The third in The Valkyrie Chronicles series sees a 24th century descendant of John Hammond enlist the aid of the Ferengi government as he aims to create a new Jurassic Park - but with a difference. However, he doesn't count on the findings of Ambassador Phineas Magus, and the course of evolution.

This book can now be downloaded in PDF form FOR FREE by logging on to www.lulu.com/twosheds316

A vampiric plague, mass amnesia, the destruction of Valhalla and more as the crew of the U.S.S. Valkyrie go up against a villain from Anglo-Force's past.

The second book in The Valkyrie Chronicles series, The Theophilus Wars, sees the crew of the U.S.S. Valkyrie go up against one of Anglo-Force's most powerful enemies, the immortal telepath, Doctor Armand Theophilus, along with his fellow immortal, the mutant, Celsius, and the renegade wizard Droome.

Now this story, originally written in the early 1990's and containing the individual stories The Mysterious Mister Alucard, A Loss of Memory and The Wrath of Theophilus is available to download in one volume, in PDF form for FREE. All you need to do is log onto www.lulu.com/twosheds316.

As always, feedback on this, and any past story, is appreciated, and can be left either on the Lulu website, or via e-mail to julian@twoshedsreview.com.

A merchandisers dream.

When Star Wars hit the silver screen in 1977, closely followed by the re-emergence of Star Trek and several new sci-fi films, merchandisers came up with a way in which they could cash in on this. And so the action figure came into being. They were snapped up in their millions. I was one of those who did the snapping, albeit a few years late.

After playing with a small assortment of various figures I had collected, I began getting bored. I needed something, some situation I could make my figures act out. It was then that my brother Paul and I began to pen the adventures of a group known as the Defenders of the Galaxy, a group of men and women dedicated to fighting evil throughout the universe. I started off with a small cardboard spaceship called the Eagle. As my collection of figures grew, the Eagle became a larger wooden ship called the Valkyrie. Upon receiving a large amount of money for my birthday one year, the Valkyrie was replaced with the Millenium Falcon, and later joined by an Action Force headquarters, a snow speeder, an x-wing fighter and various other craft. The stories continued to flow from the pen for as long as I was interested in collecting them. The Defender’s membership included Luke Skywalker, Mr. Spock, He-Man, and even the Lone Ranger’s trusty sidekick, Tonto, horse and all. But as I grew up, I became bored with these toys, and I gave them to my two young nieces. They now occupy pride of place in their attic, gathering dust along with the super-hero annuals I gave them.
   
But I have always been fascinated by the science fiction genre. I’ve been watching Star Trek for as long as I can remember. I still find the Star Wars films very good. I also enjoy others such as Battlestar Galactica, Battle Beyond the Stars, and of course, time travel stories, such as those in Quantum Leap. It is partly because of this that the Valkyrie Chronicles came into being. They were originally written as something completely different than Anglo-Force, about a ship set in the near future. They spent most of their time fighting evil alien races, most notably, the Monstrons, but, as with the Anglo-Force stories, the ideas dried up. The Valkyrie Chronicles were consigned to the dustbin.

But it was while I was writing the Anglo-Force mark two stories that something hit men, and I don’t mean Chris Eubank’s right cross. I had always thought that I wouldn’t be able to write two ongoing stories at the same time. I was wrong. With a lot of thought, I came up with a way that I could re-introduce the Valkyrie ship and her crew through an Anglo-Force story, which I did. I made their appearance more notable by having some of the crew descended from those in Anglo-Force, most notably the captain and first officer. It was later decided to put in a constant between the two stories, a way that the two could be connected by one character, one immortal character - Phineas Magus.

So here are the first adventures of the new Valkyrie, a starship in the United Federation of Planets, in Starfleet. What we have done here is set this story in the Star Trek universe, and taken ideas from that universe. But that is not all. We have merged this universe with that used in both Star Wars and Doctor Who. We have also added a few planets of our own, as well as taking small portions from other universes. Some of these stories are original, some are based on episodes and films from various series. All in all, though this is our universe, a universe made up of several others has been created. Scientists have always said the universe is a big place. We’ve just made it a bit bigger.

