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{{Infobox Story
{{Infobox Story SMW
|image= NA027 allconsumingfire.jpg
|image = NA027 allconsumingfire.jpg
|adapted into = All-Consuming Fire (audio story)
|adapted into = All-Consuming Fire (audio story)
|series=[[Virgin New Adventures]]
|series = [[Virgin New Adventures]]
|number= 27
|range = Virgin New Adventures
|doctor= Seventh Doctor
|number in range = 27
|number = 27
|doctor = Seventh Doctor
|companions= [[Ace]], [[Bernice Summerfield|Benny]]
|companions= [[Ace]], [[Bernice Summerfield|Benny]]
|featuring= Sherlock Holmes
|featuring = Sherlock Holmes
|featuring2= John Watson
|featuring2 = John Watson
|featuring3= First Doctor
|featuring3 = First Doctor
|featuring4= Susan Foreman
|featuring4 = Third Doctor
|enemy= [[Azathoth (All-Consuming Fire)|Azathoth]], [[Baron Maupertuis]], [[Sherringford Holmes]]
|enemy= [[Azathoth (All-Consuming Fire)|Azathoth]], [[Baron Maupertuis]], [[Sherringford Holmes]]
|setting= {{il|[[Jabalhabad]], [[1843]]|[[London]], [[1887]]|[[SS Matilda Briggs|SS ''Matilda Briggs'']], [[1887]]|[[Bombay]], [[1887]]|[[Plain of Leng]], [[Ry'leh]], [[1887]]|[[San Francisco]], [[1906]]}}
|setting= {{il|[[Jabalhabad]], [[1843]]|[[London]], [[1887]]|[[SS Matilda Briggs|SS ''Matilda Briggs'']], [[1887]]|[[Bombay]], [[1887]]|[[Plain of Leng]], [[Ry'leh]], [[1887]]|[[San Francisco]], [[1906]]}}
|writer= [[Andy Lane]]
|writer = Andy Lane
|publisher= Virgin Books
|cover = [[Jeff Cummins]]
|release date= [[16 June (releases)|16 June]] [[1994 (releases)|1994]]
|publisher = Virgin Books
|format= Paperback Book; 21 Chapters, 305 Pages
|release date= 16 June 1994
|isbn= ISBN 0-426-20415-8
|format = Paperback Book; 24 Chapters, 305 Pages
|prev= Theatre of War (novel)
|isbn = ISBN 0-426-20415-8
|next= Blood Harvest (novel)
|prev = Theatre of War (novel)
}}
|next = Blood Harvest (novel)
|featuring5 = Susan Foreman
}}{{prose stub}}
{{dab page|All-Consuming Fire (disambiguation)}}
{{dab page|All-Consuming Fire (disambiguation)}}
'''''All-Consuming Fire''''' was a [[1994 (releases)|1994]] entry in the [[New Adventures]] range of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' novels. It featured the [[Seventh Doctor]], [[Ace]] and [[Benny]] in an adventure with the real-life "[[Sherlock Holmes]]" and "Dr [[John Watson]]".
'''''All-Consuming Fire''''' was a [[1994 (releases)|1994]] entry in the [[New Adventures]] range of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' novels. It featured the [[Seventh Doctor]], [[Ace]] and [[Bernice Summerfield|Benny]] in an adventure with the real-life "[[Sherlock Holmes]]" and "Dr [[John Watson]]".


It was notable for its unusual structure.
It was notable for its unusual structure.


At the beginning of the novel, the Doctor gives Benny a copy of ''[[All-Consuming Fire]]'' by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]], which she duly reads. This sets up a "book-within-a-book", in which the reader is meant to believe that there's an Andy Lane-written prologue and epilogue wrapped around a Conan Doyle novel — itself written from the perspective of "[[John Watson]]". In the epilogue, Benny pronounces that Conan Doyle changed "a lot of the facts", meaning that Conan Doyle (or, possibly "Watson") is an {{w|unreliable narrator}}. The main characters seem to agree that Conan Doyle's version is ''basically'' true. However, Benny's revelation that she doesn't "remember half of these things happening" makes it difficult to know which ''details'' actually occurred within the [[Doctor Who universe|''Doctor Who'' universe]], and which are embellishments by Conan Doyle.
At the beginning of the novel, the Doctor gives Benny a copy of ''[[All-Consuming Fire]]'' by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]], which she duly reads. This sets up a "book-within-a-book", in which the reader is meant to believe that there's an Andy Lane-written prologue and epilogue wrapped around a Conan Doyle novel — itself written from the perspective of "[[John Watson]]". In the epilogue, Benny pronounces that Conan Doyle changed "a lot of the facts", meaning that Conan Doyle (or, possibly "Watson") is an {{w|unreliable narrator}}. The main characters seem to agree that Conan Doyle's version is ''basically'' true. However, Benny's revelation that she doesn't "remember half of these things happening" makes it difficult to know which ''details'' actually occurred within the [[Doctor Who universe|''Doctor Who'' universe]], and which are embellishments by Conan Doyle.


Lane occasionally gives us other points of view, such as when he quotes from Benny's diary. These moments, too, are instances where limited perspective leads to unreliable narration. Indeed, it's not terribly clear whether these moments of taking from other diaries are meant to be Lane interjecting into the Conan Doyle book, or whether it's actually Conan Doyle himself mixing in a bit of Benny's voice into his book.
Lane occasionally gives us other points of view, such as when he quotes from Benny's diary. These moments, too, are instances where limited perspective leads to unreliable narration. Indeed, it's not terribly clear whether these moments of taking from other diaries are meant to be Lane interjecting into the Conan Doyle book, or whether it's actually Conan Doyle himself mixing in a bit of Benny's voice into his book.


