Mind of the Hodiac is a Doctor Who audio play from Big Finish Productions and is the latest entry into the range known The Lost Stories. Russell T. Davies, the first producer in the revived television series had written this script back in the 1980’s and rediscovered. Scott Handcock did the completion and adaptation as well as serving as director. Colin Baker and Bonnie Landford are reunited as the Sixth Doctor and Melanie Bush. Laurie Kynastan plays the obsessive and dangerous psychic villain known as the Hodiac. The guest cast is quite lengthy, but it includes Richard Clifford, Annette Badland, Loreece Harrison, and T’Nia Miller.

The Doctor and Mel have to contend with the TARDIS being thrown off course and drawn to an unintended destination yet again. They learn of the Hodiac attempting to hire mercenaries to find a lost love or something like that. His obsession also manifests in psychic disturbances bedeviling a family on Earth. The Hodiac also has some familiarity with the Doctor and his coat.

I have to admit that I had some trouble staying interested in this one. It seems forever before the Doctor actually gets involved in much of anything significant. Davies is know for somewhat complicated storylines and relationships, however this tendency does not work out quite so well in audio format. At least, not for this particular story. The performances are fine, but even Baker and Langford could not really save the story itself. Davies still displays some writing talent. It’s impressive that he was a teenager at the time he first conceived of the idea, however the actual presentation is somewhat lacking. It is an episode that I will likely try again, but the first listening experience is not something that I found terribly impressive.

The Night House is a supernatural thriller written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski and directed by David Bruckner. Rebecca Hall is in the lead role with some support from cast members Sarah Goldberg, Evan Jonigkeit, Stacy Martin, and Vondie Curtis-Hall.

Beth is grieving the loss of her husband, who took his own life recently. She is still living in the lake house that was built by Owen, the deceased groom. It doesn’t take long for the spooky dreams to start. There also seems to be some kind of poltergeist shenanigans. The mysterious presence is apparently leading Beth to some long hidden secrets kept by the late husband.

This turned out to be fairly effective at giving me the chills at times. Hall gives a pretty compelling performance here. The expression of her grief and confusion kind of goes all over the place. It’s a little hard to predict her reactions to the various strange occurrences going on around her. The film does well enough to keep one guessing as to what led to Owen’s tragic decision. I did have some difficulty understanding the disembodied voice at times. Whatever voice modulation effect the technical wizards used was not all that conducive to making the spirit easily heard by everyone. That seems to be the only major distraction to my enjoyment of the film.

This is one of the better horror flicks I have seen in some time, and Rebecca Hall seems to be a consistently solid and interesting casting choice. The title of this little blog will make more sense to those who actually see the film and pay attention.

Deathwatch Beetle is a thriller that takes place just a few years after the Second World War and is written by David E. Huntley. This is a self-published novel first released in 2012. An executive named Donald Harvey is brought into an operation that is being conducted by both the American CIA and the British Secret Service to locate an escaped high level Nazi. He basically becomes a freelance operative and travels between three continents to find this Nazi and is being shadowed by an assassin known as the Falcon.

There is no question that Huntley knows his history even though this particular piece is a fictional one. The problem is that nothing really popped here. I didn’t find the main characters all that interesting. There was some action peppered here and there, but it feels like a long time between those sequences. There seem to be a lot of long briefings and meetings, which are likely to happen in real life, but really slows the pace when the author claims to be writing a thriller. I do not know Huntley’s history all that well, but I imagine he has published a lot of essays or other books about this period in history, which is great. His biographical summary at the back of the book would indicate he would be a fascinating guy to meet at a dinner party or charity event. I think his writing talent probably doesn’t translate all that well to writing a thriller.

This is not to say that one shouldn’t check out his history or attend a speech from Mr. Huntley, but his apparent only foray into the realm of fiction turned out to be a struggle to stay engaged with the story. He is a man of significant accomplishments and knowledge, but he could stand to put a few more thrills into his thriller.

Well, I have a few more books to read before my time expires on this Earth…whenever that will be. Anyway, the next literary diversion will be another crime novel by a writer who is quite well regarded in the genre when I peruse the pages of Time to Murder and Create by Lawrence Block.

Solo is a Doctor Who audio boxset with two adventures starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. There are two stories directed by Nicholas Briggs and released by Big Finish Productions.

