Beast of Fang Rock (novel)
Beast of Fang Rock was the third novel in the Lethbridge-Stewart series, released by Candy Jar Books in 2015.
Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
"There's always death on the rock when the Beast's about."
Fang Rock has always had a bad reputation. Since 1955 the lighthouse has been out of commission, shut down because of fire that gutted the entire tower. But now, finally updated and fully renovated, the island and lighthouse is once again about to be brought back into service.
Students have gathered on Fang Rock to celebrate the opening of the "most haunted lighthouse of the British Isles", but they get more than they bargained for when the ghosts of long-dead men return, accompanied by a falling star.
Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart is brought in to investigate what he believes to be signs of alien involvement. But it is not only Lethbridge-Stewart who has an interest in Fang Rock. Anne Travers is called to her family solicitor's, who have in their possession a letter from Archibald Goff, the paranormal investigator who once visited Fang Rock back in the 1820s, and along with it a piece of alien technology.
What connects a shooting star, ghosts of men killed in 1902 and the beast that roamed Fang Rock in 1823? Lethbridge-Stewart and Anne Travers are about to discover the answer first hand...
Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]
Still suffering from the effects of the psychoactive drug SB-117 from his one-month stay on the Inferno Earth, Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart remains unsure about his memories. He recalls having been assigned to look into Ed Hill - lead singer of Kathmandu - by General Oliver Hamilton and attending his return performance at Wembley Stadium where he learned that someone else had stepped in and sorted things out. Lance Corporal William Bishop is assigned as Lethbridge-Stewart's adjutant to aid his continuing investigation into the events of the Wembley Stadium incident.
Anne Travers, who is back in the UK working in the Ministry of Technology's secret Vault, receives a letter from her mother's side of the family regarding her inheritance and makes the trip back to her family home in London to sort things out. She finds that her father is not in but that his old colleague Professor Watkins and his niece Isobel are living there. She makes contact with Morcambe & Slant solicitors. Rupert Slant, an impossibly old man, reveals that he has been the Goff family solicitor for many years and that Anne's great-great-great-grandfather Archibald Goff had somehow foreseen her existence and left a letter and an item for her on 24 September 1939 with strict instructions for her to open it in 1969. The item appears to be a square lump of metal that vibrates, Archibald describes it as a "crystal machine" in his letter and reveals that it came from a fallen star that he witnessed crash landing in Fang Rock in 1923. Archibald instructs Anne to find a missing component of the crystal machine and to make it work again to save her future and his past. Anne begins to work on the crystal machine in the Vault. She has started to research her family tree and learned from her brother Alun about the bad blood between the Goffs and the Travers for a hundred years dating back to a Vina Travers in 1820.
On Fang Rock, BBC3 reporter Steve Worman and his cameraman Jim Saunders have been sent to cover the grand reopening of the lighthouse. Steve subjects Mark Powell, an official from Trinity House, to an intense interrogation about the lighthouse's murky past including the sightings of the mythical Beast of Fang Rock in the 1920s and the discovery of seven bodies at the lighthouse in 1902. Mark angrily terminates the interview calling Steve's approach sensationalist. Steve turns his attention to interviewing some of the students who have attended the reopening, and Jim spends time sharing a blunt with Owain Vine - one of the students who has visited the lighthouse with his friend Jennie Rudge. Jim and Owain witness a shooting star which, upon inspection from Jim's camera, they realise is a UFO. Owain contacts his 'uncle', Lethbridge-Stewart, to report the sighting.
to be added
Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]
1969[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Colonel Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart
- Marianne Kyle (flashback)
- Lance Corporal William Bishop
- Anne Travers
- Rupert Slant
- Owain Vine
- Doctor Gautam Jhaveri
- Steve Worman
- Jim Saunders
- Mark Powell
- Jennie Rudge
- Ivan Heggessey
- Sally Wright
- Tim Gambrell
- General Oliver Hamilton
- Lieutenant Colonel Walter Douglas
1823[[edit] | [edit source]]
1902[[edit] | [edit source]]
Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]
Locations[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Alistar Lethbridge-Stewart had been on a "wild goose chase" in Llandudno, and had been "grasping at straws" since Kathmandu.
- Ed Hill's return performance was at Wembley Stadium.
- Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart lived in a Pimlico flat in Buonaparte Mews which overlooked the River Thames.
