Gave A Go: "Doctor Who: The Moonbase" by Kit Pedler

Gave A Go: Doctor Who: the Moonbase written by Kit Pedler, 1967 (TV broadcast), from Overdrive.com.

WPLC bought several electronic audiobook titles of Doctor Who.  These are not novelizations, they seem to be the audio of the TV show plus descriptive narration.  Pedler is the original writer of the TV script but I'm not sure if he should be the main author.  Maybe BBC Audiobooks should be listed.

The Doctor and three companions take a Tardis ride but land in the wrong place and time.  The Tardis lands on the moon.  They don space suits and go for a walk.  One of the companions gets bonked on the head. During the walk they find a moonbase and enter.  They find out the year is 2070 and that the moonbase is the Earth's weather control station.  Bonked Head goes to sick bay.

Earth weather and all the storms on Earth are controlled by a gravity machine on the moon.  But,  several crew members have caught sick and are unconscious with black lines on their skin.  The Doctor says "I am a doctor" and offers his assistance in the determining the cause of the disease.  The moonbase itself is very sterile and no bacteria or viruses should be infecting everyone.

Meanwhile, some things are mysteriously happening and the audience sees Cyber Men on the loose.  The Cyber Men have infiltrated the Moonbase with the intention of overtaking the base and using the weather station to start massive storms that will kill everyone on earth.

The Doctor and the companions team with the moonbases's suspicious commander to defend the base and defeat the Cyber Men.  Hurrah!

Comments:
1.  I've never cared too much about Doctor Who.  I only became interested when an older Boy Scout I admired spoke about the program.  My fond memories are more wrapped up in late night television on a small black and white TV set with iffy reception. 
2.  I used to really enjoy the local PBS station's late movie.  The host of that show was at a wedding I attended in 1995 or 1996.  I wanted to go say hello and that I greatly enjoyed his introductions of the older flicks but was too shy to say anything.
3. The Cyber Men say, "Resistance is useless."  I assume the Borg from Star Trek's, and their slogan "Resistance is futile", is a take off of the Cyber Men who capture and enslave moonbase workers.
4.   I do like that them music.  That tune is as evocative as the Imperial March and the James Bond theme.
5.  Screwy science.
6.  A weather station on the moon that, when it is shut down, causes all weather to go crazy and drown most everyone?  Okay, great idea.
7.  There are still shots online from the TV show.  When listening to this I was wondering what the famously cheesy special effects and sets were like.  Did they go to that empty, black rock quarry or coal pit to film?
8.  There is a guide to this TV story arc but I did not read it.

Listened: "Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma" by Trenton Lee Stewart

Listened: Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart, 2010, Overdrive download.

I listened to the first two, well maybe I read the second, I do not recall.  This is sequel and I'm not sure how much a new reader would get out of it.  Stewart does go back over previous happenings.

Reynie, Sticky, Constance and Kate are still living in Benedict's large, guarded home in Stonetown and call themselves the Mysterious Benedict Society.  Their parents are living with them as well and all of them are under the protection of Milligan, other guards, and the government.  Ledroptha Curtain is still on the loose and wants to recover The Whisperer.  The children are forbidden to leave the house because Curtain would try to kidnap them to force Mr. Benedict to return The Whisperer.  Mr. Benedict knows Curtain has spies in the government his Curtain's Ten Men are still skulking.

A government functionary is demanding Benedict either use the whisperer in interrogations or turn it over.  One of Curtain's spies brings forged papers saying he is Constance's father. Constance has discovered he can sometimes read minds and use telepathy.  Constance demands the Whisperer be used to recover her memory.  Constance gets upset about something and runs away.

Shotly after Constance runs away a mysterious, citywide, nighttime blackout leaves all power and communications down.  The amphibious Salamander vehicle from Book Two drives through the back wall of Benedict's urban compound.  The Salamander's sound dampening technology alerts no one but the four kids see it out the window and flee.  Things happen. 

One of Benedict's guards is a plant.  The Society follows some clues left by Ten Men and walk into a trap set by Curtain.  Curtain laid the clues and they followed them into a kidnapping.  The Society is locked into an abandoned prison with Ten Men and Curtain.  Benedict and others come to the rescue.  Lots of tension, fighting, and Milligan bravery.  Lots of Reynie thinking hard.  Lots of Sticky remembering things.  Lots of Constance being an ornery and grouchy 4-year-old.

