REVIEW: Nobody's Sweetheart Now by Dale Smith

Dale Smith has somehow managed to write the perfect novel for me. There aren't very many people who would call a Goodnight Sweetheart pastiche/crossover with the periphery of the Doctor Who universe their perfect novel, but I am one of them. Stuart Douglas, head honcho of Obverse Books and commissioner of this novel, is another. Presumably, so is Dale Smith, and potentially, given the book's dedication, so is Richard Herring.

Nobody's Sweetheart Now is the third book of The New Adventures of Iris Wildthyme, which you can tell, because it's got the number two on the spine. The previous book, Courtney Milnestein's Mother, Maiden, Crone, was an unnumbered special and came out almost six years ago; book one, The Polythene Terror, by Iris's creator Paul Magrs, came out in 2019. I'd assumed this series had ended almost as soon as it began, so I'm very happy to see another book, by the brilliant Dale Smith, no less. 

Goodnight Sweetheart is an old favourite of mine, a cosy nineties sitcom with a fantasy bent. Nicholas Lyndhurst, as Gary Sparrow, travelled through time via a redbrick alleyway, walking happily between the 1940s and the 1990s, engaging in transtemporal bigamy. It got a bit more sci-fi towards the end, but mostly it was about the difficulties of leading a double life and the amusing situations that then arise. It was a fun series with a great cast, even when both of Gary's wives regenerated into new actresses halfway through.

Nobody's Sweetheart Now starts as an obvious parody, barely changing the character names. Gary Sparrow is now Trevor Tern. Ron is now Don. It's been moved from London to Manchester, but otherwise it seems like a pretty straightforward riff on the TV series, aside from the raucous presence of Iris Wildthyme. The truly inspired part is that both Gary's – sorry, Trevor's – wife and girlfriend are incarnations of Iris, the latter going by Ursula but actually being a rarely seen regeneration of the transtemporal adventuress. 

As it progresses, though, the book becomes something far cleverer than a mere pastiche. It's approximately 750% gayer, for a start, which becomes clear from the moment Trevor sets foot in the wartime pub and only develops from there. From the outset there's a clear theme of the dangers of nostalgia – especially the second-hand kind of nostalgia for a time one never lived through. Rose-tinted glasses aren't good for your eyes, it turns out, even if they do look fabulous. The deeper, more affecting theme, though, is the importance of being true to yourself, of embracing who you really are, whether you're a closeted man living an unsatisfying life or a time traveller who gave up the right to their name. 

This book is a very funny, joyfully silly and rather beautiful piece of work. Please, Obverse, don't let this be the last New Adventure for Iris. 

Nobody's Sweetheart Now is available from Obverse Books in paperback and ebook formats.

REVIEW: The Black Archive - Midnight by Philip Purser-Hallard

Obverse Books' Black Archive range is something of a marvel. I wouldn't have thought it was possible to find a book's worth of material to say about each and every Doctor Who story, but here we are, at the 69^th volume. Philip Purser-Hallard (The Pendragon Protocol, The Vanishing Man, Of the City of the Saved...) delivers his fourth entry in the series with Midnight, analysing the 2008 episode widely considered one of modern Who's finest hours (or at least, one of its finest 43 minutes). It's even more impressive to create an engaging full-length piece on a single episode, although that this is even possible shows the depth of many of Doctor Who's 21^st century episodes. Midnight itself is an episode that is crying out for a dissection like this, so it's surprising it's taken so long for the range to reach it.

In spite of episode's simple storyline and production, a consequence of the need to produce an episode cheaply and quickly before season four's big finale, it's a narrative filled with questions and room for exploration. Purser-Hallard delves into the traditions of the script, both televisual and theatrical, drawing fascinating parallels with productions both within the series (such as The Edge of Destruction) and without (Arthur Miller's The Crucible). Purser-Hallard analyses the social commentary within the episode, delving into each character's background, taking them apart to show remarkable depth for what, at first glance, may seem like sketched-in characters. He notes that the script's author, Russell T. Davies, picks out easily recognisable archetypes to populate his story, but that this adds depth and complexity without the need to spell everything about the characters out. Some of the analysis of the character names seems to be taking things a little far, though, seeing parallels that unlikely to be deliberate. Similarly, the seemingly counter-intuitive name for the planet and story, Midnight, was probably chosen for no deeper reason than it sounded cool.

Purser-Hallard takes a very writerly perspective on the episode, viewing it in context with the traditions of storytelling. As well as more contemporary forms of story, he adroitly links Midnight, with its nameless horror that steals the very voice of the protagonist, to fairytales and folklore. Even then, he brings it bang up to date by comparing it with the most recent Doctor Who episode, The Church on Ruby Road, with its own take on fairytale monsters. From a fan perspective, some of the most interesting parts of the book deal with the fiction itself. After all, with the possible exception of Listen, Midnight features the most obscure and unknowable monster of any Doctor Who story, simply asking for an essay discussing just who or what it is. Equally intriguing is the later section dealing with the Doctor's character in this episode, one which takes him to task for his many flaws; again, Purser-Hallard's essay reflects the story itself while also looking at it through the lens of the most recent Doctor Who episodes, in which David Tennant returned as an older, more refined version of his Doctor.

As effective as the main essays are, the part that was most informative for me was the appendix, which details the three stage productions of Midnight. This was news to me, and it was fascinating to read the differences between the productions in their approaches to performance and casting, backed up by interviews with some of the creatives involved. Altogether, a very strong entry to the Black Archive, giving the reader plenty to think about next time they watch this acclaimed episode.

