The Empire of Glass (novel)

The Empire of Glass was the sixteenth novel in the Virgin Missing Adventures series. It was written by Andy Lane and featured the First Doctor, Vicki Pallister and Steven Taylor. It also featured Irving Braxiatel, during one of his earliest incarnations.

The Empire of Glass

Doctor:

First Doctor

Companion(s):

Vicki, Steven

Featuring:

Braxiatel, Galileo, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Burbage

Main enemy:

Albrellian, Jamarians

Main setting:

Venice, Laputa and Hampton Court Palace, 1609

Key crew

Publisher:

Writer:

Illustrator:

Cover by:

Release details

Release number:

16

Release date:

16 November 1995

Format:

Paperback Book; 19 Chapters, 259 Pages

ISBN:

ISBN 0-426-20457-3

Virgin Missing Adventures
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Publisher's summary

"There is a old Venetian saying," the Doctor murmured. "The council of ten send you to the torture chamber; the council of three send you to the grave."

A strange invitation brings the Doctor, Steven and Vicki to Venice in the year of our Lord 1609: a place of politics and poison, science and superstition, telescopes and terror. Galileo Galilei is there demonstrating his new invention to the Doge, and William Shakespeare is working as a spy for King James I. And there are other visitors too: inhuman ones that lurk in the shadows, watching — and killing.

Vicki is abducted to a flying island. Steven is accused of murder and challenged to a duel. The Doctor, meanwhile, finds himself at the centre of what looks like an attempted invasion. But who are the invaders? And why can't they proceed without his help?

Plot

to be added

Characters

Worldbuilding

Drugs and medicines

Braxiatel gives a drug to Shakespeare that removes his memory of the last twenty-four hours.

Foods and beverages

The Doctor drinks wine.
Steven gets drunk with Galileo Galilei.
Rakeshla is a Sontaran drink used for celebrating the return of victorious warriors.

Individuals

Shakespeare claims that another man who called himself "the Doctor" helped him to finish writing Hamlet. He asks the Doctor if he has a younger brother who is "tall, with curled brown hair."
Tayre is the Colonel in Chief of the Strategic Arm of the Ninth Sontaran Army.

Law and order

The role of the Doctor in banning the use of miniscopes is known throughout nine galaxies.
Irving Braxiatel has set up a conference to create the Armageddon Convention.

Libraries and archives

Braxiatel establishes the Library of St John the Beheaded.
Braxiatel obtains the "lost" plays of Shakespeare: Love's Labour's Won, The Birth of Merlin, and Sir John Oldcastle.

Species

Species represented at the Armageddon Convention include the Sontarans, Rutan, Greld, Devgherrians, Chelonians, Ice Warriors, Krargs, Vilp, Ontraags, Jullatii, Dentraals, Oolians, Ellillians. The Daleks and Cybermen did not even respond to the invitation.
Further unnamed species (which perhaps correspond to some of the above) are described from Cardinal Bellarmine's perspective. He describes them as:
- "Taller than [himself], heavily muscled, and had the face of a lion".
- One "walked on all fours, with a heavy, anvil-like face that bore two short horns".
- One had "a face like a man, but was taller and thinner than any man had ever been that walked the Earth".
- The fourth was "feathered and winged like an eagle". (probably an Oolian)
The Krayt shot Steven down over Mechanus.
Braxiatel buys his defence satellites off the Aaev.

TARDIS

The TARDIS has ultrasonic showers.

Earth locations

The Doctor notes that Venice sank beneath the surface of the ocean centuries before either Vicki or Steven were born.

Notes

This adventure takes place between The Time Meddler and Galaxy 4, and, for the Doctor, directly after the events of The Three Doctors.
The novel features original illustrations by Mike Nicholson, making it one few releases in the Virgin Missing Adventures line to do so.
The Armageddon Convention was first mentioned in the television story Revenge of the Cybermen, while the refusal of the Daleks and Cybermen to attend was mentioned in the novelisation. Braxiatel, or rather his Collection, was first mentioned by Romana in the television story City of Death.
It is confirmed that the Doctor and Irving Braxiatel are related in the novel Tears of the Oracle.
In the acknowledgements, Lane notes that this was his own version of Tim Powers' The Stress of Her Regard.

Continuity

When he is returned to the TARDIS several hours after vanishing in front of Steven and Vicki, the Doctor has only vague memories of his experiences in the interim, which involved "a dandy and a clown." (TV: The Three Doctors)
Steven refers to the three years which he spent imprisoned by the Mechanoids on their home planet Mechanus prior to meeting the Doctor. (TV: The Chase)
The Doctor tells Steven that Marco Polo described Venice as being an oppressive state. (TV: Marco Polo)
The Doctor, Steven and Vicki recently visited Spain in the late 15th century where they met Tomás de Torquemada. During this incident, Steven was captured and tortured by the Spanish Inquisition. (PROSE: Managra)
Vicki recalls that her pet Sandy the Sand Beast was killed by Barbara Wright on Dido. (TV: The Rescue)
Vicki tells Braxiatel that she met the Monk in Northumbria in 1066. (TV: The Time Meddler)
Braxiatel refers to the Omega crisis. (TV: The Three Doctors)
Although they have never met before in his personal timeline, the Doctor recognises Shakespeare on sight, given that he previously saw him on the Time-Space Visualiser. (TV: The Chase) According to another account, they had met in 1601. (AUDIO: The Hollow Crown)
Braxiatel organises the Armageddon Convention. (TV: Revenge of the Cybermen) which the Daleks and Cybermen refused to attend. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Revenge of the Cybermen)
Shakespeare mentions the Fourth Doctor's assistance with finishing Hamlet. (PROSE: The Stranger, The Writer, His Wife and the Mixed Metaphor, TV: City of Death)
As a young boy, Shakespeare met the Eighth Doctor and Charlotte Pollard in the 2050s and briefly travelled in the TARDIS, an incident which will not happen for many years in the Doctor's personal timeline. (AUDIO: The Time of the Daleks) Later in his personal timeline, Shakespeare would travel in the TARDIS once again in the company of the Fifth Doctor, Peri Brown, Erimem and King Richard III. (AUDIO: The Kingmaker) Furthermore, the Doctor would encounter Shakespeare again in 1597 during his fifth incarnation (AUDIO: The Kingmaker) and in 1599 during his tenth incarnation. (TV: The Shakespeare Code)
The hologuise generators used by the Jamarians to disguise themselves as humans are very similar to the perception filters used by the Saturnyns. (TV: The Vampire of Venice)
Vicki does not seem to recognise King James I, despite having previously met him in November 1605. (PROSE: The Plotters)
During his sixth incarnation, the Doctor would later meet Marlowe again in 1590 in the company of Peri Brown. This encounter took place nineteen years earlier in Marlowe's personal timeline. (AUDIO: Points of Entry)
The Eighth Doctor and Charley Pollard would later visit Venice in the 23rd century (AUDIO: The Stones of Venice) as would the Eleventh Doctor, Amy Pond and Rory Williams in 1580. (TV: The Vampire of Venice)
The Doctor states he knows how to deal with Venusians. (PROSE: Venusian Lullaby)
The dying Christopher Marlowe requests a kiss from Steven, and it is implied (though not shown) that Steven responds in kind. Steven would later tell Oliver Harper that same-sex relationships were accepted and common by his time period. (AUDIO: The Cold Equations)
The Doctor told Sarah about how he met William Shakespeare in TV: Planet of Evil.

Illustrations

Includes two illustrations in the print edition as well as a new cover and nine additional illustrations in the e-book by Mike Nicholson, originally published on the BBC's website.