Blood of the Time Lords is written by Timothy X. Atack. James Dreyfus plays an early incarnation of the Master, which sort of messes with the continuity of the series, however he is sounds even more vicious than some of the known iterations of the character. He’s pretty compelling, so I won’t be too annoyed by his inclusion in this story. The guest cast includes Emma Noakes, Annette Badland, Jane Slavin, and Christopher Naylor. This Doctor attempts to return a powerful book from Gallifrey. The Doctor decides to take it to an old friend who is posted at some mysterious Time Lord base on the moon of Gallifrey known as the Recusary. As usual, there is trouble afoot, and the Master is back to challenge the Doctor’s good intentions. This turned out to be pretty engaging once the deaths started. The performances of Tom Baker and James Dreyfus really engage the listener. Quite a few familiar voices to Big Finish listeners in this one. Slavin seems to have become a favorite in recent years, and that is nothing to complain about. It was kind of fun revisiting Gallifrey without quite the Doctor getting there. Atack gives the audience a pretty good kickoff here, but Tom Baker continues to impress with his participation even though he is closing on ninety years old.

The second story is The Ravencliff Witch written by David Llewellyn. Nerys Hughes, Lucy Pickles, Richard Earl, Deli Segal, Trevor Cooper, and Nicholas Briggs make up the guest cast. The TARDIS once again finds another English coastal village besieged by what appears to be curse. The Doctor is intrigued by a recently constructed power station, and of course a spectral woman is lurking around the beach. This turned out to have some familiar elements seen in the series before, but Llewellyn manages to spin a pretty good yarn. Of course much of the enjoyment stems from Tom Baker’s boisterous enthusiasm which is still impressive in spite of his approach to his ninth decade. These kind of settings just tend to work well for the series when not overused.

This set takes place just before the Doctor meets Leela. Both stories deliver the goods here. I think I prefer the second one but not by much. I rather like the notion of this Doctor traveling alone for a bit. Not that I would not miss the other known companions. I like Leela, Romana, and the return of Sarah Jane Smith, now played by Elisabeth’s daughter. Tom Baker likely does not have long on this side of existence, so I hope Big Finish is able to record as much as they can with him for however long he is healthy and enthusiastic enough to participate.

Lost Warriors is a Doctor Who audio boxset from Big Finish Productions and stars Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor. There are three episodes all directed by Barnaby Edwards.

James Kettle kicks off the set with The Hunting Season. The guest cast is made up of Alex Jennings, Allegra Marland, Tilly Steele, Don Gilet, and Annette Badland. The Doctor lands in an estate that is besieged by alien hunters. He meets both the owners and the staff below the stairs. The Doctor learns the hunting party are after a fugitive which could mean that someone in the manor is not they appear to be. The episode has a bit of a slow start for me, but the second half gets better as identities are revealed. Eccleston still sounds fantastic since his return to the role. Kettle doesn’t exactly overwhelm me with excitement with this effort, but I consider it a solid start to a promising idea.

The Curse of Lady MacBeth is written by Lizzie Hopley. Neve McIntosh, Anthony Howell, David Rintoul, Maggie Service, and Lucy Goldie join Eccleston and deliver their own vocal talents. The Doctor is brought to Scotland where he encounters the queen who William Shakespeare based his Lady MacBeth in the eleventh century. There is also an alien presence which may need the Doctor’s help or his life. This may need to another listen, but there is not much I found all that memorable in this episode. It was fine for the most part, I suppose.

Finally, John Dorney closes it out with Monsters in Metropolis where the Doctor meets a far more familiar adversary. The guest cast is comprised of Nick Wilton, Helen Goldwyn, Peter Bankole, Nicholas Briggs, and Raj Ghatak. In Berlin 1927, an iconic film is being made, and a lone Cyberman has been cast. This was a strong finish here. There is some history, murder, betrayal, and an old rivalry that takes an odd turn. Unlike the middle story, this one remains quite memorable. The guest cast were all solid, but I thought Helen Goldwyn in the role of Anna Dreyfus sort of stood out. She and Eccleston seemed to have a rather nice rapport throughout the play. The classic silent film, Metropolis, is the backdrop here. There is an impressive sense of foreboding as the Doctor knows that the persecution of the Jewish people is about to hit catastrophic levels. Dorney really gives a solid concluding story here.

Overall, I enjoyed the set as expected. Eccleston hasn’t really lost a step in is portrayal of the Ninth Doctor. The cast and post production work are as top notch as expected. Not every episode hits the mark, but most of the set does.

James Lovegrove returns to the shadows and menace of Victorian England and presents another case for Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson as they unravel the mystery of The Beast of the Stapletons.

