quipxotic

I finished Jane Austen at Home last week. It was very good as a straight-forward biography, but I particularly liked Lucy Worsley's focus on the physical evidence left behind by Jane Austen, such as her homes, furniture, small personal items, and (of course) her letters. Where there are gaps in the evidence (thanks in no small part to Jane's sister, Cassandra, burning many of Jane's letters), Worsley turns to materials (books, letters, etc.) written by Austen's contemporaries to take a look at what life was like for women, particularly unmarried women, of that time period. She also looks at other Jane Austen biographies, particularly those written by the Victorian members of the Austen family as they tried to shape their aunt's reputation so that it fit the ideals of their own time. Anyway, it's a wonderful book and I highly recommend it to any of my fellow Janeites, as Worsley puts it.

I went home to visit mom this weekend, which is always stressful and tiring, so I skipped listening to the more serious Circe and instead listened to the new Star Wars book Master & Apprentice by Claudia Gray. Long story short: I devoured the whole 11-hour audiobook in about three days, so I definitely liked it. Although Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi are the Master/Apprentice at the center of the story, almost as important are Qui-Gon's relationships with his own teacher, Count Dooku, and with Dooku's previous padawan, Rael Averross. Gray also lays some ground work for Obi-Wan's relationship with his future apprentice, Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, and Luke Skywalker's with Ben Solo/Kylo Ren. It's a multi-generational story that plays with similar themes as the now (sadly) no longer canon Jedi Apprentice book series: how different Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are; how their views of life, the Force, the Jedi, and everything clash without either of them being completely in the wrong; how bad they both are at communicating with each other; and, most importantly, how much they care about each other despite all that.

I said it was lighter than Circe and, while that's true, Master & Apprentice deals with a lot of serious (or as serious as Star Wars gets) topics. Is the Republic corrupt or a force for good in the Galaxy? Why do the Senate and the Jedi Council allow slavery to continue in the universe? Are ancient Jedi prophecies true glimpses into the future or are they traps leading to the Dark Side? What is the duty of a Jedi: to follow his conscious or to follow his mandate? (And if I have one complaint about this book it's that it is almost always his - other than being fridged, female Jedi hardly figure in it). Anyway, it's an interesting story with several twists that I didn't predict. If audiobooks are your thing, this one is read by Jonathan Davis, the same voice artist who read the outstanding Rogue One novelization, and he does just as good a job with this book as with that one.

I've also watched the TV series of Good Omens but I'll refrain from writing about it now in case any of you are trying to avoid spoilers.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: "Good Omens Opening Title" - David Arnold

After a lot of planning and outlining, I'm actually at work at "Hill House Five." It's just really slow going and feels doubly so since I've written all of it before with a different TARDIS team in my now abandoned "Hill House Eight." I'd hoped to be able to use more of what I'd written previously than I think I'll be able to, which is a bummer. Want an example of why? Under the break I'm going to post the beginning of the second chapter of both versions. The second chapter because I haven't written the first, a "present day" intro featuring the Twelfth Doctor, Bill, and Nardole, yet. None of it's scintillating, it's all just setting up the setting and the situation, but for a few chapters that are all having to do the same work the changes are interesting, at least to me.

And just one more warning, all of this is really rough, so I'm sure it has all sorts of errors and issues. I guess what I'm saying is reader beware.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: "The Red Room" (Haunting of Hill House) - The Newton Brothers

I've had a week of day-long meetings after which I couldn't word any more, so I haven't written anything lately. Last week I finished off the drabbles for the Third Doctor audios "Primord" and "The Scream of Ghosts." Of the two stories, "Primord" is my favorite - having Liz Shaw and the Brigadier back in the audios is such a treat. And, since I have a long weekend coming up, I'm hopeful to spend part of that working on "Hill House Five" a bit.

I've started a few audiobooks during the time I haven't been writing. I just finished Doctor Who: The Faceless Ones by Terrance Dicks, the novelization of the Second Doctor serial where Ben and Polly leave the TARDIS. It's one of those stories that is so bizarre that it probably works better as a book than on TV and I enjoyed it, although it's an interesting choice to have the two departing characters practically disappear for the greater part of the story. Then there's Jane Austen at Home: A Biography by Lucy Worsley, who is one of my favorite British historians. And finally, there's Circe by Madeline Miller. I'm only a few chapters in on that one, so it's a little too soon to say, but I'm enjoying Circe's voice and all the threads of Greek myths that Miller weaves through the story.

