Independence Day (No, Not the Movie!)

Our review of Paul Magrs' The Scarlet Empress can be downloaded here.  We were tickled pink to hear that Mr. Magrs actually listened to our podcast and described us as "camp".  That's an in-joke that you may or may not get, but we'll just leave it at that.

For April of 2013 we go back to a traditional Seventh Doctor and Ace story (as opposed to the grumpy manipulative Doctor and the angst-ridden Ace we know from the Virgin New Adventures).  It's the BBC Past Doctor Adventure Independence Day by Peter Darvill-Evans.  From the back cover:

'Danger is my middle name,' Ace said, 'or it would be if I had more than one.  I can look after myself these days, you know.'

Freedom.  Liberty.  Free will.  Independence.  Choice.  Everyone wants to be free.  But at what point does freedom become irresponsibility?  What happens when one person's choice causes another's oppression?

The Doctor's on a simple mission to return a communications device he borrowed years previously.  Being a Time Lord, he can return it before anyone misses it.

But events in the Mendeb system have moved more quickly than the Doctor estimated, and he lands in the ruins of a civilisation devastated by mysterious invaders.

Darvill-Evans is arguably the single most important person in the history of Doctor Who novels.  In 1989, he oversaw the Target novelizations of the televised stories, and then went on to work for Virgin, where he created launched the New Adventures (he even wrote one himself, Deceit).  Aside from that book and Independence Day, he also wrote the BBC Past Doctors Adventure Asylum, featuring the Fourth Doctor and Nyssa.

Asylum, published in 2001, was the last thing Darvill-Evans published.  However, you can catch him on the DVD extra, "Doctor Forever! -- Love and War" on the recently-released special edition of "The Ark of Space".

Fun links:

"Independence Day" on the Doctor Who Ratings Guide

Peter Darvill-Evans' Wikipedia Entry

"Independence Day" on Amazon  (Hey, it's affordable!)

"Independence Day" at the Doctor Who Reference Guide  (Spoilers, sweetie)

Email us and tell us how much you love Erik's laugh at dwbcpodcast@gmail.com, look for us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter via @dwbcpodcast.  You can also follow Erik via @sjcaustenite and Sean via @tardistavern.

For February: Love and War (at Gallifrey!)

Our latest episode, a review of Christopher Bulis' A Device of Death is now available for downloading.  As February rolls in and the time has come to read another Virgin New Adventure, Erik has chosen Paul Cornell's Love and War.  From the back cover:

On a planet called Heaven, all hell is breaking loose.

Heaven is a paradise for both humans and Draconians -- a place of rest in more ways than one.  The Doctor comes here on a trivial mission -- to find a book, or so he says -- and Ace, wandering alone in the city, becomes involved with a charismatic Traveller called Jan.

But the Doctor is strenuously opposed to the romance.  What is he trying to prevent?  Is he planning some more deadly game connected with the mysterious objects causing the military forces of Heaven such concern?

Archaeologist Bernice Summerfield thinks so.  Her destiny is inextricably linked with that of the Doctor, but even she may not be able to save Ace from the Time Lord's plans.

This time, has the Doctor gone too far?

Good old McCoy and his Machiavellian schemes.

This year marks the 20-year anniversary of Professor Benny Summerfield, possibly the most popular companion in Doctor Who's literary form.  She became so popular, in fact, that after publishing its last New Adventure featuring the Doctor, The Dying Days, Virgin released a series of novels featuring Benny as the lead character.  This eventually spawned a range of Big Finish audio adventures as well.  (Although, if that is indeed her on the cover, her fashion choices are a bit questionable.)

Nary a fan has never heard of Paul Cornell.  Although Love and War is one of his most popular books, he's probably best known for authoring the Virgin New Adventure Human Nature, which eventually became an installment in the fourth series of the television show with the Tenth Doctor.  Cornell has written nine New Adventures (four of which were for the Benny Summerfield range), one Missing Adventure, one Eighth Doctor novel, and a Past Doctor novel based on the BBC's animated short, Scream of the Shalka.

Episode 14 marks a special occasion, as Erik and Sean will be recording in person at Gallifrey One in February.  (Also, look forward to a tentative special guest...no, not Paul Cornell.)  If you are there and see us, don't be afraid to come up and say hello.  We really are a couple of splendid fellows.  Also join our page on Facebook, follow us on Twitter via @dwbcpodcast, or email us at dwbcpodcast@gmail.com (Erik personally answers each and every email while Sean shuns email like a red-headed stepchild).

Fun links:

Love and War at the Doctor Who Reference Guide  (Spoilers, sweetie!)

Paul Cornell's Blog

Love and War on Amazon  (Hey, it's affordable!)

For December: Atom Bomb Blues

If you still haven't listened to Erik & Sean's rousing discussion of Alien Bodies, you can download the episode here.

Before Sean switched on his randomizer to pick this month's selection from the proverbial hat, he had to think back about whether or not the BBC provided any past Doctor novels involving Christmas.  Answer: They didn't.  So, for December we present Atom Bomb Blues by Andrew Cartmel.  From the back cover:

Los Alamos, New Mexico, 1945.  The Second World War is coming to its bloody conclusion, and in the American desert the race is on to build an atomic bomb.

The fate of the world is at stake -- in more ways than one.  Someone, or something, is trying to alter the course of history at this most delicate point.  And destroy the human race.  Posing as a nuclear scientist with Ace as his research assistant, the Doctor plays detective among the Manhattan Project scientists, while desperately trying to avoid falling under suspicion himself.

As the minutes tick away to the world's first atom bomb blast, the Doctor and Ace find themselves up to their necks in spies, aliens of the flying-saucer variety, and some very nasty saboteurs from another dimension...

Published in November, 2005, this novel is the final installment of the BBC's Past Doctor Adventures.  They had already begun releasing the New Series Adventures featuring the Ninth Doctor and Rose months earlier, something of a death toll for the Past Doctor and Eighth Doctor series.

Author Andrew Cartmel is best known as the shows script editor from seasons 24 through 26 and for spearheading the "Cartmel Master Plan," which would have come to fruition in season 27, had the show not been cancelled.  This would have involved peeling away much of the Doctor's mysterious persona and revealing much of his back story.  They had barely touched the tip of the iceberg in "Silver Nemesis" by dropping hints that the Doctor harbored some deep, dark secret.  This was continued in the Virgin New Series Adventures, particularly in the final Seventh Doctor installment, Marc Platt's Lungbarrow.

The BBC Past Doctor Adventures which feature the Seventh Doctor and Ace differ quite a lot from the Virgin New Adventures not just in the way they exclude characters like Roz and Chris (if one were to be a continuity hound, all of the Past Doctor Adventures would take place before all of the Virgin New Adventures), but they feature a Doctor and Ace who are less riddled with angst than we saw in a novel like Conundrum.

Fun links:

The Doctor Who Reference Guide BEWARE: SPOILERS!
Andrew Cartmel's Wikipedia Page

Join us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter via @dwbcpodcast, or email us at dwbcpodcast@gmail.com.  You can also follow Erik on Twitter via @sjcaustenite and Sean via @tardistavern.

Episode 9 is Out, How the Master Turned Evil, and Marc Platt for October

Episode 9, in which we discuss David A. McIntee's The Dark Path is available now.  Special thanks to Graeme Sheridan of The2ndDoctors Podcast and Professor How!!!, a narrative podcast parodying our favorite show, for recording this month's dialogue-heavy reading; it was a challenge we knew he could take up!

October's release, as our rotation of the series' dictates, will be a Virgin New Adventure chosen by Sean: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible by Marc Platt (ISBN: 0-426-20365-8).  Here's the blurb from the back cover:

You're on your own, Ace.

The TARDIS is invaded by an alien presence, and is then destroyed.  The Doctor disappears.

Ace, lost and alone, finds herself in a bizarre deserted city ruled by the tyrannical, leach-like monster known as the Process.

Lost voyagers drawn forward from Ancient Gallifrey perform obsessive rituals in the ruins.

The strands of time are tangled in a cat's cradle of dimensions.


Only the Doctor can challenge the rule of the Process and restore the stolen Future.


But the Doctor was destroyed long ago, before Time began.

Hmm, sounds mysterious.

If Marc Platt sounds familiar, you likely know him as the author of the Seventh Doctor's televised serial, "Ghost Light."  He also penned the Seventh Doctor's final adventure of the Virgin line, Lungbarrow, and Big Finish's Spare Parts.  All that being said, we have some rather high expectations for this book.

Don't forget to follow the podcast on Twitter via @dwbcpodcast, or follow Erik via @sjcaustenite or Sean via @tardistavern.  Feel free to contact us at dwpcpodcast@gmail.com.