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Further Reviews!

(Of Professor Howe and the Toothless Tribe)

Two "rival" publishers have kindly provided these great reviews of The Toothless Tribe which is raising money for Children in Need. Maybe you should take their advice and buy it too!

Stuart Douglas (Obverse Books) has kindly written this:-

Christopher Samuel Stone is a force of nature, leaving we lesser mortals behind with the amount of energy he puts into his many projects - and with the splendidly named Professor Howe series of Doctor Who parodies, he shows no sign of slowing down in his quest to raise as much cash as possible for charity.

That said, the thing with Doctor Who parodies is that, far more often than not, they end up being, well...a bit shit. Three bad puns and a collapsing cardboard wall is enough for most to drag out a five minute sketch. Have a TARDIS that's actually an outside loo or a wheelie bin, dress like an arse and bob's your uncle - job done!

There are exceptions - 'Curse of Fatal Death' by some bloke called Steven Moffat, that set of Doctor Who Night sketches by Mark Gatiss in which they kidnap Peter Davison...eh, and that's it really. But maybe that's enough to spot a trend - the good parodies are written by folk who really love the show. And Stone clearly really loves the show. Starting off with a pretty unusual job interview and swiftly rocketing off from there into Doctor Who's first story and then beyond that into all sorts of concerns, both ancient and very modern, the tale of Alania and co joins a very select group.

Professor Howe goes for a wide-angle lens in its satirical scope, moving from the groan worthy pun to the razor sharp comic critique and back again - often in the same paragraph. But there's a story in there too, and some more than decent writing, alongside the talking sofas and fanboy references (neither of which are in any way a bad thing, I might add!).

Reminiscent of the Target range rather than the gritty New Adventures, this is a really easy read which any Who fan will enjoy immensely, and which even non-Who fans who've never heard of 'An Unearthly Child' should get a kick from.

There are sequels in the works, but they depend on people buying and reading this - well worth eight quid of anyone's money!

And from Ian Mclaughlin (Thebes Publishing) :-

My current reading PROFESSOR HOWE AND THE TOOTHLESS TRIBE by Christopher Samuel Stone actually, it's not my current reading because I didn't want to put it down and I just finished it. It's a cracking read, a delicious parody, full of affection for Doctor Who, and full of really sharp humour. There are some delightfully groanworthy puns but some really incisive gags that hit the mark with the fanboy in me. I really like that it hit me with gags of all kinds. I laughed a lot. I'd heartily recommend it and I'm looking forward to the reading the sequels.