Doctor Who: The Stones of Blood (Target Collection)

This is so much more than merchandise...these novels are connecting us together even now. All the way across time and space

Target books offered much more than just a window into Doctor Who: they were a formative part of my reading experience

Target writers performed quite a invaluable service in 'saving' these stories...so don't think of this book as just another novel. It's a slice of Who history

It became a ritual, saving pocket money, then deciding which Target book to go for. I devoured them

David Fisher was approached by script editor Anthony Read to write for Doctor Who and the result was the 100th story, The Stones of Blood, transmitted in 1978. Fisher first met Read when the latter was setting up a series called The Troubleshooters in 1965. Fisher went on to write for Orlando (1967), Dixon of Dock Green (1969), Sutherland's Law (1973) and General Hospital (1977). As well as The Stones of Blood, Fisher also contributed The Androids of Tara, The Creature from the Pit and The Leisure Hive to Doctor Who. The first two stories were novelised by Terrance Dicks, but Fisher decided to pen the latter two himself for the Target range. 
 
Following his work on Doctor Who, Fisher wrote for Hammer House of Horror (1980), Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense (1984) and collaborated with Read on a number of historical books with subjects including World War Two espionage, the Nazi persecution of Jews and the Nazi/Soviet pact of the early 1940s.

"We won't find Dracula hanging around the Manor. But we may find something equally disturbing..." 
 
The Doctor is delighted when his quest for the Key to Time leads him to his favourite planet, Earth. But his friends are less enchanted: Romana is nearly lured to her death by a sinister apparition, and K9 is all but destroyed by a belligerent boulder with the power to move - and a thirst for blood. 
 
An ancient stone circle becomes a battleground as the Doctor must outwit the deadliest alien criminal this side of hyperspace - and her bloodthirsty silicon servants...

Doctor Who And The Leisure Hive

Lalla Ward reads this thrilling novelisation of a classic Doctor Who adventure.

Romana actress Lalla Ward admirably lends her dulcet tones to the reading

A interesting contrast to its lavish TV original, this is closer to Fisher’s concepts, and is brought to life well.

The Leisure Hive on the planet Argolis is an entertainment centre for galactic travellers. At the heart of the Hive is the Tachyon Recreation Generator, a machine with a most extraordinary performance capability and vital to the continued existence of the Argolin after their devastating war with the reptilian Foamasi... While visiting the Hive, the Doctor and Romana are sucked into a whirlpool of treachery and deceit, and are eventually arrested on suspicion of murder. Soon the Doctor is on trial for his life... Lalla Ward, who played Romana in Doctor Who, reads David Fisher's complete and unabridged novelisation, first published by Target Books in 1982. The voice of K9 is provided by John Leeson.

Doctor Who: The Androids Of Tara (Classic Audio Original)

John Leeson reads this thrilling novelisation of a classic Doctor Who serial.

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: 'The Androids of Tara was the second script I wrote for Doctor Who, the first being The Stones of Blood. Script editor Anthony Read and producer Graham Williams were keen to base stories on traditional myths and legends, such as Dracula, Theseus and the Minotaur, etc. This seemed to me brilliant - a way of anchoring the programme to certain universal themes as well as making it easier for the writer. What did I think, asked Tony, of a script based on The Prisoner of Zenda? The Prisoner of Zenda is a novel by Anthony Hope, an Edwardian barrister and part-time writer. It tells the story of an English tourist in Ruritania, a mittel-European kingdom, who is discovered to be the spitting image of the next king. The latter is conveniently kidnapped, leaving our man to be crowned in his stead. To complicate matters further, our man then falls in love with the future queen but is too honourable to take advantage of the situation. Legend has it that this whole plot just popped into Hope's head, complete in all details, while returning to his chambers in the Inns of Court from a convivial evening at his club (God knows what he had been drinking!) The book was hugely successful, and was later seized upon by Hollywood, which made three versions of the story. The first, in 1937, starring Ronald Coleman, is considered by many to be the greatest swashbuckler of all time. An intimidating thought for a writer who had never swashed a TV buckle in his life. It promised to be a challenge, if nothing else! All credit is due to Tony Read, who suggested that, instead of following the story slavishly, it should be Romana who finds herself the double of Princess Strella, the future queen. The only thing left was to jettison Ruritania, which suggested the world of operetta rather than Doctor Who. What was needed was less Lehar and something more Wagnerian. Writing the audio novelisation all these years later has meant that I have had to justify and explain various things in the text that could be comfortably ignored in the television script. For example, how and why does a relatively backward economy like Tara manage to develop androids? Hence my invention of the plague which leaves the lords relatively untouched in their castles and the serfs dying in the fields. Obviously the next step is the extensive mechanisation of agriculture. From there it seemed logical for such a hierarchical society to concentrate on androids to replace the missing serfs. One last word on Anthony Hope: he produced one of the most attractive villains in literature - Rupert of Hentzau. He has all the best lines in the novel and the movies. My Count Grendel may lack something in the charm stakes, but he is more fun than anyone else on Tara, who generallly speaking are a pretty thick lot.' David Fisher, May 2012

