Doctor Who books (fiction, nonfiction, nonfact)

[Allyn Gibson]

Penguin Books released a podcast with James Goss and Russell T. Davies talking with Richard E. Grant about Now We Are Six Hundred.

It's an hour long and worth every minute. Grant asks some truly insightful questions about the book and Doctor Who in general. Davies hogs the microphone a bit as a number of questions relate back to what he did on the series, but Goss has quite a bit to say, too, though mainly about the book.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

This seems like a really strange tribute to me -- John and Carole Barrowman are introducing a new character, Sladen, in tribute to Lis Sladen in an upcoming Torchwood comic book. A better tribute, imho, would be to add Sarah Jane Smith to Torchwood as a cast member.

It's not out until next week, but I received a copy of the new Torchwood comic this morning at work.

Spoiler: Sladen is...

Sladen is a humaniform Vervoid that's genetically the child of Jack and Gwen. (IE., a combination of their genetic material.)

 

[Steve Roby]

Well, of course that's who Sladen is. Obvious in retrospect.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Yeah, that GIF is about my reaction. How this character is a tribute to Lis Sladen completely escapes me.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I'm caught up on The Lost Dimension, with two chapters (the second special and the Omega finale) to go.

There are some things I like about it; the core story (which runs through the Alpha and the twelfth Doctor book) isn't all that bad. The eleventh Doctor chapter, which is set on ancient Gallifrey during the days of Rassilon, was a fanwank dream (with references to what Omega did, Zagreus, and even the identity of The Other).

The things I don't like about it? There's some truly dire artwork, and artists change within a single chapter so there's no consistent "look" across a single issue.

Some random things.

I'd have liked a moment of recognition on Gabby's part when she meets the tenth Doctor again, as she remembers the events of Four Doctors, but there also wasn't any room for it. The tenth Doctor not recognizing the twelfth was a bit puzzling, though; while the Doctors don't remember the events of Four Doctors, the twelfth Doctor recently met with the tenth Doctor and told him some things he needed to know about Gabby. That said, a nice touch is the tenth believing the twelfth is his next and final incarnation, and his relationship with the twelfth is much warmer than it was in Four Doctors, probably because of that belief. Or it could be that Jenny's there and he doesn't want to have a "family fight."

The only Doctors not to appear at all yet are the seventh, eighth, and Captain Grumpy, while the first and sixth have appeared only in flashback.

Right now about half of the story so far feels superfluous. The ninth Doctor story (about what's essentially a Silurian leper colony that the Doctor is hiding from Madame Vastra) is nice, the eleventh Doctor story (about the eleventh Doctor getting stuck in Gallifreyan pre-history), the River Song story (about an archaeological dig in a Silurian off-world colony), and the fourth Doctor story (about the Doctor dealing with Krotons) don't seem to advance the main plot at all, or even have much of a connection to the main story.

This is definitely better than Supremacy of the Cybermen, but that's not hard to do.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

The final two parts of The Lost Dimension come out next week. I received copies at work today.

The second special, with the Jenny story and the second half of the River Song story, is inessential.

The finale works. It has some problems -- it could be better balanced between storylines, especially since Jenny ends up sidelined in the story -- but if it's multi-Doctor action you're craving then this issue delivers as all of the Doctors appear, including a very young War Doctor.

The eleventh Doctor chapter turns out to be vital, more vital than the ninth or tenth Doctor chapters (which really amount to a lead-up to how these Doctors reach the main plot).

All of that said, I hope this is the last comic multi-Doctor story for a while. I'm a bit burned out on them. We've had three proper ones the last five years -- Prisoners of Time, Four Doctors, and The Lost Dimension -- and stories with multiple Doctors (the FCBD specials, Supremacy of the Cybermen, Eleventh Doctor Year Two), and I'm just taxed and feeling they're not special anymore. Rest the multi-Doctor concepts for a while, Titan, so they become special again.

 

[Steve Roby]

Meanwhile, in Seasons of War news, an update on Facebook:

Seasons Of War author and editor, Declan May has, since mid-September, been hospitalised in France due to severe pneumonia and was put into an induced coma for 3 weeks due to the severity of the infection, as well as other complications. It was hit and miss for a while, but we're glad to say that, for the past 2 weeks Declan has been making a recovery and will soon be home with his family in Belfast. However, due to these unforseen events, there will inevitablly be some delays in the Seasons Of War books (Horde Of Travesties, The Curator etc) and Declan has asked us to make it clear that they will be completed for everyone who has ordered them, but asks for your patience and understanding at this time. It is a very distressing time for him and his family but Declan wanted us to pass on the word (now he is able to communicate again) that he is very, very sorry for the delays.

