Troll in the Garden and other Stories is a collection of short stories by Willa Cather, which depict life in Nebraska, Kansas, and Montana, for the most part. Interesting frontier characters and a few cosmopolitans thrown in for a change of pace.
   

My Summer 2015 Reading List

I have completed my reading of my last novel from my spring selection and am working on my reading list for the summer. Before downloading any more epubs onto my device I want finish reading those that remain unread.

My summer 2015 reading list is as follows:

1. Bohemians of the Latin Quarter, Henri Murger
2. Poor Jack, Frederick Marryat
3. The Arabian Nights, Muhsin Mahdi
4. The Blazing World, Margaret Cavendish
5. The Missing Merchantman, Harry Collingwood 
6. The Troll in the Garden and other Stories, Willa Cather
   
    A collection of short stories by Willa Cather, which depict life in Nebraska, Kansas, and Montana, for the most part. Interesting frontier characters and a few cosmopolitans thrown in for a change of pace. 

In a Slump but Still…

As we approach the start of the third quarter of this year I am still in somewhat of slump. Having lost a good chunk of my income because of a provision in the Affordable Care Act my energies are being spent earning enough to pay the bills. There has been very little left for the non-essentials, however little, there may be, there will be something left to spend frivolously on my hobby desires in the upcoming quarter.

In the mean time I do have plenty to work on. Boxes and boxes of stuff to keep me busy until the end of my days, no doubt. Lately, I have had a spark of enthusiasm and a hankering to get back to some painting. I have few pieces that need to be completed; there are games, videos and readings to be reviewed, so I will continue to make posts, however not on par as month’s pasts. Just to keep my hand in, I should be able to make at least fifteen posts per month.

Projects for May

I am in a slump and although I have several projects sitting on my workbench at various stages of completion I have not completed anything for sometime. I have added one miniature to my completed list. This piece was completed back in March.

I haven’t added anything to my To Do List for the month of May and will continue to work on those outstanding projects already on my workbench.

New Projects

None

Old Projects

These projects are all at different stages of completion.

• Reaper Miniatures, dragon fish; this 25mm miniature came in the same package as the moray eel. This is Reapers #P02948B set. This is one of those miniatures that have been languishing on my workbench.
• Ratio HO-Gauge Trackside Buildings
  507 Grounded Van Body
  524 Weighbridge and Hut
• Reaper’s walking fish thingy; Reaper #P03612A

Completed Projects

Reaper Miniatures
#03608: Aquatic Familiars II
Sea Monster (Aberration)
Mermaid
Octopus (Aberration)
Warhammer Dreadfleet
Graveyard - Leech Wyrm
Warhammer Orc Arachnarok Spider – Trees
Bombshell Miniatures
Pumpkin Buddy

Other
Ristuls Market Halloween Basing Kit (10 resin miniatures)

Projects for April

I am back logged and have not been as productive these past couple of months. I have projects from last month and beyond on my workbench. I have pictures for some of my projects and some of my ongoing projects well as, still on my camera that need to be posted. I will keep this month’s list short: New Projects Reaper’s walking fish thingy; Reaper #P03612A

Old Projects These projects are all at different stages of completion. Reaper Miniatures, dragon fish; this 25mm miniature came in the same package as the moray eel. This is Reapers #P02948B set. This is one of those miniatures that have been languishing on my workbench. Warhammer Orc Arachnarok Spider – Trees Ratio HO-Gauge Trackside Buildings 507 Grounded Van Body 524 Weighbridge and Hut

Completed Projects Reaper Miniatures #03608: Aquatic Familiars II Sea Monster (Aberration) Mermaid Octopus (Aberration) Warhammer Dreadfleet Graveyard - Leech Wyrm Bombshell Miniatures Pumpkin Buddy Other Ristuls Market Halloween Basing Kit (10 resin miniatures)

Spring 2015 Reading List

Spring is about a week away and I am finishing up my readings of two novels. My winters reading list was supplanted by the works of H.P. Lovercraft, W.H. Hodgson, G. Gissing, E. Nesbit, and J. Verne and what a fabulous romp it has been.

