The Cruel Oil is a result of our recent short story open submission window. It was a simple but intruiging pitch; When disaster occurs at a North Sea platform, and dead bodies preserved in tar from the spillage begin to disappear from their morgues, Lethbridge-Stewart and Anne Travers discover just how cruel the oil of Earth can be... Upon reading the full outline I just knew it contained a ‘classic era’ feel, and would be better suited to Anne Travers and Bill Bishop. Which led me to another idea...

Just over ten years ago, I read my first Doctor Who book in my local Waterstones. Naturally, having failed to grow up all this time later, I leapt at the opportunity to submit a pitch to the Lethbridge-Stewart short story opportunity. When Andy suggested the idea of depicting Anne Travers and Bill Bishop's first date, and Anne coming to terms with her father's death, I knew then we had a story worth telling. Now, at long last, it has materialised! And no one is safe from the Silhouettes. Here's to never quite growing up.

The great thing about Doctor Who is that it appeals to adults and children alike. There’s something for everybody to explore, from The Sarah Jane Adventures for the very young, to Torchwood for those a bit older. Lethbridge-Stewart’s last appearance in any Doctor Who media was, in fact, in The Sarah Jane Adventures. I’m sure that sent a lot of kids back to the classic series to see what all the fuss about. And once you’re a fan of that, you’re generally a fan for life.

The Brig is such a fundamental part of classic Doctor Who, but after Nicholas Courtney’s death, he’s naturally become less a part of the ongoing programme. We thought that, with the Lucy Wilson series, we could ensure his legacy continues into the modern day – at the same time hopefully sending young fans back to the classics! This is why we have decided to pit Lucy up against the iconic Great Intelligence.

I’m sure that the new Doctor will defeat her enemies with smarts and ingenuity – and with the help of her friends. It’s great for kids to have someone like this as their role model. They’re the values of the show. And while she’s very much her own girl, we see Lucy as embodying similar traits. We hope young readers will find her just as inspiring.

A great read – brilliant characters and a plot that keeps surprising you. Sue Hampton writes in three dimensions! Avatars of the Intelligence draws you in from the very first page.

I am very excited to have contributed to the expanding Lethbridge-Stewart universe. Shaun contacted me because he was familiar with my work for The Beano. He wanted something that could appeal to the young and adults alike. Hopefully I have achieved this. I have certainly grown quite fond of the characters and I look forward to hopefully drawing them again very soon.

Candy Jar Books is offering an exciting, new opportunity for aspiring writers. Launching at Candy Jar Book Festival in Cardiff, writers can submit a short story based on the Doctor Who character Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart.

These stories will be included in a book to be released early next year.

Shaun Russell, head of publishing, says:
The overall winner will offered the chance to pen their very own Lethbridge-Stewart book, and work alongside range editor and creative director of the Haisman estate, Andy Frankham-Allen, and will also receive a Kindle Fire to read it on. Both the winner and runner-up will receive all the Lethbridge-Stewart novels from 2018. All winning entries will see their stories published in book form in 2018.

Lethbridge-Stewart has been an essential part of the Doctor Who universe since 1968. He was created by authors Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln for the six-part Doctor Who serial The Web of Fear. Forty-nine years since the Brigadier appeared in Doctor Who he has become one of the show’s most iconic characters, having appeared with ten different Doctors in countless TV episodes, books, audio dramas and comic strips. And his legacy continues on with his daughter appearing in Doctor Who since 2012.

The Lethbridge-Stewart South Wales Short Story Competition will launch at Candy Jar Book festival on 17th August. Candy Jar is hosting a free event at Cardiff Central Library at 1pm: a panel with Lethbridge-Stewart authors Nick Walters, Simon A Forward, Tim Gambrell, Alyson Leeds and range editor Andy Frankham-Allen, discussing writing Lethbridge-Stewart and Doctor Who novels and short stories. And prior to that, at 12pm, cover artist Richard Young will be hosting a drawing class.

