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1994.

Donna has convinced the Doctor to take her to Dublin, to visit the nightclub Tripod.

Because Tripod is where five young women came together to make the biggest band of the 90s: the Blood Honeys.

That is, until a family of siren-like creatures decide to use the girls' fame to hypnotise the world.

With the Earth to save, Donna may yet get her chance to perform on the world's biggest stage...

118 pages, Hardcover

First published October 26, 2023

13 people are currently reading
161 people want to read

About the author

Dave Rudden

12 books195 followers
I began my arts career as a storyteller in Dublin at nights like The Monday Echo and Milk & Cookies, before realising that it might be a good idea to try writing some of this stuff down.

From then, it was submitting to journals and anthologies, getting rejections, and then occasionally getting accepted by nice places like Bare Hands, the Stinging Fly and The Quotable.

In 2013 I won the Fantasy Book Review Short Story Prize, which was lovely, and I’ve had short stories short-listed for the Hennessy New Writing Award and the Bath Short Story Prize. I graduated from the UCD Creative Writing Masters with the first chapter of what would become Knights of the Borrowed Dark and signed with rockstar agent Clare Wallace of the Darley Anderson Children’s Agency soon after.

Since then, I’ve released the second two books in the KOTBD trilogy, written Doctor Who books for the BBC, and written plays and TV and music videos and RPGs .

I teach creative writing at UCD, currently serve as DCU’s Artist in Residence, and have travelled to more than nine hundred schools and libraries all over the world to talk about writing, mental health, and monsters. I also have two new series coming in 2025.

Follow me on Twitter at @d_ruddenwrites or on TikTok at @daveruddenwrites

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
Profile Image for Bill.
1,175 reviews192 followers
January 27, 2024
The Doctor takes Donna to Dublin so that she can see how things began for her favourite band, but a fearsome group of aliens have other ideas.
There's plenty of fun to be found in this enjoyable romp & it would certainly have made a good TV episode for the Tenth Doctor.
Profile Image for Bee.
4 reviews
November 22, 2023
I'll preface this small review by admitting that I have two biases here, one working for me, and the other working against me.

1) I'm admittedly not overly fond of the Tenth Doctor era of Doctor Who. Don't get me wrong, David Tennant is a stellar actor and a perfect Doctor, but for some reason I just didn't connect very well with most of his era on TV (though my experience with it in expanded media is far more favourable). That said, Ten/Donna is easily one of my favourite TARDIS teams, so it's my favourite part of that era.

2) I'm a Dublin-born woman. Because of that, any time Dublin; and Ireland in general, crosses over with my favourite franchises, I'm all-in.

What follows is a small review of a quick and snappy 115 or so pages of story. And spoiler! I really liked it. Some slight spoilers for the story may follow, but I'll try to keep them vague enough to not give away too much!

Set in Dublin in the 1990s (16th November 1996 to be specific), Wannabes tells the story of Donna Noble dragging the Doctor to see what she believes to be the best girl group in the world: The Blood Honeys. This trip to 1990s Ireland brings with it descriptions of iconic landmarks such as the Tripod nightclub and the Hellfire Club.

Many good writers can produce novels, but it takes a truly great writer to craft a quality short story like Wannabes. Dave Rudden is a great writer, and his use of prose and wordplay to describe the environments of Dublin is nothing short of ecstasy for a reader. Dave's writing has many strengths, but he excels in the small details that make a world built in words feel truly alive.

When you're reading Wannabes, you'll be met with delightful and insightful descriptions of Dublin's landscape, from the seemingly mundane grey concrete to the small charms of flowers on windowsills and children's drawings.

The antagonists of this story are the Daughters of Khizerax, "psirens" from a race of people who use song to subjugate and enslave, to conquer worlds. As you read further into the story, you'll come to realise, like I did, that their use of song can only be noted as an abuse of the power of music and its ability to inspire beauty and freedom. They take advantage of people at their most vulnerable.

Of the three Daughters we're introduced to, Celeda is the most interesting. Unlike her sisters, and the rest of their kind, Celeda desires to cease using their abilities in the way they have previously done. However, while her intentions are good, her execution of this feels misguided. She is lost, stumbling, and trying to find her way, like any well-written antagonist trying to redeem themselves. Her need to change things sadly brings her into direct conflict with her sisters.

