![Blue Cat in a basket](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioIGcEwnUMORqVMsQKaV_Byz5LioQR_uhQjjsT1ynhDq09GncGDnLUPippWZGbt2pbBJvXLKmRCuOY9T3UBOu783frjWtDP2zt-K7i4f4NF9mHXWKjxMTN83lnfTQ1kvgtjqXIKw/s400/basketcase.jpg)
Monday, July 25, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Jaunt
Had a nice couple of days' escape from London before our building work starts in earnest. Went to Ely for the afternoon, mooched round the cathedral and Cromwell's House (I was there in 2007, too), then fell into a pub.
![Cromwell's House, Ely](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeMgMhPm0KrAE_YXntOpjTQMKT7KAdu3Ao1lJeu_Gx7_GG5zYY9UCxeyNQ0w5LXPOH3MRY5gC_eJBgWIhj-aJQAVIPTydkozNQJVgEh7GZ_AVko9CfFriVzHEMa_KpKIO6M6jMsg/s400/21072011031.jpg)
Spent the evening in Cambridge eating pizza at Torchwood, and next morning did the Sedgwick -
![Dinosaur at Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjgUdR3_Aq3i4N2bxS38Cy5foj-gkEFj9_Q2KjG9JudC0R4xQlrRwlHYNNtrS3UzDDqzNXU4I_0Wc0Tjcg27q92M1ZmCT3YGp3YZ7SIcM8B4A-QWlFKEnPR_HXUSyoS8epnqM6Tg/s400/22072011032.jpg)
- and Fitzwilliam museums.
![Lions outside Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrO66Z6dJM-IgOmjHQvwgvssYfHidhEtPjyrTuTpVRDEk4dCUfqGv1Xtfq8s1i8JZCpOlMm-6791jz-YDjIFhG_G-NTL1kCydTNYE9V2vXB8-UtcT5Dzw5SLHoJqDRB37H4QF9KQ/s400/22072011033.jpg)
The Dr loved the newly redesigned Greek and Roman bits, and I found some beautiful Augustus John landscapes and even a sculpture by Eric Gill. So that was nice.
Thence lunch with A. and A. and a trip to the Polar Museum, with its ceiling maps of the poles by Gill's brother MacDonald. The museum is mostly now about the indigenous peoples of the Arctic, but there's plenty of material on polar exploration by Europeans, and the story of Scott's ill-fated mission still packs one hell of a punch.
Spent the afternoon punting and pottering (I found the alleyway from Shada / The Five Doctors). The Fort St George pub has carved ladies behind the bar that seem to be slightly naughtier versions of the caryatids.
![Naughty Caryatid at Fort St George, Cambridge](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtw5R7yZN6Ra-P3ABRZQIqdsrnFaZcZIUSUSTA-fiY_OuGec0r-LrRxBkBpqfaSnpNsAHbvCUfCXEMm2ymhMRnBxUPBtOAp-0U2MW3zhE6tIP_-Citxg4h9Z3N2BGc_QN9wlYuGw/s400/22072011036.jpg)
Then went to dinner at Cotto which was, frankly, amazing.
Next day we schlepped back to London and mooched round the Out of this World exhibition at the British Library, which is packed with detail. Rather pleased I'd read the majority of the key texts, though think it misses a trick by not addressing issues of race and class that are often so implicit in ideas of the "alien". And it still seems strange to see a sci-fi exhibition feature lots of Doctor Who but no Star Trek (though my teenage self would have cheered).
Looked through the windows of the Gilbert Scott restaurant which the Dr would like a trip to for her birthday. Instead we had a drink in the bar at St Pancras, where the service was immaculate. Went for a pee, though, to find this lady staring down at me.
