The Nine is a Doctor Who audio boxset featuring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor presented by Big Finish Productions. This set contains three stories all written and directed by different contributors. The Eleven was introduced a few years ago and is another renegade Time Lord. He has an affliction where his previous incarnations exist in his current body. This Doctor has apparently faced this particular insane Gallifreyan earlier than the audience knew. We learn that having merely nine personalities inhabiting one form isn’t much better than eleven voices.

The Doctor and the Nine clash in The Dreams of Avarice by Guy Adams. John Heffernan plays the Nine. Richard Dixon, Ronni Ancona, and Mark Elstob round out the guest cast. Ken Bentley serves as director. The Nine has stolen a planet in which the Doctor is trapped. With the help of a skeptical detective, the Doctor has to retrieve his TARDIS, have the planet restored, and avoid getting arrested when this is resolved. Someone as bizarre as the Nine facing this particular Doctor is generally fodder for some worthwhile entertainment, and Adams delivers here. Tom Baker continues to sound enthusiastic and effective as he gets ever closer to his ninth decade. It’s a totally absurd story which wobbles a bit when it comes to clarity, but I didn’t care. The banter between the Doctor and Inspector Probert as they struggle to stop the machinations of the Nine makes the confusion irrelevant. The Doctor’s occasional dismissive attitude toward the Nine is also terribly amusing. The performances make this mess of a story work, and Adams is a good enough writer to pull this off. It has a lot of hammy performances and silly dialogue, but it still manages to entertain quite thoroughly.

Shellshock needed two writers, Simon Barnard and Paul Morris, to be brought to our ears. Nicholas Briggs returns to the director’s seat for this one. Alicia Ambrose-Bayly plays a German nurse who assists the Doctor during the First World War. The guest cast is comprised Finlay Robertson, Nicholas Asbury, Richard Hope, and Christopher Naylor. Soldiers are not only suffering nightmares, but they seem to share the same one. Also, a scientist is conducting experiments that alter the thoughts and loyalties of those who have doubts about the purpose of this war. The Doctor knows that human beings are capable of great atrocities, but some of this may have a more extraterrestrial influence behind it. Nothing really goes off the rails here, and the performances are up to par, however this one felt like it dragged a bit. It’s another one that I didn’t really hate, but I didn’t love it either,

Lizbeth Myles closes the book on this set with Peake Season with Jamie Anderson directing. The Doctor meets writer Mervyn Peake, who is played by David Holt. Jules de Jongh, David Sterne, Marc Silk, and Ava Merson-O’Brien all pitch in as the guest cast. I will be honest and admit that Mervyn Peake is not someone who was on my radar. Peake was apparently a popular fantasy author who died in 1968. The Doctor and Peake are transported to a strange city where they somehow get jobs as newspaper cartoonists. It’s a strange, fun episode that is not likely going to be listed as a fan favorite.

As usual, Tom Baker’s participation is what lifts the material from the threat of mediocrity. The writers are competent, and of course Big Finish remain masterful in their post-production work. The collection overall is entertaining and does not deserve to be overlooked.

The Three Locks is the latest novel from Bonnie MacBird to feature Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. There are three cases sort of interwoven together in one story. The Victorian duo are pulled into the world of illusion and escapism when they investigate threats leveled against an escape artist. A lovesick clergyman is worried about the disappearance of a wayward daughter of a famous college don. Watson is bequeathed a locked box that reveals some painful truths about his past.

All of this takes place during a London heat wave in 1887. MacBird makes the point that it is hot at the time of these trials quite well.

I am not sure that MacBird really competes with the mastery of Arthur Conan Doyle, however this was a fine attempt. There are times it feels a little long, but I cherish the company of this character enough to not mind that so much.

MacBird makes an interesting decision to conjure up a tragic family history for Watson. She also throws in a bit of unusual amount courtesy and compassion from Holmes which still seemed to fit in nicely with the other more well-known facets of his persona. She really brings home the strength of their friendship that was often glossed over by Doyle and some of the other pastiche writers.

MacBird does well tying up all three challenges in this novel. It also felt more genuine to have Holmes take on several cases at once. Doyle would allude to some of Holmes’s other pursuits in his stories, but it was pretty unique and impressive to actually read about Holmes juggling these puzzles at once.

