Justin Richards
Richards in the garden of his house in Warwickshire
Richards in the garden of his house in Warwickshire
Born (1961-09-14) 14 September 1961[1]
Epping, Essex, England
OccupationWriter
NationalityBritish
GenreScience fiction
Fantasy
Adventure novel
Children2
 Literature portal

Justin Richards (born 14 September 1961) is a British writer. He has written science fiction and fantasy novels, including series set in Victorian or early-20th-century London, and also adventure stories set in the present day. He has written many spin-off novels, reference books and audio plays based on the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, and he is Creative Consultant for the BBC Books range of Doctor Who novels.

Life

Richards was born in Epping, Essex, on 14 September 1961. After attending Dean Close School in Cheltenham he obtained a BA (Hons) in English and Theatre at the University of Warwick.[1]

As well as his literary career, Richards has worked as a technical writer,[2] editor, programmer, and user interface designer at IBM, and as an errand boy in a hotel.[3]

Richards is married with two sons, and lives in Warwickshire.[1]

Work

Richards' first published novels were based on Doctor Who, published in the Virgin New Adventures, Virgin Missing Adventures and Virgin Decalog series. He continued to write for BBC Books after they resumed publishing Doctor Who stories, and as well as producing numerous novels, audio books, activity books and reference books he is Creative Director for the BBC Books range of Doctor Who novels.

In 2003, Richards began writing a series of crime novels for children (The Invisible Detective), whose parallel plots (between the 1930s and the present day) show a fascination with time and temporal paradox that is also evident in the Time Runners series that came out in 2007–08. More action-oriented books include the Agent Alfie books for younger readers, and a series of action-adventure books for young teens co-written with Jack Higgins. Other books have a more supernatural plot element, including the Department of Unclassified Artefacts novels and the School of Night books.

His book The Chaos Code won the Hull Children's Book Award 2008.[1] Demon Storm (from the School of Night series) has been shortlisted for the Southampton's Favourite Book award 2011.[4]

Richards has also written audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions, original audiobooks, and has contributed to television including Five's soap opera Family Affairs. In 2011, Richards ventured into electronic publishing through his own publishing company, Braxiatek. His novel The Skeleton Clock was made available later that year in electronic formats only (for the Amazon Kindle and for other Ebook readers).[2]

Books

Books based on the Doctor Who series

For Virgin Books

For BBC Books

For BBC Audiobooks

For Big Finish Short Trips

The Invisible Detective

Set in London in the 1930s, the series recounts the adventures of Arthur (Art) Drake, Jonny Levin, Meg Wallace and Flinch, who invented the "Invisible Detective" Brandon Lake and who investigate all his cases themselves. Each story has a parallel subplot set in the 2000s, where Art's grandson, also named Art, and his friend Sarah have related mysteries to solve.[6]

  1. The Paranormal Puppet Show (2003) (published as Double Life in America)
  2. Shadow Beast (2003)
  3. Ghost Soldiers (2003)
  4. Killing Time (2003)
  5. Faces of Evil (2004)
  6. Web of Anubis (2004)
  7. Stage Fright (2005)
  8. Legion of the Dead (2005)

Chance Twins (Rich and Jade)

(written with Jack Higgins)

  • Sure Fire (2006)
  • Death Run (2007)
  • Sharp Shot (2009)
  • First Strike (2009)

Department of Unclassified Artefacts novels

A series of books set in Victorian London (1886) describing the adventures of Eddie Hopkins, Liz Oldfield, Sir William Protheroe of the British Museum's secret 'Department of Unclassified Artefacts' and his assistant George Archer.[7]

  • The Death Collector (2006) — the characters meet (after Eddie steals George Archer's wallet) and together uncover an ancient secret.
  • The Parliament of Blood (2008) — the characters discover the legends of the Book of the Undead and take on the vampire parliament.
  • The Chamber of Shadows (2010) — the characters investigate the deadly Tick-Tock Killer and discover a link with a thousand-year-old tyrant king deep in a chamber beneath London.
  • The Suicide Exhibition (2015) — Elizabeth and Eddie appear as secondary characters as the Nazis stir up long-vanished aliens in 1940.
  • The Blood Red City (2016) — continuing the World War II storyline.

