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{{Infobox Novel|
{{title dab away}}
novel name= The Left-Handed Hummingbird|
{{real world}}
image= |
{{Infobox Story SMW
series=[[Doctor Who]] -<br/>[[List of Virgin New Adventures Stories | Virgin New Adventures]] |
|image           = NA021 lefthandedhummingbird.jpg
number= 21 |
|range          = Virgin New Adventures
doctor=[[Seventh Doctor]] |
|number in range = #21
companions= [[Ace]], [[Bernice Summerfield|Benny]] |
|number         = 21
enemy= [[Huitzilin]] |
|doctor         = Seventh Doctor
writer= [[Kate Orman]] |
|companions     = [[Ace]], [[Bernice Summerfield|Benny]]
publisher= [[Virgin Books]] |
|enemy           = [[Huitzilin]]
release date= |
|setting        = {{il|[[Tenochtitlan]], [[1487]]|[[Atlantic Ocean]], [[1912]]|[[London]], [[1968]] to [[1969]]|[[Mexico City]], [[1994]]}}
format= Paperback Book, ? Pages |
|writer          = Kate Orman
isbn= 0426204042 }}
|cover          = [[Pete Wallbank]]
|publisher      = Virgin Books
|release date   = 2 December 1993
|format         = Paperback Book; 20 Chapters, 264 Pages
|isbn            = ISBN 0-426-20404-2
|series          = ''[[Virgin New Adventures]]''
|prev            = The Dimension Riders (novel)
|next            = Conundrum (novel)
|series2        = [[Interweaving with the New Adventures|''DWM'' "New Adventures order"]]
|prev2          = The Dimension Riders (novel)
|next2          = Conundrum (novel)
}}
{{prose stub}}
'''''The Left-Handed Hummingbird''''' was the twenty-first novel in the [[Virgin New Adventures]] series. It was written by [[Kate Orman]] and was released in [[1993 (releases)|1993]]. It featured the [[Seventh Doctor]], [[Ace]] and [[Bernice Summerfield|Bernice]].


==Publisher's Summary==
== Publisher's summary ==
'''He took up a firing stance, holding the thirty-eight out in front of him. ‘Mr Lennon?’ he said.'''
He took up a firing stance, holding the thirty-eight out in front of him. "Mr [[John Lennon|Lennon]]?" he said.


1968: [[Cristian Alvarez]] meets [[the Doctor]] in [[London]].<br>
* [[1968]]: [[Cristian Alvarez]] meets the [[Seventh Doctor]] in [[London]].
1978: The great temple of the [[Aztecs]] is discovered in [[Mexico]].<br>
* [[1978]]: The great temple of the [[Aztec]]s is discovered in [[Mexico]].
1980: [[John Lennon]] is murdered in [[New York]].<br>
* [[1980]]: [[John Lennon]] is [[murder]]ed in [[New York City|New York]].
1994: A gunman runs amok in [[Mexico City]].
* [[1994]]: A gunman runs amok in [[Mexico City]].


Each time, Cristian is there. Each time, he experiences [[the Blue]], a traumatic psychic shock. Only the Doctor can help him -- but the Doctor has problems of his own. Following the events of [[Blood Heat]] and [[The Dimension Riders]], the Doctor knows that someone or something has been tinkering with time. Now he finds that events in his own past have been altered -- and a lethal force from [[South America]]’s prehistory has been released.  
Each time, Cristian is there. Each time, he experiences the [[Huitzilin|Blue]], a traumatic psychic shock. Only the Doctor can help him – but the Doctor has problems of his own. Following the events of [[Blood Heat (novel)|Blood Heat]] and [[The Dimension Riders (novel)|the Dimension Riders]], the Doctor knows that someone or something has been tinkering with time. Now he finds that events in his own past have been altered – and a lethal force from [[South America]]'s prehistory has been released.


The Doctor, [[Ace]] and [[Bernice Summerfield|Bernice]] travel to the [[Aztec Empire]] in [[1487]], to London in the [[Swinging Sixties]], and to the sinking of the [[Titanic]] as they attempt to rectify the temporal faults -- and survive the attacks of the living god [[Huitzilin]].
The Doctor, [[Ace]] and [[Bernice Summerfield|Bernice]] travel to the [[Aztec Empire]] in [[1487]], to London in the [[1960s|Swinging Sixties]], and to the sinking of the [[Titanic]] as they attempt to rectify the temporal faults -- and survive the attacks of the living god [[Huitzilin]].


