Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Hello Book Clubbers! Erik here, retaking control of the blog once more in an ill-fated attempt to satiate my constant and growing hunger for power. More...more...MORE!!!

*ahem*

Actually, Sean's just gotten too busy so I'm stepping back into the breach. Before I blurb August's book, some housekeeping. Due to the aforementioned business, we're behind on posting episodes! Oh no!

• Download our April episode on Peter Darvill-Evans' Independence Day.
• Or our May (read: early June) episode on State of Change by Christopher Bulis.
• Or maybe our June discussion of the infamous Lungbarrow by Marc Platt.
• Or our most recent episode, on Jonathan Morris' The Tomorrow Windows.

And now, for August, we present Trevor Baxendale's Fear of the Dark--from the back cover of the original edition:

On the very edge of the galaxy lies Akoshemon: a putrefied world of legendary evil.

In the year 2382 archaeologists land on Akoshemon’s only moon, searching for evidence of the planet’s infamous past. But when the Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa are drawn into the lunar caverns they find more than a team of academics -- and help uncover much more than ancient history.

Something is lying in wait, deep inside the labyrinth of caves: something that remembers the spiral of war, pestilence and deprivation that ruined Akoshemon. Something that rejoiced in every kind of horror and destruction.

An age-old terror is about to be reborn. But what is the hideous secret of the Bloodhunter? And why does Nyssa feel that her thoughts are no longer her own? Forced to confront his own worst fears, even the Doctor will be pushed to breaking point -- and beyond.

Oooh...sounds spooky kids! Baxendale has written several other books set in the Whoniverse (I hate that term, but it is convenient), both during the Wilderness Years and since the show returned in 2005. As a change of pace, Fear of the Dark is available for sale, right now, in a brand new edition as part of the 50th anniversary novel reissues--you can even get it for your Kindle or Nook! So you have no excuse not to grab a copy and read along with us...

Links below may contain spoilers:

Fear of the Dark at the Doctor Who Reference Guide

Its scant Wikipedia page

Buy it on Amazon! (The Kindle edition is only $3.99!)

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.

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.