Prodigals

When my hair gets too long to stand up and starts to flop, everyone thinks I’ve had a haircut. Every time. It’s puzzling.

The Marktha have returned from Canada – rejoice! Martha (formerly known, for no good reason, as Steve) met Mark (aka Scone, aka Hot Throbbin’) on a holiday to Canada a few years ago and, after a whirlwind romance, was married in 2005. The following year, Mark having comet to live in Edinburgh, they moved to Vancouver, got a kitten and jobs, and other than biannual meetups with Martha’s mum for Hershey’s and general bitching, that appeared to be that. But Martha got homesick and so they abandoned the colonies for the more civilised Scottish homeland. It’s like they were never away. Yay!

Now it’s true, I’m a bit of a Dr Who nerd. But I’m more of a post-1989 nerd – I far prefer the series of original novels that were published between 1989 and 2005 to any of the other media, although I still enjoy both the Original and the New-And-Improved-With-Added-Kissing TV serieseseses (this is like trying to stop spelling bananananana! Help!).

During the post-TV Movie run of the novels, starring the Paul McGann-style 8th Doctor and published by the BBC, probably the most original of the writers – and certainly the most controversial – was Lawrence Miles. Outspoken, original, you either love him or loathe him and whichever side of the fence you live on, you are likely to be vitriolic in your reactions to the other side.

The first chapter of his Grand Plan was Alien Bodies, which introduced a new Power, Faction Paradox, and also the concept of Biodata – kinda like DNA but for your timeline as well as your genetics. The latter has suffused all of Who-land in one way or another since then, but the Faction have had a hard time of it. Miles set up a huge, universe-changing plot in his two-parter Interference, which was generally shat upon by the other authors and the BBC, resulting in a lot of bad blood and no more Mad Larry.

Instead, Faction Paradox were taken out of the Whoniverse entirely. Mad Norwegian Press rescued them and published a number of stand-alone novels over the following years, not just by Lawrence Miles but also Phillip Purser-Hallard, Lance Parkin, Mags Halliday and Kelly Hale. These were all extremely strong works, all separate and often not even featuring any members of Faction Paradox. BBV also produced a set of six audio dramas, written by Miles, and there were two issues of an abortive comic to boot.

And then Mad Norwegian Press pulled the plug. No more novels. Until Random Static came to the rescue, announcing that they would be releasing Newtons Sleep by Daniel O’Mahoney in 2008. Woo! Having only recently picked up the last of the MNP books, it wasn't until we were due to go away to Czechland that I decided I had to have it. [The last time we went on holiday, two years ago, I made a special detour to Forbidden Planet in London so that I could buy one of the previous novels; it kept me going for some time during an otherwise boring holiday…]

Having received the book in time, I had no chance to read it while we were away because we were SO BUSY. So, on our return I picked it up and made a start.

And it was a sloooowww start. The author’s previous Who-ish novels, Falls the Shadow and The Man in the Velvet Mask, had never been in my top ten favourites, far from it, but they were long ago and I knew that the style would have changed. If anything the writing was more dense. I despaired. But I didn’t want to give up – there’s so little Factionalia! And so I kept at it. And it got better.

Probably the first in the series to feature members of Faction Paradox as main cast, they’re only part of a fair ensemble. Set in the 17th Century, we jump across a period of decades, watching characters being manipulated by various Powers as the War in Heaven rages in the background. It’s confusing. The characters are almost all antiheroes, at best. And yet they’re so fascinating: seeing how their actions are governed by their paranoia and selfishness, sitting back and watching as they allow frightful things to happen – a scene where someone is hung, drawn and quartered forced me to put the book down for half an hour in disgust at the glorious gore – it’s absolutely compelling! And as the narrative cantered towards the conclusion I found myself more and more excited by it.

Slow starter indeed, but gosh! I’m tempted to hunt down other novels by Mr O’Mahoney – although I’m afraid of being let down purely because they wouldn’t be set in such a complex world which I already feel comfortable in. In the meantime, I feel compelled to register my enjoyment of the novel.

Nerdery

Three Dr Who-related things of note. Disclaimer: Yes, I like Dr Who, no I don't think the original series was the best thing EVAH, I mostly like some of the books because they can be thoroughly enjoyable. So there.