==Notes==
== Chapter titles ==
Prologue - New York City, December 1980
 
=== First Slice ===
# Mexico (Not Tenochtitlan)
# Nine-tenths Below the Surface
# Sun King
# Pronounced Weet-Zeelo-Potch-Tlee
# Into the Fire
# Instant Zen
 
=== Second Slice ===
# And the Smile on the Face of the Tiger
# The Cat in the Hat
# Number Nine
# The Cat in the Hat Comes Back
 
=== Third Slice ===
# Jingle-Jangle Morning
Interlude 1
# You've Got Him Just Where He Wants
Interlude 2
# Because He Doesn't Know the Words
Interlude 3
# Futility
# Epiphany
# Tomorrow Never Knows
 
== Plot ==
''to be added''
''to be added''


== Characters ==
* The [[Seventh Doctor]]
* [[Ace]]
* [[Bernice Summerfield]]
* [[Cristian Alvarez|Cristián Xochitl Alvarez]]
* [[Professor]] [[Lawrence Fitzgerald]]
* [[Huitzilin]]
* [[Ce Xochitl]]
* [[Iccauhtli]]
* [[Achtli]]
* [[Coyolxauhqui]]
* [[Quauilticac]]
* [[Feliciano Nahualli]]
* Lt. [[Hamlet Macbeth]]
* Sir [[Charles (The Left-Handed Hummingbird)|Charles]]
* [[Anna (The Left-Handed Hummingbird)|Anna]]
* [[Elizabeth (The Left-Handed Hummingbird)|Elizabeth]]
* [[John (The Left-Handed Hummingbird)|John]]
* [[Molly (The Left-Handed Hummingbird)|Molly]]
* [[John Lennon]]
* [[Yoko Ono]]
* [[Mark David Chapman|Mark]]
* [[Benjamin Alvarez]]
* [[Ocelot (The Left-Handed Hummingbird)|Ocelot]]


==References==
== Worldbuilding ==
''to be added''
* The Doctor, Benny and Ace were holidaying in [[Switzerland]] in [[2030]] prior to receiving the message from Christian.
* The Doctor and companions follow [[Huitzilin]] to the ''[[Titanic]]''.
* [[Huitzilopochtli]] is pronounced Weet-Zeelo-Potch-Tlee.
* Benny thinks ''[[Darmok]]'' is a documentary.
 
=== Communications technology ===
* [[Cristian Alvarez|Cristián Xochitl Alvarez]] sends the Doctor, Ace and Bernice a [[letter]], through UNIT.
 
=== Cultural references from the real world ===
* Upon first viewing ''[[Star Trek|Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', Bernice mistakes it for a documentary.
* Benny compares how they received Christian's note to ''[[Back to the Future]]''.
* "[[Chilango]]" is [[Mexico|Mexican]] slang for the city dwellers of [[Mexico City]].
 
=== The Doctor ===
* Upon arriving in [[1968]], the Doctor suggests they visit [[Woodstock]]. Two of his earlier incarnations are there.
 
=== Drugs and medicines ===
* The Doctor eats ''[[psilocybe mexicana]]'' mushrooms, which enhance his telepathic abilities.
* The Doctor has three lumps of [[LSD]]-spiked sugar in [[1968]].
* [[Achtli]], a novice [[priest]], dies from taking the magic mushrooms that allow some people to see the Blue.
 
=== Fashion and clothing ===
* Ace has a [[Hard Rock Café]] [[Svartos]] t-shirt.
 
=== Foods and beverages ===
* Bernice eats [[pizza]] for the first time.
* Bernice eats [[hot dog]]s with [[mustard]] and [[sauerkraut]].
 
=== Individuals ===
* Ace rescues a slave, [[Iccauhtli]], who was to be sacrificed. He dies after he and Ace get into a fight with some warriors. He drowns in a canal after a warrior splits his rib cage open.
* [[Ce Xochitl]] is a judge and Iccauhtli's father.
 
=== Psychic powers ===
* The Doctor recalls [[Saul]] and the natural way the [[psychic]] energy pooled to create him.
* Ace gets hit by a [[telepathic]] bomb.
 
=== Species ===
* The [[Blue]] that infected [[Huitzilin]] was from a crashed [[Exxilon]] device.
 
=== Religion ===
* [[Achtli]] is a novice [[priest]] and touched by the Blue. He is also Ce Xochitl's son.
 
=== TARDIS ===
* The Doctor fixes the [[chameleon circuit]] in [[The Doctor's TARDIS (Silurian Earth)|his adopted TARDIS]] from the alternate universe where he died.


=== United Nations Intelligence Taskforce ===
* Lt. [[Hamlet Macbeth]] was part of [[UNIT]]. He created the [[Paranormal Division]].
* By [[1994]], [[Mike Yates]] does not speak to anyone, shunning reporters.
* Corporal [[Carol Bell]] was promoted to Captain, but was brain damaged in a car accident.
* [[Harry Sullivan]] had made a nurse sign [[Herbert Clegg]]'s death certificate as heart attack.


