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Graceless
Graceless I: Alone in Time and Space
A SEQUEL TO DOCTOR WHO: THE KEY 2 TIME!
Abby and her sister Zara are not real people. They were made, created by pan-dimensional beings – the Grace – to help save space and time.
The Grace gave them special powers. With just a thought they can be anywhere or when in the universe. They can affect people, see into their heads, influence their thoughts... They’re still learning what they can do.
Now they've completed their mission, the Grace have left them to fend for themselves. The universe is dangerous, unpredictable. Abby is not so good-as-gold as she appears. Zara's already destroyed a whole world.
And they've only got each other.
Part One: The Sphere
“It's great here. You can get anything!”
The Sphere is a private satellite complex and offers every kind of entertainment. It doubles in size every week. They lash new hotels and casinos to the outer skin, pinning them in place with huge girders.
Zara came here by mistake and was quickly caught up in the noise and excitement. It's got into her head. When her sister Abby comes to the rescue, Zara insists that she can't leave.
What is the secret that Zara is carrying with her? Why is Abby so ill? And how long can she resist the Sphere getting into her head as well?
Part Two: The Fog
“There's no such thing as witches.”
Abby and Zara find themselves in the small town of Compton in October, 1912. In the local pub they meet Nan, who offers them the local beer and then has them arrested.
Something is killing the town's children, something that hides in the fog, something that prevents Abby and Zara from leaving. But Abby knows something worse is coming to the town – something that will kill them all.
Can Abby and Zara prove their innocence and help solve the mystery? Or is it sometimes better not to know?
Part Three: The End
“The Grace don’t know everything. We have to do what’s right!”
Abby and Zara's past is catching up with them. A man they did wrong by has hunted them down across all of time and space, just to sell them out.
The space pirate Kreekpolt knows the sisters can save his daughter's life – even if it burns Abby and Zara completely away.
After that, ten thousand dead souls - hungry and empty and furious - want whatever is left...
Abby and her sister Zara are not real people. They were made, created by pan-dimensional beings – the Grace – to help save space and time.
The Grace gave them special powers. With just a thought they can be anywhere or when in the universe. They can affect people, see into their heads, influence their thoughts... They’re still learning what they can do.
Now they've completed their mission, the Grace have left them to fend for themselves. The universe is dangerous, unpredictable. Abby is not so good-as-gold as she appears. Zara's already destroyed a whole world.
And they've only got each other.
Part One: The Sphere
“It's great here. You can get anything!”
The Sphere is a private satellite complex and offers every kind of entertainment. It doubles in size every week. They lash new hotels and casinos to the outer skin, pinning them in place with huge girders.
Zara came here by mistake and was quickly caught up in the noise and excitement. It's got into her head. When her sister Abby comes to the rescue, Zara insists that she can't leave.
What is the secret that Zara is carrying with her? Why is Abby so ill? And how long can she resist the Sphere getting into her head as well?
Part Two: The Fog
“There's no such thing as witches.”
Abby and Zara find themselves in the small town of Compton in October, 1912. In the local pub they meet Nan, who offers them the local beer and then has them arrested.
Something is killing the town's children, something that hides in the fog, something that prevents Abby and Zara from leaving. But Abby knows something worse is coming to the town – something that will kill them all.
Can Abby and Zara prove their innocence and help solve the mystery? Or is it sometimes better not to know?
Part Three: The End
“The Grace don’t know everything. We have to do what’s right!”
Abby and Zara's past is catching up with them. A man they did wrong by has hunted them down across all of time and space, just to sell them out.
The space pirate Kreekpolt knows the sisters can save his daughter's life – even if it burns Abby and Zara completely away.
After that, ten thousand dead souls - hungry and empty and furious - want whatever is left...
Audio CD
First published October 31, 2010
1 person is currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
Simon Guerrier
168 books61 followersSimon Guerrier is a British science fiction author and dramatist, closely associated with the fictional universe of Doctor Who and its spinoffs. Although he has written three Doctor Who novels, for the BBC Books range, his work has mostly been for Big Finish Productions' audio drama and book ranges.
