Media tie-in writing includes any piece of fiction or non-fiction that is officially licensed for a particular media franchise. This may include films, television, games, comics or books. This is an area of writing that I have been interested in, both as a reader and writer, for a great many years.
It is also possible to write about media properties in an unofficial capacity, usually in the form of review or analysis. These works are not licensed by the franchise owners and are not usually referred to as tie-ins… but I’m including them here anyway.
Licensed Works
Picture Book: Down in the London Underground
Franchise: Doctor Who spinoff
Down in the London Underground, Candy Jar Books, Cardiff, April 2024.
What’s that down in the London Underground? Is it a train? Is it a passenger? Is it a soldier?
Or is it a Yeti?
Novel: Memories of the Future
Franchise: The Lucy Wilson Mysteries (Doctor Who spinoff)
The Mystery of Lucy Wilson: Memories of the Future, Candy Jar Books, Cardiff, December 2022.
ISBN: 978-1-915439-36-9
Shortlisted for a 2023 SCRIBE award in the “YA/MG” category.
The Lucy Wilson Mysteries (and The Mystery of Lucy Wilson) are spinoffs from Doctor Who, about the granddaughter of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.
Melbourne, 1985. Matty is just an ordinary boy having an ordinary evening, browsing for books in his favourite sci-fi shop. Until he meets a girl. A girl who appears out of thin air, into a locked room, and can’t remember who she is or where she came from.
And then Matty’s day get slightly less ordinary when he encounters time-travelling killer plant people.
For Matty to put things right, he must work out who his new friend Lucy Wilson is, and why he is suddenly not so ordinary.
This book is now available from Candy Jar Books.
Short Story: The Lady Jessica Affair
Franchise: UNIT (Doctor Who spinoff)
UNIT: The Benton Files II, Candy Jar Books, Cardiff, March 2022.
Shortlisted for a 2023 SCRIBE award in the “Short Fiction” category.
Available from Candy Jar Books.
Benton and the Brigadier take tea with an apparently harmless elderly lady at her stately home – and end up defending the world.
Novel: Fear Frequency
Franchise: Lethbridge-Stewart (Doctor Who spinoff)
Fear Frequency, Candy Jar Books, Cardiff, 2021.
ISBN:978-1-913637-45-3
Available through Candy Jar Books. Also available through Amazon Australia.
Former pop star turned entrepreneur Trevor Delacy and his Electric Soundscapes company are about to launch their new synthesiser onto the market. But all is not what it appears to be.
With much fanfare, a scary new science fiction series, Fear Frequency, premiers on British television. Cheaply produced and rather schlocky, it nevertheless makes an impact in an unexpected way, attracting the attention of Lieutenant Bill Bishop, who is still recovering from the events of Domination Game.
Discovering a connection between the television series and Delacy, Lethbridge-Stewart sends Regimental Sergeant Major Samson Ware to infiltrate Electric Soundscapes. Meanwhile, Bishop is eased back into active duty with a supposedly easy investigation of strange goings-on at an old persons’ care home.
Of course, nothing is ever easy for the Fifth Operational Corps, and Lethbridge-Stewart and his men soon find themselves battling against numerous opponents and frightening new weaponry.
Short Story: Arcade
Franchise: Night Terrace
Short Story Audio Anthology , to be published after this whole Covid-19 thing is over.
Eddy finds himself trapped in a bizarre games arcade.
This is an unusual project. The story was written for the crowdfunding campaign for season 3 of this Aussie audio sci-fi comedy series. It will be part of a short story audio anthology that will be available only to those who participated in the crowfunding via Kickstarter. BUT, the whole thing has been put on hold because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Originally scheduled for 2020, season 3 and all its associated crowdfunding rewards has been delayed. [As an aside… I had an acting role in this series, guest starring as Scribe in the season 2 episode “A Verb of Nouns”.]
Short Story: Pure History
Franchise: Lethbridge-Stewart (Doctor Who spinoff)
The Havoc Files: The Laughing Gnome, ed: Andy Frankham-Allen, Candy Jar Books, Cardiff, 2019.
