Your next favorite author?

We are at the end of summer, and are heading into fall.

If my friends are looking for some cozy books in the urban fantasy genre, I have a recommendation,

I’ve recently gotten into the Blood Trails series by rock-tumbling gamer, Jennifer Blackstream. It follows Shade Renard, a village witch turned private eye. Each book has been a contained case so far, with a some overall arcs weaved through the series. The characters act believably, and the mysteries seem fair.

Think of it as a cross between Supernatural and Murder She Wrote. (Or MSW and Granny Weatherwax, or Tucker’s Witch depending on your age.)

I am five books into the series and have not been disappointed yet. Shannon is four books ahead of me, and tells me I have nothing to worry about.

If you are intrigued, but don’t trust me enough to commit, or are just younger than I, you can also sign up for her newsletter at www.jenniferblackstream.com and, after the first couple intro emails that you get over the next few days, you will be provided with a code for a story (Temptation) that leads into the first book (Deadline). I would tell you more about it but we haven’t yet figured out how to download it.

If you a fan of e-readers, and you like her writing, you can get them right from her site. She even has bundle deals available. If, like me, prefer a more dead-tree version of the story, you can also order the books online.

But wait you say, I’m a fast reader. I don’t want to get into another series with an author who takes forever to write the next book. Not to worry. Jennifer is pretty prolific. This series is already 19 books long. Plus she has two other series (Blood Realm, and Blood Prince) that are 5 and 5+ books each respectively. These are more or a paranormal romance genre. We haven’t read those though but again, there are links to samples in her newsletter.

For reading this long, I leave you a haiku:

Red coat, witches hat

Peasblossom, tactical pouch

Mother Shade Renard

jenniferblackstream.com

Books Read - May to August 2025

May

Academ’s Fury by Jim Butcher

Deadline by Jennifer Blackstream

Monster by Jennifer Blackstream

Odd Hours by Dean Koontz

 

June

Absolute Emperor: Napoleonic Wargame Battles by Boyd Bruce

Xenos Rampant by Daniel Mersey & Richard Cowen

Taken by Jennifer Blackstream

Wars of the Republic by Eric Farrington

 

July

Teenagers from the Future: essays on the Legion of Super-Heroes edited by Timothy Callahan

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Corruption by Jennifer Blackstream

Stargrave – Science Fiction Wargames in the Ravaged Galaxy by Joseph A. McCullough

 

Aug

The Doomed: Apocalyptic Horror Hunting by Chris McDowall

61 Hours by Lee Child

Mercenary by Jennifer Blackstream

Hairfoot Jousting by Joseph A. McCullough

Avengers Campus the official cookbook by Jennifer Fujikawa + Marc Sumerak

 

Figure Painting Total - August 2025

While on our way back from Vancouver, we stopped in to the Sentry Box.  I was very tempted by the Silver Bayonet forces, and the Hairfoot Jousting minis.  I did manage to get an older Blood Bowl team, as well as some Frostgrave figures.  

I had picked up the Model-in-a-month figure from Warhammer, and had built, primed, and base coated it before we left.  I stayed up late when we got back on the Friday and finished it in time to take it in for August 30.

 

Bought

Blood Bowl – Scarcrag Snivellers – 12

Blood Bowl – Gnome Treeman – 1

Unmatched – Battle of Legends – Volume 3 – 4

40K – Primarus Marine - Space Wolf Bloodclaw – 1 (model of the month)  

Frostgrave – Soldiers II – 20

Frostgrave – Wizards II – 8

 

Painted

40K – Primarus Marine – Infernus – 1 (model in a month)

40K – Model in a Month – Space Wolf Bloodclaw – 1 (model in a month)   

 

 

Aug total – figures bought 46, figures painted 2

Running total 2025 – figures bought 79, figures painted 2

All hands on deck

 We had decks installed on the house over 10 years ago.  You are supposed to re-stain them every 5 or so years.

 

But the stain is fussy.  It requires the temperatures to not be above 36 degrees Celsius, and to not drop below 13 degrees Celsius.  It also requires it to not rain or have high humidity for 2 days before, and two days after staining.  This has really limited the days that we could apply it.

 

You are also supposed to pressure wash it a few days before, and not apply on too sunny of a day.  That didn’t happen.

 

But, for the August long weekend, all the stars aligned, and  we got out and painted most of the back deck on Friday.  On Saturday we painted the front deck and the side, as well as the rest of the back deck.  On Monday we put all the plants and patio furniture back.  On Tuesday, it rain again.

 

The stain is odd.  It goes on a honey brown color and, as it is absorbed into the wood, it turns it a dark teak color.

 

It really refreshed the deck.  It looks much darker now. 

Second Generation Video Games consoles – there is another

  

The first generation of video game consoles included the Coleco Telstar, the Atari Home Pong , and the Odyssey series.  They were mostly variations on Pong-like games, some with overlays for the TV, but they also included some tank games.

 

The first of the second generation consoles was the obscure Fairchild Channel 4.  It came out in 1976 and was discontinued in 1983.  It came with two games preloaded and had another 26 games available for it.  It had a unique controller with a triangular 8-way joystick / rotary dial and action button.  It sold the least of the second generations, with about 350,000 units.

 

The Atari VCS (later Atari 2600) system came out next in 1977 and wasn’t discontinued until 1992.  It ended up with between 470 and 500 games.  It had  paddles, and an 8-way joystick with an action button.  It was the clear winner of the console wars, with about 30 million units sold, more than twice as much as all the other second generation systems combined. 

