Cirrus@Austlit

'Mum wanted to speak Nixport. But after the operation she couldn't speak at all.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

“Look over there. Do you see Dayna in the shadows, instinctively pressed to the wall? Zoom in, study her: the hint of sweat, the tautness of her face, the tightness of her breath. That last moment when she can let the tension show, before she steps out and strikes. She thinks no one can see her yet.

It doesn’t really register until she stops singing, until she stops moving, until the audience erupts into noise. More people are going to see that than were living on the whole planet she grew up on. And that’s when her knees try to buckle.”

Dayna is in the spotlight as the Liberator crew infiltrate the Mediasphere, a space station which produces the Federation’s propaganda and popular entertainment. But who is really controlling the Mediasphere – and scripting a series of deadly encounters for our heroes?

Mediasphere is set between the TV episodes Powerplay and Volcano.

Blurb sourced from goodreads.com

'The very rich buy licensed robot copies of their favourite celebrities. The rest of us make do with factory seconds.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'The war is meant to be over. The Draconian Empire has won the day, and the Mim have lost pretty much everything.

'That includes the borogoves of Proxima Longissima, the Mim's beloved children. The Draconians claim the borogoves are foundlings, abused and neglected by their parents. In the Empire they will be protected and provided for.

'Fearing that his species faces extinction, one of last surviving Mim begs Bernice Summerfield to come and see for herself. Benny just wants to do right by her own son, Peter, and the brother or sister who may follow him. But soon the borogoves are, rather unexpectedly, her godchildren, and Benny becomes their best hope for a future peace.

'As if dead oceans and burning deserts weren't hostile enough, Benny must enter the labyrinthine corridors of diplomacy - where right and wrong are questions of perspective, and even her own loved ones are not wholly innocent...'

Source: Big Finish Productions (http://www.bigfinish.com/Bernice-Summerfield-Nobodys-Children). Sighted: 19/5/11

'Peter and his Zenbrouli friend Wajiwaj find the crying Incunabula abandoned in a deserted building site and take her home to Benny. Although upset that the child was left on her own, Benny tells Peter that she'll have to punish him for going onto the building site without permission, and thus tells him to hand over Wolsey's pass-tag. Strange things are happening on the Collection, and Benny wants Peter to stay where it's safe until they're all sorted out. However, Peter then swaps his own pass-tag for his mother's and wanders into the bar run by Wajiwaj's mum-dad, who finds him and threatens to eat him all up for being a bad boy. When Jason and Benny find Peter, Wajiwaj's mum-dad claims that s/he was just trying to scare the boy, but Peter isn't entirely convinced. Benny is upset at first that Peter stole her tag, until Peter explains that he's never seen anything dangerous on the Collection; he thus assumed that it was his pass-tag that was protecting him, and he gave it to his mother to keep her safe.'

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/bs_n16.htm). Sighted: 19/5/11

'Tom bribes Iris with a plate of rum balls and convinces her to let him drive the bus to the Hard Place Resort, a resort complex built on an asteroid in the heart of the Time Vortex and powered by energy drawn from the elemental forces underlying time and space. Moments after Iris steps out of the bus, however, a young man appears and apparently disintegrates both the bus and Tom with a blast from his magic wand. Iris finds the resort entirely deserted, apart from a lone grey wolf and the young magician, Suneku, who attacks her when he realises that she's not the one he's looking for. Iris evades him and searches the entire resort, hoping that whoever Suneku is looking for will prove to be friendly. She fails to find anyone else, but sees her bus trying to rematerialise in the resort, and realises that Suneku merely banished it back out into the Vortex and that it's trying to return for her. Suneku and his wolf then confront Iris again, but Iris' leopard-skin coat unexpectedly comes to life and attacks the young magician. The lights begin to go out in the resort, and Iris panics, believing that this means the Vortex itself is dying. However, the wolf transforms into another young man -- Suneku's partner, Urufu -- and reveals that, in fact, the elemental forces are tired of being used as a cheap source of energy and are striking back at the resort. Suneku and Urufu evacuated the staff and holidaymakers and have remained to calm down the angry elemental forces; they had placed beacons to warn new arrivals away, but the inexperienced Tom failed to recognise them. Once Suneku has assured the elemental that no one will ever return to the resort, he and Urufu summon back Iris' bus, allowing her to leave. Suneku and Urufu then depart, and the elemental manifests itself within the abandoned plate of rum balls and reduces the resort back to its constituent particles.'

