rj_anderson | *sob* *sob* *sob*

I've just finished listening to Scherzo, the latest Big Finish Doctor Who audio drama featuring the Eighth Doctor and his companion Charlotte "Charley" Pollard, and I'm utterly overwhelmed. For all that the story pretends to be about alternate universes and the science of sound and evolution and whatnot, it's basically just a humongous frocky excuse to have the two characters alone together in an intimate and emotionally charged situation, so naturally I ate it up with a spoon and ended up teary-eyed by the end.

It doesn't help that Paul McGann has such a beautiful speaking voice, either. And he delivers his lines with such passion... *blows nose loudly*

Yes, I know I am an utter sap. Now excuse me while I go listen to the end of Episode Three again -- I never, ever thought I would hear the Doctor say that. And especially not mean that by it...

By the way,

avarill, I think the Ninth Doctor's angst in Scream of the Shalka suddenly makes a great deal more sense in the light of this Big Finish episode. In fact I can't help but wonder if Paul Cornell had the script for Scherzo in hand when he wrote Shalka. But if so, that can only mean --

Wah!

Ahem. I apologize to the universe at large for this fit of incoherence.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hi, Rebecca!

I couldn't sleep - which is deeply frustrating, because I'm due to be at a signing for Scherzo in the morning. (Ugh. I wouldn't want to have me autograph for anyone. I'll be bleary-eyed and crotchety.) I checked out your website - great stuff, by the way, more on that later - and stumbled across your entry on my Doctor Who story. In the way you do.

Just wanted to thank you again, really. I know that Big Finish took a few risks in allowing me to write something for them which strayed so far from the adventure format and which could be, to all intents and purposes, a love story. The jury's still out on whether it's been well-received or not. But either way, your wonderful response has made it worthwhile!

Very best wishes - and thanks

Rob Shearman

Thanks, Rob! Hope the signing goes well, and may your reviews for Scherzo continue to be as positive as the majority I've seen...

[doubletakes at first comment]

O_O!

Anyway... ermm... [still distracted]... would you be willing to tell me a bit about Dorothy Dunnett when you get a chance? (If I can draw you away from all your male admirers, that is.) I know the name, but I don't really know anything about her work.

LOL on the male admirers. If you say it that way it doesn't sound half so embarrassing...

As for Dunnett, I've only read her Lymond series (http://www.randomhouse.com/vintage/dunnett/lymond/), the Johnson Johnson mysteries (which get no respect because they're "just" light detective fiction -- humph), and her stand-alone Macbeth novel King Hereafter (http://www.randomhouse.com/vintage/dunnett/king/). These days she's best known for the Niccolo books, another historical series which I haven't not read (and don't plan to -- not because I think Dunnett ever lost her skills as an author, but because I was warned that the series has an extra-heavy dose of the sort of content I could have done without in the earlier books).

But anyway. Dunnett is staggeringly complex, dauntingly brilliant, creates vividly memorable characters, and her stories are both witty and emotionally eviscerating. Knowing you, I think you would like the Lymond (http://www.randomhouse.com/vintage/dunnett/lymond/) series in particular very much (it's set in the 16th century, the hero is Scottish), assuming you can plow through The Game of Kings, the first book in the series and the one everybody seems to have trouble with. (On a second reading, I enjoyed it very much: but the first time I confess to having skimmed about two-thirds of it. It introduces us to Lymond, but to the unprepared reader it can be hard slogging. The second book is usually where people seem to "get the hang" of Dunnett and start down the road to total Lymond obsession. And I should probably warn you, that road goes downhill at an awfully steep angle .)

Hope that helps?

Thank you.

I've been slogging through The Game of Kings for weeks now. Fortunately, I have an insider at the library who renews it for me before I acquire fines, so I feel no urgency to push through.

I should "want" to read the Niccolo books, I've picked them up any number of times at the library, but each time I've returned them to the shelf. I'll perserve, however, with the Lymond series after reading your comments and hope to find whatever you found that makes them so enjoyable to you.

Kim

sob sob sob

Scherzo musings

Re: Scherzo musings

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At the risk of butting in