In any event, ''All-Consuming Fire'' — quite unusually for a ''Doctor Who'' novel — features a book within a book, told mostly in the {{w|first person narrative|first person}} from the perspective of secondary characters.
In any event, ''All-Consuming Fire'' — quite unusually for a ''Doctor Who'' novel — features a book within a book, told mostly in the {{w|first person narrative|first person}} from the perspective of secondary characters.
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== Plot ==
== Plot ==
England’s greatest consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes, and his faithful friend Doctor James Watson, are returning from a holiday in [[Vienna]] when their train -- the Orient Express -- is flagged down by a carriage occupied by Pope Leo XIII. Potentially dangerous books have been stolen from the secret Library of St John the Beheaded, a Catholic repository of forbidden texts which is located in England so the Vatican can deny its existence. Holmes agrees to take the case, and upon returning to England he and Watson visit the Library, in the heart of St Giles’ Rookery -- a den of vice and squalor which Holmes notes seems less crowded than usual. The Library itself is a sequestered, underground building, designed such that a single entrance provides all of the ventilation it requires; this entrance is guarded day and night by two rival criminal gangs, who would like nothing better than to catch the other out in a mistake. As Holmes examines the scene of the crime and studies the list of visitors who had recently requested the stolen books, Watson observes a hooded figure entering a private reading room, and meets an oddly-dressed little man reading a copy of [[Redvers Fenn-Cooper]]’s autobiography.
''to be added''
 
Having tested the Library’s security and found it adequate, Holmes and Watson return to their lodgings in [[Baker Street]], where the odd little man from the Library is waiting for them. He identifies himself only as “the Doctor”, confirms that he is one of the people on Holmes’ list, and claims that the books were stolen in order to prevent him from reading them. Whilst accepting that he is a suspect, he nevertheless suggests joining forces to bring the matter to a speedy conclusion. Holmes accepts, but is disconcerted by his inability to deduce anything about the Doctor; he is unable even to identify the mud on the Doctor’s trouser cuffs, which the Doctor claims is from [[Menaxus]].
 
While Holmes pursues another avenue of investigation, the Doctor and Watson visit one of the others on the list, Mrs Kate Prendersley. Outside her home, they catch a glimpse of something in the shadows -- something like a sack of water suspended in a frame of stilts, which vanishes when they try to get a closer look. Mrs Prendersley explains that she has been investigating her husband’s death; he was apparently an innocent victim of the Trafalgar Square riots, but she believes that he had stumbled across a conspiracy and was murdered to prevent him from investigating further. She attempted to follow up her husband’s researches in the Library, but has found it a disturbing place; once, she believes, she saw the shadow of a man eating a book. She tries to quote the evil-sounding syllables which her husband had scribbled down in his notes, but as she does so, she bursts into flames and dies within seconds. The Doctor convinces Inspector MacDonald of Scotland Yard to write it off as a case of spontaneous human combustion, and leaves the shaken Watson to return to Baker Street.
 
Meanwhile, Holmes visits the seamier parts of London to investigate the two men who were guarding the Library at the time of the theft. While undercover, he witnesses a fight to the death between three trained dogs and a three-legged, reptilian “giant rat” from Sumatra, a creature like nothing he has ever seen on Earth. The two Library guards are brought before their respective leaders, Mr Jitter and Mack “the Knife” Yeovil, to explain themselves, and although they insist that they are innocent they have their hands cut off as punishment for their failure. Holmes is spotted as an impostor, but manages to escape from the angry crowds around him and returns to Baker Street to ponder these events.
 
The next morning, Holmes and Watson are summoned to the Diogenes Club by Sherlock’s elder brother Mycroft, who has a bone to pick with them. The Diogenes is in fact a front for Britain’s secret service, and the Queen is upset that the Pope has chosen to hire a private detective rather than come to her own intelligence service for help. Mycroft peruses Sherlock’s list of names, and as he discusses them with Sherlock, Watson comes to suspect that the brothers are hiding something from him. Most of the people on the list are members of the Diogenes Club, and one in particular, Baron Maupertuis, is already suspected of making shady business deals in his desperate attempts to make a name for himself in Victorian society. Mycroft summons the Baron to speak with Sherlock, but Maupertuis gives nothing away and they have no pretext to detain him further. As Maupertuis departs, however, Watson notices a figure waiting for him in a hansom cab outside -- the same hooded figure he saw earlier in the Library.
 
Mycroft learns Maupertuis’ destination from the club’s doorman, and shows his brother and Watson to a secret underground pneumatic railroad which is used to smuggle dignitaries out of the Club after clandestine meetings. They arrive at their destination moments too late to identify Maupertuis’ companion, but Holmes realises that they have entered a child brothel and pretends to be a client in order to get inside. He then leads the horrified Watson to an empty room in order to eavesdrop on Maupertuis, whose unknown companion is here for a séance with the notorious Madame Sosostris. Holmes and Watson hear the medium and the hooded figure chanting, and as the chant starts to develop an oddly compelling rhythm a strangely chilling third voice joins in. The figure warns the third voice that a detective and a man called the Doctor are interfering with their plans, and the third voice agrees to send more brethren through the gateway to render assistance.
 
Before Holmes can identify the hooded figure, he is spotted eavesdropping and is forced to flee. He and Watson are pursued by Maupertuis’ hulking, deformed bodyguard Surd, who proves to have the ability to incinerate people with the power of his mind -- as Watson very nearly fatally discovers before one of the brothel’s footmen gets in Surd’s way. Holmes flags down a passing cab, which proves to be carrying the Doctor; he claims to be following something which has been following Holmes and Watson, but all Watson can see out of the window are glimpses of the same sack on stilts he saw at Mrs Prendersley’s. They are overtaken by another hansom cab, and the Doctor loses sight of his quarry near the Library of St John the Beheaded. He, Holmes and Watson enter the Library to find that they are expected; Mycroft is here, and has taken it upon himself to contact another name on the list… the eldest Holmes brother, Sherringford.
 
Sherringford informs the others that some of the stolen books were the journals of their father Siger. The Doctor claims to have met Siger while travelling in India with his grand-daughter Susan, and further claims that the journals contained tales of Siger’s time in the East India Company, and a description of a hidden temple where the fakirs could chant open a gateway to another world. Intrigued by Siger’s tales, the Doctor arranged for his journals to be confiscated and placed in the Library, where he could consult them later when he had the chance. However, it appears that Maupertuis has stumbled across them, and plans to lead an army through the gateway and conquer the planet beyond in the name of Britain. Mycroft is openly skeptical until the Doctor tears aside a tapestry to reveal Sherringford’s other guest -- the sack on stilts, an alien being named K’tcar’ch from the planet Ry’leh.
 
Sherringford admits that he investigated his father’s tales some time ago, travelled through the gateway, and made contact with K’tcar’ch’s people. They are a peaceful race threatened by Maupertuis’ colonial ambitions; he has been raising an army from the criminal underclasses of London, and he intends to invade the Plain of Leng on Ry’leh. Siger’s journals contain the alien syllables with which it is possible to chant open the rift that connects the two planets; Mrs Prendersley was killed by Surd to prevent her from revealing those syllables to the Doctor. Maupertuis has now fled the country following the fight at the brothel, and is on his way to India to lead the invasion of Ry’leh. Holmes, however, reveals that he stole a book from Maupertuis as they struggled in the brothel, and he finds it to be one of his father’s journals. He and Watson agree to help the Doctor stop the invasion, and Mycroft, while unwilling to commit the British government to any course of action, nevertheless informs them that they may find assistance from a big game expedition in India which has been funded by the Diogenes.
 
