Michelle

When we originally set up the debate section, we made clear that it was a trial, and would be kept under review. We started with strict entry requirements, and then these were all dropped. It has been kept under review, and the mod team have now decided to reinstate some restrictions. The debate section will now only be accessible after you have 200 posts, and is therefore for established forum members.

I will be watching carefully. At the moment there are 2 schools of thought.. one is that they will play safe, and go back to a white male in his 20s/30s, and the other is that they will go out and have a female this time!

Yep, there was a big reveal program - but Gallifrey Base forum pretty much had it worked it before then.

Then go buy the rest of Stroud's books!

I think you're right. I said when Matt was leaving that an older Doctor would be great.. but Capaldi just didn't work for me. I can't see the BBC going there, but I think it's time for a female Doctor!

If I didn't turn up for job, and didn't call in, I'd be sacked!

I haven't gotten on with him being the Doctor at all, so I'm quite happy that someone else will have a go. New show runner, and new Doctor - anything could happen... good or bad!

It's been a while.. but after reading Defender, and chatting a little to the author on twitter, I wanted to ask her some questions, and bring this book to our members' attention. 'On the cusp of sleep, have we not all heard a voice call out our name?' In a world where long drinks are in short supply, a stranger listens to the voice in his head telling him to buy a lemonade from the girl sitting on a dusty road. The moment locks them together. Here and now it's dangerous to listen to your inner voice. Those who do, keep it quiet. These voices have purpose. And when Pilgrim meets Lacey, there is a reason. He just doesn't know it yet. Defender pulls you on a wild ride to a place where the voices in your head will save or slaughter you. Can you start off by telling us a little about the book? Sure, it’s an imaginative thriller set seven years after a mass appearance of voices incited people to commit suicide, murder and mayhem. We are left in a world torn apart, where survivors live in fear of those who still hear their inner voice. Pilgrim is one such man. He is reluctantly drawn into helping 16-year-old Lacey travel hundreds of miles to her only living relative, but the journey will be fraught with danger. Think Cormac McCarthy’s The Road vs Mad Max vs The Walking Dead (minus the zombies). What do you see as the main themes in the book, and what inspired you to write about them? Family, death and abandonment all seem to crop up a lot. And they tie neatly together, too—the worst thing I can imagine is losing my loved ones (and the most permanent way of that happening is through death), and then being left all alone. It’s enough to break a person. How we handle that grief and find ways and means to continue with our lives is something I seem to explore a lot in my writing. I’m quite fascinated with psychology, too, whether it’s to do with violence or suicide, or the human consciousness, it all influences themes. These themes are dark, how did you handle the research aspect without it getting to you? I always joke that I score highly on the sociopathic scale (I’m not really a sociopath, I promise—I cry at more things than ever these days). However, I am great at compartmentalising. Anything that bugs me gets shoved to the back of my mind pretty easily. As I kid, everything used scared me—flushing the toilet (I blame the Gremlins poster for that), the dark, werewolves. Then, as I grew older, I seemed to go the opposite way. Horror was my favourite genre for both books and movies for many, many years. I also love True Crime. I think I’ve saturated myself in so much horrible stuff, I’ve desensitized myself to a lot of it. Not much bothers me these days. The most fascinating to me was the aspect of the voices controlling people – will we find out more about this in future books? Oh yes, there’ll be LOTS more on the voices. Do I reveal all in book 2? Of course not! I have to keep you all coming back for more, don’t I? Although the voices play a vital role in what will happen, I do hope it’s the characters and their journeys that keep bringing readers back. What was that thing Stephen King said? Oh yes: “I think the best stories always end up being about the people rather than the event.” I’m with you there, Steve. This is the first in a series of books.. did you always know that you had a longer tale to tell, or did it develop as you wrote this one? I didn’t know it’d be a longer series at the beginning, no. Defender (originally titled Pilgrim) was meant to be a standalone novel. And it worked as one. I just wasn’t ready to put it to bed and a friend of mine talked me into considering writing a sequel. It didn’t take much convincing, to be honest. I’d fallen in love with the characters by that point and I was as excited about the world and what was happening in it as you guys (hopefully) are. Which books do you like reading, and which have inspired your own writing? I’ve been through all the phases. I did the Sci-fi and Fantasy phase in my early to late teens, then I went through my Horror phase from late teens through to my twenties and now that I’m in my thirties, I’ll read practically anything: Horror, Fantasy, Contemporary and Book Club Fiction, Thrillers, Sci-fi. I find I’m more drawn to quirky, original novels with standout premises. The only areas I’ve never really read are Crime, Domestic Thriller and Historical Fiction, which I feel bad about. I know there’s a lot of great stuff out there in those genres, but we only have so much time, and I’m a sloooow reader, unfortunately. I’m lucky to read thirty to forty books a year. Can you continue to read whilst you’re writing a book, or do you need to stay focused just on your own world? This is such a great question! It depends. When I’m doing edits I find I stop reading altogether. I think I’m afraid it’ll knock my confidence, reading a really brilliant book and then comparing it to the mess my own book is in. No writer needs any more self-doubt than they’re already dealing with. I do enjoy reading when I’m writing a first draft, though. Becoming engrossed in a fantastically written book inspires me to do better with my own. It spurs me on to try and do better. And, finally.. what’s your favourite LEGO set you own?! Oh man, so many! I did write a blog post about this on the Defender Blog Tour (it’s here, if you fancy reading it: http://varietats2010.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/defender-by-g-x-todd-blog-tour.html?spref=tw&m=1),so I’m going to tell you about a set I allude to on there but don’t elaborate on. I bought a retired LEGO set from a guy on eBay (I won’t disclose the price because I don’t want people to think I’m nuts). It’s the LEGO Grand Emporium and is the British equivalent of Rackhams: a two-storey shopping department with changing rooms and escalators and everything in between. My greatest love in LEGO is their modular buildings (I have a dream of having a LEGO room someday, like Will Ferrell’s in The LEGO Movie, filled with a LEGO city of my very own), and the LEGO Grand Emporium is my ultimate modular build. I’m saving it for a very special occasion. Thank you to Gemma for her time, please pay her a visit on twitter - @GemTodd

