Book Reviews

Star Wars: Splinter Of The Mind’s Eye

Order this bookStory: Pilot Luke Skywalker and Rebel Diplomat Princess Leia Organa find themselves stranded on the unfamiliar swamp planet of Mimban after their Starfighters crash land on the way to an important treaty negotiation. Once aground, Luke and Leia find themselves teaming up with Halla, a Force-sensitive, in her search for the Kaiburr Crystal, an ancient artifact that amplifies Force powers for those who wield it. But there is an Imperial presence on Mimban, and it doesn’t take long for word of the Kaiburr Crystal to make it back to the Empire’s chief enforcer, Lord Darth Vader…

Review: “Splinter of the Mind’s Eye” holds an important position within the Star Wars canon. It is the first novel in what would eventually become known as the Expanded Universe (EU): Star Wars tales beyond those portrayed in the films.

Star Wars: Rogue Planet

Star Wars: Rogue PlanetOrder this bookStory: 12-year-old Jedi apprentice Anakin Skywalker steals away from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant long enough to participate in a dangerous and highly illegal race that makes pod racing look safe by comparison – but this time, an assassin tails him, an alien with a lust for the blood of a Jedi. Anakin’s master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, barely saves the boy, bringing him before the Jedi Council for a disciplinary hearing. Just when Anakin expects to be ejected from the order of the Jedi, a mission is assigned to Obi-Wan, who reluctantly takes the boy along. The two travel to the hidden world of Zonoma-Sekot, a planet on the edge of known space renowned for its organic ship-building technology. Another Jedi was sent there several months prior, and has never been heard from again. Obi-Wan and Anakin are to investigate the ship forges and try to locate the missing Jedi in the process. Unbeknownst to them, however, an unscrupulous Republic commander named Tarkin also wants a glimpse of Zonoma-Sekot…and then he wants to take it over, using the planet’s unique technology as a part of his own grand schemes of conquest.

Review: Holy cow! A Star Wars novel which doesn’t absolutely disappoint and annoy me? My friends, you have no idea how much of a miracle this is. I’ve been underwhelmed about the Star Wars books since Timothy Zahn originated the unique legacy of Star Wars authors getting it wrong in every important way back in 1991.

Han Solo At Stars’ End

Han Solo At Stars' EndOrder this bookStory: Han Solo and his co-pilot Chewbacca run afoul of the Corporate Sector Authority when they try to hook up with a pirate outfit in order to repair the Millenium Falcon. Unfortunately, the proprietor, Doc, has disappeared. But his daughter, Jessica, an old flame of Han’s, makes a deal to do his repairs for free if he can rescue her father. They must team up with a pair of droids and variety of others who have also lost loved ones to try and penetrate the Authority and rescue the missing people.

Review: “Han Solo At Stars’ End” marks the beginnings of the “Han Solo Trilogy”, set in the years prior to the original Star Wars. It sees Han very much in “scoundrel” mode, often thinking about himself above all others. Of course, his heart of gold shows through, too, but for the most part, it is his more ruthless nature that is on display here.

The Honor Of The Queen

The Honor Of The QueenThe Honor Of The QueenOrder this bookStory: With her exploits at Basilisk Station having become the stuff of Royal Manticoran Navy legend, Captain Honor Harrington finds her next challenge a bit more daunting. With Manticore’s enemies, the People’s Republic of Haven, trying to gain a foothold in a star system close to Manticore space, a fleet – including Honor’s new HMS Fearless, a massive battlecruiser named in honor of her first command – is dispatched to the planet Grayson to open diplomatic relations and gain a foothold for Manticore as well. The somewhat backward Grayson is primitive both technologically and socially, with its patriarchal society regarding women as the property of men – and when the Graysons see a woman in command of the Manticoran fleet arriving at their planet, the reactions range from curious to openly hostile. Worse yet, the Graysons’ sworn enemies, the government of the planet Masada, are the same, only they hold to a fanatical desire to wipe Grayson off the star charts – and they’ve found a willing ally and weapons supplier in the People’s Republic of Haven. Honor is tasked with a mission to ensure a treaty is signed between Manticore and Grayson, but before long she’s not sure if she’s welcome, or safe, among her new allies.

