It’s been quite a while since I’ve shared some Things I Think. Since I just jumped back down the Castle rabbit hole, and finished off the associated Nikki Heat books, I had the basis for this column. And away we go!

1 – CASTLE STILL SLAMS

Nathan Fillion was a big name on the nerd convention circuit (you know I was a nerd way back when it got you laughed at in school) due to the cult favorite, Firefly. He’d had some attention in more mainstream things such as Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place, but in 2009 a buddy cop show launched him to stardom. He was Richard Castle, a James Patterson-like writer who works with NYC detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic). It’s an odd couple pairing, with the immature Castle constantly annoying the professional driven Beckett.

I like a drama buddy cop show with humor, and Castle is one of the best. There are some over-arching story-lines, and even a big cast change. Humor, original crimes, good cast: this show worked. I’m on season two of my first-ever re-watch, and this is still a favorite show. It holds up, and Fillion really shines. It’s got more humor than his current hit show, The Rookie, which I also watch.

The show ran eight seasons, with viewership trending downward, as is often the case in long-running ones. But it got to where Fillion and Stanic were not even speaking off camera. It was abruptly announced that the show would continue without Katic – only Fillion. Not long after that, it was canceled outright. Several Castle co-stars have appeared on The Rookie. Katic has not been one of them. But you can’t go wrong watching Castle.

2 – HOW ABOUT NIKKI HEAT?

So, on the show, Richard Castle is a thriller writer. He achieved fame with novels about Derrick Storm, a spy-type stud. He kills off Storm in season one, and begins writing about a hot, tough, NYC detective named Nikki Heat. And she’s openly based on Beckett.

Tom Straw, writing as Richard Castle, turned out three Derrick Storm novels, and ten Nikki Heat books. There were also short stories, and graphic novels in the mix.

The Heat novels are essentially like bonus episodes of the show. It’s easy to envision Stana Katic as Heat, and Nathan Fillion as Jameson Rook. The book characters aren’t exact duplicates of the TV show, but pretty similar. The books hit a ‘jump the shark’ period in books eight and nine, but recovered. There were crossovers with Storm, and it was a bit much. But I think any Castle fan will enjoy Nikki Heat.

3 – GRIM DAWN IS PRETTY COOL

I played a TON of Diablo 1, and 2, back in the day. I replaced Diablo with Titan Quest, a really cool ARPG I got many hours on. I finally got around to D3, last year. I liked it well enough. I set aside the Reaper of Souls expansion, however. I then bought Titan Quest II in early access. TQII set aside it’s proprietary engine to use the Unreal Engine. It looks pretty, but it doesn’t have the charm of TQ1.

Which makes it somewhat ironic that I abandoned Titan Quest II, for Grim Dark. The 2016 ARPG was built using the Titan Quest 1 engine, by some former developers of TQ1. And I am enjoying this game far more than I was TQ2.

It’s a mix of pre-Victorian, horror, alien, cowboy, fantasy settings. Which all combine pretty neat. I have a large axe for melee, and a two handed musket for ranged. You can make some decisions with limited impacts on the storyline. Which is pretty railroad. But I like rr. There are side quests, as well as bounties from different factions, so you an mix things up.

You multi-class at level 10, so you can tailor your character to play a couple different ways if you want. Point-and-click games don’t capture me the way they did in D1 and D2 days. But I’m pretty into Grim Dawn. I was looking for something after LA Noire, and this is working for me. Leaving Reaper of Souls, and Titan Quest 2, on the shelf.

4 – AUDIOBOOKS COUNT AS READING

This is a distinction mostly made by obnoxious twits, who want to argue semantics. I am not going to use the term ‘consume books’ so that doofuses who wanna expound on the difference between seeing/reading, and listening.

Yes, reading is a specific experience. But for purposes of enjoying a book, ‘reading’ is a generic term, unless you want to specify a difference. People who get into ‘the listening experience is different’ are exhausting. Like so many on social media.

In January, I finished 9 audiobooks, 4 physical books, and 2 e-books. I would not have been able to get to those nine books, ‘reading.’ 7 of the 9 were first reads. I’d have completely missed out on those.

I just block people who start on about this. It’s not even worth arguing.

5 – DOUGLAS ADAMS WAS A TREASURE

I re-read the first two books of The Hitchchiker’s Guide, listened to audiobooks of them, listeneed to the entire radio series, and continue to listen to the BBC radio plays of the two Dirk Gently novels. And Douglas Adams never grows old for me. The latter Hitchchiker’s books are uneven, for well-documented reasons.

But Adams’ works age well. He had an insatiable curiosity about many things, along with keen insights. I will never outgrow Adams, or Terry Pratchett. I’m going to do a regular column on Aams quotes. Mostly his real life – not his book characters. Douglas Adams wass a rare treasure for our lifetimes. The Black Gate Landing Page, for Adams.

Prior Ten Things I Think I Think
Four Things I Think I Think (May 2025) 
Six Things I Think I Think (March 2025)
Ten Things I Think I Think (January 2025)
Ten Things I Think I Think (December 2024)
Nine Things I Think I Think (October 2024)
Five More Things I Think: Marvel Edition (September 2024)
Ten Things I Think I Think: Marvel Edition ( September 2024)
Five Things I Think I Think (January 2024)
Seven Things I Think I Think (December 2023)
Talking Tolkien: TenThings I Think I Think (August 2023)
A (Black) Gat in the Hand: Ten Things I Think I think (August 2023)
5 More Things I Think (March 2023)
10 Things I Think I Think (March 2023)

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Bob Byrne’s ‘A (Black) Gat in the Hand’ made its Black Gate debut in 2018 and has returned every summer since.

His ‘The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes’ column ran every Monday morning at Black Gate from March, 2014 through March, 2017. And he irregularly posts on Rex Stout’s gargantuan detective in ‘Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone.’ He is a member of the Praed Street Irregulars, and founded www.SolarPons.com (the only website dedicated to the ‘Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street’).

He organized Black Gate’s award-nominated ‘Discovering Robert E. Howard’ series, as well as the award-winning ‘Hither Came Conan’ series. Which is now part of THE Definitive guide to Conan. He also organized 2023’s ‘Talking Tolkien.’

He has contributed stories to The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories — Parts III, IV, V, VI, XXI, and XXXIII.

He has written introductions for Steeger Books, and appeared in several magazines, including Black Mask, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, The Strand Magazine, and Sherlock Magazine.

You can definitely ‘experience the Bobness’ at Jason Waltz’s ’24? in 42′ podcast.