Virgin Books: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Virgin Logo.png|right|thumb]]
[[File:Virgin Logo.png|right|thumb]]
'''Virgin Books''', or '''Virgin Publishing''', was the book publishing arm of Virgin Enterprises which published licensed ''[[Doctor Who]]'' fiction and non-fiction during the early-to-mid 1990s. Under the Doctor Who Books imprint, Virgin published the ''Doctor Who'' [[Virgin New Adventures|New Adventures]] and [[Virgin Missing Adventures|Missing Adventures]] novels, as well as the [[Virgin Decalogs]] anthologies and [[Licence Denied]] (a collected anthology of fan writing edited by [[Paul Cornell]]).
'''Virgin Books''', or '''Virgin Publishing''', was the book publishing arm of Virgin Enterprises which published licensed ''[[Doctor Who]]'' fiction and non-fiction during the early-to-mid 1990s. Under the Doctor Who Books imprint, Virgin published the ''Doctor Who'' [[Virgin New Adventures|New Adventures]] (1991-99) and [[Virgin Missing Adventures|Missing Adventures]] (1994-97) novels, as well as the [[Virgin Decalogs]] (1994-97) anthologies and [[Licence Denied]], a collected anthology of fan writing edited by [[Paul Cornell]].


After the [[British Broadcasting Corporation|BBC]] withdrew Virgin's licence, they published the [[Virgin Bernice Summerfield New Adventures]], which also take place in the [[Doctor Who universe|''Doctor Who'' universe]], but do not feature [[the Doctor]].
After the [[BBC]] withdrew Virgin's licence, the New Adventures continued with [[Bernice Summerfield]] as the primary character to continue publishing stories that take place in the [[Doctor Who universe|''Doctor Who'' universe]] but do not feature [[the Doctor]].


Virgin were famous for opening their doors to submissions from new writers, often from fandom: Cornell, [[Gary Russell]], [[Lawrence Miles]], [[Kate Orman]], [[Dave Stone (writer)|Dave Stone]] and others all started at the company. In 2013, Russell said: "With hindsight of course, you go, 'It's because [new writers]'re bloody cheap, and they couldn't afford big posh writers to keep doing Doctor Who books because they had to do them on a shoestring'. But nevertheless, that ability to open up that market to unknown writers was phenomenal". [http://www.starburstmagazine.com/features/interviews/7587-interview-gary-russell-doctor-who-part-1]
Virgin were famous for opening their doors to submissions from new writers, often from fandom: Cornell, [[Gary Russell]], [[Lawrence Miles]], [[Kate Orman]], [[Dave Stone]] and others all started at the company. In 2013, Russell said: "With hindsight of course, you go, 'It's because [new writers]'re bloody cheap, and they couldn't afford big posh writers to keep doing Doctor Who books because they had to do them on a shoestring'. But nevertheless, that ability to open up that market to unknown writers was phenomenal".<ref>[http://www.starburstmagazine.com/features/interviews/7587-interview-gary-russell-doctor-who-part-1 Interview: Gary Russell | DOCTOR WHO (dead link)]</ref>


With the show's return in 2005, Virgin published an unofficial reference book ''[[Who's Next: An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who]]''.
With the show's return in 2005, Virgin published an unofficial reference book ''[[Who's Next: An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who]]''.
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== Illustrations ==
== Illustrations ==
Other than the [[Virgin New Adventures covers|cover]] [[Virgin Missing Adventures covers|art]], most Virgin Books contained no illustrations. Illustrations ''were'' included in ''[[Lucifer Rising (novel)|Lucifer Rising]]'', ''[[Blood Heat (novel)|Blood Heat]]'', ''[[All-Consuming Fire (novel)|All-Consuming Fire]]'', and ''[[Sky Pirates! (novel)|Sky Pirates!]]'' of the Virgin New Adventures and ''[[The Empire of Glass (novel)|The Empire of Glass]]'' and ''[[The Plotters (novel)|The Plotters]]'' of the Virgin Missing Adventures.
Other than the [[Virgin New Adventures covers|cover]] [[Virgin Missing Adventures covers|art]], Virgin Books usually contained no illustrations. Internal illustrations ''were'' included in:
 
