Candy Jar Books has announced the fourth novel in its licensed UNIT range, inspired by the alien-hunting organisation from Doctor Who.
The Vaughn Supremacy is written by Range Editor Tim Gambrell, and brings to a close the first series of UNIT novels and is a sequel to the first book, The Vaughn Identity.
Tim explains how it came about:
“When I set out to plan the first series of Candy Jar’s UNIT novels, I (perhaps foolishly) thought it would be a great idea to make the first story a two-book epic. Very quickly, I realised that the story I had in mind would be far better served if I used it to bookend the series instead. That would also mean that Iain McLaughlin’s and Nick Walters’ books wouldn’t sit around for ages waiting for me to write both of mine – quite fortuitous, as it turned out!”
He continues:
“With the UNIT books so far, we’ve tried to develop the idea that our characters are living from day to day, week to week, and not just lurching from one isolated adventure to the next. So The Vaughn Supremacy is far more than just a sequel to The Vaughn Identity. It picks up on the fallout of events from the earlier book, but also all the other intervening books, Operation: Fall-Out, The Catacombs of Seville, and The Secret of Foxfell Forest. Jonathan Macho’s Laughing Gnome story, The Right-Hand Men, from The HAVOC Files 6, also feeds into the mix. But all this has to be done carefully, without distancing first-time readers. And although it concludes some current storylines, The Vaughn Supremacy also has to open doors to the next series and beyond.”
This is certainly the case for Anne Travers (played wonderfully on television by the late Tina Packer). Candy Jar has already followed Anne’s life closely in the Lethbridge-Stewart series.
Tim explains:
“Andy [Frankham-Allen, Range Editor of the Lethbridge-Stewart books] and Shaun [Russell, head of Candy Jar] had decided before I came on board that, although Anne’s presence would help the crossover between the Lethbridge-Stewart and UNIT ranges, she would not be a permanent fixture with UNIT. She has a husband, Bill Bishop, with the Fifth Operational Corps up in Edinburgh. We picked Anne up after Jonathan Blum’s two-part Lethbridge-Stewart finale, undertaking research in New York. That was while The Invasion was taking place, but she was never going to stay there permanently, nor was she going to last long as interim scientific advisor for UNIT in London. So, we’ll be saying au revoir to Anne as she returns to research and married life again, but I can assure readers it won’t be a firm goodbye.”
Whether or not that’s also the case for the relentless Vaughn and Packer, readers will have to wait to find out in due course…
Here’s the blurb:
October 1973. UNIT is now settled in its role, having defeated the resurrected Tobias Vaughn back in July, and overcome several other threats in the intervening months. But not everyone is satisfied. Packer remains at large, occupying an unidentified body. Anne Travers wants to step aside as UNIT’s interim scientific advisor. And Human Rights activists are unhappy with the UN’s wavering stance regarding the part-converted ex-employees of International Electromatics. Anne has been working on a potential solution. But then a horrific murder throws everything into confusion.
Meanwhile a convalescent Professor Watkins has been headhunted in Dorset, and the top-secret UN holding facility on the South Downs has been compromised.
Who are UNIT’s adversaries this time around, and why do they always seem to be one step ahead? What is the significance of the very first meeting between Captain Turner and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart? And where does an ex-UNIT mole fit into it all?
Anne Travers won’t leave her post until she has closure. Isobel Watkins should be in Germany on a photoshoot. Instead, she finds herself pushed to the very end of her tether, questioning the loyalties of those closest to her.
With UNIT’s forces split between London, Swanage and Maudlin, events seem to be rushing towards a disastrous and unavoidable climax as once again Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and his team finds itself dealing with the malevolent shadow of Tobias Vaughn and International Electromatics. And not everyone will walk away this time.
Martin Baines has once again delivered some magnificent cover art. Tim says:
“I gave Martin a shopping list of key moments, and he produced something wonderful within a matter of days.”
UNIT: The Vaughn Supremacy is available to pre-order now from Candy Jar Books as both a paperback and limited edition hardback.
