I’m way behind with bookblogging, and not likely to catch up for a couple of weeks, which is a shame as it’s more or less the tenth anniversary of my starting this uplifting habit. Anyway, this is the index for October 2013, the 120th month in which I have logged every book I read on Livejournal.

Non-fiction 5 (YTD 40)
The Girl: A Life in the Shadow of Roman Polanski, by Samantha Geimer
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, by Mary Roach
A Book of Silence, by Sarah Maitland
The History of the Hobbit vol 2: Return to Bag-End, by John Rateliff
The Last Mughal, by William Dalrymple

Fiction (non-sf) 3 (YTF 37)
The Far Side Of The World, by Patrick O'Brian
The House of the Seven Gables, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Flood, by Ian Rankin

SF (non-Who) 6 (YTD 56)
Conjure Wife, by Fritz Leiber
The Subtle Knife, by Philip Pullman
Mortal Clay, Stone Heart and Other Stories in Shades of Black and White, by Eugie Foster
Returning My Sister's Face, And Other Far Eastern Tales of Whimsy and Malice, by Eugie Foster
Odd and the Frost Giants, by Neil Gaiman
Equal Rites, by Terry Pratchett

Doctor Who, etc 15 (YTD 62)
Catastrophea, by Terrance Dicks
Warchild, by Andrew Cartmel
The Slow Empire, by Dave Stone
The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage, by David Landy
Invasion of the Bane, by Terrance Dicks
Revenge of the Slitheen, by Rupert Laight
Eye of the Gorgon, by Phil Ford
Warriors of Kudlak, by Gary Russell
Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, by Rupert Laight
The Lost Boy, by Gary Russell
The Last Sontaran, by Gary Russell
Day of the Clown, by Phil Ford
The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, by Gareth Roberts
The Nightmare Man, by Joseph Lidster
Death of the Doctor, by Gary Russell

Comics 4 (YTD 28)
De Sigaren van de Farao [Cigars of the Pharaoh], by Hergé
De Blauwe Lotus [The Blue Lotus] by Hergé
Fables Vol. 17: Inherit the Wind, by Bill Willingham
De Zwarte Rotsen [The Black Island], by Hergé

~6,900 pages (YTD 56,800)
5/33 (YTD 63/224) by women (Geimer, Ropach, Maitland, 2x Foster)
2/33 (YTF 10/224) by PoC (2x Foster)

Rereads: The Subtle Knife, Equal Rites, Invasion of the Bane, Revenge of the Slitheen, Eye of the Gorgon, Warriors of Kudlak, De Sigaren van de Farao, De Zwarte Rotsen – 8 (YTD 23)

Acquired 2011 or before: 17 (YTD 86) – Conjure Wife, The Far Side Of The World, The House of the Seven Gables, Catastrophea, Warchild, The History of the Hobbit v.2, A Book of Silence, The Flood, The Lost Boy, Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, The Slow Empire, Warriors of Kudlak, Invasion of the Bane, Eye of the Gorgon, Revenge of the Slitheen, Equal Rites, The Subtle Knife
Acquired 2012: 3 (YTD 28) – Fables Vol. 17: Inherit the Wind, Odd and the Frost Giants, The Last Mughal
Acquired 2013: 13 (YTD 110) – De Zwarte Rotsen, The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage, De Blauwe Lotus, Death of the Doctor, The Nightmare Man, The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, Day of the Clown, The Last Sontaran, De Sigaren von de Farao, Mortal Clay, Stone Heart, Returning My Sister's Face, The Girl, Stiff

Reading now:
About Time: The Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who, 2005-2006; Series 1 & 2, by Tat Wood
Reamde, by Neal Stephenson
The Watchers, by Stephen Alford (2013)
Reading the Oxford English Dictionary, by Ammon Shea

Coming next, perhaps:
Isaac Asimov, by Michael White
Jacob Have I Loved, by Katherine Paterson
Streetlethal, by Steven Barnes
There Will be Time, by Poul Anderson
The Wise Man's Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss
Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
Eyeless in Gaza, by Aldous Huxley
Guns, germs, and steel, by Jared Diamond
Looking for Jake and Other Stories, by China Mieville
The Truth Commissioner, by David Park
The Devils / The Possessed, by Fyodor M. Dostoyevsky
Le Chat du Rabbin Tome 1, by Joann Sfar
Letters from Father Christmas, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Do Elephants Ever Forget?, by Guy Campbell
Anglicizing the Government of Ireland, by Jon G. Crawford
The Road to Middle-Earth, by Tom Shippey
334, by Thomas M. Disch
The Secret River, by Kate Grenville
Essays on Time-based Linguistic Analysis, by Charles-James N. Bailey
[Doctor Who] Nightdreamers, by Tom Arden
[Doctor Who] Sleepy ,by Kate Orman
[Doctor Who] Dark Progeny, by Steve Emmerson