An old friend of Sir Henry Baskerville’s shows up at 221 B Baker Street. It has been five years since Holmes and Watson faced the dangers of Dartmoor in The Hound of the Baskervilles. Sir Henry had gotten married and produced an heir, enjoying some happiness in his life after a terrifying start to his migration from North America. The wife has recently been found dead with her blood drained. A giant moth-like creature is seen hovering over the lands. Sir Henry has slipped into madness. Watson is hesitant to return to the fray back in Dartmoor, so Holmes is accompanied by an untried assistant. I will just say that Watson does join in the action a bit later, so don’t judge him too harshly here.

I usually am not overly find of these pastiche writers revisiting Arthur Conan Doyle’s previous writing. I also get a little worn out with Holmes getting wrapped up with apparent supernatural situations. This story actually has most of the elements I tend to criticize in these latest Holmes stories, however Lovegrove somehow miraculously managed to make me enjoy this contribution this time.

Many familiar characters from Doyle’s original novel return, but the story still manages to feel pretty new. I am not sure if a giant moth is the creature I would have chosen to be the latest menace bedeviling Sir Henry, but it ends up making a sort of sense when one remembers that the villain from the original story was a naturalist and studied butterflies and moths.

Lovegrove pulled off some interesting twists in this latest mystery. Holmes is quite at his best when it coms to his deductive powers. I don’t know if I would go so far to say that it felt just like Doyle wrote this one himself as one of those review blurbs state, but I do know that I ended up finding more enjoyment than I expected.

Next up is a novel written by a self-published author named David E. Huntley. Huntley gives us a glimpse of the early days of the Cold War in Deathwatch Beetle.

Top Gun: Maverick is an action film taking place over thirty years after the first film, Top Gun, which was directed by Tony Scott. The sequel is written by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie. Peter Craig and Justin Marks apparently conceived the story. The film was directed by Joseph Kosinski. Tom Cruise reprises his role of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, who has made it to the rank of captain in the United States Navy. The cast also sees the return of Val Kilmer and includes Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, and a bunch of younger actors playing the hotshot pilots that Maverick has to train for a specific and very dangerous mission.

I am usually rather skeptical of these sequels coming out decades after the original, however I am relieved to report this one does indeed live up to the hype. Captain Mitchell’s career has stalled and is working as a test pilot. He finds himself handpicked to return to the Top Gun training academy to train and lead a team of pilots to destroy a nuclear facility nestled inside a mountainous terrain. He finds that the son of his dead best friend is one of the recruits which brings up some painful memories for Maverick. He does get to see about rekindling a previous romance with a pretty bar owner played by Jennifer Connelly.

There are lots of elements that work well here. The young actors playing the new team of fighter pilots are well selected. It is quite amusing to see Maverick try to manage egos and machismo that can rival his own. Although some of the pilots can get a little overboard with the arrogance, no one ends up being completely unlikeable. Teller plays the someone uncertain son of Goose Bradshaw and really does well with conveying his conflicting reactions to being stuck with Maverick as his instructor. There apparently is a tense past between the two which unfolds nicely as the story goes on. The reunion between Maverick and Iceman was well played between the two in spite of Kilmer’s serious health issues which robbed him of his normal voice. Cruise really demonstrates his talent in this scene particular when Maverick struggles to hold back tears at some of the memories being invoked by Iceman’s advice. The relationship between the two evolved into a strong bond with a tinge of their old rivalry from the first film. It was well written and well executed by the two veteran actors.

There are times that the story seems a bit far-fetched, but so much of it worked well enough for me to easily forgive that. The callbacks to the first film managed to not feel overdone either. Maverick still manages to live up to his moniker, but he also conveys the seasoning brought on by age and experience which makes the character seem a bit more genuine.

This appears to be one of the rare sequels that manages to not disappoint. The mixture of nostalgia and a sense of newness came off quite nicely.

I am still going to remain skeptical of these type of sequels overall, however I will make Top Gun: Maverick an exception to the expectation. The film isn’t without a few questionable decisions, but the strengths are fortunately plentiful enough to receive more than enough satisfaction from the ride.

The Catcher in the Rye is considered one of the literary classics of the twentieth century. J.D. Salinger managed to have this published in 1951. The main character, Holden Caulfield, apparently embodies the epitome of teen-age angst and depression. This novel has some curious links to a couple of national tragedies such as the murder of John Lennon and the attempted assassination of President Reagon.

Holden is unhappy with the changes in his life. Of course, he is in some kind of institution or school, which he ends up leaving and engages in some misadventures in New York. He apparently wants to find his brother in Hollywood and try his luck out there. He has an unfortunate encounter with a prostitute and her pump, becomes unusually interested in the migration habits of ducks, and gets sloshed enough to annoy an old friend. Holden just doesn’t many people or much of anything.