The Doctor, Holmes and Watson take the ''SS Matilda Briggs'' to Bombay, where the Doctor’s friend Benny is waiting, disguised as a man to avoid attention. She tells them that crates labelled with Maupertuis’ handwriting were recently sent to the railway station at Jahalbahad, and the Doctor decides to follow them. That night, however, while perusing Siger’s journals he is attacked by a rakshassa, a flying demon with spikes for a face and bat-like wings. The rakshassa kidnaps the Doctor, leaving Benny, Holmes and Watson with no option but to continue on to Jahalbahad and continue their investigation alone. Colonel Warburton, the local Resident, invites them to a dinner with the Nazir Tir Ram, which is also attended by the hunter Lord John Roxton and a missionary named O’Connor. Watson excuses himself to answer a call of nature, but on his way back to the others he is attacked by Maupertuis and Surd, and barely escapes with his life. Benny also manages to escape, but the others -- apart from Tir Ram, Warburton and his wife, who are also involved in the conspiracy -- are taken prisoner.
 
Benny and Watson follow the prisoners to an underground temple, where the Doctor is being held as well. Maupertuis’ army is preparing to storm through the gateway and bring fame and fortune to Tir Ram’s formerly insignificant province, and Maupertuis can’t understand why his enemies oppose this. Roxton reveals himself to be a member of the Diogenes Club, and announces that Maupertuis is acting without the approval of the British government; however, Maupertuis feels certain that he will be rewarded when he presents Victoria with a whole new territory for her empire. He scoffs at the Doctor’s and Holmes’ claims to champion the defenceless -- and is even more scornful when O’Connor reveals himself to be the criminal mastermind Moriarty, here to find out why his underlings have been disappearing. Maupertuis summons four rakshassi to deal with the intruders while Tir Ram’s fakirs chant open the rift, and Benny and Watson join the fight, assuming that the rakshassi are trained animals from Ry’leh. Their intervention turns the tide, and Roxton shoots Surd before he can kill Watson -- but by the time the rakshassi have been killed, the army has passed through the rift, and it has closed up behind them.
 
The Doctor and Benny study Surd’s body and find that his deformities were caused by horrific vivisectional surgery which has all but hollowed him out. The books were smuggled out of the Library within the hollow spaces of his body, and his pyrokinetic powers developed due to the damage to his brain. The battle must now be taken to Ry’leh, and Moriarty, who is perfectly willing to let Holmes get himself killed on an alien world, departs after giving them a transcript of the fakirs’ chant. Holmes sends Roxton to report the situation to the Diogenes Club, and he, the Doctor, Benny and Watson chant open the gateway and pass through to Ry’leh.
 
Ry’leh is a barren world surrounded by a solid shell of frozen atmosphere. In this territory, Watson is in his element, tracking Maupertuis’ army through unknown terrain. Holmes, however, relies upon a comprehensive knowledge of his surroundings to make his deductions, and in an alien environment he is completely at a loss. The Doctor, meanwhile, fears that the fakirs’ chant mentioned the name of Azathoth, one of the legendary Great Old Ones, beings of unimaginable power who survived the destruction of the Universe which existed before this one. He has fought them before; amongst others, he’s encountered Yog-Sothoth in Tibet and London, Lloigor on Vortis, Cthulhu in Haiti, and Hastur the Unspeakable, who also goes by the name of Fenric. If one of the Great Old Ones is present on Ry’leh, the situation is even worse than he had imagined.
 
Watson locates Maupertuis’ army, but spots movement on the surrounding slopes as well, and realises that the ostensibly peaceful natives are gathering -- and are heavily armed. He tries to learn more by infiltrating Maupertuis’ camp, only to stumble into an ambush when the natives open fire. The panic-stricken humans scatter in terror, and Warburton blames Maupertuis; he was given no time to train the men properly, and it is now clear that he was misled about the strength of the native resistance. The furious Maupertuis shoots Warburton, but before he can do the same to Watson, the Doctor’s friend Ace arrives and shoots Maupertuis instead.
 
Ace has been on Ry’leh for some time, scouting out the situation for the Doctor, and she accompanies Watson back to the others’ camp to report -- only to find that they have been kidnapped. To Watson’s surprise, Ace reveals that the rakshassi are not animals at all, but an intelligent life form which worships a god living in a nearby city. She has seen them trying to sing open the rift to Earth themselves, and once chased one of the planet’s reptilian, three-legged animals through the rift to see what would happen. Leaving the battle behind, Watson and Ace climb a nearby mountain, using the swollen skins of balloon-like animals as suits to protect themselves from the cold and lack of air. Eventually they reach the summit, where they find a passageway carved through the ice onto the frozen surface of Ry’leh’s atmospheric shell.
 
The rakshassi have kidnapped not only the Doctor, Benny and Holmes, but Tir Ram and his fakirs as well. They are taken to the surface of the shell, where the rakshassi have transported a caravan across the top of the ice to avoid detection. There, the hooded figure, Maupertuis’ ally, is waiting for them -- and is revealed to be Sherringford Holmes. When Sherringford made his first trip to Ry’leh he met Azathoth, goddess of the rakshassi, and was converted to her cause. As the horrified Sherlock watches, Sherringford casts off the last vestiges of his human form and transforms into a rakshassi, as K’tcar’ch had done before him. K’tcar’ch’s people are in fact the Shlangii, mercenaries under orders to confine Azathoth to her prison on Ry’leh following her attempt to spread her Word across the Universe. Over the years, Azathoth has managed to convert a number of the Shlangii to her cause, but the rakshassi cannot sing the frequencies required to open the rift between Ry’leh and Earth. Maupertuis’ invasion was never meant to succeed; his army is merely here to keep the local Shlangii garrison occupied while Tir Ram’s fakirs sing open the gateway. Soon Azathoth will escape her prison of centuries, and bring her Word to the Earth.
 
Sherringford takes his prisoners to the central cavern to meet Azathoth herself, and the Doctor is somewhat disappointed to find that she’s nothing more than a giant telepathic slug, an empathic mutant playing upon the reputation of a Great Old One to convince her followers that she is a god. Ace and Watson are already here, and as they are apparently transforming into rakshassi themselves, Sherringford leaves them to guard the others; however, Ace and Watson are merely disguised, using hollowed-out crustacean body parts they took from the converted Tir Ram after Ace killed him. She is holding Azathoth hostage with a pre-programmed smart bomb, to ensure that it does not attempt to convert them to rakshassi; presumably the rakshassi are the adult form of Azathoth’s race, a stage which this mutant larva never reached.
 