![Opera-glasses woman in the gents at St Pancras](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE3W-H65gcaT4Q3Rxo4hW9rRn4lUl7g9uDeeUaGOkwqsBXfCAfcUDqB1ycC68cFHz-RVEb8AnlPzMcVja3OuRkvRX3MSB37y3SEv8eQrukwanPTR0xGkH7seqSgVCrrwTIYR95TQ/s400/23072011039.jpg)
![Opera-glasses woman in the gents at St Pancras](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmgBhfzkNvL17eQAc-iQgFQo6qkDL96bXy-iacI-g1Vl1VmPfDGjqZjBqKI_lVDcC1VlAF05TjNoLzaTihNSnhQGPC4612PrSIwVycgw-M3p7kEClC2aibMI6tEfyWGU4cJ9gQNA/s400/23072011038.jpg)
Home to feed the cats and then out to dinner with @classicdw to tweet all about Robot - Tom Baker's first story as Doctor Who. Lovely tea afterwards and then home. Done some rewrites this morning and now off to a birthday party, with a long week of typing and building work to come.
![Cromwell's House, Ely](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeMgMhPm0KrAE_YXntOpjTQMKT7KAdu3Ao1lJeu_Gx7_GG5zYY9UCxeyNQ0w5LXPOH3MRY5gC_eJBgWIhj-aJQAVIPTydkozNQJVgEh7GZ_AVko9CfFriVzHEMa_KpKIO6M6jMsg/s400/21072011031.jpg)
Spent the evening in Cambridge eating pizza at Torchwood, and next morning did the Sedgwick -
![Dinosaur at Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjgUdR3_Aq3i4N2bxS38Cy5foj-gkEFj9_Q2KjG9JudC0R4xQlrRwlHYNNtrS3UzDDqzNXU4I_0Wc0Tjcg27q92M1ZmCT3YGp3YZ7SIcM8B4A-QWlFKEnPR_HXUSyoS8epnqM6Tg/s400/22072011032.jpg)
- and Fitzwilliam museums.
![Lions outside Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrO66Z6dJM-IgOmjHQvwgvssYfHidhEtPjyrTuTpVRDEk4dCUfqGv1Xtfq8s1i8JZCpOlMm-6791jz-YDjIFhG_G-NTL1kCydTNYE9V2vXB8-UtcT5Dzw5SLHoJqDRB37H4QF9KQ/s400/22072011033.jpg)
The Dr loved the newly redesigned Greek and Roman bits, and I found some beautiful Augustus John landscapes and even a sculpture by Eric Gill. So that was nice.
Thence lunch with A. and A. and a trip to the Polar Museum, with its ceiling maps of the poles by Gill's brother MacDonald. The museum is mostly now about the indigenous peoples of the Arctic, but there's plenty of material on polar exploration by Europeans, and the story of Scott's ill-fated mission still packs one hell of a punch.
Spent the afternoon punting and pottering (I found the alleyway from Shada / The Five Doctors). The Fort St George pub has carved ladies behind the bar that seem to be slightly naughtier versions of the caryatids.
![Naughty Caryatid at Fort St George, Cambridge](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtw5R7yZN6Ra-P3ABRZQIqdsrnFaZcZIUSUSTA-fiY_OuGec0r-LrRxBkBpqfaSnpNsAHbvCUfCXEMm2ymhMRnBxUPBtOAp-0U2MW3zhE6tIP_-Citxg4h9Z3N2BGc_QN9wlYuGw/s400/22072011036.jpg)
Then went to dinner at Cotto which was, frankly, amazing.
Next day we schlepped back to London and mooched round the Out of this World exhibition at the British Library, which is packed with detail. Rather pleased I'd read the majority of the key texts, though think it misses a trick by not addressing issues of race and class that are often so implicit in ideas of the "alien". And it still seems strange to see a sci-fi exhibition feature lots of Doctor Who but no Star Trek (though my teenage self would have cheered).
Looked through the windows of the Gilbert Scott restaurant which the Dr would like a trip to for her birthday. Instead we had a drink in the bar at St Pancras, where the service was immaculate. Went for a pee, though, to find this lady staring down at me.
