The first three Doctor Who novelisations were published in the 1960s by Frederick Muller Ltd, but it wasn't until 1973, when Target Books picked up the reprint rights, that the range of Doctor Who books began to expand.
Beginning with Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion, Target Books would go on to print books based on all but five of the television stories produced between 1963 and 1989, with numerous re-jacketed editions in between.
With the majority of stories novelised, the company, now owned by Virgin Publishing, went on to establish the enormously successful range of New Adventures novels.
The production of the 1996 TV movie, starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, saw BBC Books taking the decision to publish both a script book and novelisation of the story. Shortly afterwards, the decision was also taken that the time had come for Doctor Who fiction to be brought in-house, with Target/Virgin's twenty-four year association with the programme finally coming to an end in April 1997.
Beginning with Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion, Target Books would go on to print books based on all but five of the television stories produced between 1963 and 1989, with numerous re-jacketed editions in between.
With the majority of stories novelised, the company, now owned by Virgin Publishing, went on to establish the enormously successful range of New Adventures novels.
The production of the 1996 TV movie, starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, saw BBC Books taking the decision to publish both a script book and novelisation of the story. Shortly afterwards, the decision was also taken that the time had come for Doctor Who fiction to be brought in-house, with Target/Virgin's twenty-four year association with the programme finally coming to an end in April 1997.
The Companions of Doctor Who: Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma
by Tony Attwood
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- May 1986
Back Cover Blurb
Of all the companions ever to travel with the Doctor in the TARDIS, Turlough was the most enigmatic and the most disturbing. Exiled from his home world, he saw the Doctor as a means of escape from Earth — and for that he was prepared to kill.
But just who was Turlough? And what happened to him after he left the Doctor?
Now Turlough has returned to Trion, but to a Trion much changed since his exile. Who are the mysterious Gardsormr? What is their secret purpose? And what is the shocking and terrifying link between Trion and planet Earth?
Of all the companions ever to travel with the Doctor in the TARDIS, Turlough was the most enigmatic and the most disturbing. Exiled from his home world, he saw the Doctor as a means of escape from Earth — and for that he was prepared to kill.
But just who was Turlough? And what happened to him after he left the Doctor?
Now Turlough has returned to Trion, but to a Trion much changed since his exile. Who are the mysterious Gardsormr? What is their secret purpose? And what is the shocking and terrifying link between Trion and planet Earth?
Regular Characters
Turlough
Turlough
Notes
- Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma was the first book in the short-lived Companions of Doctor Who series which, as the name implied, featured the continuing adventures of the Doctor's companions after they had left the TARDIS. Only two further titles were to be released: Harry Sullivan's War which was published later in the year, and K9 and Company which was a novelisation of the television spin-off featuring Sarah Jane Smith and K9 Mark III that had been produced in 1981.
- Tony Attwood is probably best known to telefantasy fans for writing the non-fiction Blake's 7 Programme Guide (Target Books, 1982) and the truly-appalling novel Blake's 7: Afterlife which carried on from the conclusion of the television series.
The Companions of Doctor Who: Harry Sullivan's War
by Ian Marter
- UK
- Paperback
- Target Books
- September 1986
Back Cover Blurb
It is ten years since Harry Sullivan left UNIT and gave up his travels in the TARDIS with the Doctor and Sarah Jane.
Since then he has been engaged in top secret work, developing antidotes to nerve toxins. But when he is transferred to Yarra in the Hebrides to work on weapons research, he has severe misgivings. For one thing, it goes against much of what he believes in. For another, someone is out to kill Harry Sullivan.
Who wants Harry safely out of the way? What significance does a painting by Van Gogh have in the affair? And can Harry's old friend, the Brigadier, really be involved in a scheme which threatens the security of the Western World?
It is ten years since Harry Sullivan left UNIT and gave up his travels in the TARDIS with the Doctor and Sarah Jane.
Since then he has been engaged in top secret work, developing antidotes to nerve toxins. But when he is transferred to Yarra in the Hebrides to work on weapons research, he has severe misgivings. For one thing, it goes against much of what he believes in. For another, someone is out to kill Harry Sullivan.
