Conundrum (novel)

Conundrum
Doctor:	Seventh Doctor
Companion(s):	Ace, Benny
Featuring:	Sixth Doctor, Norman, the Valeyard, Sara, Katarina, Adric, "The Silver Fist"
Main enemy:	Jason, Phil Chambers
Main setting:	Land of Fiction
Key crew
Publisher:	Virgin Books
Writer:	Steve Lyons
Cover by:	Jeff Cummins
Release details
Release number:	22
Release date:	20 January 1994
Format:	Paperback Book; 17 Chapters, 261 Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-426-20408-5
Virgin New Adventures
← Previous	The Left-Handed Hummingbird
Next →	No Future
DWM "New Adventures order"
← Previous	The Left-Handed Hummingbird
Next →	No Future

You may be looking for the short story of the same name.

Conundrum was the twenty-second novel in the New Adventures series. It was written by Steve Lyons, and was published by Virgin Books in 1994. It featured 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
• Malcolm Blyth
• Jack Corrigan
• Karen Davies
• Mason Grimshaw
• Matthew Shade
• Mel Joseph
• Phil Chambers
• Rosemary Chambers
• Father Kenneth Sheridan
• Gary Chambers
• Michelle Chambers
• Tracey Daniels
• Tim Mitchell
• Carson

Worldbuilding

Energy and radiation

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

Games

• Whilst in prison, the Doctor plays scrabble 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.
• Word Association is an aspect of the Land of Fiction.

Food and beverages

• Ace and Bernice bond over several pints of fictional cider.

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 novel Head Games is a sequel to Conundrum.

Continuity

• The Doctor previously visited the Land of Fiction during his second, (TV: The Mind Robber) fourth (AUDIO: The Crooked Man) and sixth incarnations. (AUDIO: Legend of the Cybermen)
• 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)
• The Doctor plays the spoons again. (TV: Time and the Rani, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation)

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
• Beyond the Book: Conundrum by Paul Scoones (Article) - TSV 43