Andy Frankham-Allen says:
The South Wales Short Story Competition will be accepting submissions from 17th August. Entrants are permitted to submit up to two short stories of no more than three thousand words. The competition is open to all unpublished writers across the UK.

Andy Frankham-Allen believes that short stories are an excellent way for writers to perfect their craft. He said:

All submissions must be received by the end of September. The competition is £5 to enter per story. The terms and conditions, such as copyright restrictions, will be emailed once the entrant has paid.

Entries can be sent via the Candy Jar Book Festival website.
Or at: https://www.freewebstore.org/jellybeanbooks/product/lethbridge-stewart%20short%20story%20competition

Alternatively, they can also be posted to Candy Jar Books, Mackintosh House, 136 Newport Road, Cardiff, CF24 1DJ
For more information please contact Shaun Russell on 02921 157 202 shaun@candyjarbooks.co.uk.

The Two Brigadiers:

It’s 2001 and Brigadier Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart is feeling restless, his mind still on his recent adventure with the Doctor and Morgaine. But then there is a knock at the door and a familiar face asks for his help in finding an old friend who has gone missing!

I was doing a talk on how to write the perfect short story. Jonathan was in the audience, one of those who stood out, with a very obvious interest in Doctor Who. When I saw his submissions for the short story competition, I paid particular note. Indeed, I was the one who put both his stories forward for the final short list. In the event only one was picked as a runner up. There was an interesting humour to his stories, which were technically very good too. So, from that point I knew it was only a matter of time before I asked him to submit an idea to Lethbridge-Stewart.

After running-up in the South Wales Short Story Competition, I was just excited to have a publication under my belt. I had no idea it would lead to such an incredible opportunity, until Andy asked if I would like to work on a story for the range. Needless to say, he didn’t have to ask twice!

I first needed to find out how wide his Who knowledge was, as often a lot of the younger fans are less familiar with the series pre-2005. Fortunatley he was one of those uber fans that knew everything, and so I asked him to pitch an idea set sometime after the 1989 television serial, Battlefield (which takes place in the late 1990s).

The fact that my story is set during one of my favourite eras of Who is the icing on the proverbial cake! Just as I was trying to stay as true to his character as possible, the Brig here is trying to find his feet in a life he was meant to have left behind. Said life just so happens to involve clandestine reunions, strange happenings and infamous monsters of course. Who would want anything else?

There are echoes of what’s happening now and how women organise. The intersections of class, race, outsiders versus those within the establishment – how prone they are to infiltration. I wrote the book during the US presidential elections, which kept being a touchstone to how far women have come to be treated as human beings with agency and a reminder as to how quickly reactionary politics can assert itself.

This is probably our most exciting volume yet, because it features five stories that are a direct result of our recent open submission period. We had such an amazing response and received so many varied ideas, most of which made it as far as the one-page outline stage. Many of those led to a commission, and HAVOC 4 presents the first five of those commissions, all by authors new to the range and, some, completely new to profesionally published fiction.

Shaun (Russell, Head of Publishing) had promised me The HAVOC Files cover since book two came out, so I was over the moon when he said that I was doing book four. I've always had the idea of using the Brig and a filing cabinet, but my initial ideas just weren’t working for me. I then came up with another idea, but it was felt that this new idea was too similar to another cover I had done. Shaun and I then bounced several other concepts back and forth, trying to make the ‘4’ the main element, and after some very minor adjustments just to tighten things up, we had something we both liked.

Shaun (Russell, head of publishing) brought the story to me during the early days of the series, but it took me a while to get to it. I was impressed by the core story, and realised that an almost page-one rewrite would be needed, but there were enough key elements contained in the original story for me to see how it would fit Lethbridge-Stewart. The hardest part to work out was the time travel aspect.

When I was asked to adapt my unpublished book, how could I resist the challenge? It was an honour to add to the continuing adventures of Lethbridge-Stewart. Of course, I couldn’t resist setting the adventure in my home town of Keynsham.