Comments:
1.  A fun view of a big, pretend city.
2.  No guns.  Just Milligan and his tranquilizer gun and boomerang.  The Ten Men with shock watches and throwing super sharp pencils.
3.  Obviously set-up as a third and final book with Curtain being captured and imprisoned.  The four kids end up living together, with their families.  Either they live inside separate apartments in Benedict's house or across the street.

Heard: "The Defence of Duffer's Drift (and The Battle of Booby's Bluffs by Major Single List)" by Ernest Dunlop Swinton

Heard: The Defence of Duffer's Drift by Ernest Dunlop Swinton and The Battle of Booby's Bluffs by Major Single List, downloaded from Overdrive, Tantor Audio production.

I was going through Overdrive and looking at books narrated by John Lee.  Most of those books did not look interesting and Defence was one of them.  I decided to try it out.  I've read plenty of military history but those books do not teach tactics and strategy.  They explain the strategy and tactics of specific events and battles.  This was written in 1907 as a training guide and based off events in the Boer War.

A new Lieutenant is left on the veldt with 50 men and told to guard a river crossing.  The concept is that after each failed attempt the Lieutenant awakens in the night from a bad dream (that failed defense) and gets to try again using the lessons he learned from his previous failures.

I did not know that Battle of Booby's Bluffs was included in this, the catalog record on Overdrive did not mention it at all.  I do not recall if a publication date was given during the narration and I have not looked it up.  This story is post-WWI with machine guns, mortars, tanks, and artillery.  Plenty of emphasis on machine gun nests.  The commanding officer is a Major and leading an attacking battalion.

These texts, at least Defence, are still used when teaching infantry tactics.  Heck, all sorts of battles are studied when teaching infantry tactics.  But, I wonder how helpful some of this stuff is to modern warfare.  I suppose using different battles from different eras is great way to teach universal lessons about tactics.

Anyway.  This was short at 4'18".  One thing that stands out compared to modern fighting is long-range rifle fire used during the Boer War.  There have been arguments over the last decade about rifle caliber and Afghanistan but most modern engagements seem to be pretty close.  Duffer's also encourages imprisoning the local population to prevent them from giving information to the enemy.

Read: "Dear Mr. Holmes: seven Holmes on the Range mysteries" by Steve Hockensmith

Read: Dear Mr. Holmes: seven Holmes on the Range mysteries by Steve Hockensmith, 2011, 9781461077145.

Where the hell is this book?  I cannot find it at home.  I cannot find it at work.  Maybe I left it in the damn van.

Seven stories through seven letters by Big Red to publishers, Dr. Watson, and the English aristocrat in the first novel.  Some were better than others but I cannot say which ones I enjoyed the most because I cannot find the damn book.

Found it, it was in the kitchen under some other stuff.

 Comments:
1.  Now that I have leafed through I'm thinking all the stories were pretty fun.  I cannot pick one in particular.
2.  No real tie-ins to the novels except when a story immediately follows a novel.  There is one story with Big Red and Old Red traveling the train to TX in-between Black Dove and Crack in the Lens that mentions some of On the Wrong Track.
3.  Hockensmith lives in Alameda which somehow reminds me of this:




4.  I looked at Hockensmith's webpage and he says he has an entry in Kwik Krimes anthology.  That title blows.  Why not just add in Ye Olde or Emporium?  I'm ordering the book for work anyway.
5.  The stories date from 2003 to 2010 and appeared in Ellery Queen and one anthology. 
6.  Hockensmith claims copyright to Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Listened: "Screwed" by Eoin Colfer

Listened: Screwed by Eion Colfer, 2013, Overdrive download.

Fun stuff.  Sequel to Plugged.  I read that Colfer will be the guest of honor at Bouchercon '14 or '15, whichever one is in Long Beach.  Colfer was at Boucheron in St. Louis.  He did a reading at that bar that hosted a Random House party and then a reading.  The Random House part had free booze.  I slurped down a lot of Dewar's that evening.  After Colfer read aloud I went over and asked him how to pronounce his first name.

Dan McEvoy now owns the small casino in New Jersey.  He is sort-of dating his former upstairs neighbor.  He is still paying protection money to a NJ mobster with a fake Irish accent.  Dan is told by NJ Mobster to deliver money to Manhattan.

Dan takes the money and figures out he has been set-up by Mobster to either get killed by the Manhattan guys or "go tactical" and kill the Manhattan guys.  Either way the NJ Mobster comes out ahead.  Dan escapes.  Dan is captured by two NJ cops.  Dan awakes tied to a chair and wearing a thong.  The two cops are dressed up in SM gear and watching a laptop.  The cops are selling Dan for a live, online snuff show.  Dan escapes.  Dan beats the cops unconscious with a dildo.  Why oh why was Dan captured by those guys?