1996:

TV
The Movie

Books
Doctor Who – The Novel of The Film (8)
Doctor Who – The Script of the Film (8)
Just War (7)
Warchild (7)
SLEEPY (7)
Death and Diplomacy (7)
Happy Endings (7)
GodEngine (7)
Christmas on a Rational Planet (7)
Return of the Living Dad (7)
The Death of Art (7)
Damaged Goods (7)
Bad Therapy (7)
Downtime
The Man in the Velvet Mask (1)
The English Way of Death (4)
The Eye of the Giant (3)
The Sands of Time (5)
Killing Ground (6)
The Scales of Injustice (3)
The Shadow of Weng-Chiang (4)
Twilight of the Gods (2)
Speed of Flight (3)
The Plotters (1)
Cold Fusion (5,7)
Who Killed Kennedy?
Decalog 3: Consequences

Audio
Doctor Who and the Ghosts of N-Space

The first Who from 1996 that I encountered: The Scales of Injustice, shortly before I watched The Movie for the first time.

My favourite Who from 1996: We have to acknowledge the importance of The Movie for providing a glimmer of hope, as well as much distraction. But there are a number of good books in this range, and I will single out The Sands of Time as an excellent fifth Doctor story. Honorable mentions to The Man in the Velvet Mask, Who Killed Kennedy?, Decalog 3: Consequences, Downtime, Just War and The Eye of the Giant.

Moving swiftly on from: The Plotters. Meant to be funny but I couldn't get past the anachronisms.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

Current
The Watchers: A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth I, by Stephen Alford
Reading the Oxford English Dictionary: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages, by Ammon Shea
Reamde, by Neal Stephenson
About Time: The Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who, 2005-2006; Series 1 & 2, by Tat Wood

Last books finished
The History of the Hobbit vol 2: Return to Bag-End, by John Rateliff
The Last Mughal, by William Dalrymple
Equal Rites, by Terry Pratchett
[Doctor Who] The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage, by David Landy
Day of the Clown, by Phil Ford
The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, by Gareth Roberts
The Nightmare Man, by Joseph Lidster
Death of the Doctor, by Gary Russell
De Zwarte Rotsen [The Black Island], by Hergé

Next books
[Doctor Who] Nightdreamers, by Tom Arden
Isaac Asimov: A Life of the Grand Master of Science Fiction, by Michael White (2005)
Jacob Have I Loved, by Katherine Paterson

Books acquired in last week
The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage, by David Landy
Anglicizing the Government of Ireland, by Jon G. Crawford

• Latest #DoctorWho Missing Episodes Rumours #fb
  
  I don’t know what to believe any more…
  (tags: doctorwho )
• Here’s Why Drug Policy Reform Is Gaining Momentum
  
  Prices for illegal drugs falling despite increased seizures.
  (tags: politics )

1995:

Books
Warlock (7)
Set Piece (7)
Infinite Requiem (7)
Sanctuary (7)
Human Nature (7)
Original Sin (7)
Sky Pirates! (7)
Zamper (7)
Toy Soldiers (7)
Head Games (7)
The Also People (7)
Shakedown (7)
The Romance of Crime (4)
The Ghosts of N-Space (3)
Time of Your Life (6)
Dancing the Code (3)
The Menagerie (2)
System Shock (4)
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (1)
Invasion of the Cat-People (2)
Managra (4)
Millennial Rites (6)
The Empire of Glass (1)
Lords of the Storm (5)
Decalog 2: Lost Property
Doctor Who Yearbook 1996

The first Who from 1995 that I encountered: Human Nature was posted quite early to the BBC website, and I lapped it up. Correction: I had already read, but not especially enjoyed, Invasion of the Cat-People which I bought around 2002.

My favourite Who from 1995: Evolution, bringing the Fourth Doctor together with the young Arthur Conan Doyle.

Moving swiftly on from: Toy Soldiers.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

Xavier Bettel enjoying a relaxed weekend with his partner before taking up office

So is his main coalition partner, Labour leader Etienne Schneider (article from Spanish gay magazine).

