New Series Books

Sunday, 4 December 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

A new range of BBC Children's Books from Penguin have been listed on Amazon. Four new 48-page hardbacks under the series title "The Doctor Who Files" will be published on Thursday 25 May, comprising Slitheen,RoseNew Earth andThe Doctor. Each of these is listed at £5.99. Also listed for 25 May are Sticker Guide 2 and Activity Book 2, both paperbacks retailing at £3.99. (Thanks to Steve Tribe)




FILTER: - Books

Tie-In Books

Wednesday, 16 November 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Amazon.co.uk has published the final cover illustrations of three forthcoming Doctor Who books that Outpost Gallifrey has previously announced. Doctor Who: BFI TV Classics by Kim Newman is now in release, while Back In Time: A Thinking Fan's Guide to Dr Who by Steve Couch, Tony Watkins and Peter S. Williams is due out later this month, andThe Science of Doctor Who by Paul Parsons is due in April 2006. Click on each thumbnail for a larger version. (Thanks to Paul Engelberg)




FILTER: - Books

Mad Norwegian Update

Tuesday, 15 November 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Mad Norwegian Press has posted details of two forthcoming books due out soon. AHistory: An Unauthorized History of Doctor Who is Lance Parkin's update of his original Doctor Who history book, formally stated as covering the whole of the "Doctor Who" TV series up through the 2005 season starring Christopher Eccleston; the Virgin and BBC Books up through "The Gallifrey Chronicles"; all of the Telos novellas; the Big Finish "Doctor Who" audio range up through "Terror Firma." About Time: Volume 1 by Tat Wood and Lawrence Miles covers seasons 1 to 3 of the series, "focusing on the William Hartnell era of 'Doctor Who' in mind-bending detail. In addition to the usual concerns such as the TV show’s continuity (alien races, the Doctor’s abilities, etc.) and lore (anecdotal, "Did You Know?"-style material), authors Lawrence Miles and Tat Wood will examine each Hartnell story in the context of the year/historical period it was produced, determining just how topical the stories were." The cover illustrations for each are below; click on each thumbnail for a larger version.




FILTER: - Books

Quick Reads Dr Who Book

Friday, 11 November 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Friday's edition of The Bookseller reports on the 'Quick Reads initiative', a campaign sponsored by the Department for Education and Skills and others and intended to encourage reading among adults with low reading ages and people with little time to read. The books will retail at £2.99, are written by high-profile authors and will be published in two waves in March (for World Book Day) and in May (for Adult Learner's Week). Among the May releases will be "a title based on Dr Who"; it seems likely that this new novel will feature the Tenth Doctor and be written by one of the new series novel or television authors. More information will soon be available at Quick Reads, the Literacy Trust and World Book Day.
Meanwhile, as reported in The Bookseller, the Doctor Who Annual 2006has moved into the top ten in children's books charts, with a further rise in sales. The Panini publication is now at number ten (up from 14 last week) in the list, having sold 4,272 copies in the seven days to 29 October (up from 3,432 in the seven days to 22 October). This week's chart is dominated by the Beano Annual and Lemony Snicket, each with sales of around 12,000 units.




FILTER: - Books

New Tie-In Books

Thursday, 10 November 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Amazon.co.uk has details of three new Doctor Who tie-in books due out in 2006. 4 May sees the release of the Doctor Who Party Planner, a 16 page paperback book, and the Doctor Who Sticker Activity Book, also 16 pages. 18 May is the release date for More Monsters and Villains, a follow-up to Justin Richards' 2005 "Monsters and Villains" book (and presumably by the same author).




FILTER: - Books

TV Zone Yearbook

Wednesday, 2 November 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

The TV Zone Yearbook is out now; its Doctor Who content includes the following: "Anthony Stewart Head chats about David Tennant ('He's got some wonderful humour and also he's got the grit - you really believe, when he steps up to the plate, that he'd kick arse.') and the return of K-9 ('I thought they'd keep it up their sleeve. Sad...'), while The Long Game director Brian Grant casts his eyes back over his episode ('The layers of executives at the BBC were astonishing...'), and new series writer Mark Gatiss looks back at the highs and lows of this year's live Quatermass broadcast! We also present our retrospective of the year in Doctor Who, looking back at the TV series," and much more. The cover illustration is on the official page at TV Zone's website.




