The Grief Collector

"She had no more tears left to cry."

Writer: Justin Richards

Format: Short Story

Released: August 2026

Printed in: Time Lord Fairy Tales 13

Featuring: Tenth Doctor 

Synopsis

We are all stories in the end...

Sixteen tales of ancient wonder and mystery, passed down through generations of Time Lords. 

Dark, beautiful and twisted, these stories are filled with nightmarish terrors and heroic triumphs from across all of time and space.

Verdict

The Grief Collector was a really strong adventure to continue my way through the Time Lord Fairy Tales collection of short stories! I'm nearing the end of the book now with just a couple more stories to finish things off so it's inevitable that the Tenth Doctor would show up in some form! He was actually the incarnation that was explicitly named here which felt like a big deal for the stories in the collection so far and if it was going to be anyone, it just had to be him. He didn't feature much other than a few cameo appearances but his presence was felt and that was all that was needed. I was surprised he did get named as he was easily identifiable by the description of his pinstriped suit and I actually think it would have been better to keep going with just giving clues and hints as to his identity. As the reader, we can easily work out who it is and which incarnation, but given this is supposed to be a Time Lord fairy tale I'm not sure how it works chronologically with the Tenth Doctor featuring. There can't really be a fairytale created after the Time War considering all of the Time Lords were dead. The Doctor was just on hand as more of a guiding hand though when it came to helping Melina. She was a really strong character as the lead for this story and her meeting with the Grief Collector was pretty brutal. He was offering unfathomable amounts of money seemingly in return for nothing at all. She was just required to give up the tears of her wedding day which didn't sound like a lot on paper. Of course, she was thinking that it would be the happiest day of her life so why would she cry? Except the Grief Collector was one step ahead of the game. He had prepared to make the most special day of her life actually the most miserable. I did suspect the Trickster would be at play when it came to the wedding day and Varan had seemingly vanished off the face of the Earth, but his memory still lingered so that ruled him out. I think he'd get on with the Grief Collector rather well though if I'm being honest! He just seemed to have a storage problem. I thought the concept behind the Grief Collector was excellent and I think the only thing holding this story back from a higher or even a perfect rating was a bit more background on his purpose. Does he feed on the tears? Where does he get the money? And just what is he, exactly? I understand this is a short story so there isn't a huge amount of room to play with, but just a line or two would have helped in my opinion. Melina taking it upon herself to find others impacted by the Grief Collector was great but I must also say the scale being so contained to her locality felt a tad off. I liked that she got into his residence though and found Varan and the tears she had cried for him along with thousands of others. It was a daunting image and I don't think the illustration quite did it justice. Her screams actually resonating with the glass to the point that it fractured them to free the prisoners and the tears that were cried for them was a nice touch and seems like the right kind of resolution for this format. It's quick and easy. Victoria would be proud! Melina should be proud and I'd say she had strong companion capabilities, but she had her place. Love conquered all. Overall, a great read to continue the collection! 

Rating: 8/10