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/nw_n01.htm). Sighted 20/5/11

'Sari Martinez is making a solo trek across Antarctica, sometimes pulling her sled of provisions, sometimes riding on it behind her power kite. It is the Christmas of 2008. Somehow she manages to crash into the only object in the snow: the TARDIS. She recovers enough to make camp and then carries on her journey the next day. She is puzzled not to be able to use her cell phone or GPS but blames solar activity. Later she thinks she sees an aerial dogfight between two aeroplanes and later comes across a vivid pink pile of wreckage that resembles a plane with limbs. Worse happens when night falls suddenly, even though she can still see the sun, but then daylight returns.

Sari tries to radio Snowcap base to tell them that she is less than a day away but finds herself talking to the Doctor. He tells her an unbelievable story about an alien invasion attempt. He says that Snowcap base was evacuated when the Gelidons attacked but he has destroyed their devices for removing the ozone layer in the southern hemisphere. He explains that the dogfight she saw was Steven in a stolen Gelidon craft causing a distraction. Sari struggles to come to terms with this but the description of the Gelidon as giant lobster-like aliens fits what she saw in the snow. When the Doctor says he is in a snowcat that has run out of fuel and is a sitting target for the vengeful aliens Sari asks for his position and tries to find him.

She finds herself racing two Gelidon to reach the Doctor and arrives at the Snowcat just before them. Throwing up her power kite as the Doctor climbs onto her sled they escape with seconds to spare. They return to the TARDIS where the Doctor calls for help (the TARDIS has been damaged while thwarting the invasion). Sari is left looking at the interior of the TARDIS marveling at the Doctor and his amazing ship.'

[The Doctor is the First Doctor. His companion is Steven Taylor.]

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/whotrip30.htm). Sighted: 20/5/11

'Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec empire, 1480. The Doctor visits a feather shop owned by Tochtli the merchant. Tochtli invites the Doctor to his home but is unsure whether he must kill him. On the way they encounter four warriors who taunt the pair. Tochtli shrinks from them in fear while the Doctor persuades them that there is no need for violence and the two carry on their journey. At the merchant's house there is a brief conversation. His father died before Tochtli was born, killed by the 'bonepuppets', an alien race that were planting the seeds of a weed that would have covered half the Earth and driven out the human race. Tochtli's (pregnant) mother helped the Doctor (in a previous incarnation) to destroy the weed and then he delivered her child. She had a psychic gift, an ability to read people's intentions from any object that they had touched. She had previously used this gift to keep her husband alive in dangerous times, and aided him in some spying for the Emperor. For the Doctor she had 'read' a piece of discarded bonepuppet plastic and understood the true nature of the weed. In return the Doctor had buried her son's umbilical cord on a battlefield, as his mother requested, in order to allow him to achieve the status of warrior. The Doctor chose a muddy battlefield on the other side of the galaxy. Tochtli is aggrieved. He blames the Doctor for delivering him a month early on a Nothing Day (one of five days in the Aztec calendar that do not belong to a specific month). Because of this he has become a merchant like his father. The Doctor gives him an object to hold. It looks like a jewel but Tochtli 'reads' it as a seed. At first it seems benign but then he detects a lie in the intentions of the bonepuppets who made it, it is another weapon to be used to kill another world. As soon as he has imparted this knowledge the merchant tries to kill the Doctor but loses the fight. The Doctor says that he knows the merchant has inherited his mother's psychic gift and is using it to spy for the Emperor, his life always in danger but with none of the honour accorded to soldiers. Tochtli reads the Doctor's intentions and sees that he is no threat. The Doctor tells Tochtli that he is not merely a merchant but a warrior in his own way, and that his actions that night will have saved the lives of hundreds of thousands on another world.'

[The Doctor is the Seventh Doctor.]

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/whotrip18.htm). Sighted: 20/5/11