FILTER: - Books

Telos Publishing 2006

Wednesday, 2 November 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Telos Publishing has announced its collection of books published in 2006 through its mailing list with details to follow on the website, which include the following books:
Second Flight: Back To The Vortex 2 by J. Shaun Lyon (editor of Outpost Gallifrey), the follow-up to the bestselling 2005 book "Back To The Vortex," continues the story of the new Doctor Who series, looking at the Christmas special, the Children in Need special and Series Two starring David Tennant and Billie Piper, with both critical examination of each episode and a narrative of the time period during its production. The book be published in the autumn of 2006 after transmission of Series Two.
Timelink by Jon Preddle is a guide to the incredible complexities of Doctor Who's continuity, an amazing work that links together all the episodes of Doctor Who into one seamless work of fiction, providing new arguments as to dating and discussing every aspect of the show's continuity. "Timelink" is due in June 2006.
Talkback, a new three-book series of interviews with just about everyone involved in the classic series of Doctor Who, is edited by Stephen James Walker. The "Talkback" books will collect rare interviews with writers, designers, producers, script editors, actors and many, many other people involved in the making of the series since 1963. The first volume covers the Sixties period and is published in March 2006; further volumes are planned to follow.
Also, Telos will continue its "Time Hunter" series with The Albino's Dancerby Dale Smith, published in April 2006. The novella, part of the continuing series spun off from Telos' original Doctor Who novella line from 2002-2004, "plays with the concepts of time and linear storytelling to great effect: April 1938, and a shadowy figure attends an impromptu burial in Shoreditch, London. His name is Honore Lechasseur. After a chance encounter with the mysterious Catherine Howkins, he’s had advance warning that his friend Emily Blandish was going to die. But is forewarned necessarily forearmed? And just how far is he willing to go to save Emily’s life? Because Honore isn’t the only person taking an interest in Emily Blandish – she’s come to the attention of the Albino, one of the new breed of gangsters surfacing in post-rationing London. And the only life he cares about is his own." (Thanks to Telos Publishing)




FILTER: - Books

Blue Peter Annual

Monday, 24 October 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon
The Blue Peter Annual 2006, now in release, features a two-page picture spread on Christopher Eccleston's appearance on the children's BBC1 show, which took place on 21 March this year. The 112-page hardback is published by Pedigree Books.




FILTER: - Books

April BBC Books

Wednesday, 19 October 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon
BBC Books has issued details of its three hardcover Doctor Who novels due out on 13 April 2006, featuring the Tenth Doctor and Rose and set during the second series that begins next spring. The Amazon retail site now carries brief descriptions of each of the three books, which are printed below. Amazon also lists these as audio books due out on 3 April, though it is unclear as to whether this is incorrect or if BBC Books is releasing abridged readings on CD. (Thanks to Ryan Piekenbrock)
The Feast of the Drowned, by Stephen Cole
When a naval cruiser sinks in mysterious circumstances in the North Sea, all aboard are lost. Rose is saddened to learn that the brother of her friend, Keisha, was among the dead. And yet he appears to them as a ghostly apparition, begging to be saved from the coming feast... the feast of the drowned. As the dead crew haunt loved ones all over London, the Doctor and Rose are drawn into a chilling mystery. What sank the ship, and why? When the cruiser's wreckage was towed up the Thames, what sinister force came with it? The river's dark waters are hiding an even darker secret, as preparations for the feast near their conclusion...

The Resurrection Casket, by Justin Richards
Starfall - a world on the edge, where crooks and smugglers hide in the gloomy shadows and modern technology refuses to work. And that includes the TARDIS. The pioneers who used to be drawn by the hope of making a fortune from the mines can find easier picking elsewhere. But they still come - for the romance of it, or old-fashioned organic mining. Or in the hope of finding the lost treasure of Hamlek Glint - scourge of the spaceways, privateer, adventurer, bandit... Will the TARDIS ever work again? Is Glint's lost treasure waiting to be found? And does the fabled Resurrection Casket - the key to eternal life - really exist? With the help of new friends, and to the horror of new enemies, The Doctor and Rose aim to find out...

The Stone Rose, by Jacqueline Rayner
Mickey is startled to find a statue of Rose in a museum - a statue that is 2,000 years old. The Doctor realises that this means the TARDIS will shortly take them to Ancient Rome, but when it does, he and Rose soon have more on their minds than sculpture. While the Doctor searches for a missing boy, Rose befriends a girl who claims to know the future - a girl whose predictions are surprisingly accurate. But then the Doctor stumbles on the hideous truth behind the statue of Rose - and Rose herself learns that you have to be very careful what you wish for...




FILTER: - Books

New Series Books

Sunday, 9 October 2005 - Reported by Shaun Lyon
October and November will see a windfall for unofficial books based on Doctor Who, including the new series, such as the following:
Back To The Vortex is now in release. Written by Outpost Gallifrey editor Shaun Lyon, the book is the quintessential guide to the first season of the new Doctor Who series, with critical analysis and detailed information on each episode and a plethora of details about the 18-month leadup to the series' broadcast. The book is available in both paperback and limited edition hardcover.
The new edition of Dimensions in Time and Space by Mark Campbell will be released on October 20 from Scificollector. This is an updated version of Campbell's book which includes the first season of the new series; Tom Baker provides the foreword. The author will be at its launch on October 20 at the Stamp Centre on the Strand. The cover illustration is below.
Back In Time: A Thinking Fan's Guide to Doctor Who by Steve Couch, Tony Watkins and Peter S. Williams, is due in late October or early November from Damaris Publishing; the book appears to be an analysis of the new series with an emphasis on religious, scientific and critical overtones. The cover illustration is also below.




FILTER: - Books