Doctor Who without the Doctor - The Face of the Enemy

Again we divert from the usual audio fare to dive into written Who. Why? Because this is Pertwee-era without Pertwee. The Face of the Enemy is also pretty highly regarded, and since it takes place at the same time as The Curse of Peladon I figured it was the perfect opportunity.

Besides, a look at ancillary characters without the Doctor about and see how they cope in a situation that greatly needs him sounds right up my street.

Zoe gets all high and mighty, again - The Wheel of Ice

Now for something completely different. Rather than dive into Pertwee I decided to try a little newness. I got The Wheel of Ice ages ago, and since Troughton's audios are few and far between and obviously not full cast, I decided to throw it in here.

For the 50th Anniversary, BBC Books decided to offer some big time sci-fi writers their chance to write Doctor Who. It's pretty rare that publishers bother with anything like that, probably because of money, and I figured it was a good way of diving into the world of Who Lit. After all, how much continuity are these guys going to throw in? They're likely to cater to the wider audience their name recognition garners. The Wheel of Ice is Stephen Baxter's contribution. While I've not read any of his own novels, I have read The Long Earth, a collaboration he did with Terry Pratchett and I loved it.

It's Been A Long Time

Wow it's been a long time since I wrote anything here. Sorry about that. Life's been pretty busy and the blog slipped through the cracks. Mainly because at the end of January I moved back to Dundee. Which is awesome. And my renewed social life is one of the factors.

Unfortunately, my mostly hermit lifestyle in Scunthorpe resulted in my return to hanging out with people giving me one all mighty cold that knocked me on my arse for most of a week. There's also the flat has needed a fair bit of DIY and various other things have needed sorting now I live here. The little time I have found for writing has gone on stories or a part time gig I've got. Also, it's pretty great having easy access to a comic shop again.

Apart from the Hawkeye - which I never stopped picking up and is still immensely brilliant - I'm also getting the new X-Factor because PAD. Black Widow as the art is gorgeous and Nathan Edmondson knows how to do super-spies, but I've only managed to get the first issue so far because I arrived too late and having to pick up second printings. Also New Warriors for more standard superheroics, and it basically being a continuation of Scarlet Spider. As I get into more of them I'll probably have a post about them individually.

TV wise, especially during my cold, has carried on as normal, except I finally finished Spooks. But that definitely gets it's own post. I started King & Maxwell, a series cancelled after ten episodes. But so was Firefly and that was amazing, and I love David Baldacci's King & Maxwell series so I at least needed to try. So far, after the first episode, I can see why it was cancelled. And that one was an adaptation of The Sixth Man, which was great.

Gameswise I've been mostly grabbing the odd half hour in Forza Horizon, which is a fantastic racing game and makes up for Need For Speed: Most Wanted. The one time I have sat down properly with a game was Resonance, a Wadjet Eye published point and click which was bloody genius. While a slow start I hit the halfway point and couldn't stop playing. Easily one of the best point and clicks I've ever played. I feel a bit guilty that has sat in my Steam library for so long untouched.

I also have various plans in the fire for new projects, or returns to old ones. But more news as and when they happen.

Star Trek - Strike Zone book review

Just a quick repost of a small review I did for yet another Star Trek book as part of my Peter David read through, next up was Strike Zone. Actually the book that started this whole thing other than just New Frontier - which was how it started - as someone informed me that the alien species introduced here go on to play a role in the later series.

Strike Zone is interesting but also a little odd - almost like someone decided to write a sitcom episode based aboard the Enterprise. Everything seems to be played for laughs to some extent. Data throws out 'misunderstood' one liners with rapid ferocity. There's actual physical comedy during the big fight scene near the end, which means for the most part you really never take the whole thing seriously.

As it's written in 89 it also suffers from the problem a lot of tie-in novels do when done at the time when the show was in early production. That of some of the characters don't sound quite right. A couple of phrases David injects goes against those that TNG settled on, and he's also pretty brave with a couple of historical moments, such as Klingon politics, that later shows went completely the opposite on. Still I enjoyed it, though I think it might be completely missable, if not for the fact PAD brings back the other alien race, the Kreel, in his later series of New Frontier, which is pretty much why I read it.