My spring 2015 reading list is as follows:

1.       Forward March, Kirk Munroe
2.       Catriona, Robert Louis Stevenson
4.       The Black Arrow, Robert Louis Stevenson
5.       Moonfleet, John Meade Falkner
6.       The Man who Knew Too Much, Gilbert Keith Chesterton
7.       The Battle of Dorking, Chesney, G. Tomkyns
8.       Zero History, William Gibson

I have included two military themed novels, one of those, The Battle of Dorking was on my winters reading list. There are a couple of adventure novels, and who knows what else?

Projects for March

The beginning of March means we are closer to spring and warmer weather. Although I got some of my older projects out of the way I didn’t get as far as I wanted on my new projects last month, so I have added them to my March list.

1. Warhammer Orc Arachnarok Spider – Trees
   These castings were a lot more detailed than I first had thought and it will take some time to pick out all these small details.
2. Bombshell Miniatures Belphegor Winged Monkey(almost finished)

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Old Projects

In attempt to clear my workbench of half-finished projects, and for something different, I have added two old HO gauge projects to this month’s project list.

Ratio HO-Gauge Trackside Buildings
507         Grounded Van Body
524         Weighbridge and Hut

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Completed Projects

Reaper Miniatures
#03608: Aquatic Familiars II
Sea Monster (Aberration)
Mermaid
Octopus (Aberration)

Warhammer Dreadfleet
Graveyard - Leech Wyrm

Bombshell Miniatures
Pumpkin Buddy

Other
Ristuls Market Halloween Basing Kit (10 resin miniatures)

25mm Reaper Miniatures Sea Aberration

This aberration is part man and part fish. Is it a freak of nature or a genetics experiment gone badly? Whatever the case, I would not want to meet up with this creature while out scuba diving. This 25mm miniature is from Reaper Miniatures Aquatic Familiars II pack. This was one of the miniatures on my January Projects list.

There is one more from this collection that I need to complete, but I cannot find a paint scheme that I am happy with.

Projects for February

Welcome to February. We are in the dead of winter here and there is snow and more extreme weather on the way.

Tomorrow marks my blogs second year and starts my third iteration.I have been struggling with upper respiratory issues for the last two weeks and did not complete all that I had wanted to last month, thus the project under Old Projects.

The Bombshell Winged Monkey will be a stretch for me. I haven't done anything like this before.
I did complete several pieces out of the Basing Kit last month and would like to complete a few more of these. I will be displaying these as a completed set.

1. Warhammer Orc Arachnarok Spider - Trees
2. Bombshell Miniatures Belphegor Winged Monkey
3. Elements from Ristuls Market Halloween Basing Kit

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Old Projects

1. Bombshell Miniatures Pumpkin Pal

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Completed Projects

I do have images of my latest completed miniatures, that is the Sea Monster (Aberration) and also of Graveyard - Leech Wyrm and Mermaid, the latter two were projects back in December, which I will upload as soon as I can get the time to edit these images.

Reaper Miniatures #03608: Aquatic Familiars II
Sea Monster (Aberration)
Mermaid
Octopus (Aberration)

Warhammer Dreadfleet
Graveyard - Leech Wyrm

What’s New for 2015-Resolution #6

1. Back at least one KickStarter project. I will be looking to sponsor one new game this year.

2. Go through my labels to find topics I might want to expound on, delete labels and or posts that have become stagnate.

 a. Some topics I would like to give more "air-time" to:

  i. Dungeon crawl

  ii. Monsters

  iii. Reaper familiars

  iv. Evil toys

3. Games, game rules, and miniatures

4. Scenery and Scenic Pieces

5. Spend more time on forums

6. Learn more about the art of painting miniatures

This is my last resolution to comment on.  As a fellow blogger has commented-on how to learn how to paint, “the best way to become a better painter is to paint ! "or " the more you paint, the better you become" . His comment is so true, and although my painting is still not as good as I like and although I have seen some improvement, I believe that watching and learning techniques from others will help me improve my technique. I will make posts on sites that include some good tutorial, and provide some good pointers and techniques.