Target Books Lovely Reprints!

[Rob McCow]

Haven't had this confirmed anywhere else, but it seems there may be some reprints of Ye Olde Targete Novels on the way.

http://reprintthedoctor.weebly.com/1...reprinted.html

Doctor Who and the Daleks – by David Whitaker (Introduction by Neil Gaiman)

Doctor Who and the Crusaders – by David Whitaker (Introduction by Charlie Higson)

Doctor Who and the Cybermen – by Gerry Davis (Introduction by Gareth Roberts)

Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowmen – by Terrance Dicks (Introduction by Stephen Baxter)

Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion – by Terrance Dicks (Introduction by Russell T. Davies)

Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters – by Malcolm Hulke (Introduction by Terrance Dicks)

The Auton Invasion is going to sell a heck of a lot with an RTD introduction, but not so sure about the others. Maybe they'll be nice leather-bound hardback editions that go for £200?

[Dino]

I used to have a first edition of "The Crusaders"! It's lost... presumed too destroyed to read now.
I welcome this news... but it has to have the "Daily Sketch" review on the back! Let me see if I can remember the man who reviewed it?
Gerald not Ford, or Scarfe... agh! The memory eludes me!

But in other news, GO TARGET!!!

Gerald Woolf, that's it right? "Adventure stories of course".

[J.R. Southall]

It's a shame if you've already got them, because if so, you're going to be paying six or eight quid for a few hundred words of intro ...

They'll be print on demand, I shouldn't wonder. They'd have to be, pretty much, wouldn't they? I mean, the idea of reprinting them is lovely, but none of these books are exactly hard to get hold of if you know where from. Having said that, if marketed in the right way, they could be used as yet another means of involving today's youngsters in classic Doctor Who - but most kids would surely just reach for a DVD, wouldn't they?

Anyway, great titles, but I couldn't see more than another two batches of six before they had to stop again, having used up all the decent books already.

What I'm most curious about is the covers; will they use the originals in a retro-publishing fashion, or will we have the original or new artwork framed by a modern logo and layout?

And speaking of reprints, whatever happened with those Lance Parkin and Kate Orman Virgins that were supposed to be coming out this month? (And yes, I'm quite aware of how that sentence reads, but I thought I'd entertain you with it anyway.)

[Andrew Curnow]

More filth, JR...?

[SiHart]

It'll be intersting to see how this goes. The audiobooks seem to have reawakened interst in the range, and there's no reason why they can't appeal to kids all over again. For the most part they're decently written kids books and with huge demand for doctor Who books (if the kids i deal with at work are anything to go by anyway) then this cpould be as good as away in to the classic series as we had in the 70s/ 80s.

Si xx

[Lissa]

They're so slim that omnibuses of 3 books with a common theme might be the best way to go. Three of them would make a decent sized book that, properly presented, might be worth spending £7.99 for.

Although downloadable ebooks is the best best way to go - author-permitting, there is no reason why the whole Target range couldn't be available for (say) £1.99 each from all good book sites. I know they lack the romance of the printed page and they won't get the kids that way but as a side project they should get as many Targets as possible on the ebook market because it's easy to get them from less official channels and they're missing a trick.

[Si Hunt]

The trouble with Target books is that some, completely at random, are more rare than others. I would simply love it if the entire range were to be re-issued in lovely matching covers for an affordable price. The dream would be that they then continue it on past "Survival" and do the New Series. It would be an amazing collection, and highly profitable if they did it correctly. If they were £1.99p each, I'd get them all and they'd prise hundreds out of me if they kept them going.

However, if they are big, expensive and they head for the ones everyone has got already, what hope? The project will dwindle out before they get to the good stuff. They need to understand that the Target Books are a collection, so we need to be assured that they will give us all of them if we agree to buy "The Daleks" again.

Si.

[J.R. Southall]

Good points, Mr Hunt (I was going to type "Si" and then realised how confusing that must be on this forum), and if they were to be issued at an affordable £1.99 (or £2.99 at a push), how many more of us would get the bug and start collecting them all over again...? Let's just hope they've got the foresight to go down that route. I wonder what issues might present themselves with freeing up the various authors' works for reprinting, though. Hoepfully it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

If they were to continue on and do the whole lot, I wonder if finally we might get some representation of the missing Sawards and Adams' along the way ...

[Si Hunt]

Too much merchandise these days is aimed at (or even in the sole grasp) of a few wealthy collectors, rather than lots of folk with moderate disposable incomes. It can feel very unfair.

Si.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I seem to recall them being about £1.25 or £1.50 when I used to buy them 20+ years ago, so £1.99 these days seems rather unlikely. I mean... Nuts probably costs about that much.

[SiHart]

Target sized books for kids are genrally £4.99+ I believe, so £1.99 is incredibly unlikely. E-Books may be more likely at that kind of price though.

Si xx

[J.R. Southall]

Mind you, the Quick eads are brand new books at £1.99 a throw, and the Targets are reissues of 30 - 40-year-old titles. Putting them out at a very affordable price would be akin to picking up Frank Sinatra compilation CDs in your local Poundstretcher at a couple of quid for thirty tracks ... not beyond the realms of impossibility, in other words.

[Simon R]

I'd like to see them aimed at kids and with an eight page photo section with well chosen images of from the story.

[J.R. Southall]

That's a nice idea!

[Mab]

Just what the world needs, more "Doctor Who and the Cybermen."

When the world ends, Cher and the cockroaches will be reading a copy of Doctor Who and the Cybermen.

[SiHart]

It's either that or Doctor Who and the Zarbi.

Si xx

[Mab]

I think I ended up with 10 copies of The Cybermen when I finally completed my Target collection. From box lots and group auctions on Ebay...

[SiHart]

Blimey!

I remember Doctor Who and the Zarbis turning up at every single school jumble sale when i was young. It was probably the same copy as even I didn't buy it!

Si xx

[Mab]

I also must have seen 200 of them around while searching for copies. Insane...

[Rob McCow]

So would it be better if they reprinted rare ones such as The Mysterious Planet, The Underwater Menace and Wheel In Space?

Or really, really good ones like Fury From the Deep (where the heck is the audio book of that?!) Curse of Fenric and The Daleks Masterplan?

This satisfies only the 'Doctor Who Was Good For One Year In 1976' brigade!

[Stuart Wallis]

You called...?

[Rob McCow]

Get back to your letter-writing campaign to get Terror of The Zygons out on DVD, you!

[SiHart]

Ermm, that was 1975...



Si (on behalf of the Doctor Who was best 78-81 party)
xx

[SiHart]

It's happening and they're out on my birthday...

You can see them all here (and all the details) here

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

They look really nice, and £4.99p is affordable.

It's just a shame they're all really common ones. However you try and justify it to yourself, it's always going to be buying books you've already got.

Si.