So here are the Valkyrie Chronicles, which is based on a story first written in 1983, which was based on a collection of toys.

I just wish I’d never given them away in the first place!

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A fictional universe the likes of which you've never seen before - the greatest heroes in British history, led by immortal wizard Dr. Magus and pilot-turned superhero Captain James Watt, band together to combat threats to the nation, before bringing together a powerful force to combat a greater threat, the evil wizard, Saruman the White!

Before you read the following stories, I shall give you a little history lesson.

Way back in the dark and distance 1970’s, yours truly fancied himself as a comic book artist. Inspired by the likes of Marvel and DC Comics, I created my own super-heroes, and drew (or rather scribbled) my own comics. I later pinched a couple of characters that my brother Michael had created, and the original Power Men, consisting of the likes of Jetson Man, Mr. X and more were born.
   
A couple of years later I began to collect action figures. Like many children I began by collecting Star Wars action figures, before eventually adding figures from numerous others to my collection.
   
But as I began to act out scenes for my collection, I also, along with my brother Paul, began to write stories for them. So, long before Flash Gordon met Mandrake the Magician, the Defenders of the Earth were born. As my collection grew they later became the Defenders of the Galaxy, and among their number were the likes of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Mr. Spock, He-Man, and numerous members of my own family, with yours truly acting as Commander-in-Chief, and Paul as an ageing wizard.. They battled a force led by the evil Supreme One and his ally Skeletor, before moving on to face the likes of the Warzoon and the Monstrons.
   
  
As I moved into my teenage years, I discarded these stories, and once again, along with Paul, moved into the super-hero genre. The wizard “Professor Paul” morphed into Doctor Magus, while “Commander Radbourne” became Captain James Watt, a name suggested by my late father. Some of the original members of the Power Men were added, and the first incarnation of Anglo-Force was born.
   
I can’t remember how many stories we wrote back then, but I do remember that their main villain was established Tolkien evil-doer Saruman the White. Eventually I just got fed up with doing them, and the stories were thrown away. Although I can reveal a little known fact - these stories were almost adapted into comic book form. My cousin Jayne Ellis, a very talented artist, had some contacts who were interested in the stories, and if everything had gone to plan, they would have been published - in Nigeria. Nothing actually came of this though.
   
A couple of years later, Captain Watt and Doctor Magus were rebooted, moved forward a couple of years, and given their own starship in the form of the Valkyrie. The Valkyrie Chronicles featuring some characters based on those who had appeared in Anglo-Force. But like their predecessors, I got bored, and threw the stories away.

Forward now to 1990. I wanted to write these stories again, but I wanted to do something different. Before I had always thought that I couldn’t write two on-going series at the same time. I soon found out that I could.
   
What you about to read are the first few stories of the second incarnation of Anglo-Force, once again written by me and my big brother Paul. At first I had originally intended for it to be a self-contained universe, but then I thought that as I was just doing this for fun why not use characters from other fictional universes. So this volume contains not only original characters (and those created by big brother Michael), but also the likes of Saruman the White, Doctor Who, Q, Davros, and a few others. As I’m not actually asking you to pay money to read this I can use these or any other character I want, and the end of this book helps launch the second series me and Paul re-booted, The Valkyrie Chronicles.
   
This is the first time these stories have been available, in their entirety, to the public, almost twenty years after they were first written on a battered old typewriter. I hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed writing them.

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It’s Ring of Honor time again, and for this review we’re going back to Dayton, Ohio, on April 24th, as Roderick Strong challenges Jerry Lynn for the ROH World title in A Cut Above. As always, Lenny Leonard and Dave Prazak are handling commentary duties, and they’re joined sporadically by current TNA star Nigel Mc****ss, or Desmond Wolfe as he’s now known.

The show began with a very strong encounter pitting current ROH Tag Team Champion Eddie Edwards against former ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson. As soon as I saw on the box that these two were facing each other I thought it would be a cracker, and I wasn’t wrong. This wasn’t the usual quick ROH show opener. There was some tremendous action throughout as they matched each other hold for hold and move for move, and after all of that it only seemed right that Danielson got the win with the simplest of moves, a reversal of a small package. I kind of wondered though why this was the opener.