{| {{Prettytable}}
!Series
!Novel
!# of illustrations
!Illustrator
|-
|rowspan="6"|[[Virgin New Adventures]]
|''[[Lucifer Rising (novel)|Lucifer Rising]]''  
|8
|[[Lee Brimmicombe-Wood]]
|-
|''[[Blood Heat (novel)|Blood Heat]]''
|5
|[[Tim Keable]]
|-
|''[[All-Consuming Fire (novel)|All-Consuming Fire]]''
|8
|[[Mike Nicholson]]
|-
|''[[Sky Pirates! (novel)|Sky Pirates!]]''
|4
|[[Roger Langridge]]
|-
|''[[SLEEPY (novel)|SLEEPY]]''
|2
|[[Jason Towers]]
|-
|''[[Original Sin (novel)|Original Sin]]''
|2
|[[Tony Masero]]
|-
|rowspan="3"|[[Virgin Missing Adventures]]
|''[[The Empire of Glass (novel)|The Empire of Glass]]''
|2
|[[Mike Nicholson]]
|-
|''[[The English Way of Death (novel)|The English Way of Death]]''
|4
|[[Phil Bevan]]
|-
|''[[The Plotters (novel)|The Plotters]]''
|2
|[[Paul Vyse]]
|}


== Rereleases ==
== Rereleases ==
Starting in [[2002 (releases)|2002]],<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2006339.stm</ref> ''[[Nightshade (novel)|Nightshade]]'', ''[[Human Nature (novel)|Human Nature]]'', ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'', ''[[The Dying Days (novel)|The Dying Days]]'' of the Virgin New Adventures and ''[[The Empire of Glass (novel)|The Empire of Glass]]'', ''[[The Scales of Injustice (novel)|The Scales of Injustice]]'', ''[[The Well-Mannered War (novel)|The Well-Mannered War]]'', and ''[[The Sands of Time (novel)|The Sands of Time]]'' of the [[Virgin Missing Adventures]] were rereleased as free ebooks on the [[Doctor Who website]] with new cover art and new illustrations.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20090227074519/http://www.bbc.co.uk:80/doctorwho/classic/ebooks/index.shtml</ref>
=== BBCi ebooks (2002-2006) ===
Starting in [[2002 (releases)|2002]],<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2006339.stm Dr Who book goes online]</ref> eight Virgin books novels were rereleased as free ebooks on the [[Doctor Who website|''Doctor Who'' website]] with new cover art and new illustrations.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090227074519/http://www.bbc.co.uk:80/doctorwho/classic/ebooks/index.shtml Doctor Who Ebooks (archived)]</ref>
 
{| {{Prettytable}}
!Series
!Novel
!# of illustrations
!Illustrator
|-
|rowspan="4"|[[Virgin New Adventures]]
|''[[Nightshade (novel)|Nightshade]]''
|11 + cover
|rowspan="3"|[[Daryl Joyce]]
|-
|''[[Human Nature (novel)|Human Nature]]''
|17 + cover
|-
|''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]''
|17 + cover
|-
|''[[The Dying Days (novel)|The Dying Days]]''
|15 + cover
|[[Allan Bednar]]
|-
|rowspan="4"|[[Virgin Missing Adventures]]
|''[[The Empire of Glass (novel)|The Empire of Glass]]''
|9 + cover
|[[Mike Nicholson]]
|-
|''[[The Scales of Injustice (novel)|The Scales of Injustice]]''
|7 + cover
|rowspan="2"|[[Daryl Joyce]]
|-
|''[[The Well-Mannered War (novel)|The Well-Mannered War]]''
|6 + cover
|-
|''[[The Sands of Time (novel)|The Sands of Time]]''
|11 + cover
|[[Peter McKinstry]]
|}
 
=== ''The Monster Collection'' (2014) ===
{{main|The Monster Collection (series)}}
{| {{Prettytable}}
!Series
!Novel
|-
|rowspan="2"|[[Virgin Missing Adventures]]
|''[[The Scales of Injustice (novel)|The Scales of Injustice]]''
|-
|''[[The Sands of Time (novel)|The Sands of Time]]''
|-
|[[Virgin New Adventures]]
|''[[Shakedown (novel)|Shakedown]]''
|}


''The Scales of Injustice'', ''The Sands of Time'', and ''[[Shakedown (novel)|Shakedown]]'' were reprinted as part of ''The Monster Collection'' in [[2014 (releases)|2014]]. ''[[The English Way of Death (novel)|The English Way of Death]]'' and ''[[Human Nature (novel)|Human Nature]]'' were reprinted as part of ''[[The History Collection]]'' in [[2015 (releases)|2015]].
=== ''The History Collection'' (2015) ===
{{main|The History Collection}}
{| {{Prettytable}}
!Series
!Novel
|-
|[[Virgin Missing Adventures]]
|''[[The English Way of Death (novel)|The English Way of Death]]''
|-
|[[Virgin New Adventures]]
|''[[Human Nature (novel)|Human Nature]]''
|}


