Enter Wildthyme (novel)

Enter Wildthyme was a 2011 novel written by Paul Magrs which brought together many elements from his past work. It featured concepts originating from every Doctor Who novel written by Magrs before Enter Wildthyme's release. It also used elements from Magrs' Doctor Who audio stories Ringpullworld and Horror of Glam Rock.

Although Iris Wildthyme, Panda, and the Celestial Omnibus played a large part in the story's narrative, the book did not have any Iris Wildthyme series branding.

The novel was in some ways a sequel to Magrs' Iris Wildthyme short story The Dreadful Flap. By heavily featuring Simon, Kelly, Terrence, and the Great Big Book Exchange, Enter Wildthyme was also a sequel to Magrs' 2008 novel Exchange. It also had connections to Magrs' Brenda and Effie series.

Enter Wildthyme introduced the character Vince Cosmos, who would go on to appear in several stories, including his own spin-off, Vince Cosmos: Glam Rock Detective.

Publisher's summary
Time and Space. Good and Evil. Gin and Tonic.

A novel which takes us from a dusty secondhand bookshop on Darlington, clear across the galaxy aboard a celestial double decker bus... all the way to the outlandish world of Hyspero, and the throne room of the Scarlet Empress... and the very brink of the strange pocket dimension called The Obverse...

This is a story about an object — a glass jar with mysterious contents — being the focus of a chase between Iris Wildthyme, Panda and their new friend Simon, and a bunch of gentlemen pirates of the Dogworld, who are determined to retrieve the strange jar and its even stranger contents.

Plot
Orbiting Earth in 2011, the spaceship, Begins at Home, is boarded by Terrence, a plastic armed owner of the quaint bookshop, the Great Big Book Exchange. Terrence takes what resembles an old, greyed jam jar, however the Begins at Home has also been boarded by Dog Pirates, who are also hunting for the jar. The Dog Pirates proceed to massacre the crew as Terrence leaves, and the final crew member decides to jettison everything in the Begins at Home 's cargo hold in order to at least delay the Dog Pirates. The Pirates then kill the survivor.

Back down on Earth, Kelly is waiting at a cavernous train station in Darlington for her old friend, Simon, as he's returning home from University. At first she's anxious about whether or not Simon will recognise her, but these doubts disappear when they meet, as the bond between them hasn't changed.

Terrence has since vanished, but not before entrusting the jam jar to Kelly, with instructions to give it so Simon upon his arrival, as well as to have Simon become the new owner of the Great Big Book Exchange.

Kelly asks Simon if he would accompany her to her poetry class, and he obliges. Later that day Anthony Marvelle enters the Great Big Book Exchange, as he is also looking for the mysterious jar, and although Simon refuses to give it him, Anthony takes it behind Simon's back.

That evening, at the poetry class, Simon decides not to tell Kelly that the jar had been stolen. Outside, a Routemaster 22 had been carelessly parked, much to Simon's displeasure. Kelly believes that the bus belonged to a bunch of new agers, and she expresses worry over the "famous poet", Antony Marvelle, hosting the bulk of the the night's meeting.

As the congregation of people begins clear at around midnight, a drunken Iris Wildthyme shows up, mouthing off at anything and everything. As time passes, Simon gets acquainted with Iris, and Kelly gets seduced by Anthony's mesmerising ability Simon knows that they are getting intimate with each other, which he is very uncomfortable with. This drives him to confront Anthony about him stealing the jar, which Anthony denies, and Kelly believes that Simon's drunk.

After Simon's failed confrontation, he goes back Iris, and she voices her suspicions about Anthony. They get drunk together, and later on Simon walks Iris back to her bus, and despite trying to get her not to drive it, she does, and the bus subsequently dematerialises. Unbeknownst to Simon, at this time Kelly and Anthony sleep together.

The next morning, Simon is woken up abruptly from his new home on the second floor of the Great Big Book Exchange, as Iris pounds on the front door. Iris has come to tell Simon that she senses that trouble is afoot, and Simon tells her that the he had a nightmare, where the glass jar that Terrence had indirectly given him was filled with blood and an eye, which Iris disregards as silly, laughing about it. She convinced Simon not to open the Exchange for business temporarily, as she requires help from Simon.

Iris tells Simon about Panda, MIAOW, and her Celestial Omnibus. Simon is growing increasingly concerned about Kelly, as she isn't answering her phone. They arrive at Magda's Mysteries, a fellow bookshop that specialises in science-fiction, which hides the entrance to the underground headquarters of MIAOW. Jenny acts very unfriendly towards Simon, but her attitude changes when Iris tells her that Simon had the jar, or rather, the Objet D'Oom.

As the Darlington branch of MIAOW had been frantically searching for the Objet, Jenny decides to try and steal it back off from Anthony, so she quickly leaves the MIAOW headquarters and she makes her way to the hotel where Anthony is staying.

Iris intriduces Simon to Barbra, a servo-furnishing, and Barbra tries to convince Iris to take her with her on Iris' bus, but Iris awkwardly declines. The duo leave the MIAOW headquarters, as they beat off towards the Darlington town centre, where Iris reveals that the Scotch Corner Hotel actually exists within seven dimensions, and that it's also the gateway to the multiverse. Iris and Simon head to the Celestial Omnibus, and they, along with Panda, use it to travel to the now unmanned Begins at Home, to investigate the bric-a-brac that had been falling from the ship into the Earth's atmosphere, killing a few Darlington citizens when various things collided with them.

Characters

 * Iris Wildthyme
 * Panda
 * Simon
 * Kelly
 * Anthony Marvelle
 * Missy
 * Jenny Winterleaf
 * Magda
 * Flossie
 * Fritter
 * Martha
 * Vince Cosmos
 * Tommy Tomorrow
 * Trisha Tomorrow
 * Barbra
 * Terrence
 * Mida Slike
 * Bartender
 * Euphemia
 * Harfolg

Continuity

 * The Tomorrow Twins previously appeared in AUDIO: Horror of Glam Rock.
 * MIAOW, Mida Slike, the Blithe Pinking Shears, the Poodles, and Hotel Miramar first appeared in PROSE: Mad Dogs and Englishmen.
 * Barbra first appeared in PROSE: Sick Building.
 * Barbra recalls when Iris saved her from the Dreadful Flap and took her to Darlington in 2008. (PROSE: The Dreadful Flap)
 * The Glass Men of Valcea previously appeared in PROSE: The Blue Angel.
 * Hyspero, the Aja'ib, and the Scarlet Empress first featured in PROSE: The Scarlet Empress.
 * The Ringpull is mentioned multiple times. (AUDIO: Ringpullworld)
 * Panda recalls living with Tom. (AUDIO: Wildthyme at Large)
 * The Fourth Doctor and Mrs Wibbsey also visited Paris in June 1894. (AUDIO: The Demon of Paris)
 * Jenny and Barbra saw "shark people" in the marketplace on Hyspero. (AUDIO: Doctor Who and the Pescatons)