The Wind Through the Keyhole,

Dear Reader,


My E-reader sits on my bedside table, the electronic E-ink screen shows the cover for this book, The Wind Through the Keyhole, another Dark Tower novel, how could this be, the series is complete, the journey finished? I reach out for the E-reader, and wonder.....

As I slowly approach, I understand that, although it has been a long time since we last held palaver, we will be well met, here along the beam.
I tap my throat three times, Hile Gunslinger.
Hile to you friend, he nods his head with an almost un-perceptible motion.
He is wearing old faded blue jeans, they actually look grey, covered in dust from roads long traveled. His shirt, at one time might have been red, it is difficult to say, but it is equally dusty, the all too familiar big iron on his left hip, sandalwood grip sticking out from the holster, the bit of the steel that is visible looks to be well oiled. His hat expertly placed to keep the sun from obscuring his line of sight.

I address my old friend using the high speech, I do this as much to welcome him back , as to show the respect to a gunslinger, hile Roland, son of Stephen, of the line of Eld, welcome back from Mid-World, to the land, and the when, of the rose.
Thankeee friend, long days and pleasant nights to you.
And to you gunslinger, may you have twice the number.

He casts his head from side to side, as he looks around, as much to loosen the stiff, sore muscles, as to pier at what to him is a strange world. It is true he has visited our “when” in the past, New York to be exact, I can’t remember the exact year that he visited, a few different years to be sure, but he has crossed over from Mid-World a few times, each with a specific reason, even if the first time he walked through the door, he was not sure what it was he was supposed to do, but, Ka is a wheel after all.

He looks at me, removes his hat, I can see easily the scars on his right hand, as he runs the remaining two fingers through his thick mop of hair, the scars from the fingers that were taken by the Lobstrosoities, the reason that he now wears only one gun.

It has been many and more years, since I last heard from you Gunslinger, your quest completed, how is it you have returned to this “when”, do your travels continue, and if so to where, will you say true? I ask him this, out of complete surprise, I had not expected to ever have the pleasure of palaver with him again.

I say true, Brian, as with my Ka-tet, say true. My quest completed, I think so, but with the ending of one, begins another, ya ken? The beams are no longer crumbling. However long was my journey, we met some good people, and as always, because a coin has two sides, we met some bad people, those we could help we did, and say thankee, some we left where they fell, but I am a gunslinger, and have been from the time when I bested Cort, my teacher as a young lad, and the first of my Ka-tel to win my guns, so I must continue to protect the beam, and those who cannot protect themselves. Remember well, that I am the last of the line of Eld, I must protect the rose, and keep it safe, I believe it still has work to do in this when as in mine.
What would you have of me old friend, for I must soon move on?

I would have palaver, I tell him, I would have a story, if you could spare a bit of time, for it has been many and more years since the last.
I look up at Roland, look at his eyes, so full of sorrow, grief and knowledge, I hope that perhaps a story might help to bring the spark back into his lonely existence, a short story perhaps, perhaps a story with a happy ending.

Roland sees me looking into his eyes, he sees the hope that I am trying so hard to convey, he smiles, says, there will be water if god wills it. I have just enough time to tell you one story, the rose will still be there, when it is done.

 

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When I visited Stephen King’s web site last year, I was surprised to see the ad for another Dark tower novel, surprised and excited, another book, another adventure, we all thought that Roland’s quest was complete.
I made note of the release date on my calendar, then as the day drew near, I would visit King’s site every day to make sure the date had not changed, once the day was upon us, I would then go to Chapters and look for the release in the E-reader section, I ordered the Wind Through the Keyhole as soon as it was available.

After downloading it to my Kobo, the savouring began, like a rare scotch, you don’t open it right away after buying it, you set it on the bar, then as you walk buy it you would perhaps run a finger over the embossed logo, or read the label once more, then when the time is right you can open it and enjoy.
When I finally began reading The Wind Through the Keyhole, I was immediately taken back into the Dark Tower story like an old friend, it was like the years had disappeared, from the last novel to this one. No dear reader this new addition to the series is not a continuation of the series, it is an addition to the series, fitting neatly between Wizard and Glass (4), and Wolves of the Calla (5).

I loved this book, and again like that bottle of scotch, I did not want it to be over, so I actually stopped reading it when I reached about 92% complete, I left it where it was for a few days so I could savour the story a little bit longer.


Long days, and pleasant nights, dear reader.

bfn Brian

The Storm

Dear Reader,

The Storm

This is Clive Cusslers 10th instilment in the NUMA series.  Our heros of this series are Kurt Austin and Joe Zalva.  Kurt is the head of  NUMA’s Special Assignments Team, NUMA stands for National Underwater and Marine Agency.

NUMA is a research organization linked to the US government, they study everything and anything marine, and occasionally they would have a land adventure, but it would usually wind up being linked to the water in one way or another.

Clive Cussler has a few book series on the go, and two of these are NUMA related, the NUMA series, and the most famous one is the Dirk Pit adventures. Dirk pit was made famous in the movie Sahara, Dirk was played by Matthew McConaughey. (a sigh from the girls).

In the Storm, we are attacked by some kind of eating swarm of water bourn sludge, for lack of a better word, that completely devours anything organic, or oil based, including plastic, and wood, so much for our little research vessel that gets caught in the wake of these creatures.

