Nicholas (nwhyte) wrote,
Nicholas
nwhyte

Short Trips: The Muses, ed. Jacqueline Rayner

The fourth of the Big Finish Short Trips anthologies, and the third edited by Jac Rayner, published in 2003. At that stage we had eight canonical Doctors, so it seems in retrospect a fairly obvious idea to compile a collection of nine stories, each featuring one of them, with one more featuring them all. And while there are many cultural uses of the number nine, the Muses make a pleasing link with ancient culture.

I liked most of these stories, three in particular: (Terpsichore) "Teach Yourself Ballroom Dancing", by Robert Shearman, an unusually good Sixth Doctor story; (Thalia) "The Brain of Socrates", by Gareth Roberts, with the Fourth Doctor and Leela; and (Clio) "The Glass Princess", by Justin Richards, pulling together all eight Doctors in a rather moving story of inexorable forward time travel. Also a shout out for (Calliope) "Katarina in the Underworld", by Steve Lyons, as far as I know the only published spinoff fiction featuring Katarina, and a rare grappling with matters of the afterlife.

Next in this sequence: Short Trips: Steel Skies, ed. John Binns.
Tags: bookblog 2016, doctor who, doctor who: 01, doctor who: 02, doctor who: 03, doctor who: 04, doctor who: 05, doctor who: 06, doctor who: 07, doctor who: 08, writer: gareth roberts, writer: jacqueline rayner, writer: justin richards, writer: rob shearman, writer: steve lyons
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