Review: The slow-building sequel to David Weber’s first Honor Harrington book, “The Honor Of The Queen” shows an evolving universe, evolving characters and an evolving writing style. Compared to “On Basilisk Station”, this book suffers from much less of the momentum-killing tendency to drop 16 tons of exposition and technical backstory into the middle of a gripping battle scene. When things happen in “The Honor Of The Queen”, Weber wisely allows the action to thunder down the tracks on its own steam; the result is a breathless page-turner.

On Basilisk Station

On Basilisk StationOn Basilisk StationOrder this bookStory: Commander Honor Harrington, a promising if unconventional up-and-coming command officer in the Royal Manticoran Navy, arrives aboard her new command – the outdated cruiser Fearless, whose armaments have been stripped to make way for an experimental new weapon, the grav lance, which proves to be effective in fleet exercises…but only until its first use, after which the Fearless is pummeled in the fleet’s wargames. As punishment, Harrington, the Fearless, and her new crew are assigned to Basilisk Station – a backwater customs inspection posting on the frontier of Manticore space usually reserved for officers and ships fallen from favor. Worse yet, the ship currently commanding the Basilisk Station operation is due for a refit, leaving Fearless and her limited resources to cover an impossible area of space. When Honor deploys her crew to cover all of the bases and conduct the routine inspections, she is met with protests – apparently, no officer dumped at this posting has ever actually carried out the inspection duties. And that suits the neighboring rival government of the People’s Republic of Haven just fine – they’re planning to take Basilisk Station, the planet Medusa, and Basilisk’s strategically valuable wormhole junction away from Manticore. But Haven’s plan is dependent on Manticore’s long record of lax customs enforcement – and no one counted on Honor Harrington and the HMS Fearless uncovering the invasion plan, much less single-handedly stopping it.

Review: The kickoff of David Weber’s cult favorite Honor Harrington series, “On Basilisk Station” has a lot of ground to cover, from setting up the characters, the universe, their intricate political situation and the history that led to all of the above. The manner in which Weber accomplishes this task is something I would describe as elegant clumsiness. The author has worked out his universe, and why it is the way it is, in painstaking detail; if there’s a single fault, it’s frequently Weber’s timing in putting the story on pause to deliver enormous chunks of backstory. Make no mistake, he picks points in the story where the background information is directly related to the action at hand, but this doesn’t alter the pacing-killing fact that he puts the book’s climactic space battle on hold several times to tell you about, for example, the evolution of FTL travel in the Honorverse. It’s interesting stuff, but it’s appendix stuff (and the book still has an appendix containing more background information!), especially when the voice in the back of my skull is screaming “But there’s a bloody great space battle going on right now! Why are you telling me this now?”

The Salmon Of Doubt

The Salmon Of DoubtOrder this bookStory: The writings of the late Douglas Adams (of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy fame) are gathered into four categories. “Life” collects essays by (and interviews with) Adams on the subject of his life, career, and reactions to seemingly everyday happenings; “The Universe” widens the scope to include Adams’ love affair with technology, computers, science and conservation; “Everything” covers everything else (including the author’s fascination with religion and evolution), and “The Salmon Of Doubt” collects the best drafts of the Dirk Gently novel Adams left unfinished at the time of his death.

Review: I think it goes without saying that Douglas Adams left us far, far too soon. I’ve been taking a crash course in bittersweet reminders lately as I’ve alternated between this book and the 3-CD Douglas Adams At The BBC set, which also chronicles his many interviews and early radio work. It’s brought back forcefully my feeling that Adams will go down not just as one of the 20th century’s most influential writers, but in time will be recognized as one of its foremost speculative thinkers as well.

The Original Hitchhiker Radio Scripts

Order this bookStory: The original broadcast adventures of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian, and quite a few characters who didn’t make it into the novels based on the series.

