Worlds of Blakes 7: The Clone Masters

Worlds of Blake's 7

by Tim Foley

The dark history of the Clone Masters holds many mysteries. Cally and Jenna discover some are lost in time, long before the Federation - while other secrets were buried by the Clone Masters themselves before they retreated to their home world.

Gatekeepers or conspirators, pragmatists or prophets, defenders or destroyers... At the height of their powers, how will the Clone Masters respond when Travis plans to weaponise them?

1. Separation

An untrustworthy old colleague tempts Jenna away from the Liberator to a secluded forest world, pursuing a mystery that involves Cally’s family. Will Jenna and Cally realise the true danger they face from the Clone Masters before night draws in?

2. The Rule of Life

When Space Commander Travis makes fresh demands of the Clone Masters, he is surprised by two familiar figures. One is an Auron outcast. The other is the man he once was – and could be again.

3. The Conclave

The Queen of the Clone Masters is dead, and the search for her successor draws guests from across the galaxy. Looking for something else on their visit are Cally and Travis. Between them, they could unwittingly tear down the Clone Masters’ world forever.

Audiobook

First published September 1, 2021

About the author

Tim Foley is an artist and illustrator born in Flint, Michigan, in 1962. Over the past quarter century, his clients have included national and international magazines, book publishers, and advertising agencies such as the Wall Street Journal, Cricket Magazine, New York Newsday, LA Weekly, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. He currently lives and works in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Reviews

[morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well produced, directed trilogy of tales revolving around the coronation of the new monarch/pope of the clone masters. As B7 was always a thespian-driven show headed up classically trained Shakespearean actors hamming it up, it tends to work quite well in audio.

My favorite was the second one, the Rule of Life, which features the two Travis incarnations interacting. There's still a bit of mystery and ambiguity how the two iterations co-exist - I think Travis 2 does refer to his clone (voiced by Stephen Greif) as being based on his self before he was "re processed", so perhaps there's more to the Travos body swap mythos (?). Psychologically, it could be there are different aspects to Travis that the actors embody and personify. Brian Croucher seems to inhabit the more paranoid, delusional, emotional part of Travis that tends to be a bit more feral, where as Grief plays up more of the strategist, intellectual one more socially adaptable to polite society. Overall, someone as self obsessed and paranoid as Travis is, having any sort of clone is likely to inhabit these schizoid qualities, and though he thinks having a clone may be a benefit to him, it may not be. Bit funny how nobody can tell the two Travis' apart, played by two very different actors, which makes one continue to ponder....

Jan Chappell also in top form as Cally and Lara K, and Sally Kynevette too. Splendid thesps, all of them. I liked some of the clone culture that the third play addresses as well, that the more pure of a copy you are, the more your social worth/value seems to be.

[Debra Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

The crew of the liberator arrive on a planet that is doing experiments on people. Caley believe it has to do with the clone masters. People who created her and her family. There is an evil clone sister of Caley named Laura k who is causing problems.

[Rob Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the first story 'Separation' awfully dull and the second story 'The Rule of Life' started off just as slow before becoming a delight to listen to as Stephen Grief appears. 'The Conclave' equally picks up once Cally discovers the captive Travis.