Okay, so other things happened this week, but for Doctor Who fans, the last 24 hours has been a special cocktail of anticipation and torturous waiting. Finally it was revealed that the recent rumours were true, and we now have two complete (or near-complete) Series 5 Second Doctor serials back in the BBC archive that were previously believed to be lost forever.
There’s a lovely write up of the press conference here, including reactions from stars Fraser Hines and Deborah Watling.
Unlike the last archive find, when orphan episodes of The Underwater Menace and Galaxy Four were screened publicly but not made available for purchase except much later on DVD releases, The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear were made available immediately on iTunes, including here in Australia. And that is why this week’s Friday Links is so late, of course – I’ve been watching The Enemy of the World! A story I loved in novelisation form in my childhood and never ever thought I would get to see for real.
But what else has been going on across the internet this last week (or more, since my hospital stay meant I didn’t put one up last week)?
Momentum Books reports on the Stella Count, a new Australian stat-badger process of looking at the gender breakdown of how books are reviewed. Anyone shocked that books by men are disproportionately reviewed?
Kameron Hurley talks about the dangers of keeping quiet about scandals and bad behaviour in the publishing industry – that whole “everyone knows that already” philosophy which protects writers with strong community and friendship ties (and luck to be in the right private conversation at the right time) but does nothing to protect newer and less experienced writers from being hurt or suffering career damage from professional predators.
Kate Elliott looks at why the status quo does not need worldbuilding – and questions some of the conventional wisdom about what constitutes ‘good’ writing in epic fantasy.
The Guardian looks at why exactly so many readers feel betrayed by the new Bridget Jones novel – with some interesting thoughts on our expectations that a book about women must be “feminist” in order to be “good.”
Jennifer Saunders talks about writing a memoir, finally.
The Mary Sue looks at The Constructive Side of Escapism. It’s not a dirty word, people!
Juliet McKenna talks about her experience editing a fantasy anthology for the British Fantasy Society.