The Blood Honeys are like any good girl group, legitimate or manufactured, wherein the girls are often seemingly tightly knit and, as a result, form a deep connection that is hard to break. The Daughters struggle with this as they need to control the Blood Honeys in order to achieve their goal. Unforetunately for them, the Blood Honeys are a testament to the will power and perserverance of teenage girls and their friendships, which can act as a barrier to outside attack.

We're also introduced to a music producer by the name of Henry McMillan, a man who is increasingly desperate for relevance, wasting away what little money he has in an attempt to manufacture a group which will make him rich. This brings to mind the likes of similar producers in our world, like Louis Walsh. Though in this case, it may be more apt to think of Bob and Chris Herbert, the men responsible for the Spice Girls. Like them, the Blood Honeys are each expected to fit into a static personality type.

Now, this isn't to say that the Spice Girls or anyone else haven't produced great music. I grew up in the 90s myself, and between the Spice Girls and S Club 7, etc., there was no shortage of pop music groups that really hooked you. Say what you will about groups like these, but the music they pumped out was infectious.

The stories of the Daughters and the Blood Honeys collide when the Daughters seek to use them as a means to an end, as a key to conquer the world. Donna just wants to enjoy her trip to see the group, because she rightfully believes their music creates unity, but it is this unity that the Daughters need to succeed.

The Daughters of Khizerax make for a truly wonderful and terrifying antagonist, and I hope that Dave considers touching on them again in a future story should the opportunity come up.

I have not read much in a long while, but Wannabes gripped me from the start and kept me engrossed until the very last word. Recency bias may play a part here, but my first read has left me with the feeling that it is one of my favourite Doctor Who stories and I will want to return to re-read it again later. I won't say much more on the story for fear of spoiling too much, but it is a fast-paced read that you can easily consume in one sitting, and it will leave you wanting more.

Recommendation: Must Read.
Profile Image for Daniel Kukwa.
4,768 reviews125 followers
May 5, 2024
Another delightful outing in print for the 10th Doctor & Donna. Dave Rudden has written so many amazing short stories...why is no one in the Whoniverse commissioning him to write a full-length novel? He's a rare and gifted fanboy talent who should be given a more epic canvass.
Profile Image for Clare.
424 reviews6 followers
November 28, 2023
An interesting tale of the myths that are manufactured around popular bands, an alternative way to conquer a world and what happens when a monster develops a different mindset. Donna gets brought centre stage, and that is never a bad thing.
Profile Image for Chelsea-anne Kennedy.
466 reviews5 followers
November 19, 2023
I love the idea of celebrating the 60th anniversary with these books. I started with this one as I am fan of NuWho and David Tennant is my favourite Doctor.

This story is perfect for the 90s decade, we have the Doctor, Donna and a Girl Band whats not to love. The author really gets this duo right and it feels like its an episode that we missed. The audio narrator is really excellent and getting the vibe of each character correct too. I think this was a fun story that has great banter, enjoyable plot and is just a fab quick read.
Profile Image for Nicola Michelle.
1,895 reviews17 followers
November 3, 2023
I’m a long time lover of doctor who, a forever whovian and happy reader who seems to have accidentally started collecting all the doctor who books. And when I say all, I mean ALL. Which has proven to be a fairly huge undertaking because there are so many who books and then they bring out a stunner of a new series!

The idea of the Decades Collection is a great one and a brilliant way to mark the 60th anniversary. I started with this one as I’ve always loved the Doctor and Donna duo and they never fail to make me smile. And it was exactly the same in book form as it was with the main series.

I loved the way the doctor was portrayed in this! His restless energy and unbound spirit. His quips and the banter with Donna was just captured perfectly. They’re both so vivid in my head and it was so easy for them both to be brought to life from the page because they were both written so well.

I just love the characters and could probably read about them doing the weekly shop and I’d be all for it. The core story itself was good, it wasn’t an immediate hook but then I was absolutely into it. Loved how it developed and it ended just as it should have!

