Another roundup of some Doctor Who titles recently published ... as usual there are a fair few coming through, and so without further ado ...
On top of the teetering pile is a paperback edition of
The Adventures Before ... the idea here is to present short stories based
before some popular
Doctor Who stories ... and as discussed in my review of the hardback (
https://howeswho.blogspot.com/2024/11/review-doctor-who-annual-whodle.html) I found the book disappointing overall. The paperback adds a new story to the mix, 'The Night of the Shreek' by Pete McTighe, in which Ruby and the 15th Doctor first meet a Shreek, preluding the events of 'Lucky Day'. The story was actually first published in the official 2026
Doctor Who Annual, released in 2025.
Another paperback edition with a new story included, is Time Lord Fairy Tales the hardback of which hails from 2015, and which was written by Justin Richards. I didn't review this at the time, but the content is as it says on the cover: various fairy stories are retold with Doctor Who monsters included ... they're nicely written, and as with all the BBC Children's Books fare, aimed at younger children. The new story is 'The Doctor and the Three Witches' by Janelle McCurdy and involves the three Carrionites from the story 'The Shakespeare Code' in a fairy tale interlude with Martha and a female Doctor (maybe the 13th? It's not specific), the UNIT Black Archive and Osgood ... a mixed bag!
Not a book, but a rather lovely magazine is next.
Museum Guide Book: The Classic Doctor Who Collection is a publication from Neil Cole at the Museum of Classic Sci-Fi. Intended as a guide to the
Doctor Who props, costumes and ephemera collected by Neil for his museum, the 48 page guide lavishly pictures the items, along with some text explaining the context and how the museum comes to have the items. I love this sort of publication, with items from the first four Doctors all rubbing shoulders. So there are some negatives and prints from 'The Keys of Marinus', a camera script from 'Planet of Giants' and a script from 'The Savages', alongside a Gundan Robot from 'Warriors' Gate' and Target cover roughs and BBC cover roughs from artist Andrew Skilleter. An impressive collection.
The idea is that visitors to the museum can buy the guidebook, so I'm not sure how available it is outside of actually visiting the museum, but if you are in the Hexam/Allendale area (postcode area NE47), then the Museum is well worth a visit.
Next up is an 'annual'-styled special from the
Doctor Who Appreciation Society.
Doctor Who 70-79 is a celebration of the seventies period of
Doctor Who and also marks 50 years of the DWAS.
We have interviews with Caroline John and Mary Tamm alongside many pieces exploring different aspects of the series. Contributors include Dale Smith, Matt Hills, Simon Guerrier, Tony Jordan, Jeremy Bentham, Paul Scoones, Jon Preddle, Keith Barnfather and Dez Skinn. Edited by Bruce Nicholson and designed by Paul M C Smith, the book is full of colour photographs and is very pleasing to the eye. Unlike the official BBC fare, it also majors on the written content, rather than the photographs, and thus is more suited for the older fan. The book is available from Lulu, priced at a very reasonable £16.00. https://www.lulu.com/shop/paul-smith-and-bruce-nicholson/doctor-who-70-79/hardcover/product-m2evrqj.html
From BBC Books comes the regular
Doctor Who Annual for 2027. As there is no
Doctor Who on television at this time, the publisher and editor (Paul Lang) have decided to make this a sort of 'best of'. I guess they have pared down on original material by reprinting material from past annuals, but this cost saving means they can increase the page count, so it's 126 pages long. This approach actually works really well, and the book provides a whistlestop tour of the last 20 years or so of
Doctor Who. The earlier Doctors get a brief look in too, and all told it's a bright and lively race through the show, and something that would be sure to keep a youngster occupied for Christmas Day ... I like the inclusion of a 'Where's the Doctor' spread, the short stories and comic strips ... all keeping it exciting and interesting for someone new to the series.
With the uncertainty over the future of high street chains like W H Smith/T G Jones at the moment, one does wonder if the end of the Annual may be upon us. I hope they can find a format which continues to excite, and more importantly sell copies, for next year and beyond.
Finally, a vast doorstep of a book from Wonderful Books. This is
Screen Printed, a 550 page updated print version of a previously free PDF book looking in detail at the old Target
Doctor Who novelisations. Unlike my own
The Target Book which focussed more on the behind the scenes development of the range, as well as looking at the cover art, this is focussing on the books themselves, seeking to pin down all the reprints, cover variants and so on through the years, using what information is available. It's a fascinating piece of work and is really invaluable to collectors of the books. Especially of interest are all the associated uses of the artwork, and details of where it has been displayed over the years.
I assume that author Paul M C Smith has decided to make this available at this time, as BBC Audiobooks have just completed their run of audios of all the original Target books, making this a good place to position it. It's also up to date to the 2026 set of books (Aliens of London, The Satan Pit and The Time of Angels).
Hopefully any future additions will be made available as add-on PDFs, as the book is too expensive to keep buying updated copies of!
The book costs £36.87 and is available from Lulu (https://www.lulu.com/shop/paul-mc-smith/screen-printed/hardcover/product-dy4w549.html)
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