As the Doctor ponders his next move, the rakshassi blast a hole thorugh the ice and lower the caravan through to the Plain of Leng, where Maupertuis’ army and the Shlangii garrison have wiped each other out. Azathoth manages to convert the smart bomb to her cause, but the Doctor and his friends survive its attack and flee. As the fakirs begin to sing open the rift, however, Ace reveals that she overheard part of Azathoth’s conversation with Sherringford during the séance, and has learned that a dissonant chord could shift the terminus of the gateway. After some thought and calculation, the Doctor works out a new chant which will shift the gateway to San Francisco during the earthquake of 1906. He and his friends join in the fakirs’ chant, moving the gateway to the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Azathoth and her followers are forced to pass through the gateway when Shlangii reinforcements arrive, and the Doctor and his friends follow them. The rift closes behind them, leaving the immobile Azathoth trapped in the hotel as the fire raging through the earthquake-torn city consumes it. Sherringford attempts to kill Watson to avenge his goddess’ death, but Sherlock kills his brother to save his friend's life. They retreat from the hotel as it goes up in flames, incinerating every living thing inside.
 
The Doctor leaves the others, spends three months crossing America and the Atlantic Ocean, fetches the TARDIS from its resting place in London, and returns for his friends a moment after he left them. He offers Holmes and Watson the opportunity to travel with him, but they turn down his offer; one such adventure is enough for them. Instead, they return to 19th-century Baker Street, where Holmes resumes his career as a consulting detective. As usual, Watson writes up the adventure in his memoirs, and his friend Arthur Conan Doyle helps him to turn it into a novel; and, as usual, Watson and his friend’s names are changed to “James Watson” and “Sherlock Holmes” to protect their true identities. But unlike the other novels and stories on which Doyle has collaborated, Watson has done this one for his own benefit; the world is not ready for it, and ''[[All-Consuming Fire (novel)|The Strange Case of the All-Consuming Fire]]'' will never see print.


== Characters ==
== Characters ==
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* [[K'tcar'ch]]
* [[K'tcar'ch]]
* [[Kate Prendersly]]
* [[Kate Prendersly]]
* [[Third Doctor]]
* [[MacDonald (All-Consuming Fire)|MacDonald]]
* [[MacDonald (All-Consuming Fire)|MacDonald]]
* [[Hudson (All-Consuming Fire)|Hudson]]
* [[Hudson (All-Consuming Fire)|Hudson]]
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* [[Susan Foreman|Susan]]
* [[Susan Foreman|Susan]]
* [[Siger Holmes]]
* [[Siger Holmes]]
== References ==
== Worldbuilding ==
=== Books ===
=== Books ===
* Ace has read books by [[Iain M. Banks]].
* Ace has read books by [[Iain M. Banks]].
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* At the Academy on [[Gallifrey]] the Doctor failed practical [[theology]] but was highly commended for [[garden|landscape gardening]].
* At the Academy on [[Gallifrey]] the Doctor failed practical [[theology]] but was highly commended for [[garden|landscape gardening]].
* The Doctor leaves the TARDIS in the house of Professor [[George Litefoot]].
* The Doctor leaves the TARDIS in the house of Professor [[George Litefoot]].
* The Doctor says that he does sleep once every [[hundred]] years for a [[decade]] or so.
* The Doctor says that he does sleep once every [[hundred]] years for a [[decade]] or so.
* The Doctor was once at a bar on [[Barrabas Gamma]] where he paid for a round of drinks using [[Cimliss]] money, but it jumped out of his hand and ran away.
* The Doctor was once at a bar on [[Barrabas Gamma]] where he paid for a round of drinks using [[Cimliss]] money, but it jumped out of his hand and ran away.


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=== Species ===
=== Species ===
* The [[Rakshassi]] are named after Hindu demons. Their appearance may be based on the {{w|Mi-go}}.
* The [[Rakshassi]] are named after Hindu demons. Their appearance may be based on the {{w|Mi-go}}.
* The [[Great Old One]]s include: [[Lloigor]] (ended up on [[Vortis]]), [[Yog-Sothoth]] (encountered as the [[Great Intelligence]]), the [[Gods of Ragnarok]] (whom Ace might tell Benny about, if asked nicely), [[Hastur the Unspeakable]] (also known as [[Fenric]], whom Ace will not tell Benny about, no matter how nicely she asks), [[Cthulhu]] (encountered by the Doctor and company in [[Haiti]]), [[Dagon]] (worshipped by the [[Sea Devil]]s) and [[Nyarlathotep]].
* The [[Great Old One]]s include: [[Lloigor]] (ended up on [[Vortis]]), [[Yog-Sothoth]] (whom the Doctor encountered once in [[Tibet]] and later in [[London]]), the [[Gods of Ragnarok]] (whom Ace might tell Benny about, if asked nicely), [[Hastur the Unspeakable]] (also known as [[Fenric]], whom Ace will not tell Benny about, no matter how nicely she asks), [[Cthulhu]] (encountered by the Doctor and company in [[Haiti]]), [[Dagon]] (worshipped by the [[Sea Devil]]s) and [[Nyarlathotep]].
* [[Shlangii (species)|Shlangii]] are the most feared mercenaries in the universe.  
* [[Shlangii (species)|Shlangii]] are the most feared mercenaries in the universe.
* The [[Silurian]]s venerated Azathoth.
* The [[Silurian]]s venerated Azathoth.
* The [[Ook]] of the [[Crallis Sector]] wear clothes that are made out of small [[animal]]s.
* The [[Ook]] of the [[Crallis Sector]] wear clothes that are made out of small [[animal]]s.
* A [[Drashig]]'s mating call supposedly sounds like an [[18th century]] passenger ship's horn.
* A [[Drashig]]'s mating call supposedly sounds like an [[18th century]] passenger ship's horn.


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=== Vehicles ===
=== Vehicles ===
* The journey to [[India]] and back is made aboard the [[SS Matilda Briggs|SS ''Matilda Briggs'']].  
* The journey to [[India]] and back is made aboard the [[SS Matilda Briggs|SS ''Matilda Briggs'']].
* Bernice describes a [[tikka-ghari]].
* Bernice describes a [[tikka-ghari]].


