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Fanfiction Spotlight: Garmonbozia

Today's Featured Author: Garmonbozia
This author has an amazing series with an original character known as the Little Ghost. The first story opens with the Doctor taking a scone as a companion on a bet from Amy and Rory, and only gets better from there.
Recommended for:
People who can't wait for next fall for more great adventures.

I'm looking for someone to share in an adventure

Twas the Night before Otherstide

As Christmas approaches, Whovian homages are appearing everywhere. Just for fun, here's some I've stumbled across
Giveaways:
BBC America Blog
BBC America Sweepstakes
Humor:
The Night Before Christmas Who-Style

Videos





Trailers:






And just in case you're wondering, "Otherstide" is a Gallifreyan holiday from the Expanded Universe books

Because You're Still....Breathing

I learned from here that Amy and Rory will be leaving as companions sometimes during season seven. Since the first episode I ever watched was "The Eleventh Hour," I have a special affection for Amy as my companion, just as Eleven is my Doctor. Rory is also one of my favorite companions, the amazing Lone Centurion.
I really enjoy the Two Who Waited, and they have some great banter with the Doctor, such as the conversation in "The Doctor's Wife

Rory: He'll be fine. He's a Time Lord.
Amy: It's just what they're called, it doesn't mean he actually knows what he's doing.

As for the Doctor...he seems much more upbeat than Ten, but so many moments suggest he thinks otherwise. After all, the first major thing he does is leave his future companion for twelve years. Some episodes in season five hinted at this, but season six blew it wide open.

Doctor to Dream Lord: I know who you are. There's only one man in the universe who hates me that much.
After the revealation that the Dream Lord was physic pollen feeding on him
Amy:
But those things he said about you. You don't think any of that's true?
--Amy's Choice

While Rory's being erased from time

Amy: Tell me it's going to be okay. Make it okay.
The Doctor: It's going to be hard but you can do it. Tell me about Rory, huh? Fantastic Rory. Funny Rory. Gorgeous Rory. Amy, listen to me: do exactly as I say. Amy please, keep concentrating you can do this.
Amy: I can't.
The Doctor: You can. You can do it. I can't help you unless you do. We can still save his memory.
--Cold Blood

The Doctor is poisoned and summons the voice interface:

The Doctor Hologram: Voice interface enabled.
The Doctor: Oh no no no. Give me someone I like
(Rose, Martha, Donna, and Amy are rejected as guilt, also guilt, and more guilt)
Amelia Hologram: Voice interface enabled.
The Doctor: Oh. Amelia Pond. Before I got it all wrong. My sweet little Amelia.

--Let's Kill Hitler

To Rita
Rita: Why is it up to you to save us? That's quite a God Complex you have there.

The Doctor: I brought them here. They say it was their choice, but offer a child a suitcase full of sweets and they'll take it. Offer someone all of time and space and they'll take that too. Which is why you shouldn't. Which is why grown-ups were invented.
The God Complex

As the Minotaur approaches

The Doctor: I can't save you from it. There's nothing I can do to stop this.
Amy: What?
The Doctor: I stole your childhood and now I've led you by the hand to your death. But the worst thing is I knew. I knew this would happen. This is what always happens. Forget your faith in me. I took you with me because I was vain. Because I wanted to be adored. Look at you, glorious Pond. The Girl Who Waited for me. I'm not a hero. I really am just a madman in a box. And it's time we say each other as we really are. Amy Williams. It's time to stop waiting.
--The God Complex

Amy: So. You're leaving, aren't you?
The Doctor: You haven't seen the last of me. Bad penny is my middle name. Seriously, the looks I get when I fill in a form.
Amy: Why now?
The Doctor: Because you're still breathing(...)
Amy: Even so, it can't happen like this. After everything we've been through, Doctor. Everything. You can't just drop me off at my house and say goodbye like we shared a cab.
The Doctor: What's the alternative? Me standing over your grave? Over your broken body. Over Rory's body.
--The God Complex

From what I can see, the Doctor is haunted by a sense of failure regarding Amy and Rory--even saying he "got it all wrong" with her. And especially when you add the Melody/River factor into the whole story...sometimes I wonder if he can look at her without his heart breaking because of everything that happened to her since she was Amelia, since the fish fingers and custard (I find the two uses of 'Fish fingers and custard' in season six significant--once from Amy to the Doctor to convince him to trust her, and once from the Amelia hologram, which convinced the Doctor to keep going.)
As far as story lines go, I think the time has come for the Ponds to leave the TARDIS. As much as I love them, I think they need an ordinary life, with time for Amy to mourn for Melody, the daughter she will never raise, even while she has River. Not that I want them to die, but in one of my stories from Amy's perspective, I wrote

Time travel will be the death of us. I cannot see Rory and I growing old anymore. Even the surreal Leadsworth of the Dream Lord is too mundane now. Rory's ponytail—if that was our adventure, a ponytail and a planet belly-was it foreshadowing that we can't leave the TARDIS and pick up where we left off?

