#barnaby's thirst series

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And it's done!

Barnaby's thirst series:

Sexy Rock Singer!Kotetsu for all of you!

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I really like the movie, Btw I know it's a stupid question but I'll ask it anyway, the man in your icon is Hella sexy, in what show he's he on? So I can binge it tomorrow 😉

vdnkafjvkjdbkj bish YES!!! PLEASE JOIN THE DUDGEY THIRST!!!!

His name’s Neil Dudgeon and he’s literally Inspector Barnaby! So, go watch Midsomer Murders asap (from series 14 onwards)!

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TW One: Latter Days - the VORTEX article on the upcoming audio!

THEY’RE BACK and it’s all about the team (unless you’re Yvonne Hartman and then it’s very much all about you !)… We return to Canary Wharf in London to meet the team at Torchwood One for a third box set of adventures in Latter Days. Tracy-Ann Oberman is back in the heels and business suit of Yvonne Hartman, and Gareth David-Lloyd reprises his role as Ianto Jones.

In this box set of three tales we meet Yvonne’s mother; see Torchwood through the eyes of one of its cleaners; and Ianto finds himself trapped inside the retirement plans of Tommy – the head of Alien Acquisitions.

The set opens with Retirement Plan which was written by Ianto  himself, actor Gareth David-Lloyd, and features a character we first met in box set one – only now, Tommy is retiring. But there’s something very wrong in the idyll of El Cielo, and it’s going to kill Ianto. There are spies, guns and snowmobiles, a secret base – and definitely piranhas!

Gareth says: “I’m a bit more familiar writing for the characters than I was the first time around when I had to go back over the first series of Torchwood One. I did some more research on Yvonne’s character for this one, but I know her and the others much better this time. 

“I wasn’t given too much of a detailed brief – just that it was all to do with retirement – and that was it! The central character in this one is Tommy played brilliantly by Tim Bentinck who was in the first series of Torchwood One. Unfortunately, death is the way most people leave Torchwood – either that, or they are retconned! But Tommy has some ideas about retirement within the constraints of working for Torchwood and he’s planning an alternative. He’s been secretly pottering away on his own retirement dream but he needs Ianto’s help to realise it.”

As well as writing the adventure, Gareth is enjoying playing a different facet to Ianto’s character, having established himself as a firm favourite with listeners through his work at Torchwood Three in Cardiff.

He confirms: “It was great fun to play a different, more innocent side to Ianto in the first series, and to come back and write for him has been a great pleasure.

“The whole idea of Ianto living out his fantasies as a secret agent has been in my head for some time. Ianto and Yvonne get trapped in a James Bond world – it’s a bit risqué.

“When I was writing there were some moments where I thought Tracy-Ann will either love me or hate me for this – the reasons for which will become evident! “Yvonne is a great character. At least you know when you work for Torchwood that you are sort of being looked after by Yvonne – as long as you do exactly what she says! She can be very unforgiving if you stray from her agenda.” When you’re writing a script that features the character you play, do you ever consider giving yourself all the best lines?

Gareth laughs: “Ianto always gets a couple of nice dry one-liners, though there wasn’t any temptation to give myself the best lines – I definitely wanted to make the story about Tommy. Ianto has some fun interjections but Tim has got such great comic timing I wanted to utilise that as best as I could.”

A MYSTERIOUS FORCE is wiping out Torchwood in Locker 15, by Matt Fitton, the second story in this set, and the only person who can save London is a cleaner called Dave.

Matt explains: “The Torchwood One stories are all about office life, in a way. I just wanted to look at how Yvonne runs things, and what it is like working there for her. Yvonne likes to know her staff but she can be incredibly ruthless, to get the job done.

“The first box set was about the new person coming in to work at Torchwood and seeing it through her eyes; volume two was about business as usual and the day to day work. Series three is about what happens when you retire, and we’ve various stories about people coming to the end of their Torchwood working lives and their different ways of leaving.

“In Locker 15 they uncover a problem in the offices of Torchwood One and need the help of an old employee who used to be a cleaner and has been retired for a few years, as he might know something about what’s going on.”

Although Torchwood as a series features fantastical ideas, there’s always been an element of the real world to it. As the original publicity for the television series said, it’s The X Files meets This Life.

Matt explains: “Even though Torchwood are dealing with weird and wonderful aliens you’ve got to remember they still have an office to run – with people to empty the bins, refill the paper tray and fix the photocopier. Would someone who has done that at Torchwood need to be retconned when they leave, and what would the longer term effects of that be?

“Just what happens when someone retires from Torchwood? There’s a high mortality rate among its agents, but what about the cleaner? That’s when we meet Dave Cook, who Yvonne and Ianto find in a care home, and they try to prise information from his memory.

“In the past, we’ve likened Torchwood One to the TV series Archer which features a dysfunctional group of spies – here we have a dysfunctional office, which just happens to be full of alien hunters.”

