(Note: I hope this linewraps properly, or I'll be cross.) So, you've done your bit, you've paid your cash for a good cause, and in return you get a book. Sounds typically charitable. But is the book a quick, thrown-together hack job, or is it a wondrous cavalcade of enchantment to delight any reader and make the heart glad? The latter, thank heaven. Perfect Timing 2 is not only a great collection, it's HUGE. 446 pages, small type, Trade PB size... there's a lot of stuff here. This is no 10-story Decalog. Only an insane reviewer would even think of reviewing every story in the book. Sanity has never bothered me. OK, I'm not going in depth on EVERYTHING. Of the short stuff, Colin's intro was nice and to the point, Dez's intro brought back... um... memories I don't actually have, but that's OK. I was 6, and in the wrong country. ^^;;; Peter's short shorts are cute, especially the first one. Lawrence's textbook intros are... um... well, I admit they kinda went ZOOM for me. But they sound cool. The artists are all excellent, with Simon Fraser's 'Fangrrls' being my fave. And Gary Gillatt's outro gave a nice sense of closure. As for the rest... SPOILERS!!! Darkness Before Me: I didn't realize it at the time, but one of the major pluses of this collection is the way the stories are arranged. The editors have placed them in such a way that themes only strike you after you've finished the book. This connects with Toy Story in many ways, not least of which is the use of the TARDIS as leading lady. In fact, I wonder if the authors were asked to write TARDIS stories for this collection? She's certainly in a ton of them. As for the fic itself, it's quite dark, and well- written, dealing with past and future continuityt without getting confusing about it. Identity Crisis: This was chilling, and depressing, and eerie, and creepy, and so reminiscent of our deepest fears of the Cybermen that I kept looking around while reading it. Genesis of the Dustbins: Boy, was this a case of contrast and compare! Charles Daniels combines his two favorite fetishes, Zoe and cleanliness, in this bizarro twist on Genesis of the Daleks. It's not quite his best stuff (I was expecting more sex, for some odd reason), but still funny. A Handful of Silver: I never did get around to reading The Dark Path, but I knew vaguely who Ailla was. After reading this, I may go back and look for it. Nice examination of how the Third Doctor feels abuot exile and frustration, and a good characterization of Jo. The ending might have been a tad too sudden, but it was meant to be open. The best part of the fic was how characters reacted to the damaged TARDIS. Again, we're starting to sense a theme... Invasion of the Dinosaurs by Sarah Jane Smith: Examining that story by means of newspaper articles. The first of several stories that I thought were a tad too heavy-handed in their message. Knitworld: This is so totally loopy that I can't even begin to describe it. High parody, filled with wit, and the opening paragraph made me spill my tea I was laughing so hard. Why can't we see more adventures with Mrs. Moggins? Fabulous. Goodbye Rembrandt: It took me a while to get into this, mostly as it's easily the most traditional Who story in the whole book. But after a while, it got to be quite fun, with the movie references coming thick and fast. And it brought back memories of Castle of Fu Manchu, memories which I had hoped I had sealed away forever. x_x The one major flaw is that heavy-handedness again, where the Doctor and Romana get possessed by David Howe for a few lines to discuss the theatre. Still, a very nice runaround. The Giving Invasion - Short and cute. It's refreshing to get a first-person view from a somewhat unlikeable protagonist. Not much else to say here, but I thought it was fun. A Cup of Coffee - Entirely too heavy-handed, and Turlough was a bit off, in my opinion. Well-written, but not my cup of tea (or coffee). Kyreth - Hoo boy. This one took me 4 days to finish, and it's only 20 pages long. Cliched plot, some painful prose passages, continuity that's recursive and confusing (I enjoy bending continuity when it's obvious that's what's intended, but having Davison post-Resurrection visit post-Invasion of Time Gallifrey didn't really seem necessary at all, except in a small reference to Borusa's darkness)... just a lot of bad things piled on one another. The final scenes in the matrix with the Doctor accepting various parts of him made me actively wince and turn away. I did like the character of Evidon, but that's about it. Avoid. The Effect of Dimensional Transcendence on Mozzarella Cheese - Ah, another break your neck transition. At times reading this I thought Helen and Julian were a tad sadistic. "Let's give them THIS after Kyreth! Ohohohohohoho!" Essentially Diane has pizza with the Doctor. And there's a lovely recipe following the story. It's odd, but strangely pleasant. Nameless - This was a fascinating story. Describing how it's written would be a spoiler... wait, I am spoiling. OK, so the backwards writing really makes things fascinate, as our unnamed hero and The Doctor keep crossing paths and wits. At times both uplifting and tragic. Really nice. Painting History - Three were a few stories where at times I felt that I was reading the third in the series and had missed some background. This was one of them. But once I let go of trying to figure things out, it was a good yarn. It also has one big plus, in that Damon has written a BEAUTIFUL portrayal of Colin's Doctor - I'm love to hear this adapted for a PT audio drama (oooh, what a lovely thought...). Black Snow - An odd duck, this one, reminding me a lot of Tucker and Perry's 7th Doc and Ace more than the NA team. Didn't really leave much of an impression on me, but I can't think of anything wrong with it. Safe in the Knowledge - Heavy Handed 3: Citizens on Patrol. See my remarks on A Cup of Coffee above. Adjudicator's Holiday - A nice, traditional NA adventure, with Chris chasing down baddies. I also enjoyed the look at the alien culture and mores. Nice. Past Time Catching - WARNING! This is a DAVE STONE story! With all that that entails! In other words, it's hilarious, glib, metatextual, self-referencing, and as fun as a pair of self-removing trousers. When I finished PT2, this was one of the two I immediately went back and reread. Smashing. Pulp Cutaway - Ah, I was wondering when we'd get a crossover. This appears to take place in the famed Season 27 continuity, and also directly leads up to events in the movie Pulp Fiction. It's breezy and actionish, but works better IMO when it's being Doctor Who than when David tries to catch the patter of PF dialogue. Isolation - This was a tad wacked, but wacked in a serious way rather than, say, Dave Stone wacked. A nice look into what makes Cwej tick, with all his foibles and faults. It reminds you how far he'd come from the perky innocent of Original Sin, and also comments (in a somewhat negative way) on the Benny Adventures. I still don't think I picked up on everything in this, I'll need to reread at some point. Quicksilver Bees - See, THIS is how you do a moral message without screaming "HEY! THIS IS A MESSAGE FIC!". Also very reminiscent of The Grapes of Wrath gone modern. Not sure exactly what made this story so good, but I liked it a lot. First Person - Woo hoo! A wonderful analysis of how the Seventh and Eighth Doctor solved problems, and shows the Seventh Doctor's approach being wrong without making him seem foolish. Moreover, this story just sings with so much life and joie de vivre it had me grinning foolishly at the end. In the top 5. Fishy Business - This is the story that I *really* felt like a sequel to something I'd never read. I actually emailed adwc to see if this was a direct sequel to someting in PT1 (which I haven't read). Apparently not. However, it does feature Bernice traveling with the 8th Doctor, for some 10 years now, and doing... other things with him too. The story itself is a nice if weird examination of alternate timelines and rewriting pasts, a la Interference. However, more to the point, I *desperately* want more 8th Doc/Benny stories from Lance. Please! Empty Nest - A nice, bittersweet little tale dealing with first the Doctor, then Braxiatel realizing that there are some battles they'll have to let their favorite girl fight for herself. A nice prelude to Twilight, which is also on my TO READ: list. Cause and Effect - Another examination of the 8th Doctor in a 7th Doctor situation. Very understated, and all the better for it. The Hand of the Goddess - A standard Doctor Who runaround, with the added factor of Sam's female lover, Maguire, added to the mix. The two bounce off each other in a very "opposites" way, leading to both sparks and fights. There's also a beautifully written scene where the Doctor and Maguire talk about guns. I'd have liked to see more from Sam's POV, but otherwise excellent. Unseen Rooms - Another TARDIS examination, as to how she views her companions. Almost drabbleish, but still very good. This Hollywood Life - Not as compelling as I would have liked it to be, with the villain's denoument being particularly... not good. But this is balanced by the movie scenes, and the Doctor's reaction to them, both of which are so wonderful they make this worth reading anyway. Fangrrl Life - Up until this point, there were several excellent stories, and one or two that made me laugh out loud, but none that reached up, grabbed my lapel and said "*I* am the best story in this collection!" Until this one, that is. Fangrrl Life is, easily, THE best story in this collection. It's so amazing I don't even know where to begin. The idea is wonderful, the ambiguity of the Doctor's motives (I really disliked him for much of the story) is compelling, the heroines are incredibly