The Nanny is a suspense novel written by Gilly MacMillan. It is one those with changing point of views among a few characters.

A widowed mother named Jocelyn is reluctantly returning to the English estate where she grew up and is concerned about the rather complicated relationship with her aristocratic, oppressive mother. Part of the tension stems from the sudden disappearance of a beloved nanny thirty years before. Not long after Jo and her daughter arrive, they discover a human skull on the property which stirs up further questions about the past. When a woman turns up claiming to be the long-lost nanny, all sorts of long-buried secrets are the on the way to being unearthed.

There are a few clever twists here, but I didn’t catch much that stands out as being the masterful plotting that is touted in the review excerpts. It does explore the notion that our memories may not reflect actual truth in the relationships or events that take place. I had some trouble buying into the plausibility of some of the revelations toward the end of the story. Yet again, this is a novel that manages to not be terrible, but it also falls short when it comes to keeping my attention all the way through.

Next up is a Doctor Who novel written by an actual Doctor. Tom Baker finally gets to share a story idea he and the late Ian Marter had in the 1970’s with Scratchman.

The Minds of Magnox is a Doctor Who audiobook published by BBC Audiobooks. It is written by Darren Jones and performed by Jacob Dudman. It is part of this multi-platform saga entitled Time Lord Victorious.

This adventure features the Tenth Doctor as played by David Tennant, although Dudman is actuallt standing in for Tennant. He is known as being able to give some quite uncanny impressions of the recent Doctors, although he may have a harder time if Big Finish or BBC Audiobooks tries to have him impersonate Jodie Whittaker.

So the Doctor has a question and thinks that some big brains on the planet Magnox can provide an answer. He is somehow accompanied by Brian, an Ood assassin. Anyway, the Doctor encounters a bit of tyranny while Brian is recruited into some criminal association.

Although Dudman is quite a talented narrator and performer and does a pretty decent Tenth Doctor impression, the story was a pretty average entry. The Ood being a companion not as compelling as the author seemed to think. The story does not stand out as being all that terrific or all that terrible. It just feels like it’s kind of there. Anything more said about it would feel too much like rambling, so I will leave it there as well.

Ravagers is a Doctor Who audio boxset that kicks off a new range with The Ninth Doctor Adventures. Christopher Eccleston has returned to the role of the Ninth Doctor through the medium offered by Big Finish Productions. The set contains a trilogy of connected stories all written by Nicholas Briggs, which he also directed. This set takes place before the television audience catches up with the Doctor before his relaunch in 2005. This would be before the Doctor meets Rose Tyler.

In this little series, the Doctor meets a woman from the future named Nova, played by Camilla Beeput. Another more mysterious woman, Audrey, is plated by Jayne McKenna. Jamie Parker, Dan Starkey, and Ben Lee also appear throughout this release.

Many times, these boxsets are comprised of different stories by various authors, whereas it makes sense to give a brief review of each story individually. Since this is basically one story written by one writer, I will just leave an overall reaction to the work as a whole.

Sphere of Freedom starts off with the Doctor and Nova already meeting. Nova is whisked off by a time eddy. The Doctor has become aware of people throughout time and space being displaced by these eddies. When he meets Audrey, she appears to be an aging woman who just wants a good story, but she turns out to be more than she appears and has some unexpected knowledge of the Doctor.

Cataclysm is the second episode that brings the Doctor closer to the end of the universe via the Battle of Waterloo.

Finally, Food Fight wraps matters up with the Doctor being lost in time and space separated from his TARDIS, but still not without any hope of victory. He also faces the Ravagers themselves, beings who feed on the chaos wrought by the Time Eddies.

