The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium is here!

The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium – the complete guide to every disc and every extra – is available now in print and ebook. 436 pages detailing each release, all fully indexed for easy reference. Whether your collection is complete, still building or just starting, this is the perfect companion to the Classic Who DVD range.

In print at Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com and other Amazon country sites

Ebook for Kindle, Apple, Nook or for other devices direct from Smashwords

Reviews by Starburst and Radio Free Skaro (19 mins in)

More information at Wonderful Books

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Classic Who DVD Compendium – 1 week to go!

The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium – the complete guide to every release from the original series – is published next Monday, 4 August 2014.

Sadly Amazon doesn’t seem to offer pre-orders on print-on-demand books, but it’s all ready to go so should be up for order promptly on the 4th. It’ll be available from Amazon UK here for £16.99 and Amazon US here for $30.99 (less any discount Amazon chooses to apply).

It should also be available as an ebook on Kindle and via Smashwords (and the retailers it supplies). I’m still going through the slightly tedious approval process for the e-edition but am hoping to have it sorted ready for next Monday, or shortly after. On Smashwords it’s priced at $15.99, and should be £8.99 once it’s on the Kindle Store.

Note that the ebook version doesn’t quite include all the content of the print edition. All the entries for the DVDs themselves are there in full, but there are a couple of tables that I had to omit as ebooks can’t do tables, and a couple of the indexes which were redundant as you can search in the ebook instead.

In my, humble, opinion the printed book is much nicer and easier to flick through to find entries and look up extras. But the ebook has the same functionality, with links throughout and a complete table of contents.

Time & Space Visualiser: 20% off!

To mark the impending publication of my latest book, The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium, I’ve reduced the price of last year’s Time & Space Visualiser: The Story and History of Doctor Who as Data Visualisations by 20% to just £19.95/$30.30 (minus whatever further discount Amazon applies).

The book is 200 full-colour pages, packed with charts, diagrams and infographics about every aspect of the show’s production, fiction and transmission, providing a unique perspective on the Doctor’s 50 years of adventures.

Visit the Wonderful Books website to view samples, read reviews and find links to Amazon to buy.

Coming soon: The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium

I haven’t forgotten about the few outstanding DVD covers I need to do and will get to them eventually, but I’ve been busy over the last six months compiling my new book, THE CLASSIC DOCTOR WHO DVD COMPENDIUM.

This 440-page book (it’s an inch thick!) is the complete guide to the Classic Who DVD range, with all the information you need whether you’re still collecting or already have the full set. There are details of the discs’ releases, summaries of the stories and the restoration they’ve undergone for DVD, connections to other stories to help you discover similar adventures to those you love, and a comprehensive catalogue of every single extra on every single disc. Plus five appendices covering additional releases in the range, a full list of easter eggs and how to find them, release details for regions 2 and 4, and more. As well as six indexes of various aspects to help you instantly find any item on the discs you want to watch.

The release of Classic Who on DVD is probably the most comprehensive presentation of a television programme ever produced, and The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium is the ultimate companion to the complete range. Whether you’re diligently collecting every story or just picking from the eras you love, I hope you’ll consider buying the book, and maybe discover some fantastic content you missed.

I’m aiming to publish the book on 4 August 2014. It’ll be available in print through Amazon (print on demand), provisionally priced at £16.99/$30.99, and also as an ebook, details to be confirmed.

Keep an eye on wonderfulbook.co.uk for samples, reviews and ordering details.

Cheers
Paul

Here’s to the next 50 years

So the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who is upon us. It really is impressive that a mere TV show has lasted that long. And while strictly speaking it hasn’t done so purely as a TV show, spending 15 years off-screen, it’s not like Doctor Who didn’t exist during that time. There were independently produced video episodes, audio-only adventures, Doctor Who Magazine and its continuously running comic strip and years’ worth of books of newly published stories. So on whatever basis you consider the programme to exist, it was there. And these weren’t obscure fan-only output, they were on sale in high street shops for anyone with an imagination to be captivated by. I’m not sure even Star Trek or Star Wars could boast quite the same level of continuity (though I won’t begrudge them their own half-century celebrations in 2016 and 2027).

