The Secret Lives of Monsters (short story)

The Secret Lives of Monsters
Doctor:	Twelfth Doctor
Featuring:	First Doctor, Second Doctor, Third Doctor, Fourth Doctor, Fifth Doctor, Sixth, Seventh Doctor, Eighth Doctor, Ninth Doctor, Tenth Doctor, Eleventh Doctor
Key crew
Publisher:	BBC Books
Writer:	Justin Richards
Illustrator:	Peter McKinstry
Release details
Release date:	9 October 2014
Format:	Hardback, 204 pages
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-84990-770-5

You may be looking for the reference book or the in-universe book.

The Secret Lives of Monsters is a short story by Justin Richards published in 2014 as part of the larger book Doctor Who: The Secret Lives of Monsters. The book was written as an exposé of the alien activity covered up by governments and multinational organisations like UNIT and Torchwood.

Publisher's summary

A unique, in-depth look into the hidden lives and mysteries of the monsters from the hit BBC series Doctor Who—a fully illustrated color compendium that reveals proof of the existence of alien life out there and among us, packaged with removable artwork commissioned exclusively for the book.

For years, world governments and multinational organizations like the secretive UNIT have suppressed the truth. In this book, leading alientologist Justin Richards finally blows the lid off the biggest conspiracy to radically alter our world since the Scarlioni Incident.

Not only is there proof that alien life exists. The aliens are already here. Based on exclusive access to classified UNIT and Torchwood files—shocking information that has been suppressed for centuries—The Secret Lives of Monsters reveals the terrifying truth behind the rumors and legends.

Packed with iconic photographs, eyewitness accounts, diagrams and illustrations, and sixteen removable color prints, The Secret Lives of Monsters offers background details on a diverse range of alien species—including planetary and genetic origins, habits, social organization, and first human contact. If you want to know why the Sontaran's probic vent is his weak point or what it is used for; how Daleks reproduce; or how to determine whether your best friend is a Zygon, the answers—as well as everything you need to know to survive future invasions—are here in The Secret Lives of Monsters.

Plot

After the Dalek invasion of 2009, the Battle of Canary Wharf and other incidents, it becomes clear that humanity is not alone in the universe. The authors, referred to as "we", bring together evidence that has been hidden for centuries to reveal the truth of alien life on Earth in the book The Secret Lives of Monsters. The book consists largely of previously classified documents "we" compiled and published for the first time with the help of whistleblowers and journalists, including James Stevens. The book is then found at the printers by the Twelfth Doctor, who replaces its Afterword with his own note for readers. The Doctor warns people that the monsters in The Secret Lives of Monsters are much more terrifying than even the book suggests and that there are many more that it didn't mention. He tells people that it's a good start, but only scratches the surface and that they shouldn't become complacent. He says to watch out for monsters, before he is abruptly cut off mid-sentence by an apparent monster attack.

Characters

• Twelfth Doctor

Contents

• Introduction
• The Cybermen
• The Daleks
• The Great Intelligence
• The Ice Warriors
• The Judoon
• The Krillitanes
• The Nestene & the Autons
• The Ood
• The Silence
• The Silurians & Sea Devils
• The Slitheens
• The Sontarans
• The Weeping Angels
• The Zygons
• Afterword

Worldbuilding

to be added

Notes

• James Stevens from the novel Who Killed Kennedy is a source for some of the documents in the novel.
• Mention is made of Abslom Daak from the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip, Jeremy Fitzoliver from the audio stories The Paradise of Death and The Ghosts of N-Space and the Library of St John the Beheaded from the novel All-Consuming Fire.
• The stories of the creation of the Daleks either by the Halldons of Ameron (PROSE: We are the Daleks!) or the scientist Yarvelling, (COMIC: Genesis of Evil) and their precursors once being called Dals (TV: "The Ambush") are described as legends based in half-truths, with it being suggested that Davros creating the Daleks out of deliberately engineered Kaled survivors which are put inside Davros' travel machines (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) is the more correct telling of this genesis.

