Extra! – There’s Nothing “Only” About Being a Doctor + Our Gap Months

It’s official! We have a new Doctor! And she’s a SHE. Join Deb, Erika, Katrina, and Lynne as we dive into our reactions to this truly momentous news. There were many tears, though not for all the same reasons.

But we won’t see Jodie Whittaker in the role for months. And then after that, it’ll be a lotta months before we get the next series. In our second timey-wimey segment we talk about what we’re gonna do to fill those lonely, Who-less months. “Shadow cabinet of spreadsheets,” anyone?

How do you feel about Whittaker’s impending Doctorhood? And what will you be doing while we wait for the new Doctor and new series? Let us know in the comments!

^E

New Doctor links:
Maxi-pad pool raft
Alex Kingston learns about the new Doctor
John Barrowman’s reaction
Janet Fielding’s tweets were on fire
Colin Baker’s reaction
Erika’s interview on the ABC
Our emergency recording time

Gap month links:
The Diary of River Song
The Victorian Age
Start the Music Podcast
“Gene Roddenberry Is Not a Time Lord” (Kat’s fic)
Two Idiots Listen (to Green Day): coming soon to Kat’s blog
Lazy Doctor Who
LI Who convention
Beginner’s Puck
Titan’s Doctor Who Comics
Spare Parts

Download or listen now (runtime 1:17:16) 

Episode 145 – No Toxic Boyfriend Spiral

It’s time to wrap up series 10. Le sigh. Join Deb, Erika, Lynne, and Tansy as we talk about character arcs, friendships, favorites, least favorites, and lots and lots more about the finale.

What did you think of series 10 as a whole? Let us know in the comments!

^E

Download or listen now (runtime 1:12:07) 

Episode 144 – The Doctor Falls Over

That’s it. Series 10 is over. None of us are happy to see it go, but many of us are happy about how it went. Join Erika, Katrina, Lynne, and Tansy as we hash over this finale and discuss what we might see (and what we want to see) at Christmas.

How do you think the Doctor fell? Let us know in the comments!

^E

Also covered:

• Tansy
  • successfully Kickstarted Mother of Invention!
  • discovered the excellent podcast The Web of Queer!
• Kat and Chris nab two tumblrs related to John Simm’s eyeliner!
• Lynne enjoys the heck out of Rachel Talalay’s Twitter feed!
• Erika really really REALLY enjoyed her trip to the UK and her time with friends including (but not limited to)
  • visiting “Full Circle” and “The Daemons” filming locations with Andrew Smith!
  • birthday-partying with Paul Cornell!
  • and especially recording last week’s Verity! with Caroline Symcox!

Download or listen now (runtime 1:37:37) 

Episode 143 – Cool World Enough and Time

It’s a rare on-location Verity! with an even-rarer special guest! Join Erika, Liz, and returning guest, Caroline Symcox as we discuss part one of the season finale story. It was some intense Doctor Who, and we have some intense reactions to it. We also have some wacky theorizing.

Warning: Wacky theorizing may cause disappointment when the show doesn’t do what the wacky theory said it might. Or, at least, it will if you’re Liz.

How did this part-one-of-two strike you? What are your theories? Tell us in the comments!

^E

Also covered:

• Liz is thrilled that Derek Jacobi will be playing the “War Master” in Big Finish!
• Caroline is thrilled to have us as curry-eating visitors!
• Erika is thrilled to see Liz’s real-time reaction to this DW ep!

Download or listen now (runtime 1:00:40) 

Verities Doing Stuff: Mother of Invention

Welcome to our new blog category: we all have so many projects on the go that may or may not intersect with our Verity lives (cough, hockey podcasts, cough, award-winning magazines). This is a way to keep our listeners up to date with what ELSE is going on in our worlds.

As I (Tansy) mentioned on our last episode, I’ve spent this month feeding and caring for a Kickstarter project: Mother of Invention.

Edited by Tansy Rayner Roberts & Rivqa Rafael, and published by Twelfth Planet Press, Mother of Invention will be a speculative fiction anthology of diverse, challenging stories about gender and artificial intelligence. We’re raising $20,000 to pay our authors and other upfront costs of this book, which will be published by Twelfth Planet Press alongside such previous fantastic publications as Kaleidoscope and Defying Doomsday. Our authors include such names as Kameron Hurley, Seanan McGuire, John Chu, Nisi Shawl, Cat Sparks, E.C. Myers and Ambelin Kwaymullina.

Our premise is that most stories about building/creating artificial intelligence tend to portray the creators as men, and while the robots & living computers (objects) as female. (Too many Professor Kettlewells, not enough Madame Lamias) We wanted to turn the tables a little, and see what interesting science fiction stories we could gather about women in the role of genius, creator & robotics engineer.

The REALLY exciting part is that with 8 days to go, we are at 91% already — so close to our funding target! We just announced stretch goals today, which includes an essays project, Twelfth Planet Press pins… and me personally podcasting the entire novel of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley with gender-switched pronouns.

If smart science fiction short stories are your sort of thing — our book may be exactly what you’re looking for! If you’ve never heard of the award-winning Australian micro-press Twelfth Planet Press before, there’s a fantastic deal at our $18 (Australian dollars) pledge level to get their two most recent anthologies as well as this new one. There are also reward levels involving tea and jam, because robots are delicious.

MOTHER OF INVENTION: Our anthology is going to be fierce, feminist and full of robots!

Episode 142 – The Death Eaters of Light

What a fascinating discussion this week’s Doctor Who episode lends itself to. Join Deb, Erika, and Tansy as we discuss women who are allowed to fail and still be heroes, the sexual politics of Romans, the Doctor’s (possible?) impatience, Bill’s outlook on history and its denizens, Nardole as a “space tourist”, and much more.

Erika, of all people, even has a cracktastic fan theory about the next season of the show. Incredibly unlikely, but kinda fun, depending on your outlook.

What did you think about this story? Was it slight? Were the stakes high? Was the monster the point? Was the doctor impatient or irritable or something else? What’s up with Missy? SO MANY QUESTIONS. Please feel free to play in the comment section like it’s one big happy fandom sandbox.

^E

Also covered:

• Tansy
  • Kickstarts a fabulous speculative fiction anthology of diverse, challenging stories about gender and AI, which we have all backed, and you should too!
  • attends the Australian National Science Fiction Convention and won a Ditmar Award for Best Novella or Novelette for “Did We Break the End of the World?”, from Defying Doomsday!
• Erika flashes back to #shelfwars as she and Steven prepare to move their DW materiel to a new apartment.
• Deb wants the epic flirty snark that James Goss wrote between Captain Jack and Jackie Tyler in the new Big Finish audio, The Lives of Captain Jack #2!

Download or listen now (runtime 1:09:37) 

Episode 141 – Empress of Mars Attacks

Low expectations may have helped, but all three Verities enjoyed this ep to varying degrees. Join Deb, Erika, and Katrina as we talk about what we liked and, of course, the few things we didn’t. There was some definite “iffy” territory to cover as well.

What did you think of “Empress of Mars”? Was it rollicking, fanservicey fun? Did it make you uncomfortable from a representational perspective? Possibly both? Does the title need a definitive article? Let us know in the comments!

^E

Also covered:

• Erika delighted in a Doctor Who mention by Summer Brennan on The FourFiftyOne podcast!
• Kat used Doctor Who language in a work presentation!
• Deb is excited that, according to Russel T. Davies, the new Doctor has been (or may have been?) cast!

Bonus links:
Gene Demby mentions Doctor Who
Does the dog die?

Download or listen now (runtime 1:09:40)