Review: This recent “10th anniversary” reprint of the complete radio scripts of the BBC’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio shows – which, for those who didn’t already know, predate the books, TV show and Infocom game, by the way – is much more of what I’d like from a script book. The scripts aren’t interrupted by the commentary; the commentary is instead placed at the end of each half-hour script, and includes such amazingly obscure and useful information as what music was licensed for use in each program, how casting decisions were made, and the origins of situations, characters, and so on.

Don’t Panic! – The Official Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Companion

Don't Panic! - The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy CompanionOrder this bookStory: Coming from a somewhat unexpected source, this book can’t seem to decide if it’s a biography of Douglas Adams, or the definitive history of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” story as told in multitudes of media. But in any case, it would be virtually impossible to write the former without at least temporarily lapsing into the latter, so it’s okay. Neil’s just zis guy, ya know?

Review: Though there are wonderfully large amounts of previously unknown information about the behind-the-scenes machinations of “Hitchhiker’s Guide” on TV, on radio, in print, and – gasp! – on stage, I really have to single out the section on Adams’ fan mail as the most hilarious portion of the book. The fan mail itself isn’t that funny; in fact, some of it comes across as positively disturbing. But Adams’ answers never fail to give me a good belly laugh – especially at the thought that the original letter writers probably turned around and tried to read something into them!

The Anthology At The End Of The Universe

Order this bookStory: A variety of authors relate their various disciplines to Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy novels, discussing everything from the books’ impact on them to the books’ impact on science fiction to follow, and perhaps even on such real-life things as computer user interface design.

Review: Another entry in Benbella Books’ “SmartPop” series, “The Anthology At The End Of The Universe” targets the breadth and depth of the “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” saga, cannily timed to arrive at the same time as the Guide’s big screen edition. (That last bit’s actually a pity – one wonders what the various essayists thought of the movie.) The sundry contributors offer their views on the symbology of the towel, the underlying grimness at the heart of Adams’ SF-comedy epic, the place of eschatology in the series, Adams’ literary and SF influences (and his influence on the SF literature that followed him), and whether or not Americans are truly capable of “getting” Hitchhiker’s humor. As always, the spread of topics is admirable, the degree to which the essays explore their chosen premises varies, and you’ll probably learn at least a little something from the proceedings.

Last Chance To See

Last Chance To SeeOrder this bookStory: In 1988, Douglas Adams joined naturalist Mark Carwardine on a series of expeditions to personally see some of the world’s most critically endangered animals in their natural habitats. On some occasions this entailed putting up with the neighbors with whom those animals share their habitats, and those neighbors are among the world’s most dangerous animals. Adams relates the experiences of not only seeing these rare forms of life on the edge of extinction, but of the less-glamorous process of finding them, and the even-less-glamorous bureaucratic mazes that had to be navigated in order to begin that process.

Review: I hadn’t read this book until a few weeks before the fifth anniversary of Douglas Adams’ death, and it’s a great pity, for this may well be one of the best entries in the tragically brief body of Adams’ written work. It’s written in his trademark style, if a good deal more earnestly because rather than chronicling fantastical happens that have never actually happened, Adams is here chronicling fantastic happenings that happen to have happened to him personally. The sense of wonder at seeing some of the world’s rarest creatures is palpable, as is a growing sense of uneasiness about how humanity is impacting their shrinking environments.

Echoes Of Honor

Echoes Of HonorOrder this bookStory: Although she and several of her fellow Manticoran and Grayson POWs escaped from the shady head of State Security for the People’s Republic of Haven, Honor Harrington and her two shuttles of escapees have still been stranded on the Havenites’ prison planet of Hell for months. Without the benefit of the food drops for the actual prisoners on Hell, Honor and her people are both worse off and better off than those in the prison camps. But she hasn’t given up, and with her crewmates – and the Havenite defector who helped them escape – she begins to put into motion an elaborate escape plan, involving taking over the central StateSec base camp (which also happens to control Hell’s deadly array of orbital defense plstforms) and then waiting for the next inbound prison ship. While her officers try to whip the freed prisoners of Hell into an effective fighting force, Honor prepares to spring a trap from deep inside Haven territory – and she aims for nothing less than freeing every POW and political prisoner on Hell. But back home, as far as her family and friends know, Honor Harrington and her surviving crew have already been executed.

