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Mark’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Mark’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
Mark Speed’s Followers (86)
1,275 books
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1,050 friends
64,858 books
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638 friends
5,586 books
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143 friends
6,072 books
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146 friends
5,439 books
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89 friends
209,238 books
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816 friends
7,264 books
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144 friends
1,096 books
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3,782 friends
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Mark Speed
Goodreads Author
Born
in Scotland, The United Kingdom
Website
Twitter
Genre
Member Since
August 2013
URL
https://www.goodreads.com/markspeed
More books by Mark Speed…
Doctor How and the Illegal Aliens audio samples
These are the first audio samples from Doctor How and the Illegal Aliens
http://markspeed.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/DH1-01.mp3 http://markspeed.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/DH1-02.mp3 http://markspeed.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/DH1-03.mp3 Read more of this blog post »
Mark’s Recent Updates
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Mark Speed
rated a book it was ok
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| One should always judge writing by its age. I came to this after reading an article saying that the author was ahead of her time, that The Blazing World was perhaps the first sci-novel by a woman, etc. 12% of the novel was introductory notes. Fair en ...more | |
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Mark Speed
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Mark Speed
is currently reading
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Mark Speed
rated a book really liked it
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| An interesting set of short stories. Many of them were written to make the reader think about moral questions. Some were written as traditional narrative short stories, and others as exchanges of messages. We need a bit more fiction like this as we f ...more | |
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Mark Speed
rated a book liked it
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| I was a touch disappointed, but then the novel had a lot of hype to live up to , and this type of fiction has moved on a great deal in the nearly 60 years since publication. It's certainly a lot less innocent than the era it's set in. I think this is ...more | |
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Mark Speed
rated a book really liked it
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| Short and sweet. Well-drawn and enjoyable characters, but I guessed the ending. Perhaps I was able to guess the ending because the main character was so well-drawn? | |
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Mark Speed
rated a book liked it
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| I'm sorry to say that this felt like a stretch. We had the set of characters we'd been expecting, with much of it focused on the odd organism from Nod which was being a specific human. The entire plot felt slow - almost pointless - and contrived in s ...more | |
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Mark Speed
rated a book really liked it
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| An interesting novel. The author's clearly done a great deal of research into this subject area, and also relies heavily on his own experience at Cambridge. Unfortunately, the novel becomes a bit self-indulgent at some points just after the middle. T ...more | |
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Mark Speed
rated a book really liked it
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| For younger readers. I think any comparison with Lord of the Rings is mistaken and misleading. The story is set in a version of our world - Byzantium, Kyiv, the Varangians, etc. There's a wonderful, strong female protagonist, and I wish I'd have been ...more | |
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Mark Speed
rated a book really liked it
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| The usual suspects. As ever, Herron isn't scared of being merciless with characters. I did find it a bit overwritten, though the humour kept me going. However, it was far too reliant on making fun of 'the Rodster'. ...more | |
“But Time Lords always travel in the T – in their Spectrels, don't they?"
"Only if absolutely necessary."
"You what?"
"It's another myth put about by those scoundrels. Dramatic effect and all that. It's all his fault."
"What do you mean?"
"Who's fault."
"No, I asked you first."
"No, you clot. It's Who's fault – Dr bloody Who. That's who!"
"Why?"
"No, not Why. I said it's Who's fault."
"Whose fault?"
"Yes. Who."
"What?"
"No! Listen, damn you. Don't bring Why or What into it. It's nothing to do with them. It's Who's fault."
"That's what I'm trying to establish, Doctor. Whose fault is it?"
"Yes. It's Who's fault; now, can we just bloody get on with it and stop arguing the toss and bringing the others into it?”
― Doctor How and the Illegal Aliens
"Only if absolutely necessary."
"You what?"
"It's another myth put about by those scoundrels. Dramatic effect and all that. It's all his fault."
"What do you mean?"
"Who's fault."
"No, I asked you first."
"No, you clot. It's Who's fault – Dr bloody Who. That's who!"
"Why?"
"No, not Why. I said it's Who's fault."
"Whose fault?"
"Yes. Who."
"What?"
"No! Listen, damn you. Don't bring Why or What into it. It's nothing to do with them. It's Who's fault."
"That's what I'm trying to establish, Doctor. Whose fault is it?"
"Yes. It's Who's fault; now, can we just bloody get on with it and stop arguing the toss and bringing the others into it?”
― Doctor How and the Illegal Aliens
“You said these guys are your cousins? Is that, like, for real? It's, like, not a turn of phrase?"
"What on earth do you mean?"
"Well, I refer to my bluds as cuz, sometimes. Is it like that, or is they real blood relatives?"
"Yes, four of them are cousins. One of them is my twin brother. I'm sure you can guess who."
"Who?"
"Yes."
"No, who?"
"Exactly." The Doctor's gaze was in some far-off place, his voice low and monotone. "He was always the troublesome one. He instigated the rift, cemented the separation. Blabbed to the Beeb. I can never forgive him for that. Never.”
― Doctor How and the Illegal Aliens
"What on earth do you mean?"
"Well, I refer to my bluds as cuz, sometimes. Is it like that, or is they real blood relatives?"
"Yes, four of them are cousins. One of them is my twin brother. I'm sure you can guess who."
"Who?"
"Yes."
"No, who?"
"Exactly." The Doctor's gaze was in some far-off place, his voice low and monotone. "He was always the troublesome one. He instigated the rift, cemented the separation. Blabbed to the Beeb. I can never forgive him for that. Never.”
― Doctor How and the Illegal Aliens
“Then after a while I realised that if there’s one person I’d arrest, it would be Miss Marple herself.” Bunce paused for effect. “She’s a one-woman crime wave, if you think about it. Everywhere this interfering old bag goes, people get murdered.”
― Doctor How and the Big Finish: Book 5
― Doctor How and the Big Finish: Book 5
Topics Mentioning This Author
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time Travel: February 2015 Newsletter | 4 | 20 | Feb 11, 2015 03:13PM | |
| Time Travel: March and April 2015: Book Club Nominations - Nominations & Poll Closed | 28 | 109 | Mar 16, 2015 01:55PM | |
| Sci-Fi, fantasy a...: Your invitation to the party! Online Multi-Author Giveaway Event | 1 | 7 | Jul 06, 2016 07:37AM | |
| Time Travel: Join the Time Travel Party! Launch for The Day After Never | 5 | 29 | Jul 09, 2016 12:01PM | |
| What's the Name o...: Sci-Fi Adventure novel. Opens with a Dr. Who's twin brother vanished working for the government and entered a portal discovered at the ruins of Atlantis. Portals lead to other galaxies where the "aliens" are the gods from our history. Read in 2019. | 2 | 25 | Jun 29, 2023 02:29PM |
“The story so far:
In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.”
― The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.”
― The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.”
―
―
“To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.”
― Life of Pi
― Life of Pi
“If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams.”
― Life of Pi
― Life of Pi
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David wrote: "Not sure if I thank you for being a friend, Mark. No copy of my message came up. Thank you.David"
I didn't get a message from you - just a friend request. You're up in Durham, I seem to recall. I lived in Newcastle for many years. It's actually quite good that the rest of the UK doesn't realise how gorgeous the NE of England is, or it'd be spoilt!
Not sure if I thank you for being a friend, Mark. No copy of my message came up. Thank you.David