I have to confess, I had some trouble following this one since much of the story is not presented in a linear fashion. It was one of these that felt like an endurance test until the last episode puts the pieces in place. Once again, I was impressed by Briggs’ imagination and his efforts to find new ways to tell a Doctor Who yarn. It was great to hear Eccleston himself back in the role. He put in a solid performance, and it kicks off a new range of exploration for Big Finish. The overall story was a little underwhelming , but there were enough intriguing characters and strong performances for me to find some forgiveness. It helps that the resolution had some creativity to it. Briggs is usually a solid writer whose ideas intrigue me. He actually pulls off a pretty good ending here, but it required a bit more patience. I did appreciate that the threat was actually not some old adversary of the Doctor’s. There was not a reliance on old friends or old enemies. Just some fresh chaos and neurotic characters to muddy the waters enough to keep this entertaining.

So this Doctor is back in his leather jacket and noting how fantastic things are. That by itself is enough for me to recommend my fellow fans to listen to this. The story seemed a little muddled at times, but the ending is worth the patience in following it. So…yeah, I am ready to dive into some more adventures with the Ninth Doctor. Welcome back to the TARDIS, Chris!

Out on the Cutting Edge is mystery novel by Lawrence Block and features unlicensed private eye Matthew Scudder. The novel was initially published in 1989.

Scudder is a former police detective in New York who left the force with a dubious reputation. He lives in a motel room in Hell’s Kitchen and makes his living by doing favors for friends. Scudder is also a recovering alcoholic and is a regular at Alcoholic Anonymous meetings. Sometimes, someone may need him to help out without going through some of the more official channels. Scudder is asked to search for a young woman who left her home in Indiana for the excitement of New York City. Scudder has been running into dead ends on this one until a chance encounter gives him a new direction. He also befriends a former small-time hood from his AA meeting, however the friend’s unexpected and gruesomely salacious death cuts that short. He is also finding romance with a building super, but that woman may have secrets of her own.

So this is my second foray into the works of Lawrence Block, and I am starting to appreciate why he has been so popular among crime fiction devotees. Scudder does not follow many societal rules, but he still comes off rather noble. Scudder also meets a local crime boss which starts off a rather unlikely friendship.

This turned out to be a pretty intriguing journey. It feels a little slow at times, but I did not have much trouble overlooking that. The case itself is rather standard fare, but the backdrop of Hell’s Kitchen and the sleazy places Scudder finds himself does spark the imagination. Scudder can keep the gin joints and gloomy alleyways, but I would recommend joining him in the story.

Next up will be someone who is a little newer on the mystery scene and is very new to my collection. I will be discovering the truth about Gilly MacMillan’s The Nanny.

Respect is the biographical film about the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, played by the formidably talented Jennifer Hudson. Hudson was not really a surprising casting choice, but it was an obviously correct one. Liesl Tommy is the director of this film which was written by Tracey Scott Wilson. Callie Khouri shares story credit with her. The cast includes Forest Whitaker as Aretha’s overbearing father, Marlon Wayans, Marc Maron, Tate Donovan, and Mary J. Blige.

So the audience first catches up with a 10 year old Aretha Franklin and follows her through her maturing talent and her rise to stardom.

This follows the pattern of most biopics, which isn’t a bad thing. It actually was well done, and I got to learn quite a bit about Aretha Franklin. I was not a close follower of her, but I was glad to get the gist of how talented she really was. I did not remember that she was a pretty accomplished piano player. I also was not aware of the tragedy and brokenness in her life, however that was not too surprising considering most talents like her carry these burdens.

There were some moments in the film that could have used a little better explanation, but I think this to be a common issue with this genre of film. Especially if the subject has such a complex background as Aretha Franklin.

All of the cast did great, but Jennifer Hudson choosing to actually sing live on film was obviously the right path to take. Hudson is also an old pro on this type of project, so it is not surprising that she chose to use her own powerful vocal talents.

It is not a perfect production, but it is a very strong and informative one. The music is well selected and played. Although there were some aspects of Franklin’s history that seemed a little muddled in the portrayal here, but the performances and the post production work are solid enough for me to not obsess over these inconsistencies.

Anyway, the strengths of this film outweigh the minor problems here.

Free Guy is an action science fiction film directed by Shawn Levy. The script was written by Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn. Ryan Reynolds is in the lead role as Guy, a bank teller who discovers that he is a non-player character in a video game called Free City. The cast includes Jodie Comer, Joe Keery, Taika Waititi, and Channing Tatum. There are a number of surprising and amusing cameos as well, but I don’t want to spoil all of the surprises.

