J.B. Sommerset

"A January Evening" by J.B. Sommerset (c) 2025 This week I let my inner isolationist take the wheel for the quote. This one is from one of my old works, but I think it is more relevant today than it ever was when the world wasn't such a weird place. Hope you get some insight from this quote. "An axe, a saw, and a dog are much more a friend to the wise man than most of the persons of this world." J.B. Sommerset Cheers!

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...

"The Way Down" (c) J.B. Sommerset 2024 Posts have slowed as the weather gets cooler. In the words of Jon Snow, "Winter is coming". Which means that I have been preparing for the colder months. We get lots of snow up here- around 7 feet and the temperatures frequently drop down below zero (Fahrenheit). Last year we hit -19 in January and it stayed that way for a couple weeks. This year, who knows? So I have been chopping wood and doing the maintenance on the craw space, the shop, and the snow plow. This year we had a nice stove installed. There are a lot of power outages up here, and it's nice to have a way to keep the pipes from freezing. We are going to run out of wood any time soon. We live in the middle of the forest. Our driveway is 2 miles long and every year trees fall across it and become firewood. This year everything will be ready when the snow falls, or at the very least most of the way there.  So, stay tuned, there will be more news and stories.  

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! 

"Orange Rays" by J.B. Sommerset (c) 2024 Sometimes we meet people who just can't let things go no matter how small and irrelevant to the rest of their life. They become fixated on those things and inflate them into HUGE battles that didn't need to be fought. These people are "shit stirrers". You'll know them because they will be proud of the fact that they use their "stick" to stir things up. Sometimes you might hurt their feelings when you acknowledge this trait because they don't see that they are the ones who start these things, they are placed into them by other people. They will complain about how people see them, about the image they have, the one they created. I have this quote I came up with  along time ago to encapsulate these people: "You can't show up to the party with a big moist shit stick and expect people think that you are the baker." J.B. Sommerset 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!

Thimble Flower by J.B. Sommerset (c) 2024 Sometimes quotes can be super formulaic and that can be annoying, but sometimes just because it's annoying doesn't make it less profound. One of the most common ones is: "If you don't learn to master your rage, your rage will become your master." There is an old Ben Stiller movie that pointed this out, it's called  "Mystery Men" . That movie was okay, it gave me a chuckle, but he was right about this. Most of the great quote writers do this. I am not great, but I have a couple of these formulaic little bastards in my notebooks, so here's one for the day: "Be specific to the particulars of your craft, but also, be particular to the specifics of your craft." J.B. Sommerset. Cheers!

That's right, I started " House Of The Dragon " season 2. Let's talk about it, like hard, real hard because it does a whole lot right, especially in todays world where screenwriters and showrunners have completely forgotten how to write a good story and then translate it to the screen. Most modern renditions of my favorite childhood stories are so bad that when I watch them I can smell the sour grape and watermelon vape fumes of the douche-people who wrote them. Because that's the kind of image modern literature and film puts in my head. A douchey one with a whole lot of vape-fumes. What an image, it I could describe it, it would look like this: It's this image of an androgynes guy sitting outside the Star-bucks. He's got whispers of chin hair on his prepubescent jawline, and poorly applied black nail polish on his hands. There's an uncentered man-bun on his head, a snake of ratty coils, unwashed hair that smells of pot smoke. Leaning on his tiny littl...

Well, it's that time again, the audio book of the week, although due to broken links these things are not as reliable as they used to be. This week I was exposed to the Disney film- " Tarzan ". Although it's a great kids movie, the Disney show doesn't really capture even half of the Edgar Rice Burroughs books by the same name. Of which, most people don't realize that Tarzan of the apes had a butt-load of adventures. Tarzan appeared in 24 stories written by the OG himself and numerous adaptations by other authors who loved his work! So, forgive me if this is a repost of an older book, there are too many to keep up with. This week I chose " Tarzan the Untamed ". Enjoy this turn of the century goodness.  Cheers!

