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Big Finish Short Trips #1
Doctor Who Short Trips: Zodiac
Take a TARDIS trip through the constellations, as the Doctor travels to twelve thrilling tales inspired by the mystical zodiac.
Telepathic fish, miniature lions and twin planets are the least of his problems, as the Doctor -- all eight of him -- faces the Capricorn Killer, endures a mindswap with the Machiavellian Master, and dances with Death herself.
And that's not the half of it -- as the two K9s can attest.
This collection features twelve exclusive short stories from well-known names in Doctor Who fiction -- including acclaimed novelist and Booker nominee Paul Magrs, alongside Simon A Forward, Mark Michalowski, Paul Leonard and Joseph Lidster -- as well as fresh new voices.
Telepathic fish, miniature lions and twin planets are the least of his problems, as the Doctor -- all eight of him -- faces the Capricorn Killer, endures a mindswap with the Machiavellian Master, and dances with Death herself.
And that's not the half of it -- as the two K9s can attest.
This collection features twelve exclusive short stories from well-known names in Doctor Who fiction -- including acclaimed novelist and Booker nominee Paul Magrs, alongside Simon A Forward, Mark Michalowski, Paul Leonard and Joseph Lidster -- as well as fresh new voices.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2002
5 people are currently reading
141 people want to read
About the author
Jacqueline Rayner
133 books168 followersJacqueline Rayner is a best selling British author, best known for her work with the licensed fiction based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.
Her first professional writing credit came when she adapted Paul Cornell's Virgin New Adventure novel Oh No It Isn't! for the audio format, the first release by Big Finish. (The novel featured the character of Bernice Summerfield and was part of a spin-off series from Doctor Who.) She went on to do five of the six Bernice Summerfield audio adaptations and further work for Big Finish before going to work for BBC Books on their Doctor Who lines.
Her first novels came in 2001, with the Eighth Doctor Adventures novel EarthWorld for BBC Books and the Bernice Summerfield novel The Squire's Crystal for Big Finish. Rayner has written several other Doctor Who spin-offs and was also for a period the executive producer for the BBC on the Big Finish range of Doctor Who audio dramas. She has also contributed to the audio range as a writer. In all, her Doctor Who and related work (Bernice Summerfield stories), consists of five novels, a number of short stories and four original audio plays.
Rayner has edited several anthologies of Doctor Who short stories, mainly for Big Finish, and done work for Doctor Who Magazine. Beyond Doctor Who, her work includes the children's television tie-in book Horses Like Blaze.
With the start of the new television series of Doctor Who in 2005 and a shift in the BBC's Doctor Who related book output, Rayner has become, along with Justin Richards and Stephen Cole, one of the regular authors of the BBC's New Series Adventures. She has also abridged several of the books to be made into audiobooks.
She was also a member of Doctor Who Magazine's original Time Team.
Her first professional writing credit came when she adapted Paul Cornell's Virgin New Adventure novel Oh No It Isn't! for the audio format, the first release by Big Finish. (The novel featured the character of Bernice Summerfield and was part of a spin-off series from Doctor Who.) She went on to do five of the six Bernice Summerfield audio adaptations and further work for Big Finish before going to work for BBC Books on their Doctor Who lines.
Her first novels came in 2001, with the Eighth Doctor Adventures novel EarthWorld for BBC Books and the Bernice Summerfield novel The Squire's Crystal for Big Finish. Rayner has written several other Doctor Who spin-offs and was also for a period the executive producer for the BBC on the Big Finish range of Doctor Who audio dramas. She has also contributed to the audio range as a writer. In all, her Doctor Who and related work (Bernice Summerfield stories), consists of five novels, a number of short stories and four original audio plays.
Rayner has edited several anthologies of Doctor Who short stories, mainly for Big Finish, and done work for Doctor Who Magazine. Beyond Doctor Who, her work includes the children's television tie-in book Horses Like Blaze.
With the start of the new television series of Doctor Who in 2005 and a shift in the BBC's Doctor Who related book output, Rayner has become, along with Justin Richards and Stephen Cole, one of the regular authors of the BBC's New Series Adventures. She has also abridged several of the books to be made into audiobooks.
She was also a member of Doctor Who Magazine's original Time Team.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 10, 2020
Short Trips 1: Zodiac is a short story anthology published by Big Finish, and the stories range from absolutely brilliant to kinda horrendous.
I've noticed that the prose Short Trips series gets a lot of criticism, however I think that it's unwarranted.
I have reviewed each of the twelve stories individually off site, so I'll link it do you can read them. Mine are under the name "Toby P".
https://thetimescales.com/tag/?tag=1274
I've noticed that the prose Short Trips series gets a lot of criticism, however I think that it's unwarranted.
I have reviewed each of the twelve stories individually off site, so I'll link it do you can read them. Mine are under the name "Toby P".
https://thetimescales.com/tag/?tag=1274
Read
June 9, 2020Highlights: The Switching by Simon Guerrier and 'I Was A Monster!!!' by Joseph Lidster
September 20, 2017
20.9.17: So, what can I say about this book?
Well, the first things is the format. There are twelve stories here with a contrived link that is the zodiac, twelve stories that have a nominal link to the sign of the zodiac. A story about fish. Pisces. Check. A story about a a murderer called The Capricorn Killer. Capricorn. Check. And so on.
