Fellowship of Ink (novel)
Fellowship of the Ink was a 2017 novel by Paul Magrs which focused on characters introduced in his 2002 Doctor Who novel Mad Dogs and Englishmen. With Hyspero and the Scarlet Guard playing a part in the narrative and Valcea getting a brief mention, it had connections to all three BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures novels written by Magrs.
Much like Magrs' previous novels published by Snowbooks Ltd - Enter Wildthyme, Wildthyme Beyond!, and From Wildthyme with Love - this book brought together concepts from more than just Magrs' Doctor Who work; the character Brenda from the Brenda and Effie series also features heavily in the novel.
The story was mainly set in the town of Darkholmes, which originated from Magrs' fan comic The Housekeeper, published in a 2010 issue of VWOORP! VWOORP! magazine. In the comic, Darkholmes was the town where Nest Cottage was located - which at that point had already featured in Hornets' Nest.
Publisher's summary
The Smudgelings... Professors Reginald Tyler and Henry Cleavis and their various literary friends… little did they know as they gathered on Sunday evenings by the fire to drink sherry and read out chapters from their ongoing fantasy novels that they were wearing thin the fabric of space and time. All around them in the magical, northern university town of Darkholmes there were Holes opening up to other dimensions…
Here we are in the 1930s, in the leafy lanes and lofty towers of an ancient town… where there are witches, demons and gargoyles mixed up with dons and their frustrated wives and handsome boyfriends. And, most mysteriously of all, there is Brenda, the rather strange housemaid to the Tyler household, who is here incognito, for reasons all of her own…
Characters
- Henry Cleavis
- John
- Mr Mack
- Reginald Tyler
- Evelyn Tyler
- Brenda
- Professor Sneagle
- Catriona Mackay
- Mr Tweet
- Gold Leaf Princess
- Guido
- Charles
- Diodati Jr
- Dorothea Fisk
References
- In the past, Cleavis has written The Other Place; in the future, Cleavis will write Return to Hyspero and The Mysterious Mr Tweet.
- Diodati's circus has the skull of Joseph Merrick.
Notes
- Hexford College is a major location within Fellowship of the Ink; it shares its name with the village Hexford from Paul Magrs' Serpent Crest series. No connection between the two is explicitly established.
- This novel asserts that the hometown of the Smudgelings is Darkholmes. This contradicts the publisher's summary of Mad Dogs and Englishmen, which asserts that they are based in Cambridge, but not the actual text of Mad Dogs and Englishmen, which remains vague as to where its sections featuring the Smudgelings take place.
- Cleavis' first name being "Henry" contradicts with previous DWU novels which gave him the first name of "John". However, it should be noted that the name "John" has only ever been used twice in relation to the character in DWU fiction, once in Mad Dogs and Englishmen and once in Peculiar Lives. One explanation might be that Henry and John Cleavis are brothers, as in Magrs' second Brenda and Effie novel, Something Borrowed.
- Paris in the mid-1890s plays an important part in the backstory of portion of the story concerning Diodati's circus. Magrs previously featured mid-1890s Paris in The Demon of Paris and Enter Wildthyme.
Continuity
- Reginald Tyler, Cleavis, the Smudgelings, and The True History of Planets first appeared in PROSE: Mad Dogs and Englishmen.
- John and Cleavis once had an encounter with Mumu Manchu. (PROSE: The Delightful Bag)
- The Very Fabric of Time and Space is seen. (PROSE: Mad Dogs and Englishmen et al)
- Hyspero originates from PROSE: The Scarlet Empress.
- The "lofty peaks of Valcea" are a location in The True History of Planets. (PROSE: The Blue Angel)