 

The Odyssey 2 came out in 1978 and was discontinued by 1984. It had a full keyboard, an 8-way non-centering joystick with one action button, and about 50 games.  It sold a respectable 2 million units and was clearly fourth of the top four systems.

 

The Intellivision came out in 1979 and did not get discontinued until 1991.  There were 129 games released for it originally.  The controllers included  a 12 button keypad, 4 buttons, and a 16 direction disc.  Because it changed hands between Matell Electronics and INTV, the numbers are a bit tricky, but it is figured to have sold between 3 to 5 million units. 

 

The Colecovision did not come out until 1982 and it was discontinued in 1985.  It also had about 137 games released for it.  The standard controllers were a full keypad, with two action buttons and a stubby joystick.  The company claimed about 6 million units were sold, but it is believed to be closer to 2-3 million units.

 

There was also a Vectrex system that came out in 1982 and was discontinued in 1984.  It included a built-in monitor, and only had about 28 vector style games with screen overlays.   It had a controller with a small 8-direction joystick, and 4 action buttons.   It only managed to sell between 500 to 600 thousand units.

 

My Road to 55 - the first half of 2025

 There is a local place that has a fair amount of classic video games including a fair sized Intellivision section.

I popped in and got Tron:Solar Sailor for $50, and ABPA Backgammon with the top number for $15  This completes the last of the original Intellivoice games I needed.

 

I found a copy of Venture by Coleco from ebay for $15 plus $22 shipping.  I had played this on the Colecovision back in the day.  This means that I now have 4 of the 8 Coleco games.  I just need Mouse Trap, Donkey Kong Jr, Turbo, and Zaxxon.  This is the first one of the other company titles that I am halfway to completing.

 

I also picked up The Electric Company Math Fun from ebay for $9 plus $34 shipping.  This included a color manual, and has a top number on the box as well.  There were two versions of this game, one where you entered the answers starting from the left, and a later version where you start from the right.  This is the left version.  This was the last one that I needed from 1979.  I now have all the ones from 1979 to 1981.  I now would now need 8 to complete the original 19 with top numbers.

 

 

Running Total:

Original 55 Mattel Electronics:  49/55

1979 – complete

1980 – complete

1981 – complete

1982 – missing Shark! Shark!

1983 – missing Bump ‘n’ Jump, Buzz Bombers, Kool-Aid Man, Motocross, and Pinball.

 

Original 19 top numbers missing – Armor Battle, NBA Basketball, NFL Football, Auto Racing, PGA Golf, Space Battle, Tennis, The Electric Company Word Fun.

I’m not sure how much effort I’ll put into these beyond getting the red box Space Battle, and the Auto Racing with the alternate steering. 

So far I have spent $270 plus $134 in shipping to help complete this.  Although some of that includes lots which included some Imagic games.

 

 

Next 41 – have 12

Activision (7): have Pitfall!

Atari (3): have Pac-Man cartridge only

Coleco (8): have Carnival, Donkey Kong, Lady Bug, and Venture

Imagic (14): have Atlantis, Beauty & the Beast, Demon Attack, Microsurgeon, and Swords & Serpents

Interphase Technologies Ltd (2); missing Blockade Runner, and Sewer Sam

Parker Brothers (6): have Frogger

Sega (1): missing Congo  Bongo

 

I am especially interested in chasing down the 3 games that I need to complete the 10 games released in 1982 – Mouse Trap, Dragon Fire, and Tropical Thunder.

In addition to the Beauty & the Beast and Demon Attack that were include in the lots above, I spent another $74 plus $86 in shipping to get these games.

 

 

From the remaining 29, I don’t have any at all.  I’m not sure I’ll get the ESC games, as I’m pretty sure I may not get the ESC module to run them.

INTV (21): I have none

Dextel Ltd (2): missing Championship Tennis, and World Cup Soccer

ESC (6): I have none

 

I’ll look at getting the ones that aren’t on the Flashback – Commando, Dig Dug, Diner, Mountain Madness: Super Pro Volleyball, and Pole Position.  Tripple Challenge is not on the Flashback, but the three games included (Backgammon, Chess, and Checkers) are.  Tower of Doom is on the Flashback but the file is corrupted, so I will probably get that one.

I haven’t spent anything on this group.  Yet.

 

In addition to what I started with, I have spent a total of $344 on this collection so far, plus another $210 in shipping charges.  Plus the $30 that I spent on a working Intellivision.

My Road to 55 - small steps in 2024

 In 2024, I got Imagic Swords & Serpents for <53 total> from ebay.

 

I picked up some overlays and rules for another <31 total> from ebay.  This covered the rest of the missing overlays I needed, as well as giving a nicer copy of the Boxing rulebook.

 

I ended the year by picking up Roulette from ebay for <51 total>.  This finished off the last one I needed for the 1980 set.  It also had a top number, and a full color manual.

 

I finished the year with 46 of the original 55 as well as 11 of the next 41.  I don’t have any of the 29 from Dextell, INTV, or ESC.

Of the original 55, I was missing ABPA Backgammon, and The Electric Company Math Fun from 1979. Shark! Shark! from 1982, and Bump ‘n’ Jump, Buzz Bombers, Kool-Aid Man, Motocross, Pinball, and Tron: Solar Sailor from 1983.  I had 9 of the 19 top number games.