This turned out to be pretty enjoyable. MacBird has written four of these novels with a Christmas addition to be out soon. She gets pretty close to emulating Doyle’s style at times, but it just doesn’t quite get there. Still, I think it’s a fine addition to the massive amount of Sherlock Holmes stories floating around the universe, and I like to think that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself would get some enjoyment out of this one.

Next up, reporter Jack McEvoy has found another killer to pursue in Michael Connelly’s Fair Warning.

Mr. Harrigan’s Phone is a horror film written and directed by John Lee Hancock and is based on a novella by Stephen King. Donald Sutherland plays the title role with Jaeden Martell, Joe Tippett, Cyrus Arnold, Kirby Howell-Baptiste included in the cast.

Jaeden Martell plays a young high school student named Craig who is hired by the reclusive local billionaire to read to him. Sutherland plays the menacing Mr. Harrigan who develops a fondness for the boy. Craig and Mr. Harrigan develop an unconventional friendship. He is also dealing with some of the expected challenges of public school, including a bully named Kenny, which is played by Cyrus Arnold. The film takes place over a few years. Mr. Harrigan is given a cell phone and becomes quite adept with it under the tutelage of young Craig. When old age finally takes Mr. Harrigan down, Craig drops the cell phone into the coffin which apparently extends their connection. Mr. Harrigan had a rather ruthless way of handling people he felt had crossed him and believes that Craig should show no mercy to those who antagonize him. Not only does Craig miss his aged friend, he is still having to face his bully and the sudden loss of a favorite teacher. It appears that Mr. Harrigan is still willing to be of some ruthless help to Craig in spite of his lack of life. Craig finds that some of his challenges being removed by violent means brings a sense of guilt that was lacking in Mr. Harrigan.

Well, the cast was pretty good. Martell seems to be one of the better of young actors working today. Sutherland still managed to convey a pretty commanding presence in spite of his age. The performances were pretty good, and Martell and Sutherland worked well together. Arnold had a rather eccentric take as the bully, Kenny.

In spite of the performances, something did not work as well it needed to with this film. I found it to be rather slow at times. The overall effect felt easily forgettable. It does have an interesting premise, but once again I suspect the printed version is much better.

Tender is the Flesh is a novel written by Augustina Bazterrica, Argentine author. Since she likely wrote this in Spanish originally, a Sarah Moses is credited as being the translator.

This little not so cheery tale takes place in a world where animal meat has been infected with deadly virus that kills humans. Since not everyone wants to be vegan over that, cannibalism has been permitted and institutionalized. There are groups of humans that are designated to be slaughtered cattle. The main character is a fellow named Marcos, who is estranged from this family, and he works in one of these slaughterhouses. Someone sends him a gift of a prime female head, as they are now called. Instead of doing what should come naturally in this society, anyway, he decides to feed her and treat her like a human being. Of course, the relationship becomes more intimate which places the girl he names Jasmine and himself at great risk from the authorities.

This is not a terribly lengthy book, which is fine. It’s not badly written. It does show the depths of human desperation when some well-established traditions such as eating meat goes awry. There is a social message in the midst of this tale that I am philosophically at odds with, but anyone who really knows me would find that unsurprising. Marcos is an interesting main character going through some family crises. A subplot involves his father slipping into dementia and a strained relationship with his sister. Bazterrica certainly does not hold back when it comes to the more gruesome practices. There is a rather surprising ending that might have even impressed the great Alfred Hitchcock.

For those readers with a taste for the macabre, this is worth the time, especially since it shouldn’t take much of it. Does it necessarily hit it out of the park for me? Not quite, but it does satisfy my interest in occasionally breaking out of my more typical literary indulgences.

Now that stepped a b it out of comfort zone, time to return to an old favorite. Bonnie MacBird continues her efforts to provide new cases for London’s best-known consulting detective as Sherlock Holmes tries to unearth secrets protected by The Three Locks.

Smile is a horror film written and directed by Parker Finn. Sosie Bacon stars alongside a cast that includes Jessie T. Usher, Kyle Gallner, Caitlin Stacy, Kal Penn, and Rob Morgan.

Bacon plays an idealistic psychiatrist who witnesses a patient commit the most bizarre suicide she has ever encountered. She then begins to see people appearing in her house and in crowds with these strange, fixed smiles that resemble the one her patient wore when she sliced her own throat. Dr. Cotter begins to worry that she is losing her mind, but she discovers a strange thread of these deaths that followed these spooky smiles.