"Lil' Shroom in the Potatoes" by J.B. Sommerset (c) 2024 This summer has been strange, too cold and too cloudy, and now- instantly hot, a raging inferno. I went from bringing my plants in because it was too cold, to making sure they had enough shade within a couple of weeks. Half way through June it was 40 F at night here. Last night it was 85 F. Lousy climate change. Through my sweat and feverish delirium, I remembered I owe you guys a quote of the week, so here it is: "Love should be testing at times, but never at any time should it be a test." J.B. Sommerset Cheers!

  "Driveway Bear" By J.B. Sommerset (c) 2024 Most of the photos I post for the quote of the week are in fact photos I took from at "mountain lair". My 10 acres in the woods where I live, where I am surrounded by trees, animals, and magic. I have too many photos at this point to use in a life time of posts. I capture all kinds of wild life up here, and I do mean all kinds. I have mountain lions, bears, bobcats, elk, moose, deer, etc. This guy (in the photo above) was passing across my driveway as he moved down the mountain to a place with less secure trash cans. Sometimes it can be a little interesting and also a little dangerous, but I love being this close to nature. So, to honor that, this week I am posting an old quote about the subject at hand. “Consider all beings and where our progress puts them. Nature is not exclusive; it is inclusive with all its children, even it is chooses to eat them.” J.B. Sommerset 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!

As promised in my review of Rebel Moon part 1 , I return with a review of Rebel Moon part 2: The Scar giver . So, strap on them Imperium uniforms and prepare for this Space-Viking-cowboy-Nazi-science fiction space opera.  This is the second part, and the thrilling conclusion of Rebel Moon... Wait, what's that, it made too much money, there's going to be a third? Maybe? We don't know yet... um okay. We'll just move forward with this review and cross that bridge when the enemy comes to shoot us all to crap. By now, you might have heard, or at the very least surmised there would be more rebel moons out soon, 4 more if old Zach has anything to do with it. However, I am not so sure the next one, Rebel Moon 3 has been greenlit. There are rumors it has, and also that it will start filming in 2025. If they make it, I will review it. For now, let just focus on Part 2. Don't want to get caught up in the assumption game and get taken out of context. I liked the first one, and...

"Sun on the Tracks" (Photo Credit: J.B. Sommerset (c) 2024 ) Sometimes we need a reminder that the only thing that keeps us from being ourselves is the fear that there will be a fair amount of judgement with that endeavor. If there were no fear in the becoming than there would be no value in it's lessons and self actualization would mean nothing. So, here's a good quote in that vein... "I'll be here waiting, just the other side of your fear. So, are you going to come find me? Who am I you ask? Well, I am you, the you that is waiting for you to become." J.B. Sommerset Cheers!

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...

"Mud and Snow" (Photo Credit: J.B. Sommerset ) Sometimes it pays to have a "down to Earth quote" one that's really note sophisticated or complex, one that is simple, but makes since in ways that the common man can understand. I have a whole section in my notebooks dedicated to this kind of quote. I call it "the simple man section". Given that this is another election year, I thought this one fit the bill, enjoy.  "If you are going to be lazy and cut corners, you probably shouldn't do it while wiping your ass." J.B. Sommerset Cheers!

"Mushrooms on the Mountain" (Photo credit J.B. Sommerset 2023) Have you ever meant one of those people who is always stressed out and suffers from anxiety? It seems no matter how good they have it they will burn the village down because they don't feel like happiness is enough. Like there is something better and more important than being happy and content with things. I am not saying there is an issue with wanting more, I am saying, why would you destroy happiness to have more? Anyway, I thought this quote is apropos- "There are a lot of people who hate happiness despite what they might tell you, the majority of 'happy' people will gladly burry it under something else- anxiety, stress, disappointment. It can be irritating to watch these people. It's like they are trying to save their happiness and keep it locked away under all that bullshit, not even realizing that experiencing happiness is the point."  J.B. Sommerset Cheers!

Okay, for some reason this didn't post like it should have 2 weeks ago, so I am going to make up for it and post it now. Moving forward these will be on schedule, I am adding them to my workflow. Anyway, moving forward. We all know how much I loves me some Mark Twain , I have posted a lot of his works, form " Tom Sawyer " to " Huck Finn ", but for some reason I have never posted this one, which is weird, it sort of falls into his well known works. So, here it is, this week I am posting " The Prince and The Pauper ", Bon, appetite! Cheers!