1. Just encountered an amusing quote from Russell T Davies:

[Those rumours about a new Who series get a definitive statement...] Don't ask me about Dr Who, no comment. Except, of course,the Doctor will be gay, his assistant a rent boy, and K9 a condom machine. Russell T Davies 12/11/99

2. A few years ago, just as Tennant was due to kick off, I discovered that a contemporary author of Dr Who (and Faction Paradox, no less!) novels was coming to the Edinburgh Festival. For no good reason I suggested we meet up for a drink and we did so. It was odd but fun.

3. As we are about to go on holiday to the Czech Republic (see Relative Pitch for more information on this) I feel the need for a good new book - i.e. one I haven't read at least twice before. Last time I was due to leave the country I managed to source a Faction Paradox novel I hadn't yet devoured. This time I had almost given up hope until I convinced someone selling the latest FP on eBay (the only one, I might add, to have ever sold it on eBay) to let me Buy It Now. It was only then that I realised the seller was actually the author.

In summary, it's nice to see that Whovians (this may be an official term by now. Eugh.) are far more of a community than some fan groups. Authors/writers and readers/viewers can encounter each other in far more Real ways than with almost any other TV genre. I respect that, even if I do kinda hate what they've done to the stories since putting them back on the telly.

I can see! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

On Thursday afternoon my glasses went PING! I frantically tried to get an appointment with Vision Express, who I have used for the last few years, and found I would have to trail to Ocean Terminal. Alas, the buses are actually as bad as people say and by the time I got there I had missed my appointment. While there I asked how much it would be to get some frames I had (bought about a year ago from eBay) glazed and discovered that it would be £79! Plus £5 if I wanted to get them speedily. So I investigated further, and ended up with an appointment at SpecSavers on Friday afternoon. I had discovered that SpecSavers would give me two complete pairs of glasses - one could even be prescription sunglasses - for something in the region of £85-£95, so I gave up on using the spare frames. I looked through their online catalogue and compiled a list of possible frames, which I sent to people who might have useful opinions and reply quickly.

Apparently my tear film is a bit pitiful and the surface of my eyes is showing slight dryness. Eyedrops, please Mr Pharmacist!
So I went through the fraught process of selecting frames while blind. In the end I went for Damson and Odie (the latter was actually on my list - w00t!).
The Chad left us on Saturday. I was saddened by this as he had turned out to be the sort of person I would deliberately spend time with. We chatted while I was making dinner on Friday, and despite the subject of religion coming up, he being a Christian, I wasn't stoned to death and he wasn't crucified. It's a rare thing for me to get a good religious discussion.
In the evening Ollie and Jenny and Lorraine and I went to Tesco (yes, this IS something worth talking about, as you'd know if you'd ever been to a big supermarket with me or Jenny). While awaiting the silver carriage, Ollie challenged me to take an 'interesting' photo of a tennis ball that was lying in the mulch. Apparently this was a success. On the way back from Tesco Jenny led us astray and Lorraine and I ended up walking halfway to Fife - or so it seemed - from Cramond. Sunday was a day of nothing. I hate long weekends, they're so dead. I went for a wander around Bruntsfield Links just to get out of the house, but that was about it. Monday was a day off work, but I had Other Job to look forward to, so I couldn't DO very much with the day. I discovered to my delight that Cory Doctorow's new novel, Little Brother, had been released - as usual, under a Creative Commons license. I promptly downloaded it and started reading, while poking around with Photoshop and rearranging my neverendingly frustrating hard drives.

Little Brother is very good. WAS very good. I continued reading it on my phone while sitting on the bus and then, when I discovered that the Other Job was also closed (dammit, if I'd realised I could have Done Something with my day!) I sat and read it in Starbucks. And then finished reading it in Starbucks. Three hours later. It's very zeitgeist-ey, filled with YouTube and Flikr and Google and other references to the Here and Now, but that's because it's set pretty much Now and is very much to do with the internet. I've liked most of Cory's books, but I don't think I've ever sped through one quite so ferociously before. Having just done something similar, albeit over a couple of days, with Erasing Sherlock, - golly I want more Faction Paradox novels! - this is hopefully a sign that, post-Bronte, I can remember how to enjoy reading again!

On my way home after this, addled by thoughts of internet security and being watched by Them, I discovered the Meadows, filled with cherry blossom and people having Fun In The Sun. This led, of course, to a flurry of photos, some of which I was quite pleased with.