Michael Moorcock – the British anarchist science fiction writer who gave us inter alia Elric of Melniboné, Jerry Cornelius, and Colonel Pyat – has just written a Doctor Who novel.
From the press release’s references to “Captain Cornelius,” “Miggea” and the “Arrow of Law,” it seems clear that Moorcock intends to incorporate aspects of the “multiverse” mythology that runs through virtually all his novels; so this really is a multiverse/whoniverse crossover.
Another point of connection: “Miggea,” a planet in the new novel, is elsewhere in Moorcock’s writings a Goddess of Law dedicated to imposing a rigid, sterile vision of order – and intended in part as a parody of Margaret Thatcher. As it happens, there’s also a Doctor Who villain – Helen A of “The Happiness Patrol” – who is said to be a Thatcher parody.
How the new book’s space travel theme is to be reconciled with Moorcock’s recent remark that “the moment a spaceship turns up, you’ve lost me” is just one of the many mysteries of time and space that bedevil those who dare to steer their TARDISes along the Moonbeam Roads.