Mixing that lamented genre’s potent combination of mythic, fictional creatures and, like, life and stuff – Hollow Earth concerns 12 year-old twins and Barrowman stand in’s Matt and Emily Calder, who have special powers, such as the ability to bring art to life (I’m hoping that means ‘drawings’ rather than ‘art’ because otherwise that would mean a lot of trips to the National Pointy Stick Gallery every time there lives were endangered.)

This pair of Penny Crayons also have the ability to access the titular Hollow Earth where; ‘all the demons, devils and creatures ever imagined lie trapped for eternity’ – It’s a story of art, imagination and, the inevitable franchise rights (there’s already talk of a TV series.)

The book was first conceived by the pair in 2010 where they spent two months researching both its highland and London settings before they returned to their respective sides of the Atlantic – its due to this gulf that the novel took so long to write, well that and the Barrowman’s own goofing off:

“Oh, we both revert to childhood on most of our projects together, but this one even more so because we were continually asking ourselves what kids would like in a book, especially one with monsters and lots of adventure. Writing Hollow Earth gave us an excuse, if nothing else, to be kids again — well, more kids than usual.”

For those not enamoured by Young Adult fiction maybe more pleased to find out that the pair are to collaborate again, only this time back in the more familiar world of Torchwood – which again changes the dynamic of how the pair work together:

“[the collaboration] is different again for us because John has such an intimate relationship with our novel’s main character and because we’re adding to a rich canon and a highly successful franchise.”

Hollow Earth is available to buy from Amazon now for £4.09.

Sometime however, life can get in the way and books can get left by the sideline until we manage to fix them into our busy schedules. This is exactly where the Galaxy Quick Reads initiative comes into play and they’ve once again enlisted the help of the Doctor.

These specially designed books are shorter than the usual novel and are designed to encourage adults and children alike to read more by simply and brilliantly being more accessible on short bus rides and train journeys.

2012 starts the year off for Doctor Who fans with an exciting new adventure featuring the Doctor, Rory and Amy up against a Weeping Angel as it cause havoc around modern day London. Read on to find out more…

‘No one from this time will ever see that girl again…’

The Doctor, Amy and Rory round off a sight-seeing tour round London with a trip to the theatre. That’s when things start to go wrong.

The Doctor wonders why so many young girls are going missing from the area. When he sees Sammy Star’s amazing magic act, he thinks he knows the answer. Sammy’s glamorous assistant disappears at the climax of the act – but this is no stage trick.

The Doctor and his friends team up with residents of an old people’s home to discover the truth. And together they find themselves face to face with a deadly Weeping Angel.

Whatever you do – don’t blink!

With a well known Doctor Who author, a popular monster and an exceptionally low price, you’d be shooting yourself in the foot not to pick this up as soon as it hits the shelves. If this story is anything like the other Quick Read Doctor Who books such as I am a Dalek or Made of Steel then you’re going to be missing your stop on the way to work or school…

Written by Jacqueline Rayner, Magic of the Angels will be available in all good bookshops from today priced £1.99, and you’ll also find it in print and Kindle format on Amazon
!

Issue 9 is due out soon and according to emails received by subscribers will be the final part of the magazine that shared the rich history of Doctor Who with a North American audience.

Subscribers will be receiving either a refund or a transfer to Doctor Who Magazine, which seems fair enough although we suspect a great number of them already do subscribe to the older publication.

Although an official, public announcement is yet to come from Panini, it is a terrible shame as editor John Ainsworth was doing a great job of appropriately blending classic and modern Doctor Who. Take it from me, that’s a tricky combination to get right (as checking back over 7 years of Kasterborous will prove) and in my opinion DWI got it right each time.

Of course, there is always the consideration of market forces and the threat of recession to influence our thoughts about the demise of this particular magazine, but ultimately this was a Doctor Who publication that didn’t deserve to die.

(With thanks to Toby)

Coming this March is the release of the Doctor Who novel Shada, written by Gareth Roberts and adapted from a script by the late and great Douglas Adams. We’ve had an updated version starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor by Big Finish but this is the first time that the story will feel properly complete and entirely new at the same time.

