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Aug 17, 2010

Mickey rated it:

This is a fun look at fandom from a female persepctive. Like several of the essayists in this collection, I was a late convert to the bliss that is Doctor Who. (MANY thanks to my friend Kim who INSISTED that I watch it and then Torchwood) My two favorite essays are by Elizabeth Bear and Carole Barrowman. (big sister of John Barrowman- aka- Captain Jack Yumminess, er, Harkness)The various aspects of fandom (watching, writing, costuming, etc) are well represented in this slim volume and I would re More...

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Jan 17, 2012

Siskoid rated it:

Chicks Dig Time Lords is a collection of essays by female Doctor Who fans and stakeholders put out by Mad Norwegian that offers a female perspective on Doctor Who and fandom in general. Most have tangible connections to the show, from running conventions to writing Who novels to acting on the show or in the audios. There's even an essay from John "Captain Jack" Barrowman's sister! The authors come from a variety of countries and backgrounds (Old School, New School, married into it, cos More...

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Jul 12, 2011

Christy rated it:

Doctor Who fans, particularly those interested in gender and fandom, should really enjoy this. I'm a new fan, having only seen the rebooted series (and the terrible mid-1990s TV movie) and so some of the references are lost on me, but there are some fascinating examinations of gender and race in the series, considerations of the fandom itself, interviews with people who have been involved with the series, and some very lovely reflections on what Doctor Who offers. The essays that open and clos More...

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Mar 19, 2011

Nicholas rated it:

It's a lovely collection of 27 essays by fans of Doctor Who, ranging from the gleeful to the mildly profound (as far as one can be in less than ten pages), ranging over various aspects of the fannish experience - watching the show, watching the show with your family (including one on what it feel like if your brother grows up to be Captain Jack Harkness, and two which caught at my heartstrings in which Who fans find themselves parenting children with special needs), conventions, fanzines, costum More...

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Jan 16, 2011

Catherine rated it:

My husband brought this home from a science fiction convention, ostensibly for me, though I noticed as I read that a number of the contributors had signed it specifically to him. *cough* Overall, it's a pleasant enough read, mostly personal reminiscences of fandom or the pleasure of the visual text. Particularly outstanding, however, are a couple of essays focusing on specific female characters: Lloyd Rose's essay on why Rose Tyler works so much better with the Ninth Doctor than with the Ten More...

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Mar 14, 2010

Allison rated it:

I loved this book. Now going in I was pretty sure I was going to love this book. I bought it at a Dr. Who convention, so the subject matter was right up my alley, it was a collection of essays -- one of my favorite genres to read, and it was to explore the experience of being female -- another favorite topic.

In someways I was at a disadvantage going into the essays. At the launch panel they joked about many essays starting with the person discovering a strange man in a scarf on More...

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Jan 15, 2012

Sunil rated it:

Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It is...well, it's kind of right there in the title. It has an awesome cover, which is part of the reason I wanted to read it. Well, that and I know Tara, and Seanan McGuire and Mary Robinette Kowal also had essays in the book, which contains two dozen essays, three interviews, and a very cute comic (from the creators of Torchwood Babiez, which I have never read). As one Amazon review astutely notes, the essays generally fa More...

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May 20, 2010

Donna rated it:

Some of the essays in this book include really interesting analysis of Doctor Who from the perspective of women, and there were also some great personal reflections about the series. True, the meatiest of the content was more about the new series, but the older Doctors and companions were still well represented in the more personal essays.

Unfortunately, half this book is about the fandom, and those parts will largely be of interest to those that participate heavily in it. I was hopin More...

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May 15, 2011

Leilani rated it:

This collection covers a broad range of perspectives, and represents both old-school fans and New Who fans well.

My favorites were the essays discussing why the authors loved a particular character ("Girl Genius: Nyssa of Traken" by Francesca Coppa, "Mathematical Excellence" by Seanan McGuire, and "Martha Jones: Fangirl Blues" by K. Tempest Bradford) or looking at how the show & fandom have evolved over the years (the essays by Shoshana Magnet & Robert Sm More...

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Dec 20, 2011

Wendy rated it:

A fun collection that takes in nearly every possible female perspective on Doctor Who, from interviews with actresses to academic essays, from costuming to fanzine fandom, from the oldest of Old School to the newest of New School, and from unabashed squee to serious critique. I think any fan of Doctor Who regardless of their gender, will find something they identify with here, and probably also things that will surprise, intrigue, or even provoke them a bit.