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: "Breathing Fire" - BAD CHILD

I had a great time listening to "Dark Eyes 2" and writing a whole bunch of drabbles for it this week. The set has some weaknesses, but overall all four stories are solid, enjoyable in their own ways, and offer a lot of variety in both theme and setting. I had forgotten how much Liv has changed since these audios (which are her second, third, and fourth appearances) and what great chemistry she and Molly had together. It's a shame Ruth Bradley's other acting projects essentially meant Molly was written out of Dark Eyes 3 and 4; I would have liked to have had many more Molly and Liv stories. I wonder if this is the first and only time all of the TARDIS crew have had some kind of medical training (with Molly being a World War I era nurse and Liv being a MedTech)? Eight's meeting with Alex Macqueen's Master in "Eyes of the Master" is delicious, of course, and "Time's Horizon" is one of the best Eminence stories Big Finish has created. Plus, I really like the Eighth Doctor's arc. He starts out nearly as light and Tiggerish as during the early Charley Pollard stories and ends up...well, not that.

I also wrote some drabbles for "Torchwood: Green Life" featuring John Barrowman's Captain Jack Harkness and Katy Manning's Josephine Jones. Jo and Jack make a great odd couple team and it's an all-around good story that can be enjoyed whether or not you've seen the Third Doctor serial "The Green Death."

This weekend I'll hopefully have a chance to write some drabbles for the "Third Doctor Adventures vol. 5." Both stories in the set are enjoyable and Jon Culshaw's Brigadier and Daisy Ashford's Liz Shaw are fantastic. I know there's a lot of debate in Doctor Who fandom about recasting the roles of actors who have died. Personally, I don't have a problem with it if it's done with care and respect, which has certainly been the case for this volume and the Second Doctor stories where Elliot Chapman plays Ben Jackson. On the other hand, I don't like what Big Finish has done with the recasting for the first First Doctor crew because Carole Ann Ford and William Russell are still alive and performing.

Anyway, back to the Third Doctor set, one of the few negatives for me has been hearing how anti the Jo Grant/Mike Yates ship Katy Manning is (which comes up in the behind the scenes interviews for vol. 5 and recently in her social media posts about the set). She's obviously entitled to have opinions about the character she's played since 1971, it's just I don't have a lot of ships and this is one I like. It won't stop me from shipping it, but it does make me sad.

I'm also going to try to get back into writing Hill House Eight this weekend, which I'm going to have to change to Hill House Five. I just had too many problems making Liv and Helen work in that setting and I'm hoping that I'll have better luck with Tegan and Nyssa. And while Five isn't Eight, there are similarities, which will hopefully allow me to keep some of the aspects that made me want to write the story in the first place.

On the audiobook side of things, I finished Persuasian last weekend. It was fantastic, but then it is my favorite of Austen's books.

Current Mood: sad
Current Music: "Before I Let Go" - Beyoncé

After working on them some last week and in between football matches today, I've finally finished the drabbles for Scratchman. They're spread between the Fourth and Thirteenth Doctor drabbles and hopefully do a decent job of encapsulating some of the batshit scenarios in that book.

Big Finish has a sale on Master audios going on for the next few days. I won't describe them in detail (I tend to do that all the time over on Tumblr and it gets old to talk about the same audios over and over), but I'll mention a few briefly. Click on the link above if you want the sale link and password because I'm going to be linking to the regular story pages below.

There are several really good Short Trips in the sale. "I Am the Master" was both written and read by Geoffrey Beevers (aka "the crispy Master") and is told completely from the Master's point of view. Even if you know nothing about this version of the Master, it's well worth picking up for its both hilarious and horrifying look at why the Master does what he does. Two of my favorite Fifth Doctor Short Trips, "The Toy" and "The Gardens of the Dead," are included. "The Gardens of the Dead" focuses on Turlough soon after he's joined the TARDIS crew and his conflicting desires (to survive the deal he made with the Black Guardian by killing the Doctor, and to embrace this opportunity to find a place where he's accepted). "The Toy" is a stand-alone adventure that also digs into Nyssa and the Doctor's pasts on the home planets they've both lost. "The Switching" is a Third Doctor era body-swap story and it's a lot of fun.

If you haven't picked up the cross-Doctor trilogy of "And You Will Obey Me" (Fifth Doctor), "Vampire of the Mind" (Sixth Doctor), and "The Two Masters" (Seventh Doctor), you really should. It's one of the best main Doctor Who range trilogies Big Finish has ever done and features both the Beevers Master and Alex Macqueen's version of the Master. I'm also very fond of the Fourth Doctor & Leela stories "Requiem for the Rocket Men" and "Death Match" which introduce a potential love interest for Leela named Marshall.

Dark Eyes volumes 2-4 are included in the sale. Vol. 2, which introduces Liv to the Eighth Doctor, is one of my favorites of that storyline. Vol. 3 is the weakest of the bunch, despite featuring an amazing audio where the Macqueen Master and the Eighth Doctor have to work together to escape a self-destructing spaceship. Vol. 4 is a bit of a mixed bag, but it has "A Life in the Day" which is among my favorite John Dorney stories.