'The Vignes family of France, famous for making premium cheeses, have long been friends with the Doctor; however, he now visits Mathilde Vignes with a policewoman, Inspector Toprak, and accuses her of stealing dangerous bacterial cultures from her younger sister, Victoire. Victoire has been working in pure research and development, modelling and developing new strains of bacteria; twenty years ago, she used her knowledge and experience to help the Doctor defeat an invasion by the Voltranons. The Doctor assured Mathilde at the time that her everyday work in making cheese was just as important as Victoire's work in saving the human race, but Mathilde still feels insignificant in the grand scheme of things and has turned her resentment against her sister. Toprak searches Mathilde's laboratories, and, unable to find any trace of the stolen cultures, begins to take samples of the recently cured cheeses, leaving marks that will decrease the cheeses' value in the marketplace. Mathilde still refuses to admit to the theft, even when the Doctor admits that the cultures would have died within days of leaving the laboratory; he's really interested in the data that was stolen from Victoire's computers. Toprak tires of the Doctor's attempts to reason with Mathilde and pulls out a gun, admitting that she is in fact an agent of the Voltranons; they have been monitoring Victoire's work since she helped to defeat them, and intend to turn her own discoveries against her, using her bacteria to destroy the human race. However, the Doctor has just been waiting for Toprak to reveal her true allegiances, and Chris Cwej now emerges from hiding and overpowers her. Mathilde admits that she stole her sister's work in order to create new moulds of cheese that were resistant to spoilage and infection, and the sisters, reconciled, begin discussing ways to work together and turn Victoire's research to Mathilde's advantage.'

[The Doctor is the Seventh Doctor.]

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/whotrip13.htm).Sighted 20/5/11

'The Doctor and Chris investigate reports of UFO sightings on a 21st-century Australian beach, but are diverted by reports of a mermaid sighting. The Doctor eventually tracks down the mermaid, and learns that she's a human who has somehow been biologically adapted to survive in the sea. Chris spots the UFOs moving about the body of a drowned swimmer and takes a photograph of them, and the Doctor identifies them as flying horseshoe crabs. The crabs are the oldest living things on Earth, and some have evolved into sentient beings who are hiding in plain sight amongst the human race; in 200 years' time, humanity will find evidence of their existence and name them as the unknown quantity, the X. The Doctor learns that many of the people at the beach have been drawn here by some powerful compulsion, and that they all come from an area seeded with a genetically engineered virus designed to destroy the plants grown by an illegal drug ring. At first, the Doctor suspects that the authorities and the X are in league and are experimenting upon the Australian citizens, but he soon realises that what's happening here is in fact an accident. The X seeded human DNA with the "mermaid" genes long ago, for reasons of their own, and the human genetic engineering has accidentally activated the recessive genes too early. The Doctor realises that Councillor Nguyen, who has also been investigating the mermaid sightings, intends to capture her and conduct experiments on her in order to increase Australia's understanding of genetic engineering and help to make it a world power; he tries to stop her, but the X get there first and rescue the mermaid. More people are entering the water, and the mermaid assures the Doctor that the X will take care of them, as they consider this accident their responsibility. The X return the Doctor to the shoreline and leave him there, understanding the nature of the problem but unable to do anything else to solve it.'

[The Doctor is the Seventh Doctor.]

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/whotrip10.htm). Sighted 20/5/11

'Benny visits an archaeological dig on a planet ruled by insects, said to have been raised to sentience with crystals that magnified and focussed the power of their thoughts. His Effulgence Bug XXXLVII has authorised the excavation of the first Bug Emperor's gardens; there is unrest on the fringes of the empire, and Benny soon realises that he's using the dig to compare himself to the first Emperor, glorifying his own achievements and justifying leading his people to war. Benny studies the dig from an outsider's perspective, realises that there must be other structures buried beneath the ancient garden, and proves her claim by using an orbiting satellite to scan the grounds. However, the Bug Emperor's guards then try to kill her, and she's forced to flee into the ancient tombs. The guards wall her up inside, but she finds her way to the central chamber, where she finds the body of the first Bug Emperor -- surrounded by the bodies of his courtiers, who were buried alive with him. Bug XXXLVII must already have known about this unpleasant aspect of history, and if it becomes public, nobody will want to be associated with his new crusade. Benny is transported to safety by a passing Lacaillan ship at Braxiatel's request when the satellite's corporate owners complain to Braxiatel that Benny has used its resources without paying for them. As Benny tries to explain what happened to her, however, the Lacaillans detect a build-up of power in the tombs. The legends of the first Bug Emperor were based in truth; when he buried himself alive, his dormant consciousness was preserved in one of the crystals he'd used to forge his empire. Now that Benny has woken him, he's seen his descendant for himself, and is repulsed by their civilisation, which he regards as weak. The crystals explode, taking out the entire insect city.'

