Regular Eli

@captainhelion

The same Eli you know and love*, now with 12% less grease! NZ-based history, wargames, and RPG nerd, for my crimes

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Regular Eli@captainhelion· 13d

A Parade of Horribles - Matt Dinniman, 2026. Its difficult to fault an author for reaching for the stars. Dinniman manages yet another rather readable book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, and I find myself with few complaints

On this book cover, a handful of curious creatures are being flung away from an explosion in a race track. One appears to be a largely human woman, one is a tumbleweed with a unicorn head and a rodent on it, while another is a sort of alligator person. A fourth is a brown Persian cat with sunglasses and a tiara, whereas the final is a white man with long brown hair, who is reaching out towards something.
Text at the top of the page reads 'Dungeon Crawler Carl Book VIII', below which is the title 'A Parade of Horribles'. The author's name is at the bottom of the page, reading 'Matt Dinniman'

Regular Eli@captainhelion· 17d

This Inevitable Ruin - Matt Dinniman, 2024. Much the same as the previous books, which is hardly a bad thing. Certainly good enough to keep me reading.

A number of fantastical figures run out from an explosion in the distance. In the far distance in the sky above the explosion are a dragon, a tall tower, and a sort of aircraft. The three most visible of the fantastic figures are a corpse-painted black woman with monarch butterfly wings sprouting from her back, a white man without trousers but with long hair and spiked kneepads, and a large, fleshy creature shaped like a ball but with an enormous goofy mouth and large blue eyes. In front of these three is a human sized doll head with blonde pigtails.
Above the image is the text 'Dungeon Crawler Carl Book VII', followed by the title, 'This Inevitable Ruin'. At the bottom of the image is the author's name, Matt Dinniman

Regular Eli@captainhelion· 20d

The Eye of the Bedlam Bride - Matt Dinniman, 2023. More Dungeon Crawler Carl. Dinniman is doing a lot of building the world outside the dungeon in this one, and its paying off. As expected with the semiserial format, its ramped up the action compared to earlier instalments

The lower two thirds of this book is filled with the image of three figures. The rearmost is a sort of fleshy spider woman, with scraggly black hair. In front of her is a white man with a sleeveless vest and a bandana covering his face. In front of both of them is a brown Persian cat with a popstar's performance mic, standing in a conductor's pose. Two very colourful playing cards (of the Yugioh/Magic the Gathering type) fly out from her paws. Superimposed over the cat in white text is the author's name, 'Matt Dinniman'.
At the top of the page is a line of text declaring this book to be 'Dungeon Crawler Carl Book VI', followed by the book title in yellow, which is 'The Eye of the Bedlam Bride'

Regular Eli@captainhelion· 24d

The City in Glass - @nghivo.bsky.social 2024. If an Owl and a Cat fell in love, where would they live? Nghi Vo is a master, weaving the fantastic and the magical with the mundane and day-to-day, and blurring the them together.

A blue-green archway, composed of Grecian or ancient south eastern-Asian columns and flanked by a statue each of a woman and a man. The shape of books clutter the base of each column. Beyond the archway is a cityscape aflame, its image reflected without destruction in the water of an ocean. Above the city, a fire red sky darkens into a starscape.
The title of the book lies against this starscape: 'The City in Glass'
Beneath the reflection of the city in its glory is the author's name, 'Nghi Vo', and the declaration of said author to be 'Winner of the Hugo Award'

Regular Eli@captainhelion· 25d

The Unbreakable Miss Lovely - Tony Ortega, 2015. As a 2000s teenager who remembers Clambake and the Tom Cruise Oprah interview, I am morbidly fascinated by the CoS. Ortega weaves a readable and compelling depiction of astounding harrassment.

A black and white photograph of a woman looking back at the camera over her shoulder fills the lower half of this book cover. She is wearing fine jewellery and has light streaks on her long, dark hair.
The title and subtitle of the book are placed against a black background which fades into the photo. They read 'The Unbreakable Miss Lovely'
'How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper'.
At the bottom of the image is the author's name, 'Tony Ortega'

Regular Eli@captainhelion· 28d

Embers of the Hands - Eleanor Barraclough, 2024. This is as straightforward a piece of historical non-fiction as one could ask for. Barraclough clearly knows her shit, and does the difficult job of teasing out histories of those ignored by the hegemonic accounts. Its very readable, too!