Introducing "Scientific Advisor" in Forgotten Lives 3

There are only two weeks left to order Forgotten Lives 3 from Obverse Books. This is, almost certainly,
the last such collection of adventures for the Forgotten Doctors (AKA the Morbius Doctors, the Mindbend Doctors and the Pre-Doctors), and so my last opportunity to write for the Christopher Baker Doctor and his two children. (Well, excepting anything I write purely for my own enjoyment and post here, but this will be the last in print.)

The first Forgotten Lives was a real treat, taking those eight face in their various hats and false beards and extrapolating them into distinct characters, all unique versions of the Doctor. Andrew Hickey created the Christopher Baker Doctor in “The Cross of Venus,” a wonderful retro-futuristic adventure which introduced this jolly Doctor and the mischievous Jilly and Cedric. I practically begged editor Philip Purser-Hallard to be considered for the second volume, and was fortunate enough that he asked me to submit an idea.

I actually submitted two (there’s another reason for some indulgent fanfic), one for the Baker Doctor and one for his predecessor, PPH’s own creation, the Robert Banks Stewart incarnation. These Doctors – the explorer and doting father, and the wartime occult operative – were the ones who sparked my imagination the most. The second volume was presumably intended as the last, at the time, and was meant to deal with the various Doctors’ regenerations. By the time I was asked to submit, it had changed direction, with two stories for each Doctor, and only a handful involved regeneration. Andrew Hickey gave us another for his Doctor, “Swan Song,” a more melancholy story than his first, while I got to write “The First Englishmen,” very much a silly romp in an lost, imagined past than a lost, imagine future.

I was surprised when PPH asked me to submit another story for the Baker Doctor, with a short turnaround due to the upcoming revamp of the series which, potentially, could make it harder to get away with unauthorised publications. (These things go in waves.) He came up with a brilliant hook for this collection, tying the eight stories together and back to their inspiration. We batted some ideas back and forth, coming back often to the transition between our Doctors. PPH’s story “House of Images” had introduced the Banks Stewart Doctor into a fully realised setting, with his own fascinating companion, Miss Weston. Kenton Hall’s “The Hounds of War” and Matthew Kresal’s “The Rosewell Incident” expanded this, and PPH was now working on a story to move his Doctor and Miss Weston onto the next phase of their story.

Yet this Doctor had no regeneration, so my Doctor had no beginning. This, certain story coincidences, a joke by the first volume’s artist Paul Hanley (whose Doctor portraits were as vital in breathing life into these Doctors as the stories were), allowed us to come up with the bare bones of the story that saw the Banks Stewart Doctor become the Baker Doctor.

"Scientific Advisor" is not that story. It does impact on it, rather heavily, but it isn’t the story either of us wanted to tell. No, my story was informed far more by my own experiences. Between the second volume and my being asked to write for the third, my partner Suzanne and I had a mischievous child of our own. This led me to want to tell a very different story this time, although it also made it much more difficult to find time to sit down and write the thing in the very tight turnaround we had.

I managed it, though, with some much-needed encouragement and support, and a new and essential chapter in the Christopher Baker Doctor’s life is nearly here. So thank you to Philip for working with me and creating this wonderful set of books, Andrew Hickey for giving life to my new favourite Doctor, Suz for making me sit down and work, TVMigraine for being my first, honest-to-goodness fan, and to Astrid for changing how I view my world (through very tired eyes).

I hope you enjoy it, and the stories by seven other wonderful authors.

You can order Forgotten Lives 3 here until the 1st of December 2023.

Announcing Forgotten Lives 3 - available to pre-order until 1st December

I am thrilled to announce that the third and final collection of the Doctor's Forgotten Lives is now available to order from Obverse Books, featuring eight new Doctor Who stories including my second story for the Christopher Baker Doctor and his children Jilly and Cedric.

"How far, Doctor? How long have you lived?'

The Doctor has inhabited countless personas, some of which even he seems to have forgotten.

Long ago, in a deadly battle with a rogue Time Lord, eight of those past lives were brought briefly into focus, only to disappear once more.

Now, those Doctors return, in the final stories from their forgotten lives.

FORGOTTEN LIVES III - Available for pre-order from now until 1 December

https://obversebooks.co.uk/product/forgotten/

Featuring

‘The Seven Scholars and the Storyteller’ by Simon Bucher-Jones (featuring the Christopher Barry Doctor)

‘The Country of the Young’ by Philip Purser-Hallard (featuring the Robert Banks Stewart Doctor)

‘Scientific Advisor’ by Daniel Tessier (featuring the Christopher Baker Doctor)

‘The Swan and the Flame’ by Kara Dennison (featuring the Philip Hinchcliffe Doctor)

‘Hope Springs’ by Chris Wing (featuring the Douglas Camfield Doctor)

‘Admission to the Unknown’ by Ian McIntire (featuring the Graeme Harper Doctor)

‘Who Needs Enemies’ by Jay Eales (featuring the Robert Holmes Doctor)

‘The Lungs of a Birastrop’ by Paul Driscoll (featuring the George Gallaccio Doctor)

Edited by Philip Purser-Hallard.

Cover art by Jon Huff.

Cover design by Cody Schell.

Make sure you order soon - after 1st December all orders will be over and that will be that!

This is an unofficial publication with all profits to Alzheimer charities.

The Forgotten Lives Omnibus - up for preorder

 

I'm very pleased to announce that not only has Obverse Books decided to reprint both volumes of the unofficial Doctor Who collection Forgotten Lives as a single, hardback omnibus edition, but enough pre-orders have come in during just the first week to ensure it's viable to go ahead.

This is a fantastic response, meaning that these stories will get another lease of life, and that more money will be raised for Alzheimer's charities. 

If you missed out on either of the first volumes, now's your chance to get ahold of these limited run stories. The first Forgotten Lives featured, for the first time, stories for all eight of the "Morbius Doctors" - the mysterious faces in fancy attire seen in the Doctor's mind battle with Morbius in the classic serial The Brain of Morbius. It was hinted that these were incarnations of the Doctor from before William Hartnell's incarnation, that we know as the First Doctor, now all but confirmed by the latest revelations in Jodie Whittaker's run.

I reviewed Forgotten Lives here and absolutely loved it, so I was thrilled to be able to contribute to Forgotten Lives 2, writing "The First Englishmen," a story for the Christopher Baker Doctor and his two children. I'm rather proud of that one and had a ball writing it. 

The first volume had one story for each Doctor, with the second doubling that up and featuring an eight-part narrative woven between them. So that's now thirty-two stories you get for £25, plus they're in chronological order from the Doctor's point-of-view, in case you're a neurodivergent pedant like me.

Pre-orders can be made here from Obverse Books.

Forgotten Lives 2 - now available to pre-order!

I am very excited to announce that Forgotten Lives 2, the follow-up to 2020's fantastic Forgotten Lives anthology, is now available to pre-order from Obverse Books. 

Forgotten Lives collected eight stories, one for each of the so-called Morbius Doctors, mysterious regenerations of Doctor Who briefly glimpsed in the Tom Baker serial The Brain of Morbius, and since reinforced by the controversial retcons of "The Timeless Children." 

The second volume brings back the original authors and more, with each of these incarnations having new adventures and enjoying more fascinating exploration. Discover untold chapters of the Doctor's long life, experience new worlds and even glimpse a regeneration or two...

I am very  pleased to have been chosen to write for this collection by editor Philip Purser-Hallard (creator of the remarkable City of the Saved stories). I have contributed "The First Englishmen," an adventure for Morbius Doctor #3, who looks like 20th century TV producer Christopher Baker, and his mischievous children. Of my various silly little Doctor Who stories, this is one of my favourites. I've read the proof of the book, and I have to say, it really is a tremendously strong collection.

All proceeds from Forgotten Lives 2 will be donated to UK Alzheimer's charities. Be sure not to wait too long - the book is set to be released on August 8th 2022, and is only available by pre-ordering. Once these orders are in and they've been published, that'll be it.

Eight Doctors, sixteen authors, twenty-four stories, and a wonderful cover by the fabulous Cody Schell, Forgotten Lives 2 is available to pre-order from Obverse Books at this link right here.

Bafflement & Devotion - out very soon

Don't forget to order your copy of the new charity anthology Bafflement & Devotion: Iris at the Edges, featuring lost, forgotten and mysterious stories starring that gin-soaked lady time traveller, Iris Wildthyme.

Stories by Iris creator Paul Magrs include "Bafflement & Devotion" itself, the tete-a-tete between Iris and the Eighth Doctor originally published in Doctor Who Magazine; "In the Sixties," originally printed in Walking in Eternity; "Being an Extract from The Amazing Adventures of Iris Wildthyme on Neptune," originally printed in Tales of the Solar System; "An Unearthly Palaver," originally written for the "G'Day for the Doctor" convention; "Hospitality, from Iris: Abroad; "Entertaining Mr. O" from Perfect Timing and "It's Raining Again," with Stewart Sheargold, originally from Perfect Timing 2.

Stories by other ne'er-do-wells include "Iris Explains" by Lance Parkin, featuring the Eighth Doctor and originally included in Missing Pieces; "No Place Like Home" by Stuart Douglas, originally printed in Shelf Life; "Iris Wildthyme and the Spider from Magrs," by Alan Taylor, and "Cabinet of Changes" by Philip Purser-Hallard, originally in Walking in Eternity; "Deleted Scene from The Key Lime Pie 2 Time" by Cody Schell from a bonus ebook for Iris: Abroad; and "When Iris Met Tommy" by Stuart Douglas, from A Second Target for Tommy. 

Other stories have never been in print before, including "Faking It" by Philip Marsh, the mysteriously unattributed "Lost, Presumably Illogically Ignored," and my own Ninth Doctor and Iris story, "A World Apart."

You can order the paperback for £16.95 here, but I don't know how long it will be available so best get on it, chuck.

Coming soon from Obverse Books: Iris Wildthyme anthology Bafflement and Devotion

 I'm very excited to announce that my story "A World Apart" is set to be included in a brand new charity anthology from Obverse Books, which collects various lost, limited and out-of-print stories starring transtemporal adventuress Iris Wildthyme. My story - which I wrote about fifteen years ago! - features the Barbarella incarnation of Iris, the Ninth Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack. As well as this there are brilliant stories by Lance Parkin, Simon Bucher-Jones, Philip Purser-Hallard and, of course, Iris's creator Paul Magrs.

From the press release:

A blonde in a catsuit flirting with the 8th Doctor, a scruffy old dear exploring a universe hidden in a cupboard in the Bus, the spitting image of the glorious Katy Manning on Neptune with its anatomically extravagant inhabitants, an elderly author of lesbian fiction …Iris has had a lot of faces, and been to a lot of places. She’s been all the way to the edges and back again, so it any wonder some of her adventures have been misplaced over the years, or grown tricky to uncover?

