Doctor Who: Star Tales

Doctor Who New Series anthologies

by Steve Cole, Paul Magrs, Jenny T. Colgan

The Doctor is many things – curious, funny, brave, protective of her friends...and a shameless namedropper. While she and her companions battled aliens and travelled across the universe, the Doctor hinted at a host of previous, untold adventures with the great and the good: we discovered she got her sunglasses from Pythagoras (or was it Audrey Hepburn?); lent a mobile phone to Elvis; had an encounter with Amelia Earhart where she discovered that a pencil-thick spider web can stop a plane; had a 'wet weekend' with Harry Houdini, learning how to escape from chains underwater; and more.

In this collection of new stories, Star Tales takes you on a rip-roaring ride through history, from 500BC to the swinging 60s, going deeper into the Doctor's notorious name-dropping and revealing the truth behind these anecdotes.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasy, Anthologies, Young Adult, Female Authors

244 pages, Hardcover

First published December 5, 2019

About the author

Also publishes as Stephen Cole.

Steve Cole is the slightly crazy, highly frantic, millions-selling, non-stop author of Astrosaurs, Cows In Action, Astrosaurs Academy, The Slime Squad, Z. Rex and many other books (including several original Doctor Who stories).

He used to edit magazines and books but prefers the job of a writer where you can wear pyjamas and eat chocolate all day.

Steve just can't stop writing - if he does, strange robots appear and jostle him vigorously until he starts again.

In his spare time he loves making music, reading old comics, thinking up ideas for new books and slumping in front of a warm TV.

Reviews

[Jim C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short story collection that is based on the television show. In this one, The Doctor tells her companions about the times that she met famous people. These people range from Roman mathematicians to Elvis Presley.

I liked the concept of this novel with the short stories and celebrities. If you watch the show you know The Doctor can be the biggest name dropper and I was looking forward to seeing the interactions between them. I also liked the idea of some of the stories showing these famous people seeing different incarnations of The Doctor. My favorite one was the story with Elvis as this showcases how something can change the course of history. This one was worth reading the whole book. There were a couple of others that were enjoyable and a couple that fell flat. That is usually the case with a short story collection. Some hit and some do not.

This was a quick read that had some highlights and some problems including me with a couple of nitpicks. One being that when we take a break in America it is a coffee break and not a tea break. I chuckled out loud with this mistake as you can tell it was written by a British writer.

[Stephen Robert Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mike Tucker story makes this book worth reading it is laugh every line. But rest of book is not up to good standard with line about Yaz having her time of the month some thing I NEVER want read in Doctor Who book again.
On top of that the Elvis story is daft and the Houdin is boring. Worse is more than just 13th Doctor gets you in bloody pain in the arse.
I liked the cover it was good.
This neally got only one star but last story is good but if don't know your movie history of 1960s you be lost. I never been a fan of the Doctor who meeting famous 'real' people I history, a historical story yes but not real people makes it a what if... And or bloody silly such as the Elvis story.

[Ulises Estrada · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of The Doctor short stories were funny and good but not all of them.

Chasing the dawn 2/5 Stars
Also know as, the girl who die for not wanting to trust in a men

That's alright, mama 4/5 Stars
Really like Elvis story with his mom and how the Doctor help them.

Einstein and the Doctor 4/5 Stars
Didn't Expect to like this story this much.

Who-dini? 2/5 Stars
Could have been so much better...

The pythagoras problem 3/5 Stars
mmm...It was good

Mission of the kaadok 3/5 Stars
What a wasted storyline,
It has a lot of potencial that wasn't used.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a while, but here it is at last: an anthology of historical adventures...CELEBRITY historical no less...part of the bread & butter of 21st century "Doctor Who". There are half a dozen stories to enjoy here, and they span a range from fluffy, breezy fun (Audrey Hepburn) to surprising, poignant and quite wonderful (Amelia Earhart & Elvis Presley). It's easy to devour, and it's full of enough left-turns to keep you on your toes. The characterization of the 13th Doctor and her family are spot on in all six stories.

[Hollie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. The stories inside were amazing and had me hooked. Out of them all my favourites would be Chasing the Dawn and Einstein and the Doctor. They were both very well written and had a really good storyline.

[Claire Spurling · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have given this book 5 stars if the final story hadn't been riddled with grammatical errors and spelling mistakes.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: short stories are a great medium for Doctor Who tales. They provide authors with a nice ability to tell the kinds of stories that maybe wouldn't quite work as an episode of the show and are too short to support an entire novel. Some of the most creative Doctor Who adventures have come from these collections of short stories (see the recently published Target Collection for examples) and I always look forward to them when they come out. Star Tales is no exception, especially as it finally unveils some of the stories behind the Doctor's frequently referenced encounters with celebrities. This go 'round, we get our first collection of stories that primarily focuses on the Thirteenth Doctor and her companions - Ryan, Yaz, and Graham - save for one story, early on. How are the stories in this collection? They're pretty good and definitely worth reading if you're a fan of this era of the show. (Mild spoilers for the stories within Star Tales.)