Time Runners series

A series of books which chronicle the adventures of schoolboy Jamie Grant who falls through a time break and becomes a Runner along with the mysterious Anna, with power to control time and a duty to protect it from malign interference by the sinister Darkling Midnight.[8]

  • Freeze-Framed (2007)
  • Rewind Assassin (2007)
  • Past Forward (2008)
  • Wipe Out (2008)

Agent Alfie

  1. Thunder Raker (2008)
  2. Sorted! (2009)
  3. Licence to Fish (2009)

The School of Night

A supernatural horror series, described by the publisher as "perfect for readers not yet old enough for Darren Shan".[9]

  • Demon Storm (2010)
  • Creeping Terror (2011)

Other novels

  • The Chaos Code (2007) — Matt Stribling discovers that his father has been searching for an ancient code, rumoured to have brought down the fabled civilisation of Atlantis, which has now fallen into the hands of a madman using high-tech computers to decipher it. Matt and Robin must traverse the globe in their efforts to stop the Chaos Code from being reactivated.
  • Monster Island (2011) — part of the Heroes series of novels for young boys together with teaching aids published by Heinemann.
  • The Skeleton Clock (2011) — in an imagined future flooded London, the long-buried head of an immortal is uncovered and attempts to reunite some special chess men, a chess board, and a crucial piece of mechanism (the Skeleton Clock) to return himself to a body.

Audio plays

Adaptations

Original plays

Gallifrey series

  • The Inquiry (series 1, episode 3: 2004)
  • Pandora (series 2, episode 3: 2005)
  • Disassembled (series 4, episode 2: 2011)
  • Ascension (series 6, episode 3: 2013)

Jago & Litefoot series

  • The Bloodless Soldier (series 1, episode 1: 2010)
  • Litefoot and Sanders (series 2, episode 1: 2011)
  • Dead Men's Tales (series 3, episode 1: 2011)
  • The Hourglass Killers (series 4, episode 4: 2012)
  • The Final Act (series 5, episode 4: 2013)
  • The Trial of George Litefoot (series 6, episode 4: 2013)
  • The Wax Princess (series 7, episode 4: 2014)
  • Higson & Quick (series 8, episode 4: 2014)
  • The Devil's Dicemen (series 9, episode 2: 2015)
  • Return of the Nightmare (series 9, episode 4: 2015)
  • The Museum of Curiosities (series 10, episode 4: 2015)
  • Jago & Litefoot & Strax: The Haunting (special: 2015)
  • Masterpiece (series 11, episode 4: 2016)
  • Picture This (series 12, episode 1: 2016)
  • Warm Blood (series 12, episode 4: 2016)
  • Too Much Reality (series 13, episode 4: 2017)
  • A Command Performance (series 14, episode 4: 2021) (co-written with Julian Richards)

Bernice Summerfield series

  • Many Happy Returns (anniversary special; with Xanna Eve Chown, Stephen Cole, Paul Cornell, Stephen Fewell, Simon Guerrier, Scott Handcock, Rebecca Levene, Jacqueline Rayner, Miles Richardson, Eddie Robson and Dave Stone)

Counter-Measures series

  • State of Emergency (series 1, episode 4: 2012)
  • The Concrete Cage (series 3, episode 2: 2014)

The Diary of River Song series

  • I Went to a Marvellous Party (series 1, episode 2: 2015)

The Churchill Years series

  • Living History (series 1, episode 3: 2016)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Justin Richards". waterstones.com. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  2. 1 2 James Whittington (11 June 2011). "Justin Richards". Interviews. Kasterborous: Doctor Who News, Opinions, Reviews & PodKast (kasterborous.com). Archived from the original on 17 June 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  3. ↑ "Justin Richards". Loewe Verlag. Archived from the original on 1 April 2009. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  4. ↑ "Southampton's Favourite Book Award 2011". 27 June 2011. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
  5. ↑ "Doctor Who: Code of the Krillitanes". BBC Skillswise. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
  6. ↑ "Welcome". The Invisible Detective by Justin Richards. Simon & Schuster (invisible-detective.com). Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
  7. ↑ "Welcome". The Parliament of Blood [Justin Richards Parliament of Blood site]. justinrichards.co.uk. Archived from the original on 12 February 2007. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
  8. ↑ "The Official home for all things Justin Richards". timerunners-com [copyright 2013 Justin Richards & Braxiatek Ltd]. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
  9. ↑ School of Night: Demon Storm. ASIN 0571245080.
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