So this blog has been dormant for a very, very long time. 2019 was the last time I posted anything - and even then I only managed two entries before going on hiatus again. Before that it was 2017. I've not done anything regular for *eight* years.
Now I could answer that with some long-winded explanation, which I'm sure could include the phrases "not enough time" and "other priorities". I could promise to do better. But I look back on those kind of posts now with acute embarrassment. Who was I trying to kid ? The honest answer is, I couldn't commit. So, forget it. I was gone. Now I'm back. If only in a very limited way.
I'm not going to be releasing loads of new "content" (god I hate that phrase). Maybe I'll eventually finish "Golden Sunsets" in time for my 60th birthday, after some hefty revisions. Maybe I won't. Who cares. In the scheme of the world right now it's meaningless. Instead this is going to be a place to record something that I've actually already completed.
It all comes back to the one TV series that really defines my life. Let me explain....
As I think I've documented elsewhere, I'd wandered away from Doctor Who after the classic series was cancelled, only really coming back with a vengeance when Chis Eccleston was about to don his black leather jacket.
During those "Wilderness Years" the flame was kept alive by hundreds of original novels featuring all the Doctors. Originally published by Virgin and then subsequently by BBC Books, these were a lifeline for fans who wanted more adventures featuring their favourite characters. Initially billed as "Stories too broad and deep for the small screen", these were tales that were unrestricted by meagre BBC budgets and which could stretch the format into new and (potentially) interesting shapes. But like I said, I had wandered away for pastures new and although aware of their existence, didn't buy or read a single one.
Fast forward to 2005, when I re-inserted myself back into the fandom with vigour. I convinced myself that I had a lot to catch up on. I fervently bought up huge swathes of the novels (at exorbitant prices), like a good little fan trying to redeem himself. The pleasure endorphins hit hard when I slotted the final paperback onto the shelf. There they all sat - every Virgin "New Adventure" (featuring the Seventh Doctor) and every BBC Eighth Doctor story. And they continued to sit like that for years because - of course - I never found the time or inclination to read the damn things and knowing me, probably never would. Sigh.
Until one day in 2022, along came long-time friend Iain Martin (host of multiple podcasts and life-long DW fan). He asked me if I'd like to be part of a podcast aiming to read, review and analyse all of the Doctor Who Virgin New Adventures *and* the BBC Books Eighth Doctor novels. It would be a kind of "book club" - a main longform conversation between Iain and a guest, followed by capsule reviews from multiple readers, each no more than a few minutes long.
This really appealed to me. Here was an opportunity to *make* me read the books, put my feelings about them into words and be part of an ongoing podcast - something which I'd tried a few times before with varying levels of success. I've never really felt comfortable with the thought of just free-wheeling a review conversation for 60 minutes. I'm too socially self-conscious and need time to gather my thoughts. But here was a way I could plan what I wanted to say and record for just a few minutes. It seemed ideal.
Of course by 2022 this kind of review project was a furrow that had been ploughed many, many times before. Some of these books were getting on for thirty years old. Surely there was nothing new to say ?
Well Iain thought the conversations were still worth having. Plus there would be a twist. We would not reading the books in published order. Instead we would go alphabetically by title, jumping around like a demented kangaroo between series and timelines. It would be the world's oddest jigsaw puzzle - with the idea being that ignoring the fictional chronologies of the Seventh and Eighth Doctor would generate some new views and allow people to focus on the book at hand, rather than the series as a whole, or how it fitted into the overall arc (as had often been the case in the past).
It was madness. Especially for someone who has never read any of the books before. Would any of it make sense ? I would likely be reading the end of the story before the beginning. What was I thinking ? Well I was intrigued enough to find out, so with paperback and microphone at the ready, I set off on a most extraordinary journey...
And so that's what I have been doing for the last two and a half years. Reading, reviewing, recording. We tackle between ten and twelve books per series and I've just started recording the next batch for release in 2025. As time wore on, it became evident that the other "book club" members were not as interested as me and they dropped away, until now it's just Iain and his guest and then I'm let out of my box for five minutes at the end (or sometimes even in the middle). I'm 40 novels in, with a LOT more to go and it's going to be years before we finish - but it's genuinely been huge fun so far.