![Opera-glasses woman in the gents at St Pancras](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE3W-H65gcaT4Q3Rxo4hW9rRn4lUl7g9uDeeUaGOkwqsBXfCAfcUDqB1ycC68cFHz-RVEb8AnlPzMcVja3OuRkvRX3MSB37y3SEv8eQrukwanPTR0xGkH7seqSgVCrrwTIYR95TQ/s400/23072011039.jpg)
![Opera-glasses woman in the gents at St Pancras](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmgBhfzkNvL17eQAc-iQgFQo6qkDL96bXy-iacI-g1Vl1VmPfDGjqZjBqKI_lVDcC1VlAF05TjNoLzaTihNSnhQGPC4612PrSIwVycgw-M3p7kEClC2aibMI6tEfyWGU4cJ9gQNA/s400/23072011038.jpg)
Home to feed the cats and then out to dinner with @classicdw to tweet all about Robot - Tom Baker's first story as Doctor Who. Lovely tea afterwards and then home. Done some rewrites this morning and now off to a birthday party, with a long week of typing and building work to come.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Chase me
ZOMG! I love Simon Holub's amazing cover for Doctor Who and the First Wave, a play what I have wrote starring Peter Purves and Tom Allen.
![Doctor Who: The First Wve by Simon Guerrier, cover by Simon Holub](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggbT8f7PtX3t6TsEclQk-cnPi669e6BuMqx4DNuMnqNpU1JoDGyBe_-6KPODA2wf6SsnoXl1o5V1zKup8J6Ggn0Cc5E94eWBjS5ce_L6Ovpv9MMYG8EYiSlK_SAXuyQtqa7nNhbQ/s400/firstwave.jpg)
Friday, July 15, 2011
Saturday, July 09, 2011
The Turing test
I am writing more Blake's 7.
The BBC sci-fi show ran between 1978 and 1981, with a bunch of plucky heroes battling the evil Earth Federation, with plenty of fights and explosions. It was created by the chap that devised the Daleks.
Big Finish announced on Monday that they'll be producing new audio adventures featuring the original cast of the TV show. The first box of three stories in "The Liberator Chronicles" is by me, Nigel Fairs and Peter Anghelides, with Justin Richards and David Richardson cracking the whip. There will also be new Blake's 7 books. My story is called "The Turing Test".You can also read an interview with David about the series. The deal was done with B7 Enterprises - who hold the rights to Blake's 7, and for whom I've already written two audio episodes. It's also running a Blake's 7 t-shirt competition on Twitter.
The BBC sci-fi show ran between 1978 and 1981, with a bunch of plucky heroes battling the evil Earth Federation, with plenty of fights and explosions. It was created by the chap that devised the Daleks.
Big Finish announced on Monday that they'll be producing new audio adventures featuring the original cast of the TV show. The first box of three stories in "The Liberator Chronicles" is by me, Nigel Fairs and Peter Anghelides, with Justin Richards and David Richardson cracking the whip. There will also be new Blake's 7 books. My story is called "The Turing Test".You can also read an interview with David about the series. The deal was done with B7 Enterprises - who hold the rights to Blake's 7, and for whom I've already written two audio episodes. It's also running a Blake's 7 t-shirt competition on Twitter.
Labels:
big finish,
blake's 7,
chums,
explosions,
sci-fi,
stuff written
Friday, July 01, 2011
The next wave
Those splendid fellows at Big Finish have announced two more Doctor Who plays by me.
The First Wave is out in November, starring Peter Purves, Tom Allen and the Vardans. The Anachronauts is out in January 2012, starring Peter Purves and Jean Marsh.
The First Wave is out in November, starring Peter Purves, Tom Allen and the Vardans. The Anachronauts is out in January 2012, starring Peter Purves and Jean Marsh.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Reel time
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNjKtAmA0yQDQ34NcbeUbDsv0X39CmguCjuZLAqwC_bEbuMr1HVOcORAXxKjGDXUz0iyD5UGM3GVpNFLBYZILITEisS74DKD9v_GttIW9cwEA6k02f5942R-9PFSlTixnO73AJCA/s200/Large-Alex-screaming.jpg.png)
It includes clips from Alex's amazing Bernice Summerfield "Dead and Buried" cartoon (also available in full), the Cyberman DVD documentary he did for me and the brother, and some sneaky peeks at our short film, Cleaning Up.