Here, gathered together for the first time ever in a new charity collection, are the Iris stories which appeared in charity anthologies, on convention stages, got lost on old web servers and fell down the back of the sofa…a selection of tales, both old and new, from the very edges of the Obverse…

Many of these stories were included on charity anthologies in years gone by, in magazine publications or on long-deleted websites. Of the ones I've previously read I can say that there are some absolutely brilliant stories included. 

You can pre-order the book from Obverse Books, for £16.95 with all profits to Project Muyembe, a charity that supports pupils in Uganda with no access to higher education.

Forgotten Lives available for pre-order

 Obverse Books hae announced that their new unofficial Doctor Who anthology Forgotten Lives is now available for pre-order. I'm sorry to say I wasn't involved in this - god, I wish I had been - but it looks like something really exciting and I'll definitely be reviewing it. Plus, all the profits to Alzheimers charities which is an excellent cause. 

Forgotten Lives features stories about the mysterious "Morbius Doctors," the eight faces seen in the mind battle during the Tom Baker serial The Brain of Morbius. During that scene, the two Time Lords fought with their minds, and on a monitor we first saw the face of Morbius, followed by the Doctor's. Then, as Morbius forced him "back... back to your very beginnings!" the images went through Jon Pertwee, Patrick Troughton and William Hartnell... and then further, to show four other men in various period costumes. These were all backroon boys including writers and directors, and while it's possible to interpret them as faces of Morbius's earlier incarnations, it takes a willful misreading of the scene to do that. They were always meant to be earlier Doctors, the people responsible for the scene (who put their own pictures up) said as much. But, this is very difficult to reconcile with the rest of the series, and it's vague enough to explain away as Morbius.

But some of us always believed these mysterious men were Doctors, and finally, this year in "The Timeless Children," we got seeming confirmation that these were earlier faces of the Doctor before they got their memories wiped. I think this project started before that revelation, but it's a handy back-up and makes this more relevant than it otherwise would have been.

The authors include Lance Parkin (who had to be included, as the Morbius Doctor's novel champion), Simon Bucher-Jones, Philip Purser-Hallard and more excellent authors. Plus, Paul Hanley has made a project of illustrating the mysterious Doctors, taking the glimpses we saw on screen and beyond and creating whole looks for them to tie into the stories. You can see the pictures and read about the process on his Patreon, which includes a free blog. I adore these new pictures, each one giving each new Doctor their own personality and hinted at backstory. The Gallaccio Doctor has a Dr. Doolittle-esque style to him; the Camfield Doctor is a romantic adventurer all in purple; the Hincliffe Doctor (always my favourite) is a glam rock Cavalier; the Barry Doctor is a mix of Jimi Hendrix and Elizabethan courtier; the Holmes Doctor is an Enlightenment-era swashbuckler with a gleam in his eye; the Banks Stewart Doctor looks like some kind of Renaissance natural philosopher; the C. Baker Doctor is a Georgian astronaut; and the Harper Doctor is such an amazing story of deduction, creativity and thrown expectations that you should really just go and see for yourselves.

And all that's "just" the artwork. Imagine what the stories are like! Forgotten Lives is available to order from Obverse Books for £16.95 (plus shipping). 

Coming soon from Obverse Books

The brilliant Obverse Books have announced two new charity publications now out for pre-order.

Firstly, the marvellously ridiculous collection The Curse of Fanfic will be released soon. 26 wonderfully daffy stories based on TV series from the 20th century, one for each letter of the alphabet - plus crossovers!

Edited by Paul Castle and featuring authors such as the great Paul Magrs, The Curse of Fanfic includes such inspired combinations as Iris Wildthyme meeting Sooty and Co, Worzel Gummidge and the League of Gentlemen, The Goodies and Space 1999 and my own combination, Inspector Gadget vs. the Cybermen.

The Curse of Fanfic is available for pre-order until the 1st of September and then that's it. You can order it here for £12.95, with all profits going to Parkinson's UK.

The second upcoming charity publication will be Forgotten Lives, an unofficial Doctor Who tie-in featuring those mysterious men from The Brain of Morbius, who were absolutely the Doctor and no one can convince me otherwise. (Of course, that's now totally backed up by "The Timeless Children.") Forgotten Lives will feature stories of these mysterious pre-Hartnell Doctors by Simon Bucher-Jones, Phillip Purser-Hallard and Paul Driscoll among others, and I wish I'd had a chance to be involved in this one. 

Pre-orders for Forgotten Lives will open in the autumn and all profits will go towards Alzheimer's Research UK.

New magazines - Whotopia #35 and From a Story By #1

Two new issues of fanzines are now out, featuring my very own work.

Issue 35 of Whotopia is an Earth Reptile special, with reviews of the lizard-men's classic serials. I accepted the daunting task of viewing and reviewing 1984's fifth Doctor story Warriors of the Deep. I also provide the latest in my run of "Master Who?" articles, this time taking a side step to the Master's appearances on audio, something which has recently become a rather busy field. There are also articles on the nature of the Silurians and Sea Devils, on the portrayal of dyspraxia in the most recent series, the late, great Terrance Dicks and more, plus an exclusive comic strip.

To download the issue in digital form, simply click on the cover image to the right, or to purchase a physical copy, click on the link here.


