Andy Frankham-Allen's Blog: The Welsh-Londoner, page 3

Readers Speak Out

As we look forward to the next book in the Lethbridge-Stewart series, I want to look back briefly and consider the wonderful comments made by the readers.

Many things are said by many people — among them negative things, usually by people with agendas and people who haven’t even bothered to pick up the book and read it for themselves. Fortunately, the readers are speaking out and giving their reviews. It’s the readers whose views mean more, of course, since they have spent the time to read and give a thoughtful response to the hard work of all involved. So, a personal thank you from me, and a thank you on behalf of everybody at Candy Jar Books who worked hard on launching the Lethbridge-Stewart series and continue to work hard on its future.

���This works as not only a fitting tribute to one of Doctor Who’s most beloved supporting characters, but a credible engaging science fiction story in its own right.��� Wink Taylor (children���s entertainer)

���Excellent storytelling, superb writing, and a brilliant idea, all combine to make this a must read book (and series) for fans of both Doctor Who and the Brigadier.��� Bryan Simcott (Amazon five-star review)

���A great story, well-paced with good characterisations and interesting supporting cast.��� JB McKellar (Amazon five-star review)

���Andy Frankham-Allen produces an Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart who acts like the confident, go-ahead action-hero who featured in The Invasion, Spearhead from Space, and Mind of Evil, not the pale reflection from The Three Doctors��� The story itself builds interest and intrigue as it weaves together elements of the colonel���s past, present and future��� There are old friends here from The Web of Fear, all instantly recognisable; while the plethora of new characters are all distinct enough to keep track of who���s who, and who is doing what.��� Geek Girl Project

���Suspenseful, keeping you guessing at every page with a really satisfying conclusion and nice tie-ins to the larger mythos of Doctor Who.��� Stephen Hartwell (Goodreads five-star review)

���The Forgotten Son is a unique book. It captures the tone of modern Doctor Who novels but also mixes in a nostalgic feel comparable to the Target novelisations of old��� A well-paced, superbly atmospheric and detailed story that will transport its reader back to a time when you could truly hide behind the sofa as the Yeti menace stalked London.��� Will Barber-Taylor (The Consulting Detective Blog)

���The characters are well written and interesting. We discover Lethbridge-Stewart in a new light that perfectly contributes to building the character of Brigadier as we know it. Andy Frankham-Allen has written a superb start to this series of novels.��� Gallifrance Online Magazine

���Some of the choices that have been made for the series are going to surprise fans of the show, but that���s as it should be. If Candy Jar can maintain the standard of this opener, then those fans will be in for a treat.��� ��� Sci-Fi Bulletin

���The Forgotten Son is a superb opener to the series, mixing recognisable Doctor Who lore, suppositions by cast members, tear-jerking dedications, a foreword by the great Terrance Dicks, and the familiar smile of the man we came to know as the Brigadier. Because, really, this is his book, and his series, and had Andy Frankham-Allen failed to bring the old soldier to life then we probably wouldn���t be talking about these books for much longer. Happily, the opposite is true. He may not be hijacking Liz Shaw���s research scientist career or bellowing ���chap with wings, five rounds rapid!��� but this is an absolutely perfect representation of Lethbridge-Stewart in his younger days.��� Kasterborous Online Magazine

And a reminder, The Secret Files is now available for free on pdf, and 99p for your Kindle…

LETHBRIDGE-STEWART- Announcements!

I am very pleased to announce another freebie — this time an Easter thank you from everybody at Candy Jar Books. An eBook introductory pack for��the Lethbridge-Stewart series.

