{"id":18356,"date":"2022-07-12T12:00:13","date_gmt":"2022-07-12T10:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1679155"},"modified":"2022-07-12T12:20:25","modified_gmt":"2022-07-12T10:20:25","slug":"read-an-exclusive-extract-from-doctor-whos-new-fires-of-pompeii-novel","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/read-an-exclusive-extract-from-doctor-whos-new-fires-of-pompeii-novel\/","title":{"rendered":"Read an exclusive extract from Doctor Who\u2019s new Fires of Pompeii novel"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Huw Fullerton\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 12 July 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

When James Moran started writing his return to David Tennant and Catherine Tate\u2019s era of Doctor Who<\/a>, he had no idea just how relevant it would become.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one told me!\u201d Moran tells RadioTimes.com<\/a>. \u201cSo that was quite a surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice of them to give me a publicity boost for my book.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, with Tennant and Tate back filming for Doctor Who\u2019s 60th anniversary<\/a> and showrunner Russell T Davies once more behind the scenes, interest is sky-high in the Tenth Doctor and Donna \u2013 which makes Moran\u2019s new Target novelisation of his 2008 episode The Fires of Pompeii<\/a> feel all the more relevant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just felt immediately familiar and comfortable,\u201d Moran says. \u201cAnd I said this at the time: I could just write for Donna, and nobody else, forever. Because she\u2019s so much fun to write for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pre-order Doctor Who: The Fires of Pompeii by James Moran<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
Alongside other new Target novelisations of modern and classic episodes including Rona Munro\u2019s The Eaters of Light and David Fisher\u2019s The Androids of Tara and The Stones of Blood, Moran\u2019s revamped and novelised version of Fires of Pompeii is out this week \u2013 and RadioTimes.com<\/strong> can exclusively reveal a first-look extract from the book taken from a new prologue for the episode.<\/p>\n
Read on, and step back into The Fires of Pompeii\u2026<\/p>
Prologue \u2013 Dramatis Personae<\/strong><\/h2>\n
They had slept, for thousands of years, deep under the ground, unaware that they were even still alive.<\/p>\n
No dreams troubled their slumber. A sleep so deep, it may as well have been death. They were the last of their kind, fleeing from a lost planet, searching for a new home. They hadn\u2019t intended to come to this world; the conditions were all wrong for them. Too cold, too wet, too small. A tiny, dirty ball of mud, infested with unremarkable, watery, cattle-like creatures. They hadn\u2019t even given the place a second look, dismissing it immediately. There would be better worlds, worthier homes, more comfortable temperatures.<\/p>\n
But things didn\u2019t work out the way they\u2019d planned. Sloppy navigation and a series of malfunctions resulted in them getting pulled down by the mud planet, and they fell, so fast, so hard, it was almost over before they knew it.<\/p>\n
They knew they couldn\u2019t survive this. With mere seconds to go before impact, they contemplated the end.<\/p>\n
If this was to be the final line of their story, then they were still proud to tell it. Proud of who they were, who they had been, the mighty world they had once ruled.<\/p>\n
Their main regret was that nobody would ever know who they used to be. They would be forgotten, for ever. They deserved better than this. They deserved an empire. But they would face their end with honour and stoicism.<\/p>\n
They hit the ground, everything went dark, and that seemed to be the end of it.<\/p>\n
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