New Past Doctor Adventures novels?

[JD]

I was just looking at the Past Doctors Adventures on The Tardis Index File (the Dr. Wiki) yesterday, and it said that two new PDA novels are coming out in 2012. But that was all it said. So I was wondering, is there anything known about them other than the fact that they might be coming out?

 

[Count Zero]

Ooh, exciting if true. I hope one of them features Three.

 

[Lonemagpie]

They're two of the big-name-guest-author books, one's Stephen Baxter's Second Doctor book The Wheel Of Ice, and the other is Alastair Reynolds's Third Doctor book Harvest Of Time.

They're not a new Past Doctor range, though, just new hardbacks in the range, like Moorcock and Dan Abnett's 11th Doctor books, that happen to feature past Doctors

There's also a novelisation of Shada by Gareth Roberts.

 

[ClayinCA]

Well, Stephen Baxter is supposedly writing a Second Doctor novel, and Gareth Roberts is novelising Douglas Adams' script for Shada, which is due out in, I think, March. I do seem to recall reading that someone else was doing a Third Doctor novel, but I can't remember any specifics.

Edited to add: Ah, I see David has beaten me to it!

 

[The Wormhole]

I thought the Alastair Reynolds novel wasn't due out until 2013?

Gareth Roberts is novelising Douglas Adams' script for Shada, which is due out in, I think, March.

Amazon claims the Shada novelization will be out March 15. I don't know how trustworthy that is though.

 

[timothy]

Any idea when they might start releasing Dr.who novels for the nook?

 

[Count Zero]

Wow, Alastair Reynolds writing a novel featuring the Third Doctor? That sounds like some fan's wet dream. I really like Reynolds' Revelation Space books - the ones I've read so far, anyway - so I'm really looking forward to this one.

 

[JD]

They already have. I haven't bought anything from there yet, but I got a link to them through Random House, the company that publishes the books for BBC.

 

[Lonemagpie]

I just wish, if they're going to go with the big-name-SF-guest-writer thing, that they'd get Pratchett and Neal Asher to do some... (Ideally an Agent Cormac crossover, in the latter case)

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Or perhaps even better: Neil Gaiman.

 

[The Wormhole]

^^He's had his chance!

Joking aside, I agree, a Gaiman Who novel would rock.

 

[JD]

I just wish, if they're going to go with the big-name-SF-guest-writer thing, that they'd get Pratchett and Neal Asher to do some... (Ideally an Agent Cormac crossover, in the latter case)

I would love to see a Pratchett Dr. Who novel.

 

[23skidoo]

The two Past Doctors books for 2012 are Shada and Wheel of Ice. Reynolds' novel isn't due out until 2013.

According to a news item in one of the recent DWMs (I forget which and am currently 500 miles from my copies) BBC Books is planning more past Doctors novels, so I think it's safe to call this the start of a new past Doctors series, but as far as I know BBC Books has yet to actually officially dub the "series" with a name. TARDIS Index File is using "past Doctors" as a placeholder because it's not accurate to lump them in with the "New Series Adventures" line. I personally use "Classic Series Adventures" in lieu of any announcement of new Ninth or Tenth Doctor books.

Alex

 

[Valin]

Wow, Alastair Reynolds writing a novel featuring the Third Doctor? That sounds like some fan's wet dream. I really like Reynolds' Revelation Space books - the ones I've read so far, anyway - so I'm really looking forward to this one.

Yes, my favorite Doctor written by one of my favorite living SF authors. Definitely, looking forward to this one, too.

 

[CaptainMatt]

Thanks for the heads up on this! I thought the Past Doctor books were long-dead in favor of the new series Doctors.

 

[23skidoo]

Thanks for the heads up on this! I thought the Past Doctor books were long-dead in favor of the new series Doctors.

For a long time this was true, but with the 50th anniversary on the horizon it's not surprising this is happening (along with the Target reprints). The first sign we had that this was likely was back in 2009 when Big Finish lost the literary rights to the first 8 Doctors and there were rumors of a new "past Doctors" series as far back as then. I assume BBC Books is going to wait and see what the sales figures are on the first book or two and the reprints to see if there's interest in continuing. The fact they've ponied up to do a second set of Target reprints is a good sign, I think.

Alex

 

[sidious618]

The rumor mill has been going for a while now about new Past Doctor Adventures and in the past few months it's starting to look like we'll be getting more. Before long we'll have Lawrence Miles back and it'll be lack the late 1990s all over again!

 

[23skidoo]

The rumor mill has been going for a while now about new Past Doctor Adventures and in the past few months it's starting to look like we'll be getting more. Before long we'll have Lawrence Miles back and it'll be lack the late 1990s all over again!

That said, I'm sure there are a few folks who'd love to see some of the characters from the Virgin and early BBC Books releases revisited. And now that the Targets are being reissued, it's only a matter of time (since BBC Books owns the rights to them now too) before the New Adventures and Missing Adventures novels start reemerging. A little-reported bit of news is last year BBC Books actually reissued a number of the Past Doctor Adventures and Eighth Doctor Adventures novels in print-on-demand format. So we might well see the return of some familiar names. Starting most likely with that one novel written by a fellow named Russell T Davies.

Alex

 

[Brendan Moody]

it's only a matter of time (since BBC Books owns the rights to them now too) before the New Adventures and Missing Adventures novels start reemerging.

The situation's a little more complicated than that. The BBC would also have to get permission from the individual authors to reprint the Virgin titles, as they did when some of them were made available online. Since there's no other way for those authors to re-release their books (short of rewriting them to exclude all BBC-owned elements), they have an obvious incentive to agree, but you never know, and in any case it adds another step to the process.

Edit: Lance Parkin, author of some of the BBC novels that were reprinted, has said that "the BBC have explicitly told me they're not interested in reprinting my Virgin books." That could change with time, of course.

 

[23skidoo]

The situation's a little more complicated than that. The BBC would also have to get permission from the individual authors to reprint the Virgin titles, as they did when some of them were made available online. Since there's no other way for those authors to re-release their books (short of rewriting them to exclude all BBC-owned elements), they have an obvious incentive to agree, but you never know, and in any case it adds another step to the process.

I would assume this is the case with the Target novelisations, though, and they're managing (even factoring in the fact several of the authors are now dead so they're dealing with estates which can be worse - and the additional complication of royalties with regards to the celebrity foreword-writers). They've got people whose job it is to do nothing but work out these sorts of deals, so I consider it a non-issue. All it means is we won't be seeing 156 Target novelisations and 100-150 original novels being reissued all at once, which would be a bad idea anyway.

BBC Books may not be interested in reprinting the Virgin novels right now but that doesn't mean they won't change their minds. Just as they initially instructed authors to ignore (and even contradict) the New Adventures continuity in the early Eighth/Past Doctors novels, yet within a couple years we were seeing characters from the New Adventures showing up and sequels being published.

Incidentally it was announced a few weeks ago that Big Finish is doing an audio drama adaptation of Love and War, the New Adventures novel that introduced Benny Summerfield - and this time they're actually being allowed to use the Doctor. So if we don't get any reprints, you never know if we might see more Big Finish adaptations if that one does well. I wouldn't be surprised if we eventually start seeing audio books done too like they've done with the Targets.

Alex