John Barrowman/Jack Harkness Thunk thread

[Elizabeth Bartlett]

awww...that's so sweet! and you never know, he might write back!

[Valaslonglostsister]

I hope he writes back to you ^_^

[Kady]

I hope he writes back to you ^_^

I hope so too. The letter doesn't sound daft does it? There was so many things that i put in the inital letter, that i had to heavily edit the letter.

[Valaslonglostsister]

No it sounds great! ^_^

[Kady]

hey guys! Remember that letter i wrote and sent on August 3rd? Well i've recieved a reply! Not off JB himself, but its still a reply! Yay!!

Dear Kady,

Thank you so much for writing. John receives so many messages that he is unable to reply to them all personally, but he really does appreciate that people take the time to write to him.

John is always delighted to know how much people have enjoyed his performances and it's great to know that you had a good time at the concert in May. Thank you for explaning about your cochlea implant ("bionic ear"!). There's a DVD of the concerts (filmed in Glasgow) coming out in November so that would give you the opportunity to replay the parts you weren't able to hear at Liverpool and relive John singing your favourite songs.

Good to know that Daniel is gathering a fanbase too!

All the best,

Carole Gordon

[Valaslonglostsister]

Nice Kady ^___^

[zuz]

The Twilight Streets has to be one of my favorite TW books (the other being Almost Perfect )
...

I'm back from London. And I got myself three TW books: The House That Jack Built, Pack Animals and Bay of the Dead. YAY!

There was a special 3 for 2 deal at Waterstone's so I simply got to get three TW books instead of two. I had to, I really did.

I finished Bay of the Dead so far. And I have to say it isn't as bad as I feared expected - the book dealing with zombies and all.

To make up for the OT post:

[Elizabeth Bartlett]

I'm back from London. And I got myself three TW books: The House That Jack Built, Pack Animals and Bay of the Dead. YAY!

There was a special 3 for 2 deal at Waterstone's so I simply got to get three TW books instead of two. I had to, I really did.

I finished Bay of the Dead so far. And I have to say it isn't as bad as I feared expected - the book dealing with zombies and all.

Spoiler:

I didn't like Pack Animals, the pace was so slow and the plot was kinda dumb.

I have to wait for the next three (House that Jack Built, Bay of the Dead and Into the Silence) to come out in the US

[zuz]

Spoiler:

I didn't like Pack Animals, the pace was so slow and the plot was kinda dumb.

I have to wait for the next three (House that Jack Built, Bay of the Dead and Into the Silence) to come out in the US

Bay of the Dead was enjoyable enough but it had one major flaw. [see bellow]

What I really liked about the book:
I loved how Gwen was written. The author, Mark Morris, actually made me like Gwen. *gasp, shock, horror*
There's lots of Rhys and it can never be a bad thing.
Gwen/Rhys relationship is portrayed very well.
PC Andy gets to shine.
The whole story takes place in Cardiff and the author describes the city in such a way that I often felt compelled to dig up a map and have a look where the heroes are at the particular moment.
EDIT: I forgot to mention the cover. It has Ianto on it. Yay!

What annoyed me a little:
The prologue was unnecessary long. You keep wondering when Jack, Ianto or Gwen are going to appear for the first time.
The main plot is about zombies storming Cardiff, hardly a Nobel prize material.
The final explanation "why and how zombies appeared in Cardiff" was shabby.
Deus ex machina solution at the end didn't bother me that much - it's Torchwood after all. Deus ex machina is bound to happen.

What I didn't like at all:
Mark Morris can't write Janto. He really can't. That's a fact. His attempts at Jack/Ianto banter are not so bad [but nowhere near excellent]. Anything else regarding the relationship as it is written in Bay of the Dead is just plain weird or patently OOC. There's a scene that illustrates my point quite well. I paraphrased it in a way that is I hope relatively unspoilery, but better safe than sorry.