If you take a look at my thread about graphic novels, I loved this series too! I've tried a few different styles of graphic novel, and my other favourite is the Sandman series.

I have, over the past few years, become much more of a 'mood reader'.. which is one of the reasons I rarely review now. I didn't get on well having to read and review a book at a particular time. So, it may well be that if I pick it up again at some point, I'll do just fine.

The Bartimaeus books are wonderful - with the last, The Ring of Solomon (my review) being the best, in my opinion. I also personally really liked Heroes of the Valley (my review), but that one doesn't seem to be talked about much.

Unfortunately I had trouble getting into this, but I love his other books.. and I loved meeting him at the first YALC I attended. Have you not read anything else by him?

I agree with your thoughts on Gemina, in particular finding it far easier to get into. It's a format that won't work for everyone, but I love it.

Yep - complete agreement!

The Rest of Us Just Live Here? Nope - that was an ok read for me, but I didn't like it that much. But A Monster Calls and More Than This I do like.

Well I for one really liked More Than This - to me there wasn't supposed to be a definitive ending, you're meant to make your own mind up.

My girls used to play the odd song in the car, which I thought were ok. Then on the way home from holiday they played the soundtrack all the way through, and once you start to put the story together with the songs etc it becomes really good. The early part of the show is about American history, but it then goes into his personal life as well, and it's a good story.

I'm *still* waiting for your first 3 reviews!

Just wondered if there were any other fans on here? Beth caught the 'Hamilton bug' first, and passed it on to her sister. It's been played in our house and cars so much that I've become quite a fan myself. Today I've just bought them (and me) tickets for the London show.. in March 2018! Now we're waiting to find out who they're casting in it!

