Head Games (novel)

 is the forty-third Virgin New Adventures novel. It features the Seventh Doctor, Bernice Summerfield, Roz Forrester and Chris Cwej. It also features Melanie Bush, who departed the TARDIS in Dragonfire, and Ace, who joined in that story and last appeared in Set Piece when she also stopped travelling with the Doctor. There is also a cameo appearance of Brigadier Winifred Bambera. This novel is a sequel to Conundrum published in 1994.

Publisher's summary
''"This isn't Hell," the Doctor assured her. "It's only a sequel."''

Stand by for an exciting new adventure with Dr Who and his companion, Jason. Once again, our time-hopping friends set out to seek injustice, raise rebel armies, overthrow dictators and beat up green monsters.

But this time, Dr Who faces a deadly new threat: a genocidal rogue Time Lord and his army of combat-hardened, gun-slinging warrior women. To make matters worse, this foe is a twisted version of the good Doctor himself - and if Dr Who and Jason can't stop him, he'll end all life on Detrios and Earth.

Armed only with their wits and with the modest power of control over reality, our heroes must face Dr Who's evil double: the megalomaniac scientist who calls himself simply... 'The Doctor'.

Chapter Titles

 * Head Start
 * 1) Bad Dreams (1)
 * 2) Good Dreams
 * 3) Bad Dreams (2)
 * 4) Who's Been Sleeping ...
 * 5) Mesozoic Mash
 * 6) A Bush In The Hand
 * 7) Dungeons and Dinosaurs
 * 8) Don't Ask
 * 9) Dark Secrets
 * 10) When I Say Run ...
 * 11) Escape to Danger
 * 12) Never That Simple
 * 13) Salvation
 * 14) The Bitch is Back
 * 15) Dr Who in an Exciting Adventure with ...
 * 16) Return of the Evil Doctor
 * 17) Butterfly People
 * 18) Getting There
 * 19) Who Dares
 * 20) Royal Flush
 * 21) Consternation Day
 * 22) Bad Dreams (3)
 * 23) Crystal Tears
 * 24) The Day God Went Mad
 * 25) Don't Blame Me
 * 26) And They All Lived
 * Head End

Plot
to be added

Characters

 * Seventh Doctor
 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Roz Forrester
 * Chris Cwej
 * Melanie Bush
 * Ace
 * Jason
 * Dr. Who
 * Wolsey

The Doctor

 * The Doctor rarely sleeps, fearing his dreams.
 * Benny laughs until her sides ache when she finds out that the Sixth Doctor regenerated because he hit his head on the console (though this is contradicted by the events of PROSE: Spiral Scratch, and it is possible Melanie does not clearly remember the events of the regeneration, since she was rendered unconscious shortly before it happened).
 * Ace regards the Doctor as "a bastard, but our bastard".
 * The Doctor gives Benny a UNIT pass that used to belong to Jeremy Fitzoliver.

Individuals

 * Before Benny met the Doctor she had only been knocked unconscious once.
 * Benny enjoys verbally torturing Mel.
 * Roz Forrester judges a captured Mel not worth rescuing.
 * Chris wonders whether he and rebel Kat'lanna might end up sleeping together.
 * Melanie Bush left Sabalom Glitz after six months and tried to hitch hike to Earth. Six months after that she was stuck on the planet Avalone. The Doctor knew she was there and thought she'd settled down on the planet.
 * Ace's body count is 423.
 * Blinovitch's first name was Aaron.
 * Jason resurrects the Queen (after she dies).
 * Dr. Who is the Master of the Land of Fiction's construct of the Doctor.
 * Wolsey is known throughout some scenes as "Power Puss". He also gets a cape and mask.

Organisations

 * UNIT and Brigadier Winifred Bambera investigate one of the Land of Fiction incidences on Earth.

Other realities

 * Detrios, the Miracle, ACME Lizard Monster Eradicator are all creations from the Land of Fiction / the Master of the Land.

Timeline

 * Benny kicks a soft drink can in London, 2001 which through a seemingly unrelated set of events leads to a slightly less eloquent speech writer writing a speech on the eve of the Draconian War, leading to many more deaths on both sides.

Continuity

 * Mel was last seen (chronologically) in TV: Dragonfire. Head Games continues her story after Dragonfire, and explains what led her to leave.
 * This novel is a sequel to PROSE: Conundrum, which in turn was a sequel to TV: The Mind Robber.
 * Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart is mentioned near the end of this novel, leading into PROSE: The Also People.
 * Blinovitch was given some further history in PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation.
 * In this novel it is revealed that Brigadier Winifred Bambera had twins by Ancelyn, an Arthurian knight whom she met during the events of TV: Battlefield.