Two Envelopes And A Phone > Recent Status Updates

I’m re-discovering why I liked this one so much the first time. When London shifts to a Lovecraftian version of London - and Mel becomes Melaphyre the Technomancer, the book gets even better. And this time I know what a Tereleptil is, and why the Doctor quips about suing for property damage.

Reading a bunch of comics right at the end of last year got my 2022 book count up to 300 just at the last minute - the same sort of fooltommery is planned again for this year!

We'll see if I still call this a 5-star read, after I walk away from it a second time. So far, it's got a shot - but if I was over-enthusiastic, over twenty years ago, I could see this dropping down to 4 stars. I don't think any lower, though. Meanwhile, I love that thing Mel is wearing on the cover of the book, even if we can only see from the waist up. The Bride of Frankenstein hair is less appealing...

Will put the wraps on this later today. If I don't go to that Doctor Who novel next, it's because I want a New Year's Eve adventure closer to, or on, New Year's Eve. Meanwhile, I've got my eye on A Ring of Roses by Blackburn, or The Black Lizard by Edogawa. Or Maigret. Something quick, anyway.

Alright, I’ll leave it at that until tomorrow. This is a good one - getting tricky, this business with the gun.

This re-read should be fun. I think I originally read it pretty close to the date it depicts, end of 1999. Mel was never that popular as a Companion - but she has returned on the new episodes, and is being written better. I could never hate Mel, because I love Bonnie Langford's face, hair, and voice. Delta and the Bannermen remains one of my fave of the old TV stories, Don Henderson (Star Wars) loved being Gavrok.

That Doctor Who novel set during New Year’s Eve is calling to me…but, I do want to get to a re-read of it closer to our actual New Year’s Eve. Therefore, Perry Mason next. I am not feeling the urge to read a lot of Perry Mason, even with some of them coming back into print. But this one, with the shoplifter angle, seems like a good choice, to make a wonky double-Bill with Needful Things, also about a store.

I only saw the movie once. Reading the book is reminding me of what the movie was about…but I’m not actually remembering specific scenes, and anyway I bet they changed some things for the film. I’m glad that I’m not remembering much. Meanwhile - no family, no religion too, so four days off work just means that much more reading!

OPEN

Hammer gets a Baby Yoda. Oh well. Not my favourite plot development in the world - tough guy with baby - but the start of this book has been so much fun overall, and Hammer does go about his business without the baby actually strapped to him, so I can live with it. Anyway, I have to read Mickey Spillane...Fredric Brown was his favourite writer. And okay, Spillane is pretty good himself.

Gotta be in the mood for what Spillane offers…and now I am! So this comes just before Needful Things…and I might just blaze through the Ross MacDonald short stories I have lined up, as well (only three stories in the book). I have seen the Needful Things movie; Max von Sydow will always be my favourite actor. Anyway, before all that - Mike friggin’ Hammer!

Is it horrible to say that this could be my favourite title of any book ever?

The whole thing between Bernice and Jason was weird. Met in Death and Diplomacy, married in Happy Endings, breaking up by Eternity Weeps. All those books are not very far apart...talk about a whirlwind Hate Love Hate! My theory is that they suddenly decided Bernice should be single, when she spun off into her own series, when the BBC 'reclaimed' the Doctor.

It’s possible this was my first encounter with Bernice Summerfield; if not, it was close. Over twenty years ago, I would find, and read, the Dr Who novels from Virgin Books in random order. Sadly, some of them have pages that detach from the cover…and my copy of Damaged Goods really IS damaged goods (though it was a great day, stumbling on it at a remote used-book store all those years ago).

I'll finish this book up tonight - it wraps up with a long story from Wilkie Collins that hadn't seen the light of day for 140 years, and then showed up in Crime for Christmas!

This is an odd choice for a Doctor Who re-read; but there are a few scenes I want to revisit, and we’ll see what the rest is like. When I got back into Doctor Who, it was via the novels, around 1999. So, the Virgin paperbacks were already getting a bit scarce, and I had to figure out that this one and some others were actually Who novels, because they took his logo off the covers!