Unnatural History (novel)

Publisher’s Summary
'They called it the Millennium Effect', said the Doctor. ‘But the millennium was only beginning.’

San Francisco has changed since the start of 2000. The laws of physics keep having acid flashbacks. There are sightings of creatures from outside our dimensions, stranded aliens and surrealist street performers. The city has become a mecca for those who revel in impossible creatures -- and those who want to see them pinned down and put away.

Sam’s past is catching up with her - a past she didn’t know she had. The Doctor is in danger of becoming the pièce de résistance in a twisted collection of creatures. And beneath the waters of the Bay, something huge is waiting.

With time running out, the Doctor must choose which to sacrifice -- a city of wonders, or the life of an old and dear friend.

Characters

 * The Doctor
 * The Doctor's biodata contains seventeen conflicting streams.
 * Griffin removes the Doctor's ability to see the colour violet (although later the Doctor fixes this).
 * Uses the alias 'Doctor Bowman'.
 * Can't remember etiquette and gets confused between "twenty-first century America and the planet Quinnis in the fourth universe."
 * Tells Sam (upon seeing her light up) that he gave up smoking "six or seven lifetimes ago".
 * Might have been ten years old.
 * Might have got caught skinny-dipping with a pretty female cousin of his.
 * Is not sure who is President of Gallifrey, Romana or Flavia.
 * Mentions Tubby Rowlands
 * Last dropped acid in 1968.
 * Had flashbacks for decades as a result of Jo Grant's hayfever tablets.
 * Cleared up the after affects of Daniel Joyce's visit to Youkali.
 * No longer has a shadow.


 * Samantha Jones (Dark haired Sam)
 * Born 15 April 1980.
 * Her parents are Allan and Margaret Jones.
 * Went to school at Coal Hill School, Shoreditch.
 * Is dark haired.
 * Live in a King's Cross bedsit.
 * Smokes Benson and Hedges cigarettes.
 * Has needle injection scars on her arms.
 * Gives the Doctor a back massage. He rather enjoys it.
 * Then Sam tries to seduce him.
 * Has sex with Fitz.


 * Samantha Jones (Blonde Sam)
 * Still gets flashes of memory from the 'other Sam'.
 * Goes around to all her other self's friends telling them she got accepted by Amnesty and was going to New York.
 * Knows her other self and Fitz "shagged like rabbits".
 * No longer finds the idea "that a few years from now she could be anywhere, doing anything" exciting.


 * Fitz Kreiner
 * Uses the alias 'Fitzwilliam Fort,' working as a paranormal investigator for the Doctor
 * Wears a fedora and a long black coat while gathering information from his 'contacts'.
 * Wears small round sunglasses like John Lennon.
 * Has meditated on top of Mount Tamalpais.
 * Fitz's hair is still growing back after his experiences with communist China.
 * Despite his months in Mao's communist people's collective in China, he never learnt how to properly read Chinese.
 * Gives up cigarettes to be the 'nice one', the good companion for the Doctor.
 * Has sex with Sam.


 * Eldin Sanchez
 * Receding hairline and a pony tail
 * Writes for the Interesting Times


 * Kyra Skye
 * Can see/read the 'ley lines' of San Francisco.
 * Discusses psychokinesis and Snoopy when she first meets Fitz.
 * Came to San Francisco during the 'Summer of Love' when she was eighteen.
 * Is a witch.
 * Is killed by Griffin by folding her through the higher dimensions.


 * Professor Daniel Joyce
 * Has a tattoo on the cuff of his sleeve that he looks like he has tried to get rid of.
 * Has a wife called Anne.
 * Got a spare beryllium chip for Wagg following the Doctor's theft of his first one.
 * Has a red headed assistant called Larna.


 * Griffin - the Unnaturalist
 * Is from one of the higher dimensions.
 * Manipulates the Doctor's biodata, removing his awareness of violet, including all the UV ranges.
 * Takes apart a chimera making it more simple, so it is just a dragon, a lion and goat.
 * Is from somewhere near the Needle.


 * Little Brother of the Faction Paradox
 * Calls the Doctor 'granddad'.
 * Comments on "The whole post-destination thing with the Vervoids." and the way the Doctor "The way you tricked the Dalek Empire into tangling their timeline so bad that their history collapsed under the weight of the paradoxes.".
 * Uses a Blinovitch generator to create copies of himself and time travels using the energy built up from crossing his timestream.

Books

 * Introduction to Quantum Esotericism by Watkinson and Thripsted discusses the Book of Lies.

Foods and Beverages

 * The Doctor pours out a bottle of beer in Kyra Skye's memory.
 * Sam takes her coffee black, Fitz; white with two sugars.
 * Daniel Joyce offers Sam some tea. She says she prefers coffee.

Individuals

 * Sam's parents have postcards and letters that Samantha Jones had/will been sending to them from:
 * San Franscico, 1 August, 1997
 * A letter from 1894, London
 * A postcard from Kursaal
 * A photobooth postcard with her and the Doctor from Paphos
 * They began arriving around the Mars, 1997 mission.