And whilst some of you may like the feel of a good book in your hands the publishers have also taken into consideration those that choose to read their books electronically, either by Amazon Kindle or via an iPhone or iPad.

The result is that as well as being published in the traditional print format Shada will be available eBook format from 25^th March 2012 and you can purchase it by visiting the Amazon Kindle store (£9.48) or the Apple iBookstore.

So the choice is up to you, hardback copy to store on your bookshelf or electronic copy to take with you wherever you may go. Or you could just buy both.

This is a very special story after all!

Jenny Colgan is perhaps best known for her Chick Lit

Jenny Colgan – writing here as J T Colgan – has written 13 bestselling Chick Lit novels (“Meet Me At The Cupcake Café” and “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend” among them) and joins Gareth Roberts, Alastair Reynolds and Stephen Baxter as authors of major Doctor Who books releases this year.

Albert De Petrillo, Senior Editorial Director at BBC Books, commented,

“Our Doctor Who list is a place to showcase talented writers and bold ideas – and it was a sheer delight to discover that Jenny Colgan, whose commercial fiction is so well respected and loved, was a massive Doctor Who fan. And even better to discover she wanted to turn her hand to a Doctor Who novel. We were deeply impressed with the originality and enthusiasm she brought to the task of writing an 11th Doctor adventure.

“Dark Horizons is simply a terrific Doctor Who story – fast-paced, thrilling and often quite funny, it captures Matt Smith’s Doctor perfectly and introduces some very memorable new characters as well. It’s a testament to Jenny’s range as a writer of quality commercial fiction, and a book I’m proud to publish on the Doctor Who list.”

Jenny Colgan, meanwhile, seems to have been waiting for this moment for quite some time!

“Writing Dark Horizons has been, as my friends and family already know, a dream come true for me. I grew up on Terrance Dicks and I’m beyond thrilled to be joining the ranks of Doctor Who novelists.”

Dark Horizons is the only Eleventh Doctor hardback in 2012. So what’s it all about? Let’s take a look at the cover blurb…

“Now, you may or may not have noticed, but we appear to be on fire…”

On a windswept Northern shore, at the very tip of what will one day become Scotland, the islanders believe the worst they have to fear is a Viking attack. Then the burning comes. They cannot run from it. Water will not stop it. It consumes everything in its path – yet the burned still speak.

The Doctor is just looking for a game on the famous Lewis chess set. Instead he encounters a people under attack from a power they cannot possibly understand. They have no weapons, no strategy and no protection against a fire sent to engulf them all.

Add in some marauding Vikings with very bad timing, a kidnapped princess with a secret of her own and a TARDIS that seems to have developed an inexplicable fear of water, and they all have a battle on their hands. The islanders must take on a ruthless alien force in a world without technology; without communications; without tea that isn’t made out of bark. Still at least they have the Doctor on their side… Don’t they?

A thrilling new adventure starring the Doctor, as played by Matt Smith.

While this £12.99 hardback isn’t released until 7 July 2012, you can get in early and order Dark Horizons from Amazon today for just £9.74!

Find out more by following @DrWhoBBCBooks and @jennycolgan on Twitter.

Doctor Who

What makes this different to the other Doctor Who magazines and fanzines that are available we hear you ask?

Well, let’s have a look at some of the content: an extensive 30 page article that looks at The Dark Dimension, the 30^th Anniversary multi Doctor story that never was. Whilst this has been looked at before, this publication actually has some of the BBC paperwork that takes an in-depth look at how far the production really got.

Then there’s the story about the unmade Doctor Who radio serial that was proposed in the 1960s (which we discuss in the latest podKast) and even had a pilot recorded with Peter Cushing, Nothing at the End of the Lane even presents a full script of the episode, written by Malcolm Hulke (The Silurians, The Sea Devils)!

The Living Planet, one of the first stories proposed to start the series in 1963 is presented here as a four-part storyline and has a draft script for the first episode, see how different the genesis of Doctor Who could have been.

Brian Hayles, that wonderful Doctor Who writer, proposed ten storylines to the Doctor Who production office between 196 and 1975. Find out in this issue exactly when you missed the return of the Ice Warriors, The Celestial Toymaker and his sister The Queen Of Time.