I'd love to see some of t More...

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Jun 27, 2011

Robert rated it:

There's a wide variety of essays in this collection. Some are about the contributor's life in Who fandom. Some feature critical analysis. There are pieces from women who have written Who novels. There are also interviews with India Fisher and Sophie Aldred.

I've wanted to get a copy since the book first came out. One of the contributors is a good friend of mine, Jennifer Adams Kelley. I got the book in trade from another contributor, Torchwood Babiez co-creator Tammy Garrison.

More...

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Apr 08, 2010

Katie rated it:

As a chick who digs Time Lords, I adore this collection of essays about being a female Doctor Who fan. Reading it was like the delightful feeling of sitting down with a bunch of clever friends and having a really great discussion of a shared interest. Some of the essays deal specifically with issues of being a woman in fandom, but the book will definitely also be of interest to male Doctor Who fans, since the shared experience of loving a quirky British show about time travel in a blue box tra More...

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Nov 07, 2011

Kelly rated it:

The only downside to this book: No follow-up with the addition of the Moffat-era characters. Seriously a great read though. It was refreshing to read essays with which I agreed with the authors, as opposed to listening to my friends blather about "hating" Martha and "adoring" Rose. If there ever were a second CWDTL, I hope it includes more fans who started with New Who. There were times when I felt a little excluded since I haven't seen much of the Classic series and I was bo More...

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Jul 05, 2011

Heather rated it:

This is a collection of essays by women involved with Doctor Who: writers, actors, fans. Many of them are very thoughtful, or entertaining, or both, and they range along a broad spectrum of subjects. Major themes: What fandom is, and how it affects the people who participate in it; feminism, and the experience of being a female fan in a male-dominated fandom; the specifics of 'Doctor Who' and why it resonates so deeply with some of its fans.

If you love Doctor Who, you should read t More...

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Jun 27, 2010

Bethany marked it as to-read

I love Doctor Who, I am a massive geek and this is just down my street.

I wasn't around for the original airings of Doctor Who but I have managed to watch many of them and they are still great today.

However, I also have a massive thing for David Tennant who I believe was a brilliant Doctor.
I have since kind of dropped out of watching the newer series as I don't like the assistant very much but the geekiness still remains!
I can't wait to read this- it probably w More...

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Jul 05, 2011

Ben rated it:

It's safe to say that I am a big fan of the new Doctor Who, and I have been ever since it arrived in 2005, back when I was sixteen. I wasn't a big fan from the first episode. As a science-fiction fan in general, I had heard of Doctor Who but was not quite sure what it was all about. So I tuned into the CBC and watched "Rose" with interest. Gradually, I came to appreciate Doctor Who for what it is: one of the best TV shows ever.

Normally I don't like to jump on the "we h More...

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Jan 24, 2012

Gwnhwyfer rated it:

I found Doctor Who through an unexpected source (or maybe not so unexpected, considering this collection) - my mom. We were flipping channels one afternoon and suddenly she tells me to stop - it's the Doctor! She couldn't mean that weird British sci-fi show with the wonky sets? Well, she did and we ended up watching David Tennant and Freema Agyeman in "Gridlock". I was hooked.

Catching the occassional episode (which airs, for me, on Space, at 5 p.m., and since I work unt More...

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Jul 29, 2011

Alexandra rated it:

I got sick, realised that I had this to read thanks to the Hugo voters' pack, and read it in a day. Well, there were a couple of entries that I skipped over a bit because they weren't that engaging for me and my experiences, but I swear I read almost all of it.

I love Doctor Who, but I do not LOVE it. I am a fan, but I am not a FAN. I don't think I ever realised the difference between the two before meeting people like Tansy and other serious, mad FANS (in much the same way that I didn' More...

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Nov 12, 2010

Teresa rated it:

I had an awesome experience on the subway as I read this book when a woman noticed the cover and said “I have a friend in there!” Turns out, her friend was author Cat Valente, and this girl (Veronica? Victoria? It was a “V” name, and we sadly didn’t exchange info or anything) was a huge Doctor Who fan. We ended up talking about fandom all the way to the end of the line, which was where we both were going, and it was really nice! It was nice to be able to talk to a complete stranger about somethi More...