If you look at the thread which Nollaig linked to, the signature rules are there as well.

Second book finished in 2017 is Battle Royale.. what an excellent, gripping book! I'm doing well so far! However, after 2 excellent reads, I'm finding it hard to decide on my next read....

Bumping up an old thread, as I've just finished this book. I actually read the 'remastered' 2014 edition.. I loved the cover when I saw it in Waterstones, remembered it was on my wishlist, and so bought it just before Christmas. It's supposedly a new improved translation, but obviously I can't comment on that, not seeing the original. It's a big book, and yet incredibly readable. It's not going to be for everyone, but I would say that it's not just violence for violence sake.. it is quite graphic, but it all feels part of the story being told. I was worried at the beginning that I would't keep up with the various characters, especially with the Japanese names, but after a while this wasn't a problem, and I followed fine. Unless the violence particularly concerns you, it's a book I'd highly recommend.

Well I'm generally a tech-loving person, but I have never been able to settle into ebooks - I've tried the traditional kindle, a kobo, the kindle app on my iPad, and then recently a paperwhite... and I keep going back to my physical books! I couldn't really tell you why, and it does disappoint me, as ebooks are often so much cheaper and/or there are lots of deals for them, but there you are, I'm keeping book sales going! ;-)

I know that Laini Taylor has a very strong fan base, but when this book was offered through Vine, I hadn't read any of her previous books, despite them being on my wishlist. I therefore didn't know what to expect from her writing. The very first chapter quite simply blew me away.. it read so beautifully, with a dreamlike quality which immediately made me want to read more. From this, it switches to tell the story of Lazlo Strange, an orphan raised in a monastery. He is already obsessed with a lost city, now known only as Weep, and when a twist of fate leads him to become a junior librarian, this obsession grows as he gathers all he can find, be it knowledge or story. When presented with an opportunity to find out more, alongside the hero known as the Godslayer, will fate allow him to follow his dreams? Next we're introduced to a strange citadel and it's blue-skinned inhabitants, who have their own fascinating history and story to tell. Then, of course, everything starts to come together, and the full story is told. I'm starting to see reviews crop up which outline much of the story and plot, and my advice is to avoid these.. part of the joy of my reading experience was to discover each part as it was presented to me, bringing together the various strands in the way they were supposed to be. In summary, this is a beautifully written spell-binding tale, combining magic and fantasy, love and hate, dreaming and nightmares. I miss the world so much, I've ordered myself a signed hardback, and I simply can not wait for the second part. [i believe Laini Taylor is a YA author, but this has been listed on amazon under fantasy and I really don't think I'd catagorise it as YA. In fact, I've started Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and that does have a YA feel.. whereas I believe Strange the Dreamer is going to have a much wider appeal.]

I was lucky enough to receive an early copy of this quite a while ago, but I've struggled with how to review it. Not because it's not good.. I actually bought myself a signed special edition hardback because I liked it so much.. but because it's a difficult one to put into words. The author puts you straight into the middle of her world.. a world where the majority have died, due to the voices in their head.. voices which have caused suicide or murder. This is information is fed to the reader gradually, so we're not entirely sure at the outset what has happened, and yet the world still feels realistic and believable. The main character is Pilgrim, a complex loner who hears a voice in his head, but isn't controlled by it. It's a great pairing, Pilgrim works his way into your head (sorry!), and his voice adds a dry wit which kept me smiling, despite the darker parts of the book. There is certainly is plenty of darkness - imagine a world where most are dead, and there are no longer any rules.. there's a lot of violence and cruelty. Despite this though, the brightness shines through, especially in Lacey, a teenage girl who has been sheltered on her grandmother's farm.. and also through Alex, a woman who has been through, and goes through, so much.. and yet keeps an amazing strength. This is the first book in the 'Voices' series, in which I assume we will find out more about past events, and the world we now find ourselves in. I was pulled in by the author's writing, and her characters, and I can't wait to find out what's next!