Of course, were it not for the revival of the show in 2005, while we devotees might still have been marking the 50th in our own private ways, there wouldn’t have been any of the current furore both on screen and elsewhere (and it seems to have been celebrated on just about every medium this week). So whether you only count the Classic series as true Who, have never even seen 20th Century Who, think the series died in 1980, just like that one story you saw as a kid, or have never seen it but are intrigued by Peter Capaldi taking on the role — whatever your degree of interest in Doctor Who, today is the day to give thanks to everyone who has contributed in any way to the continuing saga and the entertainment, insight and sheer joy it has brought to millions of people around the world now and over the past 50 years. But also to remember that there’s still an infinite variety of places for the show to go and stories to tell. You never get over the excitement of wondering just where that incredible blue box will take us next…

Time & Space Visualiser

Still working on the next DVD cover, but in the meantime anyone who’s interested in graphic design and data may like my new book, Time & Space Visualiser, which is now available from Amazon.

This is the first ever book to look at both the factual and fictional history of Doctor Who through data visualisations, presenting information about the show in a way never seen before.

Using a range of eye-catching graphics, it reveals who are the most popular writers and directors, all the places on Earth the Doctor has visited, which companions gained the most experiences from their travels, the most common comeuppances for New Series enemies, how long it would take to watch every episode back to back, and much more.

Each chart is accompanied by detailed notes discussing the background and context of the areas under examination, how the data was compiled and what it reveals.

The book is 120 pages in full colour throughout, US Letter sized (22x28cm) with a softcover. You can see some sample pages by clicking here.

If you’re interested, Time & Space Visualiser: The Story and History of Doctor Who as Data Visualisations is available now from Amazon.co.uk,  Amazon.com  and other Amazon country sites.

The iceman cometh…

Guess who…

It is returning…

Hello again, mes amis. You’ll be glad to hear, I hope, that some new covers are on their way, starting with the first one just as soon as I’ve finished writing this.

Although unintentional, for the third summer in a row (if you can call the last few months here in the UK a ‘summer’) things have gone quiet on the Velvet Jacket front. It’s not a deliberate policy, I assure you, just the usual trials and tribulations of life – or maybe I just get overwhelmed by the sheer number of DVD releases at the start of the year and it takes the relative quiet of the autumn release schedule for me to get to grips with them.

Still seeking a regular job after last year’s redundancy, this time I’ve been busy on other projects, including a follow-up to The Wonderful Book (something a bit different but in a similar vein) and some exciting work for Telos Publishing. But now I’m hoping to catch up with some covers, starting with… well you’ll see in a moment.

And just to reassure regular (or new) users of my covers, I do still fully intend to produce covers for all the official DVD releases. Certainly this close to the end of the regular range, it would be heartbreaking not to. And the plan then is to fill in the gaps with DVD-style covers for the Missing Story CDs, the proviso there being that with no release schedule to keep up with and lots of colourising for 60s stories to do, who knows what rate I’ll do them at. There’s no rush, but one day I would like to have a shelf with every (Classic) story in its own Velvet Jacket.

Cheers
JC

The Wonderful Book…in print

Paul and I are looking into producing a limited number of print copies of The Wonderful Book of Dr Who 1965 but need to get an idea of how many people would want one.

It looks like costing around £10 for a 56-page, full-colour, card cover, perfect-bound book — and that includes an exclusive new interview with show creator Sydney Newman!

If you think you might like a copy, email pmcs@wonderfulbook.co.uk and we’ll contact you if/when the book’s ready.

Feel free to tweet this or pass it on to anyone you think may be interested.

Cheers
JC

UPDATE Copies of  The Wonderful Book are now available. Email the address above for final price and ordering details.