#deadly game

[theconstantnymph]

Deadly Game, 1982

[free-queer-books]

EXPIRED - Deadly Game by Naomi Aoki

Get in. Get proof. Get out alive. Easy, right? All Hisato Shibata had ever wanted to be was a police officer, to work his way through the ranks like his father had. Wanted to be known as an officer who upheld the oaths he'd sworn and keep the streets of Tokyo free of men like Tatsuo Ogawa—Shinjuku Ward boss for the Yamashita Organisation. Going undercover had never been a part of his plans, but when his superiors put the assignment in front of him, he dutifully agreed. But in getting close to Ogawa, Hisato learns some uncomfortable truths about himself. Add in his growing attraction to Ogawa and the two men close to him, getting out alive is the least of his worries. Deadly Game is the first book in the Tokyo Nights Trilogy that features an undercover cop whose assignment goes wrong in all the best ways, a genderqueer host who will do whatever is needed to protect his lovers, a yakuza ward boss with his eyes on the top prize and his best friend who is hesitant trust the new member of their relationship. Add in a gang conflict and things are bound to get a little...bloody.

Promotion length: Until January 1st, 2026 (Smashwords sale)

Markets available: Smashwords

Link to book: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1217850

[lucy-the-wyrm]

The way he said her name shook her. A caress. A stroke of velvet. He created intimacy when there was none. He always sounded so gentle. Men weren't gentle. Soldiers weren't gentle. Men like Ken, predators, hunters, they weren't gentle. How could he make her feel so vulnerable with just his voice?

Deadly Game - Christine Feehan

[mar-de-angustias]

Nightfall-Deadly Game

[justforbooks]

Deadly Game, the debut novel from Michael Caine, will be published in the UK and US in November, it has been announced.

The actor, 90, has long harboured the desire to write a thriller, and was inspired to do so by a news item, says his UK publisher, Hodder’s Rowena Webb, about “the discovery of uranium by workers on a dump in London’s East End”. The novel’s lead character is DCI Harry Taylor, who, according to the synopsis, is “called in when just such a package is found, mysteriously abandoned in Stepney and stolen before the police can reclaim it. As security agencies around the world go to red alert, it is former SAS man Harry and his small team from the Met who must race against time to find who has the nuclear material and what they plan to do with it.”

Key suspects in the case include “the aristocratic English art dealer Julian Smythe” and “mega-rich Russian Vladimir Voldrev”. The plot also involves “British neo-Nazis and Colombian drug cartels”, leaving Harry “just the man to cut through the red tape and get to the heart of an extraordinary criminal enterprise”.

Says Hodder fiction editor Nick Sayers: “When Rowena and I met Sir Michael last year, I discovered that he is not only a lifelong reader of thrillers, but also an author bursting with ideas for fiction of his own. Deadly Game is a cracking thriller with a real voice and a super twist.”

Caine discussed the novel, which he wrote during lockdown, in an interview with the Guardian in 2021, when the title was still If You Don’t Want to Die.

“I only read thrillers,” he told Xan Brooks. “I’m an adventure man, I’m not a literature person, so I’m not trying to replace Shakespeare here. But it’s based on something I once read about two dustmen, two rubbish collectors in the East End. And they find uranium in the rubbish.”

One of the best known and most beloved British film stars of the past 60 years, Caine has appeared in more than 130 films, including Zulu, Alfie, The Italian Job and Sleuth.

He won supporting actor Oscars for his performances in Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules, and more recently has collaborated with the director Christopher Nolan.

Caine himself hails from south-east London, and has six times played a character called Harry, most notably in The Ipcress File and its sequels, and in 2009’s Harry Brown.

He will next be soon alongside Glenda Jackson in The Great Escaper, based on the real-life story of a second world war veteran who fled his care home to attend the D-Day anniversary in Normandy in 2014.

Other actors who have recently tried their hand at fiction include Ethan Hawke, David Duchovny, Hugh Laurie, Sean Penn and Tom Hanks.

📷 Photo Above: Michael Caine in the 2021 film Best Sellers

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[contac]

[agentnico]

Squid Game - Season 1 (2021) Review

Yeah yeah, I finally watched Squid Game. What you gonna do about it, shoot me??

Plot: A story of people who fail at life for various reasons, but suddenly receive a mysterious invitation to participate in a survival game to win more than 38 million US dollars. The game takes place at an isolated island and the participants are locked up until there is a final winner. The story will incorporate popular children's games from the 1970s and 1980s of Korea, such as squid game, literal translation of its Korean name, which is a type of tag where offense and defence use a squid-shaped board drawn in the dirt.

