Paul Magrs on The Scarlett Empress.

Books It's now (just over) fifteen years since the publication of Paul Magrs classic Doctor Who novel The Scarlett Empress.  On his blog, Paul reminisces about the writing and publication of something which demonstrates that it was always possible to find fertile ground in the "Wilderness" years:

"Much of this book was written in cafe bars in Edinburgh in the summer of 1997. Jeremy had had a big operation and I'd go to visiting hours twice a day at the Victorian hospital and, in the two hour gap between opening hours I'd sit in a cafe scribbling in my Daler and Rowney sketchbooks. I ordered tall, foamy pitchers of iced coffee and sit under a metal table under sprays of exotic flowers. Here I could write to my heart's content and remain undisturbed. I sat very still in order to write a book that was in perpetual motion. It was a restless, gigantic, muddled-up odyssey."

Here's me being very excited about it way back when.  The Propp scene remains in my top ten Who moments of all time.