20th anniversary editiion of my #DoctorWho novel

Way back in April 1996, Virgin Books published my first Doctor Who novel, Who Killed Kennedy. It was a mock conspiracy tome, purporting to investigate the Doctor and UNIT's activities in the early 1970s, written by fictional journalist James Stevens [with help from myself]. The book wasn't issued as part of the regular ranges of Doctor Who fiction at the time, instead it was a standalone volume. To my delight it was well received and still appears in top 50 lists of best Doctor Who novels even though hundreds of them have now been published.

But I never liked the ending of Who Killed Kennedy. It always felt like a bit of a cheat, somehow emotionally unsatisfying despite tying up a lot of plot threads.

Fast forward to 2009 and the New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club offered to make Who Killed Kennedy - now long out of print - available again as a free eBook. I considered writing a new ending then, but was facing a lot of deadlines. Besides, I didn't actually have a better ending, so put that notion to one side.

Now it is 2016 and twenty years have passed since Who Killed Kennedy was first published. Thanks to the time I've spent teaching on the genre-loving MA Creative Writing programme at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland, I've finally figured out a new ending to the book. The NZDWFC kindly agreed to indulge my urge to make available eBook of Who Killed Kennedy for its 20th anniversary [big thank you to Paul Scoones and Alden Bates for that].

The new version doesn't replace the old ending, by the way - no Lee Harvey Oswald shot last nonsense here! Instead it adds new material to the existing version that - to me, at least - provides a more emotionally satisfying conclusion. The original version is still available, of course, but if you want to read the 20th anniversary edition of Who Killed Kennedy then go here.

Alas, it's digital-only and strictly non-profit - if BBC Books asks us to take it down, we will happily comply! The photo features me re-reading a battered old copy of the original version 1996 paperback. I got royalties on that, you know...