Star Tales is a really fun collection of short stories. I'm always a fan of the "Celebrity Historical" episodes of Doctor Who and Star Tales consists of nothing but celebrity historicals, so you can imagine I was pretty pumped about that. And Star Tales is filled with the best kinds of celebrity historicals - the ones that do something interesting with the historical figure. Jenny T. Colgan's Chasing the Dawn features the 11th Doctor and Amelia Earnhardt - in a story narrated to Yaz by the 13th Doctor - and it's a lot of fun seeing such an aloof Doctor interact with someone like Earnhardt. Jo Cotterill's "Einstein and the Doctor" features the 13th Doctor and her friends solving a mystery revolving around weird aliens leeching off Einstein's brain - an idea that seems so obvious it's impressive Doctor Who hadn't done it before. Trevor Baxendale's "The Pythagoras Problem" featured Pythagoras and the 13th Doctor (and co) going against a monster that could only be defeated by math. Mike Tucker's "Mission of the KaaDok" featured an insanely clever alien trying to replicate the brains and personalities of famous celebrities - like Audrey Hepburn. All in all, there's such a variety of stories in this collection that you're bound to find something to like.

Some of my favorite stories include "That's All Right, Mama" by Paul Magrs, a particularly heartbreaking story in which multiple incarnations of the Doctor meet Elvis Presley over the course of his life, and "Who-Dini" by Steve Cole, a really fun mystery involving a shapeshifting alien and Houdini. What made these two stories stand out the most was a mixture of the plots of the stories (what they did with the historical figures/what was actually going on) and the emotion at play within the story. "That's All Right, Mama" utilized the Doctor's ability to time travel in a really fun way, incorporating Elvis into her world a little bit while "Who-Dini" leaned heavily into Doctor Who's classic formula of "something weird is happening to a historical person, better find out what that is" in a really fun way. Both stories had fairly emotional, almost bittersweet endings and those are my favorite kinds of Doctor Who stories. Plus, both of these stories feel like they actually could be episodes of the show, and that's always a bonus.

With that said, it's not as though any of the stories in this collection were bad - far from it, actually; all of them are really good. Sure, some of them worked better for me than others did (I'm not a huge fan of "The Pythagoras Problem", for example - it had an interesting idea and the kind of monster that would only work in prose, but it felt lacking in the mystery department and probably needed at least double the word count to really work) but every story in the collection is well-written and does something interesting with both the Doctor and their companions as well as the historical figure involved in the story. Your mileage may vary on exactly which stories you love but I don't think any of the stories will really prove disappointing. There's a nice variety of stories - some of more romantic, some are more mysterious, and others still are more adventurous - and each of the core TARDIS Team members get something nice to do in one of the stories. I do find myself wishing that there was a bit more variety in terms of the Doctors and companions used (save for the first story, all of the stories primarily revolve around an adventure the 13th Doctor and her companions had) but I can't say I really dislike any of the stories. They're all really, really solid.

Overall, Star Tales is a very solid collection of short Doctor Who stories. Each of the authors does a great job at capturing the voices of the characters represented in their respective stories and each of the stories is captivating in their own right. Obviously, I have my own personal favorite stories, but none of the stories in this collection come anywhere close to being bad. I do wish there'd been a bit more variety in the Doctors represented in these stories as many of these historical figures were referenced by previous Doctors and it would have been nice to see those stories included. But aside from that, these stories are a lot of fun and it remains a joy seeing the Thirteenth Doctor interact with famous historical figures. If you like Doctor Who, you're gonna wanna read this book. Some of these stories are just quintessentially Doctor Who and it's a whole lot of fun.

[Mikey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is actually the first proper Who anthology release that I’ve read, and all-in-all it’s a great one to start on.

Before I read this, I was under the impression that the Thirteenth Doctor would mainly just be part of the framing narrative for each of the stories in this anthology, but this is actually only the case for the first story, which is quite nice seeing as there’s a fair lack of original full length New Series Adventures for the current era.

Just to fire through each story briefly, ‘Chasing the Dawn’ by Jenny T Colgan is a fairly slow start, with 13 telling Yaz the story about her eleventh incarnation meeting Amelia Earhart. The story itself is fairly slight, but there’s a few nice emotional beats, especially towards the end.