Star Trek - Double Helix: Infection book review

As I was reading Double Helix: Infection on Kindle as part of collection, I was shocked at how suddenly it ended. I felt like I wasn't even halfway through the story when all of a sudden things started to wrap up. The story never really got going, the ending was by chance, I just don't feel any sort of resolution from it at all.

Now obviously it's part one of a bigger series so it was never going to be one hundred percent resolved, but you can frame it in a way that offers the individual story closure. The situation on that particular planet could be much better addressed than it was.

Gather around the Captain's Table

The jumping of the time frames is a constant of the Captain's Table series, but it's taken to a new level here as Kirk tells a story set during the 60s series, Sulu (and later Kirk) during the movies, all while the framing story takes place post-movies. For the most part it works well, but I get the feeling L.A. Graf shoe-horned the framing story in. Considering this is meant to be Kirk and Sulu tell their stories to a captive audience, there are times when you'd expect the other to throw in a sly comment, obviously not all the time, but at the end of a chapters when the storyteller shifts. At the end, as their tales finish and we switch back to the framing, nobody seems to care any more everyone having drifted off as the two Starfleet captains finish their story. Jerry Oltion (the only other one I've read so far) handled it much better with a bit of bar-type camaraderie going on throughout.

Back to the New Frontier

Continuing Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and The Excalibur's journey into uncharted Thallonian Space, Martyr sees Calhoun being worshipped as a Saviour thanks to the events of the previous novel, and using that status to try and broker a peace between two warring factions. Of course not everything goes to plan.

Martyr's not quite as strong as the opener, but since that was four books into one I'll allow it. I did like how it shifted the focus of the book to some of the other members of the crew that got a bit of a short straw in the originals.

It's been a long time.

Erm, wow, I've not been here for a while. A whole month without a post. I've got a couple drafted, but I didn't hit publish and I apologise. I've also been working on a sequel to The Sound of Money which is coming along nicely.

Speaking of which, I've also published The Sound of Money on GoodReads and ReadWave, so if you're a fan of either of those sites you can go pick it up there, and it's still free.

Meanwhile I also did a short interview with Dead Space 3 composer James Hannigan over at BeefJack. I've also been disappearing down a big Star Trek hole, but there might be more on that later.

Boldy Going to a New Frontier

A week ago I wrote about reading Pulling Up Stakes by Peter David, aka PAD, mainly because I wanted to show support after his stroke, but then having the wonderful surprise of it being really bloody good. In that I mentioned I was also tempted by Star Trek: New Frontier.

My first geek love was Star Trek. Star Wars later stole it away, but it was the crews of Enterprise D and Deep Space Nine that I thoroughly adored. When I went to university, Voyager was midway through and I quickly lost interest, barely touched Enterprise, and was pretty appalled by Nemesis. But things weren't much better in the other franchise either.

Then there was a saviour. J J Abrams helmed a triumphic reboot of Star Trek and I was reminded how great a series it was. I still didn't do that much other than re-watch my favourite of the older movies and the Borg saga from The Next Generation. As I mentioned in the other Peter David post, I kept glancing toward New Frontier, but never got round to it. Until now. And it was brilliant.

Pulling Up Stakes aka Helping Peter David

I've been a Peter David fan for years. But for some reason, exclusively his Marvel Comics work. I keep glancing at his other stuff - Young Justice at DC, New Frontier for Star Trek - and thinking I should give some of them a go, but I just never seemed to get round to it.

Then the terrible news over the holidays hit. PAD had a stroke, and what with him being an American, Peter's recovery was about to swallow a whole lot of funds. His wife, who has been a trooper keeping fans up to date when it would be so easy to concentrate on the more important things, explained pretty early on that one of the easiest ways to help was to buy his work. My first thought was I was finally going to start New Frontier, but Mrs David laid out several books of PADs that would be more help. The one that seemed most appealing to me was Pulling Up Stakes, a vampire novel dealing with a organised group of Vampire Hunters. The twist being that the main character was also secretly a vampire.

