Details of Michael Moorcock's Doctor Who novel released

[23skidoo]

I'm intentionally opening this thread in SFF for the benefit of Michael Moorcock fans who might not think to look (or be interested in) the Doctor Who board. I would hope the mods would understand the rationale and leave this thread open here as it's intended as an FYI for non-Who fans.

After a year or so of speculation, Michael Moorcock's Doctor Who novel, Coming of the Terraphiles, has a release date (Oct 28), a cover, and BBC Books has released some details about the plot, as indicated below (note: this link may contain some spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen the finale of the current Doctor Who season). Moorcock fans will spot a familiar name in the plot blurb:

http://gallifreynewsbase.blogspot.com/2010/07/bbc-books-for-autumn.html

Between Neil Gaiman writing for the TV series, and Moorcock writing for the novels, Doctor Who is definitely gaining some pretty good street cred in the authorship department (even though Terry Pratchett probably lost his shot at writing one given his recent comments about the show).

I'm curious as to what Moorcock fans think about their favorite writer doing Doctor Who. Any concerns that he's "slumming"? Are you looking forward to the Doctor Who multiverse becoming part of Moorcock's (which, in turn, will also tie Moorcock into the Tommy Westphail Universe?*).

And from a Who fan's perspective, I'm curious to see if there's anyone out there who has never cracked a Doctor Who novel before -- or even watched the series -- but who will now give it a shot for the Moorcock novel. (Same question applies to anyone who's never watched Who on TV but plans to check out the Gaiman episode next year).

Alex

*I'll let you Google that term if you don't know it. It's a bit of a mind-bender.

 

[All-Seeing I]

I read some Moorcock when I was younger, and having read the Dancers At The End Of Time series again recently, I have to say I think his writing style and sense of humour will be perfectly suited to Dr Who; the main character, Jherek Carnelian, a man out of his time and sometimes finding it difficult to interact with or even understand the cultures of more primitive times, kind of reminded me of Matt Smith in "The Lodger".

And I see the book has a character called Captain Cornelius in it - whether his first name is Jerry or not, I'm happy.

 

[Chaos Descending]

I've only ever read The Warhound and the World's Pain, and I liked it just fine, so perhaps I'll check this out too.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Why would Pratchett's comments "lose him a shot" (as if that should matter - the guy's been knighted )? Didn't look like anything insulting there.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I've never read any of his books but know of him from fans and friends who have...have been curious to check out his Doctor Who novel.

 

[Davros]

The Doctor does fit in well with his concept of the Eternal Champion.