Virgin Publishing Decalog 2: Lost Property A Collection of Short Stories

Editors	Mark Stammers and Stephen James Walker
ISBN	0 426 20448 8
Published	1995

Synopsis:Ten stories - seven Doctors - no fixed abode. A collection of short stories dealing with the various 'homes' the Doctor has acquired over the centuries

• A Review by Sean Gaffney
• A Review by Richard Radcliffe

A Review by Sean Gaffney 11/8/99

Much better than the first one, but then my least favorite stories from that were the Howe/Stammers/Walker stories, and they're not writing in this one. Instead, we get... well, the overarching plot is really unnecessary, so I'll just move on to the stories themselves...

Vortex of Fear I read this at 2:30 in the morning, and it freaked me out. In retrospect, it's not as scary as I thought, but still pretty chilling. Gareth has never been one of my favorite authors (See my Zamper review), and so I was really impressed. The temporal trap was very well done, and I realized about the same time as Zoe that the three of them were trapped there. Good opener. 8/10

The Crimson Dawn Now, I'm probably alone in this, but I liked Prisoners of the Sun in the first book. So therefore, this story disappointed me more than it did others. The main problem is that, despite a few clever word tricks, the plot is so scarce that the story fell out of my head the moment I finished it. I have trouble remembering it now. Oh, well. 4/10

Where the Heart Is I didn't know whether this is a parody or not. As with all good parody, it should be practically indistinguishable from the real thing. This took all of Pertwee's well-known annoying habits, twisted them on their ear, and yet (and this convinced me that it wasn't a parody) he was still very likeable. Jo gets a lot to do (I suspect that almost all the MA and short story authors will be upgrading her character. And the alien being a doctor is one of the cleverer things I've seen for a while. 8/10

The Trials of Tara Brilliant. With enough phallic references to have Shakespeare turning in his grave (or have something turning, anyway), with the Doctor and Bernice beautifully written, the plot well done, Grendel perfect - ah, why question it? 10/10

Housewarming *Sigh*. David McIntee strikes more continuity into our minds, gets the Master to be utterly unmalevolent in any way (what was the point of the couple having it off in the car if they weren't killed? So that the Master could sneer? Sarah and Mike are much clevere than their counterparts, and the swordfight was pointless. Not one of my favorites. 4/10

The Nine-Day Queen The Hartnell story was one of my favorites in the first Decalog, and this is also excellent. The plot is neither here nor there, the fact is that this story had the best characterised Doctor and companions in the book (I know, but Tara was different.) The Doctor is very Hartnellish, and you can see what leads him to attempt to rescue Jane, violating his own rules. It's harder to talk about good stores, so... 9/10

Lonely Days Average. Eh. 5/10

People of the Trees Odd duck, this. Everyone is characterised well, but...it feels like this was something written for another medium. The Doctor and Leela seem forced into the story. It's good, but it doesn't feel like Doctor Who. 7/10

Timeshare Beautiful characterization, excellent plot, comprehendible science, and very funny (The time lord ranting about how he knew he would meet the sixth doctor is worthy of a quotefile someplace. Very well done. 8/10

Question Mark Pyjamas Wow. What Dimensions in Time should have been, this is Doctor Who pantomime. The brilliant moments are too many to list here, but...well, Bernice and the Doctor as husband and wife, the villain, Ace smashing the clock, the bike, the entire concept.. This is a true example of using the short story to suit the format of Decalog. Did I mention that Bernice and the Doctor..."Be gentle with me." 10/10

So to sum up, better than the first, looking forward to the third.

8/10

A Review by Richard Radcliffe 1/9/04

After the disappointing collection that had been the first Decalog, I hoped this would be better. Published a year after the last - 1995, it looked like this was to be an annual event. Would it be an annual event we looked forward to, or not - things rather lay in the hands of the contributors of this anthology. The editors were the same, surely they would commission better stories this time.

Looking down the list of authors, it was again impressive. But then I thought that the last time. The debut of Tucker and Perry surely would be brilliant at least. Slapped with the tag "Lost Property" - whatever that was all about.

Vortex of Fear by Gareth Roberts
Longer books, Roberts is king. Comic strips he's one of the worst. Short stories - judging from this, not too clever. 2nd Dr, Jamie and Zoe in a hotel in the Time Vortex. Second 2nd Dr short story, Second hotel. Zoe gets spooked, which is quite atmospherically done. Just not up there with his novels (few things are). 6/10

Crimson Dawn by Tim Robins
An ecological Mars thriller with the 4th Dr, Leela and K9. Unfortunately for this story I kept thinking of Red Dawn by Big Finish. Both Dawns are pretty average really. This collection is struggling like the last. 6/10

Where the Heart Is by Andy Lane
Alien physician Dantalion, is kidnapping Cabinet ministers. So the aliens are amongst us again - definitely 3rd Doctor and UNIT story then. Enjoyed this one - bit of Time Lord trickery, and a nice old house into the bargain. I've just figured out the Lost Property tag too - the stories are about places. 7/10

The Trials of Tara by Paul Cornell
A sequel to Androids, presented as a play. Thrown into the mix is the Kandy Man, to join all the other androids. Grendel's back, and Benny's creator makes her a bloke. The 7th Dr gets to programme lots of androids. Not too bad at all, and rather entertaining. 7/10

Housewarming by David A. McIntee
You knew there would be a Haunted House in there, and writer of the Master - McIntee, makes our old enemy the cause of the bumps. It actually feels like it could be a very good audio drama - especially now Sarah-Jane is starring in those. Bringing in the dull Yates was a mistake though, thankfully K9 upstages him. No Doctor, but still an effective story. 7/10

The Nine Day Queen by Matthew Jones
A bit of English History is always welcome in DW, and this is no exception. With sci-fi trimmings, and an anger being stirring things up, this story is one of the best short stories thus published. 1st Dr, Ian and Barbara join the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey, but they are powerless to stop history unfolding. 8/10

Lonely Days by Daniel Blythe
Rather low-key tale of holograms and a lonely man on an asteroid. The 5th Dr has been better presented, and Nyssa has little to do. Not very memorable. 5/10

People of the Trees by Pam Baddeley
A new author, and a new type of story too. These people live in the woods, and the 4th Dr and Leela get caught up in their tribal idol worshipping life. Different, but not that great. 6/10

Timeshare by Vanessa Bishop
Vanessa Bishop scores again with a quaint story about double booking in a time zone Timeshare! The 6th Dr and Peri snipe at each other and fellow residents Godfrey and Milly. I liked this one a lot. 9/10

Question Mark Pyjamas by Mike Tucker
Moving the Doctor's house to a theme park was bound to go down badly, even moreso when acquirer seeks to acquire the TARDIS team too. Tucker and Perry show that from the word go they have the 7th Dr and Ace down to a tee. Surprising that their first story had Benny in, but a fine finish to this collection. 8/10

Decalog 2 and its linking theme of dwellings, seems to have inspired the writers to higher endeavours. This is a much better collection than the first, even though some stories can be skipped past uneventfully. Variety is here a plenty, resulting a pretty good collection all round. Overall 7/10