Continuity

• Jackson Lake's 1860 book A Man of Two Minds chronicled "Smith" fighting the Cybusman with a reverend's display sword and an infostamp. The Tenth Doctor fought the Cybermen at the home of Aubrey Fairchild in 1851. (TV: The Next Doctor)
• A contemporary diary by Roderick Farnham told of the "Christmas spectacle" of a giant mechanical beast rising from the Thames, and a man in a hot-air balloon seeking to parlay and later battle it. Using Jackson Lake's Tethered Aerial Release Developed In Style, the Tenth Doctor tried to reason with Mercy Hartigan in the CyberKing. (TV: The Next Doctor)
• Leaked UNIT files covered UNIT surveilling Tobias Vaughn and International Electromatics, (TV: The Invasion) a photo of Hans de Flores in 1988, (TV: Silver Nemesis) a peace deal being brokered by Reginald Styles at Auderly House (TV: Day of the Daleks) after the death of a Chinese delegate and the attack on American Senator Alcott postponed the International Peace Conference in London, (TV: The Mind of Evil) the minutes of a meeting discussing the timeline of the spread of the Web, (TV: The Web of Fear) a letter from Vastra to Clara Oswald containing a trance-inducing soporific, (TV: The Name of the Doctor) files from the future covering Ice Warriors frozen in a glacier in a future ice age (TV: The Ice Warriors) and their attempted invasion of Earth, (TV: The Seeds of Death) Peladon joining the Galactic Federation, (TV: The Curse of Peladon) and the war between the Federation and Galaxy Five. (TV: The Monster of Peladon)
• A photo from Russell's hidden camera showed Cybermen in a London sewer in 1985. (TV: Attack of the Cybermen)
• According to a fragment of an intercepted communication between Snowcap in Antarctica and International Space Command in Geneva, Cutler requested to use the Z-Bomb to destroy Mondas and stop its energy drain. (TV: The Tenth Planet)
• Lady Peinforte was photographed at Windsor in 1988. (TV: Silver Nemesis)
• The Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler, and the Cybermen were photographed at Jackie Tyler's birthday party. (TV: Rise of the Cybermen)
• Leaked Torchwood Institute files covered the founding charter of Torchwood mention the sacrifice of Robert MacLeish, the naming of Torchwood after the Torchwood Estate, Queen Victoria's banishment of the Tenth Doctor, (TV: Tooth and Claw) surveillance footage from the Battle of Canary Wharf, (TV: Doomsday) and the failed analysis of the Void ship sphere and its connection with the Ghost Shifts. (TV: Army of Ghosts)
• A radio conversation between the Moonbase and ISC mentioned three personnel that were taken ill due to a virus, later identified as Neurotrope X, developed by the Cybermen. (TV: The Moonbase)
• Alnecht Kohl's Great Mysteries of the Universe describes the disappearance of the Silver Carrier and its later reappearance in the vicinity of Station Three. (TV: The Wheel in Space)
• Notes taken by Station Three's Bill Duggan describes a metal creature matching the description of a Cybermat. (TV: The Wheel in Space)
• Dig Deep for the Truth, a book containing the memoirs of Professor Parry, mentions Eric Klieg and Kaftan financing his expedition to unearth the secrets of the preserved Cyberman entombed on Telos and the Second Doctor speaking of a great evil locked away. (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen)
• Pictures a comms satellite picked up from from the security systems of Briggs' freighter showed the Fifth Doctor and the Cybermen on board. An insurance claim mentions an army of Cybermen were in the freighter's cargo before it disappeared from all tracking systems. (TV: Earthshock)
• Targus Migarian's A History of the Cyber Wars chronicled two isolated instances of Cyberman incursions between the "great Cyber Wars": the plague on Nerva Beacon and the attempted destruction of Voga in the 29th century, (TV: Revenge of the Cybermen) and the destruction of Hedgewick's World after the Cyber Wars of the 250th Millennium. (TV: Nightmare in Silver)
• Other reports of Cybermat activity mentioned in The Secret Lives of Monsters included Nerva Beacon (TV: Revenge of the Cybermen) and a Colchester department store. (TV: Closing Time) The narration describes Cybermites, able to upgrade any human they come in contact with, as "the smallest evolution of Cybermat technology". (TV: Nightmare in Silver)
• The Kaled councillor Mogran wrote a report detailing that he met with the Daleks' creator Davros at his bunker following "unsettling" information he received from the Fourth Doctor and Harry Sullivan. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
