Beyond the Roundels

I've been not posting again, sorry. There wasn't even any particular reason, for the most part.

I was talking about Image of Fendahl in passing, which reminded me of the ridiculous wordage I wrote after watching it the first time, back in the day, which in turn led me to reassessing UNIT: Transition. Aside from the fact that it does need the reader to have some idea of what went down in Image, it isn't actually bad. Nothing a little tidying wouldn't at least make passable, and that led me back to the question of whether or not to put my 1980s UNIT series that followed on AO3.

Anyway, after losing a lot of time to reading my old stuff, I am now in progress of making the whole series available there, with a little tidying, but no major alterations. I'm not sure how to handle the exact order once I do get everything across, but I'll post them in original posting order as far as I can (Transition aside), and worry about where to put the extras and the Christmas prequel with the puns and the mince pies later.

So, if you want to know how the hell Colonel Crichton managed to get on without the Doctor, or just enjoy the same old UNIT cliches* with a new team, and actual plot(s) (even if some of my other writing tics of the era leave room for improvement), and Torchwood being villainous, plus one stranded Victorian housemaid who isn't important at all, installment #1 (fully standalone) is here:

UNIT: Strange Weapons (34661 words) by thisbluespirit, vvj5
Chapters: 9/9
Fandom: Doctor Who (1963)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Charles Crichton & Sarah Jane Smith, K9 & Sarah Jane Smith
Characters: K-9, Sarah Jane Smith, Charles Crichton, Original Characters, Winifred Bambera
Additional Tags: United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (Doctor Who), Torchwood One, 1980s, 1980s UNIT, 1980s Torchwood, Original Character-centric, Original Character Death(s), Case Fic, Action/Adventure, Military, Aliens, Plot, Cliffhangers, Angst, Zombies (sort of), Infection, Peril, Explosions, Period Typical Attitudes, (here and there anyway), and one lost victorian housemaid
Series: Part 1 of 1980s UNIT
Summary: April 1985: Good scientific advisors are hard to find. Dr Webber discovers why when he's expected to deal with zombies, aliens and Torchwood on his second day, and his only help is a tin dog and a ghost. Colonel Crichton and Sarah Jane are planning an exit strategy of sorts, while Captain Bambera is trying to keep her men from joining the opposing forces. They'll all be lucky to stay alive.

The other thing I've been doing is a lot of hunting down radio plays using the BBC's Genome, which was part of what led to discussing Image of the Fendahl but I have now typed too much about 1980s UNIT again, so I shall go and have lunch and say things about that another time.


* Sergeants don't have first names, green slime is never good (or any shade of good, all of which is available), etc. etc.

Even more random than last week. I was going to pick the five previous bookmarks to last week, but they were all to do with my Fourth Doctor recs post, so I thought I'd better mix it up a bit more than that:

The Good, the Bad, and the Hovercrafts by eponymous_rose (All ages, 1814 words. Fourth Doctor, Romana I, K9.) In which various alien entities get held off at the pass, the Doctor and Romana take up jogging, and K-9, to everyone's horror, tells a joke. Lovely, light, humorous piece.


Hourglass by giandujakiss (Multi-fandom timeloops.) And, indeed, need I say more than 'multifandom timeloops vid'?


The Way Back by Meadowlark (All ages, 3942 words. First Doctor, Steven Taylor.) After witnessing the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve, Steven is disillusioned with life with in the TARDIS and vows to give it up. But when he's compelled to stay, the Doctor offers him an unexpected olive branch. Pitch-perfect fic to round out why Steven chooses to stay after all.


The Doctor Meets a Fantastic Beast by Kass (G, 892 words. Eleventh Doctor, Newt Scamander, Amy Pond, Rory Williams.) The Doctor and his companions meet Newt Scamander. Cute crossover with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.


Soft Jaws, Strong Bite by nonelvis (All ages, 2141 words. Twelfth Doctor/Romana II.) A brief and heartwarming story about the Doctor, Romana, space pirates, and the universe's greatest children's show about prehistoric reptile cyborgs. What it says, and also with bonus pirates.