Limited edition of 400 copies available exclusively from Candy Jar Books.
Shortlisted for a 2020 SCRIBE award in the “short fiction” category.
Astral projecting back to 1986, Anne Travers finds herself at the University of Melbourne, where a strange student cult is capturing and sacrificing time travellers.
Short Story: Another Man’s Skin
Franchise: Deadworld
A Tribute Anthology to Deadworld and Comic Publisher Gary Reed, ed: Lori Perkins, Riverdale Avenue Books, USA, 2017.
ISBN (print): 978-1-62601-414-5
ISBN (eBook): 987-1-62601-415-2
Set within the universe of the zombie apocalypse comic book Dead World, this story features original characters and is about the lengths some people will go to in order to survive.
Short Story: An Eye For An Eye
Franchise: The X-Files
The X-Files: Secret Agendas, ed: Jonathan Maberry, IDW Publishing, USA, 2016.
ISBN: 9781631407208
Shortlisted for a 2017 SCRIBE award in the “short fiction” category.
Scully and Mulder investigate a strange case of stolen eyeballs.
Non-Fiction Book: Behind the News Topics: Theatre
Franchise: Behind The News
Behind the News Topics: Theatre, Pearson Rigby (imprint of Pearson Australia), Melb, 2010
ISBN: 9781442512320 (hbk); 9781442512238 (pbk)
This book was written as part of a series of chapter books tied in with the ABC television series Behind The News. It takes a look behind the scenes of a theatrical production, using Melbourne’s St Martins Youth Arts Centre as a case study. Each of the key roles in a production are examined and there are mini interviews with several people who work in the industry.
Articles: various
Franchise: Behind The News
Behind The News Magazine, Pearson Australia, 2008-2009.
Living in a Digital World, Issue 7, May 2009.
Disaster or Natural Cycle?, Issue 6, March 2009.
The World Wide Wait?, Issue 6, March 2009.
Techno-Home, Issue 5, Oct 2008.
Short Story: Machine Time
Franchise: Doctor Who
Short Trips: Defining Patterns, ed: Ian Farrington, Big Finish Productions Ltd, UK, 2008.
ISBN: 978-1844352685
Sadly, now out of print. This story is a fourth Doctor adventure in which he encounters a mysterious man slowly being taken over by machines.
This anthology received a very favourable review in Doctor Who Magazine, #394, April 2008. Here’s what it said about “Machine Time”:
“It opens well with Machine Time, a compelling and creepy story of a universe threatened by voracious machines, and where individuals have only the vaguest hint of the results of their actions.”
Unlicensed Works
Essay: The Best of Both Worlds: Fanfic & Licensed Fiction
Franchise: multiple
SPARK: how fanfiction and fandom can set your creativity on fire, Ed: Atlin Merrick, Improbable Press, USA, 2023.
Hardcover ISBN: 9781922904119
Paperback ISBN: 9781922904010
This book is a collection of essays about fan fiction. My essay focuses on how writing fan fiction eventually led to my writing licensed media tie-in fiction.
Essay: It All Begins With the First Line
Franchise: Doctor Who
You on Target, Ed: Christopher Bryant, Watching Books, UK, 2020.
ISBN: 9798607724061
This book is a collection of essays about the Target range of Doctor Who novelizations, with my essay focusing on Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth.
Essay: Life is not a dream
Franchise: Star Trek
Outside In Boldly Goes: 117 New Perspectives on 117 Classic STAR TREK Stories by 117 Writers, ed. Robert Smith?), ed: Robert Smith?, ATB Publishing, USA, 2016.
ISBN: 9780988221031
An essay about the use of songs in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
Essay: DVD Night
Franchise: Doctor Who
Outside In 2: 125 unique perspectives on 125 modern Doctor Who stories by 125 writers, ed: Robert Smith?, ATB Publishing, USA, 2015.
ISBN: 9780988221024
An essay about the mini-episode “Time Crash” and multi-Doctor stories in general.
