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Eoin Colfer writes first Doctor Who Anniversary e-book

by Vinnie Bartilucci · January 7, 2013

In the first event in association with Doctor Who‘s fiftieth anniversary, Puffin Books will be releasing eleven e-books in 2013, one a month, each dealing with a different Doctor. Writer of the Artemis Fowl series Eoin (“Owen”) Colfer has written the first, starring the first Doctor, played on TV by the late William Hartnell.

Puffin has released info on the series, and this book in particular.

Eleven Doctors, eleven months, eleven stories: a year-long celebration of Doctor Who! The most exciting names in children’s fiction each create their own unique adventure about the time-travelling Time Lord.

London, 1900. The First Doctor is missing both his hand and his granddaughter, Susan. Faced with the search for Susan, a strange beam of soporific light, and a host of marauding Soul Pirates intent on harvesting human limbs, the Doctor is promised a dangerous journey into a land he may never forget…

The names of the other ten authors are top-secret, but rumors are already flying hot and fast. Neil Gaiman has quite a bit of hope (and some small bit of circumstantial evidence) attached to him, including a cryptic post on his website about working on A Project. More than a few websites have suggested JK Rowling, based on nothing but a desire to increase search clicks. It’s not the first time she was connected to the show – there was an attempt by Russell T Davies to get her to write an episode, and even to appear in a Christmas special.

An advance solicitation for the sixth book in the series has a slight change to the series blurb, touting “some of the most exciting names in screenwriting and children’s fiction”, suggesting the pool of writers my have expanded.

Doctor Who and the BBC have jumped into the e-book market in a rather big way. In addition to a number of new novels about the characters, they’ve already released two prequel/companion books for two episode of the series. The Angel’s Kiss is a companion to The Angels Take Manhattan, the book Amy is reading throughout the episode. Devil in the Smoke is a prequel to the Christmas episode, starring Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint and Strax.

Each book will be released on the 23rd of the month, with the eleventh (about the Eleventh) released on the 50th anniversary, November 23rd. This book will be released on January 23rd, and is available via pre-order on Amazon.com.