Candy Jar Books have announced the next chapter in the adventures of Lethbridge-Stewart, Anne Travers, Bill Bishop and the men and women of the Fifth Operational Corps:
Lethbridge-Stewart: Scary Monsters
Written by Simon A Forward
Cover by Richard Young
1981: London, a bomb detonates in a London pub and Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart is among the injured. Moscow, a hijacked plane sits on the airport runway and Major Grigoriy Bugayev leads the assault against the six gunmen holding the passengers hostage.
These are the triggers that set the two military men on an international manhunt. Their investigations converge and uncover a group of terrorists whose roots reach back to sinister Cold War experiments, and something that was unearthed in ancient ruins in the New Mexico desert by one Sophia Montilla… and Anne Travers.
Terror is a contagion. It means to spread. And humanity is set on doing everything in its power to help it...
Published at the end of August 2018,
Scary Monsters opens the new
Lethbridge-Stewart series of six-book celebrating fifty years of the Brigadier. And with it comes a brand-new look for the range.
The new design was the brain child of head of publishing
Shaun Russell and
Will Brooks, known for his work on Titan Comics’
Doctor Who range, as well merchandise for the latest series of
Doctor Who. Shaun says:
Andy (Frankham-Allen, range editor) and I have been discussing rebranding the books for some time now, and it seemed the anniversary range was the perfect time. New cover design, new logo, and I knew just the man for the job. We had worked with Will previously. His covers for Philip Martin’s Gangsters and Peter George’s Pattern of Death were outstanding, and we knew he would create the right look for us. And he didn’t disappoint!
The artwork for
Scary Monsters is by
Lethbridge-Stewart artist
Richard Young. He says:
This is my ninth cover for the Lethbridge-Stewart books, but the first one I've done as the lead book, so the stakes were raised for this. It's also the first cover to feature the Brig. I'd been pushing to feature him on a cover for years, and with this being the fiftieth anniversary of the character it felt like the time was right.
Andy Frankham-Allen explains the umbrella-title,
The Laughing Gnome:
We took our cue from Life on Mars and its sequel series, Ashes to Ashes, and opted for another David Bowie title for our very first time travel series of books. But we didn’t want it just be a title – we decided that we’d make the Laughing Gnome an integral part of the story, the catalyst for our heroes’ adventures in time. I don’t wish to give away the conceit of the series, but the basic premise is thus: Sir Alistair is nearing the end of his life and has just buried another old friend. Feeling out of sorts, he is somewhat surprised to find himself in 1981. Some mysterious force has pulled him backwards in time, into his own past, an adventure he has only vague memories of! As the series progresses we discover that both Anne Travers and her husband, and popular series regular, Bill Bishop, have also been dragged through time. But why? What, or who, is behind it?”
The first book in the series,
Scary Monsters, is by
Simon A Forward, who penned the 2016
Lethbridge-Stewart novel,
Blood of Atlantis:
To be asked once to write for the Lethbridge-Stewart range is fortunate. To be asked twice seems like - what are they thinking? Letting me loose to play with these favourite characters again. Madness. Initially, I thought, well okay, but only if the right idea struck. And the next day the right idea struck me. To make life more challenging, this time it was more than merely contributing to a range. For the Brigadier's big anniversary year, Candy Jar outlined an ambitious arc to frame these adventures.
Scary Monsters also forms something of a sequel to
Blood of Atlantis, with the return of popular character Grigoriy Bugayev and Señora Sophia Montilla. But Simon is keen to stress there’s more to it than that:
This is more than your average jaunt down memory lane and it's about much more than introspection and reflection. My book sees the Brigadier and friends confronting terrorism in an international thriller that, while rooted in the past - and in the Doctor Who universe - should carry some resonance in the 21st century. And not just for the Brigadier.
Scary Monsters is now available for pre-order from
Candy Jar Books. The book also forms part of any existing subscriptions to the range.
Big Finish Productions has announced its first wave of special releases to celebrate 20 years of Doctor Who audio adventures 
As a fan who grew up in the era of the New Adventures novels, I was thrilled when David Richardson offered me the opportunity to tackle a new box set featuring the Seventh Doctor, Roz Forrester and Chris Cwej. The feedback to the novel adaptations was fantastic, and getting the chance to tell completely new stories with this TARDIS team has been a joy! 
Two new adventures are also being released for the bohemian Fourth Doctor adapted from the comic strip by Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons that featured in Doctor Who Magazine (when it was Doctor Who Weekly). 
Big Finish have confirmed that the Fourth Doctor, as played by Tom Baker, will be continuing his audio adventures until at least 2021. 
The Doctor Who Appreciation Society, DWAS has won permission to honour the man who played the First Doctor, William Hartnell, with a blue heritage plaque. 
Doctor Who Showrunner Chris Chibnall, will be appearing at the BBC's first ever family Festival, being held this coming weekend. 
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