Spoiler:

At one point Torchwood SUV with Jack and Ianto inside gets surrounded by a group of zombies, they can't drive through the crowd and leaving the car would be a suicide. The conversation goes like this:
I: We need a plan.
J: I'm going out of the car. [and by that you would achieve exactly what?!]
I: You're out of your mind. [Amen to that.] The zombies will kill you, rip you apart and then they will eat you.
J: I have always liked new experiences. [WTF?!]*Jack prepares to leave the car then as an afterthought he leans forward and kisses Ianto on the forehead* [WTF?...Wait a minute ... he's going to die a horrible death and he kisses Ianto on the forehead?!]
I: O.K. I won't argue with you. [WTF?!] BUT ... If you're going I'm going with you. [WHAT?!]
J: Ianto... I can survive everything but you're going to die and you'll stay dead. [ORLY?] You're not going. And that's my last word.
I: It's my decision, Jack. And I want to do it. I'll go with you and I'll be ripped apart and eaten by zombies. *Ianto stomps his not so little foot*[And what a cheery prospect that is!]
J: O.K. If that's what you want, let's both go out in a blaze of glory. You ready? [This is an actual quote, honestly.]
I: Ready.
J. Now!

Apparently, I paraphrased the dialogue. My thoughts are in red. But the last three lines are actual quotes from the book. No kidding.

When reading that I felt like in a twilight zone. It's just so patently OOC. I refuse to believe that Jack would let Ianto throw away his life in such a way, not to mention there's nothing to be gained from the two of them leaving the car. Fortunately we have CoE Day 1, that showed us how exactly Jack feels about Ianto dying [with him]

I know that there are some fans who buy TW books for Janto only. Unlike Twilight Street and Almost Perfect, this book won't make them happy. Believe me.

[Elizabeth Bartlett]

What I really liked about the book:

There's lots of Rhys and it can never be a bad thing.
Gwen/Rhys relationship is portrayed very well.
PC Andy gets to shine.
the cover. It has Ianto on it. Yay!

Those are three excellent reasons to read it right there

[zuz]

Those are three excellent reasons to read it right there

at the third reason.

the cover. It has Ianto on it. Yay!

It reminds me that one of the books from the next batch, The Undertaker's Gift, should have had a Ianto cover but the publisher changed it to Jack cover recently. I may dig out a photo evidence somewhere on my HD. Any reason to ogle the prettiness of Jack and Ianto is good enough for me.

Here they are:

[Elizabeth Bartlett]

you can never go wrong with Ianto on the cover of a book (even if he does look like he forgot to put the rest of his clown make-up on )

those covers look awesome, although I like the one with Jack on it better.

[zuz]

you can never go wrong with Ianto on the cover of a book (even if he does look like he forgot to put the rest of his clown make-up on )

I was ogling the Twilight Street cover just a few minutes ago.

those covers look awesome, although I like the one with Jack on it better.

Yeah, I prefer that one, too. Jack looks great there (shallow I know ) and the whole cemetery idea appeals to me better than the monster/corpse in the vault.

The summary of the story looks interesting, too.

Torchwood should be ready for anything – but with Jack the target of an invisible killer, Gwen trapped in a forgotten crypt and Ianto Jones falling desperately ill, could a world of suffering be the Undertaker’s gift to planet Earth?

the rest of the summary here

The idea of Gwen trapped in a forgotten crypt with that creature from the cover makes me smile. Does that mean I'm evil?!

[Elizabeth Bartlett]

Yeah, I prefer that one, too. Jack looks great there (shallow I know ) and the whole cemetery idea appeals to me better than the monster/corpse in the vault.

and while I love Ianto (who doesn't?) I think that the one with Jack fits better given the title.

The idea of Gwen trapped in a forgotten crypt with that creature from the cover makes me smile. Does that mean that I'm evil?!

that me smile too...am I a evil person as well?

[zuz]

I've been going through my HDD and I came across lots and lots shiny relatively new pictures of JB.

These are from this year's Robin Hood panto promo shoot:

And these were taken during the Cardiff DVD signing event: