Arnold
CibbuanoCraig Hinton dies
December 6th 2006 07:17
A sad piece of news here, Doctor Who author Craig Hinton has died at the all-too-young age of 42. It happened a few days ago on December 3rd, he was found dead in his home in London. No other details are really known at the moment, it's been said by some of his friends and colleagues that life often threw unwarranted troubles at him and that he was a jovial and upbeat fellow well-loved by the Doctor Who community, so I guess his death comes as a bit of a shock.
I find it particularly sad after having corresponded with him a few months ago over at the Doctor Who messageboards at Outpost Gallifrey. I mentioned on the messageboard that I hadn't read one of his books, owing to it being out of print, and he popped up out of nowhere and arranged to send me a txt-version of the book via email. It was such a nice and generous thing to do, the guy didn't know me from a bar of soap... he even asked me to get back to him and tell him what I thought when I had finished reading it! I was shocked that he cared what a random person he'd never met would think of his book, or that he even wanted to hear my opinion... most authors wouldn't care, or wouldn't go to the trouble of sending it to me.
I also find it sad because, to my knowledge, it's the first of the new guard of Doctor Who writers to die. For the bulk of my teen years I read nothing but original Doctor Who novels, and this was a period where Doctor Who was reinvented and taken over by the 'inmates of the asylum' (the fans), so to speak. Hinton was regarded as the king of 'fanwank' (a term used to refer to texts that make a LOT of references to a show's particular mythology) and whilst I have never really been a fan of fanwank, I did find Hinton's books to very enjoyable and true to the spirit of Doctor Who. I own three of his novels, and I liked them all.
I realise this blog probably doesn't mean much to many of you reading this, particularly if you're not a Doctor Who fan, but I just wanted to pay tribute to a fellow Doctor Who fan.
CREDITS
The Crystal Bucephalus (1994) Missing Adventures, published by Virgin
Millenial Rites (1995) Missing Adventures, published by Virgin
GodEngine (1996) New Adventures, published by Virgin
The Quantum Archangel (2001) Past Doctor Adventures, published by BBC Books
Excelis Decays (2002) Audio play, produced by Big Finish Productions
Synthespians (2004) Past Doctor Adventures, published by BBC Books
The Lords of Forever (2005) Audio play, produced by Big Finish Productions
Hinton wrote many Doctor Who and Star Trek-related articles for various magazines before becoming an author, and several short stories for Doctor Who anthologies. He was also coordinator of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society, and also contributed to the Virgin Idol range (gay erotica) under a pseudonym.
| 77 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
