Conundrum (novel)

Conundrum
Doctor:	Seventh Doctor
Companion(s):	Ace, Benny
Main enemy:	Jason
Main setting:	Land of Fiction
Key crew
Publisher:	Virgin Books
Writer:	Steve Lyons
Release details
Release number:	22
Release date:	20 January 1994
Format:	Paperback Book, 261 Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-426-20408-5
Virgin New Adventures
← Previous	The Left-Handed Hummingbird
Next →	No Future
DWM's "New Adventures order"
← Previous	The Left-Handed Hummingbird
Next →	No Future

Conundrum is the twenty-second novel in the New Adventures series. It was written by Steve Lyons, and was published by Virgin Books in 1994. It features the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Bernice. It featured a return to the Land of Fiction, introduced twenty-six years earlier in the Season 6 Patrick Troughton television story The Mind Robber.

Publisher's summary

"Doctor, we’re talking about an old man who used to dress up in a skintight white jump suit and fly around New York catching super-villains. Don’t you think there’s something just a bit unusual about that?"

A killer is stalking the streets of the village of Arandale. The victims are found one each day, drained of blood. And if that seems strange, it’s nothing compared to the town’s inhabitants.

The Seventh Doctor, Ace and Bernice think they’re investigating a murder mystery. But it’s all much more bizarre than that. And much more dangerous.

Someone has interfered with the Doctor’s past again, and he’s landed in a place he knows he once destroyed. This time there can be no escape.

Plot

to be added

Characters

• Seventh Doctor
• Ace
• Bernice Summerfield
• The White Knight
• The Master of the Land of Fiction

References

Energy and radiation

• McAllerson's Radiation, does exist, but does not give people super powers as the Land of Fiction suggests.

Games

• The Doctor plays scrabble whilst in prison against the Master of the Land of Fiction.

Individuals

• The Silver Fist is a super-villain who battles the White Knight.

Supposed deities

• The Gods of Ragnarok originally built the Land of Fiction but grew bored with it and abandoned it.

TARDIS

• Ace knows how to operate the chameleon circuit.

Theories and concepts

• Ace dreams of a woman in red and a door that she cannot open.
• Bernice dreams of Ace strangling her while the Doctor watches, saying, "It's for the good of the universe".

Notes

• In the Land of Fiction library, Ace sees novels of several of her own adventures including Love and War, Dragonfire and Deceit.
• This is part of the "Meddling Monk" pentalogy, also known as the "Alternate Universe Arc".
• The destruction of the Silurian Earth and the Althosian system continues to put a strain on relationships within the TARDIS.
• A prelude for this novel was published in DWM 208.
• The character of Silver Fist, who we never meet but is referenced many times, was a Cyberman. It may be a survivor of the Cyber​​-invasion unsuccessful by the Sixth Doctor. AUDIO: Legend of the Cybermen).

Continuity

• The Doctor previously visited the Land of Fiction during his second (TV: The Mind Robber) and sixth incarnations (AUDIO: Legend of the Cybermen).
• PROSE: Head Games is a sequel to Conundrum.
• The Master of the Land of Fiction turns up at Benny's wedding to Jason Kane in Cheldon Bonniface on 24 April 2010. (PROSE: Happy Endings)

External links

• Prelude to Conundrum as published in DWM #208
• Conundrum at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• The Discontinuity Guide to: Conundrum at The Whoniverse
• The Cloister Library: Conundrum