#gary russel

[noahsbookhoard]

📚May 2024 Book Review (Part 3/3)📚

A slight change of plan: this review was supposed to include a french thriller, Le manuscrit inachevé by Franck Thilliez but since it's a trilogy and I read all three books it will be easier to speak of all three at once!

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

India, 1634. Detective Samuel Pipps is arrested by governor-general Jan Haan for reasons unknown. He is to be brought back to Amsterdam aboard the ship Saardam with his sidekick Arent Hayes, the governor-general, his wife and his mistress. As they board the ship, a leper appears and curse the ship before bursting into flame. With Pipps under arrest, Arent will have to solve this mystery by himself and make sure the ship reaches its destination, despite the lepers prediction.

Stuart Turton's The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle has been a total hit for me earlier this year, I wanted to read another book of his. I couldn't get his latest book yet but this one was available!

The premise intrigued me, historical novel, a nautical story (with an author's note indicating that there were licenses taken, I knew next to nothing on the subject and the period so if there were, they flew past me) and a murder mystery with a pinch of horror. The balance is really well built, the ship and period create interesting obstacles to the investigation and nook and cranies to build a horror atmosphere. The main character is not the weathered detective who guesses everything and withhold his discovery à la Poirot, we get to see his deduction as he makes them, and it adds to the threat until the very end.

The characters are nicely drawn, I felt like I knew them already and had read about other cases they solved before. The author is great at giving tiny details that makes the characters and their relationships feel life-like, it made the ending hit that much harder.

Nonetheless I wasn't awed by the resolution: I had seen not of it coming, which is frequent eniugh in murder mystery but some aspects of it didn't feel like they had been set up upstream. It was also very down to earth, and I was expecting some supernatural elements to actually be supernatural in the end (I can't be much clearer without spoiling the end). That one is on me but it still tinted my feeling.

In conclusion, I found it a bit less awe-inspiring than The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle but a nice read and a good thriller. Specialist of sailing, and the 17th century might find some historical incoherence but the book is really enjoyable.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy #1) by Douglas Adams

Arthur Dent is the last human survivor of planet Earth, destroyed to make way for a galactic highway. His friend Ford Prefect, an alien in disguise saved hit at the last second. Together they will explore the new planets, guided by Ford's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and solve such grand questions as "where did all the ballpen go?" and "what is the meaning of life, the universe and everything?"

This is a cult classic and, as I get acquainted with SciFi and British absurdism, I gave it a go.

This was a wierd experience. Fun but wierd: I was a bitclost and Arthur's reaction to everything was so far out of what I would have felt that I had difficulty identifying with him. Other characters were really fun, I love Ford and Martin most of all. I admit most of the longer names are blurry for month after reading.

The different adventures were fun, I'm really growing fond of the absurd. Zaphod's ship and its propulsion system, the Impossibly Drive is such a funny yet efficient mechanism!

This was a fun discovery, I probably missed 48% of the references but I finally have context for that "42" easter egg on Google. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is on the TBR for late September or October and I'm looking forward to it.

The Start Beast (Doctor Who 60th anniversary novelisation) by Gary Russel

The Doctor just regenerated, and this new face is strangely familiar. The coincidence is too much when he runs into Donna Noble, still amnesic. She can't remember him, it would be fatal; but as an alien called The Meep crashes in London and has to run to escape pursuit, the Doctor and Donna will run into each other again and work together to save planet Earth.

I was so excited for the 60th anniversary episodes!! David Tennant and Catherine Tate are such an awesome duo and Russel T Davis back on the team was a great news to me! I loved those new episodes and this one especially.

Aaaaand that's about all I have to say! Unfortunately, the book adds very little to the show. I hadn't rewatched it recently but it was still fresh enough that I didn't rediscover it through the book. I should have expected it. So yeah, novelisation doesn't add much but that's still one hell of an episode!

[theangelshavethephonebox]

Okay. Divided Loyalties says the Doctor had started making the deca call him The Doctor (instead of Thete/Theta/Theta Sigma) in the Academy. I strongly disagree. Thoughts?

Read the full answers carefully! Many are similar to each other!

(GR is Gary Russell, DL is Divided Loyalties, Dr is Doctor)

For the fourth one: *between graduation and becoming a renegade

For the fifth one: *became a renegade

For the sixth one: *(put when in the tags)

[quailfence]

[Image description: two extracts of text from the Doctor Who wiki. 1: “David A. McIntee once pitched a Fifth Doctor novel which would instead have revealed the Doctor and the Master as former spouses, in a plotline allegedly inspired by War of the Roses. The pitch was refused with a "death-stare" from Gary Russell.”

2: "Douglas Adams considered that the villain of The Pirate Planet could be the Master's daughter, who was collecting the planets where he'd been defeated because she either loved him or hated him. While trying to determine the villain's motivation, he also considered that she could just be the master. (Prose: The Pireate Planet)". End description.]

@doctorwho

incredible scenes happening in my brain tonight

[waterfowl69]

a little cod dump because i havent drawn in a bit :(

can you guys tell im obsessed with roach and bell…..

[calciumdeficientt]

bad bully memes. please enjoy

[celorangeine]

I support Bullying!

[cinemabuffoon]

When I'm talking with my family and realize I've spouted off too many fun facts about a middle aged celebrity I "don't care at all about"

[silverfoxstole]

However you feel about it, yesterday it was apparently 24 years since the recording of Minuet in Hell.

Some photos from the BF Instagram, others from my files.