The four corner survival match featuring Rasche Brown, Silas Young, Matt Cross and Claudio Castagnoli had a hard job following the great opener, and although it featured some good moments, it felt like a let down. It was short and quick, with the mohawk-sporting Young tapping out to Castagnoli’s new finishing move, Swiss sleeper holdings.

The quick action continued with Jimmy Rave taking on Grizzly Redwood, or Big Josh for the 21st century. This was basically a match that was designed to re-establish Rave as a major heel, with Rave getting the quick win with his finishing move after Redwood was distracted by Prince Nana and Ernie Osiris. Redwood was then attacked after the bell, and for some reason old Dirty Ernie ended up stealing Redwood’s boots. I have no idea why. Well, I suppose it succeeded in getting Rave over again.

Tag team action followed with the Phoenix Twins facing Austin Aries and Rhett Titus. Sadly, no Kenny King in this match, although Aries and Titus did a pretty good job as a team, looking solid and dependable as always. The twins, names Tweaks and Dash, looked good, although I had no idea just who was who. This enjoyable encounter finished after Aries took out Tweaks, or was it Dash, with his trademark brain buster. An enjoyable encounter, with the twins showing some promise.

Then came the match I was really looking forward to, with Chris Hero taking on Colt Cabana. A good old fashioned wrestling match here, but then again, that’s what you get whenever Cabana is in the ring. His British influenced style is apparent for all to see. He’s always a delight to watch, and Hero was the perfect foil for him here as they put together a great match, with Hero tapping out to Cabana’s billy goat’s curse submission hold. Just who comes up with the names of these finishers?

Masked newcomer Egotistico Fantastico was up next, going up against cult leader Jimmy Jacobs. Jacobs was sporting an eye patch after his street fight with another masked man, Delirious, on the previous show. This was another of those quick matches, designed to introduce Fantastico to the ROH faithful, and he gave a good account of himself, putting on a good display before tapping out to Jacob’s end time submission. A nice little match, and a welcome change, seeing Jacobs facing someone who wasn’t a member of his Age of the Fall stable.

Then it was the turn of the other Tag Team Champion, Davey Richards, as he faced Tyler Black. This proved to be just as good as the opener, with some tremendous wrestling from both men. Richards has really come into his own since he began teaming with Eddie Edwards, and his work has been outstanding, as was Black’s, who’s really starting to grow on me. Plenty of near falls in this one, with Richards getting the tainted win, countering Black’s super kick attempt with a roll up with a handful of tights. Again, a somewhat simple finisher for an outstanding match, and it worked perfectly. Nice one.

The second tag team match of the show saw the Dark City Fight Club team of Jon Davis and Cory Chavis face Kevin Steen and Jay Briscoe. Steen’s and Briscoe’s regular partners, El Generico and Mark Briscoe, were both out with knee injuries, so it kind of made sense for them to come together and form a hybrid unit of sorts. They worked well together, looking solid as always. Chavis and Davis didn’t look too bad either, and this made for a very good match. The hybrids got the win though. As DCFC were about to double slam Briscoe, Steen, who had got the blind tag, raced into the ring and pinned Chavis with a roll up, once again proving that you’d don’t need a flashy move to finish a good match.

The main event saw Roderick Strong challenging Jerry Lynn for the ROH World title, Strong’s eleventh attempt at winning the big belt. This proved to be the match of the night, with a good beginning that developed into a great storyline after Strong was busted open, hitting the steel barricades after diving off the ring apron attempting to attack Lynn. This one move turned this into a very emotional encounter, with Strong fighting against the odds and his decreasing strength. It wasn’t enough though, as Lynn once again defied Father Time as he matched Strong’s performance, finally taking Strong down after a second cradle pile driver. An outstanding encounter, and worthy of it’s main event status.

Only one extra on this release, the usual ROH Newswire.

In conclusion - despite a couple of dodgy moments, A Cut Above is another strong show from the Ring of Honor crew. While the four corners and Rave squash matches were a tad disappointing, they did accomplish what they set out to do, and the action in the other matches more than made up for those disappointments. In short, A Cut Above would be a worthy addition to any wrestling collection.

With thanks to the powers that be at Ring of Honor for supplying a copy of this release.