Guerrier's earliest published fiction appeared in Zodiac, the first of Big Finish's Short Trips range of Doctor Who short story anthologies. To date, his work has appeared in the majority of the Short Trips collections. He has also edited three volumes in the series, The History of Christmas, Time Signature and How The Doctor Changed My Life. The second of these takes as its starting-point Guerrier's short story An Overture Too Early in The Muses. The third anthology featured stories entirely by previously unpublished writers.
After contributing two stories to the anthology Life During Wartime in Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield range of books and audio dramas, Guerrier was invited to edit the subsequent year's short story collection, A Life Worth Living, and the novella collection Parallel Lives. After contributing two audio dramas to the series, Guerrier became the producer of the Bernice Summerfield range of plays and books, a post he held between January 2006 and June 2007.
His other Doctor Who work includes the audio dramas, The Settling and The Judgement of Isskar, in Big Finish's Doctor Who audio range, three Companion Chronicles and a contribution to the UNIT spinoff series. He has also written a play in Big Finish's Sapphire and Steel range.
Guerrier's work is characterised by character-driven humour and by an interest in unifying the continuity of the various Big Finish ranges through multiple references and reappearances of characters. As editor he has been a strong promoter of the work of various script writers from the Seventh Doctor era of the Doctor Who television series
Guerrier's earliest published fiction appeared in Zodiac, the first of Big Finish's Short Trips range of Doctor Who short story anthologies. To date, his work has appeared in the majority of the Short Trips collections. He has also edited three volumes in the series, The History of Christmas, Time Signature and How The Doctor Changed My Life. The second of these takes as its starting-point Guerrier's short story An Overture Too Early in The Muses. The third anthology featured stories entirely by previously unpublished writers.
After contributing two stories to the anthology Life During Wartime in Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield range of books and audio dramas, Guerrier was invited to edit the subsequent year's short story collection, A Life Worth Living, and the novella collection Parallel Lives. After contributing two audio dramas to the series, Guerrier became the producer of the Bernice Summerfield range of plays and books, a post he held between January 2006 and June 2007.
His other Doctor Who work includes the audio dramas, The Settling and The Judgement of Isskar, in Big Finish's Doctor Who audio range, three Companion Chronicles and a contribution to the UNIT spinoff series. He has also written a play in Big Finish's Sapphire and Steel range.
Guerrier's work is characterised by character-driven humour and by an interest in unifying the continuity of the various Big Finish ranges through multiple references and reappearances of characters. As editor he has been a strong promoter of the work of various script writers from the Seventh Doctor era of the Doctor Who television series
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 25, 2021
You always brace yourself for the possibility of cringe when going into the Whoniverse, but this audiobook took it to intolerable levels. Someone interrupted me to complain about the voice acting, but I wasn't convinced that the actors were solely to blame as they weren't given much to work with.
The not quite a love triangle was particularly bad.
The not quite a love triangle was particularly bad.
November 29, 2020
One of Big Finish's very best spinoffs. Continues on the story of the two sisters from the Key2Time series, but it's a very much a self c0ntained storyline in it's own right with a very different tone from the earlier trilogy. Some fantastic dialogue, excellent cast and a whole lot of different moods and themes explored - switching from wisful to brutal and with a fair bit of moral reflection. Also a really good music score.
September 15, 2016
Abby and Zara are "sisters" artificially created by pan-dimensional mega-beings The Grace, and originally appearing in the
Doctor Who
audio trilogy The Key 2 Time. Now they are given their own mini-series of three 60-minute long episodes, closely linked to form a single story arc. (Abby, incidentally, was called Amy in her first appearance, but the 11th Doctor had debuted on TV in the interim - there is an in-universe explanation for the change, but the real reason is obvious). As a spin-off of a tie-in, it's ostensibly set within the
DW
universe, but features no characters, alien races, etc. from the TV series, and mostly stands on its own.
It's worth noting that, unlike most Big Finish releases, this carries a "for mature listeners" label. This is due to a number of mild sexual references, and not (for example) bad language, but there's nothing explicit.
