REVIEW: Doctor Who: The Impossible Astronaut

Doctor Who: 

The Impossible Astronaut 

Every season since Doctor Who came back to Tv I said over and over again that I was going to review each episode after I watched them, before the next episode aired. I never did it before but lets see if I can do it this time.

Work always got in the way in the past. Fingers crossed that work actually does get in the way again because that would mean I would have money coming in.

I was talking to someone recently about how I thought Game Of Thrones needed to start with a double episode to open the series. The opening episode left too much setup with no payoff. This is not just my thinking for that series but every series. All setup or two part stories to open a season just doesn't work in my opinion.

I enjoyed The Impossible Astronaut but I really think it would have been better as a three part story after two self contained stories to open things. As with Game Of Thrones you had a ton of rushed setup and now you have to wait until next week to see if any of it pays off. With this episode of Doctor Who the writing was good, the acting was good, but still way too rushed for me and all setup.

Saying that I'm going to stay away from any spoilers here for those who haven't watched it. I know a lot of people wait for the DVD sets to come out. I just need to say that what happens at the beginning of the episode may have bothered a lot of people but the reveal near the end really made me roll my eyes. There are only a few sure fire ways to damage a television series and I hope the Doctor Who team doesn't go there.

Hey, I'm a huge Doctor Who fan so I'll always find something I love because its new episodes for my all time favorite Tv show.

Ok, I have one big problem to start the season from last season. Can someone please tell me if Rory is still an Auton? Did they ever settle that? I have to say the end of last year was great and very confusing.


Very.

THE IMPOSSIBLE ASTRONAUT 

3 out of 5 stars

REVIEW: Doctor Who: The Impossible Astronaut

REVIEW: IMAGINARY GIRLS by Nova Ren Suma

Published by Penguin

www.penguin.com/teen

http://novaren.com/

In a lot of books you can see how the chapters will map out. Some writers use that as a sort of template. Certain things usually happen in the first chapter, others in the second, and the fourth chapter is where the story really moves. With IMAGINARY GIRLS the story kicks into high gear with the first word "Ruby" and as soon as you read the power the writer puts into the first  and every use of the word "sister" you are racing down hill out of control and all you can do is run faster and faster and hope the great feeling of being out of control never leaves you... and you don't die.

Imaginary Girls taps into those feelings when you get scared at an extreme height, the feelings just before a fight, how you feel loving someone so much that you could kill someone else just so they couldn't be loved by them. It deals with family, sisterhood, siblings, relationships, how futile our perceptions of someone else's reality is, and with me it tapped into that feeling that even if I could influence others, I could never influence away the "balance" of life. A "balance" life will not let you skirt.

I've had a lot of discussion recently with friends about the state of YA fiction. I think its in a very fragile state of bubble life. The publisher have gotten Money Eyes as they always do when something is hot. There are still so many great YA books coming out but I think YA is being harmed by publishers pushing some writers to produce books too quickly and publishers are dishing out a lot of books way too soon. Not bad books, just not fully cooked yet. Overall its doing a lot of harm. I had actually danced into a state of not wanting to read much YA fiction for a while before reading Imaginary Girls but the writer returned my faith so to speak.

Imaginary Girls is one of the few original writing voices I've come across in any form of storytelling in a very long time. I hope I never read a interview where the writer says this books was easy to write because I might just walk into the ocean. How this highly crafted work could have been anything except for a lot of very hard work would be hard to believe. 

I'm inspired as a writer and want to stand up or buy a drink.

Someone recently pointed out to me that one of the problems with being a writer is that sometimes when reading or watching a filmed stories you can see where the story is going. See the wires so to speak. All the nasty tricks and such. That's one of the reasons I almost never give 5 star reviews. With this book whenever you think "Oh, so this is how the story is going or I bet this is whats going to happen." This story mockingly laughs at you to say "You thought you were so smart, sorry, my writer worked her ass off to craft my tale."

IMAGINARY GIRLS

By Nova Ren Suma

5 out of 5 Stars

REVIEW: IMAGINARY GIRLS by Nova Ren Suma

ON MY WAY

*here is a free poem and a reminder that on Friday I will be releasing a ebook poetry album. 