When I first saw the wonderful artwork, I was over the moon. The cover sums up the story perfectly. It was almost as if Martin had read my mind.

I really wanted to do justice to such imaginative story. The mixture of voodoo and time travel, plus zombie animals makes this a story a gift for a cover artist. Coming from an advertising background I usually draw cute dogs and cats, so I found that the main focal point of the cover was a real test for me having to make them as horrific as possible.

I’ve known Ben for thirty-two years, after a chance meeting at a Bristol sci-fi shop. Alongside Doctor Who, Ben has always had an interest in all things zombie. He has even made his own zombie puppet. It seems quite natural for him to combine his two loves in this book.

When Candy Jar asked me to compile The Lethbridge-Stewart Quiz Book I couldn’t wait to get started. The Brigadier is a character that meant a great deal to me and it gave me the chance to watch the UNIT stories over again.

I remember a trip to Lyme Regis as a boy where I found a copy of the first Doctor Who Quiz Book. For some reason my local WHSmith did not have this book, which made the discovery even more exciting. I don’t think my sister appreciated it though. Asking me questions on the beach about Doctor Who was not her idea of fun.

There’s something for everyone and it’s a book that will provide hours of entertainment and a challenge to the old grey matter. It’s a book for dipping into whenever you feel like challenging yourself or your friends – hopefully without too many arguments.

It’s been wonderful seeing the resurgence of respect for my grandfather’s creations in the last few years, and celebrating two of his greatest characters is a moment of pride for me. Grandad would adore what’s happening now, and especially the way Andy (Frankham-Allen) has tied his characters’ histories together. It’s a wonderful time to be a fan of the Great Intelligence and Professor Travers!

We’re very proud to work alongside some great people during the celebration year, and look forward to sharing further titles and information with you as the year goes on. Great things are coming!

The relationship between Lethbridge-Stewart and Sally has been simmering away in the background of the series since the beginning, eleven novels in total. The Daughters of Earth has been set up very deliberately to put Sally in a position that makes her look at her position in the Corps in a very different way.

I wanted to explore the reasons for why she signed up, her ideals of duty in the face of the adventures they all share. Her relationship with the Brigadier, especially now they work together. Then there’s her interest in a newly emerging women’s lib movement arguing for peaceful solutions to mankind’s many problems – the Daughters of Earth.

I had terrific fun creating a late-’60s peace movement led and run solely by women. While their politics are very much rooted in the start of women’s lib – the generation before the women of Greenham Common, and the grand-generation of the women now running the resistance against current right-wing authoritarianism – there are echoes of what’s happening now and how women organise. The intersections of class, race, outsiders versus those within the establishment – how prone they are to infiltration. I wrote the book during the US presidential elections, which kept being a touchstone to how far women have come to be treated as human beings with agency and a reminder as to how quickly reactionary politics can assert itself.

Representation matters. Sarah knows this, but, more importantly, she lives this. In her professional life, her commitment to equality and diversity has earned her recognition from her peers, and a ‘gong’ (a BEM, no less – yes, Sydney Newman would be horrified). In her writing, fiction and non-fiction, and her involvement with fandom, she has voiced and made visible lives and experiences that are too often ignored or denied: women who game, dykes who dig Time Lords. Doctor Who (let’s face it) hasn’t always been great at representation (where is our female Doctor?).

My initial idea was to confine all the various visual ideas within the overall shape of the Daughters of Earth’ house. However after submitting my rough it was brought to my attention that the ‘house style’ for the Lethbridge-Stewart main range is a circular motif, which I had inadvertently created with my cover for Mutually Assured Domination in 2015. How ironic! I dropped the house shape into a circle allowing parts to break out for visual punch.

I love the cover that Adrian Salmon has painted for my book. So striking and bold, but yet it gets the central conflict for Sally: has she chosen her military career wisely? Or is there another path?