== Logos ==
== Logos ==
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== Footnotes ==
== Footnotes ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:Virgin Books| ]]
[[Category:Virgin Books| ]]
[[Category:Penguin Random House imprints]]

Latest revision as of 20:25, 3 November 2024

RealWorld.png
prose stub
Virgin Logo.png

Virgin Books, or Virgin Publishing, was the book publishing arm of Virgin Enterprises which published licensed Doctor Who fiction and non-fiction during the early-to-mid 1990s. Under the Doctor Who Books imprint, Virgin published the Doctor Who New Adventures (1991-99) and Missing Adventures (1994-97) novels, as well as the Virgin Decalogs (1994-97) anthologies and Licence Denied, a collected anthology of fan writing edited by Paul Cornell.

After the BBC withdrew Virgin's licence, the New Adventures continued with Bernice Summerfield as the primary character to continue publishing stories that take place in the Doctor Who universe but do not feature the Doctor.

Virgin were famous for opening their doors to submissions from new writers, often from fandom: Cornell, Gary Russell, Lawrence Miles, Kate Orman, Dave Stone and others all started at the company. In 2013, Russell said: "With hindsight of course, you go, 'It's because [new writers]'re bloody cheap, and they couldn't afford big posh writers to keep doing Doctor Who books because they had to do them on a shoestring'. But nevertheless, that ability to open up that market to unknown writers was phenomenal".[1]

With the show's return in 2005, Virgin published an unofficial reference book Who's Next: An Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who.

In 2007, a decade after they stopped publishing official Doctor Who material, Random House gained majority shareholding, effectively ending Virgin's life as an independent publishing company. Like BBC Books, it now exists as an imprint in the Ebury Publishing division. Due to them now sharing a publishing company, since 2014 a handful of Virgin novels have reemerged as BBC Books reprints.

Illustrations[[edit] | [edit source]]

Other than the cover art, Virgin Books usually contained no illustrations. Internal illustrations were included in:

Series Novel # of illustrations Illustrator
Virgin New Adventures Lucifer Rising 8 Lee Brimmicombe-Wood
Blood Heat 5 Tim Keable
All-Consuming Fire 8 Mike Nicholson
Sky Pirates! 4 Roger Langridge
SLEEPY 2 Jason Towers
Original Sin 2 Tony Masero
Virgin Missing Adventures The Empire of Glass 2 Mike Nicholson
The English Way of Death 4 Phil Bevan
The Plotters 2 Paul Vyse

Rereleases[[edit] | [edit source]]

BBCi ebooks (2002-2006)[[edit] | [edit source]]

Starting in 2002,[2] eight Virgin books novels were rereleased as free ebooks on the Doctor Who website with new cover art and new illustrations.[3]

Series Novel # of illustrations Illustrator
Virgin New Adventures Nightshade 11 + cover Daryl Joyce
Human Nature 17 + cover
Lungbarrow 17 + cover
The Dying Days 15 + cover Allan Bednar
Virgin Missing Adventures The Empire of Glass 9 + cover Mike Nicholson
The Scales of Injustice 7 + cover Daryl Joyce
The Well-Mannered War 6 + cover
The Sands of Time 11 + cover Peter McKinstry

The Monster Collection (2014)[[edit] | [edit source]]

Main article: The Monster Collection (series)
Series Novel
Virgin Missing Adventures The Scales of Injustice
The Sands of Time
Virgin New Adventures Shakedown

The History Collection (2015)[[edit] | [edit source]]

Main article: The History Collection
Series Novel
Virgin Missing Adventures The English Way of Death
Virgin New Adventures Human Nature

Logos[[edit] | [edit source]]

Virgin's version of the "diamond logo"

The New Adventures and other Doctor Who tie-in books and merchandise focusing on the Seventh Doctor era generally used the Seventh Doctor's logo as seen on television. Virgin also created an exclusive version of the classic "diamond logo" for use on the Missing Adventures and other material focusing on the eras of then-past Doctors. However, the Virgin logo itself was rarely, if ever, used on any Doctor Who output.

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

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ Interview: Gary Russell | DOCTOR WHO (dead link)
  2. ↑ Dr Who book goes online
  3. ↑ Doctor Who Ebooks (archived)
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