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/bs_n10.htm). Sighted: 19/5/11

'The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan answer a distress call from Earth colony F-four, which has been cut off from the rest of the galaxy for ten years. No children have been born in that time. Within a day, Tegan has come down with a terrible chill and fever, and when the Doctor runs tests he discovers that every colonist is carrying a lethal virus -- and that the last crop shipment sent to the colony was genetically engineered to render the colonists sterile. It seems that the planet was seeded with the virus by an alien species which feared that humanity would expand into its territory; the colonists are carriers, and if any of them get off-world, billions will die. The colonists refuse to accept this and try to force the Doctor to take their representatives off-world, but the Doctor takes Tegan aboard and dematerialise, tricking the colonists into believing that he has self-destructed the TARDIS rather than risk taking them away. The colonists realise that he would never have taken Tegan aboard if he intended to do so, but when they run their own tests they confirm the Doctor's findings, and release Nyssa, realising that they have no hope. The Doctor is able to cure Tegan, but the virus has embedded itself in the colonists' DNA; they will remain infected and unable to bear children, and the colony will slowly die out in isolation.'

[The Doctor is the Fifth Doctor.]

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/whotrip8.htm). Sighted: 20/5/11

'Spang catches a communications worker, Ken Genovese, sending encrypted messages in the standard weather broadcasts, and sentences him to hang without even bothering to decrypt the messages. Moskof speaks with Benny in Mister Crofton's garden after the hanging, asking her to suggest some way of improving morale, and Benny sarcastically suggests staging an art show in the garden. When Moskof takes her seriously, Benny decides to arrange a show of exclusively alien art. The display is examined beforehand and cleared for display, but the Axis puts up human artwork alongside the alien pieces; in some ways, the human art appears more accomplished, but this is because it's been designed for the human senses, unlike the alien artwork. Spang leaves the show to answer a call of nature, but is confronted by an alien artist, Bang Jorik, who'd originally planned to commit a very public suicide at the show before Benny talked him out of it. While Spang is distracted, Benny and Crofton overpower him and push him into a deep well to his death. Moskof is promoted into Spang's place, but Spang's "disappearance" goes unsolved. Benny has made her first serious strike against the Fifth Axis.'

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/bs_n08.htm). Sighted: 19/5/11

'The Nineteen-Eighties; as we enter the Age of the Personal Computer, the newborn 'Internet' spreads across America, and the computer invasion enters our homes. Across the technological frontier, an incredible war begins between the criminals and their savvy opponents.

A brilliant young programmer, a beautiful college student, and a mysterious hacker known only as 'The Doctor' join forces to combat an electronic threat fallen into the hands of a notorious computer outlaw.

Respected computer journalist Charles 'Chick' Peters was an eyewitness as these unlikely heroes fought their hi-tech skirmishes across the nation's vulnerable capital — and inside the world of the computer. Blue Box is the compelling true story of a secret computer project that could literally change the way you think.'

Source: Cover blurb (http://www.drwhoguide.com/whobbk59.htm). Sighted: 3/6/11

This is a 'Past Doctor' novel, which chronicles an adventure of the Sixth Doctor.

'In ancient Akrotiri, a young girl is learning mysteries from a tutor who, quite literally, fell from the skies. With his encouragement, she can fly and surf the timestreams and see something of the future. But then the demons come. Death and disaster are meted out by the gods of her land. Perhaps retribution for some heinous crime... or something far more sinister?'

Source: Doctor Who Guide (http://www.drwhoguide.com/telos10.htm). Sighted: 5/8/2011

Featuring the Eighth Doctor.

'Benny supervises a dig in the tundra of the planet Terra Roxa, accompanied by two young students and a botanist named Sarger from a world where all women were wiped out by a genetically engineered virus. Terra Roxa's auroras are referred to in legend as the snake-mother of the Universe, and the planet's history is based around igo, an extinct coffee hybrid said to induce powerful hallucinations. The drink was used in political klatches until civilisation on the planet fell apart. The planet is currently at solar maximum, and the auroras are stronger than at any other time. When one of her students is injured in an accident, Benny sends them back to town, but she remains at the dig, confident that she can deal with Sarger. Sarger is contemptuous of Benny's interest in the little details of ordinary life, considering them unimportant -- and when he finds some remnants of the igo plant at the dig, he puts it in the fire without telling Benny, and both of them inhale the hallucinogenic smoke. They are attacked by a carnivorous yale, and Sarger fights it off; he then assaults Benny, considering that she has become his property since he saved her life. As Benny fights him off, they both begin to hallucinate, and Sarger, who had wanted to see beneath the skin of the Universe to the truth underneath, sees Benny as the snake-mother and runs screaming into the tundra. Benny recovers and makes her way back to town, where she finds that the solar flares have knocked out the nuclear reactor's safety systems, causing it to explode. In the midst of the devastation, she settles down to make herself some coffee, knowing what Sarger never understood: it's the little details of life that make up the Universe.'

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/bs_n07.htm). Sighted 19/5/11