- Anne Travers worked in the secret Vault that had been founded by the Ministry of Technology.
Food and beverages[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Alistar Lethbridge-Stewart compared his memory to Swiss cheese.
to be added
Individuals[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Ed Hill was the lead singer of Kathmandu.
- Marianne Kyle worked at a Joint Welfare Establishment in Wiltshire.
- Anne Travers spent time travelling the world and settled in Vault activator disc.
- Harold Wilson passed the bill for the creation of the Ministry of Technology's secret Vault in the House of Commons.
- Edward Travers had inherited his house from his father Lyndon Travers.
- Alistair is officially of the Scots Guards F Company.
- Bishop has been transferred to the Scots Guards, promoted to lance corporal and assigned as Alistair's new adjutant.
Technology[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Alistar Lethbridge-Stewart drives a silver Mercedes 280SL Pagoda convertible.
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- This book contains a foreword by Louise Jameson and an afterword by Ralph Watson.
- This book is a prequel and a sequel to the TV story Horror of Fang Rock, with a "based on" story credit for Terrance Dicks. There are many references to Horror of Fang Rock, including scenes that echo scenes from the first episode, as well as a chapter that leads directly into the first scene of episode one. The dead keeper from 1822, Davy Williams, is a reference to one of the character names in Terrance Dicks' original outline for Horror of Fang Rock.
- There are several references to Doctor Omega, drawing parallels from Doctor Who's popularity in the 1960s, including Cyril Cusack playing Dr Omega and the mention of "Kelptonmania", an allusion to Dalekmania.
- In one sequence in the book, Lethbridge-Stewart learns of previous visits by the "Cosmic Hobo", these visits correspond to The Faceless Ones, The Curse of Fenric, and Delta and the Bannermen.
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Lethbridge-Stewart is still suffering the effects of the psychoactive drug SB-117 from his one-month stay on the Inferno Earth, and is questioning what exactly happened to him. He wonders how much was illusion and how much was truth. Believes he was held by the Soviet Bloc in East Germany. (PROSE: The Schizoid Earth)
- Alistar Lethbridge-Stewart is assigned to attend Ed Hill's performance at Wembley Stadium, however, when he gets there he discovers that someone else has already sorted things out. At the Vault, Anne examines the drug Om-Tsor and the dead body of Ed Hill. (PROSE: Revolution Man)
- Alistair continues to look into the cult of the Grinning Man. He acknowledges that he would rather take the word of his 'nephew' Owain Vine than another Mr Woodward. (PROSE: The Cult of the Grinning Man)
- Lyndon Travers was previously mentioned in PROSE: One Cold Step [+]Loading...["One Cold Step (short story)"].
- Anne visits 18 St James' Gardens, her father's house in London, only to find it has been lent to Professor Watkins and his niece Isobel Watkins while Edward is away. This is evidenced by the fact Isobel's writing can be seen on the walls. The Second Doctor encountered a similar situation four years later at the same location in TV: The Invasion [+]Loading...["The Invasion (TV story)"].
- It is revealed that Lethbridge-Stewart doesn't believe in time travel, and only believed the "Cosmic Hobo" during the London Event because it was expedient to do so. (TV: The Web of Fear) Events on Fang Rock prove to him the reality of time travel, however, and he discovers that he did end up in alternative 1959 the month before. (PROSE: The Schizoid Earth)
- Neither Anne nor Lethbridge-Stewart believe in ghosts. (TV: Day of the Daleks)
- Anne makes use of a crystal fragment found at Krakatoa in 1883. (TV: The Lost Boy)
- Among the dead bodies in the Vault are Mike Smith, (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) M Krimpton, (TV: The War Machines) and Corporal Lane, Craftsman Weams and Staff Sergeant Arnold. (TV: The Web of Fear) One of the bodies is kept until at least 2011. (PROSE: A Worthy Successor)
- At the end of the book Lethbridge-Stewart is sent by General Hamilton to meet Vice Air-Marshal Gilmore to learn all about the 'Cosmic Hobo' and "more besides". He is told to give Gilmore the message, "let slip the dogs of war". (PROSE: Downtime, The Scales of Injustice) This leads into The Dogs of War.
External links[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Official Beast of Fang Rock page at Candy Jar Books
- Official Beast of Fang Rock audiobook page at Fantom Publishing
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