A black cover is edged with golden knotwork. The knotwork dips in towards the centre about halfway down the page, like the hips on a violin, leaving enough space for a gold sketch of a Thor's Hammer amulet on one side, and a sticker that declares the book as having achieved 'The Woodson History Prize, 2025 Shortlist', before returning to the edges of the page.
In the centre of the page in gold text is the title, 'Embers of the Hands', followed in smaller white text 'Hidden Histories of the Viking Age'. Above the title is the author's name, 'Eleanor Barraclough'. Above that, at the top of the page is the text 'Longlisted for the Women's Prize 2025'. At the bottom is a quote attributed to a 'Tom Holland' - presumably not the actor - declaring the book 'Brilliantly Written'

Regular Eli@captainhelion· Jul 7

The Butcher's Masquerade - Matt Dinniman, 2022. This is much the same as the previous ones, but that's not at all a bad thing. The Highs are notably higher, but the Lows do feel lower.

Against a background reminiscent of an inferno, a single muscle bound white man, clad in a sleeveless jean jacket and white-andbred boxer shorts, holds aloft the head of a life size doll of a blonde woman. He is surrounded by several person sized praying mantis'. On either side of him are a humanoid goat, clad in robes, and a brown Persian cat, mid-leap, wearing enormous sunglasses and a silver tiara.
At the top of the image is the text 'Dungeon Crawler Carl Book V'. Below the focus of the image is the title in bold yellow text, 'The Butcher's Masquerade', and below that in white is the author's name, Matt Dinniman

Regular Eli@captainhelion· Jul 5

The Gate of the Fetal Gods - Matt Dinniman, 2022. This one was the weakest thus far, but not by a huge amount. Much like the previous book, I'm still reading them, so Dinniman is absolutely managing something right

Set against a stormy sky is an enormous head and neck. It is scarred and smoking. A large bull like horn emerges from the side of its head. On the other side, just below the cheek one, is an open mouth that is screaming and glowing orange.
Falling from a great height in front of the enormous head is a brown Persian cat, wearing a tiara and large sunglasses. A white man is also falling, reaching towards the cat. He is wearing a sleeveless vest, a cape, white and red boxer shorts, and a bandana wrapped around his lower face. Behind the two falling figures is a biplane in the middle of a barrel roll.

Regular Eli@captainhelion· Jul 2

The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook - Matt Dinniman, 2021. Dungeon Crawler Carl Book III. What is there to say? Its more of Dungeon Crawler Carl. I'm still planning on reading more, so I'm pretty sure I'm enjoying them

In a brightly lit subway tunnel, two fantastic masculine figures engage in combat. One, leaping to punch the other, is clad in a spiked gauntlet, red and white boxer shorts, a cape, spiked kneepads, and approximately half a leather jacket. The other figure is a muscle bound colossus, covered in blue warpaint. Instead of a head, he has another muscle bound torso, this one wearing a sideways baseball cap and a "Welcome to the gun show" singlet, and is midswipe with his Wolverine-from-X-Men style metal claws
The title, 'The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook', is in yellow, and skewed excitingly. The subtitle reads 'Dungeon Crawler Carl Book III'.
At the bottom of the image, the second figure's arm obscures part of the author's name, Matt Dinniman

Regular Eli@captainhelion· Jun 30

Carl's Doomsday Scenario - Matt Dinniman, 2021. Not quite as interesting as the first book, it was still tremendously easy to read. Overall its a decent level of quality. I can see myself reading a few more of these if it stays at this level.

