Thanks again to all our listeners, readers and supporters!

Last year, I attended my very first science fiction convention! And they say you never forget your first time…

I decided to go firstly because I’m a reader and fan: to meet authors whose books I’ve enjoyed, such as Philip Reeve, Alastair Reynolds and Ben Jeapes, among others; to discover new authors and titles that I will enjoy. The second reason I went was as a writer. It’s a chance to be inspired, to meet other writers, to learn more about developing my craft and about genre publishing.

Not having been to a convention before, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would everyone be in costume? Would people talk to me as a newcomer, or be huddled in their own impenetrable groups knit together through years of attendance? Would I be able to resist the temptation to come back laden with several years’ worth of reading material?

Spoiler alert… I had a great time! Listen to the episode for interviews with Joanne Hall, one of the convention organisers; author Philip Reeve (previously interviewed for the podcast), who is this year’s Guest of Honour, plus panel clips and chats with other fans at the event!

I recorded several panels – you can listen to the Apocalypses debate here, and there are more to come.

Click to view slideshow.
BristolCon 2013 takes place 26th October – for full details visit www.bristolcon.org.

Well the good news is, they’re already happening! But as we’ve decided to draw Impossible Podcasts to a close this year, you’ll find them at Bell, Book & Candle – the blog about reading, writing and the life in between, managed by our Stories In Print editor, P.G. Bell. The column, called ‘Mundane Adventures’, is updated every Saturday morning and is already proving popular as Kieran wrestles with the challenges of getting a book ready for market – from misunderstandings with his cover artist to rising above the sea of rubbish straight-to-Kindle titles. It’s fascinating and insightful stuff but don’t take our word for it – check out Part 1 and Part 2 for yourself. And we can promise some fascinating twists and turns in the next few weeks!

Meanwhile, Simon Kurt Unsworth’s occasional column ‘The Bellows’ also has a new home at Bell, Book & Candle. The World Fantasy Award-nominated author is preparing his own novel for publication, but it’s a very different journey to Kieran’s. P.G. will be re-posting the first four instalments over the next few weeks to bring new readers up to speed, before starting on the brand new material.

Lastly, P.G. recently announced that his blog is going to host a brand new podcast of its own. If you enjoyed our interview with Philip Reeve, you’ll want to hear Bell, Book & Podcast – a monthly interview with a notable writer, editor or publisher. The first instalment is due out in July, so keep those ears peeled!

If you’ve ever wondered how words get out of a person’s head, onto the page and then onto bookshelves, Bell, Book & Candle is worth a look.

It’s here – our last (ever?)

I think we’re going to face a problem here, because there are essentially two things to consider with ‘The Name Of The Doctor’. The first is the episode itself; the plot driven bit that sought to wrap up the loose ends of the last few episodes, in particular the status of Clara as The Impossible Girl scattered through time. The second is the ending of the episode; not the culmination of the plot itself, although we’ll discuss that too, but the very final surprise, a moment which is going to overshadow the rest of the episode somewhat.

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In our last review before the Series 7 finale, James Willets revisits ‘Nightmare in Silver’.

Don’t forget to download our new Moffat Bingo cards before tomorrow’s episode!

Neil Gaiman is rightly lauded as a titan of genre writing, the guy behind enduring classics like Sandman, Neverwhere, Stardust and Coraline. He’s written extensively for young adults and comics, and won numerous awards for his fiction.

It’s hard to overstate the impact Sandman had on me. It was one of the titles that first got me into comics – the gateway drug that drew me into the wider four colour world, back when I had a sneering disdain for the garish funny books from the big two. Without them I wouldn’t have discovered the world of non-cape comics; no V for Vendetta, no Transmetropolitan, no Y: The Last Man or Ex Machina or Walking Dead.

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Just two days left until ‘The Name of the Doctor’ and James Willets continues his rundown of Series 7b. Was he tickled pink by ‘The Crimson Horror’?

There’s still time to get your hands on the brand new Moffat Bingo cards.

‘The Crimson Horror’ marks the return of Victoriana, the Paternoster gang, and that gnawing sense that Mark Gatiss may be the most hit-and-miss Doctor Who writer since Chris Chibnall. You may remember that I really loved ‘Cold War’. I thought it was fan-pleasing without being introvertedly self-referential, action packed without being over the top, and in a setting that felt historically real enough that the cracks in the likelihood of eccentric Soviet professors knowing much about English electro-pop bands didn’t really matter too much.

This certainly isn’t to suggest that ‘Crimson Horror’ approaches the levels of ‘Fear Her’ or the inaccurately named World War Two shocker, ‘Victory of the Daleks’, in being a bad episode. Quite the opposite in fact; I found it hugely enjoyable, even on a second viewing. It’s simply uneven in a way that many of his episodes seem to be.

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As we count down to the Series 7 finale this weekend, James Willets continues his reviews of the last half-season.

Don’t forget to download our new Moffat Bingo cards before Saturday!

At what point does a TV series reach a critical mass of recycled plotlines and a bloated parody of itself, reflecting enough of the bits that you used to long for to make you hope that it’ll be good, but never quite managing to regurgitate enough substance to satisfy? Because I think Doctor Who has reached that point.

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James Willets continues his run-down of Series 7b, but ‘Hide’ isn’t chilling him for the right reasons.

Have you downloaded our brand new Moffat Bingo cards yet? Grab them before the series finale this Saturday!

‘Hide’ is one of those weird episodes that happen every series or so, when the team in charge of Doctor Who get bored of the usual sequence of historical-alien-future adventure serial, and decide that what the show needs is a good old retreat into other genres; primarily horror. And as with all of those episodes before it, the classic horror setting and tropes are abandoned two thirds of the way through to explain that it’s all just another sci-fi baffler, and that’s not a Werewolf, or a vampire, or a ghost, or a great pumpkin; it’s an alien pitched up on Earth.

These episodes usually aren’t all that great – ‘Vampires in Venice’ stands out for its campy attempts to create an accurate flavour of medieval Venetian life, if medieval Venetian life had included the threat of consumption by horny cosmic piranha girls. Add to that the ‘witches’ from ‘The Shakespeare Code’, the ‘Werewolf’ from ‘Tooth and Claw’ and the Evil Living Scarecrows from the ‘Family of Blood’ two-partner, and you start to build up a picture of Doctor Who struggling to do the monster mash in an enjoyable or sensible manner.

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It’s here! All new Moffat Bingo, ready for the Series 7 finale and the 50th Anniversary special!

The original Moffat Bingo is still one of our most consistently popular posts, spreading far and wide via Twitter and Pinterest. But the departure of the Ponds last year means it’s no longer fit for purpose so, after a bit of faffing, here’s the newly revised edition, just in time for ‘The Name of the Doctor’!

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We’re catching up on our

‘Cold War’ is the first episode so far this season, and probably the first Mark Gatiss episode ever, that I can overwhelmingly say I loved. I think it’s hard not to like an episode that doesn’t overcomplicate the horror movie concept at its heart and is content to be story about a monster in the dark.

There are a couple of neat twists that stop this from being a totally generic episode, although there is plenty here that we have seen before.

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