 * The Doctor tells Sam Jones (dark haired Sam) that 'his Sam' (blonde haired Sam):
 * Stopped the smugglers of Nephelokokkugian and the Dalek invasion of Tuvulu.
 * Battled the tyrant queen of Hyspero.
 * Returned a Triceratops infant to its mother.


 * The Doctor phones Dr Grace Holloway.
 * Blinovitch was a member of the Faction Paradox.

Locations

 * The location of the Scar is the alleyway where the Doctor was shot.

Species

 * A Kraken comes from the higher dimensions and floats in the void, almost twisting itself through incomprehensible space. It grazes on exotic matter, plumes of raw cosmological power, fountains of energy in the upper reaches that is undetectable in normal space. It's big enough to flatten San Francisco.
 * The unicorns can teleport, but the Scar prevents them from escaping San Francisco.

Technology

 * The Doctor uses a 'Time Lord message pod', a white cube to send to the Time Lords, requesting help. It appears to be intercepted (an impossible thing according to the Doctor) by Faction Paradox.
 * He expected a reply when "Once the epistopic interfaces of the space-time continuum are properly aligned."


 * Datagel is compact "but if you rupture the cell your computing power oozes out through the cracks."
 * The Henches (the 'men in grey') are from BioHazCorp and were supposed to be delivered to a warzone on Teso Peope.

Timeline

 * On 31 December 1999 a singularity opened in San Francisco and the Earth was forced through an opening the size of a bath plug.
 * This was the Eye of Harmony.
 * This was then undone, via a temporal orbit.


 * The Faction Paradox agent takes an old memory of the Doctor's:
 * The fruity scent of karamine pudding.
 * When the Doctor was barely a loomling.
 * When his father was present in a Great House.
 * He'd caught a cobblemouse.
 * Mr Saldaamir is present.

Theories and Concepts

 * The paradox agent takes the Doctor's Volkswagen Beetle as payment for information, intending to take it back in time and melt it down, ensuring that its own steel would be used in its construction; a paradox.

Vehicles

 * The Doctor's Volkswagen Beetle has a cutomised Y2K number plate.

Continuity

 * Sam's postcards are from; San Francisco (EDA: Vampire Science), 1894 (EDA: The Bodysnatchers), Kursaal (EDA: Kursaal)
 * The Doctor mentions himself and Sam (blonde) defeating the tyrant queen on Hyspero and meeting Iris Wildthyme both during EDA: The Scarlet Empress.
 * The Doctor mentions that he used to smoke. The only televised occasion of this was DW: An Unearthly Child.
 * The events of the Mars 1997 mission were covered in NA: The Dying Days.
 * The events of EDA: The Eight Doctors occured, only without Sam or the Doctor's involvement. (the first time around)
 * Fitz's talks about his time in communist China with Sam (dark haired), also his hair is still growing back following the events of EDA: Revolution Man.
 * The planet Quinnis was mentioned (briefly) by the Doctor and Susan in DW: The Edge of Destruction
 * Youkali was mentioned in NA: Return of the Living Dad.
 * Joyce states/accuses the Doctor of toppling governments on his spare weekends (a long list but for example): DW: The Happiness Patrol, The Christmas Invasion.


 * When the Little Brother of the Faction tries to tell the Doctor of his future exploits he says "No spoilers." a statement that would come back to him in DW: Silence in the Library, but also because he doesn't want to know about the future he first learned of in EDA: Alien Bodies.


 * The Doctor last dropped acid in 1968 and nearly got transformed into an Aztec god in NA: The Left-Handed Hummingbird.


 * Daniel Joyce's assistant is (suggested as being) Larna from PDA: The Infinity Doctors.


 * The events of DW: Doctor Who began the anomalies throughout San Francisco.
 * The Doctor was last in San Francisco in EDA: Vampire Science.
 * EDA: Alien Bodies first introduced the concept of an alternate version of Samantha Jones, who smoked Benson & Hedges cigarettes and had dark hair.


 * Blinovitch (of the Blinovitch Limitation Effect) was mentioned / demonstrated in DW: Day of the Daleks.


 * The Doctor doesn’t have a shadow, reasons for which are revealed in EDA: Interference - Book Two.
 * There are some interesting references surrounding various characters from PDA: The Infinity Doctors, such as Professor Joyce who works at Berkeley. In The Infinity Doctors the Doctor thinks that his father might be a professor at Berkeley. EDA: The Gallifrey Chronicles suggests that Professor Daniel Joyce and his wife are the Doctor's parents.
 * The Doctor last contacted Grace Holloway in The Fallen.

Timeline

 * This story takes place after EDA: Dominion
 * This story takes place before EDA: Autumn Mist

Reprint
BBC Books has announced that a "print on demand" reprint edition of this novel will be made available as of 30th September 2011 as the imprint revisits adventures featuring the first eight Doctors.