India's Long Road to Independencre

The Proudest Day

A vivid, colourful and fast-paced account of the events leading up to an Indian independence in 1947.

A thoroughly splendid history of an exceedingly complicated subject...Read and fisher review events before the 20th century at a brisk pace, as a prologue to the great drama spread across three quarters of their book...and as the narrative proceeds towards the final act at midnight on 14 August 1947, so it becomes more scholarly. the characteristics of the principal cast are memorably presented

What Indians needed in their golden jubilee year was some good old personality-driven political history of the Raj...and that is exactly what Read and Fisher have done...They have made the most eventful years of our history as fascinating as they should be

The narrative goes beyond the chronicling of historical fact and assumes a quality of subtle story-telling. It is well-paced, intelligent and perceptive, scripted with a measure of the assurance that bridges the best of fiction and non-fiction writing. More importantly, there is love and sympathy for its subject, a human quality is achieved only when the text goes beyond mere documentation. The quality of writing - its pungency and sense of theatre - is matched by the rigorousness of the research...One of the profound epic tales of modern world history

Anthony Read and David Fisher had extremely successful careers in television as writers and producers before embarking on their collaboration as authors. The bestselling books include The Fall of Berlin, Berlin: The Biography of a City, Operation Lucy, Colonel Z, The Deadly Embrace and Kristallnacht, for which they were awarded the H.H Wingate Prize in 1989.

At midnight on 14 August 1947, Britain finally granted independence to the peoples of India. Throughout the world, the end of the colonial era was in sight. India was the first great domino to fall, setting off a train of events that was so spread across Asia and Africa, culminat-ing in the collapse of th Soviet empire. The story of the winning of freedom by the peoples of the Indian empire is one of the great sagas of the twentieth century. Bathed in the rosy glow of retrospect, the birth of modern India and Pakistan has come to be guarded in the West as a great achievement, `the proudest day in Britain`s history', as predicted by Lord Macauley in 1835. But how justified is the romantic popular image? Was Indian independence a noble gesture by abenevolent colonial power or was freedom wrested from the British by indian nationalists after more than a quarter of a century of bitter struggle? Was the result a triumph or a tragedy? The Proudest Day sets the record straight.

David Fisher

"Why is your first impulse to reach for your swords and never a screwdriver?" 
 
The Doctor and Romana's search for the fourth segment of the all-powerful Key to Time leads them to the planet Tara, where courtly intrigue and romantic pageantry employ the most sophisticated technology. 
 
Within hours of arriving, Romana is mistaken for a powerful princess and the Doctor forced to dally with robotic royalty - and both are quickly embroiled in the scheming ambitions of the wicked Count Grendel. Finding the segment of the Key is easy enough, but escaping with it in one piece will prove an altogether more colourful affair...

David Fisher

Doctor Who: The Androids of Tara (Target Collection)

Select a format:

Retailers:

Summary

More books from this author