Who wants Harry safely out of the way? What significance does a painting by Van Gogh have in the affair? And can Harry's old friend, the Brigadier, really be involved in a scheme which threatens the security of the Western World?
Regular Characters
Harry Sullivan / Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Harry Sullivan / Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Notes
- Ian Marter played the character of Harry Sullivan in the television series. In the years after leaving Doctor Who novelised a number of stories for the Target Books range, beginning with Doctor Who and the Ark in Space in 1977. He would subsequently go on to become the second most prolific author of novelisations behind Terrance Dicks, with nine titles to his name. His final work was on The Rescue, which was completed after his death by Nigel Robinson.
- Harry Sullivan's War was the second of three books in the short-lived Companions of Doctor Who series, and the final original story.
- Harry Sullivan's life after leaving the TARDIS was further explored in Justin Richards 1995 novel System Shock and its 1999 sequel Millennium Shock.
Doctor Who: Who Killed Kennedy
by James Stevens
- UK
- Paperback
- Doctor Who Books
- April 1996
Back Cover Blurb
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on 22 November, 1963.
Now, the publication of this volume reveals frightening new information about the assassination, the real reasons why the President of the United States had to die and an incredible plan to save the man known as JFK!
These stunning revelations involve an ultra-secret military force disguised as a minor off-shoot of the United Nations and an international terrorist leader who has twice brought the world to the brink of nuclear conflict.
For more than three decades the public has been fed lies, half-truths and misinformation. Now — despite government attempts to halt the publication of this volume — the complete, shocking story can be told. Read the book they tried to ban!
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on 22 November, 1963.
Now, the publication of this volume reveals frightening new information about the assassination, the real reasons why the President of the United States had to die and an incredible plan to save the man known as JFK!
These stunning revelations involve an ultra-secret military force disguised as a minor off-shoot of the United Nations and an international terrorist leader who has twice brought the world to the brink of nuclear conflict.
For more than three decades the public has been fed lies, half-truths and misinformation. Now — despite government attempts to halt the publication of this volume — the complete, shocking story can be told. Read the book they tried to ban!
Notes
- Anyone trying to track down further books by James Stevens, or who believes that they've just stumbled upon a hitherto unrecognised book on the asassination of John F Kennedy, should be aware that Who Killed Kennedy is fictional. As is James Stevens, who is a character within the book.
Anyone who believes that this statement is part of a conspiracy to deny the "truth" in the book should cast their eyes upwards to the top of the page where you will see links to further Doctor Who books.
Anyone wondering why I've gone to these lengths to explain that Who Killed Kennedy is a work of fiction should probably wander over to the page covering Alternative 3 for a bit of a laugh, and also be extremely thankful that you don't get sent some of the emails that I do... - David Bishop (the evil genius behind Who Killed Kennedy) had previously written the New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club's unofficial novelisation of The Pirate Planet and later went on to write a number of original Doctor Who novels for BBC Books, including Amorality Tale and Empire of Death for the Previous Doctor Adventures range, and The Domino Effect for the Eighth Doctor Adventures range.
- With the full permission of the author, Who Kills Kennedy was uploaded, at the rate of a chapter a week, to the New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club's web site from 22 November 2003.
- Although Who Killed Kennedy tried to tie in just about every conceivable event seen on present day Earth in the television series, most readers would probably not have expected it to include the return of Dodo Chaplet, that most unmemorable of companions who was last seen in The War Machines in 1966. In trying to add a third dimension to the character, Bishop provided a far more memorable (and terminal) exit from the Doctor Who universe.
Campaign
by Jim Mortimore
- UK
- Paperback
- Pyrrhic Pressure
- May 2000
Other Editions
Campaign
UK / Hardback / Pyrric Pressure / May 2000
UK / Hardback / Pyrric Pressure / April 2008
Campaign
UK / Hardback / Pyrric Pressure / May 2000 UK / Hardback / Pyrric Pressure / April 2008
Back Cover Blurb — Pyrric Pressure (2000)
'The universe is dead!
Time and space, murdered!
Stars and moons, planets, comets, put to the sword!
Physics and chemistry, mathematics, geography, sent to the stake!
Mother and father, friend and stranger, snug bound in entropy's coffin!