Also available is the first issue of From a Story By... the first ever magazine devoted to tie-in fiction books. I take a look back at the four Red Dwarf novels of the 1990s by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, while the issue also includes articles on Star Wars, Dark Shadows, Hammer Horror and much more. To purchase a copy of this paper-and-ink magazine, click here to be taken to the Obverse Books site.


Enjoy!

Coming Soon...

I have two exciting announcements to make about forthcoming projects!

Firstly, Obverse Books have revealed the cover for issue one of From a Story By... This is a print magazine that has been gestating for some time, and will feature authors such as Paul Magrs, Kara Dennison and John Peel. From a Story By... is all about TV and film tie-in books, celebrating our love of the many weird and wonderful guides, novelisations and cash-ins that accompanied our favourite screen properties. There will be articles on everything from Star Wars to Dark Shadows, and I have written a piece on the four Red Dwarf novels by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. It's not on the site just yet but with a November release date it is sure to be listed soon

Secondly, Altrix Books have revealed the cover for Master Pieces, the upcoming Doctor Who charity anthology starring multiple versions of the nefarious Time Lord, the Master. Ginger Hoesly has created this cover for the collection and it is a thing of absolute beauty. The anthology should be up for pre-order on the Altrix Books site very soon, and will feature stories by authors such as Chris McKeon, Scott Claringbold and myself.

The Fiction Factory

Another quick update with some more fanfic news.

I’v just completed one story for a project for Obverse books, which is yet to be announced but will be a treat for fans of 20th century TV classics. I’m also working on a story for a Who-related project for Pencil Tip Publishing , which should be something really rather special.

On the subject of the Obverse, a very special project has been announced. In aid of author Tommy Donbavand, who is gravely ill and in need of support, Obverse are publishing four brand new, unofficial Dr. Who novels featuring the eccentric scientist as played by Peter Cushing. Written by a well-known Who author (who shall remain nameless), the set includes novelisations of the two Dalek movies, Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks: Invasion Earth - 2150AD, plus two novels based on Hartnell stories, imagining what further movies might have been like had Aaru kept making them. Dr. Who in "The Tenth Planet Invades the Moonbase and Dr. Who and the Ice Men from Mars pit Dr. Who against the Cybermen and the Ice Warriors.

You can buy a complete set of the four books for a discount, or buy the individual books. There's only a week left to get pre-order in though - this is a very limited edition set.

A Target for Tommy

In 2016 Obverse Books released A Target for Tommy, a charity Doctor Who anthology to raise money for Tommy Donbavand, the children's author (DW: Shroud of Sorrow, The Beano, the Scream Street series). Tommy has sadly been struggling with cancer, and due to his illness and treatment has had to cease the school visits and classes which formed his main source of income. Obverse has now announced A Second Target for Tommy, a new volume of short stories to further this fine cause now that Tommy's cancer has returned.

A Second Target for Tommy includes stories by Stuart Douglas (Obverse head honcho), Kate Orman (many Doctor Who novels including The Left-Handed Hummingbird, Return of the Living Dad, The YEar of Intelligent Tigers; editor of Liberating Earth) , Paul Magrs (Strange Boy, Marked for Life, Iris Wildthyme, Brenda and Effie, DW: Hornet's Nest), Simon Bucher-Jones (DW: The Death of Art, The Taking of Planet 5, Grimm Reality; The Brakespeare Voyage), Eddie Robson (Welcome to Our Village, Please Invade Carefully; numerous Doctor Who audios) and many more, but the really big draw is an extract from the original script for The Day of the Doctor, provided by Steven Moffat and featuring the ninth Doctor.

You can order the book here, and the ebook edition of the first volume is also still available.

A Target for Tommy

This is the latest release from Obverse Books (publishers of the Iris Wildthyme short fiction series, The Black Archive Doctor Who reference books, The Sexton Blake Library, The City of the Saved and more). It's probably best to allow Stuart Douglas and Paul Magrsto describe this very special release.

From the official product description: "As many in fandom will be aware, Scream Street creator, Beano writer, Doctor Who author and all round lovely guy, Tommy Donbavand, has been diagnosed with cancer and is currently recovering from a series of painful and unpleasant treatments. 

One of the worst things he has to face, in addition to the physical and mental pain, is the inability to write and visit schools a major part of the income he and his family rely on to live. 

(We decided) to put together a Doctor Who short story collection, with all the profits going to help Tommy in what really is his hour of need."

And from Stuart himself: "Who could resist me writing about Pertwee and Delgado coming face to face with Mapp and Lucia? Or Phil Marsh with Capaldi in a very peculiar cinema? Or Paul Magrs with Miss Hawthorne and the LINDA crew? How about Stew Sheargold and his tale of inter-species love? Nick Wallace's season of Dr Who in 140 character synopses? Sharon Tregenza's tribute to Tommy's Scream Street?

Featuring pretty much every Dr Who character you could wish for* - plus Senor 105, a smidge of Iris, folk from other world's entirely - and many more...

I'm extremely proud to have co-edited and contributed to this - might well be my favourite Obverse book!"

A Target for Tommy is available in paper and ebook formats and is available to buy directly from Obverse Books. Enjoy the first, very peculiar, highly entertaining Doctor Who fiction release from Obverse, all in support of author Tommy Donbavand.

