Candy Jar Books’ latest UNIT novel sees the Brigadier battle evil tech billionaire Tobias Vaughn once again
Candy Jar Books are bringing their first series of UNIT novels to a close with The Vaughn Supremacy. The new novel by Tim Gambrell is a sequel to the first book, The Vaughn Identity. However, the new adventure for Doctor Who’s Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and his team ties in to events throughout the series so far.
“When I set out to plan the first series of Candy Jar’s UNIT novels,” explains Gambrell, “I (perhaps foolishly) thought it would be a great idea to make the first story a two-book epic. Very quickly, I realised that the story I had in mind would be far better served if I used it to bookend the series instead. That would also mean that Iain McLaughlin’s and Nick Walters’ books wouldn’t sit around for ages waiting for me to write both of mine – quite fortuitous, as it turned out!
“With the UNIT books so far, we’ve tried to develop the idea that our characters are living from day to day, week to week, and not just lurching from one isolated adventure to the next. So The Vaughn Supremacy is far more than just a sequel to The Vaughn Identity. It picks up on the fallout of events from the earlier book, but also all the other intervening books, Operation: Fall-Out, The Catacombs of Seville, and The Secret of Foxfell Forest. Jonathan Macho’s Laughing Gnome story, The Right-Hand Men, from The HAVOC Files 6, also feeds into the mix. But all this has to be done carefully, without distancing first-time readers. And although it concludes some current storylines, The Vaughn Supremacy also has to open doors to the next series and beyond.”
The of this first series of UNIT novels also promises to change the UNIT status quo forever…
Gambrell reveals that The Vaughn Supremacy will feature the departure of UNIT’s resident scientist Anne Travers. The character was introduced on television in Doctor Who story The Web of Fear, and been a regular character in Candy Jar’s novels.“Andy and Shaun had decided before I came on board,”says Gambrell, “that although Anne’s presence would help the crossover between the Lethbridge-Stewart and UNIT ranges, she would not be a permanent fixture with UNIT.
“She has a husband, Bill Bishop, with the Fifth Operational Corps up in Edinburgh. We picked Anne up after Jonathan Blum’s two-part Lethbridge-Stewart finale, undertaking research in New York. That was while [Doctor Who’s] The Invasion was taking place, but she was never going to stay there permanently, nor was she going to last long as interim scientific advisor for UNIT in London. So, we’ll be saying au revoir to Anne as she returns to research and married life again, but I can assure readers it won’t be a firm goodbye.”
UNIT: The Vaughn Supremacy will have both limited-edition hardback and paperback editions, each with a cover by Martin Baines. The hardback will come with a short complimentary Benton Files book, The Benton Files VII, and an art card. Details of The Benton Files VII, featuring new stories by James Middleditch and Kara Dennison, will be announced soon. Also available for pre-order is The Complete Benton Files. It includes every story from The Benton Files I-VII, plus a new story, exclusive to this book.
UNIT: The Vaughn Supremacy
October 1973. UNIT is now settled in its role, having defeated the resurrected Tobias Vaughn back in July, and overcome several other threats in the intervening months. But not everyone is satisfied. Packer remains at large, occupying an unidentified body. Anne Travers wants to step aside as UNIT’s interim scientific advisor. And Human Rights activists are unhappy with the UN’s wavering stance regarding the part-converted ex-employees of International Electromatics. Anne has been working on a potential solution. But then a horrific murder throws everything into confusion.
Meanwhile, a convalescent Professor Watkins has been headhunted in Dorset, and the top-secret UN holding facility on te South Downs has been compromised.
Who are UNIT’s adversaries this time around, and why do they always seem to be one step ahead? What is the significance of the very first meeting between Captain Turner and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart? And where does an ex-UNIT mole fit into it all?
Anne Travers won’t leave her post until she has closure. Isobel Watkins should be in Germany on a photoshoot. Instead, she finds herself pushed to the very end of her tether, questioning the loyalties of those closest to her.
With UNIT’s forces split between London, Swanage and Maudlin, events seem to be rushing towards a disastrous and unavoidable climax as once again Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and his team finds itself dealing with the malevolent shadow of Tobias Vaughn and International Electromatics.
And not everyone will walk away this time.
You can order The Vaughn Supremacy now directly from the Candy Jar Books website. Also now available to order are four new editions of previous books The New Unusual, A Very Private Haunting, The Man from Yesterday, and The Benton Files Collection.