THE EVENTS of the Torchwood team’s domestic lives come to the forefront in The Rockery by Tim Foley. Anne Hartman has retired to the country, which comes as a surprise to her daughter. Has Yvonne met a problem even she can’t solve?

Tim says: “This is probably the first Torchwood story I’ve pitched completely from scratch. I was watching the recording of 9 to 5 (from the previous box set) and Tracy-Ann squared up magnificently against Jane Asher. Yvonne’s dynamic with a figure that was older and equal to her was so electric. So I got in touch with James Goss and asked, ‘Are we ever going to meet Yvonne’s mother?’ Hint hint hint. He got in touch with Russell T Davies who really liked the idea, and then we found ourselves working out how we could meet Anne Hartman, what she was like and what she’d think of the daughter she’d raised. It turns out that the themes worked really well for the next Torchwood One box set, so I leapt at the chance to write it!

“Yvonne’s mother has retired early and Yvonne isn’t happy about it. Anne Hartman moves to the countryside and we see Yvonne bouncing back and forth between her life in the city and her mother’s new life in Shropshire. It’s a story of a strained relationship, with love and pain and things unsaid and strange plants at the bottom of the garden.”

For Tim, expanding on Yvonne’s personal life was something of a joy. He says: “This is somebody retiring who has never known Torchwood… and never wishes to know it. It would be very easy to write a character that was effectively Yvonne senior, but we found it far more interesting to imagine Yvonne as her father’s daughter (I obliquely referred to Yvonne’s dad in a previous Torchwood story since we decided he’s mentioned as working in security in a certain 1970s Doctor Who!). 

“Who, then, is Anne? I’m really excited for listeners to meet her. Unlike her husband and her daughter, Anne has always tried to live a quiet life. But with Yvonne back in the picture, there’s hardly going to be much of that…”

Tracy-Ann adds: “There’s so much love for Yvonne. Whenever I’m on tour, people bring her up and say how much they love her in Big Finish.”

Matt Fitton and producer James Goss have previously told Vortex that their writing for Torchwood One has been partly inspired by bad office jobs they’ve held in the past. Has there been anything from Tim’s own working life that’s fed in to this story?

He reveals: “I mainly work in theatre, and this script is the most play-like I’ve written for Big Finish (that’s something James Goss noted as well, I think he called me out for using act breaks!). It’s three characters navigating what it means to be human; it’d work well on stage. I adore the fact that Torchwood as a show can be this flexible. Some days I get to write about the end of the world, and on other days I get to write about a lonely woman tending to her rockery. When I retire myself, it’s a time I’ll look upon very fondly!”

TASKED WITH bringing the trio of tales to life was director Barnaby Edwards, who tells Vortex what he thinks makes Torchwood One so special: “We only got a glimpse of Yvonne Hartman on television before she met her well-deserved cybernetic fate. And yet those brief minutes during which she lit up the screen with her ruthless, camp, solipsistic effulgence were enough to make us thirst for more. Similarly, we never got as much Ianto as that character merited.

“So, for me, what makes the Torchwood One adventures so special is expanding our knowledge of Yvonne, the black widow spider who is the master brain at the centre of Torchwood’s web, and Ianto, the loyal puppy who is very much the heart of Torchwood.”

Barney – who also directed the first two box sets of this series – particularly enjoys working with the series’ two main leads. He says: “Tracy-Ann and Gareth are two of my favourite performers. The partnering of cynical Yvonne with the exuberant, innocent and utterly loveable Ianto is what makes these stories such a joy to direct. They’re the best double act around.”

And were there plenty of memorable moments during the recording days? Barney grins: “Many, actually. Hearing Ianto’s James Bond fantasies, finding out what makes Tommy (Torchwood’s Q, played by the brilliant Tim Bentinck) tick, and – of course – meeting the only woman more terrifying than Yvonne Hartman: her mother!”

[barnabytaylor]

VIRO – The Trilogy now available

A virus has destroyed the world. Families are torn apart. Will Jake find his missing mum? Or will he just become another VIRO?

REVIEWS FOR THE VIRO SERIES

‘Powerful and poignant, VIRO packs a punch.’ ‘Sad and haunting, VIRO is a new take on the zombie genre.’ ‘Absolutely thrilling. I loved every page more than the previous, to the point that I couldn’t stop reading.’ ‘Highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys zombie stories.’ ‘I was left on the edge of my seat when I finished the book with a thirst for more adventure!’

‘Having Read Falcon Boy and VIRO, it was with eager anticipation that I started to read VIRO II. Barnaby Taylor has a daring and rich imagination that transports you to new adventures in a re-imagined world, that are vividly written with a fresh and vibrant use of language. The heroes of Barnaby’s books are children on the cusp of their teenage years. I would like to think that this isn’t a coincidence. There appears to be a deliberate opting out in relation to the current generation with Barnaby instead looking to a new, untainted generation to right the world’s wrongs in the guise of the courageous and idealistic young children that inhabit VIRO I and II. Barnaby literally and metaphorically backs the right horse. The purity of the children in VIRO II is evident throughout the book. Jake says ‘I hated violence. I hated violent people.’

