J.B. Sommerset

  "Sundowner" (c) 2024 J.B. Sommerset Sometimes nature speaks in ways I can't ignore. It can paint the world better than I could. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by things I, as a writer, don't have the words to describe. A paint so ethereal it has no phonetic meaning. I am reminded in those times how small and stupid I really am, although I think I am clever at times, I am but a stupid little spec among the bristles of an artist that has been mastering the craft for millions of years. If you haven't gathered, this weeks quote is about nature. "Nature has no evils, no malice, no bad intentions. Those things are projections of mankind's own sickness. Nature has no need for those things, and in many cases it does not tolerate them ruining it's painting. It shines in spite of us." J.B. Sommerset Cheers!

"The view from our House" (c) 2025 J.B. Sommerset This week's quote is more for me than it is for you, unless you too are running on fumes and the belief you have in yourself.  I have a tendency to get too many irons in the fire at the same time. The problem with a having to split the focus is that it's very hard to finish all the "stuffs" a person needs to do. Lately is seems that all of the projects I have been juggling are important, too important to put off. I am reminded of the little engine that could. Except I am also low on gas, and have bad wheel bearings.  This homesteading thing requires a lot of energy. So I decided to send the drone up above the trees and look out at the horizon. Beautiful! I took a photo of it for all of you.  It's a good reminder of why I work so hard at so many things. I am lucky to be able to live where I do, despite all the hardships. This week's quote if from the rough rider himself- Teddy Roosevelt. I hope it mean...

"Tiny little friend" (c) 2025 J.B. Sommerset Well, I guess I can't call it the quote of the week if I don't update on the regular- like weekly would be ideal for calling it "the quote of the week". But, what the hell, I'm going to do my best and call it that anyway. So, I am now back on the wagon, despite the shit-show that is my country right now. Here's todays quote, it's not mine, but it fits the times.  "The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth..."  H.L. Mencken Cheers!

"Snow again" J.B. Sommerset (c) 2024 There is an old Marxist saying that goes, "Religion is the opiate of the people." I agree in part with that quote, but there is more to that, it's summed up, sort of, in the rest of his writing. I have chosen to shorten that and add it here. So here you are, the quote of the week.  "Power is the opiate of the rich, much like religion is the opiate of the people..." J.B. Sommerset Cheers!

"Adolf Drump" J.B. Sommerset (2024) Wow, that election really through me off my game, I gotta make up for this somehow. Here's a quote I thought would be fitting for the times. This one isn't mine, but it needs to be said anyway: "The harshest tyranny is that which acts under the protection of legality and the banner of justice". F. Montesquieu Cheers! Here's to getting back on track.

This post is for those of you here in the states, not my friends over seas. To the rest of the free world, I feel obligated to apologize for what comes next, because it’s not just going to affect us. It will have ripples that will change everything. This election was the “go ahead” for the Putins, the Kim Jongs, and the Victor Orbans of the world. For that, as an American, I am sorry. To start with, I am so utterly disappointed in so many people today. I did not vote for him, I voted for Harris. For me, the choice was obvious, and oddly enough, it had nothing to do with politics- we’ve been down that road before with this man, he lied then, like we knew he would. Last night we cast our ballots and let the statistics show the nature of our character and basic values we care about. America voted a 34-time felon, twice impeached, con artist into office. We vapidly put the keys to the country in the hands of a narcissistic mad-man and his cronies. A man, who, by our own adjudication sh...

Well, here it is, the audio book of the week. In this case, since it is coming into the season, the Halloween season that is, I picked something dark. Again, I have mentioned that I like H.P. Lovecraft . I have posted a number of his stories, but it's hard to remember which ones. I know I have posted the likes of " At the Mountains of Madness ", " The Dunwich Horror ", and " The Shadow Over Innsmouth " (one of my personal favorites). I even recently reviewed " The Color out of Space " with Nick Cage - which was really different than the original but okay for what it was. I am almost certain I've never posted this one. This week, lets have a listen to " The Dreams of the Which House ".  Cheers!