Review: “Echoes Of Honor” is the most atypical book in the entire series for numerous reasons. The setting of the story, dictated by the cliffhanger ending of “In Enemy Hands”, takes Honor Harrington off the bridge and plunges her into the middle of bloody guerilla warfare. Previous books have shown her to be more than capable of defending herself, but the series hasn’t really covered ground engagements extensively. As usual, Weber lets us peek into Honor’s mind at the tactics underlying the whole thing, and it all seems to make sense, even if the strings of coincidences that make it all work stretch the envelope a bit. (This book may well contain the costliest game of chess-by-mail in literary history.)

Star Wars: Death Star

Star Wars: Death StarOrder this bookStory: In the months leading up to the activation of the Empire’s devastating new space station/weapon, the Death Star, a variety of people find themselves aboard the immense vehicle, discovering that it’s practically opulent compared to other Imperial installations (or Imperial prisons for that matter). But when the time comes for the Death Star to unleash its full power upon defenseless worlds populated by countless innocent lives, all in the name of restoring the Emperor’s vision of “order”, they each begin to rethink their lives as cogs in the Imperial machine…and some even dare to dream of joining the Rebel Alliance, if only they can escape the confines of the Death Star itself.

Review: Remember the Babylon 5 TV movie In The Beginning, which demonstrated that nearly all of the show’s main characters had met at some point in the past, even if they didn’t remember those meetings ten years later? Combine that with the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Lower Decks, and you’ve got a pretty good idea of what “Death Star” is all about: a diverse group of characters who, just as their stories are getting interesting on their own, suddenly have to intersect with the events of Star Wars (or, for you insistent revisionists out there, A New Hope).

First Man: The Life Of Neil A. Armstrong

First Man: The Life Of Neil A. ArmstrongBuy this book in theLogBook.com StoreStory: The author, through interviews with the man himself and many of his colleagues, friends and family members from various stages of his life, chronicles the life of Neil Armstrong, combat pilot, experimental test pilot, Gemini and Apollo astronaut, and someone who had to come back to Earth dealing with universal celebrity as the first human being to walk on the moon.

Review: By his very nature, former astronaut Neil Armstrong is quiet, reclusive and admirably level-headed. We truly need more like him in the world. The flipside of that, however, is that perhaps he’s not the most exciting biographical subject in the world. His aeronautical and astronautical exploits are the stuff of legend, and rightly so, and as much as anyone’s possibly can be, his brilliance in those fields is practically a matter of public record now. But with his legendary reserve and unflappability, anything that’s outside of those areas winds up rendering the book…well…dry.

A Universe Of Star Wars Collectibles

A Universe Of Star Wars CollectiblesOrder this bookStory: The author discusses the rarity and value (or lack thereof) of numerous categories of Star Wars merchandise, including, of course, the ubiquitous action figures and toys, as well as novels (both graphic and otherwise), posters, soundtracks and story records/tapes, clothing, and many other items. He also provides estimated prices for these items, both with and without their original packaging.

Review: My last attempt to review a price guide publication, long ago, didn’t make me eager to tackle another one anytime soon. (Indeed, there’s been a gap of nearly eight years between that last review and this one.) This one, fortunately, is a bit more realistic. I have to commend the author’s decision to effectively split his pricing down the middle – one column indicating the value of an item left in completely intact original packaging (the price that everyone hopes their old Star Wars trinkets will fetch on eBay) and the value of an item outside of its packaging, presuming all parts are intact (the price that everyone will likely get if they’re lucky and have taken care of their goodies). If a loose item isn’t in pristine condition, it’s safe to assume that you scale the estimates downward from there. This is a realistic, pragmatic approach that will hopefully save us from seeing too many more beaten-up loose Hammerhead figures on the ‘net for $100 each.

