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You have found your way to this list of Novelisations and Unlikely Attributions...
Which includes an exclusive, never-before-seen extract from the 'lost' version of the DOCTOR WHO: WARRIORS' GATE novelisation
THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER - 1978
Novelisation of the six-part serial first broadcast on Manchester's Piccadilly Radio. This was the author's first published work of prose fiction in any edition.
"I can remember exactly the point at which I knew I just had to be a novelist.
I had a character who was thinking one thing and saying something quite different and I thought to myself, there's just no other medium where you can do this."
HUNTERS' MOON - NO DATE
The original Corgi Books contract was for a trilogy of novelisations based on the Piccadilly Radio serials, but with the departure of commissioning editor Yvonne Heather from the company the series was left without an in-house patron.
Hunters' Moon was typset and this cover produced, but the book was never published.
The Babylon Run was to have completed the trilogy. See the radio section for further details and an extract from The Babylon Run.
DYING OF PARADISE - 1982 
After the publication of Chimera, Sphere Books expressed an interest in republishing the earlier novelisations on the condition that they carried a pseudonym, distinguishing them from other works by the same author.
Dying of Paradise was therefore a partial revision of The Last Rose of Summer, but the exercise only succeeded in confusing those readers who bought the same book twice.
The phrase 'dying of paradise' recurs in the novel Valley of Lights.
THE ICE BELT - 1983 
The revised manuscript of Hunters' Moon, published in an edition uniform with Dying of Paradise
Again, The Babylon Run went unpublished.
To date, The Babylon Run exists only in a limited edition of one copy.
It was produced as a gift on the occasion of the wedding of Andy and Helen Lane.
Click here for the introduction and an extract.
WARRIORS' GATE - 1982 
The first of two novelisations based on four-part scripts for the popular British TV science fiction show.
A longer manuscript was prepared for publication but had to be heavily revised only days before the deadline at the insistence of the production office, in order to reflect compromises made in the course of production.
The original was lost, but a reconstructed version is to be attempted. For the unpublished extract, click here.
For an inside view of the scripting of Warriors' Gate, click here
TERMINUS - 1983 
The second of the two Doctor Who stories.
The pseudonym "John Lydecker" derived from that of a character in the radio play An Alternative to Suicide, the script for which was the showpiece that secured the first of the Doctor Who commissions.
The character's name was inspired in turn by golden-age Hollywood special effects wizards Howard and Theodore Lydecker, the men who made Captain Marvel fly.
SILVER DREAM RACER - 1980
One of the last British features to be produced by the Rank Organisation. Early work-for-hire from a script by David Wickes.
"Working on Silver Dream Racer gave me my first direct taste of the film world, albeit as a complete outsider with no role on the show.
In the course of a few meetings it was made clear to me that my attempts at creative input weren't being appreciated and so for the most part the novelisation closely follows the script. But I got to go to Pinewood, and to sit in the cafeteria with Judy Bowker and the Clash of the Titans team to one side of me and Burt Reynolds and the Rough Cut people on the other.
I also got an invite to the Rank Organisation's hospitality suite at Silverstone, where the production's bike had been entered in the Grand Prix race. They covered the event in wide shots and cut the footage into the film."
SATURN 3 - 1980 
Science fiction film starring Kirk Douglas and intended to be the directing debut of Star Wars designer John Barry. Also starred Farrah Fawcett and Harvey Keitel.
The direction was taken over by producer Stanley Donen following Barry's untimely death.
Early work-for-hire from a script by Martin Amis although it's since been said that every scribe in town took a swing at the screenplay, including Frederick Raphael.
Martin Amis once described screenwriting as "Coasting on a bicycle".
Return to the David Mathew interview for the story behind the commission.
THE KIDS FROM FAME - 1983
Early work-for-hire, the first of two novelisations based on scripts from the MGM Television series.
"What can I say? I was broke and these novelisations provided me with enough cash to finance the research for Oktober. A courier delivered a box of twenty-six complete scripts from MGM Los Angeles. I split the pile into two and went through each script in turn, noting possible running storylines and scenes worth drawing upon.
The next day, I started to write. I turned out two 50,000 word novels in twenty-one days and picked up £4,000 for the gig. I think I ran out and bought a fan magazine so I'd have some pictures of the cast for reference, but that's all the research I did.
To this day, I still haven't seen a single episode of the series or even the Alan Parker movie that inspired it."
THE KIDS FROM FAME II - 1983
The second of two novelisations based on scripts from the MGM Television series.
"I used the name Lisa Todd to put as much professional distance between myself and these titles as possible.
I'm not ashamed of them - for what they are, they're decent and honest pieces of work - but if they don't carry any of my DNA then they shouldn't be carrying my name, either.
"One thing I didn't bargain for - Lisa Todd started to get fan mail. Most of it from young girls taking dance lessons and dreaming of a career on the stage. I couldn't dash their illusions so I had to respond in character. But I didn't deceive them completely - I told them it's a tough life and there are no guarantees of happiness. So I'm kind of hoping that God will let me off."
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