Squid Game has been an unrivalled phenomenon for Netflix, and let’s be honest, not even Netflix themselves expected Squid Game to turn out as successful as it has. I mean it’s only their most watched show of all time, nothing major. Personally I always feel weary of watching films and shows that are too popular, as I always worry that the piece of media at hand would be overrated and that audiences are getting excited at something that’s probably not that big of a deal. However after countless recommendations from various people me and my fiancée finally sat down and watched the first episode of Squid Game.....and then we didn’t watch the rest of it for an entire month. Look, the first episode was decent and that “red light, green light” doll was so creepy that her voice is still ringing in my head, but generally speaking the show didn’t click with us at first. Also my fiancée managed to suck me into the addictive drama of reality TV and the whole will they won’t they antics of Married at First Sight, so we’ve been too busy laughing at the emotional torture of others instead of watching physical torture of Squid Game. However a month has passed and we finally gave episode two a go, and then we ended up watching the rest of the series within a couple of days. Yep, okay, Squid Game is a good show, hard to deny that. Is it overrated? Probably. Though isn’t technically any popular piece of media overrated? Heck, even Lord of the Rings for all its greatness is at the end of the day overrated. Actually scrap that, Lord of the Rings is absolutely unarguably amazing and I want to smack myself immediately for even daring to assume it may be overrated! The romantic journey of Frodo and Sam is nothing short of a masterpiece and I’ll hear nothing else of it!! Regardless, Squid Game is undeniably a very well made series, so here are my thoughts on it...

Honestly when I first began watching Squid Game and I saw the promotional images, for some reason I thought I was going to end up watching the Korean version of Human Centipede. Gladly that was not the case. Don’t get me wrong, there is some hyper-violent and gruesome imagery on this show, but nothing that skin-crawlingly horrifying as putting a tube through one’s anus and out their mouths.... Okay, I’m just gonna go and flat out say it: f*** the Human Centipede!! I don’t care if any kids are reading this, I said f*** the Human Centipede!! In any case, why would kids be reading this? Squid Game might feature games for children but is very far from a suitable family watching experience.  You'll see hundreds die, heads explode and tons of blood! So parents, be like parents and skedaddle away with your kids, this show ain’t for you. This is the Korean response to Battle Royale and The Hunger Games, only unlike those movies the characters of Squid Game are aware of what they’ve come into after the first round and are willing to stay, as such their deaths and demises are due to their greed or financial situation in life. Yes, at the end of the day it all boils down to money. It’s always about money. Humans can do crazy things for money. So as such as Squid Game is a work of fiction, its an interesting social commentary in that if something like this did exist, people would probably actually participate. Folks want that dollar dollar bill yo! And in that lies Squid Game’s genius. It’s a simple premise featuring various interesting characters and providing enough social commentary to think about whilst telling this in a very visually unique and entertaining way. That’s one of Squid Game’s major appeals - its general look and aesthetic. From the production design and the sets you can see that a lot of thought and creativity was put into them (a particularly memorable set being a colourful staircase going in various directions that was very reminiscent of M.C. Escher’s famous illusionist surreal lithograph art-piece ‘Relativity’) as well as the costumes of the workers of Squid Game. Their pink outfits with the black masks that feature either a circle, square or triangle to define the individuals rank, though very simplistic in nature, works to great effect. Also needed to be mentioned is the use of classical music mixed in with the creepy notes of the music score and the use of the flute, that really amped up the peculiar yet horrifying nature of what was happening on screen. It’s the more impressive that the show was made on a fairly low budget of about $20 million, so the fact it looks and sounds so good is the more commendable. 

For all it’s violence and shocking gore though Squid Game manages to also pack a strong emotional punch with moment of true heartbreak. Within its 9 episodes it manages to make you care for so many of these characters, whilst also successfully getting you to hate others. And the entire cast plays their roles really well. You like who you gotta like and you hate who you gotta hate. Bingo! Truly the one negative that stood out to me in this show is that even though the majority of the cast does truly great work, there are these bunch of people in this show called the VIPs. And let me tell ya. Let me come out clean and put it all on the table. Let me not sugar-coat it no more. The actors who portrayed the VIP people CANNOT ACT!!! I cringed everytime they said a line. It felt like they were just reading them. Even the intonation was off. It was like when we were kids and had to read a play in class and we exaggerated the intonation. Luckily these VIP characters wear masks through most of their scenes as it seems the director too realised these actors aren’t great but it was too late to recast as these guys signed their contracts.

So back to the question that started it all - is Squid Game overrated? I mean, I’d participate!! I volunteer as tribute! Again, shoot me!

Overall score: 8/10