[nickstarking]

(Bully - Live action version)

Jimmy Hopikns

Gary Smith

Pete Kowalski

Trent Northwick

Gord Vendome

Kirby Olsen

Russell Northrop

Derby Harrington

Johnny Vincent

Bif Taylor

[pizzacade]

One addition that the TV Movie's novelization made from the source material is that the Eighth Doctor while under amnesia, watches Tom and Jerry on the television inside the hospital, revealing he isn't a fan of the cartoon because it includes wanton violence, something he finds out he despises, though he doesn't know why.

[theladyjojogrant]

Got my hands on the updated TV Movie novelization and uhhhhh

[the-oracle-of-the-lost]

NEW GALLIFREY STORIES NOVEMBER NOT CLICKBAIT?????

[immortal-beloved]

Interesting dates from ‘The Torchwood Archives’ by Gary Russell

[calciumdeficientt]

official declaration of insanity. the community brainworms have eaten what’s left of my festering, rotten mind so there’s only one solution…..

BULLWORTH PAINTBALL HCS

allow me to set the scene: It’s early morning, the sun rises high over the Bullworth Academy campus. But no birds sing, no nerds have their books slapped out of their hands. The halls are silent, pensive, and covered in paint…. Waiting for a lucky winner... A victor that will receive a pass on every single class for the whole semester. Where do each clique find themselves?

PREPS

Holed up and hiding, they wouldn’t dare to step outside of Harrington house for fear of getting low-quality synthetic paint on their clothes. They keep to the higher levels of Harrington house and avoid the bottom floors like the plague. They hole up on the second or third floors, anticipating barrage attacks on the bottom floors. The balconies surrounding the greenhouse are outfitted with high quality paintball guns and are transformed into sniper towers, any unsuspecting passersby should duck and cover, although their aim is mostly to eradicate all of the greasers, they will shoot on sight. And they are well trained.

BULLIES

Ground fighters, unorganised and violent. They move in loose packs and work to disorient and isolate other students. Then they swoop in and kill them off. It seems to work moderately well until people start using the tactic on them. Loss of some smaller members force them to adopt gorilla tactics. Yes you read that right, GOrilla, not GEURilla. Their gorilla is, of course, Russell. They send him in first, brandishing a portrait of a Bullworth founder, a trash can lid or a desk as a shield and lets him clear the area for a barrage. Safe to say their disorganisation isn’t a winning strategy.

NERDS

Oh they’ve been REEEADY for this for a long long time. They’re well equipped. They have all their gear and SOME idea. They keep strapped constantly, have scout groups and keep watch over the observatory, their spud gun now an automated paint cannon, and their artillery expanded with paint grenades designed by Bucky. Earnest is back in his little apocalypse outfit, they’re acting like they’re in 28 days later, or more appropriately based on how stupidly they first acted when the war broke loose, Shaun of The Dead. They’re quick to die if they get separated but as a group they make a mean, if slightly fragile militia.

JOCKS

Pack animals. Moreso than the Bullies. They stay together as one big clump for as long as possible, they’re team players, and washing each others balls in the locker room pays off. They survive as a unit longer than any other cliques and only fall to infighting when the fighting dies down and they get to talking as they sleep in shifts on the gym floor. Talks of which team is going to win the superbowl lead to arguments, and then to all of the Jocks’ muscle out of the game and absolutely covered in paint. The weaker ones survive as long as they can by looting Nerds but eventually succumb to the power of the Preps’ snipers.

GREASERS

Surrounded on all fronts, the greasers already don’t have the best chance of surviving. The best they can do is hold down the fort in the auto shop and try to scope out when it’s safe to venture out. The answer, they find out pretty quickly, is never. Vance is sent out early as a negotiator, and some very nice eye candy for the weaker preps. He’s taken out in a flurry of paintballs almost as soon as he steps out of the auto shop. Johnny and Lola are the next to go when an argument reaches its conclusion in a hail of paint bullets, a grieving peanut takes himself out to join them. They fall victim to a Jock raid and get taken out for good.

NON CLIQUES

Dazed, confused and basically begging for their lives they try and group up with other cliques only to get rejected, or worse, shot. Constantinos is one of the first to go, his constant whining that he should be leader makes Ivan shoot him. There’s no real hierarchy, and no solid base for them. They’re looters, nomads and cannon fodder.

PREFECTS

You can’t stop these boys from having fun! Not only are they playing, they’re Crabblesnitch’s eyes on the inside. Posted around the school as a sort of armed police, designed to win the game and keep the peace if things get dicey. Their bloodlust ultimately loses them the game, they have too much fun too early so when things get serious, they’re off their A-game and get bested by Jimmy and his bag of tricks.

JIMMY AND THOSE BOYS

Gary probably presented the idea to Crabblesnitch, and is still the most unprepared. He hides in his dorm for a good while, until he knows there’s few survivors, then he goes out guns blazing, Rambo style and likely gets taken out. Safe to say he’s not a great shot. Petey is bait, good bait. He’s an agile little guy, so he can dart out of harms way until the end, when he valiantly takes a bullet for Jimmy so he can win and end the chaos. Jimmy, in classic protag style, stops the game at its source by taking out Crabblesnitch.

[celorangeine]

saw this ship thing going around... I joined in 😼😼

inspired by @nllick

[iamtryingtobelieve]

A little gift from my friends at Nailed Podcast

Cannot wait to spend ages staring at these amazing art pieces from the album that saved me as a stupid teenager who felt too much

Thank you Blake and Jess

If you're a NIN fan, please check out the Nailed Podcast. They are currently on a break but due to start their coverage of Year Zero very soon