• The Thals documented their entire history on Skaro, including their migration to the Dalek City near the petrified jungle when their crop harvests failed. (TV: The Daleks)
• Tobias St John translated an inscription from approximately 2600 BC that was discovered within a secret passage of the Great Pyramid. It told of Hyksos and Tuthmos battling against metal creatures that moved without the need of legs. These were the Daleks. (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan)
• A fragment of Theodore Maxtible's journal dated 17 May 1866 mentions him believing he and Edward Waterfield can work with the Daleks to entrap the Second Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks)
• A Thal expedition recovered a photo of the Dalek Civil War on Skaro from the ruins of the Dalek City. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks)
• In his book Mysteries of the High Seas, Miles Pettifer mocks the idea that the fate of the crew of the Mary Celeste could have been them being frightened overboard by "space aliens" in 1872. In fact, the Daleks did do this. (TV: "Flight Through Eternity")
• A 1930 edition of the New York Gazette reported on a Pig Man linked to the disappearance of the Laurenzi theatre stagehand Laszlo, as well as the reported deaths of Hooverville resident Solomon and the businessman Mr Diagoras in a Hooverville fire. The Daleks kidnapped Laszlo and turned him into a pig slave, (TV: Daleks in Manhattan) and they killed Solomon and Diagoras. (TV: Evolution of the Daleks)
• A memo from Reginald Jones to Winston Churchill and General Ismay states that after Edwin Bracewell's demonstration of the Ironside machines, has Jones suggest the Ironside machines be mass produced. Although Jones described the Ironsides as Bracewell's, the Ironsides were actually Daleks and Bracewell was their android creation. (TV: Victory of the Daleks)
• A report into the Shoreditch Incident of 1963 suggests that following the incident, it would seem "prudent" to immediately second the ad hoc personnel of the Intrusion Counter-Measures Group as full time members. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
• The heavily redacted manuscript of General Matt Robinson's memoirs, Wars Not Words, described Colonel Archer's bomb disposal team having been killed at an abandoned warehouse by the Thames, and several inert machines with a studded lower half discovered nearby. These were the Daleks. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks)
• Photographs taken by the security monitors in Henry van Statten's Vault show the Dalek Metaltron and Rose Tyler. (TV: Dalek)
• A confidential message invited Henry van Statten to a private online auction to buy the Metaltron that crashed on the Ascension Islands in 1961 and has since remained in various private collections. (TV: Dalek)
• The book Daleks - Invasion Earth mentions the Cult of Skaro, a Dalek group that arrived in the Torchwood Tower, was established by the Dalek Emperor to think like the enemy, (TV: Doomsday) and returned for a subsequent Earth invasion in the early 21st century. (TV: The Stolen Earth)
• "Thousands of photographs" were taken during the 21st century invasion, "the most comprehensive evidence of Dalek activity", including on board the Crucible. (TV: Journey's End)
• Notes taken by Lesterson on Vulcan describe his attempts to revive a Dalek found in the mercury swamp, and the Examiner telling him they are dangerous. The Examiner Lesterson refers to is the Second Doctor. (TV: The Power of the Daleks)
• The Rise and Fall of Earth's Empire by Layten Halkovich briefly describes the 2150s Dalek invasion of Earth, which was preceded by a meteor storm and a "worldwide epidemic" that wiped out 90% of the Earth's population. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
• An automated probe survey recovered image data of the Daleks battling the Mechonoids in the Mechonoid City on Mechanus. (TV: "The Planet of Decision")
• A fragment of a Dalek space signal sent from Spiridon to Dalek Supreme Command and intercepted by the Thals mentioned the Daleks' experiments with invisibility derived from the Spiridon life forms, the light wave sickness caused by it, and the assembled Dalek invasion force on Spiridon. (TV: Planet of the Daleks)
• A message recorded by Marc Cory of the Special Security Service warning of the Daleks' plan to completely destroy the galaxy (TV: Mission to the Unknown) was recovered after the activation of the Time Destructor. (TV: "Destruction of Time")
• The Lives and Deaths of Davros by noted Dalek historian Lorraine Baynes mentioned Davros' revival by the Daleks on Skaro and participation in the Dalek-Movellan War, (TV: Destiny of the Daleks) and his subsequent revival on the Prison Station and his attempts to create a cure for the Movellan virus 90 years later. (TV: Resurrection of the Daleks)
• At the height of the Dalek Wars, the deep space cruiser Aristotle, commanded by Colonel Morgan Blue, reported significant Dalek activity in the Ryzak solar system. (TV: Into the Dalek)
• The Grand Order of Oberon put out a statement announcing the death of Orcini, which was one of its top knights who destroyed an army of Daleks created by Davros. (TV: Revelation of the Daleks) The statement also named Abslom Daak (COMIC: Abslom Daak... Dalek Killer, etc) as one of the order.
• Space Traffic Control reported the loss of the starliner Alaska after it was pulled into the attraction field of the Dalek Asylum, and ruled out any rescue as any survivor will have likely been converted into a Dalek by the nano-field surrounding the planet. (TV: Asylum of the Dalek)
• The Game Station broadcast feed recorded the Daleks attacking the Earth, making use of the Game Station, in 200,100. (TV: The Parting of the Ways)
• According to A History of the Dalek Wars by Hagan Garsonomous, the Exxilon Gambit, in which a squad of Daleks planned to secure the parrinium on Exxilon to prevent humanity from finding a cure to the space plague, was the last action of the Third Dalek War. Acting Marine Space Corps commander Dan Galloway destroyed the squad and secured the parrinium. (TV: Death to the Daleks)
• The Last Great Time War between the Daleks and the Time Lords is described as being timelocked to preserve the rest of the universe. (TV: The Stolen Earth) The narration of the book describes the Time Lords sending an agent back in time to prevent the creation of the Daleks (TV: Genesis of the Daleks) as the cause of the war. "One renegade Time Lord", referring to the War Doctor, was believed to have used the ultimate weapon the Moment to wipe out both races. The Time Lords were rumoured to have survived in another reality, (TV: The Day of the Doctor) while the Emperor, (TV: The Parting of the Ways) "pure" Dalek DNA in Progenitor devices, (TV: Victory of the Daleks) Davros, and the last of the Cult of Skaro (TV: The Stolen Earth) survived the war in this universe.
• The "final moments" or "last battle" of the Time War was referred to in conflicting accounts as either the Fall of Arcadia (TV: The Day of the Doctor) or the Siege of Trenzalore, in which "a Dalek warship was allegedly destroyed by the Time Lords through a crack in the fabric of reality". (TV: The Time of the Doctor)
• Edward Travers' talk, "On the Abominable Snowman" was held at the Royal Geographical Society. Professor Walters challenged Travers to find the creature for himself. (TV: The Abominable Snowmen) "Some quarters" of the Royal Society compared the Abominable Snowman in Tibet with the Whisper Men of Victorian London; the Great Intelligence controlled both the Robot Yeti (TV: The Abominable Snowmen) and the Whisper Men. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)
• A letter from Travers to Julius Silverstein lists items Travers intends to donate to Silverstein's collection, including a Yeti automaton and two metal control spheres. (TV: The Web of Fear)
• A newspaper article details the evacuation of central London following the spread of a thick fog during the London Menace. (TV: The Web of Fear)
• Harold Chorley's article "Going Underground" in the Sunday Chronicle Colour Supplement discusses the Web and the Robot Yeti's siege on the Goodge Street Fortress during the London Menace. (TV: The Web of Fear)
• An article mentions the mystery of how snowmen on Caversham Street seemingly returned to their shape and position from the previous winter. (TV: The Snowmen)
• A journal entry by Professor Grisenko mentions Piotr thawing an armoured reptilian warrior from the ice, referring to Commander Skaldak, and Skaldak killing Piotr. (TV: Cold War) The Library of St John the Beheaded (PROSE: All-Consuming Fire, etc) reproduced the journal.
• According to a radio transmission prior to the sonic cannon attack on Britannicus Base, Varga ordered his second in command Zondal to fire. (TV: The Ice Warriors)
• Photographs of Ice Warriors were taken from security feeds in T-Mat bases on the Moon and in London. (TV: The Seeds of Death)
• A memo from Amazonia, chair of the Peladon Assessment Committee mentioned how her position had been usurped by an impostor and his accomplice, referring to the Third Doctor and Jo Grant. (TV: The Curse of Peladon)
• A Galactic Federation intelligence report told of Azaxyr defecting to Galaxy Five. (TV: The Monster of Peladon)

External links

• Official The Secret Lives of Monsters page at Penguin Books