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May 26, 2010

Justin rated it:

I really love this collection of essays. It's a diverse and often moving examination of women in Doctor Who fandom. Some of the essays are stronger than others. The memoir-style ones, where people just talk about how they got into the show, are less interesting.

The best essays are the ones that take that first-person fandom experience and analyze it, break it down, critique the culture, and place it in a greater context. Kate Orman's contribution, for example. What this collec More...

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Dec 14, 2011

Soup rated it:

I almost feel bad rating this book as poorly as I have as much of my disappointment is the result, I suspect, of my own incorrect assumptions about the content. I picked it up expecting a light or pseudo-academic take on Doctor Who. While there are one or two articles that attempt a theory-less critical theory approach (e.g. the Magnet & Smith or Kang essays, each of which the authors should consider expanding and republishing as academic articles) most of the volume is given over to fandom dis More...

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Aug 08, 2010

Julia rated it:

Twenty-seven essays and interviews by female fans of “Doctor Who” who may also be the actresses who played his Companions, who do costumes for fan conventions, who write “Doctor Who” novels, who are academics writing about sexism and gender, who are science fiction and fantasy writers, are moms. John Barrowman (he plays “Torchwood”’s Captain Jack, which started out on “Doctor Who”)’s sister Carole, who is an academic, both are Who-vians, and she helped him write his autobiography, writes one of More...

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Mar 04, 2011

Kate rated it:

Five stars is not enough - how I want to give this book more! I loved the essays in this book - as a newbie Doctor Who fan, I learned more than I expected about the series and its fan base than I expected in a mere 192 pages. The passion and creativity from the contributors is inspiring and empowering. Required reading not just for Doctor Who fans, but anyone who loves a series with deep passion. Parents should read these essays to their kids to remind them of the importance of individuality, More...

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Mar 13, 2011

Annie rated it:

As someone who is only through the second season of the Doctor reboot, this made me nostalgic for TV I have never even seen! Very fun to read, and definitely makes me want to get more involved in fan culture in general. Also, Kelly Link's story "Magic for Beginners" has got to be at least tangentially influenced by what seems to have been the experience of trying to watch Dr. Who on American television in the 70s and 80s - the similarities between some of the essays and her (awesome! More...

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Jan 09, 2011

Just_ann_now rated it:

This was an extremely impulsive impulse purchase (Elizabeth Bear was cleaning out her bookcases). If I had thought hard, I would have remembered that this came out before My Doctor arrived. It skews heavily towards Classic Who, but is really all over the map - novelizations, Big Finish stuff, all kinds of things. Some of the standout essays for me were "Martha Jones: Fangirl Blues" by K. Tempest Bradford and "Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: Have We Really Come That Far?" b More...

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Jun 18, 2010

Gale rated it:

A must read for Who fans. Especially any female "Who" fan who has ever been in an argument with a male Who fan over shippers, emotion in Who, the Doctor's sexuality, or why River Song rocks so much more than Rose ever did. Actually, if this book had been published a year later, I'd expect more on River..and Amy. Let's hope for a second volume, eh?

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Mar 04, 2010

Cen rated it:

This was an amazing book! On some level I identified with nearly every essay. Many had me laughing aloud and punching my fist in the air. Quite a few had me drawing x's over passages and exclaiming 'what? Absolutely not!' So amazing the various views that can be reached about essentially the same thing. This book is an absolute treasure for Doctor Who fans.

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Feb 11, 2012

Emily rated it:

Chicks DO dig time lords. This was a fun collection of essays from a varied selection of women. I found myself interested in most of them but there were a few that stood out especially. I couldn't decide on whether or not to go 3 or 4 stars with it, but I went 3...just because. ;)

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Nov 21, 2011

Kaia rated it:

Over all a good read. My favourites was:

"Two Steps Forward, One Step Back" by Shoshana Magnet and Robert Smith
"Martha Jones: Fangirl Blues" by K Tempest Bradford
"In Defense of Smut" by Christa Dickson
"Regeneration X" by Catherynne M. Valente

I think.

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Jun 10, 2011

Paul rated it:

A wonderful collection of essay, until the last 4 or so, which where horrible and vulgar (not counting the last one which was ok). The end was so bad that I this went from my pick for the Related Work Hugo 2011 to not...

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