On behalf of Declan May & Family.​

 

[Steve Roby]

Current reading: Smoking Mirror by Lawrence Burton. He's the author of the Faction Paradox novel Against Nature, and this is a nonprofit unofficially published printing of an unpublished Doctor Who novel. If you liked The Aztecs but didn't think you learned much about Mexico before the Spanish arrived, and if you wish it had had some SF instead of being a straight historical, and you like the Sixth Doctor and Peri, don't miss this one. I can see why it wasn't officially published; it's a fair bit longer than most of the licenced novels, and Burton really shows his homework on the Mexica, something that carries through in some of his other work. But it's well done for a first novel (after a few rewrites), the characters are good, the mysteries are interesting.

(He's doing this through Lulu for the cost of printing out a copy only, he's not making money off it or promoting it as a Doctor Who book. Someone mentioned this in a discussion on Gallifrey Base and I'm glad they did.)

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I received a copy of the 2018 Free Comic Book Day Doctor Who comic that's being given away in three weeks, on May 5th.

It's nothing earth-shattering -- two stories, two previews, and a reading guide for Titan's Doctor Who comics -- but essential for anyone who read Tenth Doctor Year Three and is looking forward to Jodie Whittaker in the fall.

 

[starsuperion]

I miss Bernice Summerfield..

 

[Steve Roby]

I miss Bernice Summerfield..

Benny's not gone. The last book came out in September, the next one's out in August, and the audios are still coming. I'm horribly far behind, personally, but it's good to know all that stuff is there.

In other news, the five new Target-style novels are out. I bought Rose, by Russell T Davies, The Christmas Invasion, by Jenny Colgan, The Day of the Doctor, by Steven Moffat, and Twice Upon a Time, by Paul Cornell, but didn't get the other one, which was an abridged version of City of Death, iirc. Haven't read them yet but I'm looking forward to them.

 

[starsuperion]

what would be interesting to see is a novel series based on the Time War from Big finish..

 

[Allyn Gibson]

what would be interesting to see is a novel series based on the Time War from Big finish..

There are any number of things that a tie-in fiction line could do. Maybe, with a new producer on the television series, we'll see some of the barriers to a more expansive (and interesting) fiction line fall away.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Declan May posted an update on Facebook about the Seasons of War projects. His health has taken a bad turn, and he writes: "I am very, very proud of all that we have done but, alas, with my health in the perilous situation it is in, and the effort and stress of getting these all ready, I have to stop. I dearly hope I get to see all this work being enjoyed by you -- all of whom make up this incredible community -- and that you will enjoy what we have done."

 

[Steve Roby]

As I understand it, he moved away from the publisher of the first book and was going to do the rest -- a pretty ambitious slate of books -- by himself. That would have been a job and a half for someone who hasn't been laid low by some kind of serious illness before.

I know I'm never going to get a book or my money back from a certain small press publisher currently best known for being stomped in court by Peter S. Beagle. I have an idea which way this current situation is going, but I'm willing to be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

There's a Kickstarter I backed that's like that. If I receive it, I too will be pleasantly surprised. If not, I'm not bothered.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

For people who read Doctor Who Magazine and care about such things, there's a new 12-person Time Team. Other than Christel Dee and Jake Dudman, I have no idea who any of these people are.

I've never cared for the Time Team feature, even in the Jac Rayner/Clayton Hickman days, because there was a smarmy cliquishness to it that didn't sit well with me. But I guess it has its fans.

 

[Defcon]

I've posted this in the Trek Literature Forum's non-Trek tie-in thread, but I guess it belongs here, too:

BBC Books Announce New Thirteenth Doctor Fiction!

New work by Naomi Alderman and Juno Dawson are amongst some of the 2018 offerings for the Doctor Who list, publishing to celebrate the debut of Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor this autumn.

Penguin Random House Children’s imprint BBC Children’s Books today announces its acquisition of a brand-new Doctor Who short story from Naomi Alderman, author of The Powerand winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2017. Ruth Knowles and Tom Rawlinson of Penguin Random House Children’s acquired World Rights to the story from Veronique Baxter. Alderman’s tale features Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor battling to save the universe alongside her close and trusted friends.

