I absolutely do. My review ends with ‘utter, utter delight’. A bonafide 5/5.
Iris Wildthyme: The Land of Wonder is my other lowest rated Magrs story though if I’m honest that’s less the story and more I found the sound design quite unbearable. Stones of Venice is also kind of ehhh to me.
I haven’t experienced many of his stories, only stones of Venice which I enjoyed and his iris audios which I also enjoyed but frankly couldn’t tell you a thing about because I listened to those on bad days and wasn’t even remotely following the plot
Ahhh lovely, I will put a pin on your review since it includes some spoilers! Excited to get around to that book then!
Oh, okay yeah can’t comment on that sadly, since I haven’t listened to that one. As for Stones of Venice, I like it because it has the <<VIBES<< but yeah overall not the best Story in the World.
@Jae That’s fair! Hope you enjoy those Audios, they definitely are good when you have a bad day! I do highly recommend other Stories that he did, he’s great! Especially with the fifth Doctor, In Wonderland is such a Highlight!
Oh, I will get around to them eventually for sure! I’m just forever cursed with having only 24 hours in a day
You can always borrow my Tardis if you like
How do you pronounce the guy’s name? Don’t know much of his work, but I’ve only ever seen it written down.
Silent G - ‘Mars’
Thanks (12 characters)
Alright, I promised @RandomJoke I’d do a top 10 Paul Magrs stories, so here it is!
I specifically waited until I finished Mad Dogs and Englishmen before attempting this post, and it nearly made the list– it’s an utter joy to read– but not quite!
This was such a difficult list to do. I restricted it to only pure Doctor Who, but even so many favourites have been left off! It’s in a vague sort of order, but the top 5 are basically interchangeable.
10. Aladdin Time, from the Nest Cottage Chronicles
I love the way Paul Magrs builds stories out of other stories. His writing is full of fairytales and folklore, and in this one he takes the rambling madness of 1001 Nights and weaves a magical little questing tale in its coils. I’m so looking forward to 1001 Nights in Time and Space coming out later this year!
9. Muse of Fire
Joy, sunshine and art in 1930s Paris. This one is so fun and I can’t wait to get to it in my 7/Ace/Hex relisten. And Panda!!
8. The Peterloo Massacre
Probably the most serious and dangerous a Magrs story has ever felt. The Peterloo Massacre is a blindingly good pure historical. The dread and tension that builds across the four parts is almost too much to bear.
7. The Longest Story in the World, from Short Trips and Side Steps
Back in the territory of 1001 Nights. This is a brief and strikingly meta story that puts 60s Who through a looking glass. Some of Magrs’s short stories are fascinating, open-ended questions, more disquieting and unnerving than fun. Femme Fatale from More Short Trips is another one and also recommended!
6. The Stones of Venice
Putting this one so high is a bit silly, because it’s certainly not as good as #10-7, but it’s such a personal favourite of mine. This is the Big Finish story that always makes me feel happy. I can just throw it on and bask in the dingy, rich atmosphere of a Venice about to fall into the depths. And the music is gorgeous!
5. Find and Replace
I love Jo, I love Iris, I love the Novelisers from Verbatim Six (Ringpullworld and Imaginary Boys, that last from the BBC Radio 4– are also huge favourites). This one is so much fun and the ending still makes me cry!
4. The Wormery
I also recently relistened to this one. What a delight of a story! The setting is so rich and atmospheric, the plot is a beautiful parody of itself, the characters are so strong, the framing device…
3. The Scarlet Empress
Giant parrots! Golden bears! Giant cyborg lesbian spiders! An alien queen in a jar of jam! Fantasy and magic and darkness and joy!
2. The Blue Angel
The sections in the Observe are just SO. They’re everything to me. What a beautiful, weird, complex, meta book!
1. Kept Safe and Sound, from Short Trips: Companions
This one is my favourite Doctor Who short story, and one of my favourite short stories of all time. The most vital concepts in Paul’s work, it seems to me, are stories and storytelling itself. Those books you read as a child that capture your imagination like nothing on Earth. Those stories, those songs, that one silly, wonky, wobbly old TV show… those stories that speak to you and make you feel seen and whole. That’s what Kept Safe and Sound is about, and that’s exactly how Paul Magrs’ writing makes me feel. What a man.
And that’s my top 10! Just a few of my most beloved Whio stories. (And if you got the end of this post and you read the whole thing, I love you very much!)
Indeed, I did read the whole Post. Very lovely Ranking! I am surprised to see how many Stories I actually have experienced from this List (if you are curious, it would be around 6 or 7).
Great List those which I have experienced I can only agree with, even if I am not too massive on Aladdin Time (don’t get me wrong it’s a fun Time and quite lovely, but I probably put it a bit lower when it comes to Magrs Works). Then again I am only delighted that you love it as much as you do, after all having so many Stories and so many Opinions on them is the Beauty of Discussing Doctor Who, isn’t it?
Either way, great Ranking! And I really appreciate it that you remember doing it! Great work
A good list but where’s Verdigris? I love that book.
It’s not there because I haven’t read it yet! Now I’ve finished Mad Dogs it’s the last class Who novel from him I have left…
Whew, I’m not the only person who didn’t care for The Wormery. Kudos @MrColdStream! It started off great, but as it went on the story itself got less and less interesting. Excluding the cuddle in the car, I couldn’t even tell you what happened in that story after Iris showed up.
I loved The Vanity Box, though, with Six and Mel. Definitely one of my favorite Mel stories. Outside of Big Finish, I listened to another audio he wrote for Tom Baker and Colin called Baker’s End which was complete nonsensical quirkiness, but I have nothing negative to say about it despite only listening to part 4/4 with Colin. It was a bit weird because they were playing themselves, but if you want to see either them act like Cat Kings, that’s the audio for you.
I’m not a comedy fan at all (no Douglas Adams or PG Wodehouse for me, though I was entertained by Shada), but I do like when BF audios don’t take themselves too seriously. I suppose the female version of him would be Jacqueline Rayner and she’s one of my favorites at BF. Magrs hasn’t written enough in Six’s range for me to have an actual opinion on him.
Oh, Baker’s End brings me nothing but joy. (It should absolutely be on tardis.guide– I wonder if it’s on a spreadsheet somewhere?)
The only thing is, it isn’t about Doctor Who. Once you add that, I feel like it would lead to every DW writer’s bibliography being added to the site regardless if it fits the theme. But that’s a conversation for that other thread from a few weeks ago.
Baker’s End is on the Bafflegab part of the spreadsheet! The stories are a sequel to, and apparently sorta feature characters from the Nest Cottage Chronicles (so I’ve been listening to those in preparation) which sounds like a valid enough reason to have them on here.
They do feature other characters from Magrs’ Who stories, like Vince Cosmos. I’d say they’re as much Who as the BBV audios are. And yes, they’re also very much a Nest Cottage sequel (with added Katy Manning!).
I don’t know what a Vince Cosmo or a Nest Cottage is, but sounds good to me haha.
Read it as soon as you can - it’s ace!