Love, dead! Fear, dead!
Dogs and birds and cats and ants and books and pies and cars and lies, all dead and gone to less than dreams these long ten years!
Everyone that ever lived, every thought that ever held meaning, every flower that ever cupped dew and every equation that ever brushed a portrait of truth-'
Somewhere inside Ian's mind a page turned.
'All that we have is in here-' he stamped the ground with a child's foot, '-now-' he waved with a child's windmill arm at the universe the Ship had built for us to live out our lives in.
'There's nothing else worth remembering anymore.'
Back Cover Blurb — Pyrric Pressure (2008)
'Forget? Well, why not? It's not like there's anything to remember, is there?' He jerked, clockwork grief, broken. Without voice, his body screamed: The universe is dead! Time and space, murdered! Stars and moons, planets, comets, put to the sword! Physics and chemistry, mathematics, geography, sent to the stake! Mother and father, friend and stranger, snug bound in entropy's coffin! Love, dead! Fear, dead! Dogs and birds and cats and ants and books and pies and cars and lies, all dead and gone to less than dreams these long ten years! Everyone that ever lived, every thought that ever held meaning, every flower that ever cupped dew and every equation that ever brushed a portrait of truth-
Hooves struck the ground: summer storm piling close as clouds.
Somewhere inside Ian's mind a page turned.
'All that we have is in here-' he stamped the ground with a child's foot, '-now-' he waved with a child's windmill arm at the universe the TARDIS had built for us to live out our lives in. 'There's nothing else worth remembering anymore.'
'The universe is dead!
Time and space, murdered!
Stars and moons, planets, comets, put to the sword!
Physics and chemistry, mathematics, geography, sent to the stake!
Mother and father, friend and stranger, snug bound in entropy's coffin!
Love, dead! Fear, dead!
Dogs and birds and cats and ants and books and pies and cars and lies, all dead and gone to less than dreams these long ten years!
Everyone that ever lived, every thought that ever held meaning, every flower that ever cupped dew and every equation that ever brushed a portrait of truth-'
Somewhere inside Ian's mind a page turned.
'All that we have is in here-' he stamped the ground with a child's foot, '-now-' he waved with a child's windmill arm at the universe the Ship had built for us to live out our lives in.
'There's nothing else worth remembering anymore.'
Back Cover Blurb — Pyrric Pressure (2008)
'Forget? Well, why not? It's not like there's anything to remember, is there?' He jerked, clockwork grief, broken. Without voice, his body screamed: The universe is dead! Time and space, murdered! Stars and moons, planets, comets, put to the sword! Physics and chemistry, mathematics, geography, sent to the stake! Mother and father, friend and stranger, snug bound in entropy's coffin! Love, dead! Fear, dead! Dogs and birds and cats and ants and books and pies and cars and lies, all dead and gone to less than dreams these long ten years! Everyone that ever lived, every thought that ever held meaning, every flower that ever cupped dew and every equation that ever brushed a portrait of truth-
Hooves struck the ground: summer storm piling close as clouds.
Somewhere inside Ian's mind a page turned.
'All that we have is in here-' he stamped the ground with a child's foot, '-now-' he waved with a child's windmill arm at the universe the TARDIS had built for us to live out our lives in. 'There's nothing else worth remembering anymore.'
Regular Characters
First Doctor / Ian Chesterton / Barbara Wright / Susan Foreman
First Doctor / Ian Chesterton / Barbara Wright / Susan Foreman
Notes
- Campaign originally started life as a commission for the BBC's Previous Doctor Adventures range of books, and was due for release in March 2000. The book was eventually removed from the schedules and author Jim Mortimore made public a statement giving his account of the behind-the-scenes dispute between himself and BBC Books that led to this action.
He subsequently published the book himself with any profits being donated to a local charity.
To date, Campaign is the only Doctor Who novel to have been commissioned and written, but which has never reached the high street. - Campaign was made available again in April 2008 as a PDF eBook, when it was uploaded to the website of the New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club. As well as containing corrected versions of the text, the book also included extensive background notes by the author. A limited number of hardback volumes were also produced, once again by Pyrric Pressure.
