The Dead Travel Fast

"You believe a human can comprehend the trauma I have endured?"

Writer: Mark Wright

Format: Short Story

Released: November 2020

Printed in: I Am The Master 02

Featuring: The Master

Synopsis

Holidaying in Whitby, Bram Stoker is plunged into a world of horror when a grandfather clock washes to shore together with the hideous remains of the dying Master – who will do anything to survive.

Verdict

The Dead Travel Fast was an excellent continuation of the I Am The Master: Legends of the Renegade Time Lord collection of short stories! This was certainly a vast improvement upon Anger Management which opened the book and this was just a tremendous look into the life of the decaying version of the Master we first saw in The Deadly Assassin. Of course, as far as the Master is concerned this adventure must take place between that story and The Keeper of Traken so it's good to get a prose insight into what this incarnation was going through in his desperate struggle to survive between those serials. I thought this version of the Master was written so well and I loved the diary extract format of storytelling. I thought that was perfect for a short story such as this one and it was also pretty unique which makes it a good and intriguing part of the collection. I thought Bram Stoker was a really strong character to tell his story of meeting the Master and getting insight on what it was like to experience the will of the renegade Time Lord was marvellous. It worked really well to have the time period being 1890 as a nineteenth century man from this era was sophisticated and intelligent enough to challenge the Master, but wasn't able to quite explain his mental power and will. I thought it was a really clever choice and the character was just really good. He was interesting and I also enjoyed how the story's events played out over the course of around a week. The gaps in the extracts being down to an inability to explain what overcame Stoker was brilliant in explaining that he was obviously under the will of the Master. That was clear enough by the fact that he had pulled the grandfather clock from the sea and then up 199 steps! The Master was presented as being desperate which worked very well and his desire for life being to get revenge upon the Doctor was a nice addition to the story. Him blaming his arch nemesis for coming to the end of his regeneration cycle does need a little more explanation though! Surely that can't be the Doctor's fault? Unless he/she is the cause of a number of unseen regeneration? Now that would be something! The Master mentioning how he endured a failed regeneration was intriguing and I liked the possibility of it suggesting that he didn't even know he was at the end of his regenerative cycle. The fact that he was firmly degenerating was also terrific and showed what he was enduring to stay alive. The comment where he sharply stated that he burned himself to stay alive was incredibly powerful. I liked how Stoker was impacted by his experience with the Master and so much so that his appearance noticeably changed to the horror of Miss Stokes and Miss Smith. The Master trying to use rats as a way of furthering his life and harnessing minimal artronic energy was fantastic and I also really liked how Stoker drew the line when the Master realised he would have to upgrade to human life now. His challenging of the Master's attempts of a forceful obey was superb stuff. Murder was where the line was drawn and I thought that was great stuff. The moment where the Master's TARDIS was sent into dematerialising by a fiddling Stoker was fantastic and the panic of the Master was so clear which highlighted the seriousness of his predicament. I enjoyed that greatly. I adored the way things ended with Stoker realising he had escaped a troubled week, but was still haunted by the appearance and maniacal nature of the Master and hoped that he would never be coming back. Overall, a terrific little read!

Rating: 9/10