What is the title of your latest release?
DOCTOR WHO: 1001 NIGHTS IN TIME AND SPACE
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
What if the whole galaxy was erased – apart from one storyteller and his friends? Could he re-instate the whole universe by telling all his favorite stories one after the next and wishing everyone back into existence…?
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
Because it’s Doctor Who we had all of time and space to play with – and everywhere the TARDIS had visited in 63 years.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
Ruby Sunday would be a great friend, particularly in the event of an alien invasion
What are three words that describe your hero?
Fabulous. Fabular. Timely.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
That there’s nothing you can’t do within the format of Doctor Who
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
We swapped the stories back and forth as we went, editing each other before anyone else got involved.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Always the Doctor’s favorite, fish-fingers in custard!
Describe your writing space/office!
It’s a brightly lit white space with a hexagonal console table in the middle.
Who is an author you admire?
Malcolm Hulke, who wrote seven wonderful novelizations of classic Doctor Who stories. He created concepts and creatures that have had wonderful afterlives in other people’s works, and he brought a great humanity to his retellings of TV stories.
Is there a book that changed your life?
Definitely the original Dr Who novelization, DOCTOR WHO AND THE DALEKS’ by David Whitaker from the 1960s: a perfect blend of HG Wells and ER Burroughs.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
We were excited when publisher Albert DePetrillo and the BBC okayed our idea. We’ve both written a lot of Doctor Who adventures but knew that this project would be special – our chance to present the series through a prism of our inventing.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
One that plays with notions of genre
What’s your favorite movie?
Paul: It’s Beaches with Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched this film. It’s surprising and gut-wrenching every time.
Steve: It’s Brief Encounter. A story of restraint, guilt and decency, heartbreaking for all we’ve lost in the last 80 years as much as for the romance.
What is your favorite season?
Paul: I love autumn most of all because it meant new pencils and new books and all the leaves and colors.
Steve: I love autumn too. Beauty in decay as the world burns off its colors.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Paul: With a small number of friends in a restaurant – and home in time for a good movie.
Steve: What he said.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Steve: Severance on Apple TV is such a compelling take on our warring inner selves
Paul: I think everything I’ve loved in recent times has been old. I feel like I’m endlessly catching up with things I missed in the 90s and early 00s. Just lately I’ve started reading the Animorphs series by K.A Applegate and really wished I’d read them when they came out first time around.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Paul: Noodles. Any kind of noodles.
Steve: Especially a chow mein!
What do you do when you have free time?
Paul: I watch movies. I’ve compiled a folder of all our favorite films on DVD – from A to Z and we work our way through in order – sometimes two or three in an evening. And watercolors.
Steve: I write songs and play and sing in my band Faces Fall. And teach salsa dancing each Thursday night.
What can readers expect from you next?
Paul: I’m not at all sure. Writing books pays so badly in the UK that after 36 years as a freelance writer, I’m having to consider my options about what I do next. It’s heart-breaking, really. I talk about it all – and about everything I’m reading and thinking about – on my YouTube channel. Just search for my name!
Steve: my next book out in the US is middle-grade animal adventure THE WILD ONES, published by Scholastic in spring 2027.
DOCTOR WHO: 1,001 NIGHTS IN TIME AND SPACE by Paul Magrs, Steve Cole
Folktales Rescued from Around the Whoniverse
Experience Doctor Who’s adventures across time and space like never before with this beautifully illustrated collection of folk tales from around the Whoniverse.
“Stories are the most important thing of all because they are just about the only living thing that lasts…”
At the end of the universe, a mysterious storyteller builds a campfire to draw his audience. He has gathered tales like any minstrel of old—and his specialty is tales of the Doctor.
In this book of stories both long and short, you can journey alongside the Doctor and his Companions through 24 folk tales and fables. Retold from unusual perspectives, 1001 Nights in Time and Space is a bubbling mix of heroes and villains, soldiers and monsters, princesses, goblins, demons, tricksters, computers, ghosts and gods from all across the universe… taking inspiration from the entire 60-plus years lifespan of Doctor Who.
Horror | Fantasy | Science Fiction [ Ten Speed Press, On Sale: April 28, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9798217273706 / eISBN: 9798217273713 ]
Buy DOCTOR WHO: 1,001 NIGHTS IN TIME AND SPACE: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com | Apple Books | Kobo | Google Play | Books-A-Million | Indie BookShops | Ripped Bodice | Walmart.com | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
About Paul Magrs
Paul Magrs is the author of many books, written for all ages and in many different genres, including the Adventures of Brenda and Effie and numerous Doctor Who novels, radio plays, and short stories. However, this is his first foray into memoir. He taught novel writing in the MA program in Creative Writing at UEA, and then at Manchester Metropolitan. Paul lives in Manchester, England, with his partner, Jeremy, and is now a full-time writer.
About Steve Cole
Steve Cole is an editor and children’s author whose sales exceed three million copies. His hugely successful Astrosaurs young fiction series has been a UK top-ten children’s bestseller. His several original Doctor Who novels have also been bestsellers.
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