Fallowed Ground

My third short story is now available from Smashwords for all eReaders.

Unlike the previous two that took place in the same universe this is a totally a different setting. A proper sci-fi one. It's also the last of the stories I sat on. Now I need to get writing again.

Fallowed Ground

It is a golden age for Human expansion as they spread across the galaxy, colonising any world they find that is suitable. There is no end to what humanity can accomplish, but arrogance has always been their downfall, and nobody stops to consider what might happen if they choose the wrong world.

Bonus blog description:
Not every planet is barren, and not every territory is relinquished without blood first marking its Fallowed Ground.

That was suggested by Jamie Donnelly to be super cheesy. I love it, but it's not suitable for the story I think.

The Pitch

My second short story, The Pitch, is out. No, I'm not that quick. I may have had a few insecurities about releasing them, and other little things that just stopped me. Once I got The Sound of Money out the door most of those insecurities went with it. Another one will be appearing next week too.

This is a different character to the previous story, Gavin Talbot, who resides on the other side of the law to Nate Taylor.

 Once again it's free for all eReaders. Enjoy and tell your friends.

The Pitch

The Sound of Money

It's been a long time coming but my first short story, The Sound of Money, is finally available for anyone to download. Seriously, anyone, I'm giving this thing away.

See!

I'm in a really odd place right now. But this is one of a few surprises I intend to unleash over the next few days. I'm thinking the next will likely be after New Year now though. But what are you doing here reading this? There's a free book to go claim.

BeefJack: Why Mass Effect fans feel alienated

Another of my articles is up on BeefJack. Changing the world: Why Mass Effect fans feel alienated. All about how Bioware blundered with the latest Mass Effect book. Really proud of this one, original version was written last week when I was quite outraged at the whole affair. Monday was spent IMing with the editor, Lewis Denby, and made it ten times better.

Struggled for ages with the title though. That's not even mine. The one I left it with was "Mass Effect Deception: How to Lose Fans and Alienate Gamers" Lewis obviously wasn't keen on my reference.

Back with the Whole Truth

I'm finally resurrecting this place, never actually meant to abandon it in the first place, just got busy and kept saying to myself that I'd do something as soon as something big came out. Then Iron Man and Dark Knight came along and it had been so long since I'd written for the place that I forgot. With Smith and me forcing each other back into writing, and Smith doing a better job I'm ressurrecting this place. So on with a review of David Baldacci's The Whole Truth.

Baldacci goes from playing in Grisham's backyard and steps up to a more Tom Clancy arena. I'm not sure for the better either. Normal Baldacci protagonists are ex-Government agents investigating murders or Washington conspiracies and its all quite low key. Sure near the end there'll be a chase scene with the CIA agents or the President nearly getting assassinated but it was always the slow build.

Here we've got a psychopath that some Shady Organisation has managed to tame by placing a tracking device in his head and threaten to kill if he steps out of line and a alcoholic reporter. The reporter works quite well, but the characterisation of Shaw, the aforementioned psycho, just never seems to quite work. He just comes across as a indestructible thug with a soft spot that's exploited for story purposes.

The plot seems disconnected as well, Shaw and Katie, the reporter, are running around totally ignoring the main plot until Shaw's soft spot is taken advantage of, even then they're on the back foot right until the last minute. The way they finally deal with the guy behind it all is good but it felt like they'd almost fluked the victory more than anything.

If you're a fan of Baldacci then its good, but if you're new to him I'd suggest going with Camel Club or Split Second.

Finally an update

I feel I’ve been letting my geek responsibilities (not to mention my general blogging ones) down recently. Thing is, I’ve not had anything major to write about. Watched the odd Smallville and kept reading my comics, but nothings really got me angry. So I’ve figured I better start covering subjects that impressed me.

First up is Whedon’s X-Men. Late to the game but earlier this month I bought the first trade and it was amazing. I know many people have said it but I’m just adding my voice to the choir. Colossus and Kitty were fantastic and Wolverine acted like Wolverine, which actually made me realise how bad X3’s portrayal of him was. It felt like the X-men should do. If you’re an X-Men fan or a Whedon one and you haven’t already I urge you to go get it!