As for replacement companions, my dream would be having Luke Smith from the Sarah Jane Adventures join the TARDIS. Maybe others of the gang, but definately Luke. The resulting adorkableness would reduce me to absolute babbling. Or if not Luke, maybe it's time for a proper alien companion. Maybe another species, but even a human from another planet would be cool.

Once Upon a Time

We have all read in scientific books, and indeed, in all romances, the story of the man who has forgotten his name. This man walks about the streets and can see and appreciate everything; only he cannot remember who he is. Well, every man is that man in the story. Every man has forgotten who he is. . . . We are all under the same mental calamity; we have all forgotten our names. We have all forgotten what we really are.
--Orthodoxy

Before I reach the main topic, I thought I'd remind the readers that this blog isn't just about the Whoniverse, but speculative fiction in general. And to fill the long gap between Sarah Jane Adventures and the Christmas special (not to mention the gap before season seven,)I started watching ABC's new drama "Once Upon a Time."
The premise is fairly simply. The Evil Queen, seeking revenge on Snow White and Prince Charming, cursed the whole fairy-tale land and exiled them to a place with no happy endings. But before the curse takes effect, Snow and Charming's newborn daughter Emma is placed in a wardrobe and sent away, with a prophecy that she'll return and save the kingdom on her 28th birthday.
The story opens in the modern day, with the bondsman Emma lighting a lonely cupcake on her 28th birthday. Her wish to not be alone comes true when Henry (8-10) shows up at her door, claiming two very important things. One, he's her son. Two, she's prophesied to end a curse. Henry claims all the people in his hometown are fairy tale characters under a spell that makes them forget who they really are.
The episodes shift between modern Storybrook and the fairy tale land, letting us learn about the fantasy world along with the characters. The scenes are beautiful, and the storylines are an intriging retelling of old fairy tales.
Since this is an ABC show, I was curious to see how the morals would be. Of the episodes aired to date, most of them show nothing worse than some cleavage and a few swordfights. The newest episode "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" has a main character in a one-night stand, to which another character replies that there's nothing wrong with that. Two indivuals engage in premartial sex, but the guy keeps his boxers on and the woman wears a tank top. Because of those elements, and the plots of the evil queen, I wouldn't recommend this show to anyone younger than 14, at the least.
Those elements aside, I like the show for several reasons. Henry is absolutely adorable, and the repeated theme of another life results in some great lines:
Emma: Just because you believe something doesn't make it true.
Henry: That's exactly what makes it true

Mary Margaret: What do you think stories are for? These stories--the classics. There's a reason we all know them. There a way for us to deal with our world. A world that doesn't always make sense.

Fanfiction Spotlight: Sigyn

Today's Featured Author: Sigyn
I recently joined up with the Whoniverse fiction archieve A Teaspon and an Open Mind, and Sigyn was one of the authors who intrigued me.
Warnings: Some of her stories involve sex, but the warning system at Teaspon is much better than FF because it allows content warnings
Recommended Reading:
The ones in her Sarah Jane and Leftover collections
Especially Find Me
Set during Rose's search for the Doctor, it beautifully builds on the Sarah Jane/Rose conflict from "School Reunion." Expresses my exact views on Rose.
Recommended for: People who like to savor their fics.

More Lost than Found

More Lost than Found by Jared Herd attempts to address the problem of young people leaving the church as they grow older. I was expecting to find a list of reasons and suggestions to addressing them, but what I found was something different. The author begins with his own faith journey, but most of the book directly addresses those who have walked away from Christianity and attempts to meet their concerns.
While I do not fall into that category, I was interested to see how he would address those issues. He begins with the understanding that many people have misconceptions of Jesus stemming from their early experiences with Jesus—a point engagingly made in another book I recently read “Imaginary Jesus.” He goes on to make a case that Christianity is more than the structure and institution that has grown up around it. In the words of C.S. Lewis, he attempts to “strip away stained-glass and Sunday School associations.”
HIs success in this attempt is debatable. While I read the book quickly enough, I did not find it that engaging, and his main points are not that memorable. Overall, I thought it was interesting, but I think there might be better resources on the topic.

I received a free copy of this book from Booksneeze but was not obliged to give a positive review.

Three-Part Update

1. I finally got DWM #440. Surprisingly, most of the tributes made me laugh, not cry. It had a lot of amazing pictures and producing notes. Plus, there's a SJA audio that I simply must get now, called "Judgement Day," that sounds like an amazing finish for those stories.
2. I've been watching classic series 18. Romana II, played by Lalla Ward, is absolutely brilliant. I have a new favorite Classic companion. (Sarah Jane is favorite ever!)
3. I now have a Teaspoon and an Open Mind account as Vilinye. The site has stricter posting requirements than ff.net and better warnings. I plan to keep both updated as time permits.