iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Solar flares have caused intense climate change, the ice caps have melted, and the cities of the world lie underwater. This has all the trappings of post-apocalypse fiction: military expeditions trying to evacuate survivors to the cooler regions at the poles, a piratical warlord looting cities ...

The Drowned World by J G Ballard, paperback book. Cover illustration is a stylised image of buildings and structures, drenched in a deep blue colour to suggest flooding and submergence.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

A nuclear thing projects a man from the present day into the future, where Earth has become a backwater - a half forgotten corner of the massive galactic empire, the people of Earth treated as second class citizens. A leading archaeologist wants to prove that Earth is the forgotten original home ...

Pebble in the Sky by Isaac Asimov, paperback book, cover shows a lump of crystalline rock, reflecting some beams of light, floating in a black void

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

An interesting collection of short stories. Asimov's theme here is basically how advances in technology will affect the lives of people in the future. Technology is imagined through the lens of the 1950s, but the problems seem relevant to life today, as characters deal with the implications of ...

Nine Tomorrows by Isaac Asimov, paperback book, cover illustration shows a rusting spaceship perched on top of a pile of junk in a scrapyard.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The Circuit Breaker sequence has probably been the best of these multi-media stories. This novel gives an interesting insight into the Fugitive Doctor, and indeed into how Jo Martin sees the character...

Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker: The Kaleidoscope by Jo Martin, hardback book with dust jacket, illustration shows Jo Martin as Fugitive Doctor, and Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones, standing on a Caribbean beach with Silent creatures in the surf behind them.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I'm fascinated by the way tv was made especially in the videotaped era, so the insane level of detail in this book recounting the day-to-day minutiae of producing the show is really made for me. Doctor Who is probably the most documented show ever, but I'm still learning new stuff here.

The Doctor Who Production Diary: The Troughton Years by David Brunt, paperback book, cover illustration shows green tinted image of Patrick Troughton as Doctor Who superimposed over ethereal clouds of the show's title sequence.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

A silly but engaging comic novel. An alien ship crashes on Earth, carrying the larval form of an alien prince. The President's cousin, who holds the useless post of ambassador to the galaxy through nepotism, seeks to escort the worm back to his home planet and demand an apology. A daft journey ...

The E.S.P. Worm by Robert Margroff and Piers Anthony, paperback book, cover illustration shows abstract image of a man's and a woman's face moulded onto two cylinders rising out of a planetary landscape, with between them a comical-looking segmented worm, a rainbow-like ribbon of energy emerges from its head and encircles the globe of the Earth

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

A trio of planetary explorers navigate their own complex interpersonal relationships, at the same time forming a bond with the Manta, an intelligent fungal-based lifeform. Anthony explores the difficulties of establishing communication with a vastly different creature. The dangers to the Earth's...

Of Man and Manta - a trilogy by Piers Anthony - paperback book. Cover illustration shows three human figures dwarfed by strange vegetation on an alien landscape, overhead dark clouds fills a burnt orange sky, and creatures like manta-rays crossed with mushrooms fly through the air.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

A race to exploit the resources of a previously unknown rogue planet reveals the presence of another aggressive civilization posing a threat to the League. Nick Van Rijn deals in politics and high finance while David Falkayn dodges alien ships and tries to rescue his friends. Fast-moving and fun.

Satan's World by Poul Anderson, paperback book, cover illustration shows large dragon-like creature standing on a rocky promontory overlooking a desolate planetscape, roaring, while a spaceship flies through the sky above

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

I've generally enjoyed these Doctor Who spin-offs, but I did worry that doing yet another sequel to "The Invasion" (the second time Vaughn has come back from the dead in four books!) meant the well was running a bit dry. Nevertheless, this was a brisk page-turner, neatly picking up threads from ...

The Vaughn Supremacy by Tim Gambrell, paperback book, cover illustration shows action montage including Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Tobias Vaughn, explosions, helicopters, UNIT soldiers firing their weapons, machinery and computers, etc.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

I loved Alien Nation far more than the film that spawned it. It ended on a cliffhanger. This book novelises the season finale and the intended opening episode for the cancelled second season. It's a great story and shows the series still had legs! Familiar characters are well-drawn as their ...