Battlestar Galactica 2: The Cylon Death Machine

Battlestar Galactica 2: The Cylon Death MachineOrder this bookStory: On the run from the evil Cylons, the human’s ragtag fleet of ships, led by the mighty Battlestar Galactica, find themselves boxed in by attack vessels that continually whittle away at their camoflage. All the while, the Cylons are nudging the fleet towards the hidden Cylon garrison on Tairac, where they hope to destroy the entire fleet in one swift stroke. But Commander Adama finds help from two unlikely sources: the ranks of Galactica’s prisons and a colony of humanoid clones enslaved to the Cylons on Tairac. But on the icy planet, Captain Apollo, Lt. Starbuck and the other members of the Galactica crew don’t know if they can trust any of their new allies or if there is a way to stop the Cylons before Galactica’s slow march to destruction reaches its end.

Review: Before I talk about the book, I need to clear up my position on the whole Galactica franchise. I have very fond memories of the original series, though I haven’t seen an episode in over a decade. (I will soon remedy this thanks to my recent purchase of the complete series DVD box set.) I also have a strong loathing for the “re-imagined” new series, which I feel strays as far away from the positive message of the original series as it possibly could.

Now, “The Cylon Death Machine” goes a long way towards illustrating why I think the original series is superior to the current one. It comes down to the nature of the humans and the Cylons. In the current series, the humans and Cylons are indistiguishable, and not just because they look alike. Cylons are simply different people. I suppose this is intended on the part of the series creators, but it makes the whole conflict dull and uninteresting to me. You see, I already have a gripping drama between opposing human factions that I can pay attention to, the real world. I don’t need or desire to have it re-created, in space, with some Hollywood-type’s personal take splattered all over it. In the original series, the Cylons were true aliens, with an entirely different view of life. This comes off very well in the book.

Doctor Who: A Celebration

Buy this book in theLogBook.com StoreStory: In the first major published retrospective work on the BBC’s science fiction series Doctor Who, writer and editor Peter Haining assembles a history of the show and a variety of essays from its stars and makers, past and (as of the 20th anniversary of the show’s 1963 premiere) present. Fan archivist Jeremy Bentham turns in a large portion of the book almost uncredited, giving a critical and historical rundown of every adventure to date.

Review: The first of Peter Haining’s many books about Doctor Who, “A Celebration” has the benefit, even in hindsight, of being the first such tome, and to someone who had, in 1983, just a working knowledge of the show, this book was a revelation, unearthing a vast wealth of knowledge and photographic material to my young eyes. I grumble about how Haining made a career out of these books, reorganizing the same information over and over again until the later books became a case study of diminishing returns, but “A Celebration” is a fine piece of work on its own.

Life, The Universe, And Everything

Order this bookStory: Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect are rescued from years of mind-numbing isolation on prehistoric Earth by a freak time warp and a hovering, but nonetheless elegant, sofa. They wind up on Earth, at Lord’s Cricket Ground, a mere two days before the planet will be annihilated by the Vogons, but here they witness an alien incursion of another kind: killer robots from Krikkit descend upon the field to retrieve one piece of a key that could unlock their ability to destroy the entire known universe. Slartibartfast appears in his own unlikely spacecraft, the Bistromath, to whisk Ford and Arthur away on a desperate mission to stop the Krikkit robots from wiping out everything. It is a mission in which they will utterly fail.

Review: For many years, I was convinced that – aside from “Mostly Harmless” – “Life, The Universe, And Everything “was my least favorite. I reread it recently during a bit of a Douglas Adams binge, and quickly discovered that – aside from “So Long And Thanks For All The Fish” – it’s actually my second favorite.

