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Splinter of Eternity

a short story in Master Pieces
The Master as I wrote him in this - the TARDIS background was nicked off the internet. Apologies to its creator. Great work, by the way. I wanted a Master who was charming and utterly immoral but not eye-rolling bonkers.
I have a short story, Splinter of Eternity, in this charity anthology about the Doctor's best enemy, the Master.
I adored Roger Delgado's Master but I've been hot and cold on the others, so when I heard about this anthology I wasn't sure about pitching something. I'd just done a Target length piece for the Unbound anthology. But then I started thinking about the Master, what I had liked about him when I first saw him, about what he was in relation to the Doctor, about who I would cast as the Master if I had the chance to create a new incarnation, about what kind of character I would want my version of the Master to be.
I don't like the Master to be crazy or insane. I don't like him cackling or taking on minor acts of larceny or mischief. He had to be classy; he had to have a plan of some grandeur and scale. I wanted him to be witty and charming...
I wanted him to be the Doctor... if the Doctor was an utterly amoral villain. And here's my choice... Hugh Grant as the Master.
Yes, charming, witty, funny Hugh Grant... wouldn't he be glorious as the Master?
Now, as it turns out, after I wrote the story the book was announced as being for The Stroke Association.
Why did that make me so pleased to be involved? Early in 2019 I collapsed several times. My heart was sending out wonky messages to my brain. I was put on what amounted to stroke-watch until the meds sorted me out. It scared the hell out of me. This book feels close to home for me. You can find it here.
The story is a heist... and it's the first time I've used Erimem and her friends in a story outside of Thebes. I almost did a second but ran out of time.
DOCTOR WHO JAMES BOND SHERLOCK HOLMES ERIMEM COMMANDO KERIDES THE THINKER
IAIN MCLAUGHLIN
contact@iainmclaughlin.com
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