‘That’s All Right, Mama’ by Paul Magrs is my particular favourite of this lot of stories as 13 and co. meet Elvis Presley. There’s a nice little intro to this featuring previous Doctors too, and takes us through the early life of Elvis. As the story shifts to the ‘present’, the Doctor has to deal with the consequences of her past incarnations, and there’s a really lovely balance of time travel plot and strong emotional moments - it really felt like the kind of historical that the current TV era would do.

‘Einstein and the Doctor’ by Jo Cotterill is another strong entry, and provides another quite emotional story with its ‘celebrity’ historical figures as 13 + co. meet Albert and Mileva Einstein. There’s also some spooky goings-on, and the Doctor gets a chance to do some inventing/tinkering again, which is an aspect of 13 that I really enjoy being used.

‘Who-dini?’ by Steve Cole is another fun and atmospheric story as 13 + co. arrive in Chicago to meet Houdini, and in a similar way to ‘That’s All Right, Mama’, the Doctor’s trying to make things right after leaving a few loose threads in a previous incarnation. This story’s mostly told from the perspective of Dorothy, a young woman working and travelling with the Houdinis, and she’s a fun narrator with some charming moments with the Doctor and her friends. The ending is particularly interesting, and possibly a divisive one as far as the ordinary ‘celeb historicals’ go.

Penultimately, there’s ‘The Pythagoras Problem’ by Trevor Baxendale. I was actually expecting this to descend into full scale horror just based on some of Baxendale’s previous output, and yeah, there’s a few bits that are actually pretty spooky (including most terrifyingly of all: maths). The characterisation of the TARDIS fam in this story is also particularly strong in this story, and the Doctor in particular gets some lovely moments.

Finally, there’s ‘Mission of the KaaDok’ by Mike Tucker, as the Doctor and co. travel to Hollywood in the 60s to meet Audrey Hepburn. This story is a bit more of a fun runaround rather than really getting a chance to take a look at the ‘star’ of the tale, but there’s some fun to be had with her as she tags along with the Doctor and co. anyway. Graham, Ryan, and Yaz briefly get a fun little subplot (that actually ends up running on slightly longer than the Doctor and Audrey’s thread), and overall it’s really good fun.

If I were to rank them based on preference, I’d be inclined to go with: That’s All Right, Mama > The Pythagoras Problem > Einstein and the Doctor > Mission of the KaaDok > Who-dini? > Chasing the Dawn, but all in all they’re a strong collection of short stories, all well worth a read!

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of quotes, I loved the Einstein story definitely the best.
Amelia story could have been so much better done though I do like the 24 gas cans kept in the TARDIS bit.
Houdini story was also slightly disappointing but i think it’s because I like both Harry and Amelia so I had my hopes up higher for those stories. I also immensely enjoyed both Harry’s reaction and acceptance to the doctor’s changed appearance, and how time had passed for the doctor but only seconds for Houdini.
Elvis story wasn’t bad, I actually enjoyed it more then the ones I thought I would, though I don’t really care for his music.

The last story was kind of a wasted story, so much could have happened but it didn’t?
so much wasted potential. Overall I loved it and will definitely read them again.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3742609.html

A collection of six stories by different authors, each bringing the Thirteenth Doctor and her friends, and sometimes earlier incarnations too, into contact with historical celebrities Jenny T. Colgan does Amelia Earhart, Paul Magrs does Elvis, Jo Cotterill does Einstein, Steve Cole as well as editing the book does Houdini, Trevor Baxendale does Pythagoras and Mike Tucker does Audrey Hepburn, in most cases fighting off alien menaces and time paradoxes. The first two are actually rather poignant as Amelia and Elvis come close to avoiding their early deaths, but Destiny Must Prevail. This is not Great Literature, but it kept me entertained.

[Daniel Pitterman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the Doctor Who books have been horrible for the past decade ( yet I continue to read them 🙄). I would have rated this one lower but the Elvis story “ That’s Alright Mama” was a 5 star story. This book is at least fun. I would recommend it if you like the 13th Doctor and “fam” but don’t expect anything earth shattering.

I wish they would write these books at a somewhat higher literary level but I guess that’s to ge expected with these media tie-in products. Star Trek books are just as guilty lately, maybe even worse because there is no humor in those.

[Beccabeccabooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I'm giving a partial rating as I only completed the first half of the short stories. The absolute standouts were the Elvis and Einstein ones! I truly thought the Einstein story would've made a terrific episode.

The Amelia Einhart story was also quite enjoyable- of course Eleven would see her plane and decide to race it 😃

I much more would've liked to see a full Ten retelling instead of a brief mention in the Elvis tale. And where was Nine in all of this?!☹️

At least Jenny T. Colgan redeemed herself after the whole Corin fiasco in The Turning of the Tide mess...