The ebook includes:

The Ambush! ��� A short story originally published in Doctor Who Magazine #438, now extended with new scenes. It is set during the Doctor Who serial The Web of Fear, and serves as an introduction to the Lethbridge-Stewart book series.
We Won���t Let Him Down ��� An extended version of the final chapter of Candy Jar Books��� Companions: Fifty Years of Doctor Who Assistants, focussing solely on the television adventures of the Brigadier.
What Lies Beyond ��� A brief look at some of the Doctor Who novels that have featured the Brigadier over the years that pertain to the future of the Lethbridge-Stewart series of novels.
Graeme Harper ��� An extended��interview with Doctor Who director Graeme Harper (the only director to have worked on the classic series and the revived series) from the book Calling the Shots, in which he talks about Nicholas Courtney, the man who brought the Brigadier to life.
Original Prelude ��� Never-before-seen original prelude that was written to open The Forgotten Son, set during the final moments of the Brigadier���s life.
The New World ��� The opening chapter of The Forgotten Son, the first novel in the Lethbridge-Stewart

The Lethbridge-Stewart ebook can be downloaded for free as a pdf from Candy Jar Books��or downloaded for 99p on Kindle from Amazon.

We can also announce that sadly Lance Parkin is stepping away from the project for the moment. Shaun Russell, head of publishing at Candy Jar, said: ���Lance is such a huge talent in the world of Doctor Who and we have left the door open for him to return. Hopefully, one day, Lethbridge-Stewart will make it to Det-Sen.���

As a result we’ve had��re-organise our��2015 release schedule, bringing forward David A McIntee���s The Schizoid Earth��to a June release. A replacement novel will follow a few months later, which is a prequel/sequel to Terrance Dicks��� acclaimed 1977 Doctor Who serial, Horror of Fang Rock which starred Tom Baker.��Beast of Fang Rock��will be written by Terrance Dicks and me. And, as originally planned, 2015 will still be rounded off with Mutually Assured Domination by Nick Walters.

And the news doesn’t end there. We are finally able to announce the details of our authors for the 2016 schedule. They are, in no particular order;

John Peel (whose��Doctor Who books include the first original novel published by Virgin Books in 1991 and the critically acclaimed War of the Daleks, as well as novelisations of four Dalek serials from the 1960s)
Jonathan Cooper (ex-Doctor Who correspondent with the Mirror.co.uk and author of two Space: 1889 novels)
Lizbeth M Myles (author of several licensed Doctor Who short stories)
Adrian Rigelsford (author of the aborted thirtieth anniversary special The Dark Dimension, and Doctor Who reference books The Hinchcliffe Years and The Harper Classics).

So, exciting times ahead! In the meantime, while I edit David’s book and work on��Beast of Fang Rock with Terrance, I hope you enjoy the free eBook. More special releases coming soon from this site!

Poll Results! And news update…

And so, the results are in. Over two hundred voted, and the ‘best era by producer’ has been decided by the fans. And the winner is, by quite a stretch, Philip Hinchcliffe who produced Tom Baker’s first three years as the Doctor.

Interestingly John Nathan-Turner, the man who saw Doctor Who to its initial conclusion in 1989, came second place with Russell T Davies who brought Doctor Who triumphantly back to our screens in 2005.

In other news, plans for Lethbridge-Stewart continue apace with, currently, eight books in various stages of production. Included in this list of books are five authors new to the range — the names of which will be announced soon! ��Also coming soon, brand new cover art, blurb for the next title, and a very special something for fans of the series.

Stay tuned!

Doctor Who Re-Watch – Season One

And so that was season one, running from 23rd November 1963 ��to 12 September��1964. Oh wait, getting a little ahead of myself…

For no reason other than I wanted to, I’ve decided to re-watch Doctor Who in its entirety — well, I say entirety, but of course there are many episodes, from the ’60s, that no longer exist. Thus I will be watching every full story that is commercially available, and for the purpose of the re-watch that includes stories completed with animated episodes. This does, unfortunately, mean I will be skipping certain stories entirely — which becomes a problem from the third to fifth seasons especially, as so little exists from this three years.