A white man stands in front of a generic medieval town, with a large red and white circus tent in the far distance, and a starlight night sky beyond that.
The man is clad in a cloak, red heart patterned boxer shorts, spiked kneepads, and half of a leather jacket. He's preparing to hurl a lit stick of dynamite. A brown Persian cat sits on his shoulder, wearing a tiara. A small raptor hides behind his legs.
Text at the top of the book cover reads "Dungeon Crawler Carl Book II' in white. The title, 'Carl's Doomsday Scenario' is in bold yellow text, in front of the man's chest. His leg blocks some of the author's name, which otherwise reads 'Matt Din[Obscured]man'

Regular Eli@captainhelion· Jun 29

Dungeon Crawler Carl - Matt Dinniman, 2020. A perfectly respectable piece of fantasy fiction. While released in full, proper books by Dinniman, its paced like the longer serial story it is. Which is not a bad thing, just a thing. LitRPGs are diverse qualitywise, but this one functions well.

In a dimly lit hallway, with gothic columns and a vaulted ceiling, a goblin wearing a kitchen pot as a hat drives a tracked vehicle with a large spiked roller, like one used for sports turf care, but with the aforementioned spikes. In front of the vehicle, two figures flee in the direction of the viewer. The one on the left is a light brown Persian cat, and the other is a white man, wearing a leather jacket and white boxer shorts with red hearts.
At the top of the page, text declares that "the apocalypse will be televised", with the word 'wil' emphasised in red and italics. The title, 'Dungeon Crawler Carl' is in bold yellow text in the image's lower center, followed by 'Matt Dinniman' in white, the author name

Regular Eli@captainhelion· Jun 11

Dragonsbane - Barbara Hambly, 1985. Hambly's strength is always in her characters, and those of Dragonsbane are no exceptions. Even 4 decades after first publications, they feel refreshingly real amongst most fantasy epics. The story itself isn't so snappy, but it trucks along well enough to work.

A dragon, red of wing and spikey of back looms over a single person, bedecked in spiked fantasy armour and holding a sword of questionable but elaborate design. The dragon's mouth glows red-white, as if it is about to blast the person with fire.
Above the dragon is the book title; 'Dragonsbane', below which is the series title 'The Winterland Series'.
At the bottom of the page is the author name, Barbara Hambly, who is described as a 'New York Times-Bestselling Author.

Regular Eli@captainhelion· Jun 5

Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata, 2016, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori, 2018. An asexual, autistic woman working at a Japanese dairy attempts to break out of her stasis, and achieve some of the assumed goals of the 30+ woman. Equal parts funny and heartbreaking.

A light blue background, with a single image of a disposible soy sauce packet shaped like a fish. The title and author name are tucked closely above and beneath the fish, respectively.
'Convenience Store Woman' by 'Sayaka Murata'
Above the title is the declaration of the book's status as an international best settler, and two effusive pull quotes. Another two pull quotes sit below the author name, similarly praiseworthy.

Regular Eli@captainhelion· Jun 5

What was once a handful of goblin-town nerds and a box of broken uruk-hai have become something rather more suited to the Assault On Gondolin for which Othrod, Orc Champion is bred

Two groups of model soldiers on a white paper background. The group on the right are small and goblin-esque, with bulky and crude armour that is rusty and unpainted. The left group is taller and more elaborately attired, with blue shirts and hats, as well as clean bronze armour and weapons. The model in the front is shirtless and bloody, with a large sword slung over one shoulder, and a bloody head displayed in his outstretched arm. He is standing on the elf body to which the head belongs.

Regular Eli@captainhelion· May 31

What This Cruel War Was Over - Chandra Manning, 2007. Manning wades through a truly astounding number of letters and newspapers from ACW soldiers to deliver a convincing account of how they viewed slavery, and how those views shifted across the course of the war.

A sepia photograph of three soldiers clustered around an unseen but smokey fire. They are soldiers of the American Civil War, but the image makes it difficult to discern what army they belonged to.
Below the photo, in red text, is the title 'What This Cruel War Was Over'. Below the title is a fancy text box, of the type typical in American print from the 1860s. Inside this box is the subtitle 'Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War'
The author's name, Chandra Manning, sits below this. Below the author is a pull-quote from The Philadelphia Inquirer, that eats 'An essential contribution to our understanding of slavery and the Civil War'

Regular Eli@captainhelion· May 28

Collections Management as Critical Museum Practice - Cara Krmpotich & Alice Stevenson, 2024. A hefty and timely volume, exploring the ways in which collection management collides with museum practice. Colonial legacies, indigenous practices, climate change, natural disasters.