"Smoke and Mirrors," the Fifth Doctor story in the "Destiny of the Doctor" series is included, as are the War Master box sets, and box sets from the UNIT, Gallifrey, River Song, and Missy ranges. "Dust Breeding" is in there too; it's an odd Seventh Doctor and Ace story that I feel differently about every time I listen to it, but it's certainly worth the $.99 they're asking for.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: "Monsters" - Los Coast

I've finally finished listening to the Fourth Doctor story Scratchman by Tom Baker. It's not a good book, but in parts it's very enjoyable, frightening, and utterly bizarre. What comes through in abundance is the Doctor's (and I suspect Tom Baker's) great love for his role and his two companions, Sarah Jane Smith (played by the late Elisabeth Sladen) and Harry Sullivan (played by the late Ian Marter). It's that love that gives the story a mix of wistful melancholy and joyous nonsense. Tom Baker's performance on the audiobook is delightful and makes the whole thing much stronger than it otherwise would be. It's a performance that almost makes up for a plot that makes no sense and the overabundance of similes. Oh so many similes! I'm not against them as a rule, and some of the ones in this book are very good (or surprising, or evocative), but when they appear seemingly ever other sentence even good ones get old. There are Time Lords in abundance here too, but they're cardboard cutout villains and after a while they become more a formality than a threat. There are some interesting cameos - versions of the First, Second, and Third Doctors play a role, the Tenth and Thirteenth Doctors show up briefly, and the Fifth is mentioned. The Thirteenth Doctor's appearance is particularly touching. The whole book is a bit like someone took all their favorite elements of Doctor Who, shook them all up, and dumped them out into story. Who knows, maybe that's exactly what Tom Baker did? Still, this is probably not a book for a casual fan; but fans of Tom Baker and his Doctor, have at it.

Last week I finished writing dabbles for UNIT Encounters. Unlike most UNIT audios, this set contains four separate stories rather than one overarching one. This makes it a whole lot harder to write for as each of the one hour stories is a lot tighter and there are fewer gaps for me to fill; but they're good stories with some interesting ideas.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: "Supersonic" - Walden

I love Dracula. I own a couple of copies, from a second-hand paperback version to an annotated hardback to a combo app/interactive game/e-book type thing, and of course I've watched various films and TV shows based on it. I'm aware of its faults and issues, but it's one of those stories I love despite everything.

For the last few weeks I've been listening to Audible's full-cast version before I go to sleep. You know what's really annoyed me this time? The men repeatedly mentioning how glad they are that they're "saving" Mina by not telling her anything they're doing to combat Dracula. I suspect it's the actors' performances that make that repeated theme come across as so condescending and smug, but somehow it's never had as much impact on me before.

Anyway, I just made it through that part and into the section where they're destroying the coffins of dirt, meaning the end is in sight. on the whole I've really enjoyed this version, especially the voice actors who are all spectacular.

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This weekend was busy on the drabble-writing front, including:

The Second Doctor, Jamie, & Victoria Short Trip “Year of the Drex Olympics;”

The Fifth Doctor & Nyssa audio “Moonflesh;”

And the recent Seventh Doctor & Mags story “The Monsters of Gokroth.”

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: "Papercuts" - Tedious & Brief

This is cross-posted from Tumblr, so if you've seen it there you can ignore it here. (I mean...you can ignore it even if you haven't seen it there, but you know what I mean.)

It’s Peter Davison‘s birthday and Big Finish are doing a Fifth Doctor sale. If you’re new to the Fifth Doctor there are some excellent audios in this list that are perfect introductions to this version of the Doctor and his companions. Just a brief note: I’ll link to the pages for each audio below, but if you want the sale price you’ll need to go through the link above (CELERY is the access code if it asks for one).

The Memory Bank and Other Stories (Five and Turlough) - Turlough is one of my favorite companions. He’s devious and self-centered, which makes his moments of honesty, self-sacrifice, and nobility all the more deliciously amusing and makes him a wonderful foil for the Fifth Doctor. This audio is a collection of four short stories, all of which are enjoyable. My favorite is the first one, “The Memory Bank,“ because it gives you a bit of Turlough’s backstory.

The Peterloo Massacre (Five, young Nyssa, and Tegan) - This story is set during August 1819, a period of growing conflict between businessmen and their employees. I won’t say much more for fear of spoilers except that, while historicals are a bit hit or miss with me, this one is quite good. If you like more character-driven stories, this one is for you.