Can’t wait to read the others in the collection. Great gifts for doctor who fans!
Profile Image for Tony.
34 reviews
January 28, 2024
Dreadful. That's all I can say? Is this where we are with Doctor Who now? Is this the best effort for a 60th anniversary novel? It is as turgid and disposable as the music era it is set in. Dear oh dear.
95 reviews4 followers
March 4, 2024
Dave Rudden nailed the voices of the Doctor and Donna.
Profile Image for S.E. Martens.
Author 3 books48 followers
February 26, 2024
This novella was a blast! The Tenth Doctor and Donna are always a fantastic duo and Rudden got the tone and banter exactly right. Donna insists on visiting 16 November, 1996, to witness the moment her favourite all-girl pop band, the Blood Honeys, spontaneously met and formed their band at a nightclub in Ireland.

"Was 16 November 1996 just a point you could go to? Like an island floating in the universe's timeline - always there and always reachable? Or did the whole universe move round them when the Doctor pulled the controls, rewinding round the TARDIS like a tape measure?" (p. 21)

But since this is Doctor Who, of course things don't run smoothly and there's an alien invasion to be thwarted - three exiled "psirens" are planning to use the Blood Honeys as their key to enslaving the world.

Things I loved: the Blood Honeys being an obvious Spice Girls homage (fun), the resiliency and friendships of the teenage girls, the compassion the Doctor shows the psirens, and the way Rudden writes about time travel and history and fate.

"The Doctor, as a rule, did not believe in fate. This might seem like a complicated position for someone who time-travelled. Yes, the future existed, and the past existed and there was a very clear line from one to the other. But that wasn't fate. That was time.
"Fate was supposed to have an author. A higher power. Time didn't have an author. It just had readers."
(p. 48)
Profile Image for Nicholas Whyte.
5,372 reviews207 followers
June 29, 2024
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/wannabes-a-1990s-story-by-dave-rudden/

A story of the Tenth Doctor and Donna, visiting Dublin to witness the first ever gig of (fictional) girl band the Blood Honeys, only to find that the event has been infiltrated by a trio of alien sisters out to exploit the emotional energy generated by the event. The aliens have a number of near relatives in both Doctor Who (the Carrionites) and Irish mythology (many cases of three sisters).

Rudden, who is himself Irish, gets the feeling of Dublin in the early Celtic Tiger days very well (even though he would have been roughly eight years old at the time the story is set), and you can very plausibly see Donna and the Doctor interacting with the changing entertainment scene. It doesn’t take a genius to work out who the five-member girl band making their debut in the mid-1990s are based on, but a pinch of satire can help a story run smoothly. I enjoyed this.
Profile Image for Áine Ní Néill.
45 reviews4 followers
February 12, 2024
a magical little tale from rudden. as always, he draws you in with frankly breathtaking monsters, and captures you with his beautiful description, and fascinating characters. one of the strongest irish writers of our time.

(& on a nerdier note, i appreciated the mention of the bootstrap paradox (“bootleg paradox”, according to donna), followed by an instance of the paradox later on!

however: the page 12 line: “maybe only the doctor knew, and that was for the best. if donna had to keep all that in her head, she’d explode.” dealt me psychic damage, & rudden will be hearing from me about emotional damages !)

five stars
Profile Image for Kieran McAndrew.
3,091 reviews20 followers
December 19, 2023
Donna Noble takes the Doctor to the Tripod club in Dublin, 1994. On this night and in this place, one of the greatest girl groups in history will form. When it turns out an alien invasion is about to take advantage of this power, the Doctor vows to stop them.

Rudden not only correctly captures the spirit of the Tenth Doctor and Donna, but also the atmosphere of the mud nineties. The Irish slang is used effectively and the vague disappointment felt when Donna realises her beloved band has been manufactured speaks to all teenagers from that era.
3 reviews
October 30, 2023
Let's be honest, it's just hard to find a book you really want to read sometimes. But here, here is a book that you'll pick up and love from the first page. Dave Rudden knows how to mind you and I think that's about the biggest compliment you can give a writer. He knows how to entrance, how to pull you along, when to steady you, when to surprise you. This is just an excellent example of his work. Plus! Love a short book, you'll read this in an hour or two.
Profile Image for Raven Grant.
140 reviews3 followers
November 17, 2025
I love the tenth doctor so this story didn't disappoint. I was cackling imagining The Doctor at a grunge show and I really liked this one. The villains of the book were a concept many will be familiar with (yet they have their own varying characteristics). I love these decades stories as a fan of the series. Ridden did an amazing job at getting the right amount of nonsense and banter that Doctor Who fans are familiar with (especially Tennant humor).
Profile Image for Ryan Walton.
63 reviews2 followers
January 26, 2024
3.5 / 5

Villains / Monsters that would work brilliantly on screen, certainly something new and refreshing.

