Compilations

Coming Soon!

Once the final part of the TARDIS Tales article appears in RTP! (coming in issue 27 some time in 2008), we will be publishing a new compilation of all of Graham Muir's cartoons from TSV, Telos, Telos Unearthed, RTP! and other odds and ends. Which should be good since the last compilation was done back in May 1993, meaning that it will be the fifteenth anniversary of that compilation this year! This new compilation will hopefully be presented in the A4 format and feature not only every published comic of Graham's and the full TARDIS Tales articles, but possibly some new material as well. We'll see ...

Meanwhile, the above art is Graham's cover for issue 1 (October 1997).

Fanzines Reviewing Fanzines - TSV #54

TSV #54 (March 1998)

Ahhh, the bonus copy. A bloody good interview with David J. Howe is the highlight that immediately springs to mind. "Confessions of a Melaphile", while well written and interesting, failed to win me over to the 'Mel' side, entirely because of my own stubborness! "By Any Other Name" — I was NOT going to read this (over 25 pages) just to flesh out the review ‚ I'm sure it's very good, but I'm also sure my extremely short attention span wouldn't have handled it either! In my opinion "The Karkus" in this issue was nowhere near as good as the previous, but "Whispers" by far makes up for it. A bit too much story potential for its actual size, it possibly could have done with a few more pages and being split into two parts. As a final point, "Why Paul McGann is the Best Doctor" is inspiring, enough so to make me write my own version on a difference line from David Lawrence's, and Wade Campbell's "Eight Doctor's New Home". Come on down TSV #55 ...

- Matt Kamstra

Fiction - A Sense of Irony

"A Sense of Irony"
by David Ronayne

'A quick trip into the future' he said. It was certainly the oddest birthday Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart had ever had, except possibly for that time when he was twelve, and he thought he had seen a ghost. Thoughtfully he sucked on his drink — if you could call it that, and stared over to where a couple of tourists were sharing a joke, or at least the Swiss and Canadian girls were, while their male companion jotted something frantically down in his notebook. It was all most peculiar, although things had been very odd recently. Captain Yates and Jo were still flying a kite in the nearby square, Benton was wolfishly attacking his third 'meal', and the Doctor ... The Brigadier turned back to see his old friend smiling benignly at him. The Doctor had changed in the passed few months since he had regained control of his TARDIS. During his increasingly infrequent return visits his temper had mellowed considerably, and the Brigadier had found that during his absences he missed their arguments.

"So Brigadier, what do you think?"

"I think Benton's request to try the kebab place next door may have been a good idea." He replied dryly, thankful he had been able to discourage the idea of party hats after the Doctor had told the staff at the counter it was his birthday in perfect Mandarin.

"Now Alistair, I thought this would appeal to your sense of irony." He gestured dramatically around the room. "These people have managed to do what the CIA, UNIT, MIS have wanted to do for years, they even have a place like this in central Moscow."

The Brigadier looked confused, and the Timelord's face softened.

"Look, all I wanted to show you is that things change, and that everything you do, every threat we face, as thankless as our job seems, things will improve in the end."

The Brigadier looked suspiciously down at the Styrofoam box in front of him. "I don't know about improve Doctor, at the moment I'd rather be facing an Auton or a Cyberman. Are you sure we can have a kebab?" After the briefest of pauses they both laughed.

"Happy Birthday Brigadier."

"Thank You Doctor."

McDonalds, Beijing, 30 April 1996

END.