AustLit

“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

'Peter discovers that Wolsey's old collar, which Benny kept as a memento, contains an electronic pass that allows him to enter forbidden areas of the Collection. Deciding to have an adventure, he takes his friend Keith to the Mansionhouse, "Uncle Brax's Palace," and uses the key to enter the Stacks. He and Keith spend the afternoon exploring the Stacks' contents, which include a statue of a naked lady with no arms, and a box labelled "Ark of the..." and a word that Peter doesn't understand. However, while they are investigating the inside of what looks like an alien war machine, an inventory droid passes by and lowers the lift, leaving them stuck inside. Jason eventually finds Peter calling for help and rescues him, but is terrified by the thought that the Martian ship's defences could have sucked out Peter's mind; however, while Benny agrees that her son must be punished for running off without telling anyone where he was going, she refuses to frighten him into believing that the world is a scary place that must be avoided. She's a bit worried that Peter has apparently been hanging around with his future half-brother, but Peter assures her that "Keith" really is just an imaginary friend. For his part, Peter accepts his punishment, and begins to realise that his mother's fantastic tales of adventure and wonder are all true.'

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

'Everybody knows that Medea killed her own sons to avenge herself against her faithless husband, Jason. Moments before she can do so, however, Iris Wildthyme shows up and offers her a way out. Torn between conflicting emotions, Medea allows Iris to transport her into the future, where she watches a number of plays telling the story of her life from different angles, and realises that the lines from the performances have been echoing in her mind all day, even before Iris showed up. Iris claims that the emotional pressure of the famous tragedy is reaching back through Time, influencing the real Medea's actions and driving her towards an inevitable outcome; if she goes through with it, she will become an archetypal character, freed from the bounds of real history but forced to re-enact her own tragedy from the perspectives of everyone with something to say about it. Iris offers her a chance to escape all that -- but Medea demands to know whether Jason's story has survived as well, and is infuriated to learn that he's regarded as a great hero, the star of a story in which she barely appears. Wanting her husband to suffer for what he's done, Medea demands that Iris take her back home, but Tom, furious, points out that her sons don't even get names in the play; they're just innocent bystanders in Medea's tragedy. Iris admits that she has tried once before to intervene in an archetypal tragedy, but young Juliet Capulet just wouldn't listen to her. Medea returns home, but rather than kill her children, she fakes their deaths and escapes with them on the bus. Jason still suffers in the belief that his children have been murdered, but they are alive and well, living anonymously with their mother in Athens in a different era. However, since the real Medea chose not to become the archetype, the archetypal Medea has sprung into existence on the bus, manifested by the Universe itself. Iris explains to the archetypal Medea that she's tired of having fluffy, small adventures; she wants to do big things, and she needs a big Character by her side if she's to do so. Medea thus agrees to go out into the Universe with her new companions and raise a little hell.'

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

'The Doctor arrives on Christmas Eve in an Australian suburb threatened by bush fires. He enlists the help of a cynical and bitter man, disillusioned for a number of reasons: his house has just been burnt to the ground by the approaching fire; his wife, Sarah, has recently left him; he is at the home of Sarah's sister Lucy and her husband Jim with whom he has fallen out. The Doctor contrives to build a complicated machine, powered by the TARDIS, which puts out the fire as Christmas Day dawns. Most of the water comes from the leaky TARDIS swimming pool. As he builds the machine the Doctor seems preoccupied with helping reconcile his helper with his in-laws, but more than this with his own people who allowed a firestorm to destroy a whole world. After the Doctor mysteriously vanishes it transpires that no one knew who he was or where he came from.'

[The Doctor is the Sixth Doctor.]

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

'Sarah learns just how difficult piloting a course through the ever-changing Time Vortex can be when the Doctor admits to her that their trip to the beaches of Geshtinanna will take nine weeks. At first she thinks she'll be able to cope, but as time wears on, even the infinite interior of the TARDIS becomes boring and she runs out of things to talk about with the Doctor. Over a month into the journey all of the clocks stop, even her watch -- and the Doctor notes movement on the scanner, a ghost-TARDIS whose crew miscalculated and set it on an infinite path through the Vortex. The crew are long since dead, and the TARDIS' physical structure has decayed to nothing, leaving only the bare fact of its existence, endlessly travelling. The Doctor and Sarah appear to be on a parallel course, but they won't know for sure until they materialise. This threat hangs over their heads for another two weeks, and Sarah finally snaps when she finds a tea kettle and an ordinary bag of tea but realises there's nowhere to plug it in. The Doctor fetches her a handkerchief as she cries, a small gesture which shows that he does understand what she's going through, in a way. Finally, the TARDIS reaches its destination, and, thankfully, materialises. They are in a jungle, nowhere near where they intended to be -- but it's a marvellous place to visit nonetheless.'