The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe

The Restaurant At The End Of The UniverseOrder this bookStory: Having escaped from the planet Magrathea by the skin of their teeth, Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox and Trillian – with paranoid android Marvin in tow – are once again in deep trouble, with the Vogons hot on the trail of the Heart of Gold. Normally, the ship’s extensive computer banks could come up with a tactical solution to all this, but unfortunately, they’re all occupied by a priority instruction: Arthur wants a cup of real tea, not synthesized tea. Zaphod has to rely on help from beyond the grave, which leads him on a terrifying adventure to Frogstar, the most evil planet in the galaxy. Surviving this encounter with nothing but his natural cool, Zaphod rejoins his comrades for a quick bite at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. And that’s where the trouble really begins.

Review: So there’s good news and bad news.

And then there’s trivia. “The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe”, based loosely on material from episodes five through twelve of Douglas Adams’ phenomenally successful BBC radio series, was the novel that put Adams on the U.S. bestseller lists (though, for some unknown reason, didn’t fare quite as well in Britain). However, I think I may know why the British audience didn’t embrace it quite so wholeheartedly. And I’ll get to that point in due course.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy

Order this bookStory: A seemingly typical Thursday throws Englishman Arthur Dent for a loop as he witnesses the destruction, in rapid succession, of his house and then the entire world. That he witnesses the latter event instead of being caught up in it is solely thanks to the intervention of his quirky friend Ford Prefect, who turns out to be an alien in disguise, researching Earth for a publication known as the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. After escaping Earth’s demise, Ford and a dazed Arthur wind up aboard the stolen starship Heart Of Gold, whose captain, the two-headed Zaphod Beeblebrox, is out of both of his minds. Zaphod, traveling with Trillian (the only other surviving human), is on a quest to find the legendary planet of Magrathea, hoping to plunder its wealth. What he doesn’t anticipate, however, is that the Magratheans might not want their wealth plundered.

Review: I’ve held off on reviewing “The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” for far too long, mainly because it’s the incarnation of the story that most fans are the most familiar with. I’d rather educate them about the radio series (which inspired the books and every other version of the story that came later), or the computer game, or some other obscure versions of the story. But two things inspired me to go back, give the book a re-read, and report my findings: the fact that a big-budget, big-screen version of “Hitchhiker’s Guide” is on the way, and the recent appearance of a Cliff Notes-style study guide to this first novel in the series.

A study guide? To the “Hitchhiker’s Guide”? Almighty Zarquon, but I’m getting old.

Doctor Who: The Key To Time

Buy this book in theLogBook.com StoreStory: Author Peter Haining once again toils away in the Who mines, trying to provide a chronological history of the development, production, and critical and public reaction to the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who.

Review: The second of his sextet of Doctor Who books, “The Key To Time” is also probably Peter Haining’s second best, and it was downhill from there; later books like “The Doctor Who File” and “The Time Travellers’ Guide” were dismal recyclings of what appeared here and in “Doctor Who – A Celebration”. But the beginning of that decline can be seen in “The Key To Time” as well: the emphasis shifts from text to pictures here, and to avoid incurring a huge photo usage fee from the BBC and Equity (the British actors’ union), illustrations from fan artists were sought.

Doctor Who: The Eighties

Buy this book in theLogBook.com StoreStory: This book takes a risk that it might be treading on well-traveled ground, but it succeeds in its unprecedented level of detail. The early 1980s era of Doctor Who has already been analyzed in much detail, though recent revelations – such as the claim that Tom Baker’s voluntary resignation was motivated by disagreements with new producer John Nathan-Turner – have made it possible to conduct newer studies of the show’s final decade as a continuing series.

Review: One thing this book covered which I had not previously read much about was the period from Colin Baker’s exodus through Sylvester McCoy’s era and the end of the BBC’s production of the show. Many of the details of this winding-down portion of Doctor Who’s history are vague, though this book helped to set the record straight, including the very, very intriguing pre-production information for the next season or two which would have carried Doctor Who into the 1990s and toward 30 continuous years on the air.