Alex is also after your face for the cover of Graceless 2.
Labels:
benny,
big finish,
cartoons,
chums,
cleaning up,
explosions,
films,
graceless,
sci-fi,
technology,
the amazing guerrier brothers
Monday, June 27, 2011
The Impassable Sky
As every child knows, The Gunfighters was the last Doctor Who story to have individual episodes until The Five Doctors, A Fix With Sontarans, Doctor Who (also known as the TV movie) and then Rose onwards.
On that basis, my Companion Chronicles squeezed into gaps before The Gunfighters have all had individual episode titles, at least on the scripts. I got asked online what the titles were for my latest effort, The Cold Equations, and a clever chap called Chris of Fenric then went and made this, which I like.
On that basis, my Companion Chronicles squeezed into gaps before The Gunfighters have all had individual episode titles, at least on the scripts. I got asked online what the titles were for my latest effort, The Cold Equations, and a clever chap called Chris of Fenric then went and made this, which I like.
![Doctor Who and the Impassable Sky](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEL6EefxN4ZEJ_ma2MsFm9wtnpQ9S1cY3pKfJWO625uVqLd_8frG8ViG9pjzKOi_nZvP6rxa0h2RNfsyKaCfFZZrtqH-wr1xfS4KFM5IcGXlUOHRbgDc4QUbiiLf19tRxd3-nBxg/s400/impassable.jpg)
Thursday, June 23, 2011
The awkward age
I was in Copenhagen at the weekend. The Dr had been there for a week shadowing a new Egyptology exhibition and I joined her for the last couple of nights.
On Saturday, with my birthday hoving into view, we trained out to the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, with five different kinds of longship on display and lots of other cool stuff.
I liked how much they used the Bayeaux tapestry to show how these people once lived: gleaning from the comic-strip history vital clues about colours, tools and shapes, even the haircuts of different groups of people.
A panel on the history of the Vikings describes them getting over their 'awkward age' (i.e. marauding round other countries, raping and pillaging) in time to lead the Europeans on their crusades (i.e. marauding round other countries, rapings and pillaging).
But it also gave the lie to the Vikings as burly savages, showing the sophistication of their work. The ships were made from flexible, bendy planks, and then expanded over the fire to make them longer and lighter. That made strong, flexible and nippy crafty, ideal for stealth operations. But larger ships could carry plenty of cargo, and (as in Jonathan Clements' Brief History of the Vikings) there was a lot of emphasis on the friendly trade that was much more the norm than the pillaging.
Having read the Sagas of the Icelanders last year, it was good to see lots on the multicultural mixing of the time. As I explained to the Dr, the history of the Vikings is inextricably mixed up with the history of the UK.
As well as the original ships, expertly preserved, there was also a lot on the experimental archaeological project to rebuild a longship and sail it across the North Sea and circumnavigate the UK. This meant lots of footage and panels about sea-sickness, which at best disrupted watches and basic ship duties and at worst took out a third of the crew. Watching the crowded boat sitting so low in stormy and dark water, I got a sense of why the Vikings might not have been in the best moods when they arrived anywhere.
In the drizzle outside the museum there were tourists in horned helmets (though the Vikings didn't wear horns) rowing for themselves, and various beardie people at stalls selling hand-crafted Vikingish tat. I settled for a chicken sandwich - and was delighted to discover that the Danish word for chicken is 'kylling'. And just by the museum is a small fast-food place: Viking Pizza.
The Dr also took me round the prehistoric bits of the National Museum, and had clearly had a lovely week exploring other museums in the week. Copenhagen's a friendly, bustling city crammed full of people on bikes. I had a lovely time and only saw a small fraction, so am hoping to go back again.
On Saturday, with my birthday hoving into view, we trained out to the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, with five different kinds of longship on display and lots of other cool stuff.
I liked how much they used the Bayeaux tapestry to show how these people once lived: gleaning from the comic-strip history vital clues about colours, tools and shapes, even the haircuts of different groups of people.