After the NUMA research vessel fails to report in, Kurt and Joe are sent to the Indian Ocean to the last known location of the boat.  They find a burnt out hulk, no people just fiberglass, and the scorch marks where there was obviously a fire, in and around the pilot house.  With all three of the NUMA employees on the boat having undergone extensive training in survival and all being excellent boaters, after all their livelihood is being on the ocean, Kurt is puzzled by the fact that both fire extinguishers on the boat are still hanging where they belong, why would the crew let the fire just burn?  Fire on a boat in the middle of the ocean is one of, if not the biggest no nos of all, so why let it burn, what were they trying to do with the fire, or what were they trying to burn?

Back on dry land Kurt and Joe begin their investigation, meeting a girl who introduces herself as the sister of one of the crew, NUMA being a large government agency, Kurt and Joe were not familiar with the entire crew or their family, so they ask a few questions the girl seems to have the right answers so off they go in search of whomever or what ever caused this unfortunate tragedy.

Along the way we meet up with the notorious villain, who has devised a plan to change the world’s weather pattern, he has already begun, to the highest bidder will go the rains, millions will suffer, unless Kurt and Joe can find a way to stop him.  This book introduces us to one of the newest technologies created by man, as well as an old technology that was never used, but is still fiercely guarded by one last remaining tribe of WWII inductees, waiting for new orders from the commander in chief. Kurt will use one against the other to bring down the mastermind behind this latest threat to our fragile ecosystem.

This is the second of the three books I received for Fathers day this year, this one was from Sarah, thanks Sarah, this was, as expected, a great adventure to bring with me on the first week of vacation.

I highly recommend you read Clive Cussler, his adventures are always fun to read, he captures the imagination of the reader, as well as his characters, as they leap from the page and come to life on their own.

bfn Brian

 Dear Reader,

Bad Luck and Trouble

Jack Reacher is the main character for a total, so far, of 16 novels written by Lee Child. Bad Luck and Trouble is number 11 in the series. Lucky for me Child has written this particular book so that the reader does not need to have read any of the previous books.

This book was a fathers day gift from Patrick, I can’t remember if Lee Child and the Reacher novels are listed on my blog page, “Books I Want To Read” but it has for some time been on the list I keep in my head.  Why don’t I just log in and check my “Books I Want To Read” page?  Good question Dear Reader, one that I can answer with a smile, I am at this moment sitting on the side deck at the cottage in Southampton.  The cottage does not have internet access, we are lucky to have cable TV, but no internet, we like it that way.  Lianne has 3G on her iPad, that is about as far as it goes for being civilized up here.  I will hike over to Coffee Culture later this week, and for the price of a good cup of coffee, I will upload this blog, and perhaps even the next one, as I am 80% through my second book, we have been here for a total of  4 days. Nothing to do but read, and sharpen my chain saw blade,( I hit a piece of hidden concrete in a stump?)  A bit of Bad Luck?

In Bad Luck and Trouble, Jack has a head for numbers, he is a retired Military MP, who headed up a Special Investigators Unit, I am not exactly sure what they would be investigating, perhaps a book closer to the first in the series will answer this question., but we do know that “you do not mess with the special investigators”.  Reacher walks up to an ATM, before he insets his bank card, the only plastic he carries, he calculates exactly how much money he should have, adjusting for interest, to his surprise he has too much money in the account, exactly $1030.00 too much, a bank error, or is it something more.

He takes out $50, them finds a quarter and calls the bank. Nope not a bank error, a deposit in his account, but by whom, the back can’t divulge that information, but if Mr. Reacher were to say, come up with a name, the bank might be able to not confirm that is was not that particular name on the deposit, ya know before 911, and the whole terrorist attacking the home land, the dam bank would be able to tell you who deposited funds into your own back account. Reacher gets his name, Frances Neagley.  Neagley, an MP as well, she worked for Reacher for a few years in the Special Investigators Unit, they have known each other for more that 10 years prior to that, One thousand and eighteen dollars, 1018, it’s a military code, for urgent assistance required.  Reacher knows that Neagly works for some big security provider in Chicago, so Reacher was sure that she was not looking for help to find her car keys.

A short plane ride later, Reacher walks into a restaurant where Neagley is patiently sitting waiting for him, neither one of them is surprised, after all it is what they do, they find people, some good, most bad, and if you put yourself in you preys shoes, think like them act like them, then it becomes easier to find them.

We learn from Neagley, that another member of the Special Investigators Unit, was found dead, not overly surprising  that some are dying off, they lost one from a heart attack, one in an auto accident, but this one, Calvin Franz died after falling out of a helicopter. The helicopter did not crash in the desert just Franz did, along with two broken legs, obviously broken prior to the nudge out the door, so he was made to suffer.

Neagley wants Reacher to put the team back together, money is not a problem for Neagley, she can finance the operation, she wants whoever killed her old team mate, Reacher agrees, why because you don’t mess with the Special Investigators, and someone, somewhere just did.

Getting the team together is bitter sweet, they find an additional two alive and willing to put their regular lives on hold, and they are unable to find the other half of the team, until another shows up, in the middle of the desert, with the same impact trauma as Franz.  It seems that someone is tossing the Special investigators out of a helicopter, time to begin some serious investigating. 

This book flows wonderfully, at no time did I cringe when the author changed tacks and moved to the other side of the story line, I was as eager to learn what the bad guys were up to, and extremely happy when we moved back to Reacher and his team, Child sticks with a single story, shows both sides, builds suspense while slowly revealing what is really happening and why.  The book has good guys, bad guys, bad cops, government involvement, old memories, renewed friendships, military technology, and one great slogan to live by.  “You Do Not Mess With The Special Investigators.”

Well Dear Reader, I think it is time to pick up the chain saw and see how much trouble I can get into.

bfn Brian