I have a tendency to make detailed notes for each episode as I am reading - verging on a script for my recording session. So I decided that while the podcast episodes are out there and transcripts of those exist, I wanted to have a more permanent, personal place for my written thoughts. I also wanted to be able to expand on things if I felt the need, add some musings on the grand experiment as a whole, etc, etc. However, I didn't want to take away from the episodes themselves, so I decided to wait until there had been a sufficient period of time since release - hence the two year delay.
By the way - I'm only going to release these reviews once a month. Even I can stick to that !
So that's all the preamble out of the way. Below is my first review from episode one, originally released in July 2022. It's worth saying that my notes get a more detailed episode by episode, so for this one I've edited things slightly, but it's a good representation of what was on the podcast. It's a bit crude and short and doesn't have a lot to say - it took me a while to find my rhythm with these. I think I was more conscious of the time constraints rather than necessarily coming up with something meaningful - so bear with me. I personally think these things get a *lot* better !
Alphabetically, the first book is therefore -
Alien Bodies by Lawrence Miles
Originally published in: November 1997
Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Sam
On an island in the East Indies, in a lost city buried deep in the heart of the rainforest, agents of the most formidable powers in the galaxy are gathering. They have been invited there to bid for what could turn out to be the deadliest weapon ever created.
When the Doctor and Sam arrive in the city, the Time Lord soon realises they've walked into the middle of the strangest auction in history — and what's on sale to the highest bidder is something more horrifying than even the Doctor could have imagined, something that could change his life forever.
And just when it seems things can't get any worse, the Doctor finds out who else is on the guest list...
You know, one of the novels everyone has heard about and raves about and apparently is regularly in the top ten of "best" Doctor Who stories. Lawrence Miles is *that* author - this is meant to be something special.
And without getting into a full blown review (because I'm not meant to do that), I can't help but make a few observations.
It's…well it's slow. And perhaps too long. And overwritten. And has a simple idea at it's heart. Yet, it's extremely complex and throws more new ideas at the page than the series had seen in years.
And at time it's almost like the Doctor has wandered out of his own TV universe into someone else's. One that's darker and stranger, but is oddly familiar and yet makes even less sense.
It *loves* the minutiae of the shows continuity. And it has Krotons that are menacing.
And - and - and - heck, back in 1997 this must have blown fans minds !
There's no doubt that it's well written and Miles clearly wants try and do something new. I think he wants to be a cross between Alan Moore and Douglas Adams - there are some lovely turns of phrase in the book and the backwards flashback structure works well - even if Alan Moore kind of got there first with some of the time war ideas (because yes, I AM old enough to remember the back up strips in Doctor Who Weekly).
The problem is, while I know this is only the sixth novel in the range - and the Eighth Doctor only had one TV adventure to try and form his personality - the Doctor in this book just…sits there.
Miles seemed more interested in his world building and new characters than the star of the show.
And thus we come to my main challenge. Because I can see is that I probably would have had a very different relationship and a very different reaction to this book if I had read it back when it was first published, rather than now 25 years later.
I've watched and read a lot of science fiction in my life - especially since 1997 - and many of the concepts presented in "Alien Bodies" have been used elsewhere - even in the revived series of Doctor Who - so what was perhaps new and original back then is now...less so.
I just wasn’t as bowled over by this book as I expected to be, given the importance accorded to it by fandom. It's a shame. Maybe its me. It's not a great start to this series of reviews that's for sure.
Anyway, let's end with some positives and my favourite sections or lines.
Well good old Arthur C Clarke and his Mysterious World gets a mention - so that's a thumbs up from me. And Twin Peaks was clearly on Miles's mind, as we get "the chairs are not what they seem" and "but sometimes my arms bend back"
I also liked the mention of the alien Quirkafleeg - a shout out to Fat Freddy's Cat from the Fabulous Furry Freek Brothers or maybe even ZX Spectrum classic Jet Set Willy ? I'll take either.
But my favourite comes when the Doctor is fighting against the conceptual entity The Shift and the chapter ends with "Then he closed his eyes and switched himself off"...