Even if one is not a gamer, there is plenty of enjoyment to be found. Free City is an open world video game where Guy is accustomed to the daily chaos of bank heists, insane car chases, and open warfare in the streets. He goes about his day in the midst of pixelated mayhem with a warm smile and a comfortable daily routine. A pretty face with the moniker Molotov Girl causes a deviation in his program where he decides he wants to be more involved in the world and make more profound choices.

In the real world, two programmers are reunited when they recognize certain codes from a game they had developed before their rift. Guy, in the meantime, has garnered a following as he tries to make decisions to help out his fellow Free City citizens.

As absurd as this story seems, it actually has quite a bit more depth and heart than expected. Reynolds, a gifted comedic actor, unexpectedly proves to be a perfect casting decision. I found that I was not that familiar with other members of the cast, but everyone seemed to hold up pretty well. There is quite a bit of hammy, over the top, performances, but this film was written well enough to handle it. The visual effects were also well designed and executed. At least, it seemed that way to me.

The film really does manage to deliver significantly more enjoyment than I expected.

The Flight of the Sun God is a Doctor Who audiobook released by the BBC. Nicola Bryant reads this adventure which was penned by Nev Fountain. If this were a full cast audio, it would stay Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor, but it just has Bryant reading it to us. She has a pleasant enough voice, so it works.

The Doctor and Peri arrive in the far future aboard a spaceship known as the Sun God. For some reason, the big cheese in charge, Spaulding Revere, has set the course so that the ship actually runs into the sun taking a group of executives with it. The Doctor and Peri get separated. She encounters robot cats and a guy with head of a beetle who ends up being an ally.

It’s a strange little tale, but it is Doctor Who. There is not much terribly remarkable in the plot, but it is fun. Bryant does a decent job of capturing the spirit of this particular Doctor’s rather bombastic tendencies. It does seem that there have been one or two other stories which features a ship heading toward a sun. Also, there is another overly ambitious tycoon at the heart of the problem. Some of the motivations for these shenanigans did not appear all that clear. Fountain at least does a pretty competent job with this one though. Bryant makes this rather more enjoyable with her rendition of the story. She is able to recreate the banter between her and the Doctor even without Colin Baker being there, but I still prefer when they perform together.

It’s not a bad addition to the vastness of Doctor Who lore, but it also falls short on being all that memorable.

Doctor Who and the Horror of Fang Rock is a novelization by Terrance Dicks of the television serial which first aired in 1977. The episode starred Tom Baker and Louise Jameson as the Doctor and Leela.

Dicks was no master wordsmith, but his simple prose style had a distinction all its own. He tended to use the same adjectives when referring to the TARDIS materializing, and his description of the Doctor did not vary all that much from book to book.

The adventure starts off with the TARDIS bringing the Doctor and Leela to an isolated lighthouse located on a small isle ominously named Fang Rock. They arrive in time to find that one of the keepers has died rather mysteriously. As the Doctor and Leela get to know the remaining two keepers, a yacht crashes onto the rocks below, and the survivors are thrown into the mix. A mysterious creature does indeed stalk the shores of this island, however the Doctor soon realizes that a confrontation was happen there, or the world will face the consequences the this latest visit from the stars.

This novel is really just good for striking the chords of nostalgia. The television serial is one of my favorites, and Terrance Dicks sticks pretty close to the original script. It’s an enjoyable enough little romp that was read in about one day, but don’t expect any profound insights from this one.

Next up will be a much grittier read in Lawrence Block’s Out on the Cutting Edge.

A Contest of Principles is a recent Star Trek novel from the mind and keyboard of Greg Cox. It revisits near the final year of the original five year mission where the women wore impractical mini-skirts and the men in red shirts were picked off on a regular basis. A fine period for any Star Trek devotee.

