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Geek Tragedy
Geek Tragedy
Geek Tragedy
Ebook334 pages6 hours

Geek Tragedy

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

2.5/5

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Mervyn Stone does not look like a special man. His nose is too big,his hair is always on the point of open rebellion, and he appears to have put his clothes on in the dark. He looks like a hedge which has been dragged through a man backwards. However, he is special in one very important respect. Mervyn was script editor of the BBC television series Vixens from the Void, a ‘Dynasty in Space’ soap opera which gripped the nation in the 1980s; an intergalactic glitter-themed shoulder-padded bitchfest featuring wobbly spaceships, wobblier women and the wobbliest performances ever. Mervyn is never allowed to forget his guilty past. The fans won’t let him.

This is why, twenty years later, Mervyn reluctantly finds himself at ConVix 15, a science fiction convention. It’s a funny thing; it seems everywhere Mervyn’s dormant career takes him, there are murders. Here’s another funny thing. Mervyn, with his script editor’s eye for sorting out plot-holes in stories, seems to be the only one able to solve them.

If only he’d taken that job on Bergerac…
LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 30, 2013
ISBN9781844359905
Geek Tragedy

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Rating: 2.6666667222222222 out of 5 stars
2.5/5

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I'm not the biggest fan of Nev Fountain's previous comedy work – "Dead Ringers" and "Elephants to Catch Eeels" both left me cold – but enjoyed his "Doctor Who" audio plays, where the comic elements were disciplined by the necessity of plot. If his "Doctor Who" work didn't hint at it, "Geek Tragedy" will show you he knows his stuff when it comes to sci-fi geeks (that's a picture of his missus, former Who girl Nicola Bryant, on the cover). Mervyn Stone is the former script editor of an old BBC sci-fi series, "Vixens from the Void", and he's attending his first convention after a few years off the circuit. Past affairs are rekindled, old grudges remembered and former colleagues killed – and Mervyn's story-editing skills find a new purpose in stitching it all together. It'd be easy and not unfair to describe this as Simon Brett by way of "Cruise of the Gods", but it never has the warm-hearted pay-off of the latter. Even as someone who's only skirted organised fandom, the pettynesses and prides of the geek community are recognisable. A lot of the book panders to stereotypes, but mostly where the popular image is fair. There is, however, a certain mean-spirited-ness about it all, and the allowances made for 'normal' fans are apologetic and perfunctory. In it's debt to Brett – one acknowledged by the author – the book's more successful. The conflicting feelings of cast and crew to their old show are interesting, and no doubt (given Fountain's background) honest. You're left wondering if he's referencing anyone in particular with Mervyn's lothario status.The mystery isn't watertight – the problem with having a script editor as your protagonist is it encourages the audience to spot weaknesses – but for all the rough edges, there's a fun romp to be had here. The characters are big, nasty and memorable, the incidents plentiful and Fountain's prose littered with clever gems (make sure you read and compare the schedules that intersperse chapters carefully). "Geek Tragedy" is for fans of British sci-fi, rather than crime buffs, but there're two more books in the series and I'm sure Fountain will even out the scales between the two. Worth a weekend booking.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Funny stuff, and more revelatory about Fan Conventions than you could imagine. While no one real person is specifically spoofed in the story, it's possible to recognize everyone and oneself during the action. That said, no one is laughed at, as its take on the situation is far more celebratory than one of a mocking tone. Very humorous, full of surprises, and a fair smattering of smut. Imagine "Carry On…" crossed with every episode of "Doctor Who" and the nit-picking of SF fans. Worth your time.

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Geek Tragedy - Nev Fountain

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