Aquitaine (Five, young Nyssa, and Tegan) - Perhaps my favorite Fifth Doctor story ever. It’s got all kinds of elements I love: a spooky setting, a creepy mystery, interesting science fiction elements, and a cool robot. But the best part of this one is the relationship between the three leads. It’s a perfect introduction to the Fifth Doctor, if you’re looking for one.

The Waters of Amsterdam (Five, young Nyssa, and Tegan) - This one is set immediately after “Arc of Infinity,” when Tegan rejoins the team. While not one of my favorites, it’s a decent story that provides a bit more backstory for Tegan and what her life was like after she left the TARDIS at the end of “Time-Flight.“

The Secret History (Five, Vicki, and Steven Taylor) - Although this is a very good audio, it’s probably not ideal for new fans of either Doctor Who or the Fifth Doctor. It’s also the last audio in a trilogy that finds the Seventh, Sixth, and Fifth Doctors time-shifted into adventures originally experienced by their Third, Second, and First selves (respectively). However, if you are a fan of the First Doctor, timey-wimey shenanigans, or Byzantine history, you will probably enjoy this story.

The Entropy Plague (Five, older Nyssa, Tegan, and Turlough) - This is the last story in an E-Space trilogy, so if you’re not also going to pick up “Mistfall‘ and “Equilibrium,” you’ll want to skip this one. If you do plan on listening to this audio, listening to “Prisoners of Fate” beforehand will help you understand the situation with Nyssa’s family. Although this audio is important in Nyssa's timeline, in my opinion it’s not particularly strong as a stand alone story.

Equilibrium (Five, older Nyssa, Tegan, and Turlough) - Second story in the E-Space trilogy and, unlike “The Entropy Plague,” this one can be listened to as a standalone story. This is another of my favorite Fifth Doctor audios because of the focus on the relationships between the four leads. It’s also very atmospheric, complete with a castle on a frozen world, a royal court that hides a dark secret, and a problem that even the Doctor can’t solve.

Mistfall (Five, older Nyssa, Tegan, and Turlough) - First story in the E-Space trilogy and a sequel (or perhaps more accurately, a prequel) to the Fourth Doctor TV story “Full Circle.“ Although this isn’t a favorite of mine, it’s an interesting story that can be enjoyed even if you haven’t seen “Full Circle” (which I haven’t).

The Fifth Doctor Adventures Volume 01 (Five, Adric, young Nyssa, and Tegan) - This box set is a bit of a mixed bag. I hated the first story, “Psychodrome,” but the second one, “Iterations of I,” is another of my favorite Fifth Doctor audios. “Psychodrome“ is set immediately after the Fifth Doctor’s first TV story, “Castrovalva.“ The TARDIS crew is so OOC in this audio and I suppose that’s on purpose - meant to show that they’ve not yet grown into the team they’ll eventually become - but to me it was just annoying. “Iterations of I“ is a haunted house story with a bit of math and 1980s technology mixed in. Again, the highlight of this audio is the relationships between the main characters, but it’s also the story that made me fall in love with John Dorney‘s writing.

Tomb Ship (Five and young Nyssa) - This isn’t my favorite TARDIS team BUT I love this story. It’s basically Doctor Who does Indiana Jones in space and is so much fun.

1963: Fanfare for the Common Men (Five and young Nyssa) - This one for me was pretty forgettable, but a lot of people like it. Imagine a version of the 1960s where the Beatles are replaced by a mysterious group called the Common Men. Sound interesting? Then you may want to give this one a try.

The other audios in the sale are “Moonflesh” and “Masquerade,” both Fifth Doctor and young Nyssa stories, but as I’ve not listened to either one I can’t tell you anything about them. All offers end April 18th.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: "No Myth" - Michael Penn

I've only listened to it once, but "Ravenous 3" may just be the best audio box set I've ever heard from Big Finish. With most box sets, there's one dud and three good stories. All four stories are fantastic this time around (mild spoilers below):

The first story, "Deeptime Frontier," is legitimately terrifying. I was sitting at my desk at work in the broad daylight and I was honestly scared. That's never happened to me before and I've listened to all of the "The Omega Factor" audios.

"Companion Piece" is just as delightful and funny as I hoped it would be and is far more suspenseful than I expected.

"L.E.G.E.N.D" I'm going to have to spend more time with, but I definitely enjoyed it. The Eleven joining the Eighth Doctor's TARDIS team is so much fun.

"The Odds Against" has so many twists that I had no idea what was going on until the end. Plus, having the Nine's previous incarnations arguing with the Eleven's previous incarnations is something I never knew I wanted.

I'm sure I'll write more about it as I have time (work is kicking my ass this week), but so far I love it.

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: "Dernière danse" - Indila

There are a lot of interesting sounding audios coming out this month, so I'm going to squee at you a bit about them.