Of course, we Belgians got there first.

• They’re all going to laugh at you
  
  @NussbaumAbigail on Much Ado About Nothing.
  (tags: shakespeare )
• The Internet Archive’s historical software collection
  
  For @MarioFannio in particular!
  (tags: history computers )

Travel both last week and at the weekend has made me way behind with bookblogging, so I shall be trying to catch up over the next few days. I may not quite get there by the end of the month though.

The Blue Lotus really is the first proper Tintin book – a huge step up from Cigars of the Pharaoh. Hergé takes Tintin to the real 1931 Japanese invasion of China, and is firmly and passionately on the side of the Chinese, both versus the Japanese and the Europeans in the Shanghai concession (one of whom in real life would have bee a very young J.G. Ballard). Apparently this came about because a priest who worked with Chinese students at Leuven contacted Hergé out of concern that the promised adventure in China would be as stereotypical as the previous volumes; and through him, Hergé met Zhang Chongren, who was effectively Hergé’s co-artist for the Chinese parts of the book, and is also the basis for the character of Chang here and in Tintin in Tibet. Suddenly the political orientation of Tintin has veered very sharply to the left.

But there’s also a step change in quality of plotting and of art. There’s one rather silly scene where Tintin hospitalises three burly guards, and Thomson and Thompson provide some slapstick comic relief, but otherwise this is a book that takes story-telling seriously and uses the right tools to do it in the right way. It’s unfortunate in a way that it ties up some dangling plot strands from Cigars of the Pharaoh, because it is so much better.

I think I actually had not read it before – none of the incidents rang any bells for me, and I see that it was not translated into English until 1983 precisely because it was thought to be too firmly rooted in events of 1931 which would be unknown to today’s younger readers. But in fact the themes of military domination and corrupt occupation are, unfortunately, pretty timeless.

1994:

Books
Doctor Who – The Paradise of Death (3)
Conundrum (7)
No Future (7)
Tragedy Day (7)
Legacy (7)
Theatre of War (7)
All-Consuming Fire (7)
Blood Harvest (7)
Strange England (7)
First Frontier (7)
St Anthony’s Fire (7)
Falls the Shadow (7)
Parasite (7)
Goth Opera (5)
Evolution (4)
Venusian Lullaby (1)
The Crystal Bucephalus (5)
State of Change (6)
Doctor Who: Galaxy 4 (1)
Doctor Who: The Crusade (1)
Decalog
Doctor Who Yearbook 1995

Audio
Whatever Happened to Susan Foreman?

Comics – exceptionally; I don’t normally track them in these posts but this one is a little different
The Age of Chaos (6), by Colin Baker

The first Who from 1994 that I encountered: I read Blood Harvest and Goth Opera in May 2006, and listened to Whatever Happened to Susan Foreman? shortly after.

My favourite Who from 1994: I love the Cthulthu crossover novel All-Consuming Fire tremendously, with No Future, where the Meddling Monk poses as Richard Branson, not far behind.

Moving swiftly on from: None of these, of those that I have read, is actually all that bad. The plot concept of Theatre of War is a bit ludicrous though.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

1993:

Books
Doctor Who – The Power of the Daleks [novelisation] (2)
Doctor Who – The Evil of the Daleks (2)
The Highest Science (7)
The Pit (7)
Deceit (7)
Lucifer Rising (7)
White Darkness (7)
Shadowmind (7)
Birthright (7)
Iceberg (7)
Blood Heat (7)
The Dimension Riders (7)
The Left-Handed Hummingbird (7)
Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks  [script] (2)
Doctor Who: Ghost Light (7)
Doctor Who Yearbook 1994

TV
Dimensions in Time

Audio
The Paradise of Death (3)

The first Who from 1993 that I encountered: God help me, I watched Dimensions In Time when it was first broadcast. I was 26 and newly married.

My favourite Who from 1993: Lucifer Rising, by one of my favourite Who writers (though he has done a lot of other stuff) Andy Lane, just shades it over John Peel’s late novelisation of The Power of the Daleks and Iceberg by Cyberleader David Banks.

