In March 2001 it was announced that Telos Publishing had agreed a licence with BBC Worldwide to publish a series of original novellas based on Doctor Who.
Each book was available in two seperate editions. The standard hardbacks featured the novella and the foreword, whereas the deluxe editions had a better covering and binding, full-colour frontispiece, integral bookmark, and were signed in each case by the author, the writer of the foreword and the frontispiece artist.
After a promisng start, it was a major surprise when, after just three titles had been released, Telos revealed that the BBC had declined to extend their licence beyond March 2004.
With the range coming to an end, Daniel O'Mahony's The Cabinet of Light, released in August 2003, was used as the springboard for the Time Hunter novellas, a new spin-off series which featured the characters Honoré Lechasseur and Emily Blandish.
The fifteenth and final volume, in February 2004, was Simon Clark's The Dalek Factor.
Despite the untimely cancellation of the range, the Telos novellas are now widely regarded as being a successful attempt to try something slightly different with a familiar concept.
Each book was available in two seperate editions. The standard hardbacks featured the novella and the foreword, whereas the deluxe editions had a better covering and binding, full-colour frontispiece, integral bookmark, and were signed in each case by the author, the writer of the foreword and the frontispiece artist.
After a promisng start, it was a major surprise when, after just three titles had been released, Telos revealed that the BBC had declined to extend their licence beyond March 2004.
With the range coming to an end, Daniel O'Mahony's The Cabinet of Light, released in August 2003, was used as the springboard for the Time Hunter novellas, a new spin-off series which featured the characters Honoré Lechasseur and Emily Blandish.
The fifteenth and final volume, in February 2004, was Simon Clark's The Dalek Factor.
Despite the untimely cancellation of the range, the Telos novellas are now widely regarded as being a successful attempt to try something slightly different with a familiar concept.
Doctor Who: Citadel of Dreams
by Dave Stone
- UK
- Hardback
- Telos Publishing
- March 2002
Other Editions
Doctor Who: Citadel of Dreams
UK / Deluxe Hardback / Telos Publishing / March 2002
Doctor Who: Citadel of Dreams
UK / Deluxe Hardback / Telos Publishing / March 2002
Back Cover Blurb
In the city-state of Hokesh, time plays tricks; the present is unreliable, the future impossible to intimate. A derelict street child, Joey Quine, finds himself subject to horrifying visions and fugues. His only frind in this, the only one whom he can turn for help, is a mysterious stranger who calls herself Ace. And in an unknowable future the Doctor is busily inciting a state of bloody unrest, on the basis that one must be cruel to be kind — simultaneously, for preference. The Glorious Ruler of the city, Magnus Solaris, is worried; his memory is failing him; his influence deserting him; his city is falling apart. What is happening to him truly? Only the Doctor knows — and he's not telling. There is worse to come. As both world and time crumble, Magnus Solaris and Joey Quine will unearth secrets the like of which nobody in Hokesh could have ever possibly suspected.
In the city-state of Hokesh, time plays tricks; the present is unreliable, the future impossible to intimate. A derelict street child, Joey Quine, finds himself subject to horrifying visions and fugues. His only frind in this, the only one whom he can turn for help, is a mysterious stranger who calls herself Ace. And in an unknowable future the Doctor is busily inciting a state of bloody unrest, on the basis that one must be cruel to be kind — simultaneously, for preference. The Glorious Ruler of the city, Magnus Solaris, is worried; his memory is failing him; his influence deserting him; his city is falling apart. What is happening to him truly? Only the Doctor knows — and he's not telling. There is worse to come. As both world and time crumble, Magnus Solaris and Joey Quine will unearth secrets the like of which nobody in Hokesh could have ever possibly suspected.
Regular Characters
Seventh Doctor / Ace
Seventh Doctor / Ace
Notes
- Prior to writing Citadel of Dreams Dave Stone had written five original Doctor Who novels for Virgin Publishing and BBC Books, beginning in 1995 with Sky Pirates!
