Work Text:
There are two reasons that the real ‘Doctor Who’ wouldn’t be happy
with me: For one, the fact that I’ve based these stories upon him in the
first place.
For two, the fact that I built another bottle universe, through which I
watched the bottle’s version of him on many of the adventures that
inspired the events of these books.
In my defense, the Doctor hasn’t come to visit me in a long time, (in
fact no one has except my publishers). I’m beginning to wonder if he’s
forgotten I exist.
The last time the Doctor came to visit me he was a handsome young man
with long curly hair. We talked, had dinner and passed the time in ways
I daren’t discuss.
All I’ll say is we became very close and considering how sentimental the
Doctor is, I can only assume the reason he hasn’t visited is because the
events that led him to meet me - to visit this planet that was once
called Dust - no longer happened for him. His timeline always was
inconsistent.
So, I’ve been bored. Some people pass the time with jigsaw puzzles,
Lego sets or Wordle, I build bottle universes. Ok, a bottle
universe if you’re reading this Doctor. Just one, I promise.
I only built another one because I was starting to miss the last one I
made that got stolen.
But another hobby I’ve taken up - one that I think the Doctor would
approve of - is writing.
I never really had the patience for reading, but writing has been
therapeutic. I’ve missed the Doctor. Watching his adventures and writing
them down has felt a bit like spending time with him again.
I wrote all seven of these books within a single month, which my
publishers tell me is a bit atypical.
However they agreed to publish my books with no strings attached after I
told them I had no desire to be paid. As if I’d want money, I have no
use for the stuff.
That being said, I’d like to make it known that I’m not happy with the
cover designs! I tried to get them changed after they sent me the
preliminary copies but they wouldn’t have it.
Not only have they based them on the covers of those novels about a
magic school that were written by that dreadful woman, but they’ve also
used the most recent Doctor for all of the art! Which is inaccurate for
all except this one. They said that “it would confuse people” to have
the Doctor look different on every cover. Rubbish.
The interesting thing about this final book (I’m never working with
publishers again) is that that it wasn’t based on events I’d observed
inside the bottle, but rather my predictions on what might happen to the
little bottle Doctor next. I can confirm that my predictions did in-fact
come to pass! Although the ending is a little different. It’s still
wrapping up as I write this.
Here’s the weird thing though, I was keeping the preliminary prints of
these books in the same place I was keeping the bottle. One morning I
woke up to find that the books were gone. I have a sneaking suspicion
they might have got sucked into the bottle universe. Whoops.
So to my publishers, I need some new copies!
Anyway, enjoy the final ‘Doctor Who’ story.
- I.M.Foreman
P.S: The strangest thing just happened as soon as I’d finished writing this foreword. The bottle just moved on it’s own! Ever so slightly. I swear I heard it smash before I looked round to see it move. I took a look inside and just saw the Doctor standing in a garden talking to that Belinda Chandra woman holding a little girl. Weird.