In VIRO II, we pick up with the viros (zombies) who are overrunning the world and the small band of children who are trying to survive in this world. The children’s separation from their parents also serves (as it did in VIRO I) as a powerful dramatic device, providing the next generation with the stage and platform to figure out a way forward. Barnaby really understands the mind set of young children and evocatively and beautifully captures their innocence but also their determination and guts to persevere against the odds and you as the reader wants to be with them every step of the way, willing them forward. Barnaby also excels at capturing the petty jealousies and competitiveness that can pervade the group dynamic of young children but equally the intensity and tenderness of their relationships.

To say that this book is a page turner is an understatement. Barnaby can really write an action packed scene with fear inspiring characters such as the Tall Man. Baxter the dog who accompanies the children gives the story the delightful twist of feeling like an apocalyptic Famous Five. Genius. The story is essentially an allegory set in a far more perilous and shaky world and is therefore not only for children but also for adults. Potent messages are present throughout the book. Jake incisively says ‘The world was wrong now. It was bad and broken. I didn’t understand.’ That a new value system is required to fix today’s broken world is also indicated with even the Reverend stating that ‘in order to believe in the Bible, you have to stop asking so many questions and just accept what you are told. And I have always found that hard to do. The world created in seven days? Immaculate conception?’ By the end of the book it’s apparent that the new value systems lies with the children and their unselfish spirit of caring and cooperation, the perfect building blocks of a new world order which the author may reveal in further detail in future iterations of the book as possibly hinted at by the cliff hanger of the book’s ending.

The book is a must read. Barnaby is an exciting and passionate writer. There’s real depth of meaning behind his books. You emotionally engage with and care about the book’s characters. Barnaby’s books also have a strong visual sensibility. His stories particularly VIRO I and II would translate superbly to television and cinema.

I am a huge fan of all things zombie orientated and to see the zombie genre reinterpreted from the perspective of children is thrilling. I look forward to more books from Barnaby. He’s one to watch out for. Children, adults and I suspect the film and TV industry people will love this book. I highly recommend it.’

  Amazon links are here

http://bit.ly/VIRO1

http://bit.ly/VIROBOOK1

http://bit.ly/VIRO2UK

http://bit.ly/VIRO2US

http://bit.ly/VIRO3UK

http://bit.ly/VIRO3US

      EXCITING NEWS!!!! VIRO Book Three just launched VIRO - The Trilogy now available A virus has destroyed the world. Families are torn apart.

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VEROBATTO'S WIP WIP!

Enjoy Barnaby's thirst series winner from the last poll!

Sexy Rock Singer!Kotetsu!

The finished version is coming soon!

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What a busy day my friends, but here I am with my...

Barnaby's thirst series!

Baker!Kotetsu!

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And it's done!

Barnaby's thirst series:

Cute Florist Kotetsu!

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Answering @fkwmtzyy 's doubt about 'wet Kotetsu' and while we wait for the result of the last poll (tonight), have a plus from Barnaby's thirst series!

This option was almost the winner, but it lost against Dr. Kotetsu. Enjoy, and please ignore my ugly writing!

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It's time for another TaiBani poll!

This is for next week's Barnaby's thirst series entry!

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And it's done!

Barnaby's thirst series!

Mechanic!Kotetsu for all of you!

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Barnaby's Thirst Series!

First piece: Barnaby managed to make the old man to dress up for a meeting.

Black suit and new hairstyle. Bunny can't believe how lucky he's to watch Kotetsu like that.

He's, for sure, a hottie.

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Aaaand it's finished!

From my Barnaby's thirst series, have Dr. Kotetsu!

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And it's here!

Barnaby's Thirst Series! The winner from the last poll: Disheveled Kotetsu.

Bunny is lucky he was able to see the old man early in the morning.

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And it's finished!

Maffia Boss!Kotetsu

Barnaby's thirst series.

Thank you people for your support! You make my day every time you like my drawings and share it with your friends! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

See you next friday for another TaiBani poll, and if you have ideas for the options please send me an ask! I will make the poll with your ideas too 😊

Image description: Kotetsu is dressed with a fifties dark green suit of three pieces. He wears a bun and he holds a hat on his tummy. He says: "Bunny, you're family." In a different frame is Bunny, with a nosebleed and his glasses broken. He's blushing and he says with faked seriouness: "I will gladly accept any sexy punishment, Kotetsu-san." End of description.

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It's time for another TaiBani poll!

Next week's Barnaby's Thirst series entry will be about Halloween.

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People, should I keep the poll for Barnaby's thirst series or are you up to send me asks? Also, I'm curious about working over other m/m you want me to draw. Even if I don't know your ship, I could do some research and draw it. What do you think?