Do you know what's a boring way to organize your Doctor Who anthology? Chronologically by Doctor. Especially when there are four fifth Doctor tales! The strength of Doctor Who is variety; why eschew that? Other than that blunder, this is a fairly decent anthology. There's a somewhat overdone emphasis on death-- yes, it's the ultimate farewell, I suppose, but I got tired of reading about characters coming to terms with it, especially as a Doctor Who anthology is unlikely to break any new ground in this area. Highlights include Gareth Wigmore's "The Mother Road", where the first Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Susan take a road trip in 2006 America and hilarity ensures; John Binns's "Black and White", where the fifth Doctor and Peri really begin to get to know one another; Joe Lidster's typically dark, depressing, and real "Curtain Call", and Paul Magrs's typically insane, amusing, and real "The Wickerwork Man". On the other hand, I found Stephen Fewell's "The Bad Guy" pretty much baffling, Andy Campbell's "Separation Day" has a bizarre message (stick out your relationships so the universe doesn't implode), Jake Elliot's "The Wake" has a lot of neat ideas but no story, Stewart Sheargold's "The Velvet Dark" has the fith Doctor deciding to simply let the Master run free for no readily apparent reason, and Darren Sellars's "Utopia" has the seventh Doctor talk a man into suicide when I can think up several less violent ways of solving the problem myself, and the story features that annoying trope of sf, genetic engineering as inherently wrong.

Steven A. Roman's "Into the Silent Land" kind of aggravated me because I don't like it when the Doctor's incarnations act like they are individual people, separate from those who follow and precede them-- why would the fourth Doctor be afraid of "dying" when he's doing no such thing? He's just changing. A rather drastic change, to be sure though, and this idea was much better captured in Ian Potter's "The Three Paths", which deals with the Doctor shortly before The Tenth Planet and his first regeneration. It also contains the best piece of subtle fanwank I've seen in years. The best story in the book was Matt Kimpton's "Life After Queth", set just after Frontios with the Gravis as a companion. The fifth Doctor, Tegan, and the Gravis turn out to be a magnificent TARDIS team, and it's a shame the story precludes any more adventures for this bizarre trio. Who'd've thunk it?