Obverse Books has announced the schedule for its upcoming The Black Archive range of critical essays about Doctor Who serials — and further that the publisher is opening its submission window for this year. So if you’ve ever fancied writing a Black Archive yourself, this could be your chance!
But before we get to that wonderful opportunity, April and June will see the released of linked books exploring the transition from the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) to the Fifth (Peter Davison) in Logopolis and Castrovalva. Jonathan Hays looks at the former’s farewell story, and Andrew Orton (author of the Black Archive: The Deadly Assassin) focusses in on Davison’s debut.
August brings a book on a very recent story, a tale of gods and Beatles, i.e. The Devil’s Chord. Its author, Dale Smith, has become a Black Archive regular, having written instalments on The Talons of Weng-Chiang, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, and Silence in the Library/ Forest of the Dead.
October sees an analysis of The Enemy of the World by Robert Fairclough, making his first contribution to the Black Archive range, but who has previously written books about The Prisoner, Callan, and The Sweeney. The year rounds out with The Mysterious Planet, by new Archive author, Jez Strickley.
2025 also sees The Black Archive’s first open submissions window since 2021. Obverse will be accepting proposals each month for specific eras. These are:
- April 2025 – The Daleks to Colony in Space.
- May 2025 – Day of the Daleks to Shada.
- June 2025 – The Leisure Hive to Bad Wolf/ The Parting of the Ways (including Dimensions in Time and The Curse of Fatal Death).
- July 2025 – The Christmas Invasion to The Lodger.
- August 2025 – The Curse of the Black Spot to The Husbands of River Song.
- September 2025 – The Pilot to Joy to the World, and any broadcast later.
So yes, the submission window for stories from 1964 to 1971 opens tomorrow (1st April 2025), solely for serials not yet covered by an Archive. They are:
- The Keys of Marinus
- The Sensorites
- The Reign of Terror
- Planet of Giants
- The Rescue
- The Crusade
- The Space Museum
- The Chase
- The Time Meddler
- Galaxy 4
- The Savages
- The War Machines
- The Smugglers
- The Tenth Planet
- The Power of the Daleks
- The Highlanders
- The Macra Terror
- The Faceless Ones
- The Tomb of the Cybermen
- The Abominable Snowmen
- The Ice Warriors
- The Web of Fear
- Fury from the Deep
- The Wheel in Space
- The Dominators
- The Krotons
- The Seeds of Death
- The War Games
- Spearhead from Space
- Inferno
- Terror of the Autons
- The Mind of Evil
- The Claws of Axos
- Colony in Space
Good luck to all who submit proposals. You can find out more at the Obverse Books website!
And don’t forget that you can download an exclusive extract from The Black Archive #54: Dalek from the DWC right now.
