Shada- Novelised!! Cover revealed!

[Alex Me]

Does not look to great, but I'll probably still be getting it whenever it comes out.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

It'll probably come as no great surprise that I won't be.

[Stuart Wallis]

I was expecting something better than what we've been given. I'm glad I'm not the only person who thought of H2G2 - and poor by either that or Who standards.

[Andrew Curnow]

I'm really looking forward to the book itself, Roberts' recent DWM interview has made me very excited for it. But there's no getting away from it, regardless of what's inside it, that cover is rubbish. Does Cardiff not have a hand in these things anymore?

[Dave Tudor]

Shame they couldn't have got Achilleos or Skilleter or Pearson to knock something up.

[Si Hunt]

Modern sci-fi book covers are like that. Go and look at the new novel by, for example, Michael Crichton. It's just got his name in huge print and probably a small symbol or something. This is clearly being marketed as a sci-fi book, not a proper Doctor Who book.

Si.

[Stuart Wallis]

Does Cardiff not have a hand in these things anymore?

And if they did, what room would there be for your wife's?

[Awesome Wells]

Modern sci-fi book covers are like that. Go and look at the new novel by, for example, Michael Crichton. It's just got his name in huge print and probably a small symbol or something. This is clearly being marketed as a sci-fi book, not a proper Doctor Who book.

Si.

I wonder why, though. Who, other than Doctor Who fans, is going to buy it?

[Si Hunt]

People who like Douglas Adams books?

Si.

[Awesome Wells]

People who like Douglas Adams books?

Si.

But it's not a Douglas Adams book. It's a Douglas Adams story being told by someone else. It's like a Rolf Harris painting based on a sketch by Rembrandt. It may be excellent, but it's not a Rembrandt.

[SiHart]

That didn't stop Eoin Colfer's Hitch Hikers book selling by the bucketload.

[Awesome Wells]

That didn't stop Eoin Colfer's Hitch Hikers book selling by the bucketload.

It's not the same thing, though - that's an entirely new story using existing characters. The equivalent in this scenario would be Gareth Roberts (or A.N. Other author) doing a new novelisation of the first series of the Hitchhikers TV series.

[SiHart]

True.

Anyway, I like the cover, whatever the intention of it is. It's much better than a few random photos from 1979 pasted together. Like every other Doctor Who cover these days. Not that they all have have photos from 1979 on them, but you know what I mean.

[Andrew Curnow]

It's not the same thing, though

True it's not, but I don't think the cover designer(s) would agree. They're clearly aiming it at the potential 'Douglas Adams fan market', which is why his name is more prominent on the cover than the actual author.

I just don't know what the cover's supposed to be. I can see it's the word SHADA, but why is it made out of mismatched bits of stuff? If it was made out of, say, mind-stealing balls, and bits of Krarg it would make a sort of sense, but it's just... odd.

[Awesome Wells]

True.

Anyway, I like the cover, whatever the intention of it is. It's much better than a few random photos from 1979 pasted together. Like every other Doctor Who cover these days. Not that they all have have photos from 1979 on them, but you know what I mean.

I do and I agree. It looks decidedly ungeneric.

True it's not, but I don't think the cover designer(s) would agree. They're clearly aiming it at the potential 'Douglas Adams fan market', which is why his name is more prominent on the cover than the actual author.

I wish I could forget lots of things and be, just briefly, the Douglas Adams fan who comes to this book and wonders what the hell is happening, and how Dirk Gently and Doctor Who have been mixed up in a novel by that bloke who writes stuff for the telly.

[Logo Polish]

It's not the same thing, though - that's an entirely new story using existing characters. The equivalent in this scenario would be Gareth Roberts (or A.N. Other author) doing a new novelisation of the first series of the Hitchhikers TV series.

No, it's not the same thing but it could be argued that this is closer to being a Douglas Adams story, given that it's actually based on one written by him. And Another Thing was very much promoted as a book for the Adams fan market, and if they could do that for a book which merely contained characters and concepts created by that author, it's not surprising that they could do it for one which was an adaptation of a story he wrote.

[SiHart]

Lalla's doing the audiobook: http://regent-times.blogspot.com/201...r-who.html?m=1

She must be sick of this story by now- this'll be the fourth time she's recorded it!

[Si Hunt]

Oh this will be amazing, I can't wait!

Si.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Latest news update:

Doctor Who News Page - Shada

[SiHart]

It's in the shops and has one of those covers that doesn't feel quite the way you expect it's going to feel...

[Simon R]

I still don't get the cover. What is it actually supposed to be that the lettering is made out of?

Anyway, I'm about 90 pages in and enjoying it immensely. It sticks closely to the "video" version but fills in a lot of background detail and fleshes out the supporting characters like Wilkin and the guy who picks Skagra up in his car and whom is given the name David Taylor...

[Si Hunt]

A man called Dave Taylor who picks up flamboyantly dressed men in his car?

Si.

[SiHart]

It has to be a coincidence...

or else there's gossip we don't know about

[Dirk Gently]

I know some gossip. But I've been told to keep it to myself.

[Stuart Wallis]

Yes, we've all marked your card!