Not your typical alien wants to take over the world story. The Doctor and Donna's mannerisms and tones are captured perfectly, as is their witty banter. If you want nostalgia from series 4, this book is for you.
Profile Image for K.
645 reviews3 followers
March 29, 2024
ドナが沼ったガールズグループの伝説的デビューコンサートをみたいとリクエスト。次はドナの希望のところに行くと言った手前ドクター、渋々ながらドナの望むコンサートへ。
そのころ征服者として恐れられているセイレーンの3姉妹が地球に向かっていた。

10とドナということで嬉しかったんだけれど、うーん、面白くなかったというか興味を持てなかった。
セイレーンとそのドナの好きなガールズグループが関わってるんだなぁというのはいいんだけれど、なんかそこまでがくどくどしかったしドナが大ファンというのもくどいほど描写されるので食傷してしまったというところか。
10もうーんこれいまいち10っぽくないなーというところで。

久々の10で楽しみにしていたのになんか残念。
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
194 reviews
April 7, 2024
The Doctor Who Decades collection continues again with he Tenth Doctor and Donna, arguably one of the strongest Doctor/companion pairings.

Wannabes is a nice little character filled story set at the genesis of a girl group with a sprinkling of Psirens. A nice little tale that captures the relationship between Donna and the Doctor incredibly well.
86 reviews1 follower
October 16, 2024
A story for the 10th Doctor and Donna which has plenty of chills, jokes and adventure and is an enjoyable read (especially for fans of that duo). The characterisation is spot-on and this would be an excellent TV episode. Unfortunately, for a book it's a bit too slight yet even seems padded out at times.
Profile Image for Alyx Payge.
37 reviews
November 7, 2025
Dave Rudden captures Donna and Ten's dynamic really well and presents a really fun scenario for them to get involved in. I loved the concept of spending time with a loose approximation of the Spice Girls, and furthermore I really liked the concept of the Psirens. Everything really came together for this one.

A nice read. Short and sweet.
Profile Image for Anka.
1,117 reviews65 followers
July 10, 2024
Another great Doctor Who story bei Dave Rudden. He's just amazing at grasping the essence of the show. The Doctor and Donna felt really authentic and I'm always glad when Donna gets to shine. Would've loved more depth about the alien sirens, though.
Profile Image for Kelsey Hayes.
81 reviews
September 12, 2024
“Maybe only the Doctor knew, and that was for the best. If Donna had to keep all that in her head, she’d explode.” Dave Rudden you were so wrong for that quote 😂😂.

But alas, I enjoyed the story, though it was short, it said what it needed to say and it was fun.
Profile Image for DayDreamer8912.
342 reviews12 followers
July 7, 2025
3/5
This story is not really my favourite though I like the Doctor and Donna's banter so much. Haha... but the storyline is quite short which I feel that it could be longer.

Can't wait to read the next one.
338 reviews1 follower
December 31, 2023
I wanted to like this I really did, a Doctor Who novel set in Dublin in the 90's - fantastic, but I found the plot dull and for a novella it really dragged at points. Disappointing.
Profile Image for gracie!!!!.
22 reviews2 followers
January 2, 2024
slayed ofc, ten and donna are my fav duo but 4 stars bc wtf happened at the end i am incredibly confused
Profile Image for Sebastian .
46 reviews
January 22, 2024
a very enjoyable read that captures the tenth doctor and donna perfectly
602 reviews3 followers
October 1, 2024
The Doctor and Donna has to prevent the Earth to be invaded by aliens disguised as a girl band.
Profile Image for Brett.
254 reviews1 follower
November 17, 2024
Another lovely little Doctor Who novella featuring the 10th Doctor and Donna in an alien invasion story involving a thinly veiled version of the Spice Girls (who I wish had been in it more).
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews

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