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5 Star 5 #2
Five Star Five : The Doomsday Device
THE THE FUTURE
THE THE UNIVERSE
The Zargon home world is dying. With their nemesis in prison on trumped up charges, they have developed a brand new weapon of awesome power. As the Zargons plot another attempt on the planet Kestra, a group of friends must band together and rescue their only hope for survival – John Lovell!
The second release in the Five Star Five series. A novelisation by Richard James following John Lovell and the Zargon Threat, an original 1978 feature script by Gerry Anderson and Tony Barwick.
THE THE UNIVERSE
The Zargon home world is dying. With their nemesis in prison on trumped up charges, they have developed a brand new weapon of awesome power. As the Zargons plot another attempt on the planet Kestra, a group of friends must band together and rescue their only hope for survival – John Lovell!
The second release in the Five Star Five series. A novelisation by Richard James following John Lovell and the Zargon Threat, an original 1978 feature script by Gerry Anderson and Tony Barwick.
194 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 7, 2024
1 person want to read
About the author
Richard James
20 books20 followersI've been telling stories all my life. As an actor I've spent a career telling other people's, from Charles Dickens to David Walliams. As I writer, I get to create my own!
I have written almost thirty plays which are produced the world over; from USA to New Zealand and just about everywhere in between. They're mostly comedies and frequently win awards in competitions and festivals.
In 2014 I wrote a memoir, Space Precinct Unmasked, detailing my experiences working as an actor on Gerry Anderson's last live action sci-fi series. This was followed by an adaptation of the unscreened pilot episode, Demeter City, and four new short stories featuring the officers of Precinct 88, Space Precinct: Revisited.
As to my own series, I decided I wanted to write a sequence of books set in a world I would want to spend time in and featuring characters I would want to be with. Most importantly, it would have to feature a grisly murder or two! I love the Victorian era. It seems such a rich period of history, populated by some hugely colourful characters, so that is where we first meet Detective Inspector George Bowman.
The Head In The Ice is the first in the Bowman Of The Yard series and follows Bowman's investigation into the discovery of - well, a head in the ice of the River Thames. Over the course of the book, however, and throughout the series in general, we see he has demons of his own to contend with.
There are four books in the Bowman Of The Yard series in all, together with some short stories from Bowman's Casebook. These have been collected into two volumes and fill in the gaps between the novels, giving the reader the chance to follow Bowman's professional progress and personal battles (he's a troubled man, as you'll see) over twelve months of his life.
'A masterful new Victorian mystery series.' Rosie Amber books
'A genuinely impressive debut.' Andrew Cartmel
'Full of the thrills of Victorian London.' Adam Croft
I really hope you like the books. If you do, you can tweet me your thoughts at @RichardNJames. I hope to hear from you!
Richard James
2019
www.richardjamesonline.com
I have written almost thirty plays which are produced the world over; from USA to New Zealand and just about everywhere in between. They're mostly comedies and frequently win awards in competitions and festivals.
In 2014 I wrote a memoir, Space Precinct Unmasked, detailing my experiences working as an actor on Gerry Anderson's last live action sci-fi series. This was followed by an adaptation of the unscreened pilot episode, Demeter City, and four new short stories featuring the officers of Precinct 88, Space Precinct: Revisited.
As to my own series, I decided I wanted to write a sequence of books set in a world I would want to spend time in and featuring characters I would want to be with. Most importantly, it would have to feature a grisly murder or two! I love the Victorian era. It seems such a rich period of history, populated by some hugely colourful characters, so that is where we first meet Detective Inspector George Bowman.
The Head In The Ice is the first in the Bowman Of The Yard series and follows Bowman's investigation into the discovery of - well, a head in the ice of the River Thames. Over the course of the book, however, and throughout the series in general, we see he has demons of his own to contend with.
There are four books in the Bowman Of The Yard series in all, together with some short stories from Bowman's Casebook. These have been collected into two volumes and fill in the gaps between the novels, giving the reader the chance to follow Bowman's professional progress and personal battles (he's a troubled man, as you'll see) over twelve months of his life.