- The foreword to Citadel of Dreams was written by Andrew Cartmel, Doctor Who script editor between 1987 and 1989. Telos published Foreign Devils, Cartmel's only Doctor Who novella, in November 2002.
Doctor Who: Nightdreamers
by Tom Arden
- UK
- Hardback
- Telos Publishing
- May 2002
Other Editions
Doctor Who: Nightdreamers
UK / Deluxe Hardback / Telos Publishing / May 2002
Doctor Who: Nightdreamers
UK / Deluxe Hardback / Telos Publishing / May 2002
Back Cover Blurb
Perihelion Night on the wooded moon Verd. A time of strange sightings, ghosts, and celebration before the morn, when Lord Esnic marries the beautiful Lady Ria. However Ria has other ideas, and flees through the gravity wells which dot the moon to meet with her true love Tonio. When the Doctor and Jo arrive on Verd, drawn down by the fluctuating gravity, they find themselves involved in the unpredictable events of Perihelion, But what of the mysterious and terrifying Nightdreamers? And of the Nightdreamer King?
Perihelion Night on the wooded moon Verd. A time of strange sightings, ghosts, and celebration before the morn, when Lord Esnic marries the beautiful Lady Ria. However Ria has other ideas, and flees through the gravity wells which dot the moon to meet with her true love Tonio. When the Doctor and Jo arrive on Verd, drawn down by the fluctuating gravity, they find themselves involved in the unpredictable events of Perihelion, But what of the mysterious and terrifying Nightdreamers? And of the Nightdreamer King?
Regular Characters
Third Doctor / Jo Grant
Third Doctor / Jo Grant
Notes
- The foreword to Nightdreamers was written by Katy Manning who played Jo Grant in the television series between 1971 and 1973. More recently she has provided the voice for Paul Magrs' book creation Iris Wildthyme (The Scarlet Empress / The Blue Angel / Verdigris) in a number of Doctor Who audio dramas from Big Finish Productions, and also in the spin-off audios Wildthyme at Large and The Devil in Ms. Wildthyme.
- Nightdreamers is Tom Arden's first, and to date only, work for the Doctor Who universe. It was the only novella released from Telos to feature the Third Doctor.
Doctor Who: Ghost Ship
by Keith Topping
- UK
- Hardback
- Telos Publishing
- August 2002
Other Editions
Doctor Who: Ghost Ship
UK / Deluxe Hardback / Telos Publishing / August 2002
UK / Paperback / Telos Publishing / November 2003
Doctor Who: Ghost Ship
UK / Deluxe Hardback / Telos Publishing / August 2002 UK / Paperback / Telos Publishing / November 2003
Back Cover Blurb
Perhaps sensing the Doctor's deepening mood of introspective melancholy, the TARDIS lands in the most haunted place on Earth, the luxury ocean liner the Queen Mary on its way from Southampton to New York in the year 1963. But why do ghosts from the past, the present and, perhaps even the future, seek out the Doctor? What appalling secret is hidden in Cabin 672? And will the Doctor be able to preserve his sanity as he struggles to save the lives of the passengers against mighty forces which even he does not fully understand?
Perhaps sensing the Doctor's deepening mood of introspective melancholy, the TARDIS lands in the most haunted place on Earth, the luxury ocean liner the Queen Mary on its way from Southampton to New York in the year 1963. But why do ghosts from the past, the present and, perhaps even the future, seek out the Doctor? What appalling secret is hidden in Cabin 672? And will the Doctor be able to preserve his sanity as he struggles to save the lives of the passengers against mighty forces which even he does not fully understand?
Regular Characters
Fourth Doctor
Fourth Doctor
Notes
- The foreword to Ghost Ship was written by Hugh Lamb. It was not included in the paperback edition in November 2003.
- Ghost Ship was the only novella from Telos to feature the Fourth Doctor, and was also one of only two to be re-released in paperback, the other being Foreign Devils.
