Candy Jar Books are some very busy people and are constantly putting together and releasing some amazing content for Doctor Who fans. In this case we have three separate, but equally exciting, projects to cover. A collection of Lucy Wilson Christmas short stories, a book of Chris Achilléos art work and a new book of Lethbridge-Stewart Havoc Files.
Targeting Achilléos
First up we have the very exciting book collecting the entirety of Target novel covers by Chris Achilléos. Achilléos is an acclaimed artist, not only within the realm of Doctor Who, having a career spanning 5 decades. This isn’t Achilléos’ first collection of art work but it is his first focused entirely on Doctor Who and from Candy Jar. Lavishly detailed, with psychedelic overtones and an unapologetically pulpy sensibility, these covers perfectly captured the eccentric appeal of the classic series.
‘Kklak: The Doctor Who Art of Chris Achilléos‘, contains Achilléos’ Doctor Who artwork in chronological order, along with commentary from Achilléos himself (as well as some fans) – presenting the definitive guide to his seminal work. The book also includes a small contribution from twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi and a foreword from Achilléos’ long-time friend and collaborator, the late Terrance Dicks.
Candy Jar’s head of publishing, Shaun Russell, explains why Candy Jar is the perfect fit to publish such a fascinating collection.“The Target novels were a huge part of our childhood. And when it came to our own range of Doctor Who books, they were an inspiration. You could always tell that they were produced by people who cared. There was an attention to detail, and a level of quality, which quite frankly, went above and beyond what was necessary.
“Doctor Who will sell regardless, but as a series it means so much to people – and to us here at Candy Jar – that you want to do repay that. And from the first moment you picked up a Target title, with one Chris Achilléos’ brilliant designs on the cover, you knew that you were in for something wonderful. His work manages to capture everything that makes Doctor Who special, and stand alone as works of art in their own right. When Chris first spoke with us, I jumped at the chance to work with him.”
Buying Kklak!
If this doesn’t sound like the most exciting book to come out in 2020 then I don’t know what is. If you’re interested in ‘Kklak: The Doctor Who Art of Chris Achilléos‘ then click this link or head to www.candyjarbooks.co.uk to pre-order your copy. Don’t forget about the very limited amount of Hardcover copies!
Loose Ends
We can’t forget about our favourite Candy Jar range of books, Lethbridge-Stewart! ‘The HAVOC Files: LooseEnds‘ is a collection of short stories. It was meant to be out earlier in 2019 but life happens and circumstances change. It’s actually meant to be heading to the printers soon and will be out shortly thereafter!
The intention at first was for Range Editor and writer Andy Frankham-Allen to write the full collection. When it became apparent that time wouldn’t allow he called up the aid of some of his writer friends. Frankham-Allen explains. “I decided to give two of my story ideas to two other authors, as well as use Sharon’s short story sequel to ‘A Very Private Haunting‘, as it fit the theme of the book. And that theme is, as the title suggests, tying up loose ends left over throughout the original run of the Lethbridge-Stewart range.”
Keren Williams, Publishing Co-ordinator, says: “It’s a great little collection, with a nice mix of sci-fi, ghost stories, and some solid real-world drama. ‘The Stories We Tell‘ is a particularly touching tale, bringing as it does a parallel between the fictional life of Anne Travers and the real life of a Doctor Who fan who died in 2016 at the young age of only sixteen.”
The cover features brand new art by Adrian Salmon. Andy Frankham-Allen explains: “It was important to me that this book was dedicated to the family of Rhys Rubery, my young friend who died three years ago, and so Adrian did a wonderful little portrait of Rhys for the cover.”
Wonderful cover art is something Candy Jar Books know about. Salmon, along with many others, has produced wonderful artwork. Here’s hoping we may get a collection of Lethbridge-Stewart and Lucy Wilson covers similar to Kklak!
Buy Loose Ends
In the meantime be sure to get your copy of Havoc Files: Loose Ends!
A very Lucy Christmas
Speaking of Lucy Wilson, the final piece of Candy Jar goodness we have to talk about is for Lucy herself! Lucy is the granddaughter of the Brigadier and has been putting out family friendly books for a while now. Just in time for Christmas your young one can read, or have read to them, ‘The Lucy Wilson Mysteries: Christmas Crackers‘.
Christmas Crackers is a collection of five short stories. Writers include popular children’s author, Cherry Cobb, who adorably said of her story, ‘The Mobile Army‘. “I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to write a Lucy Wilson story, having read the books I fell in love with Lucy as a strong independent character who isn’t afraid to stand up for her beliefs. I hope my daughter grows up to have the same outlook on life.”
Other writers include Terry Cooper and his story ‘Crimes of Fashion‘. ‘The Lucy Wilson Mysteries: Curse of the Mirror Clowns’ writer Chris Lynch pens the story ‘Past, Present and Yet to Come‘. Candy Jar’s very own publishing co-ordinator, Keren Williams writes ‘Imposters‘ and Lethbridge-Stewart writer, Tim Gambrell, pens ‘The Christmas Cracker Conundrum‘. This story had previously been given away for free but Gambrell has this to say about it’s inclusion.
“It feels very fitting, to me, for The Christmas Cracker Conundrum to make its way into print, now, for a whole new set of readers. Lucy Wilson, Hobo and I have been on something of a wild journey over the last twelve months. It started with Shaun [Russell] asking me to contribute a Lucy Wilson short story to Candy Jar’s 2018 advent calendar, then it ran through my two 2019 novels, and the journey now comes full circle, back to The Christmas Cracker Conundrum!”
Shaun Russell says about this collection: “We’ve had such good feedback for the series of books. Reviews have been encouraging and fans seem to have embraced the series completely. As a small thank you for all of the support received, we wanted to release something completely unexpected in time for our readers to enjoy over the Christmas period.”
Buy Christmas Crackers
You can pre-order your copy of ‘The Lucy Wilson Mysteries: Christmas Crackers´ from the Candy Jar website.