This latest addition to the horror film genre has some good points, but the conclusion is a bit of a stumbling mess. There were some moments that were effectively chilling. Bacon is a competent actress. The escalating moments of terror were well paced. A curse that is marked by the smile of strangers is an interesting idea, but I hope this doesn’t turn into a franchise.

Smile has a promising premise and some elements that work well enough. Some of the dialogue falls flat. Jessie T. Usher plays the fiancée who tries to be understanding. There was not much chemistry between them, but I suspect it had more to do with the writing.

The film is just uneven throughout. It’s not completely dreadful, but it seems rather forgettable in spite of a somewhat original concept. Par for the course when it comes to horror films in recent years.

Winterkill is a Joe Pickett thriller written by C.J. Box. It was first published in 2003. Joe Pickett is a game warden for the state of Wyoming in this story. He is a devoted husband and father with two daughters, although he and his wife have taken in a foster child who they admirable consider theirs as well. April, the child they have taken in after her father is killed and the mother goes off the rails, becomes the center.

Joe’s adventure begins when he finds a federal official has gunned down several elk which violates some hunting restrictions. When Joe arrests a hysterical Lamar Gardiner, he is unprepared for Gardiner’s escape. He later finds his suspect show with two arrows in the snow and near death. Joe Pickett gets involved in the investigation, but he is distracted and distressed by the arrival of his foster daughter’s mother. Also, a group of anti-government naturalists are in the area. In spite of the murder and mayhem circling around him, Pickett finds that he has to protect his family more fiercely than before.

I rather like Joe Pickett as a character because in some ways he tends to be one of the more stable of literary characters these days. He has a solid marriage and a sense of morality that stretches far and wide. It does tend to make him appear a bit uninteresting at times, however I am thinking the point is to place him in situations where his sense of morality is tested. Box also provides some fascinating settings. Nature itself often works against Pickett when he has a vital task to fulfill. The murder of Lamar Gardiner is actually somewhat resolved quite early, but Box still has some story to tell.

Joe Pickett is a reliable, likable protagonist, but he is not all that fascinating. Some of the situations he finds himself in are quite compelling. Fortunately, he is likeable enough for me to still be interested in his next adventures.

It is time to move on to something a little more fitting to the upcoming Halloween festivities with Augustina Bazterrica’s Tender is the Flesh.

Out of Time 3: Wink is a Doctor Who audio play from Big Finish Production written by Lisa McMullin and directed by Ken Bentley. David Tennant returns as the Tenth Doctor and is joined by Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor. The small guest cast is comprised of Joanna Van Kampen, Ayesha Antione, and Clive Hayward. There are plenty of cool sound effects to make up for the limited number of voices.

The Tenth Doctor encounters his sixth incarnation while in a city that is drowned in all-encompassing light. The locals have no sense of sight which makes them particularly vulnerable to the Weeping Angels. The Weeping Angels look like statues that are frozen in place when gazed up on. They displace their targets in time once they are close enough. Of course, the way to keep the Angels in place is to not blink or look away. The Sixth Doctor believes that winking at the Angels is a viable solution, but that still proves to be not as easy as he believes.

McMullin delivers a pretty competent script here. The performances are pretty sublime though. The Sixth Doctor is often considered to be more abrasive version, however these two Doctors work well together. There are plenty of the expected digs whenever one Doctor comes across another, but the disagreements end up not being too distracting. The Sixth Doctor gets in a very amusing line about his future incarnation’s more excitable exclamations.

The Sixth Doctor also benefits because his own cleverness his not overshadowed by the Tenth.

There is a bit of a fresh environment for the Weeping Angels to terrorize.

This episode comes out quite well, which is probably due to the performances of the lead actors. The guest cast is also well selected. The Angels tend to work better on the television screen, but the script is well written enough to make them still effectively creepy. McMullin also avoids having the two Doctors go all out with the insults but manages to still have a little fun with the contentiousness that tends to occur when various Doctors meet.

Timejacked is a Doctor Who audio boxset presented by Big Finish Productions. It has a trilogy interconnected stories that feature the Twelfth Doctor, who was first played by Peter Capaldi. Helen Goldwyn takes her turn in the director’s seat. Since Capaldi himself has yet to participate in Big Finish output, Jacob Dudman steps in with a pretty solid impersonation. Bhavnisha Parmar joins as the Doctor’s kidnapper turned companion Keira Sanstrom. Charlie Hamblett, Hannah Genesius, Harley Viveash, George Naylor, and Holly Jackson Walters make up the guest cast.