Regular Eli@captainhelion· May 27

but lamia

an image from the Simpsons cartoon, with Homer laying on the couch in pajamas, a beer in hand. Marge is leaning around the corner, telling him it's Wednesday. The image has been crudely edited to replace the name 'homer' with 'lamia'

Regular Eli@captainhelion· May 22

Captain Antaeus of the IXth Legion, mid-challenge with Argal Tal of the Word Bearers, knowing he can't last another round, but he can make the Traitor bleed

Two painted space marines mid duel. The one on the left is much larger, has wings, fleshy protrubences, bloody claws, and the bloody remains of a blue space marine, while the other has a big sword, red armour, and perhaps a bit of moxie. They both stand on the to of a ruined balcony.
A green d20 sits in the foreground, unrelated

Regular Eli@captainhelion· May 21

The Mimicking of Known Successes - Malka Older, 2023. A nice, straightforward science fiction novella. Bit of a Holmesian odd-couple mystery solving, some quite neat world exploring, and a bit of romance. I also Quite enjoyed the (nonspoiler) reveal that Classical Studies refers to Old Earth broadly

A large illustration of Jupiter occupies the majority of this book cover. In the foreground is an industrial cityscape, silhouetted in a soft red, and the silhouettes of two women, walking closely away from the viewer. Several stars and an orbital diagram with a transfer orbit are scattered in front of the planet. The title stands in front of Jupiter also, reading "The Mimicking of Known Successes", and a pull quote in small text that reads "An utter triumph" — Charlie Jane Anders
The author name sits in a blue band below the rest; Malka Older

Regular Eli@captainhelion· May 15

Cobalt Blue - Matthew Reilly, 2022. This was fine. Basically one giant action sequence. Easy read, at least

This book cover has a white sports fabric background, with two diagonal blue stripes, looking like leather, stitching down each side, stretching from the middle of the lower edge to the centre of the right hand side.
At the top of the page is the text 'From the No. 1 Bestselling Author'
Matthew Reilly
Cobalt Blue

Regular Eli@captainhelion· May 14

No one can hear you - Nikki Crutchley, 2018. Solid enough New Zealand mystery. Old boys clubs, whisper networks, small towns you can't wait to escape.

The top third of the book cover, and the bottom fifth or so are covered in macrocarpa leaves. Behind them, covering the whole image, is faded white handwriting on a black background. Between the title and author name text blocks is a single Pākehā hand, outstretched as if laying down, with a small macrocarpa leaf on the palm.
The author name is Nikki Crutchley
Author of 'Nothing Bad Happens Here'
The title is 'No One Can Hear You', and it is blurred, and intersecting slightly with the macrocarpa.
Set between the two lines of the title is the phrase 'His last words to me the "Just Forget"'

Regular Eli@captainhelion· May 12

Contact - Carl Sagan, 1985. One of the successes of Carl Sagan as a communicator was his optimistic and generous view of people. While this is undoubtedly a story about science (almost entirely QUITE real science), its even more a story of people. Positive, negative, but always hopeful.

A yellow galaxy, as seen from the side, bisects a black field. Below the galaxy is an Atlantic-centered view of the Earth from orbit, during the night. The lights of cities are visible, as us the light of the Sun, glowing through the edges of the atmosphere.
The name Carl Sagan sits in white text above the galaxy. The book title, Contact, is surmounted by the subtitle of 'a novel'. Both are in a light blueish grey.