This past week I’ve been watching the first season, which pretty much exists completely. It’s a good thing — no, scratch that, it’s a great thing! The first season is a solid piece of television in its own right, and sets the building blocks for the Doctor Who that everybody loves so much these days. It’s a gradual build, though; much like the first series of Nu Who, the first season of Doctor Who builds things up slowly. It’s not until the penultimate story, for instance, that the Doctor begins to simply get involved in the adventure to help out others. Up to that point, the Doctor was only concerned with himself and Susan, his granddaughter and then, as the season progressed, his circle of concern encompassed Ian and Barbara, his initially reluctant companions. Indeed, at first, the Doctor was very much opposed to the presence of Ian and Barbara, thinking only of himself and, occasionally, Susan. It was his selfish desire that got them into trouble, for instance, in The Daleks. Another important thing to note about this first season; the main characters are very well defined, rounded and real. They’re not defined by particular traits which remain the same throughout, but their views and reactions are entirely dependent on whatever situation they find themselves in. Much as would be the case with any real person when put into extreme situations. And they don’t always get on — Barbara is in direct opposition with the Doctor in The Aztecs, the Doctor is more than willing to cast suspicion on the school teachers in The Edge of Destruction… The list goes on.

So, minus Marco Polo as it doesn’t exist any more, this is my run down of season one from least favourite to favourite. (Although I must stress, the very first episode is a masterpiece, but is let down by the subsequent three episodes. And there are not really any dud stories in this first season.)

The Keys of Marinus
The Edge of Destruction
An Unearthly Child
The Sensorites
The Daleks
The Aztecs

And the winner of BEST STORY OF SEASON ONE is…

Please do share your thoughts and comments on the triumphant first season below…

Producing Who

We’ve all got our favourite era of Doctor Who, but such eras are��often voted by��Doctor, but that ignores the fact that some Doctors had more than one producer guiding their adventures. So now’s your chance to vote on the best era of Who, by producer…

Take Our Poll

*Choosing the producers was fairly straightforward, since the 'showrunner' (to use the modern term) has always been well-defined on television. I have, however, included Gary Russell in this list due to one important fact; during the wilderness years of no televisual adventures, he was the producer of official BBC-licensed material featuring the original cast from the TV series and was, arguably,the only real contender for 'true Doctor Who' during the years when Who was off our screens. (You are free to disagree with this, and if you do, then just don't vote for him. No issue.)

Deleted Scenes – From Me to You

Well, it’s a lovely sunny Spring Saturday (ah, alliteration!), so I decided to offer you wonderful people who’ve been saying such nice things about my book a little insight into what might have been…

Three scenes deleted from the final manuscript of The Forgotten Son. Two underwent massive rewrites, while the third was completely excised, although it still fits in the book continuity so it can be considered canon if you like. ��:)

Hope you all enjoy, but be warned, if you haven’t read the book, there will be SPOILERS within.

Download Forgotten_Son_Deleted_Scenes��here!

A Brief History… FREE

We all like a little bit of free reading material, right? Well, that’s good as I have something free to give to whoever wants it.

A Brief History of the Lethbridge-Stewarts is a little work of fiction, an excerpt from a larger fictional book by everybody’s favourite irritating journalist, Harold Chorley! ��It’s ‘in-universe’, which means officially part of the Lethbridge-Stewart canon and gives a few hints at the larger picture of the series.

Alas, it’s only available in pdf… A Brief History of the Lethbridge-Stewarts.

Origin of the Ancestry

The Forgotten Son has been out almost three weeks (or more, if you pre-ordered it) and it has garnered a lot of positive feedback, with mostly four-star reviews. People seem to really love it, which bodes well for the series as a whole.

But there is one point raised by a few readers which I want to address here. In The Forgotten Son I establish that Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart was born in Cornwall. This has confused some readers, who tell me ���but he���s Scottish���. Which leaves me to wonder; is he? From where did you get this information?

My first source of reference is, and always will be, the television series. I have watched every story featuring the Brigadier many times, not only since 1988 when I was first introduced to the character, but also for research purposes. The only story which even suggests his origins is Terror of the Zygons, the season thirteen opener which is set in Scotland. In the early moments of the episode the Doctor, Sarah and Harry arrive at the Fox Inn to find the Brigadier in a kilt. What follows is this conversation:

SARAH: Anyway, it’s nice to see you again, Brigadier.

BRIGADIER: And you, Miss Smith.

SARAH: Though I didn’t expect to see you in a kilt.

BRIGADIER: My dear Miss Smith, as you remember, my name is Lethbridge-Stewart. The Clan Stewart.

