There is nothing special about Edward Grainger. Except from the day he was born, until the day he will die, he keeps meeting the Doctor.
There is nothing special about Edward Grainger. Except from the day he was born, until the day he will die, he keeps meeting the Doctor.
SHORT TRIPS: THE CENTENARIAN
I haven’t thought much of Ian Farrington’s short story anthologies to date, and I’ve grown more and more disillusioned with the range in general. A relatively innovative linking theme pops up in “The Centenarian:” the Doctor repeatedly meets the same man at different stages in both their lives. Would the content live up to the concept?
Prologue — Joseph Lidster — One of Lidster’s least “emotional” stories, and one that takes on a completely different meaning once the collection is complete. You’re meant to think this is a Hartnell story, I think — I certainly believed it.
Echoes — Gary Russell — I’ve noticed that Russell writes child characters better than almost any other Who author, and this coupled with his traditionally strong grasp of Pertwee leads to a poignant, if slight little story. Good stuff.
Direct Action — Ian Mond — Interesting. There’s a future perspective on Grainger that’s unique compared to the rest of the collection, and the actual concept is surprisingly innovative. Not sure I like Mond’s Tom Baker in this, but it’s made up for by the ending. Another above-average entry.
Dream Devils — Glen McCoy — The author of Timelash, of all people! Well, this is better than the TV story, but it’s still unnecessarily complicated and resolves itself with talk of souls and things. McCoy writes a good Pertwee, though, which isn’t easy.
Falling from Xi’an — Steven Savile — Gorgeous prose, wonderful characters, and the first real sight of Grainger as a person in this anthology. I’d call it great, except for one serious problem: Savile’s Davison is absolutely horrible. Honestly, he reads more like Tennant.
Log 384 — Richard Salter — I’m always a bit wary about stories like this. I think Salter has the right idea: Unit 731 isn’t something that most readers are going to know about, and putting Grainger through a first-person experience of the installation is a way to throw the reader into it. However, I’m not sure if a Doctor Who short story is the place for this, and I’m also not sure if the first-person perspective doesn’t somehow devalue the real suffering that went on there. It’s well-written, though — I just have some reservations.
The Church of Football — Benjamin Adams — One of the better jobs of writing Peri from the first person that I’ve seen, that very nearly makes her 100% convincing as an American. The plot is entertaining enough, if forgettable, while Grainger is at his least defined as a character.
Incongruous Details — Simon Guerrier — It’s a decent story, that makes good use of shifting perspectives. I have absolutely no time whatsoever for stories that are “concluded” in subsequent anthologies, however. At $30 per book, in a medium that is not used to advance an ongoing narrative, I like to see the stories end.
Ancient Whispers — Brian Willis — The backstory on Grainger is much, much more interesting than the plot itself. Everything seems to be building up to a dramatic climax, which is wasted on a villain that could have been fascinating had it not lacked all thematic resonance. And honestly, do we really need to have Pertwee adventures set during his TARDIS journey back from Metebelis III to regenerate? Really?
First Born — Lizzie Hopley — Well, someone’s been reading her physiology textbook. It’s a fine story, though, that actually captures all four regulars and puts them to productive use. The conversation between Tegan and Grainger is easily the best part.
Dear John — John Davies — Unmemorable, as with basically every other story that concludes with the Doctor giving the villain a stern lecture. And why are we getting Samson/Gemma stories? We don’t know anything about them, and we’re not supposed to know anything about them if Terror Firma is to work properly.
Checkpoint — Stel Pavlou — Delightful. A pristine fourth Doctor, who has almost-tangible chemistry with Grainger, and a plot that develops naturally and reasonably. Perhaps it concludes a bit too hurriedly, but there’s little to complain about here.
Childhood Living — Samantha Baker — Satisfying: decent prose, good characterization of the regulars, and an appealing central character that gives us a flattering, appealing perspective on Grainger. It won’t blow you away, but it’s a solid read.
The Lost — L.J. Scott — Deeply irritating prose. Tension should arise naturally from the text, rather than being forced upon the reader with lines like “Jamie decided to try his best clan yell into the concave head,” then a line break, and then “It worked!” It’s a shame, too, because it ruins a fine portrayal of the notoriously hard-to-capture Troughton crew and an amusing plot.
Old Boys — James Parsons & Andrew Stirling-Brown — You can see the same freedom with narrative that the authors exhibited in “Live 34,” and it’s interesting to see brief descriptions of sixth Doctor stories with each of his three major companions. It’s all a bit too slight to be memorable, though.
Testament — Stephen Hatcher — Very good. The seventh Doctor has to make a difficult, painful decision, to prevent a future that many people would no doubt embrace but that Doctor Who rejects: a stagnant human paradise. It doesn’t tie the previous stories together specifically as much as it references the fact that Grainger has met the Doctor on several occasions, though.
Forgotten — Joseph Lidster — A masterful (heh) reminder of why Lidster is still one of the best short story authors going. It totally alters everything that went on in the first story without changing a single event, and provides a handy sidestep around a particular continuity problem, if fans choose to accept it. A fine conclusion to an uneven anthology.
“Short Trips: The Centenarian” ultimately strikes me as more of the same. Yes, there are some good stories, and no, there aren’t any particularly terrible stories, but almost everything is flawed in one way or another and no story really jumps out at you. There’s really no way this book is worth the exorbitant cost. It seems like these anthologies are starting to tread water, and that’s not a good thing. Doctor Who short stories have come a long way since “Short Trips and Side Steps” from the BBC — unfortunately, they’ve been progressively heading in the wrong direction. I’ve got one more volume (“Time Signature”) to read, and I suspect I’ll be giving up after that.
Recommended for completists only.