The first episode, Flight to Calandra, is written by Matt Fitton. The Doctor is relaxing in his university office since he has been hanging out as a visiting professor for the past hundred years or so when an unexpected visitor breaks in, needing a lift home to the planet Calandra. Keira Sanstrom finds that something has gone wrong with her planet’s history while the Doctor realizes that something has gone wrong with all of Time.

Lou Morgan needs two episodes to have the Doctor to sort this mess out, which is how she gets to present the Split Second and The Weight of History. The Doctor has two versions of Keira and a reality coming apart to complicate his existence.

Well, as much as I would prefer to have Peter Capaldi play this Doctor himself, Dudman does a decent enough job representing his version of the Doctor. It’s not a bad set. I actually rather liked the dynamic between the Doctor and Keira once they got past through the whole kidnapping issue. The dialogue between the two was rather humorous. Of course, this iteration of the Doctor wouldn’t be the most subservient and cooperative of kidnapping victims. That works out since Keira isn’t actually evil. She is a renegade Time Agent and needs the Time Lord’s help.

As usual, the postproduction work holds up. The guest cast is solid in their performance. Until Capaldi decides to contribute to Big Finish’s efforts, Dudman’s vocal talents have to suffice, and he does a good job.

The Fiends of New York City is a Sherlock Holmes audio drama brought to us by Big Finish Productions. Jonathan Barnes is the writer while Ken Bentley serves as director. Nicholas Briggs returns as the master detective with Richard Earl resumes his role as Dr. Watson. Lucy Briggs-Owen, Timothy Bentnick, John Banks, James Joyce, and Juliet Aubrey are included in the guest cast.

Holmes and Watson have been aware for some time of a new criminal organization operating in 1901 London under the leadership of someone with the unlikely moniker of the Seamstress of Peckham Rye. This story begins when an American claiming to be a former Pinkerton detective shows up on the door of 221 B Baker Street with a strange story concerning what would these days be called a serial killer. The new client has a suspect on his radar and wants Holmes to help prevent another grotesque murder. The problem is that Holmes has determined that he is not being told the whole story, and the case is a springboard to a bigger conspiracy. In the meantime, Watson is finding more about her new wife’s mysterious past. Adversaries old and new are converging on Holmes and Watson as usual.

I am still not a huge fan of this Seamstress woman being this dangerous new opponent, however I did find myself more drawn in than I have been recently in this range. Briggs’ version of Holmes was actually pretty good here. Richard Earl continues to display one of the more impressive versions of Dr. Watson I have heard. The story was somewhat complicated but not in a way I found off putting. The cast was expectedly well chosen.

Juliet Aubrey plays the Seamstress, and I have no issue with her actual performance. I just find this designation difficult to take seriously.

Barnes is one of Big Finish’s more reliable writers in spite of some of my reservations about the direction of this range. He at least manages to pull off a competent entry here.

The performances and postproduction work are considerably more than competent which helps settle some of my doubts about this series.

I am a Big Finish fan overall, so I will look forward to seeing the next installment of their Sherlock Holmes series regardless.

Akata Witch is a young adult fantasy novel by Nnedi Okorafor. It was first published in 2011 and is the beginning of a trilogy.

The main protagonist is a young girl named Sunny Nwazue, who was born in the United States, however she is living in Nigeria with her parents. She has some struggles in her new school until she meets a group of other misfits. Sunny sort of stands out since she is albino and has to be cautious of the sun. She finds out that she carries latent magical abilities. A serial killer who targets children also lurks in the community, and Sunny and her friends are enlisted to help find this evil fellow since he also has a few magical abilities of his own.

This turns out to be a fairly engaging novel. Okorafor is a competent writer, however there was not much that really resonated with me in this one. To be fair, this kind of fantasy novel is not one I would choose if left to my own devices, but I am part of a book club. I had some trouble really getting into this one. I do appreciate some exposure to a culture that is different from my usual encounters. It also is for young adults, and I am a long way from that.

Anyway, there is not a lot I have to say about this one. It’s not bad, but it just didn’t grab my attention as well as I hoped.

Next up, I will be returning to more familiar rugged territory in Wyoming with game warden Joe Pickett. CJ Box continues Pickett’s adventures with Winterkill.