REVIEW: The Black Archive 1 - Rose

There's no shortage of programme guides and companion pieces to Doctor Who - I own a fair few of them - but occasionally a volume or series comes along which adds something special to the arena. The Black Archive is a new series of analytic books intended to take individual Doctor Who stories and engage with them in greater depth than has usually been attempted, with a number of notable fan authors taking an academic approach to the subject. The first four volumes take on Rose, The Massacre, The Ambassadors of Death and Death in Heaven, covering the breadth of Doctor Who history from Hartnell to Capaldi.

The task of launching the series goes to Jon Arnold, who previously co-edited the well-received Shooty Dog Thing: 2th and Claw, as well as contributing to numerous books and fanzines, both with fiction and non-fiction. The obvious choice of story might be An Unearthly Child, but Arnold instead takes on the episode that relaunched the series, describing it as "the most radical episode ever broadcast under the title Doctor Who." He makes a compelling argument for this throughout the book, but accepts that Russell T. Davies built on what came before. Arnold makes some fascinating comparisons between An Unearthly Child, Rose and the 1996 Doctor Who telemovie - a launch, a relaunch and a failed relaunch - and looking at how each approached the task. The book explores Rose in the context of Doctor Who as a long-running series, and in the context of the TV and cutural landscape of 2005 - already a strangely different world to today. While mostly looking from the perspective of storytelling and television, Arnold does take the occasional look at the mythology of the series; there's a fascinating footnote where he describes the ninth Doctor as "a kind of sacrifice to the Doctor's conscience" in light of the events of the Time War and The Day of the Doctor.

This is a book, and a series, aimed at those already steeped in Doctor Who, and as such, the initial passages, which summarise the plot of Rose and its development, seem rather unnecessary. Once it gets to the meat of it, though, this is an excellent exploration of a groundbreaking episode, and a fine start to what promises to be a remarkable series of books.

You can buy The Black Archive books from Obverse Books, in electronic or physical formats.

There, up in the sky!

It seems like everything interesting in the sky is red these days. Not only has Pluto turned out be considerably ruddier and more interesting than first anticipated, but this past week we've had a blood moon eclipse and some exciting news about the planet Mars. I didn't deliberately wake myself for the eclipse, considering how disappointing space phenomena can be when shrouded by English weather, but it's been beautifully clear the last few days and I generally wake up between three and five anyway, so I got up and wandered out around four a.m. I didn't see the total eclipse but I caught a beautiful view of the waning umbra, with the Moon split into a glowing white crescent and a hazy umber shadow. It was an astonishingly clear night, too, even with the street lights that are part and parcel of living in a town centre. Orion and the Pleiades dominated the central sky, while Venus positively blazed above the eastern horizon.

Just a few days after this, we received news that compelling evidence of liquid water has been found on Mars. NASA have, irritatingly, gone down the "announcement for an announcement" route that's so popular with TV and movie studios these days, but still, it was worth waiting for. Where there's water, there's hope of life. Off to seek the Yip Yips.

In news more terrestrial in origin but interplanetary in imagination, Obverse Books has just released their eighth Iris Wildthyme collection, The Perennial Miss Wildthyme. I'm not in this one, which means there's space for only really excellent authors and not cheeky upstarts. It's edited by Paul Dale Smith, who wrote such brilliant bookages as Doctor Who: Heritage and "The League of Extraterrestrial Gentlemen" for Shelf Life. The hardback run is nearly sold out, though, so get £15 out and head to the Obverse.

My old comrade Mr E.G. Wolverson has written a joint review of the third and fourth Red Dwarf novels, Last Human by Doug Naylor and Backwards by Rob Grant. The original two novels were written by both authors under the pseudonym Grant Naylor, before they parted ways and went on to start their own projects. I devoured these books as a teen, and have read all four of them at least six times (along with the Hitchhikers "trilogy," they were my favourite books as a developing geek). For my money, Backwards was the best of the lot, although I'm hard pressed to argue with Wolvie's view of its conclusion.

The great Who-head Neil Perryman and his good wife Sue are now raising funds for the third volume of their book series The Wife in Space, following on from their popular blog. These books always make tremendously fun reading, and given Sue's less-than-positive views on Pertwee as he takes over, The Pompous Tory should be a treat. They've already hit their target so the book is definitely going ahead, but funding through the Kickstarter campaign is the most cost-effective way of getting the book. It's a fiver for the ebook and £18 for the paperback, and there are lots of extra bits and bobs that can be purchased exclusively through the campaign as well. I'm going for the Sapphire & Steel book as an extra, myself.

Dan Freeman, one of the prime movers behind the acclaimed audio series The Minister of Chance, has a new production in the works. An audio movie like its predecessor, The Light of September is a science fiction epic with a truly impressive cast, that includes such luminaries as Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager, InnerSpace), Tuppence Middleton (Sense8, Jupiter Ascending), Tamsin Greig (Black Books, The Archers) and Sylvester McCoy (the seventh Doctor and Radagast the Brown in The Hobbit). At time of writing it's 60% funded, so more backers are needed to assure its production. If it's anything as good as The Minister of Chance it'll be something to look forward to. There also appears to be a picture of me being foolish on the main page.


Other than this, what's new? It's the beginning of the new TV season in the States, which means Agents of SHIELD, Supergirl, The Flash and Gotham, so my torrent will be torrenting torrentially over the next few weeks. (Plus Fear the Walking Dead for my zombie enthusiast of a flatmate). The Beeb has just announced a new spin-off for Doctor Who, entitled Class, which will arrive next year. It's a dreadfully dull title, but the prospect of kids investigating alien activity in Coal Hill School sounds appealing, like a cross between Grange Hill and The Sarah Jane Adventures. I won't be happy unless Ian Chesterton appears, though. Plus, I've been busy with my best friend indoctrinating her children into the world of Doctor Who, starting with "Rose" and "The End of the World." Skipping those episodes we consider too scary, though. One of them is only three, the middle one is especially sensitive when it comes to movies and TV and the eldest is terrified of living statues, so we'll have to be careful.