Well it's that time again, this week has been busy and I haven't had the time to find something new for the audio book of the week. In part because I have been binging on short stories, this week I have been revisiting one of my favorites " Thomas Ligotti ". Such a juicy and plump set of works. He is a dark delight, and there is a lot of his stuff that I just haven't got to yet, so hear is a new one, at least for me. Enjoy, "The Red Tower" by Thomas Ligotti.  Cheers!

This week I just fell like crushing some skulls and making some dude lament me. That's right, we are going straight Robert E. Howard this week, well, his legacy at least. It's some premium " Conan the Barbarian " goodness. This one is a lot like the last audio book, Tarzan had 23 follow ups, well, Conan had 21 adventures (by Howard ). I plan to own them all someday, but these collections get quite expensive.  This week, I am going to step outside the Robert Howard series, and look at some additions people have written in the Conan sagas, and there are more than I can count. We are going to go with " Conan The Swordsman ", by  L. Sprague de Camp , Lin Carter and Björn Nyberg . A collaboration, great! This is o ne I have never read, so I will be doing this with you this week. I take it the legend himself  needs no introduction so enjoy your skull crushing this week. Cheers! 

Hey gang, it's been a while since I posted an interview with an author. I have posted interviews with authors before, and even this particular author, but not in a very long time. And being that this is one of my favorite authors, the wonderfully weird Kurt Vonnegut , author of such works as " Slaughter House Five ", " Player Piano ", and " Cat's Cradle ", I had to give it a go and put it up for you guys. For those of you who have never read any of his works, shame on you! Go out and get a couple of his novels and dive right in! Hope you enjoy this interview. Cheers!

  "Trillium Goes Pink" By J.B. Sommerset (c) 2024 There's not much to say this week, busy is as busy does- super busy to be exact. So here I pulled something from some of my literature I thought was a good quote. Here it is, the quote of the week.  “Always keep promises, and always make true apologies. Do not exhaust their credit with overuse...” J.B. Sommerset Cheers!

Sometimes it's hard to keep the bi-weekly audio book up because often there are broken links, bad readings, missing chapters, and so on. A lot of the time they don't stay up because of this. They will get flagged and I will remove them. I hope that doesn't happen with this weeks audiobook. Speaking of... This week I chose to post a different, more contemporary book from a very prolific writer- James Patterson. I hope you enjoy! Cheers!

Every once in a while I see a preview that strikes my science-fiction bone and makes it feel all warm and tingly. There are a couple of things that can do this to me, the first is a story's premise, the second is execution. Sadly, this week I was very, very disappointed. This week I am reviewing that thing we all saw on Netflix, " Atlas ". We all saw it because Netflix put it front and center. It looked okay in the previews, but in our hearts we knew... We knew it was going to suck. We watched it, to be sure, and yup, we were very disappointed.  That's right, I said "Atlas". I watched it so you don't have to. No, really, I mean it. Don't watch this movie if you love science fiction and your health, this will only hurt you in places you can't recover from, like in that tiny sliver of hope, way, way, down in the bottom of your heart.  If you want a really good story about A.I., giant robots, cool gadgets, machine love, and the whole works, you shou...

I have talked about this subject before, and it's critical to good story telling. I don't know how many more times I will bring this up, but I will... So just be prepared for it.  This topic is going to come back like the blood everyone thought they totally got cleaned up, but under luminal and black light? Yep, it's still there. It will come back like the drunk guy all of us in the car know we hit but aren't sure is dead. Or that stalker that sneaks back into our house after we got the restraining order. The one that sits quietly in the dark waiting to talk in a distant and mysterious tone... you get the idea. The technique I am speaking of is, of course, the " show don't tell " technique. The "TLDR" is simple, it is a narrative technique that assumes the audience aren't morons and also that they can figure things out for themselves. Things like subtext, language usage, foreshadowing, use of senses, thoughts, feelings, (ad nauseum) the get t...