Moving swiftly on from: The Pit, which is really one of the worst Who books I have ever read. Really, if you cringe at Dimensions in Time (and who doesn’t?) or The Paradise of Death, this is in a completely different category.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

1992:

Books
Cat’s Cradle: Time’s Crucible (7)
Cat’s Cradle: Warhead  (7)
Cat’s Cradle: Witch Mark (7)
Nightshade  (7)
Love and War  (7)
Transit (7)
Doctor Who: The Masters of Luxor (1)
Doctor Who: The Dæmons (3)
Doctor Who Yearbook 1993

The first Who from 1992 that I encountered: The script of The Masters of Luxor, the unmade story from 1963. If they’d done that instead of the Daleks, well, I wouldn’t be writing this series of posts because the show would have ended in 1964!

My favourite Who from 1992: In the year when the New Adventures really started to get into their stride, it’s a tough choice between Nightshade and Love and War, and since this is my project I can just refuse to choose. I like them both a lot.

Moving swiftly on from: Cat’s Cradle – Witch Mark, which has the worst cod-Celticism in the entire Whoniverse, even including the story of The Five Leafed Clover.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

1991:

Books
Doctor Who – Battlefield (7)
Doctor Who – The Pescatons (4)
Timewyrm: Genesys (7)
Timewyrm: Exodus (7)
Timewyrm: Apocalypse (7)
Timewyrm: Revelation (7)
Doctor Who Yearbook 1992

The first Who from 1991 that I encountered: I read the Timewyrm books in 2006, starting with Genesys.

My favourite Who from 1991: Doctor Who – Battlefield – I am really not a fan of the TV story, bu the novel works really well. The Timewyrm books are hugely important as the start to the New Adventures; Paul Cornell’s Timewyrm: Revelation is the best.

Moving swiftly on from: Doctor Who – The Pescatons (as I said before).

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

1990:

The first of the wilderness years…

TV
Search Out Science: The Ultimate Challenge

Books
Doctor Who – Planet of Giants (1)
Doctor Who – The Happiness Patrol (7)
Doctor Who – The Space Pirates (2)
Doctor Who – Remembrance of the Daleks (7)
Doctor Who – Mission to Magnus (6)
Doctor Who – Ghost Light (7)
Doctor Who – Survival (7)
Doctor Who – The Curse of Fenric (7)

The first Who from 1990 that I encountered: I’m pretty sure it was Doctor Who – Planet of Giants, which I got to fairly early in my manic reread of novelisations.

My favourite Who from 1990: Doctor Who – The Curse of Fenric is one of the best of the novelisations.

Moving swiftly on from: Doctor Who – Mission to Magnus

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

• The Ocean is Broken
  
  Awful!
  (tags: environment )

1989:

TV
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (last episode)
Battlefield
Ghost Light
The Curse of Fenric
Survival

Books
Doctor Who – Delta and the Bannermen (7)
Doctor Who – The War Machines (1)
Doctor Who – Dragonfire (7)
Doctor Who – Attack of the Cybermen (6)
Doctor Who – The Nightmare Fair (6)
Doctor Who – Mindwarp (6)
Doctor Who – The Chase (1)
Doctor Who – The Ultimate Evil (6)
Doctor Who – The Daleks’ Master Plan Part I: Mission to the Unknown (1)
Doctor Who – The Daleks’ Master Plan Part II: The Mutation of Time (1)
Doctor Who – Silver Nemesis (7)
Doctor Who – The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (7)
Doctor Who: The Tomb of the Cybermen (2)
Doctor Who: The Talons of Weng-Chiang (4)
Doctor Who: The Daleks (1)

The first Who from 1989 that I encountered: I have a feeling I caught the end of The Greatest Show in the Galaxy when it was first broadcast on 4 January. I was 21.

My favourite Who from 1989: Ghost Light is utterly entrancing.

Moving swiftly on from: Hale and Pace.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

Of course, the saddest bit is the very end of Old Who:

There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea’s asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there’s danger, somewhere there’s injustice, and somewhere else the tea’s getting cold. Come on, Ace. We’ve got work to do.

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

1988:

TV
Remembrance of the Daleks
The Happiness Patrol
Silver Nemesis
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (first 3 episodes)

Books
Doctor Who – The Rescue (1)
Doctor Who – Terror of the Vervoids (6)
Doctor Who – The Time Meddler (1)
Doctor Who – The Mysterious Planet (6)
Doctor Who – Time and the Rani (7)
Doctor Who – Vengeance on Varos (6)
Doctor Who – The Underwater Menace (2)
Doctor Who – The Wheel in Space (2)
Doctor Who – The Ultimate Foe (6)
Doctor Who – The Edge of Destruction (1)
Doctor Who – The Smugglers (1)
Doctor Who – Paradise Towers (7)
Doctor Who: The Tribe of Gum (1)

The first Who from 1988 that I encountered:  I watched Remembrance of the Daleks at some point in the wilderness years (and also bought it at the 2005 Worldcon).

