AustLit

'In "Dead Letter Drop" Peter Kempshall [sic] takes us to the wreckage of Berlin in the immediate aftermath of World War II. Social disorder seems to just bring out the predator in some people, and it isn't long before the warnings begin going out by lip radio as friend tells friend to watch out for people who appear harmless but are in fact up to no good. But what if aliens were to find such social chaos a splendid hunting grounds for their own incomprehensible purposes? Or maybe that's what someone else wants everybody to think, and the aliens are in fact the targets.'

Source: the Billion Light-Year Bookshelf (http://www.billionlightyearbookshelf.com/reviews/closeencountersurbankind.shtml)

Sighted 2/6/11

'Alex Gallagher investigates a murder scene in a hotel room, the criminal being his former chief. This is another story centered on the human nature, about manipulation and ambition. And for a person the things happening in the next room might remain a mystery as much as the thoughts of the person next to him.'

Source: http://darkwolfsfantasyreviews.blogspot.com/2009/02/voices-edited-by-mark-s-deniz-amanda.html

Sighted: 2/6/11

'Each story in the Scenes from the Second Storey anthology was inspired by a track from The God Machine's album. Quirky, dark, insightful and sometimes downright disturbing, these tales reflect the emotions and images our authors experienced when they heard "their" song from Scenes from the Second Storey.

'In Scenes, you will meet a girl struggling to find cleanliness in a world full of corruption with Kaaron Warren; follow the twisted mental pathways of the egocentric with Robert Hood; watch two men search for enlightenment down a dark path with Paul Haines; and dance with a girl struggling to find her role within society with Cat Sparks.

'These snippets are a mere taste of what you will discover between the covers of this anthology. If you love The God Machine or are looking for a collection that boasts a stable of talented Australian writers, you must grab a copy of Scenes.' (From the publisher's website.)

'The TARDIS lands on a spaceship that is standing on the surface of a pleasantly fertile planet. The space ship has a number of bulkhead doors, all sealed, and no evidence of a crew. Through a window in one door they see a young woman on a bed, apparently in a coma. The Doctor says that a decontaminant agent has been used in the air supply, suggesting that the woman and/or the crew have suffered an infection. While the Doctor makes his way laboriously through the doors Sarah steps out of the ship onto the grass outside, noting that the ship landed safely and didn't crash. The Doctor finally encounters a soldier, Lieutenant Hrinth, who is wearing a containment suit. He tells the Doctor that the ship was carrying Princess Catra from Arrada to her wedding on Voita. Her marriage to Prince Strobel will end a three year war between the planets. However, a drive failure meant the ship had to put down on this planet. Hrinth was part of a recovery mission but when they tracked down the princess she was in a coma and the crew of her ship had vanished or died. The recovery team fell victim to a suspected virus which caused them to lose the ability to read, as well as a susceptibility to hearing voices. The other rescuers died when their cook lost the ability to read and poisoned them all. Sarah re-enters the ship but she has now lost the ability to read. A group of humanoids arrive at the ship; they have mouths but no other facial features. The Doctor uses telepathy to communicate with the aliens and discovers that the virus was actually a pheromone which they use to communicate. For the Arradans, unfortunately, this meant that the communication centres in their brains were suppressed, which is why they could no longer read. The Doctor injects Sarah and Hrinth with a drug to combat the pheromone but tells the Lieutenant that Catra does not want the drug, choosing instead to remain on the planet. Hrinth says that if he does not return with the princess he will be executed by the Royal Family. The Doctor offers to take him, and his family, to a safer world, but Hrinth uses the injection on the princess. It leaves her as a mobile but unthinking shell of her former self. Disgusted, the Doctor prepares to leave but uses the TARDIS's telepathy to let Catra say farewell to her friends on the planet.'

[The Doctor is the Third Doctor; his companion is Sarah Jane Smith.]

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/whotrip28.htm). Sighted 27/5/11

'Benny awakens in hospital to learn that Doggles' history machine exploded, releasing a strange form of temporal radiation. Several people have been killed, Benny has been permanently blinded -- and Peter has been mortally injured and will be dead within days. Adrian ends his relationship with Bev to concentrate on his family, and the furious Bev prepares to pack up and leave the Collection, where everyone seems to idolise Benny when Bev has done so much more for them. But Benny contacts her and asks for her help: she needs to contact Avril Fenman and fetch one of the sorceress' mind-swapping crystals so she can trade places with Peter. When Jason arrives at the hospital, Bev is just leaving, and when Jason learns what Benny has done, he realises why she asked Bev. She claims that Bev is the only person who disliked her enough to let her trade her life for Peter's, but Jason realises that Benny knew that Avril had been trapped in a man's body for too long -- and that it wasn't really Bev whom Jason bumped into in the corridor outside. Furious, Jason storms out of the hospital room to take care of matters, but when Benny tries to pick up the crystal, she discovers too late that Adrian had been nearby, listening -- and he's already taken the crystal to Peter's room. Benny is too late to stop Adrian from sacrificing his life for his son's, and she vows to track down Avril and make her pay for what she's done to them all -- but she knows that it's her own fault for trying to take on the responsibility herself.'

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/bs_n14.htm). Sighted 27/5/11.

'It is 23 December 1861. A group of deserters from the American Civil War are attacking a farmhouse near the Potomac. They have killed William Watkins, the farmer, but his daughter is alone in the farmhouse. She has killed at least one attacker due to the rifle skills she was taught by her husband who is fighting alongside General Stuart in Centreville. While defending the back of the house she shoots another man who emerges from the darkness. It is Turlough, and he is wounded in the leg. The Doctor appears too and implores her not to shoot. He calls her by her name, Mrs Elkins, and tells her she must leave the farm. He adds that he has been sent by her husband, Samuel. Charlotte refuses and the Doctor and Turlough return to the TARDIS. Turlough is keen to leave her to her fate but the Doctor insists that they have made a promise to her husband. Lucius Casler, the leader of the attackers, orders his men to roll a burning cart into the farmhouse. When one of his men objects, thinking they have come to loot the house, Casler shoots him dead. Before Casler has time to carry out his attack Samuel Elkins appears and Casler stumbles into the flaming cart. His uniform catches fire and he is killed when his cartridge belt explodes. The rest of his men disappear into the night. Later, Turlough and the Doctor watch the reunion between Samuel and Charlotte. Turlough suggests that the Doctor ought to take Elkins back but the Doctor admits that any damage has already been done when he took Elkins out of his own time and he says that he will give the couple a night together as an early Christmas present. The next morning the Doctor, Turlough and Elkins leave after placing Watkins and the three dead deserters ready for the undertaker. Charlotte is not initially alarmed when the undertaker arrives with a single coffin. Four days earlier Casler murders Elkins on the battlefield and takes a photograph of Charlotte from the dying officer. As Casler looks at the portrait — his Christmas gift, he thinks — he sees, but does not heed, the Doctor emerging onto the battlefield and listening to the last words of the dying Elkins.'

[The Doctor is the Fifth Doctor.]

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/whotrip18.htm). Sighted 27/5/11

Benny attends the funeral of old friend (and demi-lemur) Ivo FitzIndri, only to find that he has been murdered. With the assistance of her ex-husband Jason, she locates, reveals, and eventually kills Ivo's murderer. In the process, she also manages to reverse Ivo's family's outcast nature, the unwitting result of her own youthful impetuosity.

Summary based on detailed abstract available at drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/bs_n17.htm). Sighted 27/5/11.