You’ll also be given access to colour photographs taken during the filming of The Smugglers and The Invasion and new photos from another lost story The Enemy of the World.

There’s plenty of other content as well (such as an interview with the original Sarah Jane Smith) but if you want to sample some of the goods then click on this link for exclusive Doctor Who related web content endofthelane.co.uk/magazine.html.

Copies are selling out fast so make sure that you order yours as soon as you can!

Naturally in the listings mag, Karen chats about her departure from the TARDIS. But as we all know about the leaving stuff, let’s admire the front cover for a while…

In her interview with Radio Times, Karen Gillan talks about leaving Doctor Who:

“It was a completely mutual agreement. Steven Moffat and I decided when would be the best time for Amy to go.” Gillan might know when, but she doesn’t know how – only that Moffat has promised it will be heartbreaking: “I’d like to see her go out in flames of glory.”

After leaving Doctor Who, Gillan is set to play an author with writers block in the indie movie Not Another Happy Ending (“It’s a great script, really funny”) and she naturally has ambitions to hit Hollywood.

(Thanks to www.radiotimes.com)

DWM 443 also features an exclusive interview with ROBERT BANKS STEWART, the original writer of The Foe from the Future – as well as two of most highly regarded Doctor Who stories of all time – TERROR OF THE ZYGONS and THE SEEDS OF DOOM. DWM asks him about his unused 1970s script for DOCTOR WHO, now recorded for audio:

“The first three episodes were very much my kind of thing,” Robert tells DWM. “… you’ve only got to read the first two or three pages to see that I was writing a sort of a thriller, before taking the story off into what was hopefully an unexpected direction…”

PLUS!

MENACE FROM THE PAST
Two 1960s episodes of Doctor Who, thought lost forever, have been found! DWM presents the first review of GALAXY 4: AIR LOCK and THE UNDERWATER MENACE, and examines how they were recovered. We also chat to the people who starred in them, including stars MAUREEN O’BRIEN, FRAZER HINES and ANNEKE WILLS.

WATCH IN WONDER!
Writer, actor, novelist and all round gentleman, MARK GATISS tells of the thrill of watching the recovered episodes – and gives reveals some tantalising hints about his next Doctor Who script – in PRODUCTION NOTES.

MORE JANIS THORNS!
The Fourth Doctor and Leela are reunited in a brand new series of audio adventures! DWM goes behind the scenes and catches up with TOM BAKER and LOUISE JAMESON as they prepare to battle the Master, the Daleks, Kraals and more…

LET’S SHOOT HITLER!
DWM interviews dynamic director RICHARD SENIOR about LET’S KILL HITLER, recording special scenes for DVD, and his life-long love of Doctor Who.

ASSASSINS AND TALONS AND HANDS, OH MY!
It was the season that saw the departure of Sarah Jane, the arrival of Leela, and the Fourth Doctor face some of his most terrifying foes… COUNTDOWN TO 50! continues with a look back to the 70s and Series 14…

NEW NEW YORK, NEW NEW YORK
THE TIME TEAM revisit the year five billion and watch what happened when the Doctor and Rose met Cat Nuns, Cassandra and the Face of Boe. What will Emma, Chris, Michael and Will make of NEW EARTH?

GODS AND MONSTERS
The Gods are angry and ancient Greece will suffer their wrath! The Doctor, Rory and Amy face the mighty Zeus himself in Part Two of the new comic strip adventure, THE CHAINS OF OLYMPUS, written by SCOTT GRAY and drawn by MIKE COLLINS.

WE LOVE THE DOCTOR!
Romance! Aliens! And the Electric Light Orchestra! THE FACT OF FICTION puts the Tenth Doctor and Rose adventure LOVE & MONSTERS under the microscope, with exclusive additional comments from writer RUSSELL T DAVIES!

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
The Watcher reveals the surprising relationship that the Doctor has with filthy lucre, celebrates another supporting artist, and challenges readers with The Six Faces of Delusion in WOTCHA!

PLUS! All the latest official news, merchandise previews and reviews, a prize-winning crossword, competitions and much more!

You’ll get a monster of a read with DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE 443 – out now, price £4.50, with a choice of TWO collectable covers!