'A masterful new Victorian mystery series.' Rosie Amber books
'A genuinely impressive debut.' Andrew Cartmel
'Full of the thrills of Victorian London.' Adam Croft
I really hope you like the books. If you do, you can tweet me your thoughts at @RichardNJames. I hope to hear from you!
Richard James
2019
www.richardjamesonline.com
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 2, 2024
This, Richard James novella, from the Gerry Anderson Universe , is the second instalment of a trilogy of books ,featuring a disparate group, of heroic characters , set in a Sy-fi landscape, who find themselves ,fighting for the Kestran peoples , a peace loving race ,whose planet is constantly under threat ,from their aggressive, totalitarian neighbours the Zargons - possible analogy can be made currently, with war raging in Europe in our present day?
Gerry Anderson, and Tony Barwick , his long-standing writing partner, from many hugely popular TV series, such as Thunderbirds and Space 1999 , wrote a treatment, in the 1970’ s , for their prospective take, on the Star Wars franchise , which almost started production, but fell down in at the last minute
Years later, Gerry ‘s son Jamie ,found the script in a filing cabinet , and gave it to Richard James, actor ,author , and co presenter, of the Gerry Anderson Podcast, and alumni ,from another Gerry Anderson series, Space Precinct, from the 1990’s
Richard has successfully broadened out the original premise, into three books, of which, I have now read ,two
Think more ,Guardians Of The Galaxy, I would say , if approaching these stories, with a vagabond group of characters ,featuring a veteran Space Pirate, a talking chimpanzee , a large salvage robot, a precocious kid with a mechanical dog , and a strange , elderly ,mystical gentleman, with supernatural powers, and you’ll get my drift - all great fun , rest assured
The Doomsday Device ,is an ideal short read , at 170 pages ( as are .the other books in this trilogy ) , and are all well written ,by an accomplished writer ,in Richard James, who has also, had his own series of Victorian detective novels, and short stories, published in the recent past ,called ‘ Bowman Of The Yard ‘ , set in 19th century London , and are also, highly entertaining shortish reads , in their own right , in a Sherlock Holmes style
Definitely a good read , mainly, for people in ‘ the know ‘ , concerning the Gerry Anderson televisual Universe, but, Doomsday Device could be a pleasant diversion ,for any Sy-fi aficionados out there, looking for a brief literary ,fun diversion
Gerry Anderson, and Tony Barwick , his long-standing writing partner, from many hugely popular TV series, such as Thunderbirds and Space 1999 , wrote a treatment, in the 1970’ s , for their prospective take, on the Star Wars franchise , which almost started production, but fell down in at the last minute
Years later, Gerry ‘s son Jamie ,found the script in a filing cabinet , and gave it to Richard James, actor ,author , and co presenter, of the Gerry Anderson Podcast, and alumni ,from another Gerry Anderson series, Space Precinct, from the 1990’s
Richard has successfully broadened out the original premise, into three books, of which, I have now read ,two
Think more ,Guardians Of The Galaxy, I would say , if approaching these stories, with a vagabond group of characters ,featuring a veteran Space Pirate, a talking chimpanzee , a large salvage robot, a precocious kid with a mechanical dog , and a strange , elderly ,mystical gentleman, with supernatural powers, and you’ll get my drift - all great fun , rest assured
The Doomsday Device ,is an ideal short read , at 170 pages ( as are .the other books in this trilogy ) , and are all well written ,by an accomplished writer ,in Richard James, who has also, had his own series of Victorian detective novels, and short stories, published in the recent past ,called ‘ Bowman Of The Yard ‘ , set in 19th century London , and are also, highly entertaining shortish reads , in their own right , in a Sherlock Holmes style
Definitely a good read , mainly, for people in ‘ the know ‘ , concerning the Gerry Anderson televisual Universe, but, Doomsday Device could be a pleasant diversion ,for any Sy-fi aficionados out there, looking for a brief literary ,fun diversion
Displaying 1 of 1 review