A panel on the history of the Vikings describes them getting over their 'awkward age' (i.e. marauding round other countries, raping and pillaging) in time to lead the Europeans on their crusades (i.e. marauding round other countries, rapings and pillaging).
But it also gave the lie to the Vikings as burly savages, showing the sophistication of their work. The ships were made from flexible, bendy planks, and then expanded over the fire to make them longer and lighter. That made strong, flexible and nippy crafty, ideal for stealth operations. But larger ships could carry plenty of cargo, and (as in Jonathan Clements' Brief History of the Vikings) there was a lot of emphasis on the friendly trade that was much more the norm than the pillaging.
Having read the Sagas of the Icelanders last year, it was good to see lots on the multicultural mixing of the time. As I explained to the Dr, the history of the Vikings is inextricably mixed up with the history of the UK.
As well as the original ships, expertly preserved, there was also a lot on the experimental archaeological project to rebuild a longship and sail it across the North Sea and circumnavigate the UK. This meant lots of footage and panels about sea-sickness, which at best disrupted watches and basic ship duties and at worst took out a third of the crew. Watching the crowded boat sitting so low in stormy and dark water, I got a sense of why the Vikings might not have been in the best moods when they arrived anywhere.
In the drizzle outside the museum there were tourists in horned helmets (though the Vikings didn't wear horns) rowing for themselves, and various beardie people at stalls selling hand-crafted Vikingish tat. I settled for a chicken sandwich - and was delighted to discover that the Danish word for chicken is 'kylling'. And just by the museum is a small fast-food place: Viking Pizza.
The Dr also took me round the prehistoric bits of the National Museum, and had clearly had a lovely week exploring other museums in the week. Copenhagen's a friendly, bustling city crammed full of people on bikes. I had a lovely time and only saw a small fraction, so am hoping to go back again.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
AAAGH! goes to war
![AAAGH! goes to war with Chris Moyles](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYX_U-rEQkh9dYVzBR2mac_VL8a73qJac0fNLfishT2NpfYXwOS1bIQlDLQ2R0Xm0mHvsl0hS8G4R_t2VnURXRLsLMXWKrQtCrEz9qyfZsnoihQq0Ef7dKBfl_5Zaiifb3r5NeLQ/s400/WHO_221_p15_aaaghV4.jpg)
Another AAAGH! from issue #221 of Doctor Who Adventures - which stopped being on sale yesterday. Written by me, art by Brian Williamson, edited by Paul Lang (who insisted on pink Krotons) and Natalie Barnes - and posted here by kind permission.
It's my mid-season finale (because I don't have any more AAAGH!s in the pipeline as yet). So I'll have to fill this blog with something else.
Oh, I am going to Copenhagen tomorrow.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
AAAGH! at Eurovision
![AAAGH! from Doctor Who Adventures at Eurovision](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSRn-M07eUFe81rMxBzEsqq-wcs9UQNnECrT5pJKjDO5d4RxDqJtBAOb6Jfs-G_VjnFD485ZxxLT9Qk-XraaGfmvdNLlRU8kJvkcRTUaqRsFxyR5yHxsamKjNrM1lYdW-FLdLX3g/s400/WHO_217_p15_Aaaghv1.jpg)
Here's another AAAGH! by me, this one from issue #217 of Doctor Who Adventures, on sale two days before the Eurovision final. Art by Brian Williamson, edited by Paul Lang and Natalie Barnes and posted here by kind permission.
Tomorrow: A good AAAGH! goes to war!
Labels:
aaagh,
comics,
droo,
posh singing,
silly,
stuff written
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
AAAGH! v the Silence
![AAAGH! from Doctor Who Adventures 216, featuring the Silence](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinv1YHF-yiBV0yEljF2kINxTfJch5nP4KdG_r5ZOrjrm488wadg2XAW_yQUssUcKZ2E607VRnTOXrVW_U3VKmV0zHPSTJcMoKaowY87dnlds3tAWTn8kOeXIjC1UoLKFh-4_VlyA/s400/WHO_216_p15_Aaaghv1.jpg)
Here's the AAAGH! from issue #216 of Doctor Who Adventures, the week after Day of the Moon was broadcast. It was written by me, drawn by Brian Williamson and edited by Paul Lang and Natalie Barnes - who gave kind permission to post it here.
Tomorrow: AAAGH! at Eurovision.
Monday, June 13, 2011
AAAGH! at Easter
![AAAGH! Doctor Who Adventures comic strip at Easter with Abzorbaloff](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVlOd9Tvk03ew9d7QxfHMRvBHV-cA6cfkRVP_yBM4R4f2XtNeLeXYqiqPuvQzP1Jj2NO4651SfiWfleazoJ0H-_FxIWlOmYf5sXkHJPh3C7EcqUAdtlDbAGNRIjyowTU_CO4qBgA/s400/WHO_215_p15_Aaaghv1.jpg)
Another AAAGH! comic strip, this from issue #215 of Doctor Who Adventures, published the week after Easter. Written by me, art by Brian Williamson and edited by Paul Lang and Natalie Barnes - who kindly gave permission to post it here. Next time: AAAGH! meets the Silence.
Friday, June 10, 2011
AAAGH! meets the Doctor
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzSVVfvNCHW7kMpa9goRLBcGFXDpVrOH3g2TthnBJh2G5nCPLJaACKTbBkrznmakbcu5xKqvIpp-CG6kU6hwmo5-qqh-85apGMMD9Smx6OZ4sTGqZWnbRz8LNAY6h4HcBUxtx-7Q/s400/WHO_213_p15_Aaagh.jpg)
As always, the above strip is by me, illustrated by Brian Williamson and edited by the splendid Paul Lang and Natalie Barnes, and posted up here with permission. Paul's also posted up one of his AAAGH!s - in which Nervil and Mrs Tinkle meet the EastEnders.
Thursday, June 09, 2011
Blam! Blam! Blam!
![CLeaning Up starring Mark Gatiss, Louise Jameson and Anton Romaine Thompson](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFZ7-O3Lxitw4SBPQxbf6TgLfcyAQC3XucqMdm7FvvNnVTGOmwGnFDU0Fdpqzj5AfOeS-aZflJWMMG1fM8DrqfiVTP_zcAOgxvhtIX_iS-DEe50aZq77X6ddZEj98SzzZ8VZWtHw/s400/cleaning-up-rev.jpg)
Feast your eyes on Stuart Manning's brilliant poster for Cleaning Up, a short film starring Mark Gatiss, Louise Jameson and Anton Romaine Thompson. It's directed by Thomas Guerrier and - by some staggering coincidence - written by me.
We're in the final stages of post-production and are already elbows deep in submissions to film festivals and whatnot. I'll be hollering on a lot more when there's more to be hollered, but in the mean time you can join the Cleaning Up Facebook massive and the official Cleaning Up Twitter experience.
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
The Ordeal
It’s 20 years since I took my first GCSEs - four of them, a year early, what with going to posh school. Tomorrow morning, me and Nimbos and a motley gang of heroes sit GCSE Astronomy, which we’ve been studying at the ROG since September.
It’s been a really interesting course. I’ve looked through a telescope for the first time, ordered a robotic telescope in Las Palmas to take pictures of galaxies for me, and had some nice nights out in the pub. But there’s a massive amount to keep all in my head and I’d forgotten my keen terror of exams.
It doesn’t help that exams are so entirely counter-intuitive to a hack like me. I spend a lot of my life having to write authoritatively about complicated subjects, which means reading up on them quickly, distilling that simply and then doing check upon check. I try to use at least two reliable sources and then get someone expert to read it over anyway.
This very process got me on to the course. I asked television’s Marek Kukula to read over my first draft of Doctor Who and the Cold Equations. With great tact he explained my grasp of the complex stuff was quite good, but my basic maths and physics was appalling.
Too often as I’ve revised my scrawling notes and gone through past papers my first thought has been, ‘I know where to find the answer to that’. I know exactly which book has the best looking Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, which photocopies unpick the Equation of Time and which magazine details all the things the Huygens probe found out about Titan.