My favourite Who from 1988: I really like The Happiness Patrol, and I have come around to the virtues of Remembrance of the Daleks. Among the books, Doctor Who – The Rescue is Ian Marter’s last and best.

Moving swiftly on from: the Pip-and-Jane-Baker novelisations.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

Current
The History of the Hobbit vol 2: Return to Bag-End, by John Rateliff
The Last Mughal, by William Dalrymple
Reamde, by Neal Stephenson
About Time: The Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who, 2005-2006; Series 1 & 2, by Tat Wood

Last books finished
[Doctor Who] Slow Empire, by Dave Stone
The Flood, by Ian Rankin
Odd and the Frost Giants, by Neil Gaiman
De Blauwe Lotus [The Blue Lotus] by Hergé
Invasion of the Bane, by Terrance Dicks
Revenge of the Slitheen, by Rupert Laight
Eye of the Gorgon, by Phil Ford
Warriors of Kudlak, by Gary Russell
Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, by Rupert Laight
The Lost Boy, by Gary Russell
The Last Sontaran, by Gary Russell

Next books
The Watchers: A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth I, by Stephen Alford
Reading the Oxford English Dictionary: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages, by Ammon Shea
Equal Rites, by Terry Pratchett
Day of the Clown, by Phil Ford

Books acquired in last week
None, for a change.

• Some Mercy May Be Discovered
  
  Metafilter on Boethius, citing me on Gibbon.
  (tags: gibbon )

1987:

TV
Time and the Rani
Paradise Towers
Delta and the Bannermen
Dragonfire
Reeltime: Wartime

Books
Doctor Who – Black Orchid (5)
Doctor Who – The Ark (1)
Doctor Who – The Mind Robber (2)
Doctor Who – The Faceless Ones (2)
Doctor Who – The Space Museum (1)
Doctor Who – The Sensorites (1)
Doctor Who – The Reign of Terror (1)
Doctor Who – The Romans (1)
Doctor Who – The Ambassadors of Death (3)
Doctor Who – The Massacre (1)
Doctor Who – The Macra Terror (2)
K9 and Company

The first Who from 1987 that I encountered:  Once again, it was not until quite late in my rediscovery of Old Who that I got to Season 24, and the first 1987-vintage Who that I remember is another Ian Marter novelisation, Doctor Who – The Reign of Terror.

My favourite Who from 1987: For the third year in a row, a Donald Cotton novelisation of a First Doctor story, this time Doctor Who – The Romans.

Moving swiftly on from: Time and the Rani – I don’t hate it as much as most of fandom, but I will agree that it is weak.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

• China Hopes to Dominate Africa by Boosting Trade Via Indian Ocean
  
  Some details dodgy but interesting read.
  (tags: politics africa china )
• Highlighting the best London maps
  
  Exactly what it says.
  (tags: london maps )
• Six Decades of the Most Popular Names for Girls, State-by-State
  
  Brilliant.
  (tags: maps usa )
• Fukushima Industries’ new mascot is a flying egg…
  
  …with a completely not amusing name. Not at all.
  (tags: japan )
• Clustering Near the Seat of Power
  
  Map of lobbyists in Brussels.
  (tags: eu maps )
• For The Ultimate Getaway, Why Not South Sudan?
  
  Why not, indeed?
  (tags: southsudan )

1986:

TV
The Mysterious Planet
Mindwarp
Terror of the Vervoids
The Ultimate Foe

Books
Doctor Who – The Gunfighters (1)
Doctor Who – The Time Monster (3)
Doctor Who – The Twin Dilemma (6)
Doctor Who – Galaxy Four (1)
Doctor Who – Timelash (6)
Doctor Who – The Mark of the Rani (6)
Doctor Who – The King’s Demons (5)
Doctor Who – Slipback (6)
Doctor Who – The Savages (1)
Doctor Who – Fury from the Deep (2)
Doctor Who – The Celestial Toymaker (1)
Doctor Who – The Seeds of Death (2)
Doctor Who – Slipback
Search for the Doctor (6)
Crisis in Space (6)
Garden of Evil (6)
Mission to Venus (6)
Invasion of the Ormazoids (6)
Race Against Time (6)
Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma
Harry Sullivan’s War

The first Who from 1986 that I encountered: This was the year I started university (and spent September inter-railing) and did not see a single episode of the Trial of a Time Lord until 2007. I think the first Who material from 1986 which I got hold of was Ian Marter’s book, Harry Sullivan’s War, which I read in 2006, twenty years later.

