Lance Parkin

Lance Parkin is a British author, best known for writing fiction and reference books for television series, in particular "Doctor Who" (and spin-offs including the Virgin New Adventures and Faction Paradox) and "Emmerdale". He also worked on the "Emmerdale" television series as a production assistant.

Doctor Who

Parkin first became known in "Doctor Who" fan circles, writing both criticism and fan fiction. His most notable work was for Seventh Door Fanzines, including the novella "Snare" in the "Odyssey" series (which he edited for a period) and 1994's "The Doctor Who Chronology", a detailed timeline of events in the "Doctor Who" universe. The "Odyssey" series later included novellas by Parkin's then-girlfriend Cassandra May and his later protégé Mark Clapham.

Parkin went professional with "Just War", published in 1996, for Virgin's New Adventures series of original fiction "Doctor Who" novels. This was rapidly followed by "A History of the Universe" (a re-working of his "Chronology") and a second novel, "Cold Fusion", for Virgin's Missing Adventures series. Parkin proved immediately popular with his readership.

Virgin lost their licence to do "Doctor Who" fiction and Parkin landed the prestigious job of writing the last New Adventure to feature the character of the Doctor, 1997's "The Dying Days". This was also the only Virgin novel to feature the eighth incarnation of the Doctor, played in the 1996 "Doctor Who" television movie by Paul McGann. The Virgin "Who" books went out of print with the loss of the "Doctor Who" licence and "The Dying Days" was one of a number of Virgin books that began to attract vastly inflated second-hand prices. Copies of "The Dying Days" went for over $100 and still regularly go for over £25. The New Adventures continued without the "Doctor Who" label and Parkin returned to the series with 1998's "Beige Planet Mars", written with Mark Clapham.

Parkin continued writing official "Doctor Who" prose fiction for BBC Books, including a number of event books, including the 35th anniversary celebration "The Infinity Doctors". "The Dying Days" became the first of several Virgin "Doctor Who" books to be re-worked as e-books for the BBC's "Doctor Who" website. He wrote the last in BBC series of eighth Doctor novel adventures, "The Gallifrey Chronicles" (2005). In 2006 he updated "A History of the Universe" for Mad Norwegian with "AHistory: An Unauthorized History of the Doctor Who Universe". In June, 2008 it was announced that he would write a New Series Adventures novel, "The Eyeless", starring the Tenth Doctor alone for release on Boxing Day 2008. [cite web | last = Cooper | first = Jarrod | title = December Novels - Updated | work = The Doctor Who News Page | publisher = Outpost Gallifrey | date = 2008-06-05 | url = http://www.gallifreyone.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?id=EkEkyVyuFAkLljcpKZ&tmpl=newsrss&style=feedstyle | accessdate = 2008-06-06 ]

A trademark of Parkin's "Doctor Who" novels is the inclusion of a character written as if played by Ian Richardson, beginning with Oscar Steinmann in "Just War". Parkin has said "I’m sure there was a very good reason for that at one point, but if there is, I’ve forgotten it". [cite web | last = Parkin | first = Lance | title = Author Notes - Chapter 3 - Return To Mars | work = Doctor Who - Classic Series - Ebooks - The Dying Days | publisher = BBC | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/ebooks/dyingdays/notes/page5.shtml | accessdate = 2008-06-06 ]

Other works

Around 1999, Parkin joined Virgin alumni Rebecca Levene and Gareth Roberts to work on the production team of television soap "Emmerdale", though he also once appeared as an extra in the series. Though he never scripted episodes for television he later wrote both non-fiction (including "30 Years of Emmerdale") and fiction ("Mandy's Secret Diary", "Their Finest Hour") connected to the series. Since leaving "Emmerdale" he has not worked for TV but concentrates on books and comics.

Parkin wrote non-fiction as well, including guides to "Star Trek" ("Beyond the Final Frontier") and Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" series ("Dark Matters: An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Philip Pullman's 'Dark Materials' Trilogy"), both written with long-time friend Mark Jones, and "Secret Identities: An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Alias" with Mark Clapham.

This was followed by "Miranda", a comic based on a character in his "Doctor Who" novel "Father Time". Published through the small independent company of Comeuppance Comics, it stalled after its third issue, but other comic work followed. Though in 2003 Comeuppance said it hoped to publish the three remaining issues at some point in the future nothing more was heard from them. With her creator's permission Miranda was killed off in the "Doctor Who" book Sometime Never... by Justin Richards.

Parkin also wrote "The Winning Side", the first in the "Time Hunter" novella series, a spin-off from Telos Publishing's line of official "Doctor Who" novellas, and "Warlords of Utopia", the third in Mad Norwegian Press's "Faction Paradox" series of novels.

Parkin has a regular column, "Beige Planet Lance" in the "Doctor Who" fanzine "Enlightenment", which is published by the Doctor Who Information Network.

elected bibliography

"Doctor Who" and related works

*Virgin New Adventures/Virgin Missing Adventures:
**"Just War" (1996; featuring the Seventh Doctor)
**"Cold Fusion" (1996; featuring the Fifth and Seventh Doctors)
**"The Dying Days" (1997; featuring the Eighth Doctor)
**"Beige Planet Mars" (with Mark Clapham, 1998; featuring Bernice Summerfield)
*BBC Books' "Doctor Who" series:
**"The Infinity Doctors" (1998; featuring an unspecified Doctor)
**"Father Time" (2001; featuring the Eighth Doctor)
**"Trading Futures" (2002; featuring the Eighth Doctor)
**"The Gallifrey Chronicles" (2005; the last novel in the regular series featuring the Eighth Doctor)
**"The Eyeless" (December 2008; a forthcoming tenth Doctor novel)
*Big Finish Productions:
**"Just War" (1999; Bernice Summerfield audio by Jacqueline Rayner, based on the novel by Lance Parkin)
**"The Extinction Event" (2001; Bernice Summerfield audio)
**"Primeval" (2001; "Doctor Who" audio featuring the Fifth Doctor)
**"Davros" (2003; "Doctor Who" audio featuring the Sixth Doctor)
**"The Big Hunt" (2004; Bernice Summerfield novel)
**"" (2006; third title in "I, Davros" audio miniseries)
*Other "Doctor Who" related works:
**"A History of the Universe" (1996; reference book published by Virgin)
**"The Winning Side" (2003; Telos Publishing "Time Hunter" novella)
**"Warlords of Utopia" (2004; Mad Norwegian Press "Faction Paradox" novel)
**"AHistory: An Unofficial History of the Doctor Who Universe" (2006; revised and vastly expanded version of "A History of the Universe"; Mad Norwegian Press)

Other works

*"Emmerdale: Their Finest Hour" (2001; novel)
*"Alan Moore (Pocket Essentials: Comics)" (2001)
*"30 Years of Emmerdale" (2002; reference work)
*"Beyond the Final Frontier" (with Mark Jones, 2003; unauthorised guide to "Star Trek")
*"Secret Identities: An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to "Alias" "(with Mark Clapham, 2003)
*"Dark Matters: The Unofficial and Unauthorised to Philip Pullman's International Bestselling 'His Dark Materials' Trilogy" (with Mark Jones, 2007)
*"The Prisoner: The Other" (planned, no release date set; novel based upon the TV series "The Prisoner")

References

External links

* [http://www0.bbc.co.uk/cult/news/drwho/2004/01/01/13699.shtml Lance Parkin interview on BBC Doctor Who site]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/ebooks/dyingdays/index.shtml "The Dying Days" e-book on the BBC website]