The freelance skill, hard learned over years, is to know where to check these things and not to rely on my memory. Or that’s what I’m telling myself as I jangle in terror at the coming ordeal.
It’s been a really interesting course. I’ve looked through a telescope for the first time, ordered a robotic telescope in Las Palmas to take pictures of galaxies for me, and had some nice nights out in the pub. But there’s a massive amount to keep all in my head and I’d forgotten my keen terror of exams.
It doesn’t help that exams are so entirely counter-intuitive to a hack like me. I spend a lot of my life having to write authoritatively about complicated subjects, which means reading up on them quickly, distilling that simply and then doing check upon check. I try to use at least two reliable sources and then get someone expert to read it over anyway.
This very process got me on to the course. I asked television’s Marek Kukula to read over my first draft of Doctor Who and the Cold Equations. With great tact he explained my grasp of the complex stuff was quite good, but my basic maths and physics was appalling.
Too often as I’ve revised my scrawling notes and gone through past papers my first thought has been, ‘I know where to find the answer to that’. I know exactly which book has the best looking Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, which photocopies unpick the Equation of Time and which magazine details all the things the Huygens probe found out about Titan.
The freelance skill, hard learned over years, is to know where to check these things and not to rely on my memory. Or that’s what I’m telling myself as I jangle in terror at the coming ordeal.
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
AAAGH! and the Atraxi
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_BE-UWgYXH3ew8yB8XGScgQY8l-DY3tN4lFxFi_BP5a2x5pIpiPhMLz_x4nv05LT_Yv7u9U79c4F2bGtFncdG_1kvyHkGWQP_cwt28zgwVYaKl79cF41FPEI4YvxauhH7WoLGdQ/s400/WHO_209_p15_Aaagh.jpg)
Labels:
aaagh,
comics,
dr,
goth girls,
monsters,
silly,
stuff written,
writing
Monday, June 06, 2011
AAAGH! and the Racnoss
Putting up my AAAGH! meets Idris comic strip went down well so I've permission from my splendid bosses at Doctor Who Adventures magazine (every Thursday, with free gifts and mayhem) to put up more.
Each week, young Nervil and his robot Mrs Tinkle, find jobs for old Doctor Who monsters. This is my first one, from issue 207 in February. It features the Empress of the Racnoss (from The Runaway Bride), and a joke in the last panel which I came up with when I was little.
Written by me, illustrated by clever Brian Williamson, edited by Paul Lang and Natalie Barnes.
Each week, young Nervil and his robot Mrs Tinkle, find jobs for old Doctor Who monsters. This is my first one, from issue 207 in February. It features the Empress of the Racnoss (from The Runaway Bride), and a joke in the last panel which I came up with when I was little.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxp-3w2k-TOZ-gn2k414hOsj4TTB8JicPDGJFxYGwg7gj2HmaRLQUrTU_yMKquCb-5-avZlYfjtA7zo22Zn133lLH0QGpmR-PLDAQWIgd23MAB25_i9zHwMcYT-rczCBl2Qg1ozA/s400/doctor_who_adventures_207_aaagh_racnoss.jpg)
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
Two plays
I have two new plays out this month. Sorry.
First there's Dark Shadows - The Creeping Fog, Click the link for trailer, more details and to buy the damnable thing. The story, set in a London museum during the Second World War, stars David Selby (he's in The Social Network, you know) and Matthew Waterhouse. Thrillingly, it's Matthew's Big Finish debut (but he's not playing Adric. Or is he? Is he?!? No he isn't.)
Producers James Goss and Joseph Lidster commissioned me because I didn't know too much about Dark Shadows. They wanted a standalone, spooky story that would appeal to old-skool fans of Dark Shadows but also to a broader audience. So this is, clearly, the perfect thing to buy now so that you're all set for the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp movie next year. Yes it is. Quiet at the back.
Lots more about Dark Shadows at the Collinwood site, run by clever Stuart Manning who also did the cover for my story.