Second, we have Star Wars: Republic Commando books. I know I said I was barely touching the Star Wars books anymore but Republic Commando the game blew me away with how good it was and the first book got quite a good review so I picked it up (BTW, I never did pick up that other series based after New Jedi Order, hive minded insectoid Aliens = Rubbish!). The first book is a straight forward, behind enemy lines infiltration op the second a lot more in depth deep cover investigation. I’m amazed at how different to the other novels they feel. They read exactly like most Special Ops books I’ve read, only difference is it’s based in a sci-fi universe. This is something I’ve been crying out for ever since we got the Rogue Squadron books, and thank god we’ve got them. They’ve managed to restore some of my love for Star Wars.

Last, we have Civil War. Two issues in and it’s fantastic. Captain America is kicking so much arse and being cool about it, Spider-Man’s reveal shocked me, took me a few days to process that one. Personally I’m enjoying this far more than I did Infinite Crisis.

Star Wars New Jedi Order

The New Jedi Order has come to end and was it any good? Muh. Ok so it came to an end quite a while ago but I’ve only just got round to reading the last book so nurr. Personally I think that the whole thing was hit and miss.

A bit of a confession first. In general conversation I always blame the prequels for my fall (or should that be rise?) from hard core Star Wars fan to almost normal levels but to be honest it’s the prequels and the New Jedi Order books. My problems with it, well I just got really sick of a lot of what the series was basing itself around. Planets that were important to Star Wars as a whole were getting wiped off the map, I appreciate that this had to be done to show how bad the Yuuzhan Vong were, just don’t agree to the extent it was done. Coruscant I believe needed to happen, as much as it saddens me they did that to such an important part of Star Wars mythology it did need to happen. But ALL the other planets? I think they went a bit overboard.

I actually stopped reading the books just before Anakin’s death (Star by Star). They’d built him up so much and was easily the most interesting character during the whole thing to date I just got so annoyed and stopped dead. For about a year. I finally did pick up Star by Star and Anakin’s death blew me away, I’m not sure if I’ve read a better death. This nicely brings me onto one of the good things the series accomplished. The growth of the new generation. Like I just said it really looked like the only person who was growing was Anakin (Kyp Durron looked like he’d had a total personality reversal to me), upon his death everybody else got meaning, Kyp swung round, Jania went on a dark journey (buh-dum-ch), Jacen stopped being a whiney little git and Tahiri went through a shed-load and that was damn interesting.

Corran’s return bugged me though. I love the character but the only people who can write him properly are his creator Michael A. Stackpole and his buddy Timothy Zahn. Stackpole wrote him out in a very good way. I felt his reappearance later on just didn’t feel right.

The Yuuzhan Vong. Too many cooks spoil the broth. It took forever for these guys to actually mean something. For the first half I got no real feeling who they were or about, just sadistic bastards who liked mutilating themselves and enjoyed killing things, especially droids. Once again it was halfway through that it got good. Finally we got a sense why they were like they were, we understood why they were invading. By the very end I actually really enjoying the Yuuzhan Vong.

From where New Jedi Order started and where it ended what do we have? Well a shit load of property damage to the Star Wars universe, major growth of the Solo twins, and the Jedi Order finally comes to mean something in the post movie world. The amount of planets bug me, but looking back on it now I realise that I expected this saga to make the Jedi’s mean something and actually develop the new generation. That was done, even though it still was Luke, Leia and Han save the galaxy a bit, it’s getting less so.

All done, I like where the series ended up, took too long to get going though. However I don’t like where Star Wars books are now. With this and Clone Wars it looks like they’re going to be huge sagas spanning many books, I hope it doesn’t become the norm. New Jedi Order also gets the unfortunate honour of me no longer buying every Star Wars book anymore because of it. As it stands now I’m not getting any Star Wars books unless they have Michael A. Stackpole, Timothy Zahn or Aaron Allston as authors. Which of course gives me a problem because Allston is writing parts 4-6 in a series of 9. Ahh whom I’m kidding I’ll get all nine parts.