Second paragraph of third chapter: ‘What’s what?’
The last (so far) Bernice Summerfield novel, published in 2014, this is apparently tied into an audio box set that I haven't yet heard. I didn't mind. It's set on a spaceship called the Adorable Illusion, with Benny disguised as a disgraced fellow-archaeologist for Reasons and a motley assortment of ( Read more... )

Second paragraph of third story ("Earth", by Jim Mortimore)It hunched on a plain of black glass beneath a dully shining, blotched red globe which covered three quarters of the sky. A human being from the twentieth century might have recognised the creature as an ant, though they certainly wouldn't have recognised the cool, bloated orb which the hot ( Read more... )

I've fallen a bit behind with bookblogging again, so here's the start of an attempt to catch up before the end of the month/year. For the last few years, I've gradually and systematically working through the published Doctor Who novels; I had a lapse in writing them up at the height of Clarke Award concentration last year, but kept on reading. This ( Read more... )

I came to this just after reading Volume 6 of TARDIS Eruditorum, which has a chapter excoriating this book. It's not as bad as all that. I think Gary Russell is one of the better Who writers currently in action; granted, this book is from 18 years ago, his first for the Past Doctors range, but it shows his potential. I'm also a bit baffled by the ( Read more... )

Dear lord, it's 25 October and I have not blogged a single book so far this month - and I have finished 11 so far, though four of those are Clarke submissions which won't be recorded here except by Greek letter.

Anyway, to this novel, which is actually the only original Who novel to feature the Celestial Toymaker (The Nightmare Fair is based on ( Read more... )

Having praised both the Sarah Jane Adventures on television and the associated audiobooks, I thought I should try the 11 novelisations - the pilot, the five stories of the first season, the first two from the second season, one from the third and two from the fourth. Apparently the first ones sold rather poorly, so the decision was made to adapt ( Read more... )

I resolved some time back that if I ever did a rewatch of New Who, i should start with The Curse of Fatal Death and should include all the dramatic presentations, to choose a potentially wideranging term, that fit into the general sequence. Before the glorious return of Doctor Who to the screens in the person of Christopher Eccleston, the BBC ( Read more... )

Another of the 2-in-1 Doctor Who books published last year, the vaguely common theme being reptiles - dinosaurs in the first story, space snakes in the second.

4) Terrible Lizards, by Jonathan Green

An attempt at homage to Conan Doyle's Lost World - the Doctor, Amy and Rory find themselves on a ship carrying explorers to seek the Fountain of ( Read more... )

Russell is generally one of the better writers of Who spinoff fiction (the novelisation of the TV movie, the Torchwood novel The Twilight Streets, the Tenth Doctor / Wilf novel Beautiful Chaos) but this early Missing Adventure is not a hit. Aliens who look exactly like cats plan to tear the earth in half, as you do, but are stymied by the fact that ( Read more... )

I noted recently that there were only two Sarah Jane audiobooks which I had not yet listened to, so went out and gt them; and then through some brainstorm actually loaded the MP3 player with one I had already heard rather than either of the new ones.

February Books 5) The Time Capsule, by Peter Anghelides

I noted in September 2009 that this is ( Read more... )