SARAH: Oh, sorry. I thought you were doing a Doctor.

BRIGADIER: What an absurd idea.

At the end of the story, the Duke of Forgil questions the Brigadier for not taking back the Doctor and Sarah���s return tickets to British Rail and getting a refund; ���I thought you were a Scotsman,��� he says, and receives a bemused smirk from the Brigadier.

From these two exchanges it would appear that many have drawn the conclusion that the Brigadier is Scottish. Which is, on the surface, fair enough. (Of course, that he was originally in the Scots Guards could be used to back up this conclusion, except not every officer in the Scots Guards is Scottish.) However, a few points seem to be ignored when drawing this conclusion. The Brigadier does not sound Scottish in the slightest, which at least suggests he was not raised in Scotland or the north of England, and, most importantly, his name.

I looked it up, trying to discover where ���Lethbridge��� originates, and it would appear to have come from a place name in Devon that no longer exists. The family name was derived from this place and has, over the centuries, been altered to the current form of ���Lethbridge���. Indeed, to this day, the Lethbridge Baronets are a large and distinguished part of Devon heritage. From this it is clear that at least half of the Brigadier���s ancestry is English, while the other half is, as stated in Terror of the Zygons, Scottish as a once-part of the Clan Stewart.

None of which suggests he was necessarily born in Scotland ��� granted, beyond his accent, there���s nothing to suggest he wasn���t born in Scotland either. So, taking my cue from other Doctor Who media beyond the TV, I decided that the Brigadier wasn���t born in Scotland at all, as his accent suggests ��� an accent refined by schooling, no doubt. I went for Cornwall simply because of its proximity to Devon and the fact that the Brigadier always seems so at home whenever we see in villages on television.

As an interesting addition, in Lance Parkin���s The Dying Days, published in 1997, we learn about William Lethbridge-Stewart who was a friend of King James VI. Seeing no reason to contradict this, I have merged this information with soon-to-be established information, as seen in this excerpt from a yet-to-be released document called A Brief History of the Lethbridge-Stewarts:

���The first recorded Lethbridge-Stewart was William Stewart, born in 1567. He was of the Clan Stewart, a relative of the Stuart Kings of Scotland.�� He grew up to be friends with James VI, and was with him when the young king claimed the English throne after the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. By this time William had already met and married Mary Lethbridge, the daughter of the influential Lethbridge family in England ��� a marriage that was only approved on the condition that the Lethbridge name be maintained in conjunction with the Stewart name.���

And thus the ancestry of the Brigadier is explained in a way that does not contradict what���s been established on television, and successfully extrapolates information given and real life fact.

As an aside, William Lethbridge-Stewart was, one imagines, named after Nicholas Courtney himself, whose full name was William Nicholas Stone Courtney. Naming fictional characters after the real life people who inspired them is a fine tradition of authors all over the world, and one I like to keep alive. Indeed, in the Lethbridge-Stewart series I have named several characters after real people, or people that are connected to those who inspire the characters. Like Colonel Pemberton, a character referenced in the television story, The Web of Fear, who was named by writer Mervyn Haisman after his good friend Victor Pemberton, Doctor Who author and script editor. As a tribute to Pemberton���s life-partner I christened the character with the full name of Spencer David Pemberton (Victor���s partner was actor/producer David Spenser, who died in July 2013). There are other characters inspired by real people in The Forgotten Son ��� whoever can name the most, will receive a special prize from me (responses in the comments below, or email me: andy@candyjarbooks.co.uk).

LETHBRIDGE-STEWART LAUNCHES

The day is here. After almost eight months, Lethbridge-Stewart the series officially begins today. Pre-orders have been shipping the past week, but today is the day that sees the first book in the series available to the public at large. It���s been quite a long journey, but worth every second, although now the book is out there I���m in a position of waiting to see how well I, and the rest of the team at Candy Jar Books, have done my job. Reviews have started coming in, and here are a select few from pre-order readers:

It felt like I was watching it on television, picturing it clearly in my mind���s eye as I was reading, hearing the characters��� voices as I watched the events unfold.����Much like The Sarah Jane Adventures offered a deeper look into one of the Doctor���s best loved companions; Lethbridge-Stewart offers a deeper understanding of one of his greatest human allies.����� Katt at Nerdversity

A very good launch to a new series of books looking at Lethbridge-Stewart���s history between The Web of Fear and The Invasion. Very well written, if you know your Who you’ll probably be one step ahead of Alistair, if you don’t you’ll enjoy it just the same. Well recommended. ��� Goodreads��� reader.