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== Notes ==
== Notes ==
* This novel is written from the point of view from Watson and Benny's diaries.
[[File:Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes All-Consuming Fire.jpg|thumb|Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes in ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'']]
* It is one of the few New Adventures releases to include illustrations.
* The image of Sherlock Holmes on the cover is based on an image of [[Basil Rathbone]]'s portrayal of the character in ''[[The Hound of the Baskervilles]]''.
* According to [[Andy Lane]], [[Peter Darvill-Evans]] had told Lane that Holmes and Watson were going to be the new [[companion]]s in the [[New Adventures]] book range. Said Lane, "Even when I finished the book it was still on the cards - hence the ambiguous ending." ([[DWM 252]])
* This novel is written from the point of view of Watson and Benny's diaries.
* This novel includes eight illustrations by [[Mike Nicholson]].
* According to [[Andy Lane]], [[Peter Darvill-Evans]] had told Lane that Holmes and Watson were going to be the new [[companion]]s in the [[New Adventures]] book range. Said Lane, "Even when I finished the book it was still on the cards - hence the ambiguous ending." ([[DWM 252]])
* A [[Prelude All-Consuming Fire (short story)|prelude]] to this novel was published in [[DWM 213]].
* A [[Prelude All-Consuming Fire (short story)|prelude]] to this novel was published in [[DWM 213]].
* In the acknowledgements for [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Empire of Glass (novel)|The Empire of Glass]]'', Lane notes that this was his own version of {{w|Tim Powers}}' {{wi|The Anubis Gates}}.
* In the acknowledgements for the novel ''[[The Empire of Glass (novel)|The Empire of Glass]]'', Lane notes that this was his own version of {{w|Tim Powers}}' {{wi|The Anubis Gates}}.
* There is a reference to a Baron Maupertuis, one of the villains of this story, in the Sherlock Holmes novel "{{w|The Adventure of the Reigate Squire}}", in which Watson mentions an unrecorded case called "the colossal schemes of Baron Maupertuis".
* In 2015, [[Big Finish Productions]] released an [[All-Consuming Fire (audio story)|audio adaptation]] of this novel.
* In 2015, [[Big Finish Productions]] released an [[All-Consuming Fire (audio story)|audio adaptation]] of this novel.
* [[Andy Lane]] named this as his favourite New Adventure of his own, "because it was such fun to write".
* At the time of the novel's publication, the works of Arthur Conan Doyle were in the public domain in the UK. This changed in 1996, when British laws were amended to reflect those of the European Union. As such, Doyle's creations could not be used again until the copyright expired in 2001, though Holmes and Watson do have cameos in ''[[Happy Endings (novel)|Happy Endings]]''.<ref>https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/watch/uk/</ref>
=== References to Sherlock Holmes lore ===
As a three-way crossover between ''Doctor Who'', the Cthulhu Mythos and Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, the novel makes numerous references to quirks and lore of the ''Sherlock Holmes'' canon.
Firstly, the notion that [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] coexists with Watson and Holmes within their fictional universe, as a man who publishes Watson's diaries with some names and details changed to give them an air of fictionality and protect the detectives' identities, is a confirmation of the foundational hypothesis of {{w|Sherlockian game|the "Great Game"}} which sees Doyle enthusiasts posit that Doyle's Sherlock Holmes canon is actually a historical text, and, from there, attempt to figure out how he connects to various elements of the real world.
Secondly, the novel ties together two of the many "offscreen cases" mentioned by Watson in Doyle's stories and which are the subject of much speculation among fans. In the Sherlock Holmes novel "{{w|The Adventure of the Reigate Squire}}", Watson mentions an unrecorded case called "the colossal schemes of Baron Maupertuis", which schemes are shown in this story to have been the invasion of [[Ry'leh]] through the dimensional rift in India. Meanwhile, in the short story "{{w|The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire}}", Holmes says in "a reminiscent voice" that "the ''Matilda Briggs'' was a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared." ''All-Consuming Fire'' shows the Giant Rat of Sumatra in question to have been an alien creature from [[Ry'leh]], making the reason Holmes's 19th-century world was unprepared for it quite obvious; the [[SS Matilda Briggs]] is the ship abord which the characters travel to India in ''All-Consuming Fire''.
Thirdly, the story makes use of the common idea that the [[Diogenes Club]] is in fact a front for a secret service loyal to the Crown of England, with [[Mycroft Holmes|Mycroft]] as its head. This notion, not present in any of Doyle's original stories, is frequently used in adaptations of the ''Sherlock Holmes'' mythos, up to and including the later BBC ''Sherlock'' reboot headed by [[Steven Moffat]] and [[Mark Gatiss]]. ''All-Consuming Fire'' interestingly shows Holmes and Watson ''learning'' of the Club's true nature.
Finally, [[Squire]] [[Sherringford Holmes]] is a reference to ''Sherrinford'' Holmes, a theoretical character as part of the aforementioned Great Game, named for a discarded name Doyle had considered for Sherlock himself, and who is conceived of as the eldest Holmes brother who lived a quiet life and inherited most of the Holmes family's wealth and land.
=== The Great Old Ones and the DWU ===
A brief speech by the [[Seventh Doctor]] defines who the [[Great Old One]]s are. This ties together several creatures encountered in ''[[Doctor Who]]'', and binds them in a common group with other mythologies, such as the [[H. P. Lovecraft]] [[Cthulhu]] stories. He says that the following are "Great Old Ones": Cthulhu, the [[Gods of Ragnarok]] (from ''[[The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (TV story)|The Greatest Show in the Galaxy]]''), [[Nyarlathotep]], [[Dagon]] (who is said to be worshipped by the [[Sea Devil]]s, implying the Sea Devils to be the same as Lovecraft's Deep Ones), Hastur the Unspeakable who "also goes around calling himself [[Fenric]] (as encountered in ''[[The Curse of Fenric (TV story)|The Curse of Fenric]]''), Lloigor (implied to be [[the Animus]] from ''[[The Web Planet (TV story)|The Web Planet]]''), and [[Yog-Sothoth]].
The Doctor's statement that he met Yog-Sothoth "once in Tibet, and again in London" implies that Yog-Sothoth is in fact none other than the [[Great Intelligence]], although this is not made explicit, by all appearances because the book was not licensed to use the character of the Intelligence (no such statement is made in the book's copyright section). ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'' confirms this connection, whereas other works both earlier and later, such as the TV story ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'', dispute it.
At any rate, while direct ties to the Cthulhu Mythos were erased, the notion of unimaginably powerful entities who originated in the [[pre-universe]], and who derived their powers from still being bound by the laws of physics of their ''old'' world rather than the Doctor's own, recurred in 21st century televised ''Doctor Who'', first with [[the Beast (The Impossible Planet)|the Beast]] in ''[[The Impossible Planet (TV story)|The Impossible Planet]]'' and ''[[The Satan Pit (TV story)|The Satan Pit]]'' and later with the [[Ancient Lights]] in ''[[Secrets of the Stars (TV story)|Secrets of the Stars]]'' and ''[[Death of the Doctor (TV story)|Death of the Doctor]]'', thereby continuing this makeshift tradition.
=== Holmes and Watson in the DWU ===
This novel portrays "Holmes" and "Watson" as the fictional names for non-fictional people. Benny is cut off several times right before she announces the ''actual'' names of "Holmes" and "Watson".
This notion that they are real people is confirmed in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Happy Endings (novel)|Happy Endings]]'', when the duo show up for Benny's wedding. Later she even meets "[[Mycroft Holmes]]" ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Adventure of the Diogenes Damsel (audio story)|The Adventure of the Diogenes Damsel]]'')
However, almost every story written thereafter suggests quite the opposite. ''[[Evolution (novel)|Evolution]]'', for instance, strongly implies that Holmes and Watson are ''wholly'' fictional characters, created by Doyle, based on the Doctor and Doyle himself (although a prelude written suggests that Doyle, altering the characters slightly to protect their true identities, simply based some of the "fictional" Holmes' characteristics on the Doctor). ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'' also has [[Walter Simeon]] insist that Sherlock Holmes is a well-known fictional character, and the Doctor himself appears to confirm this, though he may simply be responding to [[Walter Simeon]]'s own belief that they are fictional when he himself knows otherwise.
After many other mentions of Sherlock Holmes as a wholly fictional character, the stories ''[[The Book of the Enemy (short story)|The Book of the Enemy]]'' and ''[[Erasing Sherlock (novel)|Erasing Sherlock]]'' finally provided an in-universe explanation for the discrepancy, showing that Sherlock Holmes had been erased from time and turned into fiction as part of temporal strategies in the [[War in Heaven]].
=== Possible unreliability of the text ===
It is difficult to know how much of the book to take as a genuine account of things which ''actually'' happened to the Doctor and his [[companion]]s, since [[Bernice Summerfield|Benny]] outright says that the book was a fictionalised version of events and Watson admits within the book himself that he sometimes rewrites portions of his diaries to make himself appear more proactive and heroic before he turns them into publishable books.
Nevertheless, the prologue and epilogue are certainly meant to be read as the "reality" of the [[Doctor Who universe|DWU]], and the basic outlines of the plot are confirmed as generally having happened. ''Detail'' within the bulk of the novel should, however be treated with a great deal more suspicion.


