Counterfeit

by Peter Anghelides

Audio CD

Published January 1, 2012

About the author

Anghelides' first published work was the short story "Moving On" in the third volume of the Virgin Decalog collections, which led to further short stories in the fourth collection and then in two of the BBC Short Trips collections that followed. In January 1998, his first novel Kursaal was published as part of BBC Books' Eighth Doctor Adventures series on books. Anghelides subsequently wrote two more novels for the range, Frontier Worlds in November 1999, which was named "Best Eighth Doctor Novel" in the annual Doctor Who Magazine poll of its readers, and the The Ancestor Cell in July 2000 (co-written with departing editor Stephen Cole). The Ancestor Cell was placed ninth in the Top 10 of SFX magazine's "Best SF/Fantasy novelisation or TV tie-in novel" category of that year.

Anghelides also wrote several short stories for a variety of Big Finish Productions' Short Trips and Bernice Summerfield collections. This led, in November 2002, to the production of his first audio adventure for Big Finish, the play Sarah Jane Smith: Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre.

In 2008, he wrote a comic which featured on the Doctor Who website

Reviews

[Leila Anani · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this 3rd Liberator Chronicle set in the show's first season, Blake and Avon investigate a mine that appears to have found every alchemist's dream: Illusium a mineral that can transmute into other elements.

Other than the stupidity of the premise - that the Federation could even be convinced that Illusium exists and more importantly have been supporting a mine for over two years without every seeing any returns at all - this one isn't too bad.

Great character choices in Blake (because he shows sympathy for the miner's situation) and Avon (for his avarice and cynicism) and of course Thomas/Darrow do a superb job of narrating, both on top form here. Avon has some truly cutting remarks that put a massive smile on my face, even if he largely takes a back set in favour of Blake in this one.

Other than the wonderful Blake/Avon dialogue there are a couple of nice deceptions - Avon pretending to be Travis and Jenna pretending to be Servalan which I just wish I could have got to see on screen, that really would have been something!

Weakest thing about this one is the actual story everything else is top notch, it fits the spirit of the series and characterisation is excellent. Thumbs up.