All-Consuming Fire

From TARDIS Index File, the free Doctor Who reference.

All-Consuming Fire
Series:	Doctor Who - Virgin New Adventures
Release Number:	27
Doctor:	Seventh Doctor
Companions:	Ace, Benny
Enemy:	Azathoth
Setting:	Earth, India, Jabalhabad, 1843 Earth, London, 1887 Earth, SS Matilda Briggs, 1887 Earth, India, Bombay, 1887 Ry'leh, The Plain of Leng, 1887 America, San Francisco, 1906
Author:	Andy Lane
Publisher:	Virgin Books
Publication:	June, 1994
Format:	Paperback Book, 305 Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-426-20415-8
Previous Story:	Theatre of War
Following Story:	Blood Harvest

Contents 1 Publisher's Summary 2 Characters 3 References 3.1 Foods and Beverages 3.2 Libraries and archives 3.3 Planets 3.4 Races and Species 4 Notes 5 Continuity 6 Timeline 7 External Links 8 Footnotes

[edit] Publisher's Summary

'I’ve been all over the universe with you, Doctor, and Earth in the nineteenth century is the most alien place I’ve ever seen.'

England, 1887. The secret library of St John the Beheaded has been robbed. The thief has taken forbidden books which tell of mythical beasts and gateways to other worlds. Only one team can be trusted to solve the crime: Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson.

As their investigation leads them to the dark underside of Victorian London, Holmes and Watson soon realize that someone else is following the same trail. Someone who has the power to kill with a glance. And they sense a strange, inhuman shape observing them from the shadows. Then they meet the mysterious traveller known only as the Doctor -- the last person alive to read the stolen books.

While Bernice waits in nineteenth-century India, Ace is trapped on a bizarre alien world. And the Doctor finds himself unwillingly united with England’s greatest consulting detective.

[edit] Characters

• The Doctor
  • At the Academy on Gallifrey he failed practical theology but was highly commended for landscape gardening.

• Bernice Summerfield
  • Says 19th century India is the most alien place she's been.
  • Dresses as a man for all of her time in 19th century Earth.
  • Sees Watson naked.

• Ace
  • This is the first instance where it's suggested Ace lost her virginity to Sabalom Glitz.
  • Has a gun that can be disassembled into pieces.
  • Has read Iain M. Banks' nooks.
  • Most of Ace's smart missiles deserted her on Peladon to set up a union with the mining machinery.

• Sherlock Holmes
  • Blundgens Sherrigford to save Watson.

• Doctor John Watson
  • Fancies Benny.
  • Whilst on Ry'leh eats some sort of native creature, which doesn't sit well.

• Mycroft Holmes
  • Is under the employ of the British government and/or the British Foreign Office.

• Sherringford Holmes
  • The eldest Holmes brother.
  • Is an agent of Azathoth.

• Arthur Conan Doyle
  • Edits Watson's diaries (changing a few things here and there) and publishes them as fiction.

• Azathoth
  • A god of anarchy and chaos.
  • The Silurians venerated him/them.
  • A cult of Shabogans also worshipped him.
  • Is the weakest of the Great Old Ones.

[edit] References

• The First Doctor and Susan make a cameo at the beginning and end of the story, there he meets Sherlock's father Siger Holmes in Jaballhabad, India.
• The Third Doctor frequents the Diogenes Club.
• The Shobogans are New Age Time Lord dropouts.
• The Doctor leaves the TARDIS in Professor George Litefoot's house.

[edit] Foods and Beverages

• Whilst dining on the train in India Sherlock and Bernice drink weak whiskey while Watson drinks a gin and tonic.
• Mrs Hudson serves the Doctor tea and Madeira cake at Holmes' residence.

[edit] Libraries and archives

• The Library of St John the Beheaded has been around for over 1000 years. It is located in London, St Giles Rookery.
• The TARDIS library has among its books Every Gallifreyan Child's Pop-Up Book of Nasty Creatures From Other Dimensions with four dimensional pop-ups.

[edit] Planets

• The planet Tersurus has clone banks and singing stones.
• The Doctor still has clay and dust on his pants from Mexanus.
• Bernice has loved in the slums of Avernus and a squat on Zellen VIII.
• The Doctor dropped Ace early to Ry'leh to investigate.
• Bernice thinks Ry'leh is stranger than Moloch (Lucifer's hollow moon).
• Both Eusapia and Zeta Minor are half in this and another universe.
• Malaga's crust is a shell covering a vast dreaming creature.

[edit] Races and Species

• The Rakshassi are named after Hindu demons. Their appearance may be based on the Mi-go.
• The Great Old Ones include: Lloigor (ended up on Vortis), Yog-Sothoth (encountered as The Great Intelligence), the Gods of Ragnarok, Hastur the Unspeakable (aka Fenric), Cthulhu (encountered by the Doctor and co in Haiti), Dagon (worshipped by the Sea Devils) and Nyarlathotep (who the Doctor hopes never to encounter).
• Shlangii are the most feared mercenaries in the universe.

[edit] Notes

• This novel is written from the point of view from Watson and Benny's diaries.
• One of the few New Adventures releases to include illustrations.
• According to Andy Lane in DWM Issue 252:

"While writing All-Consuming Fire, I was told by Peter Darvill-Evans that Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson would become the new companions. Even when I finished the book it was still on the cards - hence the ambigious ending."^[1]

• A prologue to this novel was published in DWM Issue 213.

• While this novel acknowledges Holmes and Watson as fictional characters based on real people's diaries (fictionalized slightly by Doyle), a previous encounter between the Doctor and Arthur Conan Doyle in Evolution (novel) implies strongly that Holmes and Watson are fictional characters, created by Doyle, based on the Doctor and Doyle himself.

[edit] Continuity

• MA: The Empire of Glass reveals who founded the Library of St John the Beheaded.

• It was first mentioned of in NA: Theatre of War.
• It also appears in MA Millennial Rites.

• Lloigor appeared in DW: The Web Planet, Yog-Sothoth appeared in DW: The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear, The Gods of Ragnarok appeared in DW: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, Hastur the Unspeakable appeared in DW: The Curse of Fenric and Cthulhu appeared in NA: White Darkness.

• Holmes and Watson attend Benny's wedding in NA: Happy Endings.
• Bernice meets Mycroft Holmes in BFBS: The Adventure of the Diogenes Damsel.

[edit] Timeline

For the Seventh Doctor:

• This story occurs after NA: Theatre of War
• This story occurs before VD: Question Mark Pyjamas

For the Third Doctor:

• This story occurs after TVC: The Wanderers
• This story occurs before MA: Downtime

[edit] External Links

• Prelude to All-Consuming Fire as published in DWM #213
• Doctor Who Reference Guide - Detailed Synopsis - All-Consuming Fire
• The Whoniverse - The Discontinuity Guide to: All-Consuming Fire

[edit] Footnotes

Virgin New Adventures
Previous Release: Theatre of War	Next Release: Blood Harvest