==Characters==
== Notes ==
''to be added''
* Kate Orman was the first, and ultimately the only, woman to write an original full-length novel for either of Virgin's post-series lines; she would write or co-write several more books in the New Adventures series up to 1997.
* Interlude 3 is written from Bernice's diary.
* A [[Prelude The Left-Handed Hummingbird (short story)|prelude]] to this novel was published in [[DWM 207]].
* Orman had been thinking about the storyline for years, and an early version was published as a short story in the Australian fanzine ''[[Pirate Planet (fanzine)|Pirate Planet]]''. The novel sold enough copies that it was quickly reprinted by Virgin Books. Orman referred to the novel as ''Hummer''.<ref>[https://davidj.richardson.name/drwho/prose_interview_kateorman.html David J. Richardson interviews Kate Orman for ''Sonic Screwdriver'' #88 (January 1995)]</ref>
* In one draft, there was a reference to the song "{{w|Birdhouse in Your Soul}}" by American rock band {{w|They Might be Giants}}, however this was removed upon Orman's friends laughing at the reference.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bsky.app/profile/kateorman.bsky.social/post/3l6bdicjjzj22|title="Fun fact! I put a clumsy reference to this into "The Left-Handed Hummingbird"…"|acessdate=11 October 2024|author=[[Kate Orman]]|date of source=11 October 2024|website name=Bluesky|publisher=Bluesky Social|archiveurl=https://archive.is/tDp3u#selection-2439.31-2439.158|archivedate=11 October 2024}}</ref>


== Continuity ==
* [[Barbara Wright]]'s attempt to change history whilst visiting the [[Aztec]] period with the [[First Doctor]] is mentioned several times. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Aztecs (TV story)|The Aztecs]]'')
* Corporal Bell appeared in [[TV]]: ''[[The Mind of Evil (TV story)|The Mind of Evil]]'' and ''[[The Claws of Axos]]''.
* Ace contacts Air Commodore [[Ian Gilmore]] in an attempt to get clearance to get the Doctor out of the UNIT facility. Gilmore first appeared in [[TV]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]''.
* The Doctor gets put on a gurney and wheeled into a morgue with "John Doe" on his toe tag, exactly what would occur to him in the circumstances of his death. ([[TV]]: ''[[Doctor Who (TV story)|Doctor Who]]'')
* The Doctor mentions visiting Woodstock and that at least two of him are there already. One is the [[Second Doctor]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Wonderland (novel)|Wonderland]]'')
* Herbert Clegg died in [[TV]]: ''[[Planet of the Spiders (TV story)|Planet of the Spiders]]''.
* The Doctor refers to the trio's recent encounters with the [[Garvond]] and [[Silurian]]s. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Dimension Riders (novel)|The Dimension Riders]]'' and ''[[Blood Heat (novel)|Blood Heat]]'' respectively)
<!--<blockquote>"Do you think it's got anything to do with what happened in Oxford?"<br />"You mean whatever caused our brush with our skull-faced friend."</blockquote>-->
* Exxilons previously appeared in [[TV]]: ''[[Death to the Daleks (TV story)|Death to the Daleks]]''.
* Corporal Bell also appears in [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Face of the Enemy (novel)|The Face of the Enemy]]''.
* The [[BBC]] [[science fiction]] series ''[[Nightshade (series)|Nightshade]]'' is being repeated on [[BBC Two|BBC2]] in [[December]] [[1968]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Nightshade (novel)|Nightshade]]'')
* During a conversation about [[vampire]]s, the Doctor refers to the [[Mara]] and the [[Fendahl]].
* Ace asks the Doctor if this could be another example of [[Ishtar]] mucking around with history. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Timewyrm: Genesys (novel)|Timewyrm: Genesys]]'' et al)


==External Links==
== External links ==
* [http://drwhoguide.com/who_na21.htm The Doctor Who Reference Guide detailed synopsis of '''The Left-Handed Hummingbird''']
* [https://doctorwho.guide/whona21p.htm Prelude to '''The Left-Handed Hummingbird''' as published in DWM #207]
{{dwrefguide|who_na21.htm|The Left-Handed Hummingbird}}
* {{whoniverse|na21|The Left-Handed Hummingbird}}
* [http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/rsmith43/cloister/left.htm The Cloister Library: '''The Left-Handed Hummingbird''']
* [http://doctorwho.org.nz/archive/tsv35/hummingbird.html Hatching the Hummingbird by Kate Orman (Article) - TSV 35]
* [http://doctorwho.org.nz/archive/tsv39/hummingbird.html The Care and Feeding of the Hummingbird by Kate Orman (Article) - TSV 39]


{{Virgin New Adventure Series Box | before = [[The Dimension Riders]] | after = [[Conundrum]]}}
== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{NA}}
{{TitleSort}}


