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"ICONS: SHIRLEY JACKSON AND THE CHAOS BOX – A BOX FULL OF RAGE AND RUSHED IDEAS"

Kalynn Bayron’s Icons: Shirley Jackson and the Chaos Box has the distinction of being the only Doctor Who: Icons novella to feature a companion—namely Ruby Sunday—accompanying the Fifteenth Doctor. Set during the earliest days of their travels, this story explores the eerie, unsettling realm of one of America’s most influential horror authors. Or at least, it tries to.

A WRITER OF TERROR MEETS AN ALIEN ENGINE OF ANGER

The central concept isn’t without promise. Shirley Jackson—best known for her chilling short story The Lottery—is portrayed as a reluctant protagonist, one whose macabre sketches have unwittingly captured a strange box that turns out to be an alien artefact. Enter the Ursa, angular, insectoid aliens who feed on chaos and rage, using the titular box to inflame human tempers through rumour, paranoia, and emotional manipulation.

It’s an allegory with teeth: how easily humanity can be driven to violence by baseless ideas, how anger spreads virally, and how truth is often less influential than the loudest lie. But despite its thematic potential, Chaos Box doesn’t quite know what to do with itself.

NOT QUITE JACKSON, NOT QUITE DOCTOR WHO

The Doctor and Ruby should be the beating heart of the story, especially given that it’s the only Icons novella with a proper TARDIS team. Unfortunately, both are written with a flatness that’s hard to ignore. The Doctor—so usually a whirlwind of eccentricity and conviction—here feels generic, dishing out exposition about Jackson’s work in a way that reads more like a Wikipedia summary than lived experience. Ruby fares no better, reduced to bland observations and lines that feel written more for the reader’s benefit than for character consistency.

Even the framing device—having the Doctor and Ruby recap their recent adventures—comes across as awkwardly expository, especially for a novella as short as this. It wastes time that could have been spent building tension, developing character, or exploring the implications of the Chaos Box itself.

Shirley Jackson, the supposed icon of the piece, is oddly sidelined. While present throughout the story, she never really gets a moment to shine or a clear role in resolving the conflict. She often feels like a passive observer rather than an active participant in her own story.

THE URSA DISAPPOINTMENT

The Ursa, the alien antagonists, are introduced with promise: two angular, elegant, and sinister beings orchestrating a plot to stoke human fury. But instead of following through on this premise with creeping dread or social commentary, the story breezes past their motivations and ends with a literal deus ex spaceship. A benevolent Ursa descend from the skies and talks the villains out of their plan with all the drama of a polite intervention. It's not just anti-climactic—it's narratively deflating.

There’s an attempt at resolution through a speech about love, hope, and how humanity can choose better, but it feels unearned. The tension never escalates enough to justify the moral, and the rushed conclusion undermines what could have been a chilling critique of human susceptibility to anger and hysteria.

📝THE BOTTOM LINE:

Shirley Jackson and the Chaos Box has an intriguing premise and some timely ideas, but the execution feels rushed and undercooked. The Doctor and Ruby are blandly characterised, Shirley is barely present, and the central conflict fizzles out rather than explodes. As an Icons entry, it underuses its historical figure and over-relies on exposition. It’s short, shallow, and sadly forgettable.

Rating: 4/10

Such a strong ruby n 15 story I wish we got a story like this in the tv show cause it really shows there bond I feel Shirley Jackson is also a delight like Ruby I knew the name but couldn’t place it such a good book for the icons range

A book that was way too short. The Doctor praising Shirley’s work was a bit too preachy. Even more so than in the TV Show’s Celeb Historical.