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January 24th, 2022 15 comments

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BBC Books to Publish a New Target Novel Collection in July 2022

The collection is available to order from www.forbiddenplanet.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.waterstones.com and www.bookdepository.com

BBC Books is delighted to announce that it will be expanding the Doctor Who Target range with five new titles in Summer 2022, all publishing on 14th July 2021, each with newly commissioned cover artwork by Anthony Dry.

Penned by the original scriptwriter the late David Fisher and adapted from his 2011 and 2014 audio novelisations, The Stones of Blood, and The Androids of Tara are now being released as two glorious Target books for fans to add to their collections. These will be accompanied by a Target edition of The Fires of Pompeii by James Moran, as well as The Eaters of Light by Rona Munro and The Zygon Invasion by Peter Harness.

For Doctor Who fans, the range of novelisations published by Target Books in the 1970s and 1980s hold a special place. There was a novel published for almost every Doctor Who serial between 1963 and 1989, with a very few (five, actually) notable exceptions. Since 2012, BBC Books has been successfully reissuing these classic paperbacks and expanding the Target range to include all-new novelisations of modern-era Doctor Who episodes.

The Stones of Blood by David Fisher – An ancient stone circle becomes a battleground as the Fourth Doctor must outwit the deadliest alien criminal this side of hyperspace.

The Androids of Tara by David Fisher – The Fourth Doctor and Romana’s search for the fourth segment of the all-powerful Key to Time leads them to the planet Tara.

The Fires of Pompeii by James Moran – It is AD 79, and the Tenth Doctor and Donna arrive in Pompeii on the eve of the town’s destruction. Mount Vesuvius is ready to erupt and bury its surroundings in molten lava, just as history dictates. Or is it?

The Eaters of Light by Rona Munro
– The Twelfth Doctor takes Bill and Nardole back to 2nd century Scotland to learn the fate of the ‘lost’ Ninth Legion of the Imperial Roman Army. 5,000 soldiers vanished without explanation – how?

The Zygon Invasion by Peter Harness – It took three Doctors to broker a fragile peace between Zygons and Humans. Now the Twelfth Doctor must face the fallout alone. With his allies compromised and his companion believed dead, can he stop the world from plunging into war?

These latest additions to the collection, all by the original writers of the TV episodes, will help Target
fans complete their classic and modern-era collections.

James Moran said: ‘I’ve been watching Doctor Who and reading the Target books for as long as I can remember. The books were an essential part of my childhood, examining the amazing cover art, and “seeing” stories that aired before I was born. I loved learning new words from them, like “capacious”, and am beyond thrilled to become part of this publishing legend!’Rona Munro said: ‘It’s wonderful to have another chance to revisit the ideas of my last Doctor Whostory, Eaters of Light, they are ideas that have been with me for a very long time and Doctor Who, as always, proved to be the largest and most exciting world in which to realise them.’Peter Harness said: ‘Like many,many others, I learnt to read and to love books by reading Target novelisations. The Saturday afternoon journey to Garland’s bookshop in Bridlington to see if any new Doctor Who stories had materialised on their shelves. Scouring markets and second-hand shops in hope of finding an old copy of Doctor Who and the Sea Devils.

Desperately pestering my poor cousin until he finally lent me his copy of Doctor Who and The Doomsday Weapon. Making my Grandad read me The Enemy of the World when he would’ve much preferred to fall asleep with the newspaper. There is a sense of magic and excitement about Target books which has stayed with me my whole life. And I can’t begin to tell you how wonderful it feels to be writing my own Target book of one of my own Doctor Who stories.’


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15 comments

  • MJS

    January 24th, 2022 - 2:18pm

    I wonder if any “online retailer” will be doing signed editions of these too, even bookplates?

    Reply
    • Cymon

      January 24th, 2022 - 3:14pm

      Probably Forbidden Planet, they did for the last set

    • Coleman

      January 26th, 2022 - 4:58pm

      I hope so, I’ll be interested in getting signed copys of these.

    • Rory

      January 27th, 2022 - 10:35am

      Sadly will only be for the new series ones as David Fisher is no longer with us, unless they got Anthony Dry to sign.

  • BaileyBlue

    January 24th, 2022 - 12:10pm

    As great as it is for for fans to have more of the serials as target novels. I wish the beeb would bring back the regular sets of three to tie in with the current series. Poor jodie only got three novels all up and they were all written before her first episode came out.

    Reply
    • Doctor Stu

      January 24th, 2022 - 12:23pm

      Can’t really see them being big sellers. I’m assuming when RTD comes back we’ll find a lot of the things we used to look forward to actually do end up returning. Novels accompanying each series, action figures, spin offs, behind the scenes things etc.

    • January 24th, 2022 - 1:08pm

      Stu they still do behind the scenes , confidential was cancelled by the BBC in Moffat’s era against his wishes. I would rather forget about original novels and expand the target range. Davies will have an influence on what is produced.

    • Children of davros

      January 24th, 2022 - 1:14pm

      Stu there are 14 behind the scenes extras on the flux DVD. It’s not as if they have gone away

    • January 24th, 2022 - 2:15pm

      Sorry missed out some words. Russell will have little influence on merchandise. It’s up to book sellers, toy manufacturers etc and down to the children of the new who revival growing up and moving on. The market naturally died down and as much as collectors want more the collectors market can’t sustain big numbers of releases.

    • MJS

      January 24th, 2022 - 2:19pm

      There have been other 13th Doctor books, but they appear to be pitched at a younger age group

  • Daniel Seymour

    January 24th, 2022 - 12:00pm

    Great to see three more new series novelisations but would like to see the release rate increase as there are so many stories to get through.

    Reply
    • Book collector

      January 24th, 2022 - 1:09pm

      Two every month. One classic reprint and a new who book… I can dream…

    • Peter Mullarkey

      January 24th, 2022 - 10:16pm

      I’d love to see a Target novel released every month to cover a story since the series was revamped in 2005. I can’t forget the excitement at learning which novels would forthcoming in the coming months as they completed the original run. Still regard reading Fury from the Deep being a highlight.

    • Daniel Seymour

      January 26th, 2022 - 1:43pm

      We need target versions of the John Peel novels Power of the Daleks and Evil of the Daleks. Perhaps along with a release of a new series Dalek story. Also would like to see these two released as audiobooks.

  • Chris Howarth

    January 24th, 2022 - 11:53am

    Interesting selection. Nice to have the David Fisher books in print at last.

    Reply

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