"The Quality of Leadership"
edited by Keith R.A. DeCandido

Big Finish's latest anthology of Doctor Who short stories is The Quality of Leadership, edited by Keith R.A. DeCandido. Perhaps best known for his Star Trek writing and editing, DeCandido has assembled a talented band of contributors, ranging from Who veterans (James Swallow) to writers more familiar to other audiences (Diane Duane), and even newcomers to the world of published fiction (Linnea Dodson). The theme is, as the title suggests, leadership - and readers are taken on an enjoyable ride through twelve stories featuring kings and queens, emperors, and aliens.

The collection opens with From Little Acorns..., the first half of a framing story from John S. Drew. The Eighth Doctor arrives on an alien world, advising the young and unprepared king-to-be with stories of leaders he has encountered in his lifetimes. The plot is a little limp, and whilst it has some funny moments it lacks enough drama to make it engaging. The idea of the Doctor sitting down campfire-style and remembering past adventures seems artificial, but is essentially successful in catalysing the rest of the stories, and placing the anthology into context. Ultimately, From Little Acorns... is a functional set-up for what's to come, and doesn't work as much else.

The first of the Doctor's tales is Peter David's One Fateful Night, which sees the Eighth Doctor masquerade as Merlin in a sort-of sequel to Battlefield. The central concept is interesting enough, and is executed successfully, and David's prose is littered with lovely humorous moments. The Doctor isn't brilliantly-characterised, however, and it's occasionally hard to imagine Paul McGann speaking some of the dialogue.

The Slave War by Una McCormack, however, features pitch-perfect portrayals of the Second Doctor and his first three companions, with a cutely cynical Polly shining. Concerning a visit to Rome in which the time travellers encounter Spartacus, the tale is simple but extremely enjoyable.

Diane Duane finally makes her Doctor Who debut (after peppering her Trek fiction with references to the show) with Goths and Robbers, a Fifth Doctor adventure with Nyssa and Tegan, featuring Emperor Theodoric. It's a wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey sort of story, with an engaging plot, which shines for its spot-on depiction of Nyssa and Tegan, with especially good interactions between the two.

Good Queen, Bad Queen, I Queen, You Queen is a splendid Fourth Doctor trip by Terri Osborne. Concerning the Doctor and Romana's encounter with Boudicca, it starts off as an ostensibly innocent but interesting yarn, before becoming something genuinely surprising and potentially-controversial towards the end, with a fantastically innovative and daring twist. Additionally, Osborne's portrayal of Romana is arguably the most successful characterisation of the entire anthology, and the author's passion for the character really shines through in the pitch-perfect dialogue. Superb.

Richard C. White is up next, with The Price of Conviction, a tale set in Germany. The story's requisite "leader", Martin Luther, doesn't make as much of an impact as a character as I'd perhaps expected, but White makes up for it with a suitably-grouchy First Doctor and a energetic and intelligent Susan, both of whom leap vividly off the page.

The Fifth Doctor and Nyssa make another appearance in Linnea Dodson's excellent God Send Me Well to Keep, a beautifully-written visit to Tudor England, a setting which Dodson captures graphically, and which seems to complement Nyssa fantastically well. This is a colourful and lively tale from a talented new author, and is perhaps another of the anthology's highlights.

The Seventh Doctor turns up on the alien world of Mitidiki in Peaceable Kingdom by Steven Savile. After a run of Earth-set stories with familiar leaders, this tale feels immediately different, but the sudden jump from the known to the unknown in the context of the anthology as a whole means it's a little harder to engage with the situation and characters. Nevertheless, Savile handles the Doctor very well, which is no easy task when he's travelling companionless, and this is a satisfying enough story.

Robert T. Jeschonek's Third Doctor story Rock Star comes next. It's another alien world story, but uses the stock setting of a music festival to maintain familiarity, and is hugely fun with some nice moments of bizarreness. My only quibble would be the (under)use of Jo Grant, who seems neglected in favour of Jeschonek's own creation Anderian Gosha - I'd have preferred for the Doctor to be travelling alone, rather than having her role diminished by a new character.

The Second Doctor returns with Jamie and Victoria in tow for Kathleen O. David's On a Pedestal, a breezy tale in which Jamie encounters his hero, William Wallace, who turns out to be a bit different than Jamie had imagined. It's a nice inconsequential piece with a fine portrayal of Jamie, and writing which evokes the Patrick Troughton era skillfully and with charm.

As the anthology begins to draw to a close, we get Clean-up on Aisle Two, a fantastic James Swallow story in which the Seventh Doctor encounters Randall, an initially unimpressive man working in a mundane job at an American all-night store, who unexpectedly possesses the quality of leadership in a surprising situation. This small-scale story contrasts nicely with the previous encounters with monarchs and knights, welcomely subverting preconceived ideas of who can be classified as a leader. Randall himself is a great character - he's easy to empathise with and his journey in the tale is heartwarming.

The final story is Allyn Gibson's The Spindle of Necessity, which breaks the mould with a very different form and structure. Written as a Platonic dialogue in which the Sixth Doctor participates, it's an interesting and mostly successful experiment, making for a refreshing and engaging read. Gibson neatly avoids any chance of becoming too bogged-down in philosophy, and creates something eminently readable from a subject matter and format which don't immediately lend themselves to this sort of thing.

An epilogue by John S. Drew rounds the collection off neatly. In contrast to his opening story, this piece works remarkably well, providing a nice coda to the anthology and rounding it off in a satisfying way. It makes The Quality of Leadership feel like one coherent adventure rather than a selection of loosely-connected vignettes, and this ultimately enhances the reading experience.

Leadership is a brilliant triumph. The stories are longer than normal for a Short Trips anthology, giving more of a chance for development and involvement, and the characterisations are (one or two misfires aside) consistently perfect. This is a group of authors who clearly know their Who, and care a lot about the characters.

All fans of classic Doctor Who should enjoy this collection; regular readers of the Short Trips series will find it one of the best anthologies to date. However, non-Who fans who choose to pick up the book due to the involvement of so many Star Trek authors may find themselves rather lost, because the book does assume a certain level of knowledge of the series. Regardless, this is a hugely enjoyable book, and it demonstrates the value of bringing in new voices to the Whoniverse. Fingers crossed that at least some of the 'newbies' return for some more trips in the TARDIS before too long . . .