By Nev Fountain. So there I am, contemplating going to an SF convention for the first time in my life and I read this. Enough to make one steer well clear, though it is possible that this is not entirely representative.
Not actually science fiction, though rooted in SF culture, this is the story of a retired script editor attending a convention for the first time in years, and is written by a script editor who may or may not be retired. The hero is a reluctant detective who punches well above his weight with the ladies, in particular the somewhat ghastly female lead of his dreadful show. The author is apparently in a relationship with an eighties Doctor Who companion, whether he is also prone to occasional bits of detective work is not known, but I can't shake the suspicion that incidents are drawn from life.
Nev Fountain is a writer I have issues with. He was associated with two of my all time least favourite Doctor Who stories, as script editor on the dreadful Death Comes To Time, and writer of a Big Finish story involving little old lady Time Lords that just rubbed me up the wrong way. I went into the book very happy to hate it.
And it surprised me.
It's actually a pretty good book.
It might even be a very good book.
It's not high art, but it makes no attempt to be so. It's a romp, and pretty much every romp target is hit. It helps of course to be reasonably sympathetic towards somewhat cringeworthy Eighties TV, but deep down the geek stuff wouldn't be worth a damn if the detective story wasn't well told.
And it was.
I don't normally go into any depth about where to buy books, but it's worth noting that Amazon would like one to pay £7.50 or thereabouts, while BooksOnBoard are happy to sell it for half that. Just hoping that they're legit and the author will actually get their deserved royalties.
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