Author: Chris Hawton

Articles

 by 

The Literary Legacy of Doctor Who

The Literary Legacy of Doctor Who

Ahead of the 60th anniversary of the British SFFH staple, Chris Hawton—co-host of the All-New Adventures of the Doctor Who Book Club podcast—takes a look at the Doctor’s world beyond the small screen.

As Doctor Who approaches its 60th anniversary this November, it might feel to some fans that the show has been an ever-present in British TV schedules since 1963. But, as older readers might know all too well, this is definitely not the case. And it was never guaranteed that the TARDIS crew would have a life beyond the end of the 1980s.

 

It’s now Whodom folklore that the then-bosses of the BBC were not fans of the show. They had tried to get it cancelled in 1985, but failed. Four years later, they took a different tact: they decided not to renew the show in 1989. They wanted to let it—and its reputation for poor special effects and dodgy costumes—go quietly.

 

The fans wouldn’t let it go quietly, though. In the absence of new TV stories, the Doctor’s adventures moved to novel form in 1991. This period, known as the ‘wilderness years’, saw these books sustain the dream and kept the fans’ insatiable appetites whet. Book-only Doctor Who adventures continue to this day—in fact, it’s what our podcast is dedicated to reading and celebrating!

(more…)

Articles / Reviews

 by 

Epeolatry Book Review: Doctor Who : Once Upon A Time Lord by Dan Slott

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Doctor Who: Once Upon a Time Lord
Author: Dan Slott
Artist: Christopher Jones
Publisher: Titan Comics
Genre: Science Fiction
Release date: 31st, October, 2023

Synopsis: An epic story that sees companion Martha Jones captured by the insatiable Pyromeths, and her only hope for survival is to keep them distracted with sensational untold tales of the Tenth Doctor facing off against his greatest foes– both classic and new!

Witness the incredible adventures of the Tenth Doctor like never-before! You’ll be on the edge of your Tardis as she recounts three unbelievable tales of The Doctor facing off against his deadliest foes!

Bursting straight out of the long-running hit television series, this Doctor Who collection continues the time-travelling tales of the Doctor and friends.

Buy it, read it, then travel back in time to read it for the first time all over again…!

(more…)

Articles / Reviews

 by 

Epeolatry Book Review: Doctor Who: Doom’s Day #1

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Doctor Who: Doom’s Day #1
Writer: Jody Houser
Artist: Roberta Ingranata
Colorist: Warina K. Sahadewa
Publisher: Titan Comics
FC, 32pp, $3.99, On sale: July 5, 2023

Synopsis: 24 hours to live. 24 hours to kill. DOOM!

This lonely assassin from the 51st Century is hunting for her survival, and there’s only one person who can save her: the Doctor.

Using her vortex manipulator, she’ll do anything to find the tempestuous time traveler, including cavorting with the maleficent Missy.

Every hour a new adventure, every hour closer to death…

(more…)

Articles / Reviews

 by 

Epeolatry Book Review: the merry dredgers by jeremy c. shipp

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: the merry dredgers
Authors: jeremy c. shipp
Publisher: Meerkat Press
Genre: Dark Fantasy, Supernatural and Occult, LGBTQ+
Release Date: 25th April, 2023
Synopsis: Seraphina must infiltrate a bizarre and dangerous cult to determine why her sister is in a coma after a mysterious accident at the hands of the cult members. Seraphina Ramon will stop at nothing to find out the truth about why her sister Eff is in a coma after a very suspicious “accident.” Even it means infiltrating the last place Seraphina knows Eff was alive: a once-abandoned amusement park now populated by a community of cultists. Follow Seraphina through the mouth of the Goblin: To the left, a wolf-themed roller coaster rests on the blackened earth, curled up like a dead snake. To the right, an animatronic Humpty Dumpy falls off a concrete castle and shatters on the ground, only to reform itself moments later. Up ahead, cultists giggle as they meditate in a hall of mirrors. This is the last place in the world Seraphina wants to be, but the best way to investigate this bizarre cult is to join them. 

(more…)

Articles / Reviews

 by 

Epeolatry Book Review: Air Book 2 By G. Willow Wilson

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Air: Book 2
Authors: G. Willow Wilson
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Genre: Graphic Novel
Release Date: March, 7th, 2023
Synopsis: Acrophobic flight attendant Blythe has left her safe, sterile life for a world of strange danger, taken under the wing of none other than Amelia Earhart herself. How did Amelia survive? What is the centuries-old secret enabling her to travel the unknown, using only dreams for fuel? And what is her real agenda? 

(more…)

Articles / Reviews

 by 

Epeolatry Book Review: Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Red Team Blues
Author: Scott Harper
Publisher:  Tor Books
Genre: Science Fiction, Technothriller
Release Date: 25th April, 2023

Synopsis: New York Times bestseller Cory Doctorow’s Red Team Blues is a grabby next-Tuesday thriller about cryptocurrency shenanigans that will awaken you to how the world really works.

Martin Hench is 67 years old, single, and successful in a career stretching back to the beginnings of Silicon Valley. He lives and roams California in a very comfortable fully-furnished touring bus, The Unsalted Hash, that he bought years ago from a fading rock star. He knows his way around good food and fine drink. He likes intelligent women, and they like him back often enough.

Martin is a—contain your excitement—self-employed forensic accountant, a veteran of the long guerilla war between people who want to hide money, and people who want to find it. He knows computer hardware and software alike, including the ins and outs of high-end databases and the kinds of spreadsheets that are designed to conceal rather than reveal. He’s as comfortable with social media as people a quarter his age, and he’s a world-level expert on the kind of international money-laundering and shell-company chicanery used by Fortune 500 companies, mid-divorce billionaires, and international drug gangs alike. He also knows the Valley like the back of his hand, all the secret histories of charismatic company founders and Sand Hill Road VCs. Because he was there at all the beginnings. He’s not famous, except to the people who matter. He’s made some pretty powerful people happy in his time, and he’s been paid pretty well. It’s been a good life.

Now he’s been roped into a job that’s more dangerous than anything he’s ever agreed to before—and it will take every ounce of his skill to get out alive.

(more…)

Articles / Reviews

 by 

Epeolatry Book Review: Earthdivers #1 by Stephen Graham Jones

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Alien: Inferno's Fall

Title: Earthdivers #1
Author: Stephen Graham Jones
Illustrator: Davide Gianfelice
Publisher: IDW
Genre: Horror
Release Date: 5th, October, 2022

Synopsis: Written by New York Times bestselling author, Stephen Graham Jones (The Only Good Indians, My Heart is a Chainsaw) and illustrated by Davide Gianfelice (Ghosted, Daredevil: Reborn), Earthdivers is an unforgettable and thrilling series that unites four Indigenous survivors in an apocalyptic near future as they embark on a bloody, one-way mission to save the world by traveling back in time to kill Christopher Columbus and prevent the creation of America. Earthdivers explores the staggering forces of history and the individual choices we make to survive it.

(more…)