Alien Nation: Dark Horizon by K W Jeter, paperback book, cover illustration shows a human man and two aliens in front of a cityscape

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

A wonderful collection of essays looking at how Doctor Who has engaged with political issues during its long history, sometimes successfully, sometimes poorly. The perfect illustration of how the show has always been political. Engagingly written and well-argued. Recommended.

Where We Stand, Where We Fall: The Politics of Doctor Who by Lizbeth Myles - hardback book - cover illustration shows rocky planetscape with a city in the distance, under a large moon, bathed in a grey-blue light

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

This anthology tells stories of those Faction Paradox have shut away in a temporal prison - which for a transgressive time-travelling voodoo cult means they must have done something really awful! Intriguing tales full of mad ideas, including clever parodies of kids comics and choose your fate books.

Faction Paradox: Worlds of the Spiral Politic: The Boulevard Vol. 1 edited by Stuart Douglas. Paperback book, cover shows a street lined with buildings of multiple architectural styles, stone walls, half-timbered Tudor houses, decorative columns, porticos and arches.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Dave Gorman undertakes another of his daft adventures, in this case travelling around the UK to meet new people and play a variety of games and sports. Ultimately the story is less about the games and more about the people he meets along the way; and there are some strange moments...

Dave Gorman vs. The Rest of the World, paperback book, cover illustration shows a spoof of an old-fashioned wrestling poster depicting the comedian Dave Gorman as a wrestler challenging all comers.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

This spin-off from the UNIT series sees the two characters teaming up to form an unlikely detective duo. I suppose this is in the "cosy crime" genre - not really my cup of tea - mixed with a bit of sci-fi and the supernatural. Fairly undemanding stuff, but a pleasant enough read.

Benton and Hawthorne Investigate by Lucy McCaul, paperback book, cover illustration shows stylised image of telephone handsets dangling on the ends of their spiral cords with images of a UNIT emblem and a pentacle.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Alien Nation is a fairly entertaining movie, and Foster does his usual good job of keeping the plot rolling along while fleshing out the characters thoughts and motivations. Essentially a buddy cops story about mismatched partners, it uses the fact of one cop being an alien to address issues of...

Alien Nation - movie novelization by Alan Dean Foster - paperback book - cover illustration shows close up of character played by the actor James Caan, holding a large handgun; a helicopter hovers above, shining a beam of light which illuminates the standing figure of an bald alien man holding a pistol in a two-handed firing pose.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Charity anthology celebrating the original eighth Doctor novels from BBC Books: further adventures of the Doctor, Sam, Fitz, Compassion and Anji and contributions from several of the series's authors. A great tribute to a series that meant a lot to me at the time; a collection of enjoyable stories.

Party Like It's 1998 - paperback book, cover illustration shows stylized cartoon image of Paul McGann's Doctor Who character, with long frockcoat and pocket watch, in green silhouette and surrounded by fireworks.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

I thought this would be just another story guide, but it turned out to be a lively history of the creation of the eighth Doctor's many stories across the various media, as well as fan reaction to these - and examines Paul McGann's enduring popularity among the fan base. Celebratory and informative.

"Leap of Eighth: The Unofficial and Unauthorised History of the Eighth Doctor" by Reecy Pontiff; paperback book, cover illustration shows Doctor Who, as played by Paul McGann, leaping away from an explosion to grasp a rocky outcrop.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Foster takes great pains to try and make sense of the "science" in this story, with the result that the book is far denser than I might expect. Not a bad read once things get moving about half-way through, but I was disappointed that he changed the ending, losing the literal descent into hell...

The Black Hole - movie novelisation by Alan Dean Foster - cover shows the letters of the title, as well as the huge illuminated spaceship Cygnus, being drawn into the violent swirl of the titular gravity well.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

This second anniversary volume is a stronger collection than the first - even the Lucy Wilson story is more complex and grown-up than usual for that series! The stories are mostly epilogues to various past Lethbridge Stewart novels, with engaging characterisation and intriguing scenarios.

Lethbridge Stewart: The Havoc Files 6, paperback book, cover shows stylised illustration by Adrian Salmon, depicting Tobias Vaughn, a Yeti, a Dominator and a Quark robot, characters from Doctor Who.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

The Lethbridge Stewart range can be variable in quality, but generally I have enjoyed the novels, which exist in their own reality at a sort of tangent to other Who fiction. Compared to the official Doctor Who releases of recent years, they are one of the best spin-off series. This volume of...

Lethbridge Stewart: The Havoc Files 5 - paperback book, cover shows stylised illustration by Adrian Salmon, depicting characters from Doctor Who: Colonel Lethbridge Stewart, Anne Travers, Professor Travers, and Corporal Benton

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Jubilee still stands as one of the finest Doctor Who stories ever told, and this novelisation is a well-paced and gripping version of it.

Doctor Who - Jubilee by Robert Shearman, paperback book, cover illustration shows stylised silhouette of a Dalek with its mutant emerging from a hatch in its front - surrounded by colourful streamers

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

This charity anthology contains various stories of Sarah Jane's adventures over the years since leaving the Doctor. Not every tale was to my taste - and some were quite daft - but generally they were well told and entertaining. The final story, in which the grown-up cast of Sarah Jane Adventures...

"Sarah Jane Smith - Roving Reporter II" paperback book, cover illustration shows the title character as played by the actress Elisabeth Sladen, superimposed over various newspaper cuttings.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Movie novelisations can be interesting, especially as they're often based on early draft scripts, and contain differences to the finished film. Alien has the famous cut cocoon scene, and Alien 3 is basically the Assembly Cut, with the oxen on the beach and all the deleted scenes with Golic...

Three paperbacks: Alien, Aliens and Alien 3, movie novelisations all by Alan Dean Foster

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

In these adventures we meet David Falkayn, a young apprentice merchant in Van Rijn's company, and see how he deals with indigenous customs, local politics and military threats - progressing in his career by learning how to twist local trouble to his advantage.

The Trouble Twisters by Poul Anderson, paperback book, cover illustration by Chris Foss shows a spacecraft attacking a larger vessel floating on the sea amid some rocky islets.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Many of Anderson's works form part of a sprawling future history, and the tales here concern the early days when Earth and her colonies are members of a league with various alien worlds. Traders move among the stars, selling to the indigenous peoples of less advanced planets and trying to exploit...

Trader to the Stars by Poul Anderson, paperback book, cover illustration shows a sleek spacecraft approaching a larger cargo vessel.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Like many people my age, I was supposed to read this at school and never got further than the first few chapters. I would think it a difficult book for a child; for an adult, it is absolutely fantastic. The rabbits are not anthropomorphised; other than the giving them speech and an oral tradition...

Watership Down by Richard Adams, paperback book, cover illustration shows a rabbit with its ears standing alert, in front of a grassy bank.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

An impossibly distant future; the sun has expanded and the Earth has been taken over by incredible plant species that have adapted to the new conditions. The few remaining animal species include intelligent insects; and the final evolution of humankind, a small green-skinned race of tree dwellers...

Hothouse by Brian Aldiss, paperback book, cover illustration shows abstract image of a green humanoid figure morphing into strange plant-life

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

What a weird book. Everyone has a device fitted to their foreheads which instantly show when one feels sexual attraction. A sort of satire on Britain's (stereotyped) repressed attitude to sex, and the effects on society when it's removed. Written just before the "swinging sixties" happened, which...

The Primal Urge by Brian Aldiss, paperback book, cover illustration shows a man and woman with silver discs on their foreheads, locked in an embrace and bathed in red light.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

A new tranquillizer is on the market, but may be addictive. A junior minister is connected with the drug company that makes it - and also happens to be a friend of one of Colonel Russell's agents. Scandal reaches into the heart of government; a complex web involves scientists and drug-pushers ...

The Unquiet Sleep by William Haggard, green Penguin Crime paperback, stylized cover illustration shows green-tinted image of a briefcase, a copy of The Times, and a pair of glasses as though discarded, with a white cardboard packet with a red stripe bearing the word MECRON.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

A merchant bank is subject to a take-over bid, being secretly backed by a foreign agent: the object being to control the bank's interest in a radar firm about to secure important government contracts. Colonel Russell has to protect the national security interests and protect the life of the one ...

The Arena by William Haggard, green Penguin Crime paperback, impressionistic cover shows a ring of British coins surrounding a skull-like face

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

The ever-lasting feud between the Saint and Inspector Teal forms the background for these tales, as each tries in his own way to take on an evil blackmailer, a massive financial fraud, and diamond smugglers, with Teal hoping to find a reason to arrest the Saint at the same time. There are some...

The Saint v. Scotland Yard by Leslie Charteris, paperback book, cover illustration shows a woman tied to a chair, a man stands behind her holding a pistol

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Simon Templar temporarily joins the police to track down a criminal gang - or does he? The gang is led by Jill Trelawney, out to avenge her father's death, and Simon eventually teams up with her. Duplicity and reversals follow - who's working for whom, and who is the real villain? ...

The Saint Meets His Match by Leslie Charteris, paperback book, cover illustration shows a man seated in a chair in front of a grandfather clock, holding a pistol; another man lies face down on the floor before him with a gun lying beside him

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Markstein was one of the writers on The Prisoner, and this novel explores a real world version of the same concept: British agents during WW2 who have cracked or been compromised can no longer be sent into occupied France, but know too much to be left in circulation - so they are sent to a house ...

The Cooler by George Markstein, paperback book, cover illustration shows a fist wearing a brown leather glove, wrapped around with barbed wire

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Two sportsman visiting the US become targets for gangsters. Returning to England, they find themselves caught between rival British and American criminals trying to double cross each other, while stumbling into a Department Z investigation. Twists galore propel the story to its violent conclusion.

Redhead by John Creasey, paperback book, stylised cover photo shows close-up of the side of a car, the glass shattered by bullets, and the metal door panel riddled with bullet holes, from some of which blood drips.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Creasey formalises the "man about town gets into daft adventures" format by inventing Department Z, basically the secret service that employs such fellows. In this tale, the Hon James Quinion investigates a secret cabal of millionaires and corrupt politicians who want to start a war for profit ...

The Death Miser by John Creasey, paperback book, cover illustration shows a female singer in front of a band in a night club - looking to one side at a man slumped across the nearest table, having been shot through the head.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

Three quick but enjoyable re-tellings of these Doctor Who stories. Aliens of London and The Time of Angels are fairly straightforward adaptations, fleshing out the characters and background in places. The Satan Pit cleverly re-frames the story through flashbacks and multiple points of view.

Three paperback books, Doctor Who - Aliens of London by Joseph Lidster; Doctor Who - The Satan Pit by Matt Jones; Doctor Who - The Tome of Angels by Jenny T Colgan

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Another brilliant character study: a Briton and an East German meet as student radicals, later becoming double agents in the later years of the cold war, and eventually drawn into the murky realms of counter-terrorism in the post 9/11 world. Compelling stuff with a shocking conclusion.

Absolute Friends by John le Carre - paperback book, stylised cover illustrations shows two human silhouettes lurking in the letters of the title and author's name.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

A fine collection of short stories, often telling of Europeans coming into contact with native peoples of the countries and islands round the Indian ocean, as with many of Conrad's early books - though we also find him exploring other themes, such as a incisive depiction of a Victorian English ...

Tales of Unrest by Joseph Conrad, Penguin paperback book, cover shows painting of a river in Sarawak, Borneo by Marianne North

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

A family and their intellectual friends stay in a house in the Hebrides and contemplate visiting the nearby lighthouse. They don't though. Ten years later (with World War I and several deaths intervening) they finally get there. Not much of a plot, but that's not the point. This modernist novel ...

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf - paperback book, cover illustration is a painting of Winifred Burger by William Menzies Coldstream

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Dickens began his literary career with these prose sketches in magazines. He describes scenes from life around him, often humorously depicting characters and events. He progresses through reportage to full on narrative storytelling as we see the beginnings of the great novelist. He also ...

Sketches by Boz by Charles Dickens, hardback book, cover shows a reproduction of original magazine illustration by George Cruikshank of a party being led into a charity dinner, one of whom may be Dickens himself.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Set around the time of the Napoleonic Wars, Hardy's heroine here finds herself caught between various suitors - but especially between two brothers, one a soldier, one a sailor - as forces outside her control constantly alter their degree of affection toward her, often to her bewilderment ...

The Trumpet-Major by Thomas Hardy, paperback book, cover illustration of a rural water-mill

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Like previous Thunderbirds books, this is like an alternative universe version of the show. The Hood hijacks Thunderbird 3 and kidnaps Tin-Tin and Lady Penelope to force Brains to work for him, resulting in the Tracys having to get themselves back from being marooned in outer space, and then ...

Thunderbirds: Operation Asteroids by John W Jennison, hardback book (no dust jacket)

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Geoff MacCormack was a childhood friend of Bowie, and backing singer during the 1970s. His friendship enabled him to snap candid photos of the singer, many of which are in the book. I picked this last year up after I saw an exhibition of MacCormack's photos. The book recounts their times on tour...

"David Bowie: Rock 'n' Roll with Me" by Geoff MacCormack, hardback book, cover shows David Bowie mid-1970s in white t-shirt, stretching his arms above his head

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

A thriller with sci-fi and horror overtones: an escaped Nazi scientist releases a mutated fungus that takes root inside human bodies and coverts their hosts into fungal creatures. Despite the threat of an extinction level event, the body horror is mostly kept to suggestion, and the story is a ...

A Scent of New-Mown Hay by John Blackburn, paperback book; cover illustration shows blonde woman in white lab coat, studying pieces of scientific equipment with a large fungal growth looming behind her.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

A group of disparate characters take the Orient Express from Ostend to Istanbul: among them an actress, a thief, a businessman, a reporter, an exiled Yugoslav revolutionary. As their lives, passions and secrets intersect, Greene examines their innermost thoughts and feelings...

Stamboul Train by Graham Greene, paperback book, cover illustration shows two uniformed military officers in front of a cloud of steam or smoke

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

A man betrays his fellow smugglers, leading to a tale of flight and pursuit, courtroom drama and revenge. Greene is concerned more with the psychology of his protagonist, examining his moral turmoils with his own inner demons (the "man within" of the title): his feelings of self-loathing and ...

The Man Within by Graham Greene, paperback book, cover illustration shows a man looking through a window to see a candle lit in the room inside.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Story of the original SAS, who carried out guerilla warfare behind enemy lines in WW2, often with a reckless courage - in North Africa and subsequently in occupied Europe. Based on interviews with surviving men, a fast moving narrative reads more like an adventure story than a conventional history.

Stirling's Men: The Inside History of the SAS in World War II - hardcover book by Gavin Mortimer, cover illustration of three soldiers carrying weapons and ammunition across a hilltop, with ancient town visible on the hillside behind.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

A sort of potted history of apocalyptic events, that seemed to those affected as being the end of the world. From the sacking of Rome onwards, it takes in such as the Albigensian Crusade, the Lisbon earthquake, the Black Death, to modern man-made horrors like the Holocaust. Some well-known but...

The End of the World: A History by Otto Friedrich, large-format paperback, cover illustration consisting of medieval images of apocalyptic scenes.

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Interesting collection for 1969, shows sci-fi expanding into increasingly diverse areas. Stand-outs include: a bizarre story from Anthony Burgess about travelling back to meet Shakespeare; a dark piece from JG Ballard about American expansionism that seems scarily prescient of today's world; ...

The Year's Best Science Fiction No 3 edited by Harry Harrison & Brian Aldiss, paperback edition, abstract cover illustration of light and plastic shapes

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Andrew Kearley @andrewkearley.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

This final volume collects stories that Asimov was writing in-between his famous Foundation and Robot tales, and show an increased sophistication in his work, as he delves into the politics and social systems of interstellar civilizations. Two stories "Blind Alley" and "Mother Earth" are...

The Early Asimov volume 3 by Isaac Asimov, paperback with cover art by Chris Foss

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