Regular Eli@captainhelion· May 7

The Village of Eight Graves - Seishi Yokomizo, 1949, trans. Bryan Karetnyk, 2021. Classic detective fiction, in the golden age style. Not quite my preferred style, but Yokomizo definitely knew how to write his stuff

A pale paper textured background, with a forest green rectangle set into it. A circle in the centre of the green reveals a cup of tea on a saucer, with a hand hovering above dropping a sinister red powder into it. The text is written in a style reminiscent of brush calligraphy.
Seishi Yokomizo
A classic Kaitāhae murder mystery from the author of 'The Honjin Murders'
The Village of Eight Graves
Pushkin Vertigo

Regular Eli@captainhelion· May 1

Why Fish Don't Exist - Lulu Miller, 2020. Mostly a memoir, but using the author's fascination/obsession with taxomical giant and eugenicist, David Starr Jordan. She wrestles with life, mental health, love, and dealing with the complicated experience of discovering a personal hero was also awful. 👍

A blue background, with a drawn illustration of the back half of a fish, rendered in the sort of gold embelishment seen on old fashioned and prestigious texts. A tag is attached to the tail fin, in the style of a labeled zoological specimen.
At the top of the page are three effusive pull quotes: "Magical", from Susan Orleans, "Shocking" from Sy Montgomery, and "Perfect, just Perfect" from Mary Roach.
Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Life, and the Hidden Order of Life
Lulu Miller
The subtitle and pull quotes are in white, while the title and author name are in gold. The subtitle is written onto the specimen label

Regular Eli@captainhelion· Apr 29

A nice apple for lovely Bill, perhaps?

Two small models. One is a pony laden with luggage, and it sniffs the ground in front of it, as if seeking a treat. The other model is a child in generic medieval clothes, holding a stick in one hand, and a red, shiny apple towards the pony.
The two models are set against a white paper background

Regular Eli@captainhelion· Apr 28

Bluebeard - Kurt Vonnegut, 1987. Straightforwards in plot and character, but this leaves you to really dwell in and on the stuff Vonnegut put in here. There's not much to say other than its a hell of a book

A dark grey-blue background lightens somewhat around the edges of a large antique-style steel lock, with the loop open. The face of the lock with the keyhole faces the viewer, and has been used as an oil paint palete. The lock is realistically rendered, though it is a drawing, and the texture of paper or parchment can be seen.
Kurt Vonnegut, the author's name, is written in white above the lock. The title of the book is aptly coloured light blue, below the lock. It reads 'Bluebeard'

Regular Eli@captainhelion· Apr 23

Broken Stars - Ken Lie (ed.), 2020. I have enormous respect for Ken Liu for this. Translating is hard at the best of times, and he's worked hard to maintain the integrity of the 16 stories in here. Like any short story collection, some were better than others, and one or two were tiresome. Good read

A brightly coloured nebula with bright dots of starlight in blue and green. A circle in the centre is darker, where the text of the book cover is.
"Sixteen stories from the New Frontiers of Chinese Science Fiction"
Broken Stars, edited and translated by Ken Liu.
'Ken Liu is a genius' - Elizabeth Bear

Regular Eli@captainhelion· Apr 18

We've had Frank (dark grey, 1yo) and Mr Freckle (tabby, 7months) for about two months now, and the resting issues are mostly through

Two cats laying arrived on a carpeted nook, surrounded by windows where a driveway can be seen outside. The cats are sitting on and around a black-blue cushion, and a blue blanket. The closer cat is smaller, with grey tabby markings. The other is larger, with plain grey colouring, and is visibly asleep

Regular Eli@captainhelion· Apr 16

Dare to Know - James Kennedy, 2021. This was a curious one for me. While i think i liked it, and i think Kennedy landed it, i also kinda feel like the book i thought it was going to be half way through reading it would have been better. Like I said, a curious one.

A series of concentric squares, alternating between orange and white, narrow in on a squared-off hourglass shape. A very small amount of blue sand is in the upper glass, while the lower glass is almost full. A small black silhouette of a falling man is in the lower sand.
The book title reads "Dare To Know: A Novel".
The whole picture is skewed at an angle, creating a sense of discomfort in the viewer. The author's name is James Kennedy

Regular Eli@captainhelion· Apr 15