Then there's Doctor Who and the Cold Equations, starring Peter Purves and Tom Allen. Click the link for a trailer, more details and to buy yourself six copies. It's an exciting space adventure which has already earned 10/10 from the nice Doc Oho. Following on from The Adventure of the Perpetual Bond, the first Doctor Who and his friends Steven and Oliver find themselves on a spaceship... and things then go a bit wonky with aliens and stuff.
The lovely cover is by Simon Holub. Tom is interviewed in the new, free issue of Vortex magazine (issue 28). We recorded a third Steven and Oliver story last week.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhALiutu0SuVk46728UDX_o8nbQtD5xe8svGthUb_InxfirqKYxKkVkIGUYb3MeZh0UsC6kvf4iLIUaY5ZKNA_qKrDIb8C8f6dAp5aqZu7IIC8QIyFlI0Us_4UOJW1ZraRIsQrclg/s400/creepingfog.jpg)
Producers James Goss and Joseph Lidster commissioned me because I didn't know too much about Dark Shadows. They wanted a standalone, spooky story that would appeal to old-skool fans of Dark Shadows but also to a broader audience. So this is, clearly, the perfect thing to buy now so that you're all set for the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp movie next year. Yes it is. Quiet at the back.
Lots more about Dark Shadows at the Collinwood site, run by clever Stuart Manning who also did the cover for my story.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQZnLYosOBZ2RCxwXsyuZCKjkOytjZmeDTsmJ0KR3F7IX7u6FUSwL_trZtucvlSEkh83YN-Y1l7HpapsdraD3qBPNyrvj8BvcTexvgEjbvQm_gys-IWhQjkNm-jOj9O8zHhgKRqA/s400/coldequations.jpg)
The lovely cover is by Simon Holub. Tom is interviewed in the new, free issue of Vortex magazine (issue 28). We recorded a third Steven and Oliver story last week.
Labels:
big finish,
droo,
horror,
london,
monsters,
museum,
nazis,
space,
space aliens,
spooky,
stuff written
Monday, May 30, 2011
Some comics
Very exciting to see that there'll be a book of Jamie Smart's amazing Doctor Who searches. I've loved Jamie's work since I first saw Fish-Head Steve in the DFC - which you can now read in full on his site. And for older but no less silly readers, there's also Corporate Skull, again free and on the internet, you lucky, lucky swine.
But enough about other people.
As well as lovely, silly, AAAGH!, I've also been writing a few other comic strips for Doctor Who Adventures. That includes "The Very Cool Bow Tie!" in issue 218 (from a couple of weeks back) which included Amy and Rory in pre-Raphaelite costume for no other reason than my amusement.
I raise this as I've not really talked about comics work on here before. I've pitched on-and-off to 2000AD since I was 16, and am still gathering rejections. But as well as Doctor Who Adventures, I've written comics and short stories for GE Fabbri's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, have just completed a comic drawn by William Potter about a team of superheroes, some of whom are autistic, and wrote an eight-page strip for Electric Sheep magazine.
The strip, "Final Cut" is drawn by Pearlyn Quan and you can see a PDF preview here. I wrote it last summer, and am a bit surprised reading it now how not-entirely-cheery it is.
But enough about other people.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXQaYVaJD3Pki1ZkgVBqFOsQisv5r5c3ffG9g4n_jNPgnfYPt3DDOlDNXRE1Wug09Y_jFhAq3IFrMcWPgLjTLciwgwLcHyG_wSt557Qi_h5YgH1aez1JkiDvdSP1VSzH8o9f0HUw/s400/217comic.jpg)
I raise this as I've not really talked about comics work on here before. I've pitched on-and-off to 2000AD since I was 16, and am still gathering rejections. But as well as Doctor Who Adventures, I've written comics and short stories for GE Fabbri's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, have just completed a comic drawn by William Potter about a team of superheroes, some of whom are autistic, and wrote an eight-page strip for Electric Sheep magazine.
The strip, "Final Cut" is drawn by Pearlyn Quan and you can see a PDF preview here. I wrote it last summer, and am a bit surprised reading it now how not-entirely-cheery it is.
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