Paul Magrs – författare

A fully updated comprehensive guide for improving and practicing your creative writing, including contributions from Ali Smith and Kit de Waal The Creative Writing Coursebook, edited by Julia Bell and Paul Magrs, takes aspiring writers through three stages of essential practice: Gathering – getting started, learning how to keep notes, making observations and using memory; Shaping – looking at structure, point of view, character and setting; and Finishing – being your own critic, joining workshops and finding publishers.Fully updated and including a foreword by Marina Warner and contributions from forty-four authors such as Kit de Waal and Amy Liptrot, this is the perfect book for people who are just starting to write as well as for those who want some help honing work already completed. Filled with a wealth of exercises and activities, it will inspire budding writers to develop and hone their skills. Whether writing for publication, in a group or just for pleasure this comprehensive guide is for anyone who is ready to put pen to paper.

The surely soon-to-be million-copy bestselling sort-of inspirational parody of the actual million-copy-selling bestseller by Charlie Mackesy. Enter the world of me, Panda, plus my sometime-friends Cat and Teddy. You will find us living our best lives, trying (and occasionally succeeding) to be kind to each other. The cat is quite nice but can be a little bit selfish. Teddy can come across as very nice, with his squeaky voice and looking so tiny and helpless. But I must warn you, Teddy can be a vicious little backstabber, actually.This is a book of nice illustrations and some words from which you will likely gain some sort of inspiration. Like: ‘Just because you’re struggling, it doesn’t mean you’re failing… But it might do.’ ‘Nothing beats kindness,’ said the cat. ‘Gin does’, said Panda. ‘If you don’t stop saying inspirational things to me, I’m going to punch you up the hooter.’ ‘You OK, hun?’ asked Panda, but he was just taking the piss. ‘We’re just so, so lucky to have each other as friends, and it’s going to make a marvellous book.’

The author of the hit parody The Panda, the Cat and the Dreadfully Teddy draws on the simple, idyllic world of Beatrix Potter to shed light on some of the most pertinent issues of our time. Beatrix, a refined and gentle lady, decides to relocate to the countryside to escape the chaotic city and exorbitant house prices of London, in search of a simpler, more holistic life. Looking forward to painting cute rural animals and writing stories about their charming ways, she desires nothing more than to surround herself with nature and to practice mindfulness and kindness. But after months spent in isolation during ‘hibernation’, all the local wildlife emerge grumpy, sweary and having forgotten all their social skills – Jemima Puddleduck has even been cancelled. Will Beatrix’s new small garden and spare room make all this aggro worth it?

A charming collection of quotes about cats from our favourite authors, accompanied by artwork in the trademark style of Paul Magrs (author of The Panda, the Cat and the Dreadful Teddy).‘I love them, they are so nice and selfish’ – L.M. MontgomeryThis collection of quotes from the literary greats explores just why cats have fascinated, mesmerised and often infuriated writers for centuries. Celebrating the mystery of these daydreaming, snarky, selfish, watchful, contemplative and changeable creatures, Puss in Books helps cat and book lovers to understand these beings who have intrigued great thinkers and writers since the dawn of time.Quotes include:‘Time spent with a cat is never wasted’ – Colette‘Those who play with cats must expect to get scratched’ – Miguel de Cervantes‘If cats could write history, their history would be mostly about cats’ – Eugen Weber

Penguin presents the audio CD edition of Doctor Who: Tales of Terror read by Sophie Aldred, Adjoa Andoh, Rachael Stirling, David Bailie and Derek Jacobi.A new spine-chilling collection of twelve illustrated adventures packed with terrifying Doctor Who monsters and villains, just in time for Halloween . . .Written by Jacqueline Rayner, Mike Tucker, Paul Magrs, Richard Dungworth, Scott Handcock and Craig Donaghy, each story stars an incarnation of the Doctor on a brand new adventure in time and space. Each also features a frightening nemesis for the Doctor to face, plus appearances from favourite friends such as Sarah Jane, Jo, Ace and Donna.Each also features a frightening nemesis for the Doctor to face, plus appearances from favourite friends and companions such as Sarah Jane, Jo, Ace and Donna.

*The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) returns to Sherwood Forest in this incredible new crossover of Doctor Who and the legend of Robin Hood*Gold had come to the greenwood . . .Robin Hood is disenchanted. Maid Marion has disappeared, and the legend of the Doctor has retreated into the shadows of Sherwood Forest.But the Doctor is back! (Although this is his first visit - time travel does strange things to a story.)And the timing couldn't be better. A new Sheriff of Nottingham is in town, out to get the Outlaws, and behind the scenes, the mythical Mother Maudlin has designs on the realm that are not of this earth . . .With the Kingdom in peril, it's time for the return of the Lionheart.