So before each story you have a link that tells you about the zodiac sign, strangely from a Gallifreyan point of view. A page wasted as there is nothing there to get your teeth into.
The stories, on the other hand, vary from genuinely interesting (Andrew Collins’ The Invertebrates of Doom), via fun but silly (Jealous, Possessive by Paul Magrs which is essentially letters written between K9 Marks I and II) through to creepy (The True And Indisputable Facts In The Matter Of The Ram’s Skull by Mark Michalowski). Some hit, some miss, but there are some good tales in here. This is the first of a series that ran to twenty nine volumes, if they all have as much to offer as the better stories in here then hopefully they will be a joy to read.
Old review: suppose the problem with a short story colllection is that there is no way that everyone will like all of the stories. Some of the stories are great (I love the bitchy letters betweeb K9's Mark I and II, as well as the one where five incarnations of the Doctor meet up) but most of them were average.
And the "Zodiac" linking theme is pointless - there are twelve stories but there is nothing (that I could see) linking the stories to the sign of the Zodiac that they allegedy represent.
So for a first book a bit dull and disappointing. I am sure they will improve as the series continues.
Well, the first things is the format. There are twelve stories here with a contrived link that is the zodiac, twelve stories that have a nominal link to the sign of the zodiac. A story about fish. Pisces. Check. A story about a a murderer called The Capricorn Killer. Capricorn. Check. And so on.
So before each story you have a link that tells you about the zodiac sign, strangely from a Gallifreyan point of view. A page wasted as there is nothing there to get your teeth into.
The stories, on the other hand, vary from genuinely interesting (Andrew Collins’ The Invertebrates of Doom), via fun but silly (Jealous, Possessive by Paul Magrs which is essentially letters written between K9 Marks I and II) through to creepy (The True And Indisputable Facts In The Matter Of The Ram’s Skull by Mark Michalowski). Some hit, some miss, but there are some good tales in here. This is the first of a series that ran to twenty nine volumes, if they all have as much to offer as the better stories in here then hopefully they will be a joy to read.
Old review: suppose the problem with a short story colllection is that there is no way that everyone will like all of the stories. Some of the stories are great (I love the bitchy letters betweeb K9's Mark I and II, as well as the one where five incarnations of the Doctor meet up) but most of them were average.
And the "Zodiac" linking theme is pointless - there are twelve stories but there is nothing (that I could see) linking the stories to the sign of the Zodiac that they allegedy represent.
So for a first book a bit dull and disappointing. I am sure they will improve as the series continues.
January 17, 2016
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2585097.html
This was the first of 29 anthologies of stories featuring the first eight Doctors published by Big Finish between 2002 and 2009. This takes the dubious proposition that astrology as developed on Earth might somehow be relevant to Gallifrey, and asks twelve writers to write stories based on signs of the Zodiac. The results are variable; the one that particularly grabbed me was Ian Potter's Third Doctor / Brigadier / Liz Shaw story "Still Lives", though I did not really see its relevance to the sign of the Crab which it supposedly represents. Also noted for one of my other lists, Joseph Lidster's "I Was a Monster!!!", representing Capricorn, which is set in Dublin.
This was the first of 29 anthologies of stories featuring the first eight Doctors published by Big Finish between 2002 and 2009. This takes the dubious proposition that astrology as developed on Earth might somehow be relevant to Gallifrey, and asks twelve writers to write stories based on signs of the Zodiac. The results are variable; the one that particularly grabbed me was Ian Potter's Third Doctor / Brigadier / Liz Shaw story "Still Lives", though I did not really see its relevance to the sign of the Crab which it supposedly represents. Also noted for one of my other lists, Joseph Lidster's "I Was a Monster!!!", representing Capricorn, which is set in Dublin.
October 22, 2024
Review by Story:
The True and Indisputable Facts in the Matter of the Ram’s Skull: fun and spooky. Definitely a 4th Doctor story with 1st Doctor characters in it. 3/5
Constant Companion: a very goofy story about the Doctor adopting a cat. A little sad in the end as you may imagine. But not terribly so. 3/5
Twin Piques: absolute goofy nonsense with nothing to say. Just dumb. 1/5
Still Lives: I’ve often described Doctor Who as “The Twilight Zone” but with a protagonist. And the writer of this story apparently heard me. 4/5
The Switching: An odd little story. I like the concept, and the explanation for the butt ugly TARDIS interior we get the following season. Fun, if not terribly earth shattering. 4/5
The True and Indisputable Facts in the Matter of the Ram’s Skull: fun and spooky. Definitely a 4th Doctor story with 1st Doctor characters in it. 3/5
Constant Companion: a very goofy story about the Doctor adopting a cat. A little sad in the end as you may imagine. But not terribly so. 3/5
Twin Piques: absolute goofy nonsense with nothing to say. Just dumb. 1/5
Still Lives: I’ve often described Doctor Who as “The Twilight Zone” but with a protagonist. And the writer of this story apparently heard me. 4/5
The Switching: An odd little story. I like the concept, and the explanation for the butt ugly TARDIS interior we get the following season. Fun, if not terribly earth shattering. 4/5
May 28, 2014
Some decent stories and a few really cute ones. Not sure what was up with all those weird Zodiac intervals, but they were boring and I stopped reading them after the first two.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews