Random Doctor Who Picture: City at World's End

[purplecat]

Once upon a time I had an encyclopaedic memory of the plot of every book I owned and a goodly number that I didn't. These days I can barely remember the plot of books I read last year. I have absolutely zero recollection of the plot of the above. It is the first Past Doctor Adventure on my shelves so I deduce it features the First Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan. I like the 1950s vibe of the cover. I've just read the back cover blurb and I still remember nothing, though it, together with the cover make me think of When Worlds Collide.

Comments

[daniel-saunders.livejournal.com]

I share your book recall problem. I recently found myself wondering if I had actually read a particular book, something I always said would never happen to me.

As for this book, I actually read this one! I read most of the Virgin books, but not many of the BBC ones. I remember it was about a planet that was about to be destroyed, and was reasonably diverting, but I suspect it was too long, if only because most of the spin-off novels were too long IIRC, the NAs started at about 240 pages with big print, but over time the page count expanded and the print shrank, without much justification. I have never understood the reason for this, except for a misplaced belief that short books = Young Adult market, and the novels were always desperate to appear Serious and Adult.

[purplecat]

It's hard to know... I mean "Young Adult" wasn't really a thing back in the early 90s so I suspect the concern was to differentiate themselves from "Children's" which was a reasonable marketing choice given what was likely to happen to the fan base once the show had been off the air a few years. I wonder if they would have opted for YA if that had been more of a distinct entity at the time - though to be honest I've found the more recent novels which are clearly aimed at that market rather insubstantial.