The story will add to the existing 12 Doctors, 12 Stories anthology, which recounts tales for each of the previous twelve Doctors as they adventure through time and space. The new collection will publish on 1 November 2018 as Thirteen Doctors, 13 Stories, and will also include existing stories by Eoin Colfer, Michael Scott, Marcus Sedgwick, Philip Reeve, Patrick Ness, Richelle Mead, Malorie Blackman, Alex Scarrow, Charlie Higson, Derek Landy, Neil Gaiman and Holly Black.

Thirteen Doctors, 13 Stories marks Alderman’s return to the Doctor Who universe, after her 2011 novel, Borrowed Time, published by BBC Books. On 19 July, to celebrate the opening of this year’s San Diego ComicCon, BBC Books will reissue a new paperback edition of this novel, along with a new edition of collected Doctor Who stories by Jenny T. Colgan, The Triple Knife. Both will have new cover designs by artist David Wardle.

Multi-award winning author and activist Juno Dawson’s novel will mark her debut on the Doctor Who list. Entitled The Good Doctor, it will be one of the first novels on the BBC Books list to feature the Thirteenth Doctor, as played by Jodie Whittaker, and her friends Yasmin, Ryan and Graham. The book will publish in October along with two other Thirteenth Doctor adventures, The Molten Heart, by New York Times bestselling author Una McCormack and Combat Magicks, by bestselling Young Bond author Steve Cole.

Naomi Alderman says “I’m thrilled beyond words to be writing the first short story for the Thirteenth Doctor. Believe it or not, my first ever rejection letter, dated 1992, was from Doctor Who Magazine for a story I wrote as a teenager obsessed with the Doctor; I’ve loved Doctor Whosince I was a child, so it’s particularly meaningful and exciting for me to be adding my name to this anthology.”

Juno Dawson says “My earliest memory is Bonnie Langford being spun off into space in a killer bubble in 1987, so you can only imagine how excited I was when I was asked to write for the Doctor Who range. And, as a Bradford girl, it’s an even bigger thrill to be among the first writers in the world to write for Jodie Whittaker, the first Doctor from Yorkshire. This feels like a bold new era for Doctor Who and I’m beyond delighted to be a part of it. This is a dream come true.”

Ruth Knowles, Publisher at Penguin Random House Children’s, says “Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor deserves ground-breaking writing from a ground-breaking author, and we are thrilled to have someone so perfect in Naomi to bring the first female Doctor to the page. She has stunned the world with her characters, writing and ideas, and as a huge Doctor Who fan (and previous Doctor Who book writer) she was our first choice to write the Thirteenth Doctor story for this collection. This story will be, we are sure, brilliant, and the prefect addition to this stellar collection by the very best of authors.”

Albert DePetrillo, BBC Books Publishing Director, says “The excitement that’s building around the new series of Doctor Who is remarkable, and Jodie Whittaker is helping usher in a whole new era of vibrant, inclusive storytelling. We’re thrilled to be a part of that with our publishing, and authors like Naomi and Juno, Jenny, Una and Steve are the perfect ambassadors for this next chapter in the Doctor Who story. We can’t wait for them to introduce a whole new generation of fans to the wonders of the Whoniverse.”

❉ Thirteen Doctors, 13 Stories will publish on 1 November in paperback, priced £12.99 (BBC Children’s Books acquired world rights)

❉ Borrowed Time and The Triple Knife will publish on 19 July in paperback and ebook, priced £7.99 (BBC Books acquired world rights)

❉ The Good Doctor, The Molten Heart, and Combat Magicks will publish on 25 October in b-format hardback, priced £6.99 (BBC Books acquired world rights)

http://wearecult.rocks/bbc-books-announce-new-thirteenth-doctor-fiction

 

[StCoop]

I'd call this the bottom of the barrel but Big Finish have been recording "Class" audios recently so...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who...5987208&sr=1-1&keywords=doctor+who+scratchman

 

[Nightowl1701]

I'm down for it. I wasn't expecting Doctor Who and the Krikketmen to be all that good considering how patchwork and unfinished it originally was, and Goss spun it into gold that Douglas Adams would have been proud of. Plus, Tom Baker (co-)writing a Doctor Who story?? Even if it's a dumpster fire, it'll be one of the most interesting dumpster fires in recent years.