I was both interested a bit in Holden’s psychology and a little put out with him. To be fair, this isn’t my usual genre of choice, but I sometimes try to expand my literary horizons and I am in a book club. This particular edition was a gift from a friend who got it from a renowned bookstore in Paris, so I figured it needed to perused out of some sense of obligation.

I didn’t find this to be a terrible experience, but I was a little baffled as to the reasons for the acclaim it has achieved. I think I have an idea as to why this piece resonated with certain psychos over the years, but that may be for another time at a coffee shop or after a few cocktails and I feel the need to delve into social and philosophical theoretical psychology or something just as vapid.

I found the story to be somewhat meandering and without much of a point. It may be a spoiler that Holden is somewhat unlikeable, but he doesn’t commit any acts of mass carnage. Although I am glad that I finally gave this novel a chance, I doubt I will be rushing back to it anytime soon. Also, I am sure this doesn’t really need to be said, but I will add my reassurance than I am not feeling particularly motivated to commit any acts of mass carnage or murder either….well. not motivated by this book anyway.

I guess I found this to be a bit overhyped, but it may have been more revolutionary or novel when it first came out. The pun may be intended in case anyone wondered. Anyway, it was an interesting stop on the endless road of literary indulgence but probably more for the reputation of this book than the actual prose.

Now that I have had a hit of the more serious, intellectual contributions to the printed word, time to break out the popcorn literature and relax a bit. James Lovegrove returns to the mystique and adventures to be found within the walls of 221 B Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson return to Baskerville Hall to learn the secrets of The Beast of the Stapletons.

The Poet is a crime novel written by Michael Connelly and was first published in 1996. In this novel, Connelly introduces readers to crime reporter Jack McEvoy. The novel starts off with McEvoy learning of the suicide of his twin brother, who was a homicide detective in Denver. Once he gets past the shock of his brother’s unexpected demise, McEvoy’s skepticism leads him to some questions. He learns of a line of poetry written by his brother. He also finds out about a rash of suicides among police detectives throughout the country where a piece of Edgar Allen Poe’s works are left behind. McEvoy manages to encourage the FBI to begin an investigation and finagles his way into the hunt as well since he understandably wants to have first crack at the story. Of course, there are many surprising revelations that brings McEvoy closer to one of the most devious killers he has even written about.

So this is pretty early in Connelly’s novel writing career, however his talent is quite evident even if the plot does seem rather outlandish. Connelly does have a pretty striking opening line. “Death is my beat,” declares McEvoy, which seems a little overdramatic, but it succeeds in sparking the imagination.

I don’t find McEvoy to be as compelling as Harry Bosch or Mickey Haller, Connelly’s more used protagonists, however this still managed to keep me intrigued enough to stick it out to the end. I try to finish any book I start regardless of how exasperated I get, but I still enjoyed this one reasonably well. Even if this one strained my suspension of disbelief a bit, it didn’t fall apart entirely. I would still consider this a worthy bit of leisure reading and does not shake my overall appreciation of Michael Connelly’s contribution to the crime fiction universe.

And so I move on to another effort to increase my exposure to more classical or acclaimed literature. My next indulgence has a bit of a notorious reputation, but it was a gift from a friend and something that I have been meaning to read anyway. Time to delve into The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

The Elixir of Doom is a Doctor Who audio play from Big Finish Productions and is an episode from the range known as The Companion Chronicles. Paul Magrs finally wrote the script that brings Jo Grant and Iris Wildthyme together. Lisa Bowerman returns to the director’s seat. Magrs created Iris many moons ago for the novel range. Katy Manning has long been employed by Big Finish reprising her role of Jo Grant and inventing the voice of the trans-temporal adventuress. Derek Fowlds lends his vocal talent as the guest actor.

Instead of traveling with the Doctor, Jo has found herself inside the double decker bus with Iris Wildthyme having adventures through time and space. This episode finds them landing in 1930’s Hollywood where the movie monsters of the day seem to be too suspiciously real and under the control of a matinee diva.

I don’t want to give too much away, but an unexpected Doctor appears to lend a hand as well, but he is a much different version than the one most familiar to Jo.

This was just a fun romp, but it really shows how talented Manning can be as a character actress and narrator. The post production editing is likely largely responsible for this, but Manning just shifts from Jo to Iris so easily. The story isn’t terribly deep, but it doesn’t need to be here. Magrs has long been involved with Big Finish periodically following his contributions to the novel range. This is probably one of his sillier plot lines, but the performances really work here. Particularly, Manning’s talent gets a well-deserved showcase of her vocal ability.

It probably is a fairly obvious gimmick to have Jo and Iris finally meet, but it works here, and it seems just right to have Magrs be the one to tell the story.