Doctor Who books

Finished Deadstone Memorial and really loved it. Excellent characterisation of the Eighth Doctor in particular and the Doctor in general, and of Fitz and Trix. Very solid, carefully worked out plot. Great creepy psi/ghost stuff. Delicious! (Connections Only Kate's Brane Would Make Dept: the ending reminded me of the play from Jesus of Montreal.)

(no subject)

... not quite so impressed with The Year of Intelligent Tigers, which I'm re-reading out of curiosity. Why must every single thing start in medias res? Because the writer never plans anything properly, she just sits down and starts typing, and has to constantly flashback to explain things. It might very likely be more effective to start with Anji's tiger encounter, and show her increasingly distressed and confused state. Mind you, her very panic is a bit unconvincing - once she had escaped, wouldn't she become less bewildered and upset, not more?

Moreover, people's clothes keep mysteriously changing, and other details don't add up: if the Doctor can't improvise, what is he doing on the violin when he gets carried away? Why are they in Karl's flat in the next scene? (Various answers suggest themselves, but the point is that they're not in the text.) Mentioning Besma's "little pets" before we meet one undercuts the surprise, and means we end up with two explanations. If there was time to properly rewrite the books, these sorts of bugs could be fixed in post, but there isn't, so the only way to avoid them is planning and attention.

(no subject)

... still surprised that fans, on the whole, think Karl was in wuv with the Doctor but the Doctor didn't reciprocate. This is not unreasonable in light of canon, but, oh me oh my, I must be more subtle than I thought.

Reproductive Freedom - United States

Opponents of the morning-after pill have argued that it will increase risky sexual behaviour, and should not be available without a prescription. The Washington Post article, Morning-After Pill Study Contradicts Claim by Foes, reports on a US study involving over 2000 young women, recently published in JAMA. Some were given the drug Plan B to keep at home (ie without needing a prescription), some could obtain it by prescription from a clinic, some from a pharmacy. There was no difference in the amount of unprotected sex and STDS between the three groups.

NARAL has a petition to make Plan B available without a prescription: FDA Debating Morning-After Pill Again.