*The Doctor meets the Greek Myths in this brand-new Doctor Who and Puffin Classics crossover.*It was a kind of portal - a portal into the myths of the ancient world . . .Everyone knows the Doctor loves museums (it's his way of keeping score).But when Jo Grant and the Doctor visit the British Museum in London, they might have got more than they bargained for.A mysterious object is revealed, which grants those who touch it strange visions of Greek Myths. Gods, warriors and monsters are contained within this device, which its discover calls the mythoscope.But there is something sinister at play. A powerful influence seems to be controlling the mythoscope . . . mastering it.Jo and the Doctor must enter the mythoscope to face an old and terrible enemy - bargaining with Zeus, battling dragons and journeying into the underworld.As dangers beset them on all sides, only an object of wondrous power can save them from total destruction . . .

Embark on a strange and enchanting adventure with old friends and familiar foes in this glorious crossover of Doctor Who and Alice in Wonderland.The Doctor and his companions visit the dreaming spires of peaceful Oxford, hoping for a brief respite from their travels.But when Lewis Carroll appears at a garden party and their fellow guests transform into animals, they realise that everything is not as it seems . . .An unknown cosmic foe has trapped them in a twisted version of Alice’s Wonderland. Separated from the Tardis and from each other, their only hope of escape lies in cryptic clues teased by fan-favourite characters from Carroll’s classic tale.

A vampire is on the loose!On what they hope is going to be a holiday, the Doctor and his companions arrive in a quiet, unassuming seaside town called Whitby.The terrible significance of the place evades them, until they happen upon a theatre production that captivates their attention . . .Dracula!Suddenly, murders are occurring left, right and centre, each victim with trademark puncture wounds on their neck. Ian is soon missing, and a town shrouded in myth and legend is beginning to live up to its name.Clearly there is a Dracula at large. But the TARDIS team quickly realise: you can never trust a vampire . . .

The Doctor arrives in a bleak English midwinter of long ago. Plunging into the snowy landscape of the Dark Ages, he learns that wild dogs besiege the local Tilling Abbey every night. When he is given shelter by the sisters of the abbey, the Doctor begs an audience with the Mother Superior they fiercely protect. Something unearthly has already happened here - and if the Doctor is right, it’s connected to his recent encounters with an ancient enemy. As night falls again, the dogs can be held off no longer - and the sisters’ secret is about to be revealed. Forced to draw his enemy off into the depths of the TARDIS, the Doctor finds himself in a nightmarish chase through his own ship - but is he the pursuer, or the pursued? As they fight him on his own ground, the hornets are determined to possess his mind... With Tom Baker as the Doctor, Richard Franklin as Mike Yates, Clare Corbett as the Nun, Susie Riddell as the Sister, Rula Lenska as the Swarm and Susan Jameson as Mrs Wibbsey, A Sting in the Tale is the fourth of five linked stories written by the acclaimed Paul Magrs. '... Baker delivers the drama and intensity that you recognise from the Fourth Doctor of old' - Doctor Who Magazine.1 CD. 1 hr 1 min.

The TARDIS arrives on Sepulchre, and the Doctor and Mike find themselves in an old, dark house. Who awaits the two men there? What plans have been laid for their arrival? They soon discover from their host – and his housekeeper – that this is the culmination of a terrible, grand plan – one with the Doctor at its very centre. One from which he may never escape... As the Atlas of All Time unfolds, the odds seem stacked against the three old friends. Which of them will fall before the night is out? With Tom Baker as the Doctor, Richard Franklin as Mike Yates, Susan Jameson as Mrs Wibbsey, Nigel Anthony as the Host and Carole Boyd as the Old Friend, Sepulchre is the last of five linked stories written by the acclaimed Paul Magrs.1 CD. 1 hr 10 mins.

It’s been many months since the Doctor was in Hexford, and Mrs Wibbsey keenly feels his absence. As her grave suspicions about her new neighbour grow, she is in danger of becoming ostracised from village life. When Mike Yates turns up at Nest Cottage with a visitor in tow, Mrs Wibbsey’s life is turned even further upside down. Why has this strange new fellow appeared - and can he really be who Mike thinks he is? With UNIT watching the skies, and a strange forest growing daily around the village perimeter, it comes as little surprise when an enormous spaceship slides into view and dominates the skyline. Who is watching Hexford, and what do they want? Never has Mrs Wibbsey needed the Doctor more. But can she cope with two...? With Tom Baker as the Doctor, Susan Jameson as Mrs Wibbsey, Richard Franklin as Mike Yates, Cornelius Garrett as Reverend Tonge, David Troughton as the Visitor, Nerys Hughes as Deirdre and Joanna Tope as Tish, The Hexford Invasion is the fourth of five linked stories written by Paul Magrs.1 CD. 56 mins.

It has been three months since the Hexford catastrophe, and Mike Yates is trying to show strength of leadership to the villagers. But with morale low and supplies running out, it is increasingly difficult to keep his own hopes up. Unless somebody finds them soon, the future looks bleak. So when the TARDIS materialises on the village green, it seems that help has arrived at last. But with two Doctors apparently at large, there is still the small matter of what was buried under Nest Cottage - not to mention who is clamouring to break through the protective force field. Soon Hexford is under siege once again, and this time an ancient hunger will be sated. Time has run out for the keepers of the Skishtari egg... With Tom Baker as the Doctor, Susan Jameson as Mrs Wibbsey, Richard Franklin as Mike Yates, Cornelius Garrett as Rev. Tonge, David Troughton as the Visitor, Nerys Hughes as Deirdre, Joanna Tope as Tish, Sam Hoare as Lucius and Paddy Wallace as the Tsar, Survivors in Space is the last of five linked stories written by Paul Magrs.1 CD. 1 hr 2 mins.

A quartet of fabulous stories based on vintage comic strips from the Doctor Who Annuals, featuring the Second, Third and Fourth Doctors.In The Vampire Plants the Doctor and Jamie discover strange goings-on in a Venusian colony, where Dr Vane's space seedlings appear to be at the heart of the matter.In Menace of the Molags a huge spaceship fills the sky above London, and inside it the Doctor and Jo meet some familiar looking aliens.After the Revolution takes Jo and the Doctor to Freedonia, known for its beautiful utopian city. But things have changed for the worse since the Doctor was last there...Plague World is the destination for the Fourth Doctor, Adric and K9 when they find an Earth colony, abandoned and left to its own devices - with terrible consequences.Jon Culshaw, Katy Manning and Matthew Waterhouse read this quartet of tales, adapted by Paul Magrs from comic strips first published in the 1970s and 1980s.(P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd © 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Know your frenemy.‘I’ve had adventures too. My whole life doesn’t revolve around you, you know.’When she's not busy amassing armies of Cybermen, or manipulating the Doctor and his companions, Missy has plenty of time to kill (literally). In this all new collection of stories about the renegade Time Lord we all love to hate, you'll discover just some of the mad and malevolent activities Missy gets up to while she isn't distracted by the Doctor.So please try to keep up.

‘Even though they’re gone from the world, they’re never gone from me.’The Doctor is many things – curious, funny, brave, protective of her friends...and a shameless namedropper. While she and her companions battled aliens and travelled across the universe, the Doctor hinted at a host of previous, untold adventures with the great and the good: we discovered she got her sunglasses from Pythagoras (or was it Audrey Hepburn?); lent a mobile phone to Elvis; had an encounter with Amelia Earhart where she discovered that a pencil-thick spider web can stop a plane; had a 'wet weekend' with Harry Houdini, learning how to escape from chains underwater; and more.In this collection of new stories, Star Tales takes you on a rip-roaring ride through history, from 500BC to the swinging 60s, going deeper into the Doctor's notorious name-dropping and revealing the truth behind these anecdotes.

‘Stories are the most important thing of all because they are just about the only living thing that lasts…'At the end of the universe, a mysterious storyteller builds a campfire to draw his audience. He has gathered tales like any minstrel of old – and his specialty is tales of the Doctor. In this book of stories both long and short, you can experience Doctor Who’s adventures through the prism of folk tales and fables. Retold from unusual perspectives, 1001 Nights in Time and Space is a bubbling mix of heroes and villains, soldiers and monsters, princesses, goblins, demons, tricksters, computers, ghosts and gods from all across the universe… taking inspiration from the entire 60-plus years lifespan of Doctor Who.

With the scale and scope of the great science fiction epics, Lost on Mars tells the story of Lora and her family, third generation human settlers on the red planet who are strugging to survive in incredible circumstances. The family clings to life on a smallholding in the desert landscape, surviving storms and sinister rumours of unexplained disappearances - until one night Lora sees the Dancers. When her father and grandmother disappear themselves, Lora's family is driven out to seek a new life across the plains. But none of them are ready for what they find - the beautiful, dangerous City Inside.

The Mars trilogy tells the story of Lora and her family, settlers struggling to survive on the red planet. Apparently safe in the City Inside, Lora becomes suspicious of its human/Martian authorities. But then she gets the chance to join their expedition to the Martian plains to find Grandma's friend Ruby, survivor of the old Earth starships.

Lora faces a dramatic final battle between the Ancient Heart of Mars, which holds her family prisoner, a repository of all the life force of the planet, and the Hybrids of the City Inside. Both claim they are on the side of the humans and the Ancients have the power to restore their starships to working order, if they can only learn the secret of star-flight. Reunited with her family but caught in the middle of the conflict, will Lora decide to stay on Mars or leave forever? And what part has their ancient robot, Toaster, still to play in the fate of the red planet?