I did have a worry that like some of the New Adventures ��� which I think I read somewhere was an inspiration to the author ��� this story wouldn’t fit in with the fictional universe of Doctor Who in the 1960s ��� by being too modern in its approach. But this achieves the aim of presenting something broader and deeper (to coin a phrase from the NA series) than ���60s Who without compromising its style and principles. I almost felt this was the novelisation of a spin off series broadcast just after the watershed on a Sunday in 1968 ��� faithful to its time but still doing something a little different than the parent series. ��� Reviewer on GallifreyBase Forum

With a number of mysterious layers to intrigue and entice, the puzzle over the colonel���s background and the disappearance of a dead soldier to keep you guessing,��The Forgotten Son��is a superb opener to the series, mixing recognisable��Who��lore, suppositions by cast members, tear-jerking dedications, a foreword by the great Terrance Dicks, and the familiar smile of the man we came to know as the Brigadier. ��� Kasterborous

��� Which do rather suggest that it���s not a bad book. I certainly hope so. In many ways this is the culmination of my journey as a writer thus far, where my professional career smashes head first into the most important fictional escapism I had growing up. And, of course, from a fan point of view, I am aware of how many people are invested in the lead character and the responsibility resting on The Forgotten Son as the first book in the series.

The book can picked up from any book shop (although they���ll probably need to order it in), with digital editions available from all good eBook stockists. You can buy the paperback online direct from Candy Jar Books, or various retailers via Amazon, and places like the Book Depository.

Alternatively, if you can wait until Saturday, you can drop by The Who Shop in London and buy a copy there, and get it signed by not only me, but Terrance Dicks, Ralph Watson (who played Captain Knight in The Web of Fear), Hannah Haisman and, if you time it right, maybe even get a scribble from David A McIntee and Nick Walters. We���ll be there from 13:30 to 15:00.

Lethbridge-Stewart – News Round-Up

Been a busy old week or so for��Lethbridge-Stewart. Lots of good things happening, although I can’t comment on all of them. So, this post will talk about some of the highlights which I can comment on.

First of all, as mentioned in the previous post, I’ve been interviewed on two podcasts in the last week. By the fine folks at Kasterborous, where I was joined by Hannah Haisman and Shaun Russell, and we talked exclusively about the series and a bit of the background. Secondly I was interviewed by the insane people at Nerdversity, in which I talked about almost everything, including the new series of books, plus my work on��Space: 1889 & Beyond and other assorted work over the years, as well as touching on various other subjects such as��Supernatural,��Marvel’s Cinematic Universe,��Star Trek and loads of other stuff.

Kasterborous podKast…

Nerdversity 101 podcast…

Speaking of interviews. Shaun and I were also recently interviewed by both Doctor Who Magazine and SFX Magazine, and will feature in the next issues, both released at the beginning of February. Without saying what, I can tell you that there’s an exciting little surprise for fans also featured in the next issue of DWM, so be sure to pick up an issue!

The Forgotten Son, and thus the series, will be launched in person on February 28th at The Who Shop in London, under the banner of UNIT Day. We’ll be joined by various UNIT alumni, covering all eras of the organisation — hopefully including actors, writers and, maybe, even the script editor responsible for most of the UNIT stories of the 1970s. See below for more information; flyer designed by the wonderful Sam Hunt of The Who Shop.

The book itself is going through it’s final stage of edits right now (literally as I type this I can see Shaun working on it), which means the book goes to print next week. Exciting stuff!

I can also reveal the final front cover for��The Forgotten Son below, as well as an exclusive scene featuring Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart in action…