[The Doctor is the Fourth Doctor.]

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

'Jason and Benny are now being seen together in public again, and Ms Jones invites them to dinner at her apartment with her and Moskof. After a few drinks, the conversation begins to get looser, and Benny has to guard her tongue carefully so as not to give away any of her secrets. However, the time slips away from them, and the curfew bell sounds before she and Jason can leave. As the night drags on and more drinks are consumed, the conversation becomes uglier; Moskof needles Jason about changing sides to save his own skin, and Jason, irritated, needles him in turn about his interrogation techniques. Angered at being called a war criminal, Moskof calls Jason on one of his more treasonable statements and threatens to have him shot unless he gives up one of his secrets. Benny fears that Jason is going to turn in Peter to save himself, but instead he gives away a lesser secret, the location of a hidden stash of wine that he's been selling on the black market to fund his private parties. Jason and Ms Jones pass out, and Benny tries to get through to Moskof and convince him that the Axis way is not the only way to live. He passes out before she knows whether she's getting through to him, and she takes the opportunity to steal and copy his all-access security pass. Ms Jones wakes and takes Moskof to her room to sleep it off, and Jason also wakes and promises that he'll take Peter from the Gemayal brothers and keep him safe in one of his own facilities. The next morning, Moskof and Jason apologise to each other for the harsh words of the night before, and part, apparently as friends -- or as close as they can get during wartime.'

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

'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.

San Francisco has changed since the start of 2000. The laws of physics keep having acid flashbacks. There are sightings of creatures from outside our dimensions, stranded aliens and surrealist street performers. The city has become a mecca for those who revel in impossible creatures - and those who want to see them pinned down and put away. Sam's past is catching up with her - a past she didn't know she had. The Doctor is in danger of becoming the piece de resistance in a twisted collection of creatures. And beneath the waters of the Bay, something huge is waiting. With time running out, the Doctor must choose which to sacrifice - a city of wonders, or the life of an old and dear friend. (Backcover).

'The Eighth Doctor isn't satisfied with his model train set any more, as it was built by his seventh incarnation as a model of clockwork timing, and that just isn't him any more. Instead he re-engineers the entire set to work by itself without needing his constant attention and is delighted by the complex patterns that result. Unfortunately, after leaving it alone for a time he returns to find that a group of impatient clockwork passengers have started a chain reaction which has resulted in the total destruction of the train set. But a few of the clockwork engineers have survived and are beginning the process of reconstruction, and the Doctor helps to get them started, still hoping against all the evidence that this time they'll get it right.'

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/whotrip1.htm). Sighted 20/5/11

'He has no idea why Samantha Jones ran away from him.

Sam is homeless on the streets of the colony world of Ha'olam, trying to face what's just happened between her and the Doctor. He's searching for her, and for answers. While she struggles to survive in a strange city centuries from home, the Doctor comes across evidence of alien involvement in the local mega-corporation, INC - and is soon confined to a prison that becomes a hell of his own making.

Where did INC's mysterious eye implants really come from? What is the company searching for in the deserts? What is hiding in the shadows, watching their progress?

Faced with these mysteries, separated by half a world, Sam and the Doctor each face a battle - Sam to rebuild her life, the Doctor to stay sane. And if they find each other again, what will be left of either of them?'

Source: Doctor Who Guide (http://www.drwhoguide.com/whobbc12.htm). Sighted: 4/8/2011

(Features the Eighth Doctor.)

'In the days when the Time Lords were young, their war with the Vampires cost trillions of lives on countless worlds. Now the Vampires have been sighted again, in San Francisco.

Some want to coexist with humans, using genetic engineering in a macabre experiment to find a new source of blood. But some would rather go out in a blaze of glory - and UNIT's attempts to contain them could provoke another devastating war.

The Doctor strikes a dangerous bargain, but even he might not be able to keep the city from getting caught in the crossfire. While he finds himself caught in a web of old feuds and high-tech schemes, his new companion Sam finds out just how deadly travelling with the Doctor can be.'

Source: Doctor Who Guide (http://www.drwhoguide.com/whobbc02.htm). Sighted: 4/8/2011

(Features the Eighth Doctor.)