sympathetic, and the ending is gut- wrenching, but still optimistic. Plus it's filled with so much metatext you'll make a note to ask your writer to have you thank the author in an email later. There's also a subplot with Leah that makes her seem... I can't get into the myriad reasons this needs to be read. You just should. Best short story of the collection, and of the year. Mysterious Ways - Bizarre. This is probably the most ambitious of the stories, creating an entire universe all its own (and only the first of two to really do this). It all holds together too, with the Doctor fitting right in with the eccentricities of the Malleus. Addison in particular is excellent. And did I mention the prose? Deep, very deep. Great story. Memories to Forget - An interesting little story, showing the Doctor and his companion having an interesting disagreement about morality... even more interesting when you discover her past. On the other hand, the resolution is incredibly contrived. "A lucky guess." Gah. Still, I did enjoy reading about Amaryllis. Touching Indigo - I had actually read this a couple of years earlier. However, as I adore Rebecca's fiction, I didn't mind reading it again. It's still wonderful, and you should try to seek out the sequels to it on her page (if they're still there...) Grey - Did I say Mysterious Ways was bizarre? Forget it, THIS is bizarre. Featuring two incarnations of a woman who seems to be the Doctor, or at least to have taken up the Doctor's mantle, another paranormal investigations team, and several really weird dream sequences, this was a bit too choppy to really intrigue me. However, the ideas are great. Apocalypse Angel - This really reads like an excerpt rather than a story, but that doesn't make it any less visceral. It's the end of the universe, and Romana and the Master battle to try to discover God before her son finds out about it. I think. Reality gets manipulated so much during this story it's tough to tell where the past is. Faction Paradox writ large (no, they aren't in it). Very... modern, but I seemed to enjoy it. No idea why. ^^;;; The Next Universe But One - Metatext? You're soaking in it! A combination of the TV and novel universes of The Daleks/Mutants/Serial B, Dave weaves a very skillful tapestry showing how one decision made early in Ian's life can influence so many things yet still bring him to the same point. Very thoughtful. A Tapestry of Shadows - Another crossover of a sort, but this one works a little better, mostly as the prose format allows the author to avoid copying Zelazny's speech patterns. Liz Shaw goes chasing after her boyfriend and ends up helping Flora from the Amber books with a brother of hers. Thinking man's action adventure, switching back and forth between Ffyona (Fiona) and Liz, and the resolution is quite clever. A Day in the Death of the Land of Fiction - An illustrated, BIZARRE story, which seems to examine the role of the hero, villain, and sidekick in doctor who through abstract art and poetry. Or something. Um. It's Raining Again - Examining the 5th Doctor's era through the lens of a Grimm Fairy Tale gone wrong. In the end, though, I wasn't as enraptured by it as I'd like to have been. Unlimited - Another one which I liked a whole lot without really knowing why. The talk between the Doctor, the Master, and Sarah was probably my favorite, with the Doctor really coming across as a thug. It's also got a wonderful scene with Faction Paradox losing, badly. Nicely done. Aria for the Broken Hearted - Another short drabbleish fic, this was very sweet and touching. From the Cutting Room Floor, Take 2: Craig Hinton's "The Crystal Bucephalus" - Really just Chapter 4 from the unpublished NA version of what eventually became the MA. Bernice is quite fun to read here - I'd forgotten how snappish and untrustworthy the TARDIS crew was back then. She also gets some lovely innuendo. Fun stuff, and I'm hoping Craig can scan the rest in soon so I can read it. Here Be Dragons - Another TARDIS-oriented story, but also an examination of Merlin's life as story. It's quite good, and I love the way the children debate fascinatedly about it - just as we do about the Doctor's life. Toy Story - Oooh, nice! An intriguing look at the future War, from the point of view of two very biased participants. This reads even better knowing more about the current EDA arc, but works well on its own too. You've gotta admire the TARDIS for sticking by her team like this. Also has more hints about Compassion, for those who enjoy that sort of thing... Overall - Yes, like any collection, there are some stories in it that don't work. But it's a HUGE collection, and there are far more fun, intriguing, well written stories, and there are a few that simply DEMAND to be read by any discerning Who fan. Buy this collection, you simply will not regret it. 10/10. --Sean Gaffney --now back to Frontier Worlds...