Short Trips: Steel Skies, ed. John Binns
Second paragraph of third story ("Reversal of Fortune", by Graeme Burk): Mikhail laughed so hard he began to cough. For an instant his vital signs became bee-bop-syncopation and arrhythmia.
The theme of this book is explorations of closed environments, and how the Doctor's arrival might change them (or not). I couldn't help but think that the steel sky as a concept is closely related to the TV studio where the programme is actually made. Anyway, the book is divided into four sections each exploring different aspects of this idea; each of the four had a standout story for me, to wit:
1) "A Good Life", by Simon Guerrier, where neither the villagers nor their apparent imprisonment turn out to be exactly what the Eightht Doctor and Charley expect;
2) "No Exit" by Kate Orman, where a group of colonists have had their reproductive freedom brutally restricted, but what can the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan do about it?
3) "Doing Time", by Lance Parkin, where convicted prisoners end up worse off than before despite/because of the Fourth Doctor and (first?) Romana;
4) "Cold War", by my old friend Rebecca Levene, where a participant the human/Silurian conflict undergoes agonising twists of perception witnessed by the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Bernice Summerfield.
No particular turkeys either, I'm glad to report.
Next in this sequence would have been Short Trips: Past Tense, ed. Ian Farringdon, but I read it in 2006. So it will instead be Short Trips: Life Science, ed. again by John Binns.
The theme of this book is explorations of closed environments, and how the Doctor's arrival might change them (or not). I couldn't help but think that the steel sky as a concept is closely related to the TV studio where the programme is actually made. Anyway, the book is divided into four sections each exploring different aspects of this idea; each of the four had a standout story for me, to wit:
1) "A Good Life", by Simon Guerrier, where neither the villagers nor their apparent imprisonment turn out to be exactly what the Eightht Doctor and Charley expect;
2) "No Exit" by Kate Orman, where a group of colonists have had their reproductive freedom brutally restricted, but what can the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan do about it?
3) "Doing Time", by Lance Parkin, where convicted prisoners end up worse off than before despite/because of the Fourth Doctor and (first?) Romana;
4) "Cold War", by my old friend Rebecca Levene, where a participant the human/Silurian conflict undergoes agonising twists of perception witnessed by the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Bernice Summerfield.
No particular turkeys either, I'm glad to report.
Next in this sequence would have been Short Trips: Past Tense, ed. Ian Farringdon, but I read it in 2006. So it will instead be Short Trips: Life Science, ed. again by John Binns.