Rec: The Road to Shalka (installments 6,7, and 8)
Title: Back from the Dead, The Honey Trap, and Children of the Sanctum
Author: Soldeed
Word Count: ~74000 words in 3 installments
Author's Summary:
Back from the Dead - A military expedition goes missing on an uninhabited planet, and the Doctor must find the cause before it is too late. But is there anyone he can trust to help him?
The Honey Trap - While the Master plots and schemes in the depths of the TARDIS, the Doctor and Alison must trace an ancient evil to its source. Betrayal leads to sacrifice, and nothing will be the same again.
Children of the Sanctum - How does the cult of the Sanctum persuade wealthy young people to join its ranks and sign over their whole lives to its service? And what secret does it keep hidden at its heart, secreted behind concrete walls and razor wire?
Rating: All Ages
Warnings: None
Recc-ed because: This may be cheating a bit. Four years ago when calufrax was just starting up, one of my very first recs was for this series. Back then it was only five installments, brilliant as they were, and you can read about them in my old post.
But nearly four years after completing those five, Soldeed returned to Richard E. Grant's WebCast Ninth Doctor with three new stories, the first one labeled, fittingly, "Back from the Dead," and one of the creepier stories I've ever read. I could not be more pleased because this series is in all honesty, the Season that Webcast Nine never got. It is brilliant. Sparkling dialogue, vivid descriptions, creative settings, the best blend of Space Opera and standalones, and brilliant OCs. These latest three stories (and actually, Part 5 too, I suppose) may better be labeled "The Road From Shalka", as they pick up the story after the webcast tale and take us through introductions, partings, old friends and new faces. If you are in the mood for a Doctor Who adventure, with alien planets and monsters and snark and enemies and mysteries and a dead brilliant Doctor characterization as well as everyone else, even if you've never heard of this AU Ninth Doctor or Scream of the Shalka before, I bet it's still worth your while to take a few weekends and read these stories from start to finish. Or if you read the old series and didn't see the new ones posted, check them out, as they continue to impress. Or if you're familiar with the Shalka characters, you can also read the last three tales in this series without the backstory of the first five (but you're missing out!).
Any way you slice it, Web!Nine's universe is so much richer for having these gems.
Excerpt (from 'Children of the Sanctum'):
“I don’t know what they did to you in there,” Crombie broke in, “but it’s obviously the same thing they did to Doctor Castle. Try and get a grip.”
The Doctor frowned at him in vexation, then tucked his chin down onto his chest and leaped lightly forward, striking with two stiffened fingers at a point between Crombie’s shoulder and his heart.
The soldier recoiled by a matter of inches and stood there glaring at him suspiciously, unaffected.
“Blast,” the Doctor muttered. “I wish I could remember how to do that.”
Crombie shoved him in the chest with one thick-knuckled hand, sending him stumbling back to crash down heavily into the heavy equipment stowed at the far end of the truck.
“Now stay there,” he rumbled.
The Doctor glared up at him and fished into his pocket, extracting a silver device the size and shape of a ballpoint pen.
“Since you’re keeping me prisoner, you might as well confiscate this,” he snapped.
“What is it?”
Crombie approached cautiously. The Doctor flipped the gadget over in his palm.
“It’s a sonic screwdriver. It’s useful mainly for opening things. Like these tear gas canisters for instance.”
Author: Soldeed
Word Count: ~74000 words in 3 installments
Author's Summary:
Back from the Dead - A military expedition goes missing on an uninhabited planet, and the Doctor must find the cause before it is too late. But is there anyone he can trust to help him?
The Honey Trap - While the Master plots and schemes in the depths of the TARDIS, the Doctor and Alison must trace an ancient evil to its source. Betrayal leads to sacrifice, and nothing will be the same again.
Children of the Sanctum - How does the cult of the Sanctum persuade wealthy young people to join its ranks and sign over their whole lives to its service? And what secret does it keep hidden at its heart, secreted behind concrete walls and razor wire?
Rating: All Ages
Warnings: None
Recc-ed because: This may be cheating a bit. Four years ago when calufrax was just starting up, one of my very first recs was for this series. Back then it was only five installments, brilliant as they were, and you can read about them in my old post.
But nearly four years after completing those five, Soldeed returned to Richard E. Grant's WebCast Ninth Doctor with three new stories, the first one labeled, fittingly, "Back from the Dead," and one of the creepier stories I've ever read. I could not be more pleased because this series is in all honesty, the Season that Webcast Nine never got. It is brilliant. Sparkling dialogue, vivid descriptions, creative settings, the best blend of Space Opera and standalones, and brilliant OCs. These latest three stories (and actually, Part 5 too, I suppose) may better be labeled "The Road From Shalka", as they pick up the story after the webcast tale and take us through introductions, partings, old friends and new faces. If you are in the mood for a Doctor Who adventure, with alien planets and monsters and snark and enemies and mysteries and a dead brilliant Doctor characterization as well as everyone else, even if you've never heard of this AU Ninth Doctor or Scream of the Shalka before, I bet it's still worth your while to take a few weekends and read these stories from start to finish. Or if you read the old series and didn't see the new ones posted, check them out, as they continue to impress. Or if you're familiar with the Shalka characters, you can also read the last three tales in this series without the backstory of the first five (but you're missing out!).
Any way you slice it, Web!Nine's universe is so much richer for having these gems.
Excerpt (from 'Children of the Sanctum'):
“I don’t know what they did to you in there,” Crombie broke in, “but it’s obviously the same thing they did to Doctor Castle. Try and get a grip.”
The Doctor frowned at him in vexation, then tucked his chin down onto his chest and leaped lightly forward, striking with two stiffened fingers at a point between Crombie’s shoulder and his heart.
The soldier recoiled by a matter of inches and stood there glaring at him suspiciously, unaffected.
“Blast,” the Doctor muttered. “I wish I could remember how to do that.”
Crombie shoved him in the chest with one thick-knuckled hand, sending him stumbling back to crash down heavily into the heavy equipment stowed at the far end of the truck.
“Now stay there,” he rumbled.
The Doctor glared up at him and fished into his pocket, extracting a silver device the size and shape of a ballpoint pen.
“Since you’re keeping me prisoner, you might as well confiscate this,” he snapped.
“What is it?”
Crombie approached cautiously. The Doctor flipped the gadget over in his palm.
“It’s a sonic screwdriver. It’s useful mainly for opening things. Like these tear gas canisters for instance.”