== Continuity ==
== Continuity ==
It is difficult to know how much of the book to take as a genuine account of things which ''actually'' happened to the Doctor and his [[companion]]s, since [[Benny]] outright says that the book was a heavily fictionalised version of events. Nevertheless, the prologue and epilogue are certainly meant to be read as the "reality" of the [[Doctor Who universe|DWU]].  And the basic outlines of the plot are confirmed as generally having happened. ''Detail'' within the bulk of the novel should, however be treated with a great deal more suspicion. That said, some things said in the novel ''can'' be found in other stories:
* The Doctor and many others visit the [[Library of St John the Beheaded]], with which the Doctor is familiar. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Empire of Glass (novel)|The Empire of Glass]]'', ''[[Theatre of War (novel)|Theatre of War]]'', ''[[Millennial Rites (novel)|Millennial Rites]]'')
* [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Empire of Glass]]'' reveals who founded the Library of St John the Beheaded.
* The Doctor says that "if [one] asks her very nicely, [[Ace]] will tell [one] about the [[Gods of Ragnarok]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (TV story)|The Greatest Show in the Galaxy]]'') but also that no amount of sweet-talking will get her to speak of Hastur the Unspeakable, a.k.a. [[Fenric]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Curse of Fenric (TV story)|The Curse of Fenric]]'') He also mentions his encounter with [[Cthulhu]] in [[Haiti]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[White Darkness (novel)|White Darkness]]'')
** It was first mentioned of in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Theatre of War]]'', and would later reappear in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Millennial Rites]]''.
* It is established that the [[fob watch]] the [[Seventh Doctor]] uses is the same one carried by the [[First Doctor]].
* Lloigor (the [[Animus]]) appeared in [[TV]]: ''[[The Web Planet]]'', Yog-Sothoth (the [[Great Intelligence]]) in [[TV]]: ''[[The Abominable Snowmen]]'' and ''[[The Web of Fear]]'', the [[Gods of Ragnarok]] in [[TV]]: ''[[The Greatest Show in the Galaxy]]'', Hastur the Unspeakable ([[Fenric]]) in [[TV]]: ''[[The Curse of Fenric]]'' and [[Cthulhu]] in [[PROSE]]: ''[[White Darkness]]''.
* The epilogue establishes that the [[fob watch]] the [[Seventh Doctor]] uses is the same one carried by the [[First Doctor]].
* A brief speech by the Seventh Doctor defines who the [[Great Old One]]s are. This ties together several creatures encountered in ''[[Doctor Who]]'', and binds them in a common group with other mythologies, such as the [[H. P. Lovecraft]] [[Cthulhu]] stories.  He says that the following are "Great Old Ones": Cthulhu, the Gods of Ragnarok, [[Nyarlathotep]], [[Dagon]], Fenric (otherwise known as Hastur the Unspeakable), Yog-Sothoth (better known as the Great Intelligence), and Lloigor.
* The Doctor says that he has seen fast, rapid movement invisible to the human eye in [[Raston Warrior Robot]]s, but never in a living creature. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]'')
* The Doctor says that he has seen fast, rapid movement invisible to the human eye in [[Raston Warrior Robot]]s, but never in a living creature. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]'')


==== Holmes and Watson in the DWU ====
== Cover gallery ==
This novel portrays "Holmes" and "Watson" as the fictional names for non-fictional people. Benny is cut off several times right before she announces the ''actual'' names of "Holmes" and "Watson".
<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" hideaddbutton="true" widths="250">
NA027 allconsumingfire.jpg|Original cover
NA027 allconsumingfire textless.jpg|Textless cover
NA027 allconsumingfire sketch cover.jpg|Sketch cover
</gallery>


This notion that they are real people is confirmed in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Happy Endings]]'', when the duo show up for Benny's wedding. Later she even meets "[[Mycroft Holmes]]" ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Adventure of the Diogenes Damsel (audio story)|The Adventure of the Diogenes Damsel]]'')
== Illustrations ==
The interior featured eight illustrations by [[Mike Nicholson]].
<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" hideaddbutton="true" widths="250">
All consuming fire frontpiece.jpg|Frontpiece
All consuming fire Illustration 1.jpg|The Doctor meets [[Sherlock Holmes]] and [[John Watson]].
All consuming fire Illustration 2.jpg|Holmes runs for his life.
All consuming fire Illustration 3.jpg|Watson and the Doctor on the boat to India.
All consuming fire Illustration 4.jpg|Benny watches in horror as a [[Rakshassa]] carries the Doctor away.
All consuming fire Illustration 5.jpg|Benny, Holmes and Watson.
All consuming fire Illustration 6.jpg|Ace and Watson on [[Ry'leh]].
All consuming fire endpiece.jpg|Endpiece.
</gallery>


However, almost every story written thereafter suggests quite the opposite. ''[[Evolution (novel)|Evolution]]'', for instance, strongly implies that Holmes and Watson are ''wholly'' fictional characters, created by Doyle, based on the Doctor and Doyle himself (although a prelude written suggests that Doyle, altering the characters slightly to protect their true identities, simply based some of the "fictional" Holmes' characteristics on the Doctor). While the [[Eleventh Doctor]] suggests that Holmes is fictional in ''[[The Snowmen (TV story)|The Snowmen]]'', he may simply be responding to [[Walter Simeon]]'s own belief that they are fictional when he himself knows otherwise.