This is a tale of three worlds that are cosmic neighbors or something. They are all in the same star system, parsec, or whatever. Anyway, the inhabitants are all aware of each other, but engage in some rivalry or something. The planet known as Vok is about to hold its first pure election after years of tyrannical military rule. Captain James Kirk and his noble crew of the Starship Enterprise are sent by the Federation to ensure the integrity of the election and remain neutral observers. It seems a simple enough task, but hold on! The crew is made aware of some medical emergency on a nearby planet known as Braco. Dr. McCoy is sent to see if he can lend a hand with a party that includes Nurse Christine Chapel. But hold on! That’s a trick! That landing party is ambushed and McCoy is kidnapped. He is then hauled off to the planet Ozalor to see if he can help an ailing princess. The good doctor finds himself soon enmeshed in palace politics. Kirk can’t leave Vok, however Spock catches up with Nurse Chapel on Braco and begins a search for the purloined doctor. Of course, Spock and Chapel are also taken prisoner by some group dissidents or rebels not happy with the leadership on Braco. Really the only one who manages to avoid capture and captivity is the stalwart captain, but he finds plenty of trouble on his own as well.

This is a rather cheeky summation of the plot, but it’s actually not a bad addition to the still-growing catalog of Star Trek novels. I am not sure that much of it stands out, and there is a fair amount of predictability that is probably unavoidable considering the nature of the series as a whole. Cox has been writing for this franchise for some time, so he has proven himself to be at least a reliably entertaining writer yet again. He does a pretty good job with most of the guest characters, although a couple of them seem more like caricatures at times. No major surprises or plot twists await the reader, however it is solidly entertaining and evokes that sense of nostalgia for the original television series.

The title is borrowed from a quote by a writer named Ambrose Bierce. I don’t usually comment on titles, but I thought this particular one was rather clever and fitting.

Anyway, it’s a pretty good book with a pretty cool title.

Next up, I will be returning to the world of Doctor Who Target novelizations. I have had this collection since I was a wee lad and occasionally find one I not yet read. Terrance Dicks was the most prolific of the Target novelists, yet I somehow I missed out on Doctor Who and the Horror of Fang Rock, so that needs to be rectified. This is one of my favorite television serials, so I shall see if this will become a favorite novelization.

Luna Romana is a Doctor Who audio drama from Big Finish Productions and is an episode of The Companion Chronicles. The story is written by Matt Fitton and directed by Lisa Bowerman. Terry Molloy returns as Quadrigger Stoyn which completes a trilogy of stories with various previous incarnations of the Doctor. Lalla Ward returns as the second incarnation of Romana with Juliet Landau taking on the mantle of her third incarnation. Mary Tamm was supposed to have starred in this one, however she had died not long before this recording which was released in 2014. This ended up being an unapologetic tribute to Tamm, and that was an entirely appropriate decision. There was a moment of flashback recordings of Tamm’s voice which was rather moving.

The First Romana and the Fourth Doctor end up in Ancient Rome as they search for the final segment of the Key to Time. Romana meets Stoyn and narrowly escapes the encounter. Sometime in the future, the Second Romana and the Doctor arrive on a lunar colony modeled after Rome where Stoyn continues his efforts to destroy the Doctor. Romana must break an important rule of time travel and is set on collision course with her own past.

Landau and Ward share the narration duties and are both quite compelling. Landau’s Romana effectively conveys her affection for her first incarnation, which would seem egotistical in most circumstances, but somehow works well here. I love the chemistry between Mary Tamm and Tom Baker during that era of the television series. Mary Tamm carried off her air of haughty charm very effectively and was a wonderful foil against the Fourth Doctor’s domineering eccentricity. It would be interesting to hear a Doctor encounter this new version of Romana.

The story is a little confusing at times, but still enjoyable. There also seems to be more if a complexity in Quadrigger Stoyn’s villainy than many of the other renegade Time Lords encountered by the Doctor. Molloy, who is better known as playing Davros for a time on the television series and for Big Finish, really does put in an impressive performance as this newer menace.

This particular episode was quite engaging for a variety of reasons. It would have been better if Tamm was still alive to participate, however Big Finish did a fine job memorializing her. It was also a pretty good yarn.