The Sphere - in the first episode, Abby and Zara are re-united on a vast station that's essentially Las Vegas in space. Trapped with no money in a place that thrives on nothing else, they have so struggle to survive. The episode is rather dark, focussing on "good sister" Abby's steady moral corruption by the environment, and building towards a shocking climax.
The Fog - perhaps the episode that most resembles a DW story, although definitely at the "dark and creepy" end of the scale, this finds the sisters in a village from which nobody can escape, and in which people are being snatched one by one. It feels like a supernatural story, although the ultimate explanation uses scientific language, and the central characters, for all their powers, seem helpless in the face of the creeping threat.
The End - the final episode begins with an almost space opera tone rather at odds with the previous two episodes, but soon becomes a murkier tale of events in the sisters' pasts, as they face the consequences of their decisions (especially in the first episode) and have to deal with their creators.
Taken as a whole, the arc of the mini-series is focussed more on emotion, and in particular, on the sisters' relationship with one another, than it is on traditional action - although there are elements of the latter. Although it's far from light and fluffy, it isn't depressingly gloomy either, and repays close attention to what can be quite complex plots.
4.5 rounded up to 5.
It's worth noting that, unlike most Big Finish releases, this carries a "for mature listeners" label. This is due to a number of mild sexual references, and not (for example) bad language, but there's nothing explicit.
The Sphere - in the first episode, Abby and Zara are re-united on a vast station that's essentially Las Vegas in space. Trapped with no money in a place that thrives on nothing else, they have so struggle to survive. The episode is rather dark, focussing on "good sister" Abby's steady moral corruption by the environment, and building towards a shocking climax.
The Fog - perhaps the episode that most resembles a DW story, although definitely at the "dark and creepy" end of the scale, this finds the sisters in a village from which nobody can escape, and in which people are being snatched one by one. It feels like a supernatural story, although the ultimate explanation uses scientific language, and the central characters, for all their powers, seem helpless in the face of the creeping threat.
The End - the final episode begins with an almost space opera tone rather at odds with the previous two episodes, but soon becomes a murkier tale of events in the sisters' pasts, as they face the consequences of their decisions (especially in the first episode) and have to deal with their creators.
Taken as a whole, the arc of the mini-series is focussed more on emotion, and in particular, on the sisters' relationship with one another, than it is on traditional action - although there are elements of the latter. Although it's far from light and fluffy, it isn't depressingly gloomy either, and repays close attention to what can be quite complex plots.
4.5 rounded up to 5.
September 3, 2012
Imaginative science-fiction. Requires concentration to keep up. The primary characters are sharply drawn although their extraordinary nature isn't obvious in all their interactions. The secondary characters can be one-toned.
Audio play with half-a-dozen voice actors. Sound effects signal when Abby and Zara use their powers of telepathy or time-space teleportation. Effects are sometimes instantaneous.
Audio play with half-a-dozen voice actors. Sound effects signal when Abby and Zara use their powers of telepathy or time-space teleportation. Effects are sometimes instantaneous.
April 14, 2013
This came as a refreshing sci-fi change, set in the Dr Who universe yet not part of it, having not been aware of them I was pleasantly surprised by the stories, the acting was top notch and production values high as always with Big Finish. Looking forward to the other 2 series!!
March 19, 2011
I was not hugely impressed. The middle one, set in a doomed 1912 village, features a good guest turn from David Warner.
April 25, 2012
I quite like this idea - a smaller, more "grounded" bunch of stories in the Dr Who world, but keeping the whole "can go anywhere in time and space" idea.
February 14, 2014
From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
Abby and Zara were created by pan-dimensional beings to help save space and time
Abby and Zara were created by pan-dimensional beings to help save space and time
April 5, 2015
(Wellll... technically I missed the last 10 min. because then it was no longer available from the BBC Radio 4, but I still liked this and want to continue on with the second series.)
November 1, 2015
Loved their segment in 'Worlds of Big Finish' and this didn't disappoint. Interesting characters who don't always make the right choices. Looking forward to season 2.
February 26, 2016
Not my favorite Big Finish production, but it grew on me. The series have some really memorable moments.
May 18, 2023
The acting felt very believable and dramatic.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews