Book Review: Trigger Warning

Okay, fair warning - I'm a pretty big Neil Gaiman fan - I've got all the books and movies, even the BBC Neverwhere series and a couple of CDs, so short answer - I loved the book and yes you should read it.

Okay, now to go a little in depth.

The book has over twenty stories and poems; including ones focusing on Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Who, and even Shadow Moon (from his 2001 novel American Gods).  In addition the book includes a great fairy tale theme story called The Sleeper and the Spindle as well as a couple great tribute stories to both Ray Bradbury and David Bowie.

The book collects stories that have been published in various anthologies over the last few years, so as it's a great way to catch up on any stories you may have missed out on.

A great read.

Episode Review: Doctor Who - The Doctor's Wife

Since I started reading Sandman comics in the '90s, I could then say that Neil Gaiman was one of my favourite authors, after years of books like American Gods, Anansi Boys, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book, I can honestly now say he's in my top three. Saturday night I watched the latest episode of Doctor Who and sat spellbound for an hour as I watched an episode written by Mr. Gaiman.

First of all, I don't want to give a lot of spoilers, so I'm going to have to limit myself on praise for the episode. Here goes:

1) This is probably my current favourite episode of the new season

2) The episode is full of nods to previous Doctors

3) The major idea behind the episode was such a great, simple idea, I can't believe I had never seen it in an episode before.

Honestly, if you're not currently watching Doctor Who, give it a shot - up here in Canada its on my local Science Fiction station, and I can honestly say it's probably the best currently airing SF show out there - also your kids will love it.

Genre Character of the Week: The Eleventh Doctor

As I've spent the last few weeks reading my BFF Mike's blog which has been focusing on classic Doctor Who for the entire month (go check it out - the first Doctor Who post is here). I've been wanting to write about my opinion of the Doctor's newest (and Eleventh) incarnation, played by Matt Smith.

For those of you who are unaware, I'll break the show and the character down very quickly. The Show, which started in 1963 follows a traveller of space and time through his many adventures. The Character is a centuries-old man who has the ability to change his form every once in a while (allowing him to be played by at least 11 different actors), who faces terrible danger each episode and usually succeeds without violence.

The series ran originally until 1989 and then (with the exception of a TV movie) disappeared until 2005, when the new series, which was a continuation, rather than a re-imagining, began.

Starting on Easter 2010, the Doctor changed his form again, and is now played by actor Matt Smith, who at age 27 is the youngest person to officially portray the Doctor. Here's why I'm loving the Doctor's newest incarnation - He isn't afraid to show his roots (I think I've seen more classic Doctor Who references in this series than in any of the previous ones since the reboot), He seems to genuinely love his companions (the characters who go on adventures with him), and he regularly involves time travel in his stories (the series opener uses a significant amount of in-episode time travel).

Plus, he wears a bow tie, and bow ties are cool.