Justin Richards

Justin Richards
Richards in the garden of his house in Warwickshire
Born	14 September 1961[1] Epping, England
Occupation	Writer
Nationality	British
Genre	Science fiction Fantasy Adventure novel
Website
justinrichardswriter.com
Literature portal

Justin Richards (born 14 September 1961) is a British writer. He has written science fiction and fantasy novels, including series set in Victorian or early-20th-century London, and also adventure stories set in the present day. He has written many spin-off novels, reference books and audio plays based on the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, and he is Creative Consultant for the BBC Books range of Doctor Who novels.

Life

Richards was born in Epping, Essex, on 14 September 1961. After attending Dean Close School in Cheltenham he obtained a BA (Hons) in English and Theatre at the University of Warwick.^[1]

As well as his literary career, Richards has worked as a technical writer,^[2] editor, programmer, and user interface designer at IBM, and as an errand boy in a hotel.^[3]

Richards is married with two sons, and lives in Warwickshire.^[1]

Work

Richards' first published novels were based on Doctor Who, published in the Virgin New Adventures, Virgin Missing Adventures and Virgin Decalog series. He continued to write for BBC Books after they resumed publishing Doctor Who stories, and as well as producing numerous novels, audio books, activity books and reference books he is Creative Director for the BBC Books range of Doctor Who novels.

In 2003, Richards began writing a series of crime novels for children (The Invisible Detective), whose parallel plots (between the 1930s and the present day) show a fascination with time and temporal paradox that is also evident in the Time Runners series that came out in 2007–08. More action-oriented books include the Agent Alfie books for younger readers, and a series of action-adventure books for young teens co-written with Jack Higgins. Other books have a more supernatural plot element, including the Department of Unclassified Artefacts novels and the School of Night books.

His book The Chaos Code won the Hull Children's Book Award 2008.^[1] Demon Storm (from the School of Night series) has been shortlisted for the Southampton's Favourite Book award 2011.^[4]

Richards has also written audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions, original audiobooks, and has contributed to television including Five's soap opera Family Affairs. In 2011, Richards ventured into electronic publishing through his own publishing company, Braxiatek. His novel The Skeleton Clock was made available later that year in electronic formats only (for the Amazon Kindle and for other Ebook readers).^[2]

Books

Books based on the Doctor Who series

For Virgin Books

• Virgin New Adventures
  • Theatre of War (1994)
  • Dragons' Wrath (1997)
  • The Medusa Effect (1998)
  • Tears of the Oracle (1999)
  • The Joy Device (1999)
  • The Doomsday Manuscript (2000) — featuring Professor Bernice Summerfield
• Virgin Missing Adventures
  • System Shock (1995)
  • The Sands of Time (1996)
• Virgin Decalog
  • Decalog 3, Consequences (1996) (editor, with Andy Lane)
  • Decalog 4, Re:generations (1997) (editor, with Andy Lane)
  • Dependence Day (Decalog 4, Re:generations, 1997) (with Andy Lane)

For BBC Books

• Past Doctor Adventures
  • Dreams of Empire (1998)
  • Millennium Shock (1999)
  • Grave Matter (2000)
  • The Shadow in the Glass (2001) (with Stephen Cole)
• Eighth Doctor Adventures
  • Option Lock (1998)
  • Demontage (1999)
  • The Banquo Legacy (2000) (with Andy Lane)
  • The Burning (2000)
  • Time Zero (2002)
  • Sometime Never... (2004)
• New Series Adventures
  • Ninth Doctor
    • The Clockwise Man (2005)
    • The Deviant Strain (2005)
  • Tenth Doctor
    • The Resurrection Casket (2006)
    • Martha in the Mirror (2008)
  • Eleventh Doctor
    • Apollo 23 (2010)
    • Plague of the Cybermen (2013)
• Quick Reads
  • Code of the Krillitanes (2010)^[5]
• The Darksmith Legacy
  • 1: The Dust of Ages (2009)
  • 4: The Depths of Despair (2009)
  • 7: The Planet of Oblivion (2009)
  • 10: The End of Time (2009)
• Graphic novels
  • The Only Good Dalek (2010) (with artist Mike Collins)
• Activity books
  • Time Lord in Training (2007) — with press-out and make models
• Reference books
  • The Book of Lists (1997) (with Andrew Martin)
  • The Legend (2003)
  • The Legend Continues (2005)
• The Doctor Who Monsters Books
  • 1: Monsters And Villains (2005)
  • 2: Aliens and Enemies (2006)
  • 3: Creatures and Demons (2007)
  • 4: Starships and Spacestations (2008)
  • The Ultimate Monster Guide (2009) — a collection of reworked extracts from the earlier books together with new material.
  • "Doctor Who: The Secret Lives of Monsters" (Oct., 2014)
• Doctor Who Files
  • Taking Mickey in 5: Mickey (2006) (main writer Moray Laing)
  • A Dog's Life in 6: K-9 (2006) (main writer Jacqueline Rayner)
  • Mission to Galacton in 7: The Daleks (2006) (main writer Jacqueline Rayner)
  • Going off the Rails in 8: The Cybermen (2006) (main writer Jacqueline Rayner)
  • Needle Point in 9: Martha (2007) (main writer Moray Laing)
  • 10: Captain Jack (2007) including the story Best Friends
  • Birth of a Legend in 11: The Cult of Skaro (2007) (main writer Matt Kemp)
  • 12: The TARDIS (2007) including the story The Secret of the Stones
  • 13: The Sontarans (2008) including the story Blind Terror
  • Disappearing Act in 14: The Ood (2008) (main writer Moray Laing)

For BBC Audiobooks

• The Sarah Jane Adventures (original stories for Audio CD)
  • The Thirteenth Stone (2007)

For Big Finish Short Trips

• Short Trips: Companions
  • The Splintered Gate (2003)
• Short Trips: The Muses
  • The Glass Princess (Clio) (2003)

The Invisible Detective

Set in London in the 1930s, the series recounts the adventures of Arthur (Art) Drake, Jonny Levin, Meg Wallace and Flinch, who invented the "Invisible Detective" Brandon Lake and who investigate all his cases themselves. Each story has a parallel subplot set in the 2000s, where Art's grandson, also named Art, and his friend Sarah have related mysteries to solve.^[6]

1. The Paranormal Puppet Show (2003) (published as Double Life in America)
2. Shadow Beast (2003)
3. Ghost Soldiers (2003)
4. Killing Time (2003)
5. Faces of Evil (2004)
6. Web of Anubis (2004)
7. Stage Fright (2005)
8. Legion of the Dead (2005)

Chance Twins (Rich and Jade)

(written with Jack Higgins)

• Sure Fire (2006)
• Death Run (2007)
• Sharp Shot (2009)
• First Strike (2009)

Department of Unclassified Artefacts novels

A series of books set in Victorian London (1886) describing the adventures of Eddie Hopkins, Liz Oldfield, Sir William Protheroe of the British Museum's secret 'Department of Unclassified Artefacts' and his assistant George Archer.^[7]

• The Death Collector (2006) — the characters meet (after Eddie steals George Archer's wallet) and together uncover an ancient secret.
• The Parliament of Blood (2008) — the characters discover the legends of the Book of the Undead and take on the vampire parliament.
• The Chamber of Shadows (2010) — the characters investigate the deadly Tick-Tock Killer and discover a link with a thousand-year-old tyrant king deep in a chamber beneath London.

Time Runners series

A series of books which chronicle the adventures of schoolboy Jamie Grant who falls through a time break and becomes a Runner along with the mysterious Anna, with power to control time and a duty to protect it from malign interference by the sinister Darkling Midnight.^[8]

• Freeze-Framed (2007)
• Rewind Assassin (2007)
• Past Forward (2008)
• Wipe Out (2008)

Agent Alfie

1. Thunder Raker (2008)
2. Sorted! (2009)
3. Licence to Fish (2009)

The School of Night

A supernatural horror series, described by the publisher as "perfect for readers not yet old enough for Darren Shan".^[9]

• Demon Storm (2010)
• Creeping Terror (2011)

Other novels

• The Chaos Code (2007) — Matt Stribling discovers that his father has been searching for an ancient code, rumoured to have brought down the fabled civilisation of Atlantis, which has now fallen into the hands of a madman using high-tech computers to decipher it. Matt and Robin must traverse the globe in their efforts to stop the Chaos Code from being reactivated.
• Monster Island (2011) — part of the Heroes series of novels for young boys together with teaching aids published by Heinemann.
• The Skeleton Clock (2011) — in an imagined future flooded London, the long-buried head of an immortal is uncovered and attempts to reunite some special chess men, a chess board, and a crucial piece of mechanism (the Skeleton Clock) to return himself to a body.
• The Suicide Exhibition, 2015.

Audio plays

Adaptations

• Dragons' Wrath (2000, adapted from the 1997 novel)

Original plays

• Whispers of Terror (1999)
• Red Dawn (2000)
• The Time of the Daleks (2002)
• The Renaissance Man (2012)

Gallifrey series

• The Inquiry (series 1, episode 3: 2004)
• Pandora (series 2, episode 3: 2005)
• Mindbomb (series 3, episode 4: 2006)
• Disassembled (series 4, episode 2: 2011)

Jago & Litefoot series

• The Bloodless Soldier (series 1, episode 1: 2010)
• Litefoot and Sanders (series 2, episode 1: 2011)
• Dead Men's Tales (series 3, episode 1: 2011)

References

1. "Justin Richards". waterstones.com. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
2. James Whittington (11 June 2011). "Justin Richards". Interviews. Kasterborous: Doctor Who News, Opinions, Reviews & PodKast (kasterborous.com). Retrieved 30 June 2011.
3. "Justin Richards". Loewe Verlag. Archived from the original on 1 April 2009. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
4. "Southampton's Favourite Book Award 2011". 27 June 2011. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
5. "Doctor Who: Code of the Krillitanes". BBC Skillswise. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
6. "Welcome". The Invisible Detective by Justin Richards. Simon & Schuster (invisible-detective.com). Retrieved 12 July 2011.
7. "Welcome". The Parliament of Blood [Justin Richards Parliament of Blood site]. justinrichards.co.uk. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
8. "The Official home for all things Justin Richards". timerunners-com [copyright 2013 Justin Richards & Braxiatek Ltd]. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
9. "School of Night: Demon Storm". Amazon. Retrieved 12 July 2011.

External links

• Justin Richards at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Justin Richards at The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
• Justin Richards at Library of Congress Authorities, with 19 catalogue records