== External links ==
== External links ==
* [http://www.drwhoguide.com/whona27p.htm Prelude to '''All-Consuming Fire''' as published in DWM #213]
* [https://doctorwho.guide/whona27p.htm Prelude to '''All-Consuming Fire''' as published in DWM #213]
{{dwrefguide|who_na27.htm|All-Consuming Fire}}
{{dwrefguide|who_na27.htm|All-Consuming Fire}}
* {{whoniverse|na27|All-Consuming Fire}}
* {{whoniverse|na27|All-Consuming Fire}}
* [http://www.schoolandholmes.com/summariesl.html Sherlockian Story Summary - Andy Lane's '''''All-Consuming Fire''''']
* [http://www.schoolandholmes.com/summariesl.html Sherlockian Story Summary - Andy Lane's '''''All-Consuming Fire''''']
* [http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/rsmith43/cloister/allc.htm The Cloister Library: All-Consuming Fire]
* [http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/rsmith43/cloister/allc.htm The Cloister Library: All-Consuming Fire]
 
* [http://doctorwho.org.nz/archive/tsv43/beyondthebook.html#na027 Beyond the Book: All-Consuming Fire by Paul Scoones (Article) - TSV 43]
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Revision as of 21:13, 5 September 2024

RealWorld.png

prose stub
You may wish to consult All-Consuming Fire (disambiguation) for other, similarly-named pages.

All-Consuming Fire was a 1994 entry in the New Adventures range of Doctor Who novels. It featured the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Benny in an adventure with the real-life "Sherlock Holmes" and "Dr John Watson".

It was notable for its unusual structure.

At the beginning of the novel, the Doctor gives Benny a copy of All-Consuming Fire by Arthur Conan Doyle, which she duly reads. This sets up a "book-within-a-book", in which the reader is meant to believe that there's an Andy Lane-written prologue and epilogue wrapped around a Conan Doyle novel — itself written from the perspective of "John Watson". In the epilogue, Benny pronounces that Conan Doyle changed "a lot of the facts", meaning that Conan Doyle (or, possibly "Watson") is an unreliable narrator. The main characters seem to agree that Conan Doyle's version is basically true. However, Benny's revelation that she doesn't "remember half of these things happening" makes it difficult to know which details actually occurred within the Doctor Who universe, and which are embellishments by Conan Doyle.

Lane occasionally gives us other points of view, such as when he quotes from Benny's diary. These moments, too, are instances where limited perspective leads to unreliable narration. Indeed, it's not terribly clear whether these moments of taking from other diaries are meant to be Lane interjecting into the Conan Doyle book, or whether it's actually Conan Doyle himself mixing in a bit of Benny's voice into his book.

In any event, All-Consuming Fire — quite unusually for a Doctor Who novel — features a book within a book, told mostly in the first person from the perspective of secondary characters.

Publisher's summary

"I've been all over the universe with you, Doctor, and Earth in the nineteenth century is the most alien place I've ever seen."

England, 1887. The secret library of St John the Beheaded has been robbed. The thief has taken forbidden books which tell of mythical beasts and gateways to other worlds. Only one team can be trusted to solve the crime: Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson.

As their investigation leads them to the dark underside of Victorian London, Holmes and Watson soon realise that someone else is following the same trail. Someone who has the power to kill with a glance. And they sense a strange, inhuman shape observing them from the shadows. Then they meet the mysterious traveller known only as the Doctor -- the last person alive to read the stolen books.

While Bernice waits in nineteenth-century India, Ace is trapped on a bizarre alien world. And the Doctor finds himself unwillingly united with England's greatest consulting detective.

Plot

to be added

Characters

Worldbuilding

Books

Buildings

The Doctor

Cults

Foods and beverages

  • The Doctor drinks sarsaparilla, and notices the smell of strychnine used to ferment the beer Watson drinks.
  • Whilst dining on the train in India Sherlock and Bernice drink weak whiskey while Watson drinks a gin and tonic.
  • Mrs Hudson serves the Doctor tea and Madeira cake at Holmes' residence.
  • Whilst on Ry'leh Watson eats some sort of native creature, which does not sit well for him.
  • Holmes and the Doctor have had lobster curry.

Governments

Groups

  • The Third Doctor frequents the Diogenes Club.
  • The Seventh Doctor gets his third self kicked out of the Diogenes Club by showing him the answer to the crossword he was doing, making the Third Doctor shout at him, breaking the silence rules.

History

Individuals

Libraries and archives

Locations

Organisations

Planets

  • The planet Tersurus has clone banks and singing stones.
  • The Doctor still has clay and dust on his pants from Menaxus.
  • Bernice lived in the slums of Avernus and a squat on Zellen VIII.
  • The Doctor dropped Ace early on Ry'leh to investigate.
  • Bernice thinks Ry'leh is stranger than Moloch (Lucifer's hollow moon).
  • Both Eusapia and Zeta Minor are half in this and another universe.
  • The crust of Magla is a shell covering a vast dreaming creature.

Species

Supposed deities

Theories and concepts

Time Lords

Vehicles

Weapons

  • Ace has a gun that can be disassembled.
  • Most of Ace's smart missiles deserted her on Peladon to set up a union with the mining machinery.
  • The Doctor grumbles something about Z-Bombs when Bernice and Watson are having a conversation about weapons that were supposedly going to "end wars".

Notes

Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles
  • The image of Sherlock Holmes on the cover is based on an image of Basil Rathbone's portrayal of the character in The Hound of the Baskervilles.
  • This novel is written from the point of view of Watson and Benny's diaries.
  • This novel includes eight illustrations by Mike Nicholson.
  • According to Andy Lane, Peter Darvill-Evans had told Lane that Holmes and Watson were going to be the new companions in the New Adventures book range. Said Lane, "Even when I finished the book it was still on the cards - hence the ambiguous ending." (DWM 252)
  • A prelude to this novel was published in DWM 213.
  • In the acknowledgements for the novel The Empire of Glass, Lane notes that this was his own version of Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates.
  • In 2015, Big Finish Productions released an audio adaptation of this novel.
  • Andy Lane named this as his favourite New Adventure of his own, "because it was such fun to write".
  • At the time of the novel's publication, the works of Arthur Conan Doyle were in the public domain in the UK. This changed in 1996, when British laws were amended to reflect those of the European Union. As such, Doyle's creations could not be used again until the copyright expired in 2001, though Holmes and Watson do have cameos in Happy Endings.[1]

References to Sherlock Holmes lore

As a three-way crossover between Doctor Who, the Cthulhu Mythos and Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, the novel makes numerous references to quirks and lore of the Sherlock Holmes canon.

