Blood Harvest (novel)

Blood Harvest (novel)

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Blood Harvest
Doctor:	[[doctor::Seventh Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Ace, Benny
Main enemy:	Agonal
Main setting:	Earth, USA, Chicago, 1929 Planet of the Vampires Gallifrey
Key crew
Publisher:	[[publisher::Virgin Books]]
Writer:	Terrance Dicks
Release details
Release number:	28
Release date:	July 1994
Format:	Paperback Book, 287 Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0426204174

Publisher's summary

'Doc's peddling bootleg liquor in an illegal speakeasy. You’re carrying a gun for him, Ace - which makes you no better than any other gun-moll.'

Dekker is a private eye; an honest one. But when Al Capone hires him to investigate a new joint called ‘Doc’s’, he knows this is one job he can’t refuse. And just why are the Doctor and Ace selling illegal booze in a town full of murderous gangsters?

Meanwhile, Bernice has been abandoned on a vampire-infested planet outside normal space. There she meets a mysterious stranger called Romanadvoratrelundar -- and discovers an ancient and malevolent power, linking 1929 Chicago with a lair of immortal evil.

The consequences of this story are inextricably linked to events in the Doctor’s past.

Characters

• The Doctor
  • Can play the piano.
  • Brews beer in the TARDIS swimming pool and whiskey in the bath.
• Ace
  • Sleeps with Dekker.
  • Mobsters call Ace the lady in black.
• Bernice Summerfield
  • Sets up a government based on the British system on the planet of the vampires.
  • Can sing the blues.
• Romana
  • Talks about the Doctor's companions like they're amusing pets.
• Al Capone
• Tom Dekker
  • Events on the planet of the vampires don't faze him, but the Doctor still erases bits of his memory.
• Agonal
• Zargo (clone)
• Camilla (clone)
• Aukon (clone)
• Borusa
  • Freed from imprisonment.

References

• The Doctor gives Benny a SPATAB (Spatio-Temporal Alarm Beacon), a homing beacon for the TARDIS.
• It's revealed the music the Fifth Doctor played on the Harp on Gallifrey is called Rassilon's Lament.
• Bernice has visited a bar on Metebelis III.
• Romana meets Ruathadvorophrenaltid.
• The Commitee of Three use the Time Scoop.

• The Comittee of Three are: Rath (a Prydonian and Goth's younger sibling), Elar (an Arcalian) and Morin (a Patraxean).

Notes

• A prelude to this novel was published in DWM 214.
• The illustration for the cover details a corridor taken from the movie Alien as reference.

Continuity

• This is a sequel to DW: State of Decay and in some ways to DW: The Five Doctors.
• Events in this novel lead to MA: Goth Opera, and was intended to help launch the Virgin Missing Adventures line of original novels featuring past Doctors.
• The Doctor gives Spandrell back his Gallifreyan Army Knife, mentioned in NA: Timewyrm: Exodus.
• Dekker reappears in PDA: Players, in which he meets the Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown. He obliquely refers to both the Seventh Doctor and Ace. Peri suggests that he is speaking of one of his future incarnations but the Doctor dismisses it out of hand.
• In what appears to be a redundancy, Borusa is freed from his prison in this story, but his redemption is later depicted differently in EDA: The Eight Doctors.
• Ruathadvorophrenaltid makes her first appearance in a brief cameo, in which she introduces herself as "Ruatha" for short. However in MA: Goth Opera, which includes a retelling of the same scene and the subsequent events, she calls herself "Ruath" instead.

Timeline

• This story takes place after ST: Cold War
• This story takes place before NA: Strange England

External links

• Prelude to Blood Harvest as published in DWM #214
• Blood Harvest at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• The Discontinuity Guide to: Blood Harvest at The Whoniverse