Ultimate Regeneration is now available for Kindle

Got a Kindle? They’re great aren’t they?! Even if you don’t own one, in many cases you can still get a Kindle app for your mobile phone or tablet. There are even ways of reading a Kindle book on your computer!

But what has this got to do with Doctor Who? Well, we’re pleased to announce that the first title to be published by Kasterborous Books, Ultimate Regeneration: The Incredible Resurrection Of Doctor Who, is now available from Amazon’s Kindle store!

Our book covering the Russell T Davies era of Doctor Who – from re-creation and reimagining to casting and the broadcast of Rose all the way through to The End of Time, Part 2 - was first released early in 2011, funded by pre-order purchases by readers of this site. Since then the book has been stocked in specialist stores and recently made available on Amazon and in standard eBook format.

Featuring reviews and character profiles that originated on Kasterborous mixed in with a selection of new articles and a commentary placing episodes into context, Ultimate Regeneration is written, compiled and edited by Christian Cawley with contributions from Brian A. Terranova, Thomas W. Spychalski and many other familiar names from the site’s seven years.

We’ve had many requests for a Kindle version over the past few month and reaction to the news that we were arranging this release was very positive.

US-based buyers can get their copy for $4.49, while those of you in the UK can purchase for £2.99 (plus VAT).

You can head to Amazon to buy Ultimate Regeneration: The Incredible Resurrection Of Doctor Who today!

I’ve outlined ten reasons why you should do so below, in no particular order, and I’ve included a link to my review of the book (written before I started writing for Kasterborous).

10: In the vague words of our editor “we’ve got a half-price 1^st anniversary sale coming up”. If ever there was a time to buy it, it’s then. It will also shortly be available on Kindle for the more futuristic among you (can’t stand eBooks myself).

9: Proceeds will go to the “Keep Christian In Northern Foods” fund. Living in the North-East requires money for a steady supply of pies, Yorkshire puddings and ale, so you’d be putting money towards a good cause and getting a good book in the bargain!

8: You could use the high-falutin’ new search function to read all the articles and reviews contained within the book, but that would rob you of the joy of the overall narrative that Our Benevolent Overlord has written especially for this book.

7: Lack of typos! You may have noticed in the review above that I made a point of skewering some of the more painful typos that exist in my copy of the book but according to OBO they’re gone now so there’ll be no more nitpicking!

6: In the book, you’ll be getting the best of the first 6 years or so of Kasterborous, including some interesting titbits about Phil Collinson action figures and some ‘of the time’ criticism for every episode from Rose to The End Of Time Part 2.

5: It’s the first in a series of books from Kasterborous Books. When we do the big push for the inevitable second book, think of how glad you’ll be that you’ve had time to familiarize yourself with the first one!

4: It features contributions from the editor of Gareth Kavanagh, the editor of the fanzine Vworp Vworp!. We’ve featured excerpts from Vworp Vworp! on Kasterborous a few times now, so if you buy the book you’ll be able to read more pieces written by him. It also features contributions from Thomas W. Spychalski, who helps run the Cult Britannia website (for those of you not familiar with Cult Britannia, it’s essentially Kasterborous without the Doctor Who focus).

3: Although Anthony Dry doesn’t have much of a hand in the overall look of Kasterborous anymore, you can still see his hand at work on the cover of the book, which features a fantastic drawing of the First and the Tenth Doctors side by side.

2: Every once in a while, there will be signing events for the book (there was one in the Who-Ray shop some time ago, which I couldn’t attend because I’m barred from the North). There will be copies of the books available at these events and if you bring your own, OBO will be more than happy to sign it. Such events will of course be publicized on this very website.

1: And finally, the most important reason to buy Ultimate Regeneration has nothing to do with supporting us. To be honest, it’s a cracking read. It’s one of those books that is hard to put down and is likely to surprise you even if you thought you knew everything about New (or indeed, Classic) Who. I got writing for Kasterborous because I wanted to be part of the team that put out a book like that. As Christopher Eccleston might say (although it’s unlikely as he probably hasn’t read it), it’s “fantastic”.

The second edition of the print version of Ultimate Regeneration is listed on Amazon for £12.99. Watch out for news of the Kindle version soon on Kasterborous!