Peter J. Hammond

I unashamedly give this 5 💎, while accepting that at least one of those points is due to nostalgia. However, given this has feels of the Edwardian ghost stories of E.F. Benson and M.R. James crossed with a sci-fi take on higher-dimensional physics, with multiversal entities engaged in an eons-long conflict waged between malignant psychic incursions and anthropomorphic elemental beings, it's right in my wheelhouse.

It helps that the novelisation author is also the creator-screenwriter of show more the TV show, so it's entirely authentic, and reading the book felt just like watching the show. show less

Spending time watching DVDs of Sapphire and Steel while slightly out of it on antibiotics and a solid chest infection is an interesting way to break your brain. 6 Seasons of Sapphire and Steel over 2 days will do that, the episodes are short, the number of episodes per season vary between 4 and 8 episodes and each story is self-contained.

Sapphire and Steel are two time-travellers who investigate where time has broken in our world and try to fix it with the least damage. Season 1 is where the show more parents have disappearaed and it's apparently a nursery rhyme to blame, they get some help from the cheerful Lead. season 2 is set in a disused railway station where some ghosts deal with drustration at not having had a full life (and was probably my favourite, except for how they had to fix things). Season 3 has historical researchers from the future whose situation has broken down (and my least favourite); also features Silver. Four is where photographs take on a sinister life (probably my second favourite along with Season 1); Season (or often titled Assignment) 5 involves a 1930s themed party where past and present become intertwined. The final season, 6, also features Silver; and it's a motorway service station where time is standing still and where a trap is being laid. It's a complex and messy story and things end in an interesting way.

That end though... wow.

There's a leaflet with viewing notes that's quite useful in the box set I viewed. show less

This book is copyrighted to P. J. Hammond, creator of Sapphire & Steel, though he certainly didn't write it. It's mostly a series of illustrated stories loosely based on the television series: Sapphire and Steel investigate various breakages in time, though most of the stories fail to capture the tone of the television series completely, with stories that are (oddly) too sf or too fantastic. A robot rampaging over the countryside is not very Sapphire & Steel, but then neither is out-and-out show more magic. These tales have a lot of the trappings of the show, but they don't understand what makes it tick. A couple of them could be the foundation for legitimate adventures, though.

I did like the illustrations, though-- moody and in shadow, they're exactly what every Sapphire & Steel story should look like. Except for the one about the giant robot, where the robot itself has been ripped off of Doctor Who's K-1 robot. On the other hand, the "puzzles" and "informational features"-- one of which is about black holes for some reason!-- are as terrible as you might imagine. (The back cover photo is also a nice one.)

A curio for the curious, this book is nothing more. Reading it means I have read every book ever based on Sapphire & Steel (there are three). Audio dramas next, I guess? show less

The spookiness of Sapphire & Steel came from the visuals and mood more than anything else, and so Peter Hammond is at a disadvantage in this novelisation of the first television story, given that he's not exactly the world's greatest prose stylist.  It's still good, though-- the first story was always the best Sapphire & Steel tale-- and Hammond is able to make up for the lack of visual and auditory cues by entirely filtering the story through the perspective of Rob, the young boy whose show more parents have been swallowed up by Time.  Never since have Sapphire and Steel been so utterly unknowable. show less