Fiction Paradox

And we're back. Iris Wildthyme returns in the short story "Femme Fatale" by Paul Magrs. Iris and our heroes mix it up with Andy Warhol and the denizens of The Factory. Iris and Sam encounter Valerie Solanas and perhaps get embroiled in her attempt to do away with Warhol...

We are back with a look at Simon Messingham's The Face-Eater.The Doctor and Sam land on Proxima II only to find a serial killer on the loose in a colony still trying to find its feet. The colony’s executive officer, Helen Percival, uses fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency to keep order as the increasingly disenchanted laboring class begins to assert itself and agitate for its rights. And of course our heroes throw themselves into the middle of everything.Join Brooke, Sasha, and Skip as they discuss this book which features no face eating.

We're back and we are kicking things off in 2021 with Beltempest by Jim Mortimore. The Doctor and Sam are enjoying some time on the beach while having a really awkward chat about motherhood and parturition when it suddenly explodes and pandemonium reigns. Sam ends up meeting the members of a religious cult undergoing a schism while the Doctor finds himself in a race against time and tsunamis.But wait! There's more!There's Eldrad and Sutekh and weird things inside the golden sun, Bel. (Not all of that is true.) You could say this story is pregnant with possibilities...

I'm melting!We are back with The Janus Conjunction, the first novel by stalwart Doctor Who writer Trevor Baxendale. He brings us a tale of former allies now enemies ensconced on their own planets. But what is the function of these columns? There are giant spiders that put Shelob to shame, the titular conjunction, and melting flesh. Lots of melting flesh.

Sasha has returned to the ranks and not a moment too soon. For we chat about the further adventures of Iris Wildthyme whom Brooke & Skip met last month in a short story by Paul Magrs. Now she gets the novel-length treatment with The Scarlet Empress. Color us impressed by this tale of storytelling and confabulation. It's surreal, magical, and perhaps not all that it seems. (Sasha has some good adjectives about it, as you'll hear.)

Brooke & Skip take a break from all of their summer fun to do a socially-distanced mini-episode featuring a brace of Short Trips as Sasha is incommunicado.First up is the audio-only "Bounty" by Peter Anghelides (pronounced how exactly?) which reveals what the Doctor and Sam got up to immediately after The Eight Doctors. This is followed by our first ever non-Eighth Doctor tale, "Old Flames" from Paul Magrs. (Pronounced with a silent G.)"WTF are they doing reviewing a Fourth Doctor story?!" you ask. Well, "Old Flames" marks the debut of Iris Wildthyme who stars in the next EDA we'll be taking on, The Scarlet Empress. So think of this as a prelude.

We hope everyone is safe and healthy as we post this episode. This time around it's "Vanderdeken's Children" by Christopher Bulis. It's chock full of horror and ghosts and warmongers with some timey wimey bits for good measure. This one proved a little divisive amongst the FP crew so tune in to hear who liked it and who was less enthusiastic.

Brooke & Sasha are a bit tired so things get a little loopy as your intrepid hosts ponder Gary Russell's Placebo Effect and its surfeit of characters. How is Sam's arc coming along? And just how does one pronounce "Wirrn"? (Or is that "Wirrrn"?) Take a listen and find out!

And we're back! This time around we have "Seeing I" by Kate Orman and Jonathan Blum. We get a new & improved Sam while The Doctor descends into madness. Plus there's a new baddie - the I - which causes us some pronoun/ocular confusion. Featuring music by The Regrettes.

Sasha's sabbatical is over and it's back down to business with Paul Leonard's "Dreamstone Moon". The Doctor and Sam are galaxies apart seeking one another when they are thrust into a Phildickian dream world replete with untethered corporate greed and tentacled nightmares. Well, sort of.

With Sasha's sabbatical nearing an end, Brooke and Skip tackle two final Short Trips: "The People's Temple" by Paul Leonard (no Jim Jones here) and Trevor Baxendale's "The Queen of Eros" (with some storge too). This is surely the first time Harlequin Romance novels have been mentioned in our show. It also features even more debate on the poor, misbegotten Sam Jones because we know you can't get enough.

With Sasha on sabbatical, Brooke and Skip check out some Short Trips from BBC Books wherein we encounter another of Stephen Cole's aliases. How do they compare to the novels? And how does Sam fare? Tune in and find out. The show also includes a plea to model railroaders, an aside on a certain book by Umberto Eco, and Skip needing help recalling a Virgin New Adventure.

This week we have an interview with John Peel, author of two EDAs: War of the Daleks and Legacy of the Daleks. He talks about these books plus the many other Doctor Who novels he's written. (And many more non-DW books to boot.) Peel also gives the story on how he befriended Dalek creator Terry Nation, what makes a good Doctor Who story, and a whole lot more.

This time around it's "Legacy of the Daleks" by John Peel, the second and final Dalek EDA. Will Doctor Who history be retconned once more? What has Susan been up to lo these last 30+ years? Listen in and find out as we examine this sequel, of sorts, to the classic First Doctor TV story "The Dalek Invasion of Earth". 100% Sam Jones free.

In this episode we stray from the EDAs and converse about debut of Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor in "The Woman Who Fell to Earth". A bit late, yes, but at least we can see if our predictions have held up.

We're back with a look at Michael Collier's "The Longest Day". It's a story featuring a fair number of women, "domestic" violence (gasp!), and some eros, philia, agape - all kinds of love. After complaining about too many character names ending in -ost, we discourse on The Doctor's beloved companion, Sam Jones.

What the deuce is up with those trees? Can The Doctor avert nuclear war? And what does Benny Hill have to do with Doctor Who? Find out in this month's show featuring "Option Lock" by DW stalwart Justin Richards.

We're back! This time around it's Kursaal by Peter Angelhides. It features our cunning heroes The Doctor & Sam plus vicious werewolves, eldritch ruins with a sweet home theater system, and a beleaguered real estate magnate who simply wants to build a theme park. Too much fun by HALF!

After 9 years the Daleks (and Davros too) returned in 1997's War of the Daleks to near universal opprobrium. Was it warranted? Or did John Peel do right by Doctor Who's most infamous baddies? And what does this book have to do with Terminator movies? Listen and all shall be revealed...