Sedgwick and the Doctor

The celebrations for the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who have been joined by Penguin who are running a year-long series of ebook shorts, each focusing on a different Doctor Who incarnation, written by contemporary authors in children’s and YA fiction.

I love this idea, and hope that Doctor Who fans will find new authors to read, and readers will discover Doctor Who, if they haven’t before. As a relatively new fan of the Doctor myself, I really will be excited to explore the world further through new short stories; happily my favourite format. The teaser schedule of releases is really clever, giving each author and their story proper space in the celebration. I’m going to spend my commuting time this evening busy guessing who will be next… and making a mental list of both who I’d like to see involved in this project, and what other iconic characters or series this treatment could be brought to in the future. Feel free to share your thoughts with us below!

Orion author, Marcus Sedgwick, takes the reigns with the third e short, focussing on Jon Pertwee – here’s Marcus in his own words:

“To me, Jon Pertwee is the quintessential Doctor – a hero of both thought and action. When I was young he seemed like a schoolmaster you were a bit afraid of, and yet really liked at the same time. Bringing him back to life and pitting him against his old nemesis, The Master, was a huge thrill for me and I hope fans will recognise Jon in the pages of my story.”

and over on his blog:

“Now that I can finally talk about it, I can share a little my excitement at getting this chance. Doctor Who is iconic. There is no other word for it. It’s now been a part of British culture for 50 years. 50! That’s a lot. So I admit that when I finally sat down to write the opening words of my story, I had a sudden freeze. Hands poised over the keyboard, I thought “Holy -insert-your-own-expletive-here-, this is Doctor Who! Doctor Who! Then I gave myself a quick slap and got on with it, deciding to have as much fun as possible with the Third Doctor and Jo Grant in a jaunt into the Viking-age world…”

From the BBC article:

The multi award-winning author of FLOODLAND, MY SWORDHAND IS SINGING and MIDWINTERBLOOD, Sedgwick’s short story sees the Third Doctor and Jo trying to find The Spear of Destiny.

The Third Doctor and Jo Grant are trying to track down the magical spear of Odin when they find themselves caught up in a vicious battle between two Viking tribes. But one of the Vikings is even more dangerous than he appears to be. Can the Doctor stop the spear getting into the wrong hands before it’s too late?

We’ve also just released the new Marcus Sedgwick paperback look for MIDWINTERBLOOD into the world – let us know what you think!

midwinterblood