Finally my inter-library loan came in.  From reader suggestion I’m looking into ‘The Circus of Dr. Lao,’ I’m pretty excited about it.  Having just finished ‘House of the Seven Gables,’ I’m hoping for another winner.

My Shadow novel this month is ‘Grove of Doom,’ which I’m like more than some, but not others.  My first Shadow novel was ‘The Jade Dragon,’ the second one.  It’s the one that grabbed my attention and hooked me on the character, and the one all following novels have fallen slightly short of.  Some farther than others I guess.  The first ten are solid, and slightly connected, with events and characters somewhat changing and effecting what comes next.  At some point after that though, the formula got figured out, hammered down, and not much changes. But it’s cheap pulp so what can you expect?

My wife brought home a present the other day, ‘DC Comics: A Visual History.’  If ever a thing is deadly, it’s nostalgia. DC ended my collecting career in 2011, and the book is a sad, sad reminder of everything left behind and thrown away.  Also this.  I guess Dan Didio killed my collecting career, Nu52 was just finally putting it out of it’s misery.