A collection of stories based in enclosed and artificial environments: places constructed to keep the dangers outside, or their inhabitants locked in.
A collection of stories based in enclosed and artificial environments: places constructed to keep the dangers outside, or their inhabitants locked in.
SHORT TRIPS: STEEL SKIES
Yet another unusual theme for a short story collection, Short Trips: Steel Skies concerns stories which take place indoors, under coverings of one sort or another. This isn’t a particularly limiting factor in terms of stories that can be told, but whether or not it succeeds is debatable.
Corridors of Power — Matthew Griffiths — Slow, painful, and obvious, this is a poor way to start a collection. What do you know, humanity is capable of doing bad things and the Doctor doesn’t approve of it! Yawn.
A Good Life — Simon Guerrier — Better work here, as we see the Doctor’s desire to find trouble wherever he goes and his refusal to accept that some societies lack the evil he insists upon fighting. Unfortunately, the twist is ruined by the theme of the collection.
Reversal of Fortune — Graeme Burk — And this is even better. The order of the Doctor and Mikhail’s meetings is a fantastic central conceit, and Burk shows real skill with characterization — he wrote a fine story for one of the BBC collections and it’d be nice to hear more from him.
Monitor — Huw Wilkins — Unspectacular but solid offering, showing an unusually involved and proactive seventh Doctor. Wilkins’ concept is great — the aftereffects of the Draconian War — but unfortunately he chooses a scenario that isn’t particularly interesting. The initial scenes debating the morals of the situation are great; the action sequences are dull.
Dust — Paul Leonard — Leonard attempts to explore the psyche of a deranged criminal, and succeeds for the most part. It’s fascinating reading, learning of a killer with no particular motivation and who isn’t even aware of the crimes he has committed — plus the Doctor’s intervention is unique yet believable. Solid stuff with a bleak ending.
Light at the End of the Tunnel — Mark Wright — First of a loose trilogy about Peri’s decisions about whether to travel with the Doctor, this story is based entirely upon watching the fifth Doctor and Peri interact — and fortunately Wright writes the characters very well. A pleasant diversion.
No Exit — Kate Orman — Orman’s first short story offering for an “official” Doctor Who collection, and it’s remarkably bleak for a fifth Doctor story. Well written, as one would expect, though as has been mentioned before it’s questionable from where Tegan’s revelation arises. The ending, much like Leonard’s story, is excellent — though bleak.
House — Jeremy Daw — Second Doctor/Peri story. Much like with his previous “The Discourse of Flies,” Daw skillfully constructs an environment with some fascinating characters, introduces the Doctor and companion — but then fails to end the story properly. Though the concept of the house is fine, the conclusion seems rushed; there is yet another bleak ending, however.
Deep Stretch — Richard Salter — The third Doctor and Jo investigate an underwater prison full of hardened female inmates. Of course there is injustice on display, and the Doctor stops it — there’s nothing new here, but thumbs up to Salter for using the Pertwee regulars without making them sound cliched, boring, or preachy, something which appears rather challenging.
Inmate 280 — Cavan Scott — A very dark NA-style story, except done properly for once. We haven’t seen a dark seventh Doctor story in a while, and here we see him provoke a prison riot that apparently kills hundreds, all so he can defeat the evil alien. It’s disturbing in part because we haven’t seen it in a while, but also because Scott’s a talented writer who provides an excellent framing device. Bleak ending alert.
Doing Time — Lance Parkin — A well-crafted horror story that uses the Time Lords as a threatening power, something we should see more of but don’t. Unfortunately it’s a bit too long, perhaps with a few too many repetitions — but the great last line makes up for it. Bleak ending.
The Ruins of Heaven — Marc Platt — Final Doctor/Peri story. Platt captures his regulars as well as ever, and takes his usual metaphorical route, set as it is in Heaven as a theme park. Worth multiple readings, this is a nicely layered story and a great improvement on Platt’s last short story.
Cold War — Rebecca Levene — One of the former NA editors attempts to produce an NA-type story, and seen from the point of view of its subject it almost works. Levene obviously knows the NA regulars, but I have to question the believability of the final twist, which comes out of nowhere simply because it’s not really supported by the story. Yet another bleak ending.
O, Darkness — John Binns — Unreasonably silly story which builds its twists around the stupidity of the guest characters. Rather than uncovering a well-crafted mystery, the Doctor points out the blindingly (ha) obvious. Binns’ previous offering was high-concept and incomprehensible; this is just poor.
Greenaway — Peter Anghelides — Another solid offering, which shows multiple Doctors trying to telepathically coax a man from his coma. The multiple-Doctor conceit works because it allows different methods and philosophies to be tried — but of course it’s Anghelides’ own future Doctor which gives the man the final push. Again, nothing special, but worth reading.
Eternity — Jonathan Blum — Excellent stuff. It’s great to see the collection’s concept applied inward to the TARDIS itself, and using the fourth Doctor is a stroke of genius: he slips into dark, brooding mode, which unsettles Sarah. Best story in the collection and a great note on which to go out.
If there’s a word for Short Trips: Steel Skies it’s “average.” There aren’t really any actively *bad* stories (except maybe O, Darkness) and, other than possibly Eternity, there aren’t any transcendent classics. Instead, it’s varying degrees of “okay,” with the experienced Who authors producing the better work. Not sure if it’s worth buying at the price BF asks — but it appears this is the natural consequence of releasing short story collections at such an accelerated rate.