Firstly, the notion that Arthur Conan Doyle coexists with Watson and Holmes within their fictional universe, as a man who publishes Watson's diaries with some names and details changed to give them an air of fictionality and protect the detectives' identities, is a confirmation of the foundational hypothesis of the "Great Game" which sees Doyle enthusiasts posit that Doyle's Sherlock Holmes canon is actually a historical text, and, from there, attempt to figure out how he connects to various elements of the real world.

Secondly, the novel ties together two of the many "offscreen cases" mentioned by Watson in Doyle's stories and which are the subject of much speculation among fans. In the Sherlock Holmes novel "The Adventure of the Reigate Squire", Watson mentions an unrecorded case called "the colossal schemes of Baron Maupertuis", which schemes are shown in this story to have been the invasion of Ry'leh through the dimensional rift in India. Meanwhile, in the short story "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire", Holmes says in "a reminiscent voice" that "the Matilda Briggs was a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared." All-Consuming Fire shows the Giant Rat of Sumatra in question to have been an alien creature from Ry'leh, making the reason Holmes's 19th-century world was unprepared for it quite obvious; the SS Matilda Briggs is the ship abord which the characters travel to India in All-Consuming Fire.

Thirdly, the story makes use of the common idea that the Diogenes Club is in fact a front for a secret service loyal to the Crown of England, with Mycroft as its head. This notion, not present in any of Doyle's original stories, is frequently used in adaptations of the Sherlock Holmes mythos, up to and including the later BBC Sherlock reboot headed by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. All-Consuming Fire interestingly shows Holmes and Watson learning of the Club's true nature.

Finally, Squire Sherringford Holmes is a reference to Sherrinford Holmes, a theoretical character as part of the aforementioned Great Game, named for a discarded name Doyle had considered for Sherlock himself, and who is conceived of as the eldest Holmes brother who lived a quiet life and inherited most of the Holmes family's wealth and land.

The Great Old Ones and the DWU

A brief speech by the Seventh Doctor defines who the Great Old Ones are. This ties together several creatures encountered in Doctor Who, and binds them in a common group with other mythologies, such as the H. P. Lovecraft Cthulhu stories. He says that the following are "Great Old Ones": Cthulhu, the Gods of Ragnarok (from The Greatest Show in the Galaxy), Nyarlathotep, Dagon (who is said to be worshipped by the Sea Devils, implying the Sea Devils to be the same as Lovecraft's Deep Ones), Hastur the Unspeakable who "also goes around calling himself Fenric (as encountered in The Curse of Fenric), Lloigor (implied to be the Animus from The Web Planet), and Yog-Sothoth.

The Doctor's statement that he met Yog-Sothoth "once in Tibet, and again in London" implies that Yog-Sothoth is in fact none other than the Great Intelligence, although this is not made explicit, by all appearances because the book was not licensed to use the character of the Intelligence (no such statement is made in the book's copyright section). Millennial Rites confirms this connection, whereas other works both earlier and later, such as the TV story The Snowmen, dispute it.

At any rate, while direct ties to the Cthulhu Mythos were erased, the notion of unimaginably powerful entities who originated in the pre-universe, and who derived their powers from still being bound by the laws of physics of their old world rather than the Doctor's own, recurred in 21st century televised Doctor Who, first with the Beast in The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit and later with the Ancient Lights in Secrets of the Stars and Death of the Doctor, thereby continuing this makeshift tradition.

Holmes and Watson in the DWU

This novel portrays "Holmes" and "Watson" as the fictional names for non-fictional people. Benny is cut off several times right before she announces the actual names of "Holmes" and "Watson".

This notion that they are real people is confirmed in PROSE: Happy Endings, when the duo show up for Benny's wedding. Later she even meets "Mycroft Holmes" (AUDIO: The Adventure of the Diogenes Damsel)

However, almost every story written thereafter suggests quite the opposite. Evolution, for instance, strongly implies that Holmes and Watson are wholly fictional characters, created by Doyle, based on the Doctor and Doyle himself (although a prelude written suggests that Doyle, altering the characters slightly to protect their true identities, simply based some of the "fictional" Holmes' characteristics on the Doctor). The Snowmen also has Walter Simeon insist that Sherlock Holmes is a well-known fictional character, and the Doctor himself appears to confirm this, though he may simply be responding to Walter Simeon's own belief that they are fictional when he himself knows otherwise.

After many other mentions of Sherlock Holmes as a wholly fictional character, the stories The Book of the Enemy and Erasing Sherlock finally provided an in-universe explanation for the discrepancy, showing that Sherlock Holmes had been erased from time and turned into fiction as part of temporal strategies in the War in Heaven.

Possible unreliability of the text

It is difficult to know how much of the book to take as a genuine account of things which actually happened to the Doctor and his companions, since Benny outright says that the book was a fictionalised version of events and Watson admits within the book himself that he sometimes rewrites portions of his diaries to make himself appear more proactive and heroic before he turns them into publishable books.

Nevertheless, the prologue and epilogue are certainly meant to be read as the "reality" of the DWU, and the basic outlines of the plot are confirmed as generally having happened. Detail within the bulk of the novel should, however be treated with a great deal more suspicion.

Continuity

Cover gallery

  • Original cover

    Original cover

  • Textless cover

    Textless cover

  • Sketch cover

    Sketch cover

Illustrations

The interior featured eight illustrations by Mike Nicholson.

  • Frontpiece

    Frontpiece

  • The Doctor meets Sherlock Holmes and John Watson.

    The Doctor meets Sherlock Holmes and John Watson.

  • Holmes runs for his life.

    Holmes runs for his life.

  • Watson and the Doctor on the boat to India.

    Watson and the Doctor on the boat to India.

  • Benny watches in horror as a Rakshassa carries the Doctor away.

    Benny watches in horror as a Rakshassa carries the Doctor away.

  • Benny, Holmes and Watson.

    Benny, Holmes and Watson.

  • Ace and Watson on Ry'leh.

    Ace and Watson on Ry'leh.

  • Endpiece.

    Endpiece.


External links

v • e
Virgin Books New Adventures
Seventh
Doctor
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
Bernice
Summerfield
1997
1998
1999
  1. ↑ https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/watch/uk/
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