When I was a kid I used to read every fantasy book I could get my hands on. Short stories, novels, comics, graphic novels, it didn't matter. Among those were some of the classics. I have posted a number of them over the years here on my site. But there is one author I can't seem to recall ever posting, and I really don't know why. If this is somehow a repost, I apologize. I don't think it is. This week we are going back to the The land of Narnia . I say back to, because most of you out there are very familiar with " The Chronicles of Narnia " by C.S. Lewis . If you haven't read the books, you most likely have seen one of the many film adaptations of them. My biggest disappointment was that only four of the books were ever made into movies, which is a shame because my two favorites were never even considered- " The Horse and his Boy " and " The Magician's Nephew ". I like " The Last Battle ", but it isn't my favorite. S...

While straggling through the wilderness of Netflix shows the other day I came across " The Three Body Problem ". I know of story, mostly of the Chinese novel   by the same name. It's on my reading list, I just haven't gotten to it yet. My list is pretty big, so I prioritize which ones I will read first. This one was high on my list, and that hasn't changed. I suspect there is more in the book than there was in the show. Normally I don't like to watch the show before I read the book, but in this case, I didn't see any good options- There's not much on Netflix I haven't seen, at least from a critical stand point. So when I see something new, I typically like to give it a spin. A lot of my friends recommended the book, so I knew something about it. It went on the old reading list when it was first translated. I decided to watch the show which made it to my plate first.  " The Three Body Problem " is an award winning Science Fiction book by ...

This week's book is a well known story for any science fiction fan. In fact there was a movie made from the book- although it doesn't deserve the association. Not because it's a bad movie, it just doesn't represent the book or the author. I would say it shares the name and not much else because as creative as the movie is, the book is better and has more to it. For those of you who don't know, I am a big Robert A. Heinlein fan, and find the mans work, often, ahead of it's time. I have posted his work from time to time, but for some reason I have never posted the full length audio book of " Starship Troopers ". Not sure why, maybe it's because it's not his best work- it's good, but he has done better. Anyway, here it is- I give you Starship Troopers. Cheers!

Okay, now that the holidays are over, it's back to our regularly scheduled program. An audio book every other week for those of us who don't have the time to read. This week we lean on the classics- Jules Verne . I think I have posted this one before, a long, long time ago. As with most good books they deserve a second time around, maybe a third, maybe we just keep reading them again and again our whole lives and enjoy them more and more- they age like fine wine. The older the better. Anyway, this week I am going to be "digging" down deep and journeying to the center of our world with "A journey to the Interior of the Earth" (Also known as "Journey to the Center of the Earth"). I hope you all enjoy this one, as a kid it was one of my favorites.  Cheers!

I moved back to the woods recently. I come from the woods, somewhere way out there, in Idaho. As a kid I spent most of my time among the trees and the wildlife. Then as I grew up I decided there was more to life than that. For some stupid reason, I moved to the village, then to the town, and then to the city. There was nothing in any of those places for me.  Now that I have aged, and I am a lot older, and a little bit wiser, I realize that it’s not about the state you are in, the place you reside. It’s about the state of mind you are in. I was never in a healthy state of mind in the city. All around me was unhealthy noise. It got old as I got old.  That being said, living in the woods comes with it's own set of challenges. It can be lonely, it can be too quiet at times, there is isolation here, and isolation is not always easy to bare. One must have the tools to deal with it. Loneliness is also a very trying experience, but it helps you to recognize the value of a visit, ...

This next one is one I have posted before. I indulge in this story once or twice a year because it has special meaning to me. I think, for anyone who has suffered with someone who has Alzheimer's or Dementia, this one might hold a special place in the world of literature. That's right, this weeks audio book is Don Quixote   by  Miguel de Cervantes . There is something about this story that just takes me back to when I had to deal with a person who fought "giants".  Cheers!