Doctor Who: Ravenous 3 - This one comes out Monday (MONDAY!!!!) and its the audio I'm most excited abut. It's a continuation of the current Eighth Doctor/Liv/Helen storyline and features three villains: the deliciously evil the Eleven, an earlier version of the same Time Lord (called the Nine), and the Ravenous. The Eleven and all of his (or her) previous and future incarnations have regenerative dissonance, meaning all of their previous selves exist in their head simultaneously with their current self. It's an interesting take on regeneration and the ways it could go wrong. We're still learning about the Ravenous, but what we know so far is that they are monsters from Time Lord fairy tales who eat temporal energy and whose preferred diet includes Time Lords. As a result, most Time Lords (the Eleven and the Eighth Doctor included) have a nearly uncontrollable fear of the Ravenous. Fairy tales are very much the theme for this storyline; the previous volume included a two-part story featuring the Krampus and this one has an intergalactic version of the Brothers Grimm. On top of all that, there's an episode where Liv and Helen team up with future and past Eighth Doctor companions Charley Pollard, Bliss, and River Song.

UNIT: Incursions - The big draw for this one is River Song, but there's also evidently multiple versions of Kate Stewart, a dinosaur, and a return to one of UNIT's dirty little secrets, Abbey Marston.

Torchwood: The Green Life - I don't generally listen to Big Finish's Torchwood audios (I was never a fan of the series when it was on the air), but this one has Captain Jack teaming up with Jo Jones (previously Jo Grant, one of the Third Doctor's companions). Jo on the TV series isn't one of my favorite companions, but I love Big Finish's version of Jo. They've just fleshed out her character so much more and Katy Manning, who plays her, is fantastic.

Doctor Who - Short Trips: Year of the Drex Olympics - The Second Doctor learns Venusian aikido from a group of nuns! (Or so they've teased in other stories. We'll see if that's really what this one is about.)

Doctor Who: The Monsters of Gokroth - This is the first of a trio of stories featuring the Seventh Doctor and a relatively minor character from one of his TV serials, Mags from "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy." I watched that story for the first time recently and wasn't impressed. That said, Mags was an interesting character. I'm cautiously optimistic that these stories will do for her what the previous Fifth Doctor stories did for Kamelion.

Things that I have so far resisted the siren song of:

Dark Shadows: Bloodline - I grew up a HUGE Dark Shadows fan, which is probably the most on-brand thing ever for me. I mean, come on - vampires, werewolves, ghosts, witches, curses, time travel, creepy houses on windswept cliffs overlooking the ocean, and low production values all wrapped up in a vaguely nonsensical, campy soap opera. I've listened to a few of Big Finish's Dark Shadows audios and they're a mixed bag as far as quality. However, the series that preceded this one, Bloodlust, was very enjoyable. This series picks up not too long after that one, with the Collins family's resident dumpster fire of a descendant, David Collins, marrying his childhood sweetheart, Amy Jennings. All the Collinsport regulars will be there, including the supernatural ones, and I'm sure the whole thing will go off the rails in no time. :-)

Gallifrey: Time War 2 - This one was released last month but I'm including it here so I can talk about it. On the pro side of the ledger, I enjoyed the previous set in this series. I also have a Time War drabble collection I'd love to add to and in this set they're bringing back Rassilon, who I love to hate. There's also a story by Una McCormack, who is one of my favorite Doctor Who writers. On the con side, I'm not a big Gallifrey fan. Most of the characters I really cared about (Ace, Leela, Brax, and the War Master) exited in the previous set of audios in dramatic, if not permanent, fashion. The only regulars left are Romana and Narvin and I don't feel overly compelled to find out what happens to either of them.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: "Blood" - Mindchatter

Drabbles for the audiodrama version of the Seventh Doctor/Ace/Benny story "Theatre of War" are now online. Originally the story was a novel in the Virgin New Adventures range, and it's my favorite of that series so far. I've been in a bit of a Bernice Summerfield kick lately since listening to and writing for "The Eighth of March" set. I don't dislike Benny, but she's not a favorite of mine either, which is why I haven't written much for her previously. But I hate having only one or two drabbles featuring a companion in a set; it feels vaguely disingenuous to list them among the characters in those situations. So I've been listening to a few audios featuring her to bulk up her representation in the drabbles. Probably no one but me notices or cares about things like that, but like I said, it bothers me.

Work on "Hill House Eight" continues. I've done a bit of plotting today and working through character sketches to iron out some things I need to figure out to move forward in the story.