Finally, another friend just messaged me to say she'd been "facefucked by a cobweb." I adore my friends, such a way with words.

Iris Wildthyme, throughout time

Iris Wildthyme will shortly be with us once more, in the latest anthology from Obverse Books, The Perennial Miss Wildthyme (available for pre-order now). But who is this mysterious woman, who travels the multiverse in an interdimensional double-decker bus, seemingly a TARDIS that happens to be smaller on the inside than the outside? This self-described "Trans-Temporal Adventuress," a batty old mare who's centuries old even when she's young, unstoppably youthful when she's already old and who's best friend is a talking stuffed panda? A woman who has had many faces, who claims to be a Time Lord and yet says she's nothing of the sort. She knows she's a parody of the Doctor and this just makes her love him more. An old, mad fag hag who can't be trusted, who steals others' adventures and rewrites history to make them her own. A character with as many origin stories as she can think of on the spot, who loves a bit of splishy-splashy and is never without a cigarette?

Trying to make sense of Iris's many lives is a fool's errand, as she'd be the first to tell you. And she might warn you about the spoilers, but I doubt it. Here we go anyway...

The First Iris: Iris was (probably) born on the outskirts of Saga City in the Clockworks of the Obverse, and was christened Lilith. She lived with her aunts until she found the wreckage of her magical bus, which she piloted out of the Obverse and into universes new. (Iris's origins were seen in the novel Wildthyme Beyond!) Other origin stories suggest she actually grew up in similar circumstances in the wilds of Gallifrey, but this may be a retelling of her origins fitted to suit the history of the primary Doctor Who universe. Or perhaps the Clockworks and Gallifrey are nothing other than reflections of the same realm.


Much, much later in her first life she resembled the poet Edith Sitwell (whose look was not entirely unlike a female version of the first Doctor). She has been described as “a very old, imperious Iris... a grand dame glittering in a carapace of ebon pearls,” (from the DWM article “Bafflement and Devotion”). This version of Iris appeared, briefly, at the end of the story “Came to Believe” in the anthology Wildthyme on Top, and in the later collection Iris: Fifteen.

The Second Iris: This incarnation usually goes by the name Brenda Soobie, and is described as a Scots-Caribbean songstress. She appears physically to resemble Shirley Bassey, only with a different regional accent, of course. This version of Iris appeared in the novel Mad Dogs and Englishmen (with the eighth Doctor, after one of the destructions of Gallifrey), and the multi-Iris story “The Golden Hendecahedron” in Iris: Fifteen.


The Third Iris: The most frequently encountered version of Iris in the BBC books range, this incarnation is said to look like Beryl Reid. A long-lived, perpetually middle-aged incarnation, this Iris smokes like a chimney and carries a laser pistol. It was during this lifespan that Iris first met her travelling companions Tom, Jenny and Captain Turner, all of whom she'll travel with again in later life (or lives). This Iris first appeared in print opposite the fourth Doctor in “Old Flames” (in the collection Short Trips), and later the third Doctor in the novel Verdigris and the eighth Doctor in The Scarlet Empress. It was after this adventure that she regenerated, with the help of some Hysperon honey, into her fourth self, having previously been poisoned by toxic Dalek meat.

The Fourth Iris: One of Iris's younger incarnations, something she at first enjoyed but later came to dislike, missing the clout and authority of an older body. She looks uncannily like Jane Fonda in Barbarella, often wearing catsuits and twirling laser pistols about. This Iris made her first full appearance in the short story “Femme Fatale” (in More Short Trips), where she described herself as “Iris Mark Six,” but it's now clear that she is the fourth Iris. She was the heroine of the collection Iris Wildthyme of Mars, also appearing in the novel The Blue Angel, the charity short story “Iris Explains” and a few others. She has worked both for UNIT (briefly) and its Darlington-based rival, MIAOW. “The Golden Hendecahedron” makes it apparent that this Iris is the same as the occasionally mentioned “Iris with a long white braid,” who is simply a much older version of this body. She later had her appearance changed by the Clockwork canons for selling fake exercise videos.


The Fifth Iris: A very little seen incarnation who has so far only appeared in “The Golden Hendecahedron.” Initially red-haired, into 70s fashions and with brown eyes, she later started to go grey, and one eye turned blue after she peaked at a space explosion. She didn't mind, since it made her look like David Bowie.

The Sixth Iris: Nowadays the best known Iris, this is the version who appears in Big Finish's productions and the bulk of those from Obverse Books. This version of Iris was first described as looking like Gracie Fields, but since she is voiced in all her audio appearances by Katie Manning, she has been illustrated like that as well. Flamboyant and a heavy drinker, this is Iris's most famous and incorrigible self. She has appeared with the fifth Doctor in Excelis Dawns, the sixth in The Wormery and bumped into the third and eighth in the Companion Chronicles, where she also teamed up with Jo Jones (nee Grant). Yes, they're both played by Katy Manning, and no, Iris's previous encounter with Jo in Verdigris was not mentioned once. You can't expect that kind of consistency from Iris.


