Three spinoff books this evening, one featuring Erimem and two from the Lethbridge-Stewart sequence.

Second paragraph of third chapter of Prime Imperative, by Julianne Todd:

‘Well?’ Alan demanded. ‘What did they say?’

I think I've reached the end of my patience with the books featuring Erimem, the Fifth Doctor's audio companion; they just aren't really very special. This one is a space adventure in which our heroes end up on an endangered ship; various implausible navigational and management decisions are made and a lot of people get eaten by fungus. It would have been an unoriginal plot in the 1930s (except that some of the astronauts are girls). I think I may turn my attention to the Faction Paradox series which some of you have spoken highly of.

Second paragraph of third story in The Xmas Files ("Home for Christmas", by the collective Lethbridge-Stewart authors):

‘Is that for me?’ his mother called from the hallway.

Three short and punchy short stories, which landed slightly wrong for me because I should have read them after the next novel in the sequence, Mind of Stone, which they are set after rather than before. (I read the anthology first because it was published first. Silly me.)

Second paragraph of third chapter of Mind of Stone, by Iain McLaughlin:

So they would be coming for him. The question was when.

My heart sank a little bit here because McLaughlin has been one of the lead writers of the Erimem series. But in fact it's a well put together story; Lethbridge-Stewart goes undercover in Wormwood Scrubs, posing as a prisoner (with rigged judicial process to put him there), and deals with an alien threat which is turning people to stone (like in the last novel, but different). As usual for this series, a solid piece of work.

Next up: I think I'll take both the third Havoc Files anthology and the next novel, Night of the Intelligence, next month.