On the audiobook side of things, I've listened to almost all of the Lord Peter Wimsey radio dramas. Having just finished Busman’s Honeymoon, I'm now going back to the beginning to listen to the radio drama versions of the first stories. I'm also continuing with Dracula and beginning Doctor Who: Scratchman written by Tom Baker. Yes, the Fourth Doctor wrote a Fourth Doctor story. So far it's...interesting, also idiosyncratic and a bit scary. But it features one of my favorite Fourth Doctor teams (Four/Sarah Jane Smith/Harry Sullivan), so I couldn't resist giving it a try.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: "Semi-Automatic" - O Mer

Big Finish launched their redesigned website today, although why anyone would launch anything on April 1st is beyond me. The company may be regretting it now too as it seems the change broke the connection with their app, Paypal, and a whole bunch of other things needed to make their business run. I bet they're really glad they put on hold their pricing changes for international customers; fans are irritated enough without adding price hikes into the mix. And again, I can't understand why they thought doing both on the same day was a good idea. Does no one at Big Finish have any experience with change management?

Even as annoying as the situation is, I feel for them. You can test sites on development servers all you want, but there's nothing quite like going live to bring all your underlying issues to light. Not to mention that everyone hates change, even if it's change for the better in the long run. Me? I don't hate the new site. If it isn't Drupal then it's very Drupal-esque, which means that most things are in logical locations and the site should be more accessible. My biggest frustration is that it's now more difficult to find the older audios. Plus, the difference between what they call "collections" vs the series they list under the "audiobooks" top menu navigation isn't really clear. They obviously aren't the same thing because selecting the "Eighth Doctor Adventures" under audiobooks doesn't give you the same results as "The Eighth Doctor Collection." Anyway, I'm sure they'll get it all sorted out. In the meanwhile, I don't envy their social media or web development staff.

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On the fan fiction front, the drabbles for the audiodrama version of the Seventh Doctor story "Love and War" are now online. I've also added a drabble each for the Seventh Doctor Short Trip "Doctors and Dragons" and the Sixth Doctor story "Loud and Proud."

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: "Changes" - David Bowie

I did a bunch of driving today which, if it's good for nothing else, is at least good for thinking. So here's what I'm going to try with Hill House Eight:

"The Haunting of Hill House" TV show has a funky structure. Each of its first five episodes jumps forward and back in time to focus on events concerning one of the five siblings. I'm going to try to do the same, with the first three chapters focusing on each of my Doctor Who characters (Eight, Liv, and Helen). I'd actually considered doing this originally but decided it was too much work. Well, I've got a whole lot of nothing happening in the story right now and a lot of work can't be worse than that.

That doesn't mean that this isn't the stupidest thing I've ever done in a fic ever. But oh well...it's just fan fiction.

I'm also going to push it back in the Eighth Doctor's timeline. Instead of happening sometime after "Ravenous 2," I'm going to place it after "Doom Coalition 1." That means I'll need to rewrite all the Helen bits, but I didn't have much written for her anyway. It also means I can bring up Molly O'Sullivan and Martin Donaldson a bit more in connection to Liv since the story will be happening closer to the events of "Dark Eyes."

Current Mood: blah
Current Music: "I'm on My Way (with Francesco Turrisi)" - Rhiannon Giddens

...and also on my fan fiction, which is currently stuck. Continue onward for writing whining and "The Haunting of Hill House" spoilers.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: frustrated
Current Music: pictures (feat. Kacey Musgraves) - Judah & The Lion

Let's see, what have I been up to lately...

I've got a couple of audiobooks that I'm listening to at the moment. I've started working my way through the Lord Peter Wimsey books by Dorothy L Sayers and I like them, for the most part. I'm also listening to Audible's version of Dracula, which is narrated by a full cast including Alan Cumming as Dr. Seward and Tim Curry as Van Helsing.

As far as fan fiction goes, I've posted drabbles for the Fifth Doctor audio "The Kamelion Empire," the Seventh Doctor/Bernice Summerfield story "The Hesitation Deviation," and the Seventh Doctor TV serial "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy," which I watched for the first time this weekend. Of those three, "The Kamelion Empire" was the standout by far. It focused on the relationships between the Fifth Doctor, Kamelion, Tegan, and Turlough, which means lots of juicy conflict and hard-won friendship. The story's writer, Jonathan Morris, also gave a fairly good in-story explanation for why Kamelion disappears from the TV series for so long, which is a nice, geeky extra. "The Hesitation Deviation" is good also, but I'd listened to it for the first time months ago and am just now getting around to writing for it. As for "The Greatest Show on Earth"...well, I'd say it was a disappointment but I wasn't really expecting much based on the gif sets floating around. It's not a story I'll be in a hurry to watch again.

