Robert Shearman – författare

I don''t like writing at home much," admits Shearman. "Home is a place for sleeping and eating and watching afternoon game shows on TV. There are too many distractions. So, years ago, I decided I''d only write first drafts in art galleries."And the best of them all is the National Gallery, in London, a pigeon''s throw from Nelson''s Column. I can walk around there with my notebook, thinking up stories - and if I get bored, there are lots of expensive pictures to look at. Perfect."A lot of those paintings, however, have angels in them. They''re all over the place, wings raised, halos gleaming - perching on clouds, blowing trumpets, hovering around the Virgin Mary as if they''re her strange naked childlike bodyguards. And I began to notice. That, whenever the writing is going well, the angels seemed happy, and would smile at me. And whenever the words weren''t coming out right, when I felt sluggish, when I thought I''d rather take off and get myself a beer, they''d start to glare."I wrote this story in the National Gallery. Accompanied by a lot of glaring angels. Enjoy.

Oh I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside - Christopher FowlerChristopher Fowler explains "''. . . Seaside'' came about firstly because I was commissioned to write a story for the World Horror Convention souvenir book and, as the event was to take place in Brighton, it seemed logical to set a tale on the South coast of England."I had written a fantasy novel, Calabash, some years earlier, hinting at the dark madness of such seaside towns, which are the antithesis of their Mediterranean counterparts. I thought of the depressing Morrissey song "Every Day is Like Sunday", which captures the awfulness of English resorts."Coincidentally, Kim Newman and I were discussing the inherent creepiness of pantomime dames, and I decided it was time to give vent to my horror of these coastal pleasure domes. I wish I''d thought to include screaming gangs of hen-nighters as well. And I thought it was a nice touch to have everyone in the story telling the hero to ''fuck off'' until he finally does."Featherweight - Robert Shearman"I don''t like writing at home much," admits the author. "Home is a place for sleeping and eating and watching afternoon game shows on TV. There are too many distractions. So, years ago, I decided I''d only write first drafts in art galleries."And the best of them all is the National Gallery, in London, a pigeon''s throw from Nelson''s Column. I can walk around there with my notebook, thinking up stories - and if I get bored, there are lots of expensive pictures to look at. Perfect."A lot of those paintings, however, have angels in them. They''re all over the place, wings raised, halos gleaming - perching on clouds, blowing trumpets, hovering around the Virgin Mary as if they''re her strange naked childlike bodyguards. And I began to notice. That, whenever the writing is going well, the angels seemed happy, and would smile at me. And whenever the words weren''t coming out right, when I felt sluggish, when I thought I''d rather take off and get myself a beer, they''d start to glare."I wrote this story in the National Gallery. Accompanied by a lot of glaring angels. Enjoy."Lesser Demons - Norman Partridge"I was surprised to receive an invitation for S.T. Joshi''s Black Wings," reveals Partridge, "an anthology of Lovecraftian fiction. Although I knew S.T. admired my work, I''ve never quite seen myself as a Mythos writer."While I respect H.P. Lovecraft and his contribution to horror, I''ve never felt that his worldview (or maybe I should say universeview) meshed with mine."In the end, that''s what made the story work . . . at least for me. I concentrated on my differences with Lovecraft, and approached the material from a place where Jim Thompson would be more comfortable than HPL. And I''m delighted that so many people have enjoyed the tale - it was a lot of fun to write."

What Happens When You Wake Up in the Night - Michael Marshall SmithFor Michael Marshall Smith, this was one of those stories that dropped straight into his head, but the problem was that he didn''t want it: "It wasn''t an idea I liked. It was clearly some part of my brain serving up a notion simply because it could, and because it knew it could frighten me with it."It did frighten me, and so I did what I always do when that happens - which is write it down, in the hope it will go away."Respects - Ramsey Campbell"''Respects'' was suggested by a local incident in which a car thief in his early teens killed himself while fleeing the police," recalls Campbell. "A lamp standard at the site of his demise is still decorated with flowers years after the incident, and the tributes on the obituaries page of one Wallasey newspaper were at least as grotesque as the ones I''ve invented - the romanticisation of a petty criminal.Cold to Touch - Simon Strantzas"Stories often find their origins in unexpected ways," Strantzas reveals. "I was inspired in this case by a photograph of a Zen garden I once used as my computer''s desktop background."There was something there in the coldness of the photograph, something that brought to mind the barren vistas of the Canadian Arctic, which ended up being the perfect setting for my tale of tested faith."The Reunion - Nicholas Royle"''The Reunion'' is based on actual events," reveals the author, "but the story only really came into focus for me when I was invited to contribute to Ellen Datlow''s Poe anthology."Poe is brilliant. I was at a conference recently where a teacher revealed that she had read Poe''s ''The Black Cat'' to a lecture theatre full of schoolchildren. She switched off all the lights and used a torch to read by. A number of parents lodged complaints, which she took as a measure of the event''s success. My tale is inspired by a different Poe story."Granny''s Grinning - Robert Shearman"I love Christmas," says Shearman. "Always have done, and always a bit too passionately. The intensity with which I loved Christmas was delightful when I was eight years old, slightly unusual by the time I was eighteen, and increasingly disturbing thereafter."I was the last one to grow up. It suddenly dawned on me one year, looking into the faces of my parents, and of my sister, that they were all older, and fatter, and less and less festive. And that they were trying so hard to keep me happy each Christmas, pretending they wanted all those presents I''d bought, all those sausage rolls and Quality Street chocs. That what I was trying to do, each December, was somehow reach back into the past and resurrect a time that was dead, that was long dead."I still love Christmas. But now I recognize - as I still make them perform party games, as I still make them open their gifts and smile and say thank you - that they''re zombies now. All of them, zombies. I''ll never get my childhood back again, not really, or the innocence of that family get-together. So I''ll make do with the dead, and pretend."This is a story all about that."In The Garden - Rosalie Parker"''In the Garden'' was written after I challenged myself to write a horror story about gardening," explains the author. "It emerged more quickly and easily than anything I''ve ever written. I think of it more as a prose poem than a story."

Nicholas Briggs reads this brand new novelisation of a thrilling screen adventure for the Ninth Doctor and Rose.''The entire Dalek race, wiped out in one second. I watched it happen. I made it happen!''The Doctor and Rose arrive in an underground vault in Utah in the near future. The vault is filled with alien artefacts. Its billionaire owner, Henry van Statten, even has possession of a living alien creature, a mechanical monster in chains that he has named a Metaltron.Seeking to help the Metaltron, the Doctor is appalled to find it is in fact a Dalek - one that has survived the horrors of the Time War, just as he has. And as the Dalek breaks loose, the Doctor is brought back to the brutality and desperation of his darkest hours spent fighting the creatures of Skaro... this time with the Earth as their battlefield.Nicholas Briggs, who voices the Daleks in the BBC TV series, reads Robert Shearman''s novelisation of his own 2005 TV script.(P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd Reading produced by Neil Gardner Sound design by Simon Power Executive producer: Michael Stevens

Freema Agyeman, Nicholas Briggs and Debbie Chazen are the readers of these eight original stories featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha, as played on TV by David Tennant and Freema AgyemanJoin the Doctor and Martha on these journeys in Time and Space. The first five stories detail Martha’s journey around the Earth during the Master’s reign, and the stories she tells of her adventures with the Doctor. The last three novels tell of the Doctor’s own adventures as he partners with the Judoon on the trail of a notorious criminal, encounters Slitheen in Ancient Greece, and joins a party of Dalek bounty hunters in an era before the Time War.The Story of Martha by Dan Abnett. Read by Freema AgyemanThe Weeping by David Roden. Read by Freema AgyemanThe Frozen Wastes by Robert Shearman. Read by Freema AgyemanBreathing Space by Steve Lockley & Paul Lewis. Read by Freema AgyemanStar-Crossed by Simon Jowett. Read by Freema AgyemanJudgement of the Judoon by Colin Brake. Read by Nicholas BriggsThe Slitheen Excursion by Simon Guerrier. Read by Debbie ChazenPrisoner of the Daleks by Trevor Baxendale. Read by Nicholas BriggsBased on the hit BBC TV series. Duration: 23 hours 25 mins.(P) BBC Worldwide 2018(c) BBC Worldwide 2018Text (c) Dan Abnett 2008, David Roden 2008, Robert Shearman 2008, Steve Lockley & Paul Lewis 2008, Simon Jowett 2008, Colin Brake 2009, Simon Guerrier 2009, Trevor Baxendale 2009Doctor Who theme music composed by Ron Grainer and arranged by Murray GoldTARDIS sound effect composed by Brian Hodgson