- Ghost Ship is set between the television adventures The Deadly Assassin and The Face of Evil, meaning that the Doctor is unaccompanied on his travels. Unusually, it is told in the first person from the Fourth Doctor's perspective.
Doctor Who: Foreign Devils
by Andrew Cartmel
- UK
- Hardback
- Telos Publishing
- November 2002
Other Editions
Doctor Who: Foreign Devils
UK / Deluxe Hardback / Telos Publishing / November 2002
UK / Paperback / Telos Publishing / November 2003
Doctor Who: Foreign Devils
UK / Deluxe Hardback / Telos Publishing / November 2002 UK / Paperback / Telos Publishing / November 2003
Back Cover Blurb
China, 1800, and the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are attending the English Trade Concession in Canton. A supposedly harmless relic known as the Spirit Gate becomes active and whisks Jamie and Zoe into the future. The Doctor follows in the TARDIS and arrives in England, 1900, where the descendants of an English merchant from 1800 are gathering. Among their number is a young man called Carnacki, an expert in all things mystical, and before long he is helping the Doctor investigate a series of bizarre murders in the house. The spirits of the past have returned, and when the Doctor discovers that the house and surounds have literally been taken out of time and space, he realises that their attacker may not be all they seem.
China, 1800, and the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are attending the English Trade Concession in Canton. A supposedly harmless relic known as the Spirit Gate becomes active and whisks Jamie and Zoe into the future. The Doctor follows in the TARDIS and arrives in England, 1900, where the descendants of an English merchant from 1800 are gathering. Among their number is a young man called Carnacki, an expert in all things mystical, and before long he is helping the Doctor investigate a series of bizarre murders in the house. The spirits of the past have returned, and when the Doctor discovers that the house and surounds have literally been taken out of time and space, he realises that their attacker may not be all they seem.
Regular Characters
Second Doctor / Jamie McCrimmon / Zoe Heriot
Second Doctor / Jamie McCrimmon / Zoe Heriot
Notes
- The foreword to Foreign Devils was written by Mike Ashley. It was not included in the paperback edition in November 2003.
- Foreign Devils is one of only two Doctor Who novellas from Telos that was issued in paperback, the other being Ghost Ship).
- Between 1987 and 1989 Andrew Cartmel was the script editor for the Doctor Who television series, and in the 1990s he wrote Cat's Cradle: Warhead, Warlock and Warchild for the New Adventures range of Doctor Who books.
He has also scripted Winter for the Adept, a Fifth Doctor audio play for Big Finish Productions, as well as a number of comic strips for Doctor Who Magazine.
Earlier in 2002 he had provided the forward to Dave Stone's Seventh Doctor novella, Citadel of Dreams.
More recently he has written Atom Bomb Blues, the final book in the Previous Doctor Adventures range from BBC Books. - Foreign Devils features Carnacki, a ghost-hunter who originally appeared in nine stories by writer William Hope Hodgson.
The character first appeared in the short story The Gateway of the Monster in 1910 and, over the following few years, five other stories featuring Carnacki were published in various magazines. A collection of these stories, along with three other Hodgson-penned Carnacki tales, was released in the USA in 1948 under the title Carnacki the Ghost Hunter, although a book of the same title had already been issued some years earlier with only the original six tales.
Hodgson was born in 1877 and is now best known for writing the classic supernatural novels The House on the Borderland, The Boats of the Glen Carrig and The Ghost Pirates. He was killed on 17 April, 1918 while serving at Ypres in Belgium.
The two hardback editions of Foreign Devils both include The Whistling Room, the fourth of the original Carnacki stories, as a bonus.
As all of the Carnacki stories are now out of copyright, they can legally be made available on the internet to download free of charge. The easiest way to find all of them is by clicking here. A cheap paperback volume titled The Casebook of Carnacki — Ghost Finder (Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com) was published by Wordsworth Editions in 2006 and includes all nine stories.