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories about primarily Jodie Whittaker as the 13th doctor, though a few other doctors make brief cameos. The tales involve Doctor Who meeting Elvis, Albert Einstein, Harry Whodini, Pythagorias, and Audrey Hepburn. The stories vary in quality, with some being quite charming, others seeming forced. The writers seems to have captured the voice and mannerisms of both the 13th Doctor and Yaz. Graham and Ryan seem to be afterthoughts. It was cute to read but I wouldn't spend the money purchasing it. Borrow it from your local library.

[Paul Griggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing a celebrity historical the temptation must be there to make the Doctor responsible for the subjects fame or a particular event in their lives. This isn’t the case here where we get half a dozen brushes with historical figures, ancient and modern, by a gaggle of writers (also “ancient” and modern). A fun collection which should definitely be on everyone’s Christmas list to tide us over until New Years Day.

[Rachel E. Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of six short stories centered around famous people in history- Amelia Earhart, Elvis, Audrey Hepburn, Houdini, Albert Einstein, and a Greek guy who came up with a math theory. It focused mostly on Jodi's Doctor and the writing wasn't the best. It felt rather fan-ficy, which is okay, but just don't expect stellar content. A quick read, but not my favorite. The best story was probably the Houdini one.

[Chiara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only story that left me a little perplexed was the one with Amelia Earhart (and not because Yaz is having her period, but for the story itself with the Eleventh Doctor and the famous Amelia Earhart... somehow, it didn't seem right).

A part from that, the other five stories are great (and yes, I loved the fact that the Doctor did her best to help Yaz in a moment of great discomfort for the young police officer).

[Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent & fun selection of short stories tying Thirteen not only to their previous incarnations, but also to some famous people throughout history - the Elvis one was particularly touching, I thought. Lots of authors acquainted with writing Who, here - a light and fun read, nothing serious here, quickly brought up, quickly resolved drama.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume of Dr. Who Star Tales is light and fun reading. In these tales, all written by different authors, the doctor meets and enjoys adventures with Einstein, Amelia Earhart, Houdini, Audrey Hepburn, Elvis and more! Because these stories are written by various authors, they are of various degrees excellence. Each story, though, is fun in its own way.

[Pegasus & Chrysaor · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories were good, but there were inconsistencies in technical quality due to it being a multi-author anthology.

Stories ranked from best to worst (based on celebrity main characters):
1. Albert Einstein
2. Elvis Presley
3. Harry Houdini
4. Amelia Earhart
5. Audrey Hepburn
6. Pythagoras

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A shameless name dropper, the Doctor often finds their fate intertwined with luminaries from across time and space.

This is a nice, digestible collection of short stories with some wonderful throwbacks to previous Doctors.

[Olivia Panzica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Star Tales is compiled of 6 great stories ranging from Ancient Rome to 1960s Hollywood. The best story, in my opinion, was the one focusing on Einstien. Although I enjoyed all 6 stories, I will say that I would prefer to have an actual full-length novel with the 13th doctor and her fam.

[Helen (they or he) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short story collections, especially Doctor Who ones, are always mixed bags. So I went in thinking I'm gonna hate some of these and well, to my surprise, I didn't actually hate any stories. In fact I think I read all of them without thinking "this is ridiculous." So, um, 4 stars.

[Mirielen de Arantes Corrêa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amei as histórias. Algumas me prenderam mais do que outras, mas todas foram interessantes.
Além da 13th ser minha Doctor favorita - e quanto mais histórias com ela melhor -, foi muito bom rever os outros Doctors (incluindo meu outro favorito, o 11th) e matar a saudade.

[Amane Kabbaj · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so good! Hilarious! I just wish it took more time to read. I was a bit confused as to which doctor was in the first story with Amelia Earhart, but it doesn’t matter. I’m glad all these dropped names finally have a story.

[Arrocete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Los personajes estaban bien escritos, y para mí eso es un problema porque no me gusta como estan escritos, pero gracias Jenny Colgan por darnos el lore prohibido de la menstruación alienígena y una perspectiva interesante sobre el género.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Elvis story was by far the best one, but all were enjoyable reads.

[Angie Rhodes · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say? It's Doctor Who!
Fun, fun fun
Loved these short stories..

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Doctor Who short stories! And these 6 didn't dissapoint! My favourite of the 6 would have to be the first one.

[Matthew Greenblatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a good book about the tales of the doctor, it follows the doctor through various times and places.

[anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

chasing the dawn 4/5
it’s alright, mamma 5/5
einstein and the doctor 5/5
who-dini 3/5
the pythagoras problem 4.5/5
mission of the kaadok 4/5