My favourite Who from 1986: Doctor Who – The Gunfighters, a hilarious novelisation.

Moving swiftly on from: er, everything else? Certainly the mess of the last two TV episodes.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013

Odd meant the tip of a blade, and it was a lucky name.

A short YA book by Neil Gaiman, in which the young boy hero with a disability saves the Æsir from the frost giants. Very nice illustrations by Mark Buckingham (I thought I spotted the resemblance to Fables. The story is lucidly told, and perhaps a bit of a homage to Diana Wynne Jones’ lovely Eight Days of Luke which has a similar theme (though Eight Days of Luke is set in the 1970s rather than medieval Norway).

But.

Odd’s mother was kidnapped from Scotland as a girl by his father, and the frost giants get to enjoy Freya’s hospitality in unspecified ways while they are occupying Asgard (though they are too big to do more than look at her, I guess). I find this rather skeevy.

• Gathering research for writing
  
  An expat (@lizzyshannon) returns to South Belfast.
  (tags: northernireland )
• “At Least She Never Walked”
  
  Why Stephanie runs.
  (tags: exercise )
• BBC Trailer for #doctorwho 50th anniversary
  
  Fantastic!
  (tags: doctorwho )

1985:

TV
Attack of the Cybermen
Vengeance on Varos
The Mark of the Rani
The Two Doctors
Timelash
Revelation of the Daleks
In A Fix With Sontarans

Books
Doctor Who – Planet of Fire (5)
Doctor Who – The Caves of Androzani (5)
Doctor Who – Marco Polo (5)
Doctor Who – The Awakening (5)
Doctor Who – The Mind of Evil (3)
Doctor Who – The Myth Makers (1)
Doctor Who – The Invasion (2)
Doctor Who – The Krotons (2)
Doctor Who – The Two Doctors (2,6)
1986 Doctor Who Annual (6)

Audio
Slipback

The first Who from 1985 that I encountered: My memory is that I didn’t in fact catch any of Attack of the Cybermen on first broadcast, and that Vengeance on Varos was the first story this season that I watched first time round. I was 17.

My favourite Who from 1985: This isn’t a high point on screen, is it? On the other hand, both Doctor Who – The Myth Makers and Doctor Who – The Invasion are pretty good novelisations.

Moving swiftly on from: Knowing what we do now, In A Fix With Sontarans is pretty unpalatable.

So, what was your favourite of the above? What is the best bit? (And if you like, what is the worst bit?)

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‘Another refill is needed, I believe. I hope you are a good listener, Iain. This is not the most pleasant of stories.’

This is the first book Ian Rankin wrote, and the last one left unread on my shelves; it therefore marks the end of a reading project that I began four years ago. There isn’t really a mystery here – it’s just a story of adolescence and twisted family dynamics in small-town Fife, with both long-buried and more recent sexual secrets taking their toll on those who have to keep them. I actually found the resolution a bit too easy, but the rest of it shows a great story-teller in the making.

You have no doubt heard the stories of this magnificent, illustrious and quite obdurately enigmatic personage and wondered if they can by any way be true. Well, as a close acquaintance and valued confidant of the man in question, I am here to tell you that each and every one is as true as the day is long on Drasebela XIV, a place where – as even the most ignorant and parochial know – the sun and thirteen rather extraordinarily luminous planets never set. Except, of course, for those stories that aren’t. But then, there’s no helping those.

The last novel I read by Stone was the mildly comic New Adverture, Sky Pirates! which worked for me slightly against my instincts. The same was true of The Slow Empire, where there is a comically pompous narrator but a real evil empire to fight and destroy, lots of stuff for the Doctor and companions Fitz and Anji, and some genuinely novel riffs on traditional sf and Who tropes. The latest in a run of good Eighth Doctor Adventures.