[[Category:Doctor Who stories]]
[[Category:Bernice Summerfield sources]]
[[Category:Prose stories]]
[[Category:Seventh Doctor novels]]
[[Category:Virgin New Adventure Novels]]
[[Category:NA novels with Bernice Summerfield]]
[[Category:Stories set in London]]
[[Category:NA novels]]
[[Category:1993 novels]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1487]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1912]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1968]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1969]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1978]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1980]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1994]]
[[Category:Novels set in Mexico]]
[[Category:UNIT novels]]
[[Category:Stories set in Switzerland]]
[[Category:Stories set in New York City]]
[[Category:Novels set in Mexico City]]

Latest revision as of 22:44, 11 October 2024

RealWorld.png

prose stub

The Left-Handed Hummingbird was the twenty-first novel in the Virgin New Adventures series. It was written by Kate Orman and was released in 1993. It featured the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Bernice.

Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

He took up a firing stance, holding the thirty-eight out in front of him. "Mr Lennon?" he said.

Each time, Cristian is there. Each time, he experiences the Blue, a traumatic psychic shock. Only the Doctor can help him – but the Doctor has problems of his own. Following the events of Blood Heat and the Dimension Riders, the Doctor knows that someone or something has been tinkering with time. Now he finds that events in his own past have been altered – and a lethal force from South America's prehistory has been released.

The Doctor, Ace and Bernice travel to the Aztec Empire in 1487, to London in the Swinging Sixties, and to the sinking of the Titanic as they attempt to rectify the temporal faults -- and survive the attacks of the living god Huitzilin.

Chapter titles[[edit] | [edit source]]

Prologue - New York City, December 1980

First Slice[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. Mexico (Not Tenochtitlan)
  2. Nine-tenths Below the Surface
  3. Sun King
  4. Pronounced Weet-Zeelo-Potch-Tlee
  5. Into the Fire
  6. Instant Zen

Second Slice[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. And the Smile on the Face of the Tiger
  2. The Cat in the Hat
  3. Number Nine
  4. The Cat in the Hat Comes Back

Third Slice[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. Jingle-Jangle Morning

Interlude 1

  1. You've Got Him Just Where He Wants

Interlude 2

  1. Because He Doesn't Know the Words

Interlude 3

  1. Futility
  2. Epiphany
  3. Tomorrow Never Knows

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Doctor, Benny and Ace were holidaying in Switzerland in 2030 prior to receiving the message from Christian.
  • The Doctor and companions follow Huitzilin to the Titanic.
  • Huitzilopochtli is pronounced Weet-Zeelo-Potch-Tlee.
  • Benny thinks Darmok is a documentary.

Communications technology[[edit] | [edit source]]

Cultural references from the real world[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Upon arriving in 1968, the Doctor suggests they visit Woodstock. Two of his earlier incarnations are there.

Drugs and medicines[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Doctor eats psilocybe mexicana mushrooms, which enhance his telepathic abilities.
  • The Doctor has three lumps of LSD-spiked sugar in 1968.
  • Achtli, a novice priest, dies from taking the magic mushrooms that allow some people to see the Blue.

Fashion and clothing[[edit] | [edit source]]

Foods and beverages[[edit] | [edit source]]

Individuals[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Ace rescues a slave, Iccauhtli, who was to be sacrificed. He dies after he and Ace get into a fight with some warriors. He drowns in a canal after a warrior splits his rib cage open.
  • Ce Xochitl is a judge and Iccauhtli's father.

Psychic powers[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Doctor recalls Saul and the natural way the psychic energy pooled to create him.
  • Ace gets hit by a telepathic bomb.

Species[[edit] | [edit source]]

Religion[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Achtli is a novice priest and touched by the Blue. He is also Ce Xochitl's son.

TARDIS[[edit] | [edit source]]

United Nations Intelligence Taskforce[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Kate Orman was the first, and ultimately the only, woman to write an original full-length novel for either of Virgin's post-series lines; she would write or co-write several more books in the New Adventures series up to 1997.
  • Interlude 3 is written from Bernice's diary.
  • A prelude to this novel was published in DWM 207.
  • Orman had been thinking about the storyline for years, and an early version was published as a short story in the Australian fanzine Pirate Planet. The novel sold enough copies that it was quickly reprinted by Virgin Books. Orman referred to the novel as Hummer.[1]
  • In one draft, there was a reference to the song "Birdhouse in Your Soul" by American rock band They Might be Giants, however this was removed upon Orman's friends laughing at the reference.[2]

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

References[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ David J. Richardson interviews Kate Orman for Sonic Screwdriver #88 (January 1995)
  2. ↑ Kate Orman (11 October 2024). "Fun fact! I put a clumsy reference to this into "The Left-Handed Hummingbird"…". Bluesky. Bluesky Social. Archived from the original on 11 October 2024.
v • e
Virgin Books New Adventures
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Doctor
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
Bernice
Summerfield
1997
1998
1999
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