Slowly, slowly, I'm typing these up!

So: two Star Wars crossovers. That's a first for me - SW fic.

Confusion in the Force
Written for pitry who asked for Chris Skelton meeting Luke Skywalker. (I actually wrote this well before the A2A finale, in rough, so it might have been different otherwise)
(All ages, 427 words).

( Confusion in the Force )


Flight of Fancy

Written for curuchamion, who requested a TARDIS/Millennium Falcon fic.
(All ages, 303 words. Han Solo, Leia Organa, Romana I, Fourth Doctor, K9, and two ships.)

( Flight of Fancy )

Title: UNIT: The Great Mince Pie Mystery
Author: lost_spook
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 6033
Characters: Colonel Crichton, Sarah Jane Smith, K9, Winifred Bambera, Other

Summary:December 1984: Colonel Crichton is trying to see Sarah Jane and K9 off the premises; elsewhere some vicious little aliens are causing trouble - and they'll eat anything from mince pies to members of staff. It must be Christmas.

A few notes - don't worry, despite being another 1980s UNIT story, it's set earlier and is a standalone bit of nonsense. (For those who have been reading, it does give us the chance to meet another one of the Doctor's successors...)

And since it was set in December 1984 and it seemed wrong not to refer to Band Aid, I... Well, it then seemed good to me to put in references to as many Christmas songs as I could. (Or: It Seemed Funny At The Time).

So, a competition: whoever spots the most songs gets to give me a prompt & I'll write a ficlet or short story over the festive period. Pm me here or via Teaspoon with your answers and prompt and we'll see what happens. (This seems really egotistical, but I think as soon as I say there are refs to songs, some people will look for them & all I can do to make it up to them online is to offer fic. I can't even do icons).

If you want to, pm me by Dec 19th with yr answers & prompt or two &, (given the fact that there won't be a lot of takers), you'll be in with a good chance. Obviously, no adult-rated, graphic prompts (you won't get them and you wouldn't like them if you did) and, sadly, slashy stuff is not my thing either. It doesn't have to be Doctor Who. (I wrote a list of things I will try here, for a meme). I imagine I'd write it rough while I'm home and type it up after I get back, so it would appear around New Year. No one will know who won till then. Most of the quotes/refs are so obvious I might as well have hung tinsel round them, but some are more obscure. Count this 'comp' as my apology. (Christmas stories should be more dark night, candlelight and starlight and hope, but I fail yet again.)

It's an offer and if no one does pm I shall pretend someone does and I'm emailing the fic to them, la la la.

Usual disclaimer: This has not been okayed on to Teaspoon yet. If it doesn't appear, I'll look even sillier.

Title: UNIT: Strange Weapons
Author: lost_spook
Rating: All Ages / Teen
Characters: Colonel Crichton, Bambera, Sarah Jane Smith, K9

Summary: UNIT 1985: Good scientific advisors are hard to find. Dr Webber discovers why when he’s expected to deal with zombies, aliens and Torchwood on his second day and his only help is a tin dog and a ghost. Colonel Crichton and Sarah Jane are planning an exit strategy of sorts and Bambera is trying to keep her men from joining the opposing forces. They'll all be lucky to survive.

( Some explanation under here ).

As of this evening, still awaiting approval on Teaspoon.

Much delayed (blame BT), my review for a rewatch of Invasion of Time. Many spoilers under the cut.

( Have the day off school! )

And, yes, I am trying to do a Leela/Andred story to go along with the others. But it may be a while. And whether it'll explain the mystery, who knows?

Title Princess, Android, Time Lady?
Author lost_spook
Rating All Ages
Word Count 1509
Characters Fourth Doctor, Romana I, Prince Reynart, Princess Strella, K9.
Summary Less Romana deciding to leave and more the Doctor making an embarrassing little slip in this case...

Happy Endings, Hasty Exits No. 10. I haven't been running off without writing people's stories. I just found this on my pc, merely awaiting an ending. I must have got ahead of myself at some point. I was amused, so I thought I'd finish it and post it.

(EditNow up on Teaspoon!)