It’s so very weird to think that less than a month ago, I was reading Barry Letts’ reminiscences of why The Enemy of the World wasn’t as good as he would have like it to be, reflecting on Phil Sandifer’s championing of it as the best story done thus far, and regretting that I’d never be able to know for sure. I had the audio, I’ve watched the reconstruction, I have read Ian Marter’s adequate novelisation, and these are all OK faute de mieux. But now we have all six episodes restored, in decent quality, for our delectation and delight, and we can decide for ourselves whether to believe Letts, who directed the story, or Sandifer, who was born almost fifteen years after the only time it was ever shown on British TV and like me had never watched any beyond the surviving third episode.

And Sandifer is right. This is a true gem to have uncovered. The two particular set-piece scenes that I had really hoped would work – Salamander entering his secret underground lair, and the confrontation between Salamander and the Doctor at the end of the story – more than lived up to my expectations. (Letts is particularly regretful about the latter in his memoirs, and there is perhaps an element of haste about it, but it is still pretty damn good.) More than that, this is a superb performance by Patrick Troughton, as two very different characters, each of which at various time pretends to be the other – I am a sucker for these blurred-identity yarns anyway, but Troughton takes this to a level that is not managed in any other Doctor-meets-his-double story.

Most of the rest is great too – Carmen Munro plays Fariah, possibly the most interesting non-white woman in the whole of Old Who (not a lot of competition – Ping-Cho and Shou Yuing are the only others who come to mind); the other cast are good too, both the above-grounders and the undergrounders; and even the third episode stands up way better in full context, with the comic Australian chef not quite so out of place when we know more about his environment. It’s a story that has generally been a bit overlooked, as the only one of Season 5, the Monster Season, that lacked actual monsters; that will change now, as fannish wisdom adjusts to the newly revealed reality.

This is generally regarded as the first "proper" Tintin book, and I had of course read it ages ago. I now realise that it shares a lot of the flaws of the generally disregarded first three, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, Tintin in the Congo and Tintin in AmericaEvil Under the Sun a few years later. Another is the self-reference – an Arab chieftain greets Tintin by showing him a copy of Tintin in the Congo which he has acquired (more recent editions paste in instead the cover of Destination Moon, which actually comes later in the sequence). Basically not really as good as I had remembered, alas.

…some folks do indeed look at me funny when I tell them about having a pet skunk, even after I assure them that yes, he was descented.   But most people, the ones who share with me the conviction that a house isn't a home unless it's got someone four-legged and furry in it, just smile and let me ramble on.   Hobkin enriched my life and reminded me to run for the joy of it, lookit the magic all around us, and to laugh every day.

Not a quote from a story, but from one of the afterwords Eugie Foster has provided to each of the short pieces in this collection. As mentioned previously, Eugie has had some bad news recently, and I am warmly recommending the ebooks of her two collections, Returning My Sister’s Face and Other Far Eastern Tales of Whimsy and Malice and Mortal Clay, Stone Heart and Other Stories in Shades of Black and White. Whereas Returning My Sister’s Face had a generally Asian theme, Mortal Clay, Stone Heart is more general in its range, though there's a recurrent theme of stories involving cute animals (not one, but two with skunks). The linking thread, if there is any, is of variable form and substance, of emotions and sometimes betrayal; some of these stories are just vignettes of a neat idea, some are longer with twists in the tail. They're all pretty good, and you should buy it.

Like a lot of people, my heart leapt back in June when the original rumours of a rediscovery of many Doctor Who episodes began to circulatecircumstantial evidence began to accumulatehopes were dashed by a pretty definitive statement from episode-hinter Phil Morris, followed, after speculation refused to die down, by a further denial from episode restorer Paul Vanezis.

We now know that Morris and Vanezis's statements were, basically, untrue. The latest Doctor Who magazine has interviews with both. Vanezis now says that he restored most of The Enemy of the World on 28 April and The Web of Fear on 31 May, which is rather difficult to reconcile with his comment in August that "I wasn’t directly involved in the discussions… it does appear to have been a private collector […] who was basically time wasting". The April and May dates also mean that while Morris, who must necessarily have handed them over to Vanezis by this point, may have been technically correct to say in June that he "DOES NOT HOLD ANY MISSING EPISODES OF THE LONG RUNNING DR WHO SERIES", his further comment that "THEY ARE NOT MISSING BUT DESTROYED THE END", let alone "I will be making no more statements on this subject" are thoroughly falsified by subsequent revelations.

So where does this leave us? It means the only thing we can rely on from the episode-hunters is actual real episodes that have been recovered, rather than anything they may actually sayClockwise says, "It's not the despair – it's the hope!")