Doctor Who: 25 Glorious Years

Buy this book in theLogBook.com StoreStory: British pop culture journalist Peter Haining – he who has managed to wrangle the compilation of other people’s writings into a career, if not necessarily an art form – interviews the star and producer of Doctor Who during its 1988 silver anniversary year. Profiles of other actors who have played the Doctor (and his companions) are included, as well as brief bios of actors who have played the Doctor in other venues. Haining also glances over the history of science fiction on British television and assesses the Time Lord’s place in the pantheon of SF literary heroes.

Review: After the death of controversial Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner, I reacquainted myself with this book since I recalled it had one of the better interviews with him. And 25 Glorious Years is an interesting volume in other ways as well.

Doctor Who: Regeneration

Buy this book in theLogBook.com StoreStory: Shortly before the end of Doctor Who on BBC-TV in 1989, an up-and-coming Columbia Pictures TV producer named Philip Segal contacted the BBC about obtaining the rights to create an American version of the popular show. As fate would have it, Segal became the BBC’s choice to bring the Doctor’s adventures to the U.S. – but the road between winning that approval and finally getting a singular show on the air (the 1996 movie aired on Fox) would prove to be longer and more convoluted than any adventure ever endured by the Time Lord.

Review: In the fine tradition of the Howe-Stammers-Walker reference works, repsected Doctor Who novelist and journalist Gary Russell teamed up with Doctor Who movie producer Philip Segal, the man who would have liked to revive the series proper in America and did manage to bring the eighth Doctor to the world. The story of the many twists and turns Segal undertook in the process of getting Doctor Who back on the air, even if only for two hours, is almost beyond comprehension when one tries to fathom the sheer bureaucracy involved in a U.S.-British co-production.

Doctor Who: The New Audio Adventures – The Inside Story

Buy this book in theLogBook.com StoreStory: In 1999, after over two years of petitioning the BBC for the rights, Jason Haigh-Ellery and his cohorts at the largely fan-run audio production outfit Big Finish Productions launched a new series of official and original Doctor Who audio plays. The author chronicles the making of the first fifty Doctor Who audio stories, plus several spinoff releases such as the Dalek Empire and Sarah Jane Smith series, going behind the scenes of the writing process, production, post-production and even fan reaction to individual titles.

Review: It almost seems anticlimactic to think about it now that Doctor Who has made an impressive return to the top of the British television ratings, but a mere six years ago, Big Finish’s Doctor Who audio productions were almost more than the fans ever could have hoped for. And with the recent broadcast of some of the eighth Doctor audio plays starring Paul McGann on BBC Radio 7, things appear to have come full circle: the BBC has more or less branded these plays-on-CD as bona fide Who.

Doctor Who – The Seventh Doctor Handbook

Buy this book in theLogBook.com StoreStory: In what appears to be the final entry in the excellent Handbook series of Doctor Who non-fiction books, the all-too-brief era of Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor Who is covered in great detail.

Review: I’ve always been a fan of the Handbooks, but I eagerly awaited this particular volume since – as opposed to the earlier years of the show, which have been covered extensively – I have found information on the McCoy era very hard to come by. “Doctor Who: The Eighties”, by the same authors, was an excellent book in that department, as is this one. However, I would’ve liked more information on the planned 27th season of Doctor Who, some of which was covered in “The Eighties”.

Doctor Who: The Sixth Doctor Handbook

Buy this book in theLogBook.com StoreStory: In only the second volume of the outstanding series of non-fiction Doctor Who Handbooks, the troubled reign of Colin Baker, the sixth actor to play the role of the Doctor, is covered. From the inception of this new take on the character, to the cancellation that aborted an entire season about to enter production (and forced the show’s makers to hastily concoct a new series of stories in its stead), to the untimely termination of Baker’s contract, the tumultuous three-year period is examined, even including a glimpse at some of the plans that were in place had he continued in the role.

Review: Perhaps the single most fascinating volume in the Handbook series, the Sixth Doctor Handbook finally dishes up some long-overdue behind-the-scenes dirt on the most troubled phase of the show’s history.

Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Handbook

Buy this book in theLogBook.com StoreStory: Doctor Who fanzine publishers, interviewers and analysts extraordinare David J. Howe, Stephen James Walker and Mark Stammers kick off an seven-volume examination of the series with this look at Tom Baker’s reign as the longest-serving actor in the role. Baker’s own quotes before, during and after his time in the TARDIS are analyzed to see how he approached the part, and each episode’s production details and evolution are covered. The Brain Of Morbius is selected for a scene-by-scene breakdown, with comments from members of the behind-the-scenes crew forming a DVD-style commentary in print. Finally, the effect of Baker’s reign on the rest of the show’s lifetime are discussed as well.

Review: Tom Baker left an indelible mark on Doctor Who when he bowed out of the role in 1981. Some would say that mark was good, and others might say it’s bad – and some of them are probably confusing the effects of Tom Baker, the actor, with the effects of John Nathan-Turner, the producer who took over the show in Baker’s final season. If you’re looking for a solid analysis of this period of the show’s history, this book is for you.

Doctor Who: The Third Doctor Handbook

Buy this book in theLogBook.com StoreStory: Actor Jon Pertwee’s time in the TARDIS in the BBC’s Doctor Who saw the dawn of a new era for the world’s longest-running science fiction TV series: full color, now sporting new special effects and a more grown-up storytelling approach, and for the first time, the star of the show being elevated to true celebrity status outside of the show itself. And being the showbiz professional that he was, Pertwee was up for every bit of it. His life before, during and after Doctor Who is detailed, along with exhaustive profiles of every episode with extensive behind-the-scenes trivia, and a special piece on the making of Day Of The Daleks.

Review: The Doctor Who documentarian trio shrinks to two authors with the exit of Mark Stammers in this volume, but there’s no less information in “The Third Doctor Handbook” than there is in previous books in the series.

One of the more interesting sections this time around is the “In His Own Words” chapter, culling quotes from Pertwee’s past interviews in the mainstream press and from fan interviews. Much of the book’s most fascinating information is found here, including the fact that a salary dispute was chiefly responsible for the end of Pertwee’s tenure.

Doctor Who: The Second Doctor Handbook

Buy this book in theLogBook.com StoreStory: Actors have had to replace other actors before, both on television and on the stage, but seldom has an attempt been made to change horses mid-stream that rivaled tha audacity of the first changeover of lead actors in Doctor Who. William Hartnell, who had become an unlikely hero to his young audience in three years of battling Daleks and other menaces from outer space and Earth history, was replaced by Patrick Troughton, an actor whom Hartnell regarded highly though the two didn’t look even remotely similar. With Troughton’s wildly different take on the character, and with the show evolving into more of a science fiction adventure series, “The Second Doctor Handbook” has a lot of material to cover. The authors also lavish praise and throw rotten fruit where appropriate in a section of episode-by-episode reviews.

Review: What was going through the minds of Doctor Who’s producers when they cast Patrick Troughton as William Hartnell’s replacement? That’s a big part of what the authors, the three most accomplished documentarians of the BBC’s most popular science fiction series, tackled with this book. And boy,was I surprised at what they revealed here. Long has the official party line been repeated that Hartnell had to retire from his favorite role due to illness, but it seems that Hartnell’s health problems – early symptoms of multiple sclerosis – were only a small part of that decision.

Doctor Who: The First Doctor Handbook

Buy this book in theLogBook.com StoreStory: Television pioneer Sydney Newman joined the BBC in 1962, creating numerous projects, including a children’s science fiction serial about an eccentric, time-traveling professor. The show was expected to last all of several weeks, despite the amount of effort put into its concept, but thanks to the efforts of producers, writers, special effects technicians, a talented cast, and a dedicated young producer (one of the first women to hold that title in the U.K.), Doctor Who thrived – and its legend continues nearly four decades later. This is the story of the era of the show during which William Hartnell, the original actor, played the part, as well as the story of the months of development leading up to the show’s final concept.

Review: The Howe-Stammers-Walker Handbook series is, hands-down, the best-researched history of Doctor Who ever put on paper – it’s just a pity that one has to track down seven books, at least a couple of which are now out of print, to complete the series!