Today I finished listening to the audiodrama version of Love and War. I've tried to listen to it before but found it too depressing. This time it was fine - not a favorite, but okay. I'm starting to think the Virgin New Adventure books aren't really for me; the only one I've really liked has been Theatre of War. Anyway, I'll probably write drabbles for Love and War later this week.

"Hill House Eight" is not dead but it's...stuck. I keep trying to get it unstuck, but I'm starting to think I have some basic structural issues that need to be addressed/changed. I don't know...I guess we'll see.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: "Missed Connection" - The Head and the Heart

Drabbles for "The Eighth of March," the female-led audio drama set from Big Finish, are now online:

"Emancipation," a River Song and Leela story;

An Ace, Benny, and TARDIS episode called "The Big Blue Book;"

And a UNIT story called "Narcissus."

There's also a Paternoster Gang episode called "Inside Every Warrior" that I'm not sure I'm going to write anything for. I don't really have anywhere to put the drabbles, for one thing; and besides, it was my least favorite story of the set. Not that it wasn't enjoyable, it just didn't make a lot of sense once you start thinking about the plot.

All the other stories were very good and improved with repeated listening. I hope we get a set like this every year.

Current Mood: working
Current Music: "Girl" - Maren Morris

I've never been a big fan of the Daleks. I know that's practically sacrilege for a Whovian and I can name a few Dalek stories that were really good, but on the whole the Daleks have rarely frightened me. Cybermen, on the other hand, regularly scare the bejeezus out of me. There's something about their almost-humanity (minus emotions) that is really horrifying. They are my favorite of the classic villains, which is why I've been listening to the audiobooks for their first two TV stories.

I started with Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet by Gerry Davis. This was William Hartnell's last story as the Doctor as well as being the first ever appearance of the Cyberman. I had high hopes for this one and, long story short, I was pretty disappointed. It's a basic "base under seige" story and I usually like those, despite the fact that they tend to follow a certain pattern: the Doctor and friends show up somewhere by accident and are taken prisoner by suspicious military types who blame them for whatever issue is currently going on; the leader is obstinate and won't listen to reason despite multiple attempts to alert him to the true situation; the real threat shows up and wipes out a considerable amount of the population; the Doctor and his friends rally the survivors and save the day.

The book hit all those points like clockwork so it's pretty predictable, but that's not the only problem. It's also a very character-lite story. The Doctor doesn't feature in it much and, while I'm sure that's because Hartnell was ill at this point of the series, I don't see why they couldn't have fleshed his role out a bit for the novelization. Anyway, he's rather absent and that makes the story feel less like Doctor Who and more like your average 1960s science fiction. Polly doesn't get to do much of anything other than make coffee; she does have one scene where she fearlessly confronts the Cybermen but otherwise she's just there to ask questions. Ben is the only one who really takes an active role. To make things worse, unlike the Daleks who appear fully formed in their first story and don't change all that much throughout the rest of the series, the Cybermen aren't quite themselves yet. They aren't clever and, despite their numbers and relentlessness, they aren't that difficult to defeat.

As far as the audiobook version, Anneke Wills does a fantastic job with the narration and voicing all the characters, as always. But I'd say this one is only really for die hard First Doctor fans or completists who have to listen to or read every story in order.

In some ways the next appearance of the Cybermen, Doctor Who and the Cybermen by Gerry Davis, is the exact same story as Tenth Planet. It takes place in a base under siege, just on the moon rather than in the Antarctic. The base is staffed by scientists rather than the military, but the chief is still gruff, suspicious, and obstinate. Once again the Doctor and his friends are suspected of sabotage, but that's where the similarities end. Unlike its predecessor and despite the fact that Jamie is injured for the first half of the story, all four of the leads have plenty to do. Polly and the Second Doctor in particular have a lot of good scenes and interactions. One of my favorites for Polly is when she's redoing her nails (no really) while being held prisoner (as you do) and makes the connection between the Cybermen's plastic chest units and the chemical makeup of her nail varnish. She uses that information to cook up something to use against them and calls it "Cocktail Polly."

As for the Second Doctor, he's his usually sweet, befuddled, and yet sneakily frightening self. The Cybermen are more like they'll be for the rest of the series: cunning, cold, and implacable. The action is far less predictable, even if the science doesn't really hold up, and the dialog is better. All in all, it's a much more enjoyable read (or in my case, listen).

Edit to add: by the way, according to Doctor Who and the Cybermen, the events of Tenth Planet take place in 1986. So what were you doing during the first Cybermen invasion?

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: "No Plan" - Hozier

February was such a mess for me both personally and professionally that I'm just now getting caught up with my fandom interests and writing. Last week I added some drabbles for various Short Trips (those are Big Finish's Doctor Who short stories) and other audios:

"The Astrea Conspiracy," the first Twelfth Doctor story on Big Finish, was released at the end of February. It's a historical about Aphra Behn, who I'd never heard of before, and it's read by Neve McIntosh who plays Madame Vastra in the series. It's good and I certainly enjoyed it, although the ending is a bit anticlimactic. The drabbles for that audio begin here.