Dan is hungry.  Dan goes to a restaurant.  In walks a lady claiming to be his step-grandmother.  Dan's Irish grandfather was a wealthy Manhattan businessman (and crook, I think) who was an A-1 Asshole.  Dan is asked by Step-Granny to find his alcoholic aunt.  Step-Granny is so sweet and sincere.  Dan says, "I'll ask around."

Things go on.  Dan has lots of trouble.  His would be girlfriend is mentally ill and dislikes her medication.  His best friend Zeb is a drunken doctor.  Dan has to fight the Manhattan mobsters.  Dan has to escape the policemen who saw the live feed of Dan dildo beating the NJ Cops.  Dan fears murder by NJ Mobster.  Dan's would-be girlfriend still calls him Carmine (the name of her husband who disappeared 20 years ago).  Dan's drunken aunt shows up and the step-grandmother wants to kill her for her trust fund.  Laughter ensues. Dan is sometimes an emotional mess but he knows it. 

Dan struggles through with a couple concussions.  People die but PTSD stricken Dan (Irish Army tours in Lebanon) doesn't have to do any of that.

Comments:
1.  Dan still has auditory hallucinations.  In this book his guns are talking to him and encouraging him to kill NJ Mobster.
2.  Learn more about Dan's background: hear some Lebanon stories, hear some family stories of booze, hear some family stories of abuse, hear some family stories of booze abuse.

Gave Up: "A Deniable Death" by Gerald Seymour

Gave Up: A Deniable Death by Gerarld Seymour, 2011, 9781250018809.

This felt disjointed.  The writing seemed patched together and had no flow.  As if Seymour did not finish his drafting.  I gave up on page 95.

Two Limey policeman specializing in covert surveillance are brought in by British Intelligence to go to Iraq, sneak into Iran, and lay up to watch a bomb maker's rural home near the Iran-Iraq border.  The bomb maker's work goes into Iraq and other countries.  He's been identified and the U.S. and English want to kill him.

Done: "Ratlines" by Stuart Neville

Done: Ratlines by Stuart Neville, 2013, 9781616952044.

Dang, this had all sorts of praise but I didn't enjoy all that much.  I think Neville's first two books are better.  I'm not sure if Neville's third book, Stolen Souls, is available in the U.S.  I sure zipped through Neville's first two.

Neville takes a couple historical facts, German Colonel Otto Skorzeny lived in Ireland after WWII and President Kennedy visited Ireland in 1963, and runs with them.  The book is good but I expected fireworks.  I have to stop paying attention to blurbs.

Anyway.  Irish Intelligence Servide dude Albert Ryan is asked to look into some murders.  This is not kind of work he does but Ireland has some recently murdered former nazis peppering the countryside.  The English hating Irish sentiments of WWII carried into a "the nazis were our English killing friends" post-war attitude.  With President Kennedy due to visit in a couple months the Irish government wants to no embarrassments or, even worse, a cancellation of Kennedy's visit.

Ryan is an anomaly though.  He headed north during the war and joined the Limey Army.  He served through WWII in Italy and North Africa and then fought in Korea.  He is brought to meet the nomitive head of the Irish nazis, Col. Otto Skorzeny.  If you've never heard of Skorzeny that's just fine because Neville explains the former German commandos wartime exploits and reputation.  Skorzeny is a dickhead (hey, he was a nazi) and Ryan does not like him.  The Irish Minister of Justice likes Skorzeny though and especially likes to lick Skorzeny's boots.

Ryan investigates and discovers a plot to extort money from Skorzeny.  Skorzeny has a line of lots of dough stored by the nazis in Switzerland.  The extortionists want the dough.  Ryan keeps on track.  Ryan meets Jewish Mossad guy.  Mossad guy threatens Ryan.  Skorzeny threatens Ryan.  Ryan and the girl sent to spy on him make lovey-dovey eyes on one another.  Skorzeny threatens Ryan's Spy Girl.  Ryan is tortured.  People are killed.  Ryan ends up on top and all the bad guys but Skorzeny are dead.

Comments:
1.  The grammar and spelling correcter wants capitalize nazi.  Fuck that.
2.  I finished this several days ago and had more thoughts but have now forgotten them.
3.  I do recall an anachronism with someone holding a Glock pistol.
4.  I keep thinking Neville Shute, not Stuart Neville.