The Empire of Glass (novel)
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The Empire of Glass was the sixteenth novel in the Virgin Missing Adventures series. It was written by Andy Lane. It featured the First Doctor, Vicki Pallister and Steven Taylor. It also featured Irving Braxiatel.
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
- First Doctor
- Vicki
- Steven
- Galileo Galilei
- Irving Braxiatel
- William Shakespeare
- Christopher Marlowe
- Cardinal Robert Bellarmine
- Albrellian
- Szaratak
- Tzorogol
- Carlo Zeno
- Doge
- Hans Lippershey
- Thomas Walsingham
- Tomasso Nicolotti
- Baldassare Nicolotti
- Antonio Nicolotti
References
The Doctor
- The Doctor tests the pH of the water in the lagoon, showing that he is wary of pools of water due to a previous incident.
Drugs and medicines
- Braxiatel gives a drug to Shakespeare that removes his memory of the last twenty-four hours.
Foods and beverages
- 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
- The Sontaran Empire and the Rutan Host have representatives at the Armageddon Convention, but the Daleks and the Cybermen do not.
- Other representatives at the Armageddon Convention include:
- An Ice Warrior (or Ice Lord) by the name of Ssarl.
- A fish-being wearing a bubble of water.
- A Krarg.
- A Vilp.
- Oolians.
- Jullatiis.
- Dentraals.
- Ontraags.
- Devgherrians.
- Ellillians.
- Chelonians.
- The Sontarans have rearranged their solar system (by decree of the Sontaran Imperator) more "logically" so their sun revolves around their planet.
Time Lords
- It is suggested vaguely that the Doctor and Braxiatel are related.
Earth locations
- The Doctor notes that Venice sank beneath the surface of the ocean centuries before either Vicki or Steven were born.
Notes
- This is one of the few releases in the Virgin Missing Adventures line to include original illustrations.
- It features illustrations by Mike Nicholson.
Continuity
- The Armageddon Convention was first mentioned in TV: Revenge of the Cybermen. Braxiatel, or rather his Collection, was first mentioned by Romana in TV: City of Death.
- Irving Braxiatel first appeared in PROSE: Theatre of War.
- 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 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)
- 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 Charley 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).
- It is confirmed that the Doctor and Irving Braxiatel are related in PROSE: Tears of the Oracle.
- The hologuise generators used by the Jamarians to disguise themselves as humans are very similar to the perception filters used by the Saturnyns in TV: The Vampire of Venice (in which the Eleventh Doctor visits 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).
Behind the scenes
- In the acknowledgements, Lane notes that this was his own version of Tim Powers' The Stress of Her Regard.
External links
- The Empire of Glass at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Discontinuity Guide to: The Empire of Glass at The Whoniverse