"The Revisionists" came out in January and features the Fourth Doctor, Leela, and the Brigadier teaming up to hunt ghosts in a hotel. I really liked this one, in part because it allows Leela and the Brig to get to know each other. I also enjoy the story's overarching theme about how a person's ancestors can impact their present/future. Drabbles for that audio begin here.

"The Devil's Footprints" came out in December 2018 and features the Seventh Doctor and Melanie Bush. I've got mixed feelings about this one; it comes across as a bit unfinished, but it is very atmospheric and there are some good bits for Mel in there. The drabbles for it begin here.

And while it's not a Short Trip, I might as well mention that the drabbles for the Fifth Doctor/Tegan/Turlough/Kamelion stories "Black Thursday / Power Game" are also online. "Black Thursday" is a historical about a coal mine disaster and "Power Game" features a mysterious 1980s game show.

Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: "Sisyphus" - Andrew Bird

Let me tell you about the first book I've had to return to Audible.

So, there are all these First and Second Doctor episodes that are lost due to their tapes being overwritten by the BBC. A few stories have surviving soundtracks and are being animated (beware: there are spoilers at that link for "The Macra Terror") to fill in the gaps, but there's a lot that are just gone. Which was why I was really excited to see that Audible carried novelizations for several of these stories. If you're interested, they also have episode audio with linking text describing the action, but I find those really hard to follow since the audio quality varies.

I picked a couple of stories that I've always wanted to see, including "The Myth Makers" which is a First Doctor/Vicki Pallister/Steven Taylor story. I love found families, it's one of my favorite tropes, and this TARDIS team is clearly one. The relationship between Vicki and Steven in particular is written as loving but occasionally argumentative sibling relationship. Plus it's one of the few instances where all of the Doctor's companions are from the future, with Vicki being from the 25th century and Steven perhaps coming from the 24th century (although the stories are a bit vague on that point). This leads to subtle changes in the dialog of episodes - Vicki and Steven don't need as much explanation of technology as say Barbara and Ian (the two school teachers from the 1960s who leave just as Steven joins the crew), but do need lots of explanation of historical events.

"The Myth Makers" is also notable because its Vicki's last story and it's set during the Trojan War. As someone who only lacked a couple of classes in Greek to get a double-major in Classics, the prospect of Doctor Who at Troy has always been thrilling. Which is part of why it's so disappointing that I had to return this audiobook without even finishing it.

First of all, the narrator of this story is Homer who is telling a visitor about events he witnessed as a young man during the siege of Troy.

Sigh. Where to begin...

Okay yes, there's a lot that's not known for certain about Homer or the Trojan War. But Homer's Iliad is generally dated to around 750 BCE and most historians and archeologists think the Trojan War, if it happened at all, was ca. 1250 BCE. While I don't expect complete historical accuracy from Doctor Who, that's quite a gap. To add to that, Donald Cotton (the author of this novelization) makes Homer, who is know in tradition if not in fact as a blind poet, sighted in his youth. Homer is also evidently very aware of 1960-80s English idioms and technologies, both of which he references frequently. It's even implied that he traveled with the Doctor in the TARDIS at some point between his time at Troy and his telling of this story.

These are all choices you can make, of course - this is science fiction not a historical drama. And I might have forgiven it all if the three main characters hadn't been written so OOC that I began to suspect that Mr. Cotton had never actually seen a First Doctor episode in his life. In this telling, the First Doctor is foolish and pompous, which he can indeed be, but is without any of his intelligence and wit. Steven is almost unrecognizable - instead of the kind, intelligent former pilot who is very aware of what he doesn't know we get an utter misogynist who talks down to Vicki and is snide to the Doctor. And poor Vicki gets reduced to a peevish child who, when she isn't getting written out of the early part of the story, screams a lot.

I have read many (many, many) fan fiction stories with more accurate characterizations. So no...back it goes.

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Music: "If I Go, I'm Goin" - Gregory Alan Isakov

Borrowed from sanguinity and based on my results on this sorting quiz:

( Read more... )

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: "Nerve" - Night Lights

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Recent Entries

Star Wars and Jane Austen, But Not in That Order

Hill House Eight vs Hill House Five

Third Doctor (and books, books, books)

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Random Thoughts

Fifth Doctor Audio Sale

Now a Word from the Management

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Theatre of War and Other Things

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No live organism can can continue to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality...

Silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House...

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The Eighth of March

A Tale of Two Books

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The Myth Makers

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