Short Story Published: Where There’s Thunder

August 14, 2015

Note

Last week I discussed upgrading my tablet and the effects that had on the testing and performance of my upcoming computer game Sleuthhouds: The Cursed Cannon. I ended by saying that this week I’d go into detail on the actual performance improvements. In the interim, some fantastic news has happened. I’ve published a short story! So, the performance improvement blog will be next week instead.

Unless I publish another short story. ;-)

About a year ago the Canadian run website The Doctor Who Project ran a short story writing contest. They were looking to gather a series of twelve stories, one for each of the twelve actors, from William Hartnell to Peter Capaldi, who have played incarnations of the character the Doctor on the BBC’s long running television series Doctor Who. Being both a writer and a fan of Doctor Who I just had to send a story in.

My story, Where There’s Thunder, made it to the final round of the contest. It was a story featuring the second Doctor and his travelling companions Jamie and Zoe (portrayed on TV by Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines, and Wendy Padbury respectively). Unfortunately, it didn’t make the final cut but fortunately the contest runners were impressed enough by it that they did want to publish it on The Doctor Who Project website. And that has now happened!

Editor Bob Furnell had a handful of minor edits that he wanted me to make to the story, which I did as promptly as I could. Then it was just a matter of waiting for the story to be nicely formatted and a cover illustration done for it before it was posted to the site.

[Alex Lydiate's fantastic cover for Where There's Thunder.]
Alex Lydiate’s fantastic cover for Where There’s Thunder

Artist Alex Lydiate did the cover for the story. This is the first time some else has interpreted anything I’ve created into another media and I think Alex did a truly fantastic job! I won’t spoil the short story, but I do like the elements from it that Alex pulled into the cover.

To complete the story, Bob asked me to write a back cover blurb for it for use on the website. Here’s that blurb for easy reference:

It’s 1832 and an eclipse of the sun brings more than just a celestial spectacle. As lightning falls, a young boy sees.

The TARDIS has brought the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe to a quaint countryside farm. But amid the rustic setting stands a colossal site. Four metal spires reaching to the sky. Parts of a device created by renowned scientists and rivals Michael Faraday and William Sturgeon. A device capable of harnessing devastating energies.

What force has brought these men together? What is their “great experiment?” What secrets lie in the storm clouds gathering above? While Jamie and Zoe fend for themselves, the Doctor struggles to find the answers before his dreams become nightmares.

Bob has expressed interest in any future Doctor Who stories I may write. I have a few ideas swirling around in my head but nothing concrete at the moment. While we’re waiting for those ideas to come together, why don’t you head over to The Doctor Who Project and give my free story a read? And if you enjoy the style of writing, you may also be interested in my self-published novel Satin & Sutherland – The Golden Curse available wherever fine eBooks are sold.