Stephen King: ‘Joyland’ book review
A terrified dame, like a wide-eyed escapee from a 1950s B-movie poster, stares out from the evocative vintage cover that adorns Stephen King’s Joyland.
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A terrified dame, like a wide-eyed escapee from a 1950s B-movie poster, stares out from the evocative vintage cover that adorns Stephen King’s Joyland.
‘Last of the Gaderene’ represents the Third Doctor adventure in BBC Books’ Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Collection. Written by Mark Gatiss in 2000, before his career as a screenwriter for the new series, it remains his most recent Who story in prose.
Hailing from the middle of Jon Pertwee’s tenure, ‘The Curse of Peladon’ was the first of his Doctor’s two visits to the feudal planet. In a plot running entirely contrary to Star Trek’s prime directive, alien delegates are visiting amounts to little more than an Iron Age society, assessing its suitability for membership to the Galactic Federation.
The fifth tale in this anniversary sequence of stories, ‘Smoke and Mirrors’, is quite definitely grounded in Peter Davison’s first series with the Doctor again failing arrive at Heathrow Airport in favour of answering the summons of an old friend. In fact, there are enough in-story continuity references to site the tale firmly between ‘Kinda’ and ‘Earthshock’.
We’ll make this quick. Faster than a speeding bullet, even. DK’s Superman: The Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel doesn’t pull its punches in covering the 75 years of heroics by arguably the most famous superhero on and above the Earth. The result is a gorgeous and thoroughly comprehensive history of the Big Blue Boy Scout.
Even before the massive and graphic werewolf-led terrorist attack that occurs in the early pages of Benjamin Percy’s Red Moon, there’s a palpable sense that something terrible is about to happen. A concrete slab of dread that weighs on top of your imagination, and it remains there long after you’ve drifted beyond the epilogue and relaxed your grip on the cover.
Authors Tara Bennett and Paul Terry deserve a great deal of credit for simply coming up with the idea of a book that exists within the reality of Fringe.
For many CultBox readers, Peter Cushing is instantly recognisable for a number of roles. For many he was Star Wars villain Grand Moff Tarkin, the ruthless Imperial Commander running the Death Star in the original movie who appeared to be Darth Vader’s boss. Like Sir Alec Guinness, he lent the film an air of credibility amid the laser bolts, droids and spiritual mumbo-jumbo.
‘Dreams of Empire’ is the second entry in BBC Books’ Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Collection. Written by Justin Richards, a long time contributor and creative consultant for the range, it features Patrick Troughton’s Doctor alongside companions Jamie and Victoria, pitching it in the earlier part of his tenure.
On television ‘The Rescue’ was a rather modest affair. A two-parter set after the drama of ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’, its primary role was to provide an introduction Vicki (Maureen O’Brien) who was cast in the wake of Susan’s departure.