This Iris has starred in five series of audios for Big Finish (so far), travelling with Tom, Captain Turner and Panda at different stages. She's also the main character of the bulk of the short story collections. She's most commonly associated with Panda, and supposedly met him in this lifespan, via Tom. However, he's also been seen to travel with her fourth self, and was present at her very first encounter with the bus. It's possible Iris's adventures with Panda form one big temporal loop. She's been married, had children and grandchildren, but this was merely the flicker of an eyelash in her long life.

Possible Future Irises:


We've had several brushes with Iris's future selves, and while it must be stressed that these are only potential futures, these are the Irises we've met so far, including several from “The Golden Hendecahedron”:


The possible seventh Iris looks like Phyllis Diller, never stops talking and has the loudest, most abrasive laugh of any woman in the cosmos. She's physically elderly but doesn't dress like it.



The following Iris is nothing more than a ventriloquist's puppet, cursed to spend this entire lifespan in this reduced form by the Gamesmaster.


The next Iris after this had the physical form of a statuesque black man in drag, and wore a long, honey-coloured wig. As she said, she may sometimes be a man, but she's “always a lady.”


The final future Iris we met in this story was a tall, lisping incarnation who looked like Carol Channing. She smoked a pipe, wore a floral suit and was quite commanding.


The collection Iris: Fifteen included many stories featuring other versions of Iris. One such Iris, in the story “Gimme Shelter,” had recently regenerated into a teenaged form with frizzy blonde hair. She wasn't happy about this as she couldn't get served.


The story “God Engine Rhapsody” featured an Iris with an American accent and crimson-and-platinum hair.


A very sexy version of Iris became involved with MIAOW in “Our Tune.” She had jet black hair, and ruby red lips that matched her figure-hugging outfit. This Iris might be the same as one who featured in a later story, “Ouroboros,” with so-black-it's-purple hair, a trim figure and green eyes.


“The Wildthyme Effect” featured an Iris who was based in the sixties, owned a shop and was “proud to be a woman of means.” I have a suspicion that this is the same version of Iris who later became a star making televised recreations of her adventures, and dropped Panda in favour of the more marketable kangaroo, Hoppy.


The story “Samsāra” sees a new Iris, of Indian looks and accent, born from fire in front of her startled companion.


It's possible further incarnations feature in this collection, although some are given scant description and might be ones we know already. The piece “Iris at the V&A” describes images of Iris from various points in her timestream, including some of those above and more, such as an Iris with bright red hair with the look of, according to Panda, “a lesbian space pirate," (possibly the fifth Iris, possibly not).


Beyond this book, we know that seven of Iris's incarnations were present in the Death Zone due to a plot by the mad Time Lord Morbius. We have also met two future Irises on audio, although neither is quite the Iris we know and love.


Dan Hogarth played a male Iris in the audio adventure The Two Irises. He looked rather dashing in a velvet jacket, and shunned alcohol. This should've been the first clue: this wasn't really Iris at all, but a projection by her TARDIS-bus to stand in her place while she was away. This faux Iris took the name Hillary and settled down to life as a barkeep in Spain.



Finally, there's Bianca, voiced by Maria McErlane. Encountered as the villain of The Wormery, this is Iris's final form, her equivalent of the Valeyard. Bianca guts her bus and turns it into a transdimensional cabaret club, intending to forcibly bring peace to the universe. She tried to steal Iris's remaining lives but was defeated, and seemingly faded from existence.

The Original Iris:

Iris made her first ever appearance in the novel Marked for Life, part of a run of works set in and around the fictional Phoenix Court. These novels aren't sci-fi or fantasy per se, but working class, queer fiction with a dollop of magical realism. The original Iris Wildthyme was an elderly lesbian in a relationship with the main character's mother. She had a double-decker bus, of course, but this one was resolutely fixed to one spot. However, this Iris claimed to have lived for hundreds of years, and at the climax of the story, seemingly met her death, only to transform into a baby in what was very clearly a Doctor Who-inspired regeneration. Baby Iris continued to appear in the Phoenix Court novels, and after many years, the adult Iris appeared in her original universe in the short story "Hospitality" in the collection Iris: Abroad.

The original Iris was described by other characters as overweight, but was in fact quite tiny, merely swaddled in many, many layers of clothing. The image conjured is of the grandmother in the Giles cartoons, but with more glamour. Not a Time Lord or a Clockworker, she's earthly but seemingly immortal, compared to Orlando. Is this Iris the version who appears in the Obverse segments of the Doctor Who novel The Blue Angel, on a version of Earth that seems at once closer to our own and further away than the one regularly saved by the Doctor? In a strand of the novel that may be less or more real than the Doctor's adventures? And how does she relate to the temporal adventuress who put the Doctor there, living a life in a single old house from which various lodgers come and go?

Who knows who Iris really is. All we know is that there's no point asking her; you can't trust her answers anyway...


With thanks to Paul Magrs, the creator of Iris Wildthyme all those years ago. What wonderful lunacy you started!

Peculiar Times: Furthest Tales of the City

Another exciting publication from Mr Philip Purser-Hallard, from Obverse Books.



Peculiar Times: Furthest Tales of the City: You (Yes, you over there! Pay attention!) will be pleased to learn that the fourth anthology of City of the Saved  short stories,  Furthest ...

The Occasional Diary of Miss Iris Wildthyme

If you like Doctor Who, silliness, time travel stories and campery, try out the adventures of Ms. Iris Wildthyme. You can get a little taster here, featuring four stories, for only 49p!