‘Mondas Passing’ is a rather lovely, bittersweet little short story from the original ‘Short Trips’ collection from BBC books (1998). The author reunites Ben and Polly on New Year’s Eve 1986, meeting in a hotel room, away from their respective partners, while down in the South Pole, their younger selves are fighting the Cybermen andContinue reading “Mondas Passing by Paul Grice (1998)”
Tag Archives: Books & Comic Strips
Never cruel or cowardly
A tribute to Terrance Dicks (first posted in the aftermath of his death in 2019) When I first met Terrance Dicks at a convention in the early 80’s, I was still a child really and I was meeting the man who had written the first book I ever bought. My first real encounter with himContinue reading “Never cruel or cowardly”
Doctor Who and The Web of Fear by Terrance Dicks Target Novelisation (1976)
‘Forty years the Yeti had been quiet – Collector’s item in a museum. Then without warning it awoke – and savagely murdered. At about the same time patches of mist began to appear in Central London. People who lingered anytime in the mist were found dead, their faces smothered in cobwebs. The cobweb seeped down,Continue reading “Doctor Who and The Web of Fear by Terrance Dicks Target Novelisation (1976)”
The Dying Days by Lance Parkin (1997)
‘Today, after over twenty years, the human race returns to Mars. This would be a cause for celebration regardless of which nation had got there. But it isn’t, I am sure, jingoism to suggest that we are all particularly glad that it is the United Kingdom that got there first.’ – applause – ‘Twenty yearsContinue reading “The Dying Days by Lance Parkin (1997)”
Damaged Goods By Russell T Davies (1996)
‘Bev lay awake, hoping that Father Christmas would come, but the Tall Man came instead. She could hear his voice in the front room, but her mother’s crying drowned his actual words. Mum had been upset all day, ever since she came home. Her mother had different sorts of tears – mostly anger, like whenContinue reading “Damaged Goods By Russell T Davies (1996)”
Lungbarrow by Marc Platt (1997)
‘… and Rassilon, in great anger, banished the Other from Gallifrey that he might never return to the world.Then there was great rejoicing through the Citadel.But the Other, as he fled, stole away the Hand of Omega and departed the world forever.‘ ‘The little figure had slowed and finally stopped a few feet from theContinue reading “Lungbarrow by Marc Platt (1997)”
Human Nature by Paul Cornell (1994)
Long ago, and far away, in the reign of Queen Victoria, there lived a silver-haired old man, who had a very good idea. He had thought of a shelter for policemen, with a telephone, so that anybody who was in trouble could call for help. And that was clever; because nobody knew what a telephoneContinue reading “Human Nature by Paul Cornell (1994)”
The Left-handed Hummingbird by Kate Orman (1993)
‘And deep inside him, something Blue was itching, something Blue was wrapping itself around him like a shroud. It was possible, even probable, that he was not aware of it. But the Blue was there, an unnatural colour, a spreading stain in the soft greyness of his brain. ‘ What do the deaths of JohnContinue reading “The Left-handed Hummingbird by Kate Orman (1993)”
Love and War by Paul Cornell (1992)
‘So, he called it Heaven in Common Tongue, which meant that the translation fitted with whatever your own particular vision of bliss was. The High Command hadn’t liked that much. They hadn’t liked it either when Hall, once the Dragon Wars had ended and the two species were united against the Daleks, walked into theContinue reading “Love and War by Paul Cornell (1992)”
Nightshade by Mark Gatiss (1992)
Ah, nostalgia. So seductive. So dangerous. And so odd to be feeling it for some of my own work. Nightshade, now looking like the brittle-paged Tenth Planet I had as a kid.What surprises me now, re-reading the book after so many years is how SERIOUS it is. Grim, in fact. But you have to rememberContinue reading “Nightshade by Mark Gatiss (1992)”
A Journal of Impossible Things 