ON MY WAY

Whisper, 

Talk, 

Play games, 

I maybe ugly on the surface but you're just as ugly inside, 

This was a tear, 

Now this is my pride, 

But at least all of me isnt a lie,

(c)brian c. williams

COMING APRIL 22nd

It will also contain Part One of a Four Part story. THE BLITZ SEES THE DIME leads on from a  vignette posted on the blog for free last year, the link to that story is here: 

ON MY WAY

REVIEW: TORCHWOOD - GOLDEN AGE

WRITTEN BY JAME GROSS

This story would have made a very good episode I think for big fans of Torchwood to enjoy. It had a nice setting that tapped into modern and historical thinking. Even if that thinking is highly racist.

The crush of Jack's past once again overwhelms the people of his life in the present. And the despair and slaughter of humanity in flesh and thought is what I love about Torchwood overall and Golden Age does that in spades.

Everyone doesn't get to live, minds are not changed to the good, and the sun isn't shinning brighter the next day. When Torchwood does that, I think Torchwood puts shows like Fringe into the place they deserve to be as shows trying REALLY REALLY HARD to be clever when Torchwood just goes for the spine and rips it out.

The story isn't very long and left me wishing it had more to it but after that first thought of wanting it to be longer, I came around to seeing that the story worked for the length that it was. Even though you only briefly get to meet each character, each character is captured in the writing and acted out very well.

Golden Age felt like a sprint but it was a jog in a very nice park (with hanging skeletons) and when you got to the exit of the park you wanted to look back but it was over, gates closed, and you just had to love what you had experienced and that was ok with me.

3 out of 5 stars

Review by Brian C. Williams

(c)system*productions/brian c. williams

REVIEW: TORCHWOOD - GOLDEN AGE

REVIEW: HEREVILLE - HOW MIRKA GOT HER SWORD by Barry Deutsch

I got a ARC of this book at ALAN in Orlando but just now I read down to the bottom of my To Read stack where I could dive into this book and boy do I wish I had read it earlier. This is one of the best graphic novels I've read in a long time.

Hereville contains a lot of things I love in a book. I was introduced to a new culture with great world building but the writer didn't hit you with so much information that it felt like you were reading a Harry Turtledove book. Some pages contained bottom of the page *notes, forgot what those are called, but with those page notes it didn't distract me from the story or take me out of what was happening with the characters in the moment. Just a phrase or word here or there which was great.

This book has a lot of humor mixed with a lot of adventuring. Reminds me a lot of Spirited Away which is one of my all time favorite stories. The story dances through all phases of the lead characters life with a smooth quick motion that never slows down nor speeds up in an unnatural way.

If you like Bone I'd say your love this story. May even direct a few Coraline fans to this sense I got a little of that reading it also.

I highly recommend this book and really hope that there will be sequels because I really want to see Mirka move forward to get her chance to fight her dragon. If I had my wish this would just be the first stage in a heroes story. I'm a greedy reader.

REVIEW: HEREVILLE - HOW MIRKA GOT HER SWORD by Barry Deutsch

REVIEW: SMILE by Raina Telgemeier

If I had read this story during other time of my life it wouldn't have effected me the way it did with me reading it right now. I've had issues with my teeth going back a long time. Back to when I broke my jaw in college and never was able to have it fixed properly. I've had a lot of work done on my teeth but still have a lot to do so this story wasn't as much of a light hearted read for me as I've been told it was for others.

I loved the artwork and every character stood out. The art style reminded me of KIDS NEXT DOOR for some reason but that's just part of my weird nature than anything else or maybe I'm thinking about PEPPER ANN(sp)?

The color work by Stephanie Yue was outstanding. I enjoyed that the artwork followed the character around to all sorts of settings and showed those settings from many angles. Some artist stay within a few sets the same as a film crew does but in no way did Raina Telgemeier take the easy way out, you got every emotion, every fact, every taste of the life of the lead character as she tries to get through this point of her life.

As I said at the start this story was personal for me in ways that more than likely it wasn't for most other people. I'm so happy for people who have the chances to take care of health issues that they need to address but most in the same situation as the lead character in this book would have either probably had to live with the damage or have all their teeth pulled. Ask most people if they know there are actually more than one kind of dentist, ask a lot of people if braces are a choice, ask most if something as simple as not being able to have teeth pulled fills them with fear, its a fear for some.

The story wasn't meant for this line of thinking but it depressed me. Like I said, this time of my life. I put my issues aside to read the book because I'm a fan of the artist but afterwards it sent me into a full day of depression.

REVIEW: SMILE by Raina Telgemeier