The New Adventures Books

[rulandor]

Today I watched extra material on the ARK IN SPACE DVD, where the history of Doctor Who books during the years without tv show was shown.

I found that very interesting - original scripts of a rather adult nature in this Virgin books. Now, Virgin lost the licence, but continued for a while with Bernice Summerfield as heroine. Are these books still available, or do they exist in reprinted form?

The Amazon.uk page lists several of them, but the descriptions are not very clear as to whether these books are newly printed or lying on dusty shelves for nearly two decades now ...

[misterharry]

Hardly any of the Virgin novels have been reprinted, and in most cases the only means of buying them is either ebay or as used books from Amazon resellers or other second-hand sources.

A number were made available for free as ebooks on the Doctor Who website. However, this was years ago and they've long since disappeared - though they're still recoverable using the Wayback Machine. The titles to search for by this method are:

New Adventures:
Nightshade
Human Nature
Lungbarrow
The Dying Days (the first ever 8th Doctor novel)

Missing Adventures:
The Empire of Glass
Scales of Injustice
The Well-Mannered War

In addition, a few were republished by BBC Books earlier this year as part of the Monster Collection:

New Adventures:
Shakedown

Missing Adventures:
The Sands of Time
Scales of Injustice (again)

One of the Bernice Summerfield NAs, Dead Romance, has been republished by Mad Norwegian Press (I think in a slightly revised form). Probably not recommended as a stepping-on point for the NAs as it comes towards the end of the series. But it's a great intro to the themes that writer Lawrence Miles went on to use in his Faction Paradox books.

And finally, Big Finish are adapting a handful of NAs and MAs for audio. They've already released Love and War (Benny's introductory story) and have announced several others: The Highest Science, The Romance of Crime, The English Way of Death, The Well-Mannered War (all originally by Gareth Roberts), and RTD's Damaged Goods. Whilst I enjoyed the audio version of Love and War, it inevitably loses a lot in the adaptation just to get it down to a manageable duration.

Oh, and in case it wasn't mention in the extra on the Ark of Space DVD, after Virgin lost the licence, BBC Books began publishing their own range of original novels, both an 8th Doctor Adventures series (EDAs) and a Past Doctors Adventures series (PDAs). I don't think they were ever as highly acclaimed by fans as the novels from Virgin, but I enjoyed them too. Again though, very few have been reprinted so it'll be a search for second-hand copies for most of these.

[Catsmate]

A misterharry said it's pretty tricky to pick up legit copies of the books, and there were a lot of them. Virgin published 61 New Adventures (with the Seventh Doctor), plus the Benny spin-off series, and  33 Missing Adventures (with various earlier Doctors). BBC published 73 Eighth Doctor Adventures and 76 Past Doctor Adventures. Then there are 15 Telos novellas, a few novelisations of unmade TV scripts, fan novelisations of a few stories not done by Target, short story collections and oddities like Who Killed Kennedy.

Chapters bookshop in Dublin had, up until a few months ago anyway, stocks of many of the BBC books going cheap. Other than places like that, online sources like eBay, second-hand bookshops and the few reprints are about it. Timelash is a good place to start looking for copies.

Of course pirate ebooks are readily available.

Hope this helps.

[rulandor]

Thank you very much for your advice, misterharry and Catsmate!

On closer look, quite some Virgin titles are on offer from marketplace sellers on Amazon.uk, dispatching from the UK or from the US. The UK sellers often even have quite decent prices (below 10 pound).

Any recommendations where to start? I am quite a Seventh Doctor and Ace fan, but on the DVD material (ARK IN SPACE Special Edition) there was some skepticism towards the role of Ace in the books and the Seventh Doctor becoming sort of a godlike figure (which peaks my interest, to be honest). On the other hand, Bernice Summerfield sounded very interesting as well.

[misterharry]

Sept 22, 2014 13:52:02 GMT rulandor said:

Any recommendations where to start? I am quite a Seventh Doctor and Ace fan, but on the DVD material (ARK IN SPACE Special Edition) there was some skepticism towards the role of Ace in the books and the Seventh Doctor becoming sort of a godlike figure (which peaks my interest, to be honest). On the other hand, Bernice Summerfield sounded very interesting as well.

Where to start? That's quite a difficult question really. If it's the 7th Doctor you're interested in, then it's the Virgin New Adventures - though there are a few much more traditional 7th Doctor and Ace novels in the BBC's Past Doctor Adventures series which you might like as well.

One thing to mention is that there are numerous story arcs, ongoing themes and linking elements throughout the NAs, so if you're planning on picking and choosing books from that range, then you may not get the best out of the them. Also, be aware that there is a lot of angst in the series, particularly the middle run of the range, to an extent that has never appeared in the TV series, classic or new. Also, the development in Ace's character is not to everyone's taste.

However, having said all that, here are my own personal recommendations:

Timewyrm: Revelation by Paul Cornell - the book that sets the style for much of which comes after. It is however the final book in the Timewyrm story arc. [I'd also recommend Timewyrm: Exodus from this arc - Terrance Dicks' first contribution and his best by far, though pretty straightforward by the standard of later NAs.]

Nightshade by Mark Gatiss - Gatiss's homage to Quatermass.

Love and War by Paul Cornell - Benny's introduction and a real game-changer for the series. Not to be missed.

Transit by Ben Aaronovitch - Doctor Who does cyberpunk. Very shocking and controversial on its initial release, and still hated by many. I love it though.

Deceit by Peter Darvill-Evans - This is actually an appalling book, very badly written, and the only reason I include it here is that it's key to Ace's ongoing story.

Blood Heat by Jim Mortimore - A superb parallel Earth story. Also the start of the Alternative Universe cycle.

The Left-Handed Hummingbird by Kate Orman - Kate's first tour de force.

No Future by Paul Cornell - The finale of the Alternative Universes series. But also the height of the NAs' period of angst, which can be off-putting.

All-Consuming Fire by Andy Lane - The Doctor and Sherlock Holmes vs the Cthulhu Mythos. 'Nuff said!

Set Piece by Kate Orman - Another highlight from Kate Orman. I can't say too much for fear of spoilers.

Human Nature by Paul Cornell - Even better than the TV adaptation.

Original Sin by Andy Lane - The introduction of Roz Forrester and Chris Cwej. Roz is one of my favourite companions across all media.

The Also People by Ben Aaronovitch - Some very highbrow sci-fi concepts in one of the very best books in the series.

Just War by Lance Parkin - A story of morality in wartime.

Death and Diplomacy by Dave Stone - Dave Stone has a very distinct style and is a Marmite author: most people either love him or hate him - I'm in the former camp, and this book, although not his best (that would be Sky Pirates!), is important for Benny's story.

Damaged Goods by Russell T. Davies - RTD's sole contribution to the range. A mix of the everyday and the fantastic, plus proto-Time War weaponry and the inspiration for the Tylers and the Powell Estate.

So Vile a Sin by Ben Aaronovitch and Kate Orman - My personal favourite. Very moving, but you'd lose a lot by reading it in isolation. Another game-changer.

Lungbarrow by Marc Platt - The embodiment of Andrew Cartmell's Masterplan. What might have been if the TV show hadn't been cancelled in 1989. Not to everyone's tastes and it certainly clashes with some versions of continuity.

The Dying Days by Lance Parkin - OK, not a 7th Doctor novel but an 8th Doctor one and the final book in the range before it went over to a Bernice Summerfield series. This one is pretty much standalone, apart from it featuring Benny. A hugely exciting and fresh take on Doctor Who after several years of angst with the 7th Doctor.

Finally, I'd also recommend Cold Fusion by Lance Parkin, in the Virgin Missing Adventures series - the 7th Doctor meets the 5th. It's set during the latter half of the New Adventures, with the 7th Doctor accompanied by Roz and Chris, and just after Castrovalva for the 5th Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric.

[rulandor]

You did a lot of work here for largely my benefit, and thanks a lot for that.

Especially helpful is mentioning the story arcs and hinting at some additional titles rounding them out.

No telling whether I would like the angst element of the NA, but it might be possible. I like dark drama; I don't normally expect it from Doctor Who, but combining the Doctor's universe with such a perspective might be attractive for a somewhat older person like me.

The BBCs Past Doctor Adventures seem worth looking into.

[Catsmate]

I pretty much agree with misterharry's ratings. Frankly there was a lot of dross in the NA series.
My recommendations from the MA series are:
A Device Of
Death,


Goth Opera,


Killing Ground,


Managra, Romance Of Crime,


The Dark Path, The English Way Of Death,


The Eye Of The Giant,


The Plotters,


The Sands Of Time,


The Shadow Of Weng-Chiang,


The Sorcerer's Apprentice and 


The Well-Mannered War.
Cold Fusion has also been mentioned.

[infinitydoctor]

"The Dark Path" was particularly interesting, since it actually features The Master and the Second Doctor! Pretty much all of the books that David A McIntee wrote are worth picking up if you can get them, from both series. "Lords of the Storm" is a nice Fifth Doctor Sontaran/Rutan story, and in the NA range, "First Frontier" has a cool surprise or two!

To misterharry's list, I'd also add "Christmas on a Rational Planet". Lawrence Miles became a bit of a controversial figure, but I've enjoyed all of his books across both the Virgin and BBC ranges. I believe this was the first. Roz Forrester is an interesting companion, and her relationship with the Seventh Doctor is on a different level to that of some of his other companions. I'd definitely read this one (and a few others) before going into "So Vile A Sin"

EDIT: The BBC Books were even more of a mixed bag, but for the 7th Doctor, I'd go with "Illegal Aliens" and "Matrix". The latter is possibly my favourite of the past range (unless you count "The Infinity Doctors